"The Gospel of Luke (68): The Unjust Steward July 07, 2024

And turn to the back cover of your hymnal so that we may recite together our

covenant.

So let us begin.

Having been led by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ

as our Savior and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do

now solemnly make this covenant with each other as one body in Christ.

We will walk together in brotherly love.

We will exercise a Christian care and watchfulness over each other.

We'll faithfully admonish and help one another as the need may be.

We will slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation

without delay.

If any stray from the path of truth, we will endeavor to restore them in the

spirit of meekness.

We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together or neglect to pray for

ourselves and for others.

We will seek to educate our children in the scriptures.

We will seek to win our kindred and acquaintances to Christ and to holiness.

As stewards of the Lord, we will aid in the support of a faithful evangelical

ministry among us and in efforts to preach the gospel to the whole human

family.

We will live circumspectly in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly

lusts, and according to our ability and opportunities, we'll do good to

all men.

We will endeavor, as long as we live, to glorify him who has called us

out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The Lord's Supper is a remembrance of the work of Christ Jesus.

It's a remembrance of his death and substitutionary atonement made on behalf of sinners.

The consequence of sin is death, both physical death and spiritual death,

and death is separation.

Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body and spiritual death is the

separation of the soul from the Lord God.

This separation, both physical and spiritual death, is what every man

deserves, for all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

But Christ Jesus, even though he was in the form of God, even though he

did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, emptied himself and took the

form of a servant.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a

cross, even though he had never sinned.

He was obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.

Christ Jesus became our substitute by experiencing both physical death and

spiritual death on our behalf.

Indeed, he was the spotless lamb of God who took away our sin by taking our

punishment and bearing the full wrath of God on our behalf.

Isaiah 53, verses four through five, surely he has borne our griefs and

carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and

afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds,

we are healed.

Christ Jesus poured out his soul to death.

He bore our sin to reconcile us to the Lord God and to secure for us

eternal redemption.

The bread and cup of the Lord's Supper symbolized the body and blood of Christ Jesus.

And we, by eating and drinking in faith, are united with his body and his

blood and all their saving effects.

To those who partake of the bread and cup, the scriptures give a grave and serious warning.

1 Corinthians 11, 27, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an

unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with

the world.

At the heart of the Lord's Supper is our communion with Christ Jesus.

In coming to the table, we meet him and partake in fellowship with him

at his invitation.

This is why we spend time for self -examination before we partake.

This is so very important.

To pretend that we are in communion with Christ while we are cherishing sin and

unrighteousness in our hearts is hypocrisy and folly.

To partake of the table of the Lord in an unworthy manner is to eat and drink judgment on

yourself.

So let's take a few moments to prepare our hearts for the table of the Lord.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank you for his work on the cross.

Lord, this was something that we could never accomplish.

We could never keep your will.

We could never keep the law.

The law just reveals our need for a savior and Jesus Christ is the savior.

We thank you for his life.

We thank you for his death.

We thank you for his resurrection, for his ascension.

We thank you that he is reigning now.

And Lord, we confess our sin.

So often, Lord, we fall into sin.

We choose to sin.

We believe the lies of the world and the lies of the adversary.

We believe that sin is going to give us what we so desperately want.

But Lord, we know that contentment is only found in Christ Jesus.

It's only found in obedience to the word of God.

Lord, we confess our pride, our selfishness, our self -reliance.

We confess, Lord, that we often look at the things in the world and we're drawn away to them.

We believe the lie rather than believing the truth.

Lord, forgive us of all of these things.

We thank you, Lord, that Jesus Christ is the pattern, that he is who we are to follow.

We are to walk in his steps.

And we pray, Lord, that we would do that.

Lord, thank you for all of these things.

In Jesus' name, amen.

There is regular bread and there is gluten -free bread, for those of you who have sensitivities.

Let's pray for the bread.

Amen.

Our Father, we thank you for the body of Christ.

We thank you that he lived and that he died, that he was the spotless lamb of God

who took away all of our sin.

Lord, we thank you for these things.

We thank you for his sacrificial life.

We thank you for his sacrificial death.

We thank you that he thought of us.

We're thankful, Lord, that you thought of us, that you elected us, that you predestined us

to be your sons and your daughters, that you redeemed us, that you forgave us, that you

reconciled us.

Lord, all of these things are because of Christ Jesus and what he accomplished.

So we thank you for these things, Lord.

In Jesus' name, amen.

1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 24, for I received from the Lord what I also

delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Depending on your conviction, there's both wine and juice.

The wine is in the purple cup and the juice is in the clear.

Let's pray for the wine.

Lord Jesus, we do thank you that your blood was shed, that you atoned for

sin, that you reconciled us to God the Father, that peace was achieved.

And Lord, you brought both groups into one man and reconciled us both to the

Lord God.

And we have peace through your work.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, for these things.

In Jesus' name, amen.

1 Corinthians 11, 25.

In the same way, also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new

covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's

death until he comes.

Let's pray for the preaching of the word.

Our Father, we again thank you for the cross of Christ, for his great sacrifice on behalf of sinners.

We thank you, Lord, that you've revealed yourself to us so clearly in the word of God.

And we pray that now as it is proclaimed that you would help us hear what it has to say.

We pray, Lord, that your spirit would teach us, that your spirit would move us, and that he would guide us in all

truth.

Be with Pastor Lars, give him clarity of mind and clarity of thought.

And we pray, Lord, that each one of us would leave here with a greater understanding of your character, a

greater understanding of the gospel, and a greater understanding of our responsibility to you.

We pray that we would leave here encouraged and edified.

Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 16.

Before we read this portion, this first episode in

this chapter, it would be good to rehearse the flow of the gospel account of Luke

because it is a narrative, a story that unfolds.

And each part, of course, has a message, but there is a

larger message as well of which the parts contribute.

You might recall in the early days of our study of this gospel, we set forth the unfolding emphases of

Luke's narrative.

In the early chapters of this gospel, the unfolding emphasis of our Lord's ministry was set

upon the great authority of Jesus as the son of man that is the

promised Messiah.

And so Luke relayed how Jesus had authority over demonic forces,

over nature, over disease.

And as the son of man that is the Messiah, he even had the authority to forgive sins.

And so as this authority was established, then Luke began to give emphasis to a

second matter.

Secondly, Luke recorded episodes that gave emphasis on hearing Jesus's teaching.

And I put hearing in quotation marks because that means hearing, believing, taking to heart what he

taught.

Because Jesus has messianic authority, it follows that people have a responsibility to hear

him.

That is to understand, believe, and embrace what he says.

Of course, the voice of God the Father on the Mount of Transfiguration gave this word of command.

This is my beloved son, hear him.

That's the emphasis of Luke throughout a portion of his

story.

But having then established the responsibility of people to hear Jesus because

of the authority that the Father had given him, Luke then began to emphasize thirdly that

his hearers are to obey him.

It's not enough to hear, but you have to obey.

And so we read of Jesus commanding the wind and the waves.

They obeyed him.

Even demons obeyed him.

The response to the miracle of Jesus were these words, and they were afraid and marveled, saying to one another, who can this be?

For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him.

If the winds and water obey them, you ought to also.

If demons obey him, you ought also.

And we emphasize it really accentuates and aggravates the unbelieving Jewish

leaders because they didn't obey him.

Demons did.

Demons were farther advanced than the Jewish Pharisees because they did not believe him or

obey him.

And Jesus himself pronounced upon those that both hear and obey, Luke recorded

this incident.

Then his mother and brothers came to him, could not approach him because of the crowd.

And it was told him by some who said, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desired to see you.

But he answered and said to them, my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.

Hearing and obeying.

And then in Luke 11, we read of our Lord himself pronouncing blessedness upon both the one who

hears and does and obeys him.

And it happened as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, the first Mary worshiper, raised her

voice and said, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast which nourished you.

But he said more than that.

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Disciples who hear his word and obey it are more blessed of God than even Mary,

his earthly mother.

That's what Jesus declared here.

The Holy Spirit is set forth in Luke's gospel that only true disciples have salvation.

They recognize that Jesus is the promised son of David, the King of Israel, and they confess him as Lord

of their lives.

They seek to order their lives according to his words, for they hear him and embrace his

words as God's holy word to them.

And they purpose to order their lives in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ as his disciples, those

who truly submit to him as their Lord and follow him through life.

Now in a number of episodes in the previous chapters of Luke, we began to read about arenas of life

that his disciples are to obey Jesus Christ as Lord.

So in Luke nine, Jesus spoke of the cost of discipleship, what following him would entail, and

so his disciples must be willing to suffer rather than deny him as their

savior and Lord.

And so Luke recorded the words of our Lord.

He said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross

daily, that's Luke's emphasis, and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

We're talking about salvation here.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost?

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his

own glory and in his father's and the holy angels.

Speaking about the last judgment.

Jesus taught his disciples that they were to be loving and merciful to others in their

dealings, even with strangers, as Jesus taught his disciples in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

His disciples were to be faithful and persistent in their prayer life, trusting God in faith, relying on

the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to meet every trial and every challenge.

And Jesus warned his followers against hypocrisy and covetousness.

He informed his disciples of the great trial and difficulty that awaited the fallen world as they followed him.

And so he emphasized the need to persevere in faith and obedience even until his coming for them one

day.

And so he taught his followers, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciples.

And so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has, he cannot be my

disciple.

You cannot be a Christian.

You cannot have salvation unless Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.

With no qualification, none of us are able to live to this standard, only Christ

himself could, but this is the standard which we aspire to and we look to

and we are broken before God because we fail in so many ways.

But that is our desire and our effort.

That's what true Christians do.

However, to encourage his disciples, Jesus assured them that God the Father loved them and rejoiced greatly when they

turned to him in repentance and faith.

And so we recently saw that in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, and

just the chapter we just finished, Luke 15, the Lord encouraged his people.

But now we arrive at Luke 16.

And before us, our Lord taught his disciples that one very important aspect of their lives must be fully submitted

and subordinated to him.

And this is in the arena of our finances.

Our Lord Jesus teaches us that his disciples, that is true Christians, must live as responsible

and accountable stewards of all that the Lord has given them.

And again, this is not an option.

It's what Christians are called to do.

So Jesus declared forthrightly that this is a dividing line between true and false disciples.

And so at the end of the passage, we'll consider today Jesus made this pronouncement, no servant can

serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and

despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

And so the whole money issue has to be subordinated to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so that's what we have in our passage before us.

You've been sitting a while.

In honor of the word of God, let's stand as we read this passage, shall we?

You can stretch and we can honor the Lord's word.

And Nehemiah, Ezra had the people do in their day.

Luke 16, one through 15.

Hey, Jesus also said to his disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward

and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

So he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you?

Give an account of your stewardship for you can no longer be steward.

And the steward said within himself, what shall I do?

For my master has taken the stewardship away from me.

I cannot dig.

I'm ashamed to beg.

I resolve what to do that when I'm put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

So he called every one of his master's debtors to him and said to the first, how much do you owe my master?

And he said, a hundred measures of oil.

So he said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50.

And then he said to another, how much do you owe?

So he said, a hundred measures of wheat.

He said to him, take your bill and write 80.

And so the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.

For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may

receive you into an everlasting home.

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.

He who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

And therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if you've not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be

loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these

things and they derided him.

And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your

hearts.

For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Please be seated.

So this parable we just read is commonly called the parable of the unjust steward.

It's been a troublesome parable for some, perhaps more than any other parable taught by the Lord.

And the reason is it contains a description of a dishonest man, the steward, who's given

a word of approval by one of the characters, his master in the story.

So the question posed, how is it that the Lord could or would use such a story as this,

teaching his disciples?

And so some people are troubled by it.

But this is a story in which the lesson lies in the contrast, how unlike

disciples are to this unjust steward.

If a dishonest man who had no thought of God was shrewd enough to use money to his advantage,

how diligent should Christians be as stewards before God and use his money wisely

for godly ends?

That's the lesson.

And by the way, this is but one account in which the matter of money and stewardship is mentioned.

Money or wealth was a common theme in our Lord's teaching, and it's a common subject discussed throughout scripture.

We don't address it much, except when it arises within a passage that we're addressing.

Now granted, many in this day, under the guise of Christianity, are profiteering from God's people.

And from some ministries, so -called, all we hear is an appeal for money, money, money.

But an inappropriate and ungodly response is to refuse to hear anything of the matter when the subject arises

through the course of studying the scriptures.

You cannot study the scriptures without dealing with the issue of stewardship.

And you cannot be a Christian, a true Christian.

That's what Jesus taught here.

Without having brought the issue of your finances under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Again, our Lord concluded this parable with these words, you cannot serve both God and money.

It's an impossibility.

So in the passage before us, we first read our Lord's parable itself in verses one through eight.

It's followed by our Lord's application of the parable in verses nine through 13.

And then lastly, the Lord recorded the reaction to Jesus' teaching by the Jewish Pharisees, which is

followed by our Lord's response to them in verses 14 and 15.

So let's work through these three divisions.

The parable of the unjust steward.

We won't reread that, but that's found in verses one through eight.

In the ancient world, a rich man would commonly hire a steward who served as his money or

his property manager.

And often the steward of a household was a slave of his master who had been entrusted with great responsibility.

Might think of Joseph in the house of Potiphar in Egypt.

That was very common, typical of the day.

The master would entrust all his wealth, even his business dealings to this man.

The steward had what we would call today the power of attorney.

He would have the authority to conduct the business on behalf of his wealthy employer or

master.

In this parable, the master hears the accusation that his steward has been unfaithful to him

and that the steward had been wasting, squandering, even perhaps skimming the master's wealth for himself.

He's an unjust steward.

And so the master purposes to fire him.

He called his steward before him and essentially said, I wanna see the books, get them in order,

bring them here.

We are going to inspect them.

So the steward panics at the prospect for he knows that he's not dealt wisely with his master's wealth.

In fact, it's intimated that he had been embezzling funds for himself.

The steward realized that he had to do something to prepare for the future and that's a key idea.

He had to use money available to him to prepare for the future.

For he was certain of his master that he would soon fire him and then he'd be

left with no source of income.

He reasoned with himself, I can't do manual labor.

I'm too proud to beg.

And so being a rather resourceful and ingenious man, he would settle accounts with his master debtors at a cut

rate and thereby secure their favor or friendship for which he could then

rely upon once he was out of work.

He thought to himself, I'm gonna use what I have now to prepare for later when I'm perhaps job

hunting and need a helping hand.

Perhaps he was like the politician who's been linked to a scandal and knows he's gonna be turned out to the

next election and so he thinks to himself, I can't beg.

I don't wanna work.

I know what I'll do.

I'll help pass some legislation with special interest group or a government contractor so I'll have some options

after I lose the next election.

That seems to be the way in government, corrupt government.

Well, we then read of the action of the steward in verses five through seven.

He called together the debtors of his master and offered to cut their debts if they settled immediately.

It's bargain time.

It was all legal but certainly unethical.

He was an unjust, an unfaithful steward but he would make friends with these debtors with his

master's money in turn for their favorable treatment when he was without a job at some point in the

future and interestingly, we read of the master commending his

steward when he had learned what the steward had done.

Jesus said, so the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.

The master was not commending the steward for having done rightly but having acted

shrewdly.

The master acknowledged the steward had acted wisely in his own interests rather

than the interest of his master and so the steward got himself out of a

tight spot.

Yes, the steward was fired but his prospects were not grim for he saw to it that he

used the money available to him to make provision for his future.

Again, key thought, key idea.

He had foresight with respect to his future situation.

This is what he did which we are to do with our finances and

this is the lesson of our Lord's parable.

We are to order our present lives in our stewardship with regard and view to our future

accounting to God at the final judgment.

That's what Jesus is teaching his disciples and we see that in the application of the

parable by Jesus in verses nine through 13.

After our Lord gave the parable, he gave its interpretation and application and I say to you,

make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon that when you fail,

they may receive you into an everlasting home.

He's talking about heaven, he's talking about eternity.

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.

He who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore, if you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon,

it is in this life, who will commit to your trust the true riches

that are yet in the future?

If you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

That which will be yours at the coming of Christ when he rewards his faithful stewards.

Matthew Henry gave a good synopsis of this parable.

The scope of Christ's discourse in this chapter is to awaken and quicken us all so to use

this world is not to abuse it.

So to manage all our possessions and enjoyments here as they may make for

us and may not make against us in the other world that is the world to come.

For they will do either one or the other according as we use them now.

If we do good with them and lay out what we have in works of piety and charity,

we shall reap the benefit of in the world to come.

He's talking about salvation.

And this he shows in the parable of the unjust steward who made so good a hand of his Lord's goods that

when he was turned out of his stewardship, he had a comfortable subsistence to betake

himself to.

If instead of doing good with our worldly enjoyments, we make them the food and fuel of our lusts,

of our luxury and sensuality and deny relief to the poor, we shall certainly perish

eternally.

Matthew Henry's talking about damnation.

And the things of this world which were thus abused will add but add to our misery and torment.

They will be a basis of our damnation in the final judgment.

And so Jesus rightly set forth or Matthew Henry rightly set forth the

importance of our Lord's teaching.

If you desire to be saved at the final judgment, you must be a good steward of what the Lord has given you in this

life.

You cannot be a true Christian, a true disciple unless you are faithful steward in this life.

And there will be an accounting, a final judgment one day when your life will be examined regarding your

stewardship.

Clearly, that is the lesson that Jesus was setting forth to his disciples, he was

talking to his followers.

And so our Lord spoke this parable intimating that everyone in this world is a steward before God, not just

his disciples, but everyone is a steward before God for what God has given them.

This is true of all people everywhere, but it's certainly the case for true Christians.

This is God's world, he owns everything that it contains, even that which has been or can be

produced by man.

Paul gave Timothy instruction to the rich of the world, command those who are rich, he's talking about Christian rich,

in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives

us richly all things to enjoy.

God is the giver, the provider of all things to enjoy, let these rich men do good that

they may be rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for what?

For the time to come, that they may lay hold, what?

On eternal life.

And so God has appointed you and me as his stewards.

Everything we have is owned by him.

And we have a responsibility to manage what is his on his behalf for his ends.

And one day each of us will be held account for our stewardship.

Paul wrote, moreover it's required in stewards that one be found faithful.

There is an accounting one day that we will render unto the Lord.

And so the parable applied implies that all the children of men are stewards of what they

have in this world.

Whatever we have belongs to God, it doesn't belong to you.

God has given it to you for his purposes and his ends.

And as Christ's disciples, we are to determine what those ends are and employ everything we

have, everything we are to accomplish those ends.

And so we might just stand back and attempt to explain this further

regarding our stewardship before God.

Let's consider first of all God's purposes for giving us financial means.

Everything is a gift from every good gift comes down from the father of lights, James wrote.

When we speak of our stewardship as Christians, we should consider for what purposes God gives us money.

He gives us money and resources for purposes that he has prescribed for us.

And we can mention several.

First, God gives us money so that we may be enabled by him to live simply but

comfortably in his world and that the money the Lord gives us may be used for food and

clothing, housing.

And with these things we are to be content.

Second, the Lord may give us money which we may use within reason and prudence for things that we may

enjoy.

We read in first Timothy six, he gives us all things richly to enjoy,

to make our lives more pleasant and enjoyable.

In a godly manner, of course.

Thirdly, the Lord may give us money that we are to save and invest with view to the need for future

supply or emergency.

Savings are promoted in scripture as well as wise investment.

Fourth, the Lord gives his people money to support his work and to assist or relieve the

suffering of the poor.

Money well spent is for matters such as Christian hospitality.

For buying gifts for others.

For the relief and assistance of people in need.

For financial gifts to build up the church and expand the gospel through missions.

And so God has entrusted us as stewards with the responsibility to use what he's given us

according to the directives he's set forth in his word.

As an old commentator, Dr. Lightfoot once wrote, he was actually quoting a rabbi, this world is a

house, heaven the roof, the star is the light, the earth with its fruit, its table spread, the master

of the house is the holy and blessed God, man is the steward.

Into whose hands the goods of this house are delivered.

If he behave himself well, he shall find favor in the eyes of his Lord.

If not, he shall be turned out of his stewardship, just like this unjust steward.

But the Lord has not given us financial means to enable us, of course, to commit or to continue in sin.

That would be like the unjust steward squandering his master's wealth.

The Lord does not give us money to gamble or to spend frivolously or to acquire and hoard goods

that are of little use to you or anyone else.

A simple, comfortable life is good and desirable, it's the gift of God.

Now regarding our stewardship before God, let's also consider some principles of stewardship set

forth in God's word.

And I thought through these and I came up with eight or nine I'm sure there must be others, but these are the ones that

came to my mind.

Of course, again, stewardship is a subject that's discussed in much holy scripture.

There are principles of biblical stewardship that we should understand and embrace.

First, if we've already asserted, we must affirm that God is the owner of all

things.

Nothing you have, even the clothes on your back actually belong to you but to God

who's given them to you for a purpose, his purposes.

Psalm 24, one, the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, everything in it, the world and

those who dwell therein for he's founded upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

And so that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof is a reality which is unquestionable in the light of holy

scriptures.

As owner of all things, God is free to do with those things as he pleases.

He may freely give us all things or he may withhold things.

They are his to give or withhold.

And as creatures, his creatures, we should recognize our stewardship of his creation.

Although we're granted the permission to use things for our good, thankfully, we have a

responsibility to manage what is his as good stewards.

And so we should continually acknowledge his ownership and continually feel

gratefulness and express thankfulness for all that he's given to us.

We should always ask the question, would the Lord have me use his money in this way?

That's a good question to ask.

Secondly, similar to the first principle, the second affirms that God is the provider of all

things.

God desires that his people come to know him experientially as their own personal

provider.

As a father provides for his children, God desires to provide for his children.

He can give his own what they need.

As the scriptures declare, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by

Christ Jesus.

God is the provider.

Deuteronomy 8, but thou shall remember the Lord thy God for it's he that gives the power to get

wealth.

God wants us to trust him as our provider.

He wants us to express faith in him as our provider by giving to his work.

We do this by giving the first portion of our income to him for his work.

And he promises that he will show himself as provider to them that do.

In fact, he challenges his people to trust him in this manner.

Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase.

For what end or what purpose?

So your barns may be filled with plenty, your vats overflow with new wine.

The Lord Jesus promised his disciples if they gave to his work and cause, he would see to it that other

people gave to them.

Luke 6, 38.

The Lord's promise to his disciples, give and it shall be given unto you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give into your bosom.

The idea of opening up the garment and people just pouring in grain or wheat

or whatever it is, more than you can carry.

And then again, we read of Paul's promise to the Christians at Philippi, but my God shall supply all your need

according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

And of course, those are inexhaustible.

But let's read this promise in context is to the ones at Philippi who had been faithful in giving

to God's work to Paul.

Paul said, no one in Macedonia contributed to my ministry but you.

And then he said, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches

in glory by Christ Jesus.

God does not meet everyone's needs.

He does for them that trust him with their finances and who give faithfully to his work.

He provides for and blesses faithful stewardship.

A third principle of stewardship is that the Lord desires that his people are set free from the tyranny of

worrying about money.

And many experience a great deal of torment in life over money.

And with the inflation, the way the world's going, there's anxiety and there's fear.

The Lord doesn't want that to characterize you or me as his disciples.

The love of money is a terrible task master that often controls the heart which results in many

heartaches.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith.

Those were professing Christians and they strayed.

They apostatized from the faith.

They became hypocrites in their greediness.

And notice they pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Many sorrows comes to the person who loves money at the top of the

list.

A life lived as a faithful steward on behalf of the Lord will have confidence that the Lord will provide for him in all

aspects of life.

Jesus desires to set his people free from the tyranny of worry and anxiety.

And he will do so when we trust him to be our good Lord who provides for his people in their need.

And as we are faithful in our stewardship before him.

A fourth principle is that the miserly soul will not be blessed by God.

Whether they're Christian or not.

There are many verses that speak of God not blessing them who refuse to give to his work or for the

relief of the truly needy.

Proverbs 28, he who gives to the poor will not lack but he who hides his eyes will have

many curses.

I had about two more pages that I was gonna address.

The whole idea of the Protestant work ethic that John Calvin really devised and instituted in

Geneva.

True biblical capitalism is that you attempt to gain wealth to

reinvest in your local community that you can raise the standard of living for everyone about you.

But capitalism has been corrupted to, you know, I wanna get as much as I can for myself alone

and that is not God's way.

But the true Protestant work ethic was born out of that recognition of

stewardship.

And capitalism was to build up your capital to be employed and used for the benefit of others about you.

That is gone, it would seem.

Well, again, the miserly soul will not be blessed of God.

Ecclesiastes 5, there is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely riches kept for the

owners thereof to their hurt.

It hurts them to hoard and accumulate when others are in need.

And then, of course, Haggai 1, verses 5 and following is particularly pointed in this

context.

God is telling the people they were not getting ahead because they had been concerned about, they were not concerned about

building the temple in Jerusalem in which they could worship God but they were only concerned about themselves.

Now, therefore, thus says the Lord to consider your ways.

You have so much, you bring in little.

See, God didn't bless it.

You ate but you did not have enough.

You drank but you're not filled with drink.

You clothe yourselves but no one's warm, you don't have enough.

And he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes.

Inflation is the fault of big spending by big government but it's also

the wrath of God upon a people.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.

Go up to the mountains, bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.

You look for much but indeed it came to little when you brought it home.

I blew it away.

Why?

Says the Lord of hosts because of my house is in ruins.

They weren't concerned about his work.

While every one of you runs to his own house, therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, the

earth withholds its fruit.

For I call for a drought on the land and the mountains and on the grain and the new wine and the oil on

whatever the ground brings forth on men and livestock and on all the labor of your hands.

Think recession, depression, the judgment of God.

Now this is not to say that the unfaithful person who does not give cannot gain wealth.

For in the world that frequently happens.

But two points may be made here.

You will tend to find highly successful people to be generous people, generally the case.

Unless their success would build upon wrong principles.

And then secondly, those who are wealthy and who are not generous are cursed by their wealth.

As we already have read, a man may gain money apart from being generous, but a

curse will come with that wealth.

God is able to give wealth without a curse.

A fifth principle of stewardship is that God can enable you to give to the work of his kingdom.

You may say, I just don't have enough to give.

The point is this, that God can enable you to give to his work.

He's the provider.

Perhaps not abundantly, but enough to give faithfully to his cause.

The widow woman threw in her two mites and she gave more than all others who tossed in their money.

But we read in 2 Corinthians 9, 6 -11, the promise of God.

But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or necessity.

That takes away the whole idea of faith pledges and all that stuff.

You don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow or next month or next year, okay?

For God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

In other words, he's able to put money in your pocket for to give to his work, that you

always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work.

See, it's the Lord who wants to give resources and money through his people to

needy people, poor people and to his ministries and work.

And so he's willing to use you as a channel.

And he just tries to find somebody trustworthy and faithful with whom and through whom he can channel this.

That should be our understanding.

And then he quotes scripture to substantiate his argument.

It's written, God is dispersed abroad.

He's given to the poor and his righteousness endures forever.

And then verse 10, now may he who supplies the seed to the sower, bread for food, supply and multiply

the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

He's talking about giving.

He was making a collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem and Judea.

While you're enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God

for the administration of this service, not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also in abounding through

many thanksgiving to God.

While through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ

and for your liberal sharing with them and all men.

And by their prayer for you, they'll pray for you.

I get a note about once a week from Pastor Prim and the first thing he said, I'm praying for Pastor Larson's

health and for Mary and for Jane and for, you know, for day fire and for the church

every week.

They're extremely grateful for this church and the assistance that we're able to give them.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

And then a sixth principle of stewardship is set forth in our passage of Luke 16, one and following.

We are to be wise in our stewardship with view to our accountability before God and the future.

Jesus said, I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail,

they may receive you into an everlasting home.

The comment of verse eight is a rebuke of people who profess to be religious, but who do not order their lives

with respect to a future judgment.

The future judgment, the prospect of that should direct our whole

course of life.

Jesus said, for the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light, that is

Christians.

What does he mean by that?

Well, people of this world, like this unjust steward, who have no thought of God, use their money shrewdly for

they foresee difficulties in the future and they prepare for it.

That's what the unjust steward did.

But those who profess to live godly do not behave in this fashion.

They just live for today.

They should be like this unjust steward, ordering their, using their finances with

view to the future.

Now he was looking to be out of a job, but we're looking to stand before the Lord and give an account of ourselves

one day.

They live and handle their money as though there were no day of reckoning before God, many do.

As one wrote, commentator on the Greek text, the steward had seen the urgency of the situation

and reacted sensibly toward it, so too it's implied should men react to the impending judgment

of God.

That's the lesson Jesus was pressing upon his disciples.

We're to use what God has given us in the service of others, coming to their relief, assisting them in their

difficulties and this should be done so that you'll be received into heaven, that's what Jesus said.

Your stewardship should be governed with respect to eternity and accounting that you'll have to

render.

Now this I know may sound like salvation earned by works, works righteousness, but that would be a wrong

conclusion.

It's not saying that you merit or purchase your way into heaven by bestowing your money to the poor.

Rather, relieving the poor is one evidence of genuine discipleship

and therefore a legitimate basis for assessment on the day of judgment.

This is what people of faith do.

They see this is what Jesus would have them do so they do it because they're people of faith.

They not only hear his words but obey his words.

A true Christian learns to and grows in faithful stewardship.

But of course people have to be taught these things and all of us fall short at different stages of life in

different ways and we grow in our understanding of things and hopefully this is a manner in which the Lord is sanctifying

us.

I hope we're better stewards today than we have been in the past.

We ought to be if we're anticipating the analysis that the Lord Jesus is gonna

render to us one day.

This is what the Lord was saying.

Consider what our Lord said to Matthew 25.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him and he'll sit on the throne of his glory,

all the nations, all the world, will be gathered before him and he'll separate them one from another as a shepherd

divides his sheep from the goats.

He'll set the sheep on his right hand, the goats on the left and the king will say to those on his right hand, come you,

blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and then he gives the reason

why.

Not because they merit it, no, but for when I was hungry, you gave me food.

I was thirsty, you gave me drink.

I was a stranger, you took me in.

I was naked, you clothed me.

I was sick, you visited me.

I was in prison, you came to me.

The judgment that'll be rendered on the day of judgment, how did you regard and treat your Christian

brothers and sisters in Christ?

Did you live a selfish life, hoarding everything you have without due consideration to people in need

that you could have helped, relieved, assisted?

It's gonna come back.

Those who are granted entrance into eternal life who inherit the kingdom are ones whose stewardship

included providing for Christians in their need.

I was naked, you clothed me.

Oh, when did we ever see you naked, Lord?

When you've done it to the least of these brethren, you've done it unto me.

How do we regard and treat the brethren?

And our whole financial stewardship is affected by this principle.

To fail or refuse to help those in need when it's within your ability to do so

does not portend well for your soul.

James wrote, what does it profit, brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have

works?

Can that faith save him?

Can that kind of faith save him?

No.

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be

warmed and filled, but you did not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

And thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

And on the Day of Judgment, a lot of people who profess faith are gonna be declared by Jesus, your faith

is nonexistent, it is dead, because it wasn't shown forth in loving and

caring people.

When you had the ability and the means that God had given you to do so.

James declared, if a Christian's in great need and you claim to be a Christian, but you fail or

refuse to assist him, your faith is dead.

In other words, if the Lord has given you that means and you refuse or fail

to do so.

And then the seventh principle of stewardship is that one day there will be a great accounting

of each of us before God, as we've been asserting.

And this is what our Lord was intimating in this parable.

You and I should be stewards of all that God has given us with our eye on the day when we must give an account of ourselves

and what we've done, which belongs to him.

Each of us as individuals will stand before the Lord and God will judge each one of us as

individuals.

Talk clearly in the scriptures.

Every word, every thought, every action will be scrutinized and there will be great separation of people to save from the lost.

This judgment is compared to a separation of sheep from the goats, Matthew 25, separation of wheat from

tares, separation of grain from chaff, the contents of a fishing net, the edible from the

inedible being separated, the wise and foolish bride attendants, 10

virgins, a separation of properly attired wedding guests from those who are not

properly attired, separation of those who served his people and those who failed to do so, which we read in Matthew

25.

And here in our parable, a separation between the faithful steward and the unjust and unfaithful steward.

One by one, the Lord will declare the eternal destiny of all the human race.

You to my right, you to my left.

And what will be the base of the accounting?

What you claim to believe won't be what your lips say you believe on the day of judgment, but what your life

testified that you believed.

Where's the evidence?

The just shall live by faith.

And the emphasis in Hebrew when it's quoted, it's quoted three times, I think in the New Testament.

In Hebrews, the emphasis is on live.

The just shall live by faith.

And anyone who claims to have faith but does not live by that faith will be discovered and perhaps even discover himself for the first

time he was a hypocrite, not a true disciple.

And one of the tests which will reveal that the true from the false is the manner in which they dealt with their money,

particularly how they deal with the poor and needy of this world.

An eighth principle taught by our Lord in this passage is that spiritual wealth is given to them who are faithful with

respect to their physical wealth.

Interesting comment.

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.

He who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore, if you're not been faithful in the unrighteous, ma 'am, and who will commit to your trust

true riches?

The difference of opinion is what these true riches are to be understood as.

First, they are either spiritual insights or truths which God bestows upon disciples in this life.

If you're faithful in a few things, he'll give you true riches.

But if they are unfaithful with their money, it shows they cannot be and will not be entrusted with spiritual truths.

There'll be a spiritual poverty to the miserly person.

And I wonder whether the thought might be that the Pharisees who loved money were denied insight into true

spiritual realities because they had been unfaithful stewards of what God had already

entrusted to them.

Or second, and I think this is more likely, true riches are the rewards of the age to come

which are bestowed upon them who have been faithful stewards in this life.

Now both things are true, spiritual truths and riches, and the riches to come that are beyond

our ability to fathom because they're gonna be so much more than anything, they're

nothing that we merit or earn.

It's all bestowed upon grace.

But God bestows grace, willed bestow great grace for eternity, for greater

opportunities and degrees of service, for greater glory, degrees of

glory if you've been faithful in just, what, a little bit that God has given you in this

life, in this world?

May the Lord help us to be faithful.

And then lastly, ninth, principle of stewardship, disciples should be faithful in their

stewardship so that they will one day possess that which will not be their own.

And that's what we just alluded to.

Jesus said in verse 12, if you've not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your

own?

And that suggests at the end of the age, if we're faithful in this life with what he's entrusted to us, that

one day in glory we'll be given inheritance to which is truly our own.

He will reward his people in ways beyond their comprehension if they serve him faithfully in this life.

And so our Lord concludes his instruction to his disciples, telling them that they're to flee covetousness.

No servant can serve two masters.

He'll either hate the one, love the other, or else be loyal to the one, despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

We're not talking about how much money you have.

We're talking about how much money has you.

Does money possess your soul, your heart, for what you live for?

It has to do with how much money you want to have.

It orders your life.

You cannot have as your main concern in life the desire to amass wealth and think you can serve God at the same time.

Either money or God will reign in the heart.

Everyone, as one commentator wrote, everyone who makes the accumulation and enjoyment of earthly goods, the

main object of his life, is under the dominating power thereof and is every day

performing servile labor for mammon.

And then we have to quickly, we have to close.

It's running late, I know, I'm sorry.

But still 45 minutes before noon, so.

The reaction of the Pharisees, the response of Jesus, we read in Luke 16, 14, the Pharisees who were

lovers of money heard all these things, they derided him.

So the Jewish Pharisees sneered at him, they ridiculed him.

They were consumed by the love of money, religious leaders.

In other words, they didn't love God.

You can't love God and love money.

They were lovers of money.

But further, they might fool others as to their piety, but God knew their hearts.

And they'll not get away with their deception, but one day be exposed.

Now can you imagine the horror of these men standing before God one day in this matter of

sneering at the Lord Jesus because of what he taught them?

And yet people do the same thing today.

They sneer at God's word when it's taught.

They dismiss it out of hand.

And sometimes it's particularly true when the issue of money is discussed.

They might accuse us who are legitimately attempting to teach faithfully what God says about these matters

of being covetous and money grabbing.

That's all those churches want is my money.

In reality, that reveals the very problem that plagues their own hearts like these Pharisees.

They resist any notion that someone other than themselves, whether it be the poor or God himself, has a legitimate claim

on what they view as theirs and theirs alone.

Verse 15, we read how Jesus responded to these covetous men.

He said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.

What's highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Complete reversal, 180 degrees out between the way of the world and how it

esteems people.

I've told you before about one professing Christian who once just lost it in my office.

He just came so unglued, was angry.

And the reason he gave, he was angry with God because God gave Bill Gates all that wealth and gave me none.

And my word, I had never heard such a word of covetous out

of a professing Christian's mouth.

Thank God the Lord brought him repentance a couple years later and he came back and told me so.

These Pharisees were self -righteous.

The Lord emphasized the giving of money to alleviate the suffering of the poor.

This is a good thing.

And it will be a basis of judgment.

However, self -righteous people give money to the poor as well.

The Pharisees did so faithfully, but they did it chiefly to be seen by men and gain their approval.

And they would be condemned by God's assessment of their hearts.

And so here's a corrective.

It's emphasized that it is the heart attitude which is all important, not the mere physical action of distributing to the poor

where it's possible that one can give all he possesses to the poor and even give his life to the flames,

but it'll amount to nothing if his heart is not characterized by love, according to 1

Corinthians 13.

And God is a great dissenter and judge of motives.

And so this desire and effort to be good stewards before God, it really is

a product of the grace of God in the soul.

Because that's not the way fallen people think and live naturally.

It's a supernatural way as disciples of Jesus Christ.

And it truly is more blessed to give than receive.

And of course, you people know that because frankly, you think people are so generous.

I don't know how you do it, but you do.

Thank God.

Help us, our Father, to be faithful in these matters, we pray.

Help us, our God, not to be characterized by the love of money.

Help us to always acknowledge that you are the provider of all, that you are the owner of all things, and that we have a

responsibility to seek your word and pray to

you to direct us and guide us in the way that you would have us to order our lives.

Thank you for your generosity to us, our God, and the great benefits that we

accrue from your kindness and generosity to us.

But help us, our God, to have great compassion and concern for those in need.

And may you make all grace abound to us, our God, that we can alleviate them of

their difficulty through the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, whose name we pray.

Amen.