“The Case for Christ: - Luke 16: Stewardship in K/G”

We continue tonight in the parable of the unjust steward found in Luke 16.

Before we go on, I would like to note, first, that, although, in this particular parable, the steward’s concern is with worldly goods, we will not think in terms of just property or money as we continue.

We will consider it in terms of all worldly effects, including health, wisdom, knowledge, all the faculties of the mind, body, and soul; that is, we will think in terms of everything we have, in and of ourselves, that is part of our earthly effects.

And I do this because the Scripture teaches this throughout and Jesus Himself expanded it to ‘true riches’, as well.  

So we are not going to consider this in the limited terms of money only.

Then, secondly, when Jesus talked about His kingdom, He was giving glimpses of it that introduced the breathtaking idea of an overall purpose of life brought together into a  meaningful pattern.

And that purpose called for radical, revolutionary changes in the ideas about life.

One of the changes was what Luke 16 included: it is about the attitude of His stewards toward all worldly effects. 

How the ‘least’ is handled is affected by the attitude toward ‘the least’.

In stewardship, the governing attitude is how it is handled in relationship to the ‘much’ that His stewards receive.

Thus, Jesus, in teaching His disciples, taught that stewards have a commitment of life that binds together faith in Christ plus life with a singleness of purpose. 

And, that of course, can never happen without the radical change in thinking and action about life and life situations.

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Now we go on to consider how His stewards can have such single-minded fidelity to Christ in order to undergo the radical changes demanded of them in His kingdom.  

It can be done only because they are convinced that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed the gospel of God and, thus, can confidently exalt God in their convictions and knowledge of Him.

We love and adore God the Father Who chose us even before the foundations of the world were laid.

We greatly love Christ, His Son, Who redeemed and sanctified us through the giving of Himself for us.

And we steadfastly reverence and increasingly cherish the indwelling Holy Spirit Who is our constant Guide.  

And, because these facts are so in us, it, first of all, reveals that we have in actuality received the truth of God. 

We are aware of being closely connected with and to Him, aware of having His eternal consciousness within us. 

With this eternal truth and actuality fixed, then, our esteem of God highly exalts Christ and His kingdom. 

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And then, also, the stewards can have unconditional faithfulness to Him because there is the consciousness that everything we have is out from the hand of God Himself.

So - when we hear Him say, ‘...all the earth is mine...every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills...for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof’, when we hear God say that, we know that to be a fact and we can accept that He has given us all our earthly effects, even the power to acquire them, to use them, and to enjoy them.

Eccl 5:19 tells us that! It says: ‘Every man also to whom God hath given riches and treasures, and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor: this is the gift of God.’

He has given us all we have and are. And, He has given them to enjoy and to use befittingly.  

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Scriptural Examples:

King David is a good example of this eternal consciousness of God’s benevolence.

He saw that everything he had came from the Eternal God.

And he could earnestly say these words before his congregation as he prayed: ‘...from Thee came the riches and the glory, and in Thy hand it lies to make all things great and strong. 

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.

O Lord our God, all this store...cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own.’ (1 Chron 29:12,14,16) 

Yes, indeed! ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.’ (Ps 24:1)

In this dispensation, there is the example Paul was in having this same eternal consciousness of what he received from God.

Some of the Christians were boasting of the gifts and talents they had.

So Paul asked the rhetorical question: ‘...and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it?’ (1 Cor 4:7)

Of course, the New Testament’s obvious answer is found in James 1:17: ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Who is Himself never subject to change neither shadow that is cast by turning.’ 

Thus, the stewards of Christ and His kingdom can change radically since, first, they are eternally conscious of the Gospel of God and of their connection in and with Him.

And, secondly, they are conscious of everything they have as having come from Him! 

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So, what, then, are the important adjustments needed in the management of his earthly effects for a steward to harmonize with Christ? What did Jesus expect of them? 

First, He stressed unconditional faithfulness to God’s purpose in verses 10-12 of Luke 16.

Every called steward has a particular purpose in Christ’s kingdom.

That puts him under a sense of obligation to manage and discharge those things provided him according to God’s will and for God’s purposes.

He has, in himself, that ‘eternal conscience’ that urges him to be sensitive, intelligent, and trustworthiness in governing all that has been given him.

He knows that he is only holding these things ‘in trust’ and they need to be managed with fidelity.

Jesus taught this principle of the faithful administration in the parable of the nobleman who gave each of his servants ten pounds. (Lu 19)

Before leaving on a journey, the nobleman told the stewards to ‘Occupy till I come’, which is a way of saying: ‘Trade, or invest this well, until I return.’

The stewards were to ‘hold in trust’ the master’s property until he came back. 

Jesus was soon to be ‘offered up’. So, by using this parable, He was saying to the disciples: ‘I am going away. And I leave you as My stewards in this world.

By your faithfulness to Me, ‘occupy’ or, wisely use the earthly effects I have given you for the sake of the Kingdom of God.’

He was committing to them highly valuable ‘goods’!

Thus, being entrusted with the mysteries of the kingdom, the disciples would become His confidants and trustees. 

And, with them, they were to be ‘...rich in good works...
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life’ and be ‘...received into everlasting habitations.’

If we love and adore God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, it is not long before the ‘eternal conscience’ within testifies to this high responsibility of the faithful stewardship of every part of life we have received from Him. 

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As strange as it may sound, in actuality, the only things we really have are the things that we are!

There is no man who can really tell whether he is rich or poor by just looking at his financial affairs.

A man is really rich or poor on the inside - in his heart. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has!

Everything we have is transient as well as incomplete. It has the uncanny manner of slipping away even as we hold it.

Prov 23:5: ‘Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.’

The Lord giveth’ and He ‘also taketh away’, Job said, so he blessed the name of the Lord for what he did have. (Job 1:21)

God orders the distribution of all a man has according to the purpose and plan of His will.

And - since all things are God’s, it calls for unconditional faithfulness in the management of what He has given.  

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And this brings us to the next adjustment stewards make that harmonizes with Christ and His kingdom.

For this, we turn to Rom 12:1: ‘I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies - presenting all your members and faculties - as a living sacrifice, holy, (devoted, consecrated) and well-pleasing to God which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. 

Do not be conformed to this world...but be ye transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind - by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God...’. (Amp)

What did the Pharisees know about being a ‘living sacrifice’ unto God?  

Back in Luke 16:14, Jesus reproved them of their covetousness. They were behaving far outside of the ‘good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’

Their sacrifices and ways conformed to this world in their religious pursuit!

‘Gimmie, gimmie’ was the clamor of the heart! 

Jesus said of such covetous people, in v 15: ‘Ye are they which justify yourselves before men: but God knoweth your hearts...’.

But God knoweth your hearts! ‘...for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.’

Is that plain enough? He minced no words! Their hearts were governed by covetousness. 

That is anathema in God’s eyes! 

Jesus, God’s Son, said it! He reproved them soundly!

He made absolutely clear that in the kingdom of God there are no selfish pilferers!  

They have no share in the deep things of God that are apportioned to the stewards of His kingdom. 

Thus, it is His stewards who wisely submit to adjustments in thoughts and attitudes of heart to do away with this kind of spiritual divide.

And that insinuates, along with unconditional faithfulness, a ‘living sacrifice’ of all worldly effects. 

The entire spirit, soul, and body are given to Christ in self-consecration, a full renewing of the mind in order to prove God’s good, acceptable, perfect will.

When we know that God knows the heart only too well, we begin taking notice of what is coming out from the heart.

That is when we seek the change Christ desires to effect.

And as he has freely given, so we, also, freely give Him our all to Him as a living sacrifice!

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On the other side is the word of the Lord given by Isaiah.

It shows God’s mind about sacrifices offered by the selfish that are meaningless and empty.

‘The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way; and he that hateth reproof shall die. Death and destruction are open to the view of the Lord: how much more, then, the hearts of the children of men.’ (Prov 15:8-11) 

The attitude of the ‘coveteous’ Pharisees falls into this class of people willing to justify themselves.

Listen - if we justify ourselves, if we live according to the ideals and values of men and not of God, if there is a ‘froward’ heart, a heart inclined to this evil, we are ‘spiritual pilferers’ insisting upon our ‘sacrifices’ and ‘ways’ in trying to press into Christ and His kingdom! 

We are neither walking in His ways nor keeping His Word!

And that is not a small thing! ‘The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?’ (Prov 21:27)

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Do not let us play with fire here! 

Do not let us come to these statements thinking that we have found a soft and sentimental teaching!

There is more to Christ and His kingdom to learn - from within and from without - than what we are able to grasp!

And there is far more than what we are able to receive - believe me!

We are called to live wholly unto Him now as good stewards in all that involves attitudes, words, and works - a full consecration of all that we have and are! 

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Time is so short. We can fool ourselves into thinking the world is getting better.

But we are soon coming to that timeless eternity when we will see the vastness of His divine purpose in Christ. 

That is when ‘the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day...

And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.’

That day lies yet ahead of us! Isaiah gave that picture when he prophesied of the coming day of the Lord in Isa 2:17-19.

Until it comes, I pray we all shall see our high calling as His stewards. 

And for that, I pray: ‘Lord, make us unconditionally faithful to You and Your kingdom and make us into living sacrifices that are pleasing to You!’       

Amen! So be it!