The Parable of the Unjust Steward
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Everything that you have, everything that I have. Comes from God. We don't own it. He does. We are stewards in the kingdom of God, and God requires from us not unjust stewardship, but just stewardship.
Managing our finances well is part of what it means to be a good steward. But as you just heard from RC Sproul, stewardship extends to much more than money. Ultimately, we're called to be responsible and generous with all of the resources that the Lord has given to us. It's good to be back with you for another Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. On this Lord's Day, Dr. Sproul will help us reflect on what it means to be faithful servants of God, as he teaches on the parable of the unjust steward. Next Sunday will be our final message in the Gospel of Luke. But you can keep studying this book by receiving R. C. Sprohl's Expositional Commentary on Luke. This resource compiles over 100 sermons from Dr. Sproul's teaching ministry.
Just go to renewingyourmind.org to give, or you can use the link in the podcast show notes. Let's listen now as R. C. Sproul explores the parable of the unjust steward.
This morning we're going to begin a brand new chapter in our study of the Gospel of Luke. The sixteenth chapter. I'm going to start reading at verse one and read through verse thirteen. He 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 then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig. I'm ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship. They may receive me into their houses.
And 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. And so he said, Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty. Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, Take your bill and write. eighty. 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.
And he who is unjust in what is least. least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, Who will commit your trust to the true riches? And if you have 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 mammoth. The story starts out in a rather simple way. Jesus tells the parable of a man who was wealthy and who had a steward. There's nothing difficult or unusual about that. That was common in the ancient Jewish community, that if a person was a person of means, they would hire a manager who would live in the home.
And who would be responsible for managing the property and the assets of the owner? Of course, the one who was the steward did not own the assets he managed. They belonged to the master. Nevertheless, he was responsible and had the authority to go with that responsibility. To make decisions in the name of the master that were basically legally binding decisions. And so we read in this story that this steward had an accusation brought against him by his master. That he was wasting his goods. Now in the parable of the prodigal son, we saw one dimension of what happens to people who waste their goods and waste their lives. But in this story, it's a different situation of wasting. The steward is not wasting his own money.
He's wasting the money that belongs to his master.
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