The Unjust Steward is the parable of a manager who was wasting his master’s possessions and then used the last hours of his job to make friends.
The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth,
so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
You cannot serve God and money.
A rich man heard that his steward was wasting what belonged to the house. Turn in the account. You can no longer be steward. The man said to himself, I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. He called in the debtors and cut the bills—oil from a hundred measures to fifty, wheat from a hundred to eighty. He used what was still in his hand to secure a welcome after the keys were taken. The master praised the shrewdness, not the theft.
Jesus turns the story on the sons of light. People of this age know how to act when time is short. The church often does not. Unrighteous wealth is money as this age handles it—uncertain, stained, passing. It will fail. While it is still in your hand, put it to work for a welcome that does not fail. Faithful in very little is faithful also in much. If you have not been faithful in unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you with true riches? If you have not been faithful in what is another’s, who will give you what is your own?
Then the line that governs the chapter: no servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money.
The parable is not a license to cheat.
It is a rebuke of holy people who are dull with their money while the world is wide awake with its own.
- Commended for shrewdness is not commended for fraud.
- The crisis made him act. The church already knows the books will be opened.
- Unrighteous wealth will fail. That is certain. What you do with it before it fails is the question.
- Eternal dwellings are the aim. Friends received there are people helped here.
- Little and much, another’s and your own—stewardship is the school of true riches.
- Two masters cannot be served. The parable ends in lordship, not in accounting tricks.
- Sons of light should not be less awake than sons of this world.
- Wasting – The charge that opened the books.
- Turn in the Account – Time running out.
- Shrewd Use – What was still in his hand used for a future welcome.
- Commendation – Wisdom about the hour, not praise of sin.
- Unrighteous Wealth – Money that belongs to this passing age.
- True Riches – What God entrusts to the faithful.
- One Master – God or mammon; not both.
- Luke 16:1-4 – “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.’”
- Luke 16:5-8 – “So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’… The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”
- Luke 16:9-13 – “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and money.”
- Luke 16:14-15 – The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, ridiculed Him. What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
- Luke 16:19-31 – The rich man and Lazarus; wealth that would not cross the chasm.
- Luke 12:16-21 – The rich fool; not rich toward God.
- Matthew 6:19-21, 24 – Lay up treasure in heaven. You cannot serve God and money.
- 1 Timothy 6:17-19 – Do not set hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on God; be rich in good works, generous, ready to share, storing up treasure as a good foundation for the future.
- Matthew 25:21 – Well done, good and faithful servant; faithful over a little, set over much.
- 1 Corinthians 4:2 – It is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
- Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed.
- Matthew 25:35-40 – I was hungry and you gave Me food… as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.
- Acts 4:34-35 – There was not a needy person among them.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 – God loves a cheerful giver; He is able to make all grace abound.
- Hebrews 13:5, 16 – Keep your life free from love of money; do not neglect to do good and to share what you have.
- James 5:1-5 – The wages of the laborers cry out.
Turn in the account of your management. You can no longer be manager.
The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness—not for the fraud.
The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.
Make friends by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Faithful in very little is faithful also in much. If you have not been faithful in unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?
You cannot serve God and money.
The books will be opened. Money will fail. Use it now for a welcome that cannot fail. Be shrewd as a son of light. Serve one Master. Give while the keys are still in your hand.
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