2006-11-19 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church 

Luke 16:1-9 

1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5 So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.  

If you’re like me, you just read that verse and started scratching your head a little.  It doesn’t make sense.  The steward changed the accounting records for his own benefit, which amounts to stealing, so why would the rich man commend him for that?  Why would the rich man praise his dishonest employee who wasted his goods, and was embezzling now? 

The unjust steward served his own interests, looking out for his own future, and by doing so he hated his boss.  His actions proved that he loved himself more than his boss.  In fact, the rich man wasn’t truly his boss; his boss was his own future, his own best interests, and we might be able to say the same thing about these debtors, too.  It doesn’t seem like they had much of a problem with this hurry-up, wink and nudge debt reduction.  Surely they noticed something wasn’t right about it, so they had to decide what was more important, their own self-interests, or the rich man’s.  If they went to the rich man and told the truth, they faced having their debt reinstated.  It takes courage to do the right thing when it’s going to cost you money.  On the other hand, if they kept quiet about it, there was probably nothing the rich man could do to them.  After all, they had a receipt stamped by the rich man’s steward, clearly showing the lowered amount on it. 

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 

Even if you hold the title deed to your possessions, they’re actually only on loan to you for God’s purposes.  He entrusts them to you, and gives you the freedom to decide if mammon will be your master, or if He will.  You can take this to the bank; Jesus says worldly people will always be smarter in worldly matters, of covetousness, in looking out for themselves, but children of the light do not look out for themselves so well.  If people seem to run over you and use you, maybe you can find some comfort in knowing that children of light aren’t the wise ones in these matters.  A covetous person places his interests very high in his list of priorities, and self-preservation instincts sometimes overrule his conscience, distorting his decisions concerning right and wrong.  A child of light puts the Kingdom of heaven’s interest above his own; the desire to be received by friends in the everlasting habitations of heaven overrules his attachment to earthly things.  On his list of priorities, a child of light places his possessions and his own best interest below God’s purposes. 

In Luke 12:13-21, Jesus spoke another parable about a rich man.  This rich man’s ground brought forth plentifully, so he decided to build bigger barns, store up the produce and goods he had, and retire in a life of luxury.  Then God said to him, tonight your soul shall be required of thee, so whose barns and goods will they be then?  Everything would be given to someone else.  We are no different from that guy if our hearts are with our earthly treasures.  Jesus says that we need to be rich toward God, not toward ourselves.  We should be storing up incorruptible treasures in heaven (Matt 6:19-21), never retiring from our labors until the day He requires our soul. 

Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?