The Dishonest Steward

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/3ylps4

While manager of a retail store many years ago I was forced to fire an employee who was stealing from the company. She had been giving away our products to some of her friends as well as taking some of the money from the register.

Surprisingly she found other employment within a few days. Guess who hired her? It was the company where her friends worked.

It’s sad that some people don’t see the value in morality and ethics. I guess I should say “biblical” morality and “biblical” ethics. You see, regardless of a person’s relationship with God, everyone does have a set of morals and ethics. But not all are based on God’s standards.

The employee that we had to let go was unethical. She broke the rules. But she was also shrewd. In breaking the rules she was laying the groundwork for her next job.

Jesus tells a parable of a dishonest steward in Luke 16:1-13. This is a difficult parable for many since all of the characters are basically evil. The rich man, his steward and even the customers are all behaving in unethical ways. Their standards are not God’s. Here is that parable.

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.’

“Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am 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.’

“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 fifty.’ Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?’ So 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 is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust 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 mammon.”

Faithfulness in a steward is demanded. This steward saw his career in jeopardy because of his unfaithfulness. Who would trust a dishonest steward? Only those who benefit from a dishonest steward.

Jesus wants us to be good stewards of His will. He wants our loyalty to be only on Him and not on the world. We cannot serve both sides. We must choose one or the other.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”

In the parable of the talents Jesus tells us that two men were faithful as stewards. They proved their faithfulness by doubling their amounts of five and two talents. They were then granted rule over even greater things. But the one talent man was not faithful and even lost what he had.

If a person is faithful in the small things he will also be faithful in the larger things. The same is true of unfaithfulness.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we resolve that we will always be faithful to God in small things as well as in large things.

Our thought for the day: “In stewardship no man can perform the duty of another. No proxy is allowed or possible. Stewardship involves personal responsibility.” C. A Cook

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.