THE UNJUST STEWARD

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 6, 1879

THE UNJUST STEWARD.

Please explain the parable of the unjust steward, Luke 16:1-12. G. H. G.

Ans. The verses most generally considered obscure are the 8th and 9th: “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. 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.” We remark, first, that the word lord in verse 8 does not mean the Saviour, but the lord, or master, by whom this steward was employed. The steward, while he held the office, had complete control of his master’s goods. When he learned that he was about to be turned out of the stewardship, he saw that he must make some provision for the future while he could, and hence took the course described in the parable. His master commended his foresight and prudence in this respect; not that he justified him in this any more than he did in squandering his goods for which he called him to an account; but he saw that in doing this before he lost control of the goods, he had made provision for his future wants.

Now, says the Saviour, the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light; that is, those who are seeking and serving this world manifest more wisdom and foresight in providing for their future prospects in this life, than professing Christians manifest in the use of their worldly goods in making provision for a life to come. Then follows the exhortation: Make to yourselves friends of, or with, the mammon of unrighteousness, worldly riches, that when ye fail, or have no longer the stewardship of these things, they, the friends we made with these means while we had them, may receive us into everlasting habitations.

The friends of this steward had really received means by his dealings with them, and they received him into their houses, and he thus enjoyed the benefits of the goods he had been steward of, long after they had passed out of his hands. We are for a while made stewards of some of the treasures of this world, either little or much. The time is coming when this will cease, and only everlasting habitations will be able to shelter and preserve us. Can we use the resources of our stewardship here in a manner to strengthen our passport to those habitations? God, Christ, and angels are all interested to bring us through to those habitations. And there is one thing which they particularly mark, and that is, how we use our earthly possessions, whether we concentrate them selfishly upon ourselves for our own personal enjoyment, or whether we use them to advance the cause of God here upon earth, thus co-operating with those heavenly beings who are so much interested in our salvation. Using our means in this latter way, we show ourselves friends to them, and, the heart being right, make them friends to us. Then the Bible represents that we are laying up treasure in Heaven; and it will be found, when all earthly things shall pass away, that we have used our stewardship so wisely that everlasting habitations are open to us, and that our perishable earthly treasures have turned to eternal riches, and stand to our account in the kingdom of Heaven.