Steward Leadership - Parable of the Unjust Steward Part 2

    This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.  

Today we continue our series on steward leadership. One author defines a steward as “someone who manages resources belonging to another person in order to achieve the owner’s objectives.” In our context, we are managing resources provided by the Lord for our Village Church Planting work.  

In my previous podcast, I introduced three themes that I see in this parable

· Stewards must give an account.  

· The shrewdness of the steward and the commendation from his master

· The criticality of faithfulness in both small things and in our stewardship of finances

In this episode, we address the steward’s shrewdness and the praise for this that he received from the master. We read in verse 8.  “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly…”  What is that all about?  

This parable does not seemingly make much sense in many ways.  Why would the rich man – the master – commend a servant who wasted his goods and then discounted others’ debts to him?  The key to understanding Jesus’ story is that it is not about master and servant relationships. Rather, it is about how to handle money correctly.  

On a quick side note, it occurs to me that the actions of the unjust steward caused others to join with him in his dishonesty. Our faithful stewardship – or our failure in this – has an impact upon others.  

As we consider why the master complimented the unjust steward, we must first realize that he was not applauding the man’s dishonesty. Instead, it was because he realized how the dishonest steward used (or misused) his access to resources to proactively prepare for his imminent judgment and to secure his future.  

Verses 8 and 9 elaborate on this point.  “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.  I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”  

A principle that we can take from these comments is that Jesus encourages us to be generous with our possessions in this life so that we can further the gospel and gain friends for eternity. This is similar to his teaching on wealth in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus exhorted His followers to lay up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19–21).

If we understand the principle that everything we own is a gift from God, then we realize that God is the owner of everything and that we are His stewards. As such, we are to use the Master’s resources to further the Master’s goals.  

In our next episode, we will continue our study of steward leadership and the parable of the Unjust Steward.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.