LEARNING FROM A SCOUNDREL
Introduction:
1. Parable of the Unrighteous Steward is found in Lk. 16:1-13.
2. Jesus used many ways to teach us the nature of the kingdom.
3. Simple and familiar, His illustrations usually hit home
easily
4. But, this parable of the unrighteous steward has been the
cause of a great deal of puzzlement.
5. This story seems out of place, especially after the account
of the prodigal son and his Father's Love. Luke 15:11-36.
6. Parable -- Presented to teach ONE lesson about the kingdom.
7. The details of a parable should not be pulled our of context
and made to teach conflicting doctrines.
8. Notice in the parable of the Good Samaritan: Oil, bandages,
beast, Inn, 2 shillings, keeper of the inn, etc.
The Parable answered the question: "Who is my neighbor?"
The details were all a part of the physical elements of the
parable. They cannot be given spiritual applications. If
so, then each person can put some different meaning.
Cf. The Book of Revelation.
9. Read the parable: Luke 16:1-13.
BODY:
I. WE LIVE IN A PROSPEROUS AGE:
1. I suspect that most of us here today are somewhere between
material comfort and material affluence.
2. By that I mean, we are pretty much strangers to poverty. We
have been richly blessed. And, how grateful we should be.
3. Have we ever considered that our blessings are a test of
our character. As to how they effect our being.
4. For this reason, we need to be very serious when we ask
ourselves how we are going to spiritually survive this "Lap
of Luxury" into which God, in His providence, has placed
us.
5. Our full cupboards and peaceful lives, if we are not
extremely careful, can destroy us.
6. That is, they will, if we do not grasp the important lesson
of this unusual parable.
II. DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND HOW JESUS WOULD COMMEND THIS MAN:
1. Others have taken the story and given widely varying views,
often contradictory explanations.
2. Actually, the one lesson of the parable will be very clear
when all of the parts of the story are allowed to be merely
background information.
3. It should be obvious that the central character of this
parable is an outright crook.
4. The Lord Himself calls him "unjust" or "unrighteous" (vs 8)
5. He was the trusted manager of a rich man's estate and had
been wasting his master's wealth, either by fraud or by
extravagant living.
6. When called upon to surrender his position; this dishonest,
but cunning, steward began to consider his options for his
own survival.
7. Honorable routes are dismissed:
(1) His easy life had made him too soft to work, (vs 3)
(2) He was too proud to beg. (vs 3)
8. He decides to steal even more from his master by arranging
with his master's debtors to reduce the amount they owed.
(vs 6,7).
9. There was no guarantee that their gratitude would bring him
any security, when his present position was gone, but he
did face the reality of his situation and sought to insure
his future.
10. Jesus surprises us a bit by saying that the steward's
cheated master expressed admiration for his shrewdness
(vs. 8).
11. Then He startles us even more by commending the man's
shrewdness Himself. (vs 8b).
III. THE LESSON:
1. Our amazement can be relieved when we recognize that Jesus
is not commending anything about this scoundrel, except one
thing -- HE HAD ENOUGH SENSE TO FACE THE REALITIES OF THE
FUTURE AND MAKE PROVISION FOR THEM. (vs. 9).
2. Jesus then emphasizes this principal alone when He urges
upon His disciples that they, too, should use the physical
things to obtain eternal blessings.
3. This is not a secondary lesson. It is central to our
spiritual life.
4. If we are wise, we must face the fact that death is going
to take what we are presently holding, and our sins will
have put us in a terrible position in the future, unless we
have wisely used what we NOW control.
Conclusion:
1. We need friends, especially one particular friend.
2. We need Jesus, who has power over sin and can admit us into
that "everlasting home" when this old world is on fire.
3. We need God Almighty.
4. We need to invest all that we have with Him.
5. There is another added lesson in the text:
(1) vs 10-13.
(2) We are owners of what we hold. We are stewards of the
wealth of Another. We need to realize that there will
come a day of accounting of how we have managed our
trust--whether for selfish indulgence or for His
eternal purposes.
(3) On the basis of what we have done with the wealth He
has put within our care, the Lord will determine
whether we will receive those eternal riches.
(4) In our service to Him, we had best not be:
(a) to weak to work earnestly for His cause, nor
(b) too ashamed to beg for forgiveness.
6. I close with a poem by Theodore W. Brennan:
I LOOKED
I looked upon a farm one day,
that once I used to own;
The barn had fallen to the ground,
The fields were over grown.
The house in which my children grew,
Where we had lived for years--
I turned to see it broken down,
And brushed aside the tears.
I Looked upon my soul one day,
To find it too had grown.
With thorns and nettles everywhere,
The seeds neglect had sown.
The years had passed while I had cared,
For things of lesser worth;
The things of Heaven I let go
While minding things on Earth.
To Christ I turned with bitter tears,
And cried, "O Lord, forgive!
I haven't much time left for Thee,
Not many years to live."
The wasted years forever gone,
The days I can't recall;
If I could live those days again,
I'd make Him Lord of All.
--Theodore W. Brennan
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