In Matthew 10:16, Jesus advised us to “be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” Was Jesus telling believers to be two-faced hypocrites? Was He saying we need to be unjust in our daily activities and dealings, and then turn right around and act like model Christians on Sunday? No. Jesus was communicating how we should be as “cunning” as the serpent who deceived Eve in the garden; or rather, be “strategic” in our business activities. However, at the same time we need to be “harmless” and “above reproach,” seeking God’s justice in everything we do. In Romans 16:19, in the New International Version, Paul summarized this thought, saying, “I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”
We are not to be as the ungodly by employing their methods, but by using their creative capacity. Allow me to provide you with an example of how cunning people can be when it comes to something like illegal activity. I once knew a man who would scour parking lots looking for lost receipts. When he found one, he would then enter the store and pick up the items listed on the receipt, and then go to the service desk and say he had purchased them recently, and he wanted to return them for a full refund. He would then have cash in hand. This practice is dishonest; but look at the level of creativity involved! We, as believers, should put forth this much thought and care into helping people come to know Christ; and this is the message that Jesus wants to communicate in this parable.
A Poor Steward of Another’s Welfare (vv. 1-2)
1 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. 2 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.”
Jesus told the story of a rich man who had a steward; one who, according to Warren Wiersbe, had forgotten “that he was a steward and began to act as if he were the owner. He became a ‘prodigal steward’ who wasted his master’s wealth. His master heard about it and immediately asked for an inventory of his goods and an audit of his books. He also fired his steward.”(1) A good place to start in the exposition of this parable is to ask, “What was the understanding of the word ‘steward’ during the time in which Jesus lived?” The New Bible Dictionary shares the following information:
In the Old Testament a steward is a man who is ‘over a house.’ In the New Testament there are two words translated as steward: 1.) epitropos, is one to whose care or honor one has been entrusted, a curator, or a guardian; and 2.) oikonomos, is a manager, or a superintendent [we get our term “economics” from this word]. The word [oikonomos] is used to describe the function of delegated responsibility, as in the parables of the laborers, and the unjust steward.
More profoundly, it is used of the Christian’s responsibility, delegated to him under Christ’s kingly government of His own house. All things are Christ’s, and Christians are His executors or stewards. Christians are admitted to the responsibilities of Christ’s overruling of His world.(2)
In verse 1, we are told that the steward was wasting the master’s goods. We see in verse 2, that because he was irresponsible with what had been entrusted to him, the master took away everything he had been given. We just discovered that a steward is over someone’s household, and that we as Christians are responsible for the household of God. Therefore, if we waste our Master’s resources then, like with the unjust steward, what we have been entrusted with will be taken away. Henry Blackaby speaks about God removing our stewardship responsibilities, saying this:
If you or your church are not faithful with what God entrusts to your care, don’t be surprised if He refuses to give you more. Don’t be surprised if He even takes away what He gave you.
For instance, suppose God gives a church several new people who join on profession of their faith. If the church just leaves them to grow and mature on their own, these new believers may get discouraged and drop out. Have you ever heard a church say something like, “We are bringing people in the front door, and they are leaving out the back door?” If God is giving them, and a church is loosing them, the church would do well to take a serious look at the stewardship of those lives God is giving.(3)
Are we being good stewards with the people entrusted to our care within the church, and in our own personal relationships? If not, then the Lord has something to say to convict us and hopefully get us back on track.
A Wise Steward of His Own Welfare (vv. 3-8)
3 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. 4 I have 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 master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, “How much do you owe my master?” 6 And he said, “A hundred measures of oil.” So he said to him, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.” 7 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.” 8 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.
What’s going on here? In verse 3, the unjust steward said, “What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.” The steward said that he couldn’t dig. I think it’s safe to point out that what the steward was really saying was, “I will not dig.” Digging is hard work, and the steward didn’t want to tire himself with physical labor. We also see that he was too proud to beg. The unjust steward didn’t care about the welfare of his master’s property; he was only concerned about his own well-being.
In verses 4-7, we see that when he was reminded of his failure that he devised a plan. Wiersbe elaborates about this scene, “The steward knew he would lose his job. He could not change the past, but he could prepare for the future. How? By making friends of his master’s creditors so that they would take him in when his master threw him out. He gave each of them a generous discount, provided they paid up immediately, and they were only too glad to cooperate.”(4)
In verse 8, we read that the unjust steward’s “master complimented him on his clever plan.”(5) This seems difficult to understand. Yes, he did bring in money for the master from people who still owed, and “some” money is supposed to be better than “no” money; but the unjust steward did this without permission, and the master would not get the full amount that was owed to him.
Jesus commented, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light” (v. 8). He was emphasizing how those who are worldly spend more time and effort on trying to secure their own welfare than they spend on spiritual matters and things eternal. They appear to be more ingenious, brilliant, and creative about lining their pockets, growing their bank account or stock portfolio, and serving their own desires than they are about the things of the Master or God.
We, as Christians, sometimes act like sons and daughters of the world, rather than sons and daughters of the light. The unjust steward was commended for his ingenuity, resourcefulness and creative thought processes; not necessarily for his deceptive activities. We need to take this worldly shrewdness and channel it into the things of God. Can you imagine how fast churches would be growing, if we put this kind of thought and energy into the Lord’s kingdom?
Warren Wiersbe says, “Jesus did not commend the steward for probing his master or for encouraging others to be dishonest. Jesus commended the man for his wise use of opportunity. The children of this world are experts at seizing opportunities for making money and friends and getting ahead. God’s people should take heed and be just as wise when it comes to managing the spiritual affairs of life.”(6)
Handle God’s Business Like It’s Your Own (vv. 9-12)
9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 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. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
In verse 9, we see the term “mammon,” and we know that mammon is “money.” So, what is “unrighteous mammon?” Commentator Mike Andrus says, “The term ‘mammon’ . . . refers not just to money but to all our possessions. In the King James it is called ‘mammon of unrighteousness,’ because there is often a good deal of unrighteousness in the earning of it – tax manipulations, gambling, greed, cheating, etc.”(7) Andrus elaborates on how the unjust steward possibly earned unrighteous mammon, stating this:
The Old Testament forbade a Jew to charge another Jew interest on a loan. However, some merchants got around the prohibition by loaning a certain amount of money and then writing the loan agreement for a larger amount than was actually loaned. If that is what happened in this story, the dishonest manager may have canceled the illegal portion of the debtors’ bills.(8)
Why would Jesus tell us to utilize unrighteous mammon? Was He saying that we should lie and cheat like the unjust steward did with his master’s resources? We just read how the steward made friends by cancelling a portion of their debt. Jesus wasn’t saying that we should make allies through unrighteous dealings, but by using the same level of strategic planning; and when He mentioned making friends, He was referring to winning people to salvation by sharing with them the gospel. You see, the gospel proclaims the good news of cancelled debt – that is, the debt of sin - and thereby wins over friends for Jesus Christ and the kingdom.
Look again at verses 10-12: “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?”
There are two applications here. The “first application” deals with money, for God entrusts us with monetary resources to use for His glory. Wiersbe says, “People who are unfaithful in the way they use money are also unfaithful in the way they use the ‘true riches’ of God’s kingdom. We cannot be orthodox in our theology and at the same time heretical in the way we use money. God will not commit His true riches to individuals or ministries that waste money.”(9) This observation can be applied to individuals who refuse to tithe, and to churches that fail to use their resources to reach their community for Christ. God won’t give us more, if we refuse to use what we’ve already been given.
The “second application” deals with spiritual investing. Allow me to share one last quote from Wiersbe: “It is tragic to see how God’s wealth is being wasted by Christians who live as though Jesus never died and judgment is never coming . . . The heritage of the past must be used wisely in the present to guarantee spiritual dividends in the future. All of us should want to meet people in heaven who trusted Christ because we helped to pay the bill for gospel witness around the world, starting at home.”(10) We pay the bill for gospel witness by getting out there and witnessing ourselves! We need to be diligent in using spiritual resources if we wish to receive a return on our investment; and that return will be both souls won for Christ and rewards waiting in heaven.
Time of Reflection
The people that God uses are creative and wise about how they utilize their God-given gifts and abilities. Jesus admonished us to be just as clever in our use of the Lord’s resources as we would our own. We need to take all of the creativity and cunning that we have learned from our survival in this crooked world, and apply that same innovative capacity to building the kingdom of God. If we are not careful, “we will start wasting our lives instead of investing them, and we will one day find ourselves ‘friendless’ as we enter the gates of glory.”(11)
The Lord works through believers to share the currency of the gospel, by which souls are purchased back to God. I like the statement I saw on a church sign, which reads, “Jesus paid the price. You get to keep the change.” Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Jesus paid the price for your sins by dying on the cross for you, so that you might have eternal life. Romans 10:9 says that if you will believe that Jesus died for you and rose again from the grave, and confess Him as Savior and Lord, that you will be saved; your life will be changed and your debt of sin will be forgiven.
NOTES
(1) Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books), p. 238.
(2) The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1962).
(3) Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God (Nashville, TN: Lifeway Press, 1990), p. 189.
(4) Wiersbe, p. 239.
(5) Ibid., p. 239.
(6) Ibid., p. 239.
(7) Mike Andrus, A Bad Man’s Good Example. Taken from the Internet March 2000 at http://www. efree.org/a_bad_mans_good_example.htm.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Wiersbe, p. 240.
(10) Ibid., p. 239.
(11) Ibid., p. 240.
