Have you ever heard or read of such a unique and perfectly planned crime that you said to
yourself, "That was really clever"? For example, was it not amazing that that group of men in
England could steal millions of dollars without firing a shot? We have to admit it was a bad thing
well done. They knew what they were doing, and were dedicated to their plan. We do not
approve of their crime, but we admire their commitment. They were willing to sacrifice their life
for the goal they have chosen. Does this sound like blasphemy to be admiring the dedication of
clever crooks and their evil schemes? If it does, it may be because we have forgotten how seldom
Jesus used people with halos to illustrate His teachings.
Do you remember the story of the mean old judge who would not help a poor old widow? But
she kept bothering him till he finally gave in, and what Christ was teaching was this: If a stubborn
unjust judge will help a widow just to get rid of her, how much more will God help those who call
upon Him because He loves them? Or what of the story of the man wanting bread who goes to his
neighbor who is in bed? He tries to get him to go away, but finally just to get rid of him he gets up
and gives him bread. The point is, if a man will be kind in order to get rid of a nuisance, how
much more will God be kind to those who come to Him in need?
We are now considering a parable that has perplexed many people, and has caused some critics
to say that Jesus taught it was wise to cheat if you are smart enough to get by with it. The hero of
the story is an outright crook, and Jesus uses him as an example for His disciples. Jesus was not
limited to saints for His illustrations. Jews could not loan money for interest, so they hired Gentile
stewards to do it for them. The steward was completely in charge, and he kept all the books. He
would loan to farmers to get them going, and they would pay back so much of a percent of their
crops. He was one who made sure they paid back the right percentage.
This particular steward was wasting his master's profits (no doubt in wickedness, for the word
is the same as that used of the Prodigal who wasted his substance in riotous living). When his
master heard of it, he called him and told him to give an account. When he saw that the books
were false he fired him. The steward faced the consequences and pictured the future. He was not
able to dig or beg, so he came up with a clever plan. He called his lord's debtors and gave them all
a big discount so they would be his friends when he lost his job, and in gratitude would take him
in. It was so clever that even his lord, when he heard of it, said that the man was really sharp. It is
a shame to lose a man with such a good head on his shoulders. Jesus then comments on this story
and teaches us some lessons from this unjust steward. First we see
I. A LESSON ON THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD. v.8
In World War II, Leslie Weatherhead was in a battalion located in a bend of the Tigris River.
They were constantly annoyed by the cleverest thieves in the world-the Arabs. The men would
sleep with revolvers under their pillows and have them stolen in the night. They even tried to bury
their rifles under the surface of the ground and fasten straps to their wrists. After a night of
unbroken slumber they would wake to find them stolen. Two of his fellow officers were so angry
they were determined to shoot any Arab on sight, and so with rifles loaded they laid out in the
desert all night to keep watch. They did not hear or see anything, but when they came back to
their tent in the morning, the entire contents had been looted. They were absolute experts in the
field of crime.
'Twas the night before Thanksgiving,
And all through the plane
Not a stewardess was smiling,
Or serving champagne.
The reason was because a skyjacker by the name of Don Copper had flashed a bomb and
demanded 200,000 and four parachutes. In Seattle the demand was me, and the passengers were
allowed to leave the plane. He then ordered the pilot to fly to Mexico. Somewhere between
Seattle and Reno he opened the rear door and bailed out with the money. Law enforcement
agencies combed the area, but no trace of him could be found. The reaction of the American
people was one of amazement at his cleverness. He was admired as a hero, for he outwitted the
system. The majority of people interviewed hoped he would get away because he was so clever.
Jesus is saying to His disciples that they can learn from non-Christian dedication, even the
dedication of crooks. Look at the world and learn something from their commitment to their evil
goals. Jesus is not approving of their actions. He is simply pointing out that they are often more
devoted to, and consistent with their ungodliness than Christians are with their profession of faith.
In the long run the worldly are fools, but in the short run they are often wiser in attaining their
goals than believers are in attaining theirs.
Why should we not be as dedicated to God as the world is to their idols? They devote their
time and money to their idols. They are not hypocritical saying that they love their idol, and then
give only one or two hours a week to it. What would you think of a man who said his god was
sports, and then only went to one sporting event a week. You would denounce him as a hypocrite.
If sports was his god, he would be into some sort of sport everyday, and when not doing it, he
would be reading about it and talking about it. A truly religious sports fanatic has no limit to his
love, for it penetrates into his very being, and he exists for it. The true sports worshiper will deny
himself, his family, his friends and relatives, and give up all other values to be loyal to his first
love. Sure he is a fool, but Jesus would say even his folly shows you what true commitment is to
ones highest values.
They are relatively wise and absolutely foolish, but we can learn from them anyway. An
ancient proverb says, "It is lawful to learn from an enemy." Jesus said, "Be wise as serpents and
harmless as doves." It is the one characteristic or quality of the serpent we are to learn from, and
not be like the serpent in its evil ways. When Jesus said He would come as a thief in the night He
was not identifying Himself with the evil motives of the thief, but just the one quality of
suddenness. He is not saying we should be like crooks, but that we should learn from their
commitment to false gods what our commitment ought to be to the true God. Look at some of the
values we see in this unjust steward.
1. FORESIGHT-v. 3. He pictured the day of judgment for him, and he faced the consequences.
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and how foolish not to face that fact, and
consider the consequences of living a half-hearted Christian life. We ought to fear to stand before
Him with a life as fruitless as an iceberg. When Jesus said we are to take no thought for the
morrow, He meant we are not to worry about where our next meal is coming from. He did not
mean we are not to plan ahead. Nothing is so strange as people who want to go to heaven but who
do not want to learn of Christ now, and serve Him with all their energy. It is wisdom to see the
future and plan, as did this thief, on how to deal with negative consequences in a positive way.
2. DETERMINATION-v. 4. The man of the world says, here is what I want, and here is how to
get it. Jesus would have us learn that success in anything demands determined and concentrated
effort. The safe cracker spends many years training his ears and fingers to be sensitive. He needs
to develop the tools necessary for his trade. If it takes so much effort and energy to be a good
crook, how much more ought you to expect to take to become a good Christian? Many think it is
a snap to be a Christian, but this is not so for those who want to be all that Christ wants them to be.
This calls for everything you've got.
The Christian life is a joy, but also a job.
The Christian life is a feast, but also a fight.
The Christian life is banquet, but also a battle.
You can't expect to be successful in the Christian life if you are not willing to exert the energy
necessary. Alexander Maclaren said to his large congregation, "Why, a boy, will spend more
pains in learning to whistle than half of you do in trying to cultivate your Christian character." A
man who spends 6 hours a week on the golf course and only one in pursuit of the things of Christ
will likely be a better golfer than he is a Christian. A man reveals his real hunger and thirst by the
way he spends his time. If he seldom considers God and His Word, and is always involved with
other things, he is a worldly Christian. No one is as unhappy as a half-hearted Christian. He is too
good to enjoy the sins of the world, and not good enough to experience the joys of full Christian
commitment.
This committed crook of our text did not have anyone to consult with. He was a self-starter.
He said to himself, here is the picture of what I am facing, and here is what I want to do about it.
If more Christians would just say that, and get to doing things for Christ, they could make a big
difference. Ted Engstrom, the president of World Vision, told of how he one day got a long
distance call from a young man who said he wanted to work with World Vision. Ted told him its
not that easy, but he said he wanted to meet with Ted in person. They arranged to do so, and Ted
tried to tell him he probably would not fit into their organization. But he would not take no for an
answer. Ted asked him what he would like to do, and he said he liked to solve problems. So Ted
said he would give him a thousand dollars for a month to help solve problems. He was so good at
it he helped them solves one problem after another. He got the love loaf program going that took
in over 15 million to feed the hungry. Bob Biehl was determined to use his gifts for the kingdom
of God, and he did it.
Allen Gardiner was a missionary to Patagonia. His life is a record of terrible sufferings and
privations. He was found at last lying dead alongside an overturned boat on the shore. In his hand
was his diary that told of his hardships of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness, but his last words
which he scribbled before he died, with a hand so weak it could hardly be read, were, "I am
overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God." One does not die with a faith like that unless
his life has been dedicated to the service of God. Men will sacrifice, murder, and steal, to gain
some earthly goal. Jesus says, look at that and learn. How much more ought ye to sacrifice and
serve for an eternal goal? Just look at your unsaved friends, neighbors, and relatives, and see to
what extent they give themselves to their gods of pleasure, and compare it to your commitment to
Christ. You will see how well Christ knew what He was saying when He taught this lesson.
Secondly we see
II. A LESSON ON USING MONEY AS A MEANS. v. 9.
The meaning of this verse is illustrated in the other parable in this chapter about Lazarus and
Dives. If Dives had used his money wisely he would have been welcomed into heaven by
Lazarus. But instead of using it as a means he used it as an end in itself, or as a means to a selfish
end, and he found himself in hell without a friend. The steward had enough sense to sacrifice
present funds in order to secure future friends. He could have collected the total and kept some for
himself, but then he would be alone in the world, and no one would trust him. When his money
gave out he would have to beg, and so he gave the farmers his commission by cutting it off their
debt, and thereby he made friends who could help him out when he lost his job. That was a good
investment.
Jesus says to His own, don't be less wise than a crook, but use your money to lay up treasures
in heaven. Use it to make friends who will welcome you when you enter glory. There is a
mystery here that we know little about, but what we do know makes sense. There is a saying of
the Rabbi's that goes, "The rich help the poor in this world, the poor help the rich in the world to
come." Jesus never taught that one could be saved by his use of money, but he did say that the
saved can lay up treasure in heaven. Paul said, "I know in whom I have believed and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." How
could Christ keep it if he had not committed it, and how do we commit our treasure to Christ? It is
by the way we use our material wealth.
Jesus said that at the judgment He will say, "I was naked and you clothed me, hungry and you
fed me, in prison and you visited me." Then when we ask when we did this, He will say, "As you
did it unto one of the least of these my brethren you did it unto me." Put this all together, and what
Jesus is saying is that the man who has used his wealth on earth as a means by which to help and
lift others, and to bring them into the kingdom of God, will one day die and lose all his earthly
possessions, but will find a multitude of friends welcoming him to glory. All though eternity he
will have the reward of fellowship with those he helped to win. This ought to be one of the
greatest incentives in our lives to use our wealth to win men. It implies that those who go on
before us learn who was responsible for their salvation.
John Wesley said that the Christian philosophy in regard to money is: Make all you can; save
all you can, and give all you can. He practiced what he preached, and even though he made a
fortune by writing books, he died with only loose change in his pockets. This does not mean we
go handing out money to all who are in need. When we went to skid row on Gospel teams we
were warned not to give any money for cups of coffee, for it is known that it all goes to alcohol.
Here again we are to learn from the world. They know how to invest money wisely for the best
results.
At the battle of Waterloo, Nathan Meyer Rothschild was a spectator from a shot proof tent. At
sunset when he saw Napoleon's soldiers giving way, he jumped in the saddle and galloped all
night. He reached the English Channel at daybreak. He bribed a fisherman to take him across.
He reached London 36 hours before anyone heard the news of the victory. He used those hours to
trade in the stock exchange to such an advantage that he gained nearly 2 million pounds. Here
was a man who was clever and dedicated to making money. How much more ought Christians to
be dedicated to bearing fruit for the kingdom of God?
Let us be clear, however, that the use of our money is not a means of salvation for self, but it
can be for others. Jesus is speaking to His disciples, and it is assumed that they are already
children of light in contrast to the children of darkness. Only the Christian who has committed his
life to Christ can hope to gain anything by his use of money as a means of helping others. But
once a Christian, we dare not underestimate how significant this factor can be. The evangelization
of the world is, in a very real sense, dependant upon material wealth. That which shall perish is
essential to secure that which is permanent. That is what Jesus is trying to get us to realize.
Money is not an end in itself, as the miser is deceived into thinking, but its only value is in what it
can purchase. You have a choice of values you can use it to secure. The passing values of the
world or the permanent values of eternity. Jesus says, be wise and let God be your investment
counselor, and use what you have for the greatest interest of the kingdom of God. Thirdly-
III. A LESSON ON FAITHFULNESS IN LITTLE THINGS. v. 10-12.
The chain of thought here is still dealing with the use of money, but since the principle was true
in all areas of life we want to include everything. Jesus gets right down to earth here. Some
people think He only talked about spiritual and other worldly things, but that is not so. Jesus says
Christianity is a spirit that is to infiltrate your whole life right down to the way you buy your
groceries. If you can't handle your money right, you are not having success in spiritual matters
either.
Helmut Thielicke, who was one of the great preachers of the world, said, "Our destiny with
God is rarely decided by our reflecting upon dogmas and all kinds of others worldly problems.
Our destiny is rather decided by what we do with the all together real worldly questions and
temporal problems which play a part in our life. Such as sex, money, and personal relations." We
don't have to major in minors, but we had better master them. How many of you ever have trouble
with your wife over systematic theology? It is more likely to be the grocery bill, or how you
squeeze the toothpaste. Jesus makes it clear that we don't get to the top except by starting at the
bottom. You don't get to be surgeon, and then learn how to clean your fingernails. Nor do you get
to manage the riches of God until you learn to be faithful with the things of earth. We can't handle
the trigonometry of the spiritual if we haven't learned the simple math of the physical.
Two men met on a train and discovered they were both Christians. One said to the other,
"What do you do as a Christian?" He said, "I make shoes." The other replied, "I mean what do
you do as a Christian?" The other repeated, "I make shoes." You may say he was not very
spiritual. On the contrary, he had an insight that all of us need. He was far more pleasing in the
sight of God by making a good quality shoe than one who does a sloppy job and spends his
evenings handing out tracks. If we are not faithful in our work, it is not likely we will succeed in
our witness.
Jesus wants us to see that there is no such thing as the insignificant in our lives. It is a great
thing to be a hero in battle. It is a great thing to command a large post in the world of business. It
is a great thing to be famous in the world of sports. It is a great thing to be able to preach a sermon
to the masses. But Jesus says that we don't know what real greatness is until we have learned to be
Christian in our everyday, incidental, seemingly insignificant tasks of life. When it is put that
way, none of us escape. Many are they who have died in the flames and given their bodies to be
tortured, but how few are there of the truly great who have applied their Christianity to the petty
things of life?
A friend once saw Michaelangelo at work on one of his statues. Sometime later he saw him
again and said, "You have so little done. Have you been idle since I saw you last?" "By no
means," he replied. "I have retouched this part and polished that. I have given some expression to
this lip and more energy to this limb." "Well, well," said the friend. "All these are mere trifles."
"It may be so," he responded. "But recollect that trifles make perfection, and perfection is no
trifle." He was a master, and his works live forever because he recognized the value of little
things.
Let us all give heed to Christ, and wake up to the fact that the way we use the least determines
what we will have of the best. Commit your life, your money, your everyday tasks and
experiences to Christ. Let us learn from the best of the world how to be our best for Christ.
