CHAPTER ONE
A Kingdom Overview of Luke 16:1-13
“There goes Mr. Smith. I wonder how he made all his money”
“God alone knows!”
“Ah, that must be why he always looks so worried.”
Jesus was born into a nation which was largely illiterate and mostly concerned with day to day survival. In order to get His message of a new covenant and access to the Kingdom of Heaven across, He often used stories or parables. A parable is an everyday life situation that is used to explain something else, things that the ordinary people would understand. In Luke 16 Jesus told the story of an unjust steward who ‘wasted’ that which was entrusted to him and how this rogue used far-sightedness to get out of a tight situation. ‘Wasted’ in this sense means to squander, or to separate from ownership, in other words, the steward was not diligent in his office and was lax in doing his job and he lost money in his business dealings. Then Jesus added these words as an explanation of the parable:
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
(Luke 16:10-12)
The parable is a warning to all of us to be fruitful and productive with what we have been given, for we are all stewards or managers of the things given to us.
The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world,
and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)
All belongs to God, the earth, its minerals, its forests and seas, even the inhabitants, each and every single one of us.
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S:
but the earth hath He given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16)
God has placed His creation in our care, it is for us to use it not abuse it, to look after it and keep it safe for those to come, to be good stewards and mangers of it.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen. 1:28)
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. (Gen. 1:31)
God has given us the earth to be fruitful and to multiply in it. With these words, God is saying that He trusts us with His creation and He has given it to us in good condition, much like an office or warehouse for hire. Before handing it over to its new occupants, the owner ensures that all is well, that it is in good condition and he expects, at the termination of the lease, to receive it back in the same condition with increased value and having profited in the interim from it.
With the parable of the unjust steward in Luke16, Jesus is telling us that there will come a time of reckoning, a time to lay out all that you have done, a time when you will be asked to bring your books so that they may be checked. A time to answer the question - have you been productive or have you wasted that which God has given you?
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
(Luke 16:13)
There is also the danger that the thing created becomes the most important at the expense of the Creator. When it comes to Kingdom values we have to keep our priorities in the right order. In another parable, using the jewelry business as a metaphor, Jesus emphasized the value of the Kingdom compared to the riches of the earth.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
(Matt.13:45-46)
In God’s plan for the human race, we are to prosper within His kingdom, but we have to keep the important things foremost in our dealings. How we conduct our business here on earth, (which is a little thing compared to that awaiting us), will determine whether we can be trusted with the greater things He has in store.