What is the Meaning of the Parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16?
Selected from our Questions and Answers program
A: Many of the parables the Lord gave are parables by contrast, and this happens to be one of them. The Lord Jesus sites a man of the world who, when he found out he was going to lose his job, began to dicker with the customers of the man he was working for. He was able to extend consideration to them, and he received consideration from them after he was fired, you see. He was thinking of his future, and so his investments were pretty good. It’s totally wrong what he did, but he was smart. The Lord Jesus says the children of this world – crooked ones, even – are wiser than the children of light. Now what He’s saying is, where do
you invest your dollars for God? When I was a pastor in downtown Los Angeles, I knew people who would sit all day in a broker’s office watching the stock market board going up and down. They were investing, you see. They were wise. How do
you invest God’s money? Do you hear some sentimental appeal on the radio or in your church and are moved by it to give? You’re not being smart, may I say to you. Why don’t you investigate when they say that they’re a worldwide mission? We claim that we’re getting the Word of God out to the world. If you give to this program do you know whether we’re doing it or not? You ought to find out! You see, friends, when you invest money you are actually building something either with wood, hay, and stubble or with gold, silver, and precious stones. Don’t you want to invest for the future, so that when you get into God’s presence someday He’ll say, “My, you’ve sure got a nice deposit here of gold”? Some of us are going to get there and find out that all we had was a haystack, and they’ve already burned it up because every man’s works are going to be tested by fire! Why don’t you investigate and then put your money where it’s going to receive you someday into heaven?
