The Steward and the Master

Eleven of Christ’s thirty-nine parables deal with finances and asset management.

Steward: One entrusted with another’s wealth or property, and charged with the responsibility of managing it in the Owner’s best interest.

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now?”…..

*Luke 16:1-13

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Luke 16:9

In my Father’s house are many dwellings; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

John 14:2-3

“Well done, my good servant!” his master replied. “Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.…”

His master answered, “You take charge of five cities.”

Luke 19:17,19

The Stewardship Parables

The Shrewd Manager Luke 16:1-8

The Faithful and Wise ServantMatt. 24:45-51; Luke 12:42-48

The Watchful Servants Mark 13:34-37; Luke 12:35-40

The Talents/The Minas

Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27

The Sheep and Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

The Tenants (Vineyard Renters)

Matthew 21:33-44;

Mark 12:1-11; Luke 20:9-18

The Unworthy ServantLuke 17:7-10

The Rich Fool Luke 12:16-21

The Rich Man and Lazarus?Luke 16:19-31

Rich man “lived in luxury,” while Lazarus “was covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.”

Abraham to rich man: Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things. Now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

Question: Based on your reading of the stewardship parables, what lessons do they teach about

The Master?The Stewards?

Lessons Concerning the Master

His ownership

The master is the owner of all assets. Everything belongs to the master. Therefore He alone has the right to do with it whatever He wishes.

To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.

Deuteronomy 10:14

The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.

Leviticus 25:23

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things.

1 Chronicles 29:11-12

Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

Job 41:11

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Psalm 24:1-2

For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

Psalm 50:10-12

“The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord Almighty.

Haggai 2:8

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

The Master’s power.

The master’s will is authoritative. Behind his words there is ultimate power.

The Master’s trust.

He has delegated to his servants authority over his money and possessions. This shows a trust in their ability to manage them. And willingness to take the risk of delegating responsibilities to people who may fail.

The Master’s expectations.

The master has high expectations of his stewards. He’s not easy, but He’s fair. He has every right to expect his stewards to do what he’s told them.

The Master’s temporary absence.

The master is away for a season. The relationship is long-distance—consequently, there is delayed accountability. It’s a test of each servant’s devotion to see if the master’s standards are maintained even though he isn’t there to give immediate reward or correction.

The Master’s imminent return.

The master will come back. It may be sooner, it may be later, but he could return at any time, likely when least expected.

The Master’s generosity.

He has the right to expect the servant to do what he commanded without reward. Yet the master graciously promises reward and promotion to faithful stewards.

The Master’s strictness. The master’s instructions were

reasonable. He’s not one to accept excuses. The servants know his high standards. They shouldn’t presume upon his grace by being lazy and disobedient. The master will take away whatever reward he would have given the servant who is unfaithful. And He will discipline the servant for poor stewardship.

Lessons Concerning the Servant

Stewardship. Servants should be acutely aware that they are not owners, or masters, but only caretakers or money managers. It’s their job to take the assets entrusted (not given) to them and use them wisely to care for and expand the master’s estate. If a servant does not fully grasp the implications of the master’s ownership, he will not be a faithful steward.

Industriousness. The servants must work hard, and not slack off.

Accountability. The stewards will one day stand before the Master to explain why they did what they did—and didn’t do—with His assets.

Faithfulness. Servants seek to handle their master’s estate in a way that will please him. They do this until the master returns or until death, no matter how many years. Stewardship is the servant’s life calling. Resignation isn’t an option. Where else would he go?

Wisdom in investing. Because they are managing the master’s assets, servants must choose investments carefully. They can’t afford to take undue risks. Nor let capital erode through idleness. The goal isn’t merely to conserve resources but to multiply them. Servants must be resourceful and strategic thinkers finding the best long-term investments.

Readiness for the master’s return.

“When do you expect the owner to return?”

The caretaker’s reply: “Today, of course.”

Fear of the master. The stewards know the master is just. His instructions were explicit. If the stewards work wisely, they know they’ll fare well, because the master is generous. But they also know that if they’re unfaithful they will feel the master’s wrath. This healthy fear motivates them to good stewardship.

Individual standing before the master. Reward is not to the group but to the individual. The master has a keen eye. An individual servant’s efforts will not be negated by the unfaithfulness of others. Each servant must do the job given him, and will be rewarded justly.

Single-mindedness in service. The wise steward’s life revolves around service for the master. All side interests are brought into orbit around this one consuming purpose in life—to serve the master well.

John Wesley’s questions about spending:

1) In spending this money, am I acting as if I owned it, or am I acting as the Lord’s trustee?

2) What Scripture requires me to spend this money in this way?

3) Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice to the Lord?

4) Will God reward me for this expenditure at the resurrection of the just?

Asceticism?

If silver and gold are things evil in themselves, then those who keep away from them deserve to be praised. But if they are good creatures of God, which we can use both for the needs of our neighbor and for the glory of God, is not a person silly, yes, even unthankful to God, if he refrains from them as if they were evil? Martin Luther

Away, then, with that inhuman philosophy which, while conceding only a necessary use of creatures, not only malignantly deprives us of the lawful fruit of God’s beneficence but cannot be practiced unless it robs a man of all his senses and degrades him to a block.

John Calvin

Deuteronomy 14

But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose….

Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.

Deuteronomy 14:24-26

1 Timothy 4:1-5 The Spirit clearly says that in

later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods…

…which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:1-5

Poverty also hath its temptations. For even the poor may be undone by the love of that wealth and plenty which they never get; and they may perish for over-loving the world, that never yet prospered in the world.

Richard Baxter, 1675

…some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Luke 8:2-3

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”…

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.”

Matthew 26:6-12