Church History:1Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2So 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.' 3"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg 4I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' 5"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 " 'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' 7"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' " 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' 8"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
The parable of the rich man's steward is being called upon by his master to give up his accounts, in order to his being discharged from his office, casts about with himself what course he should take to provide for his subsistence, when he should be turned out of his employment: at last he resolves upon this course; that he will go to his lord's debtors, and take a favorable account of them, writing down fifty for an hundred, that by this means he might oblige them to be kind to him in his situation; this is the sum of the parable.
The scope and design of it is this: To exhort all men that are intrusted by God here with estates, honors, and authority, to make use of all these unto spiritual ends, the glory of God, and the benefit of others; for we are not proprietors and owners, but stewards only, of the many gifts of God, and must be accountable unto him for all; but in the mean time to use, employ, and improve our Lord's goods to the best advantage for ourselves, while we are entrusted with them.
Lessons we can take from this include:
All persons, even the highest and greatest of persons, are but stewards of the good things of God.
Our stewardship must and shall have an end; we shall not be always, no, we shall not be long, stewards.
When we are put out of our stewardship, we must give an account of our carriage therein; and the greater our trust was, the heavier will our reckoning be.
Therefore it will be our highest prudence, while we are entrusted with our master's goods, to use and improve them, as may make most for our comfort and advantage, when we give up our account.5
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