For the (Jewish) children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light, (Luke 16:8).
The subject
of money is probably the most examined issue ever to enter the consciousness of man, and probably the most confusing. Most
Christian have heard and (most) understand the Bible verse in 1
Timothy 6:10 that the 'love of money is the root of all evil.' Yet, even
after much Bible study, the subject of 'stewardship' is probably the most
difficult to grasp, much less put it into practice. Those who have (and still
continue to manage) the money they have been entrusted with by God, may not be
the richest in the world, but they are aware and convinced that they are more
blessed than most people.
Those who have historically mastered the management of money and manipulation of the purses in the
world-wide marketplace economy [and without stereotyping any one particular
group], Jewish folks, have had no competition in this arena whatsoever, in the
history of mankind, as Christ Himself confirms in Luke 16:8, above. Their acumen on Mammon matters has no equal. However,
on Judgment Day, the works of each
and every person will be judged by fire.
"We mistake if we imagine that the
design of Christ’s doctrine and holy religion was either to amuse us with
notions of divine mysteries or to entertain us with notions of divine mercies.
No, the divine revelation of both these in the gospel is intended to engage and
quicken us to the practice of Christian duties, and, as much as any one thing,
to the duty of beneficence and doing good to those who stand in need of any
thing that either we have or can do for them. This our Saviour is here pressing
us to, by reminding us that we are but stewards of the manifold grace of
God; and since we have in divers instances been unfaithful, and have
forfeited the favour of our Lord, it is our wisdom to think how we may, some
other way, make what we have in the world turn to a good account. Parables must
not be forced beyond their primary intention, and therefore we must not hence
infer that any one can befriend us if we lie under the displeasure of our Lord,
but that, in the general, we must so lay out what we have in works of piety and
charity as that we may meet it again with comfort on the other side death and
the grave. If we would act wisely, we must be diligent and industrious to
employ our riches in the acts of piety and charity, in order to promote our
future and eternal welfare, as worldly men are in laying them out to the
greatest temporal profit, in making to themselves friends with them, and
securing other secular interests. So Dr. Clarke. Now let us consider,
I. The parable itself, in which all
the children of men are represented as stewards of what they have in
this world, and we are but stewards. Whatever we have, the property of it is
God’s; we have only the use of it, and that according to the direction of our
great Lord, and for his honour. Rabbi Kimchi, quoted by Dr. Lightfoot, says,
"This world is a house; heaven the roof; the stars the lights; the earth,
with its fruits, a table spread; the Master of the house is the holy and
blessed God; man is the steward, into whose hands the goods of this house are
delivered; if he behave himself well, he shall find favour in the eyes of his
Lord; if not, he shall be turned out of his stewardship.’’ Now,
1. Here is the dishonesty of
this steward. He wasted his lord’s goods, embezzled them,
misapplied them, or through carelessness suffered them to be lost and damaged;
and for this he was accused to his lord, v. 1. We are all liable
to the same charge. We have not made a due improvement of what God has
entrusted us with in this world, but have perverted his purpose; and, that we
may not be for this judged of our Lord, it concerns us to judge
ourselves.
2. His discharge out of his
place. His lord called for him, and said, "How is it that I hear
this of thee? I expected better things from thee.’’ He speaks as one sorry
to find himself disappointed in him, and under a necessity of dismissing him
from his service: it troubles him to hear it; but the steward cannot deny it,
and therefore there is no remedy, he must make up his accounts; and be gone in
a little time, v. 2. Now this is designed to teach us, (1.) That we must all of
us shortly be discharged from our stewardship in this world; we must not
always enjoy those things which we now enjoy. Death will come, and dismiss
us from our stewardship, will deprive us of the abilities and
opportunities we now have of doing good, and others will come in our places and
have the same. (2.) That our discharge from our stewardship at death is just,
and what we have deserved, for we have wasted our Lord’s goods, and thereby
forfeited our trust, so that we cannot complain of any wrong done us. (3.) That
when our stewardship is taken from us we must give an account of it to
our Lord: After death the judgment. We are fairly warned both of our
discharge and our account, and ought to be frequently thinking of them.
3. His after-wisdom. Now he
began to consider, What shall I do? v. 3. He would have done well to
have considered this before he had so foolishly thrown himself out of a good
place by his unfaithfulness; but it is better to consider late than
never. Note, Since we have all received notice that we must shortly be turned
out of our stewardship, we are concerned to consider what we shall do then. He
must live; which way shall he have a livelihood? (1.) He knows that he has not
such a degree of industry in him as to get his living by work: "I
cannot dig; I cannot earn by bread by my labour.’’ But why can he not dig?
It does not appear that he is either old or lame; but the truth is, he is lazy.
His cannot is a will not; it is not a natural but a moral
disability that he labours under; if his master, when he turned him out of the
stewardship, had continued him in his service as a labourer, and set a
task-master over him, he would have made him dig. He cannot dig, for he
was never used to it. Now this intimates that we cannot get a livelihood for
our souls by any labour for this world, nor indeed do any thing to purpose for
our souls by any ability of our own. (2.) He knows that he has not such a
degree of humility as to get his bread by begging: To beg I am
ashamed. This was the language of his pride, as the former of his
slothfulness. Those whom God, in his providence, has disabled to help
themselves, should not be ashamed to ask relief of others. This steward
had more reason to be ashamed of cheating his master than of begging his bread.
(3.) He therefore determines to make friends of his lord’s debtors, or his
tenants that were behind with their rent, and had given notes under their hands
for it: "I am resolved what to do, v. 4. My lord turns me out of
his house. I have none of my own to go to. I am acquainted with my lord’s
tenants, have done them many a good turn, and now I will do them one more,
which will so oblige them that they will bid me welcome to their houses, and
the best entertainment they afford; and so long as I live, at least till I can
better dispose of myself, I will quarter upon them, and go from one good house
to another.’’ Now the way he would take to make them his friends was by
striking off a considerable part of their debt to his lord, and giving it in
his accounts so much less than it was. Accordingly, he sent for one, who owed
his lord a hundred measures of oil (in that commodity he paid his rent):
Take thy bill, said he, here it is, and sit down quickly, and write fifty
(v. 6); so he reduced his debt to the one half. Observe, he was in haste to
have it done: "Sit down quickly, and do it, lest we be taken
treating, and suspected.’’ He took another, who owed his lord a hundred
measures of wheat, and from his bill he cut off a fifth part, and bade him
write fourscore (v. 7); probably he did the like by others, abating more
or less according as he expected kindness from them. See here what uncertain
things our worldly possessions are; they are most so to those who have most of
them, who devolve upon others all the care concerning them, and so put it into
their power to cheat them, because they will not trouble themselves to
see with their own eyes. See also what treachery is to be found even among
those in whom trust is reposed. How hard is it to find one that confidence can
be reposed in! Let God be true, but every man a liar. Though this
steward is turned out for dealing dishonestly, yet still he does so. So rare is
it for men to mend of a fault, though they smart for it.
4. The approbation of this: The
lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely, v. 8. It may
be meant of his lord, the lord of that servant, who, though he could not
but be angry at his knavery, yet was pleased with his ingenuity and policy for
himself; but, taking it so, the latter part of the verse must be the words of our
Lord, and therefore I think the whole is meant of him. Christ did, as it
were, say, "Now commend me to such a man as this, that knows how to do
well for himself, how to improve a present opportunity, and how to provide for
a future necessity.’’ He does not commend him because he had done falsely
to his master, but because he had done wisely for himself. Yet perhaps
herein
he
did well for his master too, and but justly with the tenants. He knew what hard
bargains he had set them, so that they could not pay their rent,
but, having been screwed up by his rigour, were thrown behindhand, and
they and their families were likely to go to ruin; in consideration of this, he
now, at going off, did as he ought to do both in justice and charity, not only
easing them of part of their arrears, but abating their rent for the future. How
much owest thou? may mean, "What rent dost thou sit upon? Come, I will
set thee an easier bargain, and yet no easier than what thou oughtest to
have.’’ He had been all for his lord, but now he begins to consider the
tenants, that he might have their favour when he had lost his lord’s.
The abating of their rent would be a lasting kindness, and more likely to
engage them than abating their arrears only. Now this forecast of his, for a
comfortable subsistence in this world, shames our improvidence for another
world: The children of this world, who choose and have their portions in
it, are wiser for their generation, act more considerately, and better
consult their worldly interest and advantage, than the children of light,
who enjoy the gospel, in their generation, that is, in the concerns of
their souls and eternity. Note, (1.) The wisdom of worldly people in the
concerns of this world is to be imitated by us in the concerns of our
souls: it is their principle to improve their opportunities, to do that first
which is most needful, in summer and harvest to lay up for winter, to take a
good bargain when it is offered them, to trust the faithful and not the false.
O that we were thus wise in our spiritual affairs! (2.) The children of light
are commonly outdone by the children of this world. Not that the
children of this world are truly wise; it is only in their
generation. But in that they are wiser than the children of light in
theirs; for, though we are told that we must shortly be turned out of
our stewardship, yet we do not provide as we were to be here always
and as if there were not another life after this, and are not so
solicitous as this steward was to provide for hereafter. Though as children
of the light, that light to which life and immortality are brought by the
gospel, we cannot but see another world before us, yet we do not prepare
for it, do not send our best effects and best affections thither, as we should.
II. The application of this parable,
and the inferences drawn from it (v. 9): "I say unto you, you my
disciples’’ (for to them this parable is directed, v. 1), "though you have
but little in this world, consider how you may do good with that little.’’
Observe,
1. What it is that our Lord Jesus here
exhorts us to; to provide for our comfortable reception to the happiness of
another world, by making good use of our possessions and enjoyments in this
world: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
as the steward with his lord’s goods made his lord’s tenants his friends.’’ It
is the wisdom of the men of this world so to manage their money as that they
may have the benefit of it hereafter, and not for the present only; therefore
they put it out to interest, buy land with it, put it into this or the other
fund. Now we should learn of them to make use of our money so as that we may be
the better for it hereafter in another world, as they do in hopes to be the
better for it hereafter in this world; so cast it upon the waters as
that we may find it again after many days, Eccl. 11:1. And in our
case, though whatever we have are our Lord’s goods, yet, as long as we
dispose of them among our Lord’s tenants and for their advantage, it is
so far from being reckoned a wrong to our Lord, that it is a duty to him as
well as policy for ourselves. Note, (1.) The things of this world are the mammon
of unrighteousness, or the false mammon, not only because often got
by fraud and unrighteousness, but because those who trust to it for
satisfaction and happiness will certainly be deceived; for riches are perishing
things, and will disappoint those that raise their expectations from them. (2.)
Though this mammon of unrighteousness is not to be trusted to for
a happiness, yet it may and must be made use of in subserviency to our
pursuit of that which is our happiness. Though we cannot find true satisfaction
in it, yet we may make to ourselves friends with it, not by way of purchase
or merit, but recommendation; so we may make God and Christ our
friends, the good angels and saints our friends, and the poor our friends; and
it is a desirable thing to be befriended in the account and state to
come. (3.) At death we must all fail, hotan eklipeµte—when ye
suffer an eclipse. Death eclipses us. A tradesman is said to fail
when he becomes a bankrupt. We must all thus fail shortly; death shuts
up the shop, seals up the hand. Our comforts and enjoyments on earth will all
fail us; flesh and heart fail. (4.) It ought to be our great concern to
make it sure to ourselves, that when we fail at death we may be received
into everlasting habitations in heaven. The habitations in heaven
are everlasting, not made with hands, but eternal, 2. Cor.
5:1. Christ is gone before, to prepare a place for those that are his, and is
there ready to receive them; the bosom of Abraham is ready to receive
them, and, when a guard of angels carries them thither, a choir of
angels is ready to receive them there. The poor saints that are gone before
to glory will receive those that in this world distributed to their
necessities. (5.) This is a good reason why we should use what we have in the
world for the honour of God and the good of our brethren, that thus we may with
them lay up in store a good bond, a good security, a good foundation for
the time to come, for an eternity to come. See 1 Tim. 6:17–19, which
explains this here.
2. With what arguments he presses this
exhortation to abound in works of piety and charity.
(1.) If we do not make a right use of
the gifts of God’s providence, how can we expect from him those present
and future comforts which are the gifts of his spiritual grace? Our
Saviour here compares these, and shows that though our faithful use of the
things of this world cannot be thought to merit any favour at the hand of God,
yet our unfaithfulness in the use of them may be justly reckoned a forfeiture
of that grace which is necessary to bring us to glory, and that is it which our
Saviour here shows, v. 10–14.
[1.] The riches of this world are the less;
grace and glory are the greater. Now if we be unfaithful in the less, if
we use the things of this world to other purposes than those for which they
were given us, it may justly be feared that we should be so in the gifts of
God’s grace, that we should receive them also in vain, and therefore they will
be denied us: He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in
much. He that serves God, and does good, with his money, will serve God,
and do good, with the more noble and valuable talents of wisdom and grace, and
spiritual gifts, and the earnests of heaven; but he that buries the one
talent of this world’s wealth will never improve the five talents of
spiritual riches. God withholds his grace from covetous worldly people more
than we are aware of. [2.] The riches of this world are deceitful and uncertain;
they are the unrighteous mammon, which is hastening from us apace, and,
if we would make any advantage of it, we must bestir ourselves quickly; if we
do not, how can we expect to be entrusted with spiritual riches, which are the
only true riches? v. 11. Let us be convinced of this, that those are truly
rich, and very rich, who are rich in faith, and rich towards
God, rich in Christ, in the promises, and in the earnests of heaven; and
therefore let us lay up our treasure in them, expect our portion from them, and
mind them in the first place, the kingdom of God and the righteousness
thereof, and then, if other things be added to us, use them in ordine ad
spiritualia—with a spiritual reference, so that by using them well we may
take the faster hold of the true riches, and may be qualified to receive
yet more grace from God; for God giveth to a man that is good in his
sight, that is, to a free-hearted charitable man, wisdom, and knowledge,
and joy (Eccl. 2:26);
that is, to a man that is faithful in the unrighteous mammon, he gives
the true riches. [3.] The riches of this world are another man’s.
They are ta allotria, not our own; for they are foreign to the
soul and its nature and interest. They are not our own; for they are
God’s; his title to them is prior and superior to ours; the property remains in
him, we are but usufructuaries. They are another man’s; we have them
from others; we use them for others, and what good has the owner from
his goods that increase, save the beholding of them with his
eyes, while still they are increased that eat them; and we must
shortly leave them to others, and we know not to whom? But spiritual and eternal
riches are our own (they enter into the soul that becomes possessed
of them) and inseparably; they are a good part that will never be taken
away from us. If we make Christ our own, and the promises our own, and heaven
our own, we have that which we may truly call our own. But how can we
expect God should enrich us with these if we do not serve him with our
worldly possessions, of which we are but stewards?
(2.) We have no other way to prove
ourselves the servants of God than by giving up ourselves so entirely to his
service as to make mammon, that is, all our worldly gain, serviceable to
us in his service (v. 13): No servant can serve two masters, whose
commands are so inconsistent as those of God and mammon are. If a man
will love the world, and hold to that, it cannot be but he will hate
God and despise him. He will make all his pretensions of religion
truckle to his secular interests and designs, and the things of God shall be
made to help him in serving and seeking the world. But, on the other hand, if a
man will love God, and adhere to him, he will comparatively hate
the world (whenever God and the world come in competition) and will despise
it, and make all his business and success in the world some way or other
conducive to his furtherance in the business of religion; and the things of the
world shall be made to help him in serving God and working out his salvation.
The matter is here laid plainly before us: Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
So divided are their interests that their services can never be compounded.
If therefore we be determined to serve God, we must disclaim and abjure
the service of the world.
3. We are here told what entertainment
this doctrine of Christ met with among the Pharisees, and what rebuke he gave
them.
(1.) They wickedly ridiculed
him, v. 14. The Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things,
and could not contradict him, but they derided him. Let us consider
this, [1.] As their sin, and the fruit of their covetousness, which
was their reigning sin, their own iniquity. Note, Many that make a great
profession of religion, have much knowledge, and abound in the exercise of
devotion, are yet ruined by the love of the world; nor does anything harden the
heart more against the word of Christ. These covetous Pharisees could not bear
to have that touched, which was their Delilah, their darling
lust; for this they derided him, exemykteµrizon auton—they snuffled
up their noses at him, or blew their noses on him. It is an expression of
the utmost scorn and disdain imaginable; the word of the Lord was to them a
reproach, Jer. 6:10.
They laughed at him for going so contrary to the opinion and way of the world,
for endeavouring to recover them from a sin which they were resolved to hold
fast. Note, It is common for those to make a jest of the word of God who
are resolved that they will not be ruled by it; but they will find at last that
it cannot be turned off so. [2.] As his suffering. Our Lord Jesus
endured not only the contradiction of sinners, but their contempt;
they had him in derision all the day. He that spoke as never man spoke
was bantered and ridiculed, that his faithful ministers, whose preaching is
unjustly derided, may not be disheartened at it. It is no disgrace to a
man to be laughed at, but to deserve to be laughed at. Christ’s apostles were mocked,
and no wonder; the disciple is not greater than his Lord.
(2.) He justly reproved them; not for deriding
him (he knew how to despise the shame), but for deceiving
themselves with the shows and colours of piety, when they were strangers to the
power of it, v. 15. Here is,
[1.] Their specious outside;
nay, it was a splendid one. First, They justified themselves before
men; they denied whatever ill was laid to their charge, even by Christ
himself. They claimed to be looked upon as men of singular sanctity and
devotion, and justified themselves in that claim: "You are they that
do that, so as none ever did, that make it your business to court the opinion
of men, and, right or wrong, will justify yourselves before the world; you are notorious
for this.’’ Secondly, They were highly esteemed among men. Men
did not only acquit them from any blame they were under, but applauded
them, and had them in veneration, not only as good men, but as the best
of men. Their sentiments were esteemed as oracles, their directions as
laws, and their practices as inviolable prescriptions.
[2.] Their odious inside, which
was under the eye of God: "He knows your heart, and it is in his
sight an abomination; for it is full of all manner of wickedness.’’
Note, First, It is folly to justify ourselves before men, and to
think this enough to bear us out, and bring us off, in the judgment of the great
day, that men know no ill of us; for God, who knows our hearts, knows
that ill of us which no one else can know. This ought to check our value for
ourselves, and our confidence in ourselves, that God knows our hearts,
and how much deceit is there, for we have reason to abase and distrust
ourselves. Secondly, It is folly to judge of persons and things by the
opinion of men concerning them, and to go down with the stream of vulgar
estimate; for that which is highly esteemed among men, who judge
according to outward appearance, is perhaps an abomination in the sight of
God, who sees things as they are, and whose judgment, we are sure, is
according to truth. On the contrary, there are those whom men despise and
condemn who yet are accepted and approved of God, 2 Co. 10:18.
(3.) He turned from them to the
publicans and sinners, as more likely to be wrought upon by his gospel than
those covetous conceited Pharisees (v. 16): "The law and the prophets
were indeed until John; the Old-Testament dispensation, which was confined
to you Jews, continued till John Baptist appeared, and you seemed to have the
monopoly of righteousness and salvation; and you are puffed up with this, and
this gains you esteem among men, that you are students in the law and the
prophets; but since John Baptist appeared the kingdom of God is preached,
a New-Testament dispensation, which does not value men at all for their being
doctors of the law, but every man presses into the gospel kingdom,
Gentiles as well as Jews, and no man thinks himself bound in good manners to
let his betters go before him into it, or to stay till the rulers and
the Pharisees have led him that way. It is not so much a political national
constitution as the Jewish economy was, when salvation was of the Jews;
but it is made a particular personal concern, and therefore every man
that is convinced he has a soul to save, and an eternity to provide for,
thrusts to get in, lest he should come short by trifling and complimenting.’’
Some give this sense of it; they derided Christ or speaking in contempt of
riches, for, thought they, were there not many promises of riches and other
temporal good things in the law and the prophets? And were not many of
the best of God’s servants very rich, as Abraham and David? "It is true,’’
saith Christ, "so it was, but now that the kingdom of God is begun to be
preached things take a new turn; now blessed are the poor, and the mourners,
and the persecuted.’’ The Pharisees, to requite the people for their high
opinion of them, allowed them in a cheap, easy, formal religion. "But,’’
saith Christ, "now that the gospel is preached the eyes of the
people are opened, and as they cannot now have a veneration for the Pharisees,
as they have had, so they cannot content themselves with such an indifferency
in religion as they have been trained up in, but they press with a holy
violence into the kingdom of God.’’
Note, Those that would go to heaven must
take pains, must strive against the stream, must press against the crowd that
are going the contrary way."
Thank You, Brother Henry!
For information about the author's books, blogs and web sites, please click on Joe Ortiz.
Thank You, Brother Henry!
For information about the author's books, blogs and web sites, please click on Joe Ortiz.
The fact that you quote the famous Matthew Henry's treatment of Luke 16, our stewardship with money, etc. proves once again that your blog is not just another blog but one that has substance that Christians everywhere need. Everything that the Lord allows us to have should of course be used with gratitude to Him and be used to enrich the lives of others, especially those who aren't as blessed in material ways.Thanks for steering us in the right direction with the powerful and blessed Word of God. Melodie
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