Jesus’ Teaching on Stewardship

January 8, 2017

Partial Outline: FULL PDF OUTLINE HERE

Luke 16:1-13

Every January is stewardship month at BBC when we emphasize what the Bible says about stewardship. In this message we will study what Jesus taught about stewardship. [READ TEXT]

The word steward means a “household manager”—A steward is a person entrusted with oversight and profitable management of someone else’s property. ILLUS: Abraham’s steward—Eliezer (Gen. 15:1).

Principles of Stewardship:

OWNERSHIP (who owns what—who does it belong to?).
TRUST (The property/resources that have been entrusted to you)
RESPONSIBILITY (To wisely use what has been entrusted to you to gain a good return).
ACCOUNTABILITY (giving account to the owner of how you used what he entrusted to you).

Each of us are stewards since everything we have belongs to God (Ps. 24:1). You manage it, but you do not own it. Your responsibility is to use what God has entrusted to you so it will bring a profitable return. In turn, God will give a reward for your stewardship based your profitable use of what God entrusted to your care.

Many of Jesus’ parables were about stewardship. Luke 16 is an example.

Luke 16 is an addendum to the parable of the prodigal Son in Luke 15. “Prodigal” means “waster” (cf. 15:13). Luke 16 continues the theme of wastefulness. God hates waste (John 6:12).

Luke 16 emphasizes life is a stewardship, and we must not waste it.

I. The ACCOUNTABILITY of the steward (16:1-2).

A. He was RESPONSIBLE for his lord’s goods. The wealth is not his. He had the responsibility of using it for the profit of the owner.

B. He was CARELESS with his lord’s goods (vs. 1-2). He wasted his master’s goods, and deserved to be “fired” (v. 3). This steward forgot he was a steward and began to act as if he were the owner. Never forget that God is the owner, NOT YOU!

C. He was ACCOUNTABLE to his master. There is an AUDIT coming (2 Cor. 5:10). We must prepare for that audit now!

Every Christian will “give account” of his stewardship at the judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10-12).

II. The ANTICIPATION of the steward (vs. 3-8).

A. He was CIRCUMSPECT (v.3). He recognized his opportunity to use his resources was coming to an end. He saw the handwriting on the wall and was about to be “fired” from his job!

B. He was CALCULATING (v. 4). He could not change the past, but he could prepare for the future. How?

The steward used his position to “discount” the people’s debts owed to his master. He was really “buying friends” at his master’s expense.
By making friends of his master’s creditors he hoped they would take him in when he was out of a job.

C. He was COMPETENT (vs.5-7). He made wise use of his present resources for future benefit.