A Good Steward

Joseph

Joseph was made steward over the house of Potiphar

he had to learn the language

learn the customs and ways of the people

go to the market place to buy groceries

run the finances of the house

make money in investing

manage the gardens and land

manage the other slaves

Joseph was the overseer of the entire house

none of it belonged to Joseph

but he enjoyed the luxury of living there

Potiphar was being blessed because Joseph was his steward

everything was running smoothly

Potiphar had no worries

with this as a background lets look at the

Unrighteous Steward

V 1 turning to His disciples

Jesus just finished speaking about the two sons one was a worker always following the rules

the other squandered his inheritance

Jesus was speaking to the Religious men

Now He is turning to his disciples to teach them a lesson about stewardship

V 1-2

the steward at the farm

the owner in town

had recieved reports of embezzlement

so he was fired

V 3

to old for manual labor

to proud to beg

V 4-7

the steward made deals with the debtor of the owner

to be able to live and eat at their houses

V 8

the Master praised the ingenuity of the steward

this is the key to understanding this story

not the dishonesty

the cleverness of this man

the looking ahead and figuring for the future

V 8 b Jesus is chastising the Christians for not being like this man

and looking to the future

to make the deals when he had an opportunity to do it

to look toward the future and be ready for it

The worldly people are more in tune on securing wealth for the rest of their lives

Than the Christian is in securing eternal wealth

So now Jesus is going to give us

Divine Stewardship Instructions

Remember we are like Joseph

everything that God has entrusted to us belongs to Him

we are only stewards

to manage for Gods glory

to manage to advance His kingdom

1 Peter 4:10 LSB

As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God—

V 9

this bad steward made friends by using the masters debt

we are to use the money of this world to make eternal friends

someone to welcome us with gratitude into their Heavenly home

we have this idea that if we tithe 10% of our income to God then the rest is ours

but we are stewards of all the money and all that we think we own

He wants us to be shrewd and use what we can to evangelize

we also want to use our money to make friends so when times are bad for us we have a friend

also when we help the poor the cripple the blind in their needs we are storing up riches in Heaven

V 10-11

Jesus is not talking to rich people but to poor

Sampath was visiting a poor village with a common well

but to everyone rich or poor we are to use what God has entrusted to us to use for securing our eternal future with others

so can you be trusted?

can the Master our Adonai trust you with His resources shrewdly

Jessie in CEF was very shrewd with CEF’s money

after halloween she would buy out the day after sale on candy because she knew she would use it through out the year at the clubs

V 12 Can God trust you?

are you like Joseph?

V 13

God or money which do you love more?

your home or God?

there are many things we can substitute

V 14-15

Jesus just said if you love money you don’t love God

now they are scoffing Jesus for saying theses things

all of the money that they recieved was for their desires

they pretended to pious

they put on good heirs

V 16

now they want to force their way into the kingdom

with their own righteousness

V 17 there is no such thing as your own righteousness

the whole law will be kept or punished

after Jesus chastises the Pharisees and scribes He comes back to

Stewardship

V 18

even our relationships are stewardships from God to nurture and take care of

Joseph said no to Potiphar’s wife knowing it was sinning against God and his master

our life is a stewardship

everything we own

out time talents and treasures belong to Jesus who bought us with His blood on the cross

are you making every effort with your masters trust that He has rusted you with

can you be found faithfull?

is Jesus going to say well done good and faithfull servant?