Making Friends of Unrighteous Mammon |
by David A. DePra |
| There was a certain rich man which had a steward. And the same was |
| accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said |
| unto him, "How is it that I hear this of you? Give an account of your |
| stewardship. For you may be no longer a steward." |
| Then the steward said within himself, "What shall I do? For my lord takes |
| away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am |
| resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may |
| receive me into their houses." |
| So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him and said unto the first, |
| "How much do you owe unto my lord?" And he said, "A hundred measures of |
| oil." And he said unto him, "Take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty." |
| Then said he to another, "And how much do you owe?" And he said, "A |
| hundred measures of wheat." And he said unto him, "Take thy bill and write |
| fourscore." |
| And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. |
| For the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of |
| light. |
| And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of |
| unrighteousness, that, when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting |
| habitations. |
| He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is |
| unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful |
| in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And |
| if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you |
| that which is your own? |
| No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love |
| the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot |
| serve God and mammon. |
| This parable, commonly referred to as "the parable of the unjust |
| steward" is one of the more "puzzling" parables of Jesus. Yet in it is |
| one of the most powerful lessons Jesus ever gave as to God's |
| purpose for us in this age. It answers the questions, "What is |
| God's purpose in my life? And what should I be doing to |
| cooperate with Him?" |
| The Parabolic Method |
| When we read this, or any other parable of Jesus, it is easy to |
| get bogged down in the details of the parable. We try to figure out |
| who each character represents, and so on. But this is almost |
| never the right approach. In most of the parables, it is the overall |
| spiritual lesson Jesus wants us to grasp. The people in the |
| parable, and the details involved, are usually only the tools Jesus |
| uses to bring out that overall spiritual Truth. |
| Take, for instance, "the parable of the unjust judge." We read it |
| in Luke 18: |
| And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, |
| and not to faint, saying, "There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, |
| neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto |
| him, saying, 'Avenge me of mine adversary.' And he would not for a while, but |
| afterward he said within himself, 'Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet |
| because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual |
| coming she weary me.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge saith. |
| And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, |
| though He bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. |
| Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" |
| Notice the REASON which Luke gives for Jesus telling the |
| parable: To teach "that men ought always to pray, and not to |
| faint." Jesus then tells of a judge who could not have cared less |
| about people or about God. A widow was continually coming to |
| him, asking him to take action against someone who was doing |
| her wrong. He would not. But the widow basically nagged him to |
| death. Realizing she was not going to stop, he gave in. The |
| widow got her judgment. |
| Now ask: Is Jesus telling us that God is like this unjust judge, |
| who isn't going to answer our prayers unless we nag Him to |
| death? Is God, like this judge, indifferent to our problems? And is |
| Jesus furthermore advising us that if we pray hard enough, and |
| long enough, that God will finally give in, and give us our will? No. |
| None of that is true. Yet we have the parable. What is Jesus |
| teaching us? |
| Things become more clear once we stop trying to fit God into |
| the role of the judge, and us into the role of the widow. No. Jesus |
| is simply saying, "This is how it works in the world. Even an unjust |
| judge, for completely selfish reasons, will grant the request of a |
| widow if she is persistant. How much more will your Heavenly |
| Father, who is NOT like this judge, do for you! He is not an unjust |
| judge, and He DOES care for you. So if the widow wouldn't give |
| up asking the unjust judge, how could you possibly give up asking |
| your Heavenly Father? Do not faint in prayer. It is always the |
| Father's desire to do His will in your life." |
| The parable of the "unjust judge" contains no character who |
| stands for God. Rather, it is a parable which draws a contrast. |
| Jesus uses a character who is the OPPOSITE of God, in order to |
| show us how much more wonderful our Heavenly Father really is. |
| So it is with this parable called "the parable of the unjust |
| steward." This is not a parable where the master stands for God, |
| and the steward stands for us. No. It also is a parable which |
| draws a contrast. In it Jesus illustrates how the world works, and |
| then uses the illustration to show us how much more perfect is |
| God, and how much more eternal are His purposes for us in the |
| kingdom of God. |
| The Parable of the Unjust Steward |
| Jesus told the story of a steward who was being fired from his |
| job because he had wasted his master's goods. The steward, |
| knowing that he was about to lose his present position in life, took |
| steps to insure his future. He called each of his master's debtors |
| and reduced their debt to an amount they could pay. He did this |
| so that they would, out of gratitude, receive him into their houses |
| once he lost his stewardship. |
| Jesus then comes to the conclusion He is drawing from the |
| parable. He says, |
| And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had |
| done wisely. For the children of this world are, in their generation, |
| wiser than the children of light. |
| And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon |
| of unrighteousness, that, when you fail, they may receive you into |
| everlasting habitations. |
| Now note this important statement by Jesus: The children of |
| this world are, IN THEIR GENERATION, wiser than the children of |
| light." What does He mean by this statement? |
| Well, ask: WHO are the "children of this world?" Clearly, all |
| who are not Christians. And since Jesus is saying that these |
| "children of this world" are "wiser in their generation," then the |
| unjust steward of the parable is clearly one of these "children of |
| the world." His master, afterall, is said to have "commended the |
| unjust steward." Why? "Because he had done WISE-ly." |
| Do you see that? It is quite clear. And unless we see it, we |
| aren't going to understand the parable. The unjust steward of this |
| parable is not US. He is one of the "children of this world." And "in |
| his generation" -- that of the world -- he was wise. He used some |
| very clever means to insure his future. Even his master saw that |
| and acknowledged it. |
| Let's look for a moment at exactly what this steward did. Upon |
| being accused of wasting his master's goods -- whether it was |
| true or not is irrelavant to the parable -- this steward realized that |
| his present position in life was going to taken from him. And he |
| did not have any other options available to him. He was going to |
| lose everything. So he tooks steps to secure his future. Without |
| any permission from his master, he reduced the debt of those who |
| owed his master. He figured that they would be so grateful to him |
| for this act of friendship that once he was out on the street they |
| would embrace him into their houses. |
| Pretty wise. But totally wrong and dishonest. Here was a |
| steward who had been accused of squandering his master's |
| goods and property. Yet, instead of defending himself, or even |
| begging for another chance, he goes right out and does |
| something worse. He gives away great portions of his master's |
| property by exchanging it for immediate payment from the |
| debtors. And he does all of this -- not as a wise financial move |
| on behalf of his master -- but for completely selfish reasons. All |
| he was thinking about was the benefit HE was going to get from |
| his act of "generousity" toward the debtors: They would later |
| receive him into their houses. The money he was costing his |
| master did not concern him. |
| In Jesus' parable, it doesn't say the master was happy with |
| what the steward had done. We don't find him reconsidering his |
| decision to fire him. The master does "commend" the unjust |
| steward for his worldly wisdom. This is not an approval. It is an |
| acknowledgement. The unjust steward had essentially "stolen" his |
| master's goods in a last-ditch effort to secure his future with |
| those debtors. The master acknowledged that this was pretty |
| clever. The children of this world, in their generation, can, at |
| times, be extremely wise. They will do whatever is necessary for |
| them to secure their future --even at the expense of others. |
| In Their Generation |
| There is a way of this world. It is the way of living for this age; |
| of possessing my life for myself. It is the way of Adam -- of the |
| "generation" of Adam. The unjust steward was of that fallen |
| "generation." And "in his generation" he was wise. He did |
| whatever was necessary to insure his future. He had used |
| unrighteous mammon to make friends for himself. He did this so |
| that when the mammon finally failed for him -- when he lost his |
| stewardship -- those new friends would receive him into their |
| temporal habitations. This child of darkness, in his generation, |
| was indeed a very "wise" person. |
| But wait. Jesus is NOT telling the parable for those of THAT |
| generation. He is telling it to OUR generation -- the generation |
| of the new birth; of the children of light. It is for US that Jesus |
| gives the spiritual lesson in the parable. |
| What is He telling us? |
| Note again His words. Jesus said, "For the children of this |
| world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light. And |
| I say unto you, make to yourselves friends (by the means of) the |
| mammon of unrighteousness, that, when you (it) fail, they may |
| receive you into everlasting habitations." |
| The lesson is clear. We live in a world which is governed by |
| the principle of independence from God. It is a world ruled by |
| unrighteous mammon. And we are not to be OF this world. We |
| are not to serve mammon. But here is what we CAN do: We can |
| make mammon serve us. How? By allowing God to use it in our |
| lives for HIS purposes. And if we do surrender ourselves to God in |
| this way, He will use it to create for us an eternal habitation in |
| Jesus Christ. |
| Christians cannot serve God AND mammon. We must serve |
| God only. But if we serve God only, mammon will be used by God |
| to serve us. God will use it to prepare a place for us -- an eternal |
| habitation in our Father's house. |
| A Transformation |
| The unjust steward of the parable used what was going to fail |
| for him -- unrighteous mammon -- to create for himself a |
| future habitation. So we must use unrighteous mammon to create |
| for ourselves a future, eternal habitation. |
| We live in a realm which is going to pass away. Everything |
| which we see, use, and live in, is someday going to be gone. Even |
| our physical bodies are going to decay and turn back to dust. But |
| there is something which will remain. What is it? What was created |
| THROUGH those things which pass away. We have the |
| opportunity, knowing that our stewardship in this age is going to |
| end, to nevertheless use the temporal to create to create an |
| eternal habitation for ourselves. |
| How do we do this? Jesus told us. He said, "He that is faithful |
| in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust |
| in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been |
| faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust |
| the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is |
| another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" |
| We create for ourselves an eternal habitation by being faithful in |
| the "little" which God has put in our lives now. Being "faithful" to |
| God in these things means to surrender them to Him. Rather than |
| allow anything in this life to possess us, we are to possess these, |
| unto God's glory. |
| Various interpretations have suggested that if we use |
| unrighteous mammon to futher the cause of the gospel, that we |
| will "make friends" out of those who are saved through our efforts. |
| And when we die, they will welcome us into our eternal habitation |
| in heaven. This is a nice thought, and certainly has a ring of Truth |
| to it as to principle. But it is not what Jesus is teaching in this |
| parable. |
| Neither is Jesus teaching us that if we give money to God that |
| God will give money to us. No. This is error. He is simply showing |
| us that if those who live for this life are smart enough to prepare for |
| their future, we certainly ought to do the same -- in an eternal and |
| spiritual way. |
| Mammon |
| "Mammon" is, of course, commonly thought of as riches or |
| money. It is that. But riches and money are really only the primary |
| manifestations of mammon in this age. "Mammon" is really |
| ANYTHING in which we trust -- other than God. The Greek word |
| bears this out. The root originally meant, "that which was to be |
| trusted." |
| Knowing this makes things more clear. Jesus said, "You |
| cannot serve God and mammon." It is either one or the other. |
| Thus, if you are serving someone or something other than God, |
| you ARE "serving mammon." There is no third alternative. |
| "To serve" means to live for. It means to be governed as a |
| slave by the thing I serve. Thus, if I am living for myself, for this |
| age, for temporal goals, I am serving mammon. I am doing what I |
| do because I am possessed by a master called mammon. It is |
| there that my heart resides. |
| What we see here is that "mammon" is really the master of all |
| who are born in Adam. The NATURE of fallen man is to serve |
| mammon. It was so from the beginning. From the start, man |
| began to live for himself, and to construct a civilization which was |
| based on a system independent of God. And it continues today, |
| in evermore sophisticated ways. |
| To "serve God" means to unconditionally surrender to Him. It |
| means to no longer belong to myself, but to Him. It means that I |
| will not only DO His will, but I will submit to BECOMING His will. |
| And I'll let God use in my life whatever He desires to cause me to |
| BECOME His will. |
| God will use unrighteous mammon in many ways in my life. He |
| will use my job, my position, my relationships, and my fallen |
| nature in Adam, to conform me to Christ. He will use the things of |
| this age to cause me to become His will. And if I am wise, I will |
| "make to myself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." That |
| is, I will not reject God's use of these things. I'll embrace them, in |
| that use, as a friend -- as someone used for my benefit. And if I |
| will do so, God will prepare for me a place, an eternal habitation in |
| Jesus Christ. |
| So what we see here is that we are never to embrace mammon |
| in the sense of coming to serve it. No. Rather, we are to embrace |
| God's use of it in our lives. We are to allow God to use anything of |
| this world which He desires to prove us and try us, so that we |
| might be conformed to the image of His Son. |
| Faithful in Little and Faithful in Much |
| Jesus goes on in the passage to expand the principle He is |
| teaching through the parable. We must realize this. What He says |
| next is not a new subject. He is still talking about the same |
| teaching, as revealed in the same parable of the unjust steward. |
| He says, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in |
| much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If |
| therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, |
| who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not |
| been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you |
| that which is your own?" |
| What Jesus is saying is this: I am to be faithful to God |
| regarding His use in my life of unrighteous mammon. I am to fully |
| surrender myself to Him. If I am, then I will learn --- what? How |
| to handle money? No. How to be a good steward of worldly |
| possessions? No. Rather, I will learn how to be FAITHFUL! I will |
| BECOME faithful. Faithfulness will be built into my being. As a |
| result, Jesus says, I can then be given "much." Because I have |
| been faithful regarding temporal things, the faithful character I |
| have built will qualify me to be faithful over eternal things. |
| We see here a relationship between the temporal things now, |
| and the eternal things in the next age. Jesus is NOT talking about |
| being faithful over little things here, so that God can give us more |
| here -- although the principle does loosely apply to here and now. |
| Instead, He is talking about being faithful over the "little" which is of |
| this age, so that in the next age God can take the faithfulness He |
| has built in us and release it on an eternal, spiritual level. And |
| then we will experience the "much." |
| The question is, will I allow myself to be "fired" from my position |
| of stewardship over the things which pertain to this world? Will I be |
| reduced to having no security at all; nothing on which to rely except |
| God? Will I then allow God to use all those things which I used to |
| serve to serve Him in my life? If I will yield to God in these things, |
| then I am serving God and not mammon. I am being faithful to |
| God over the little. |
| Unrighteous mammon is NOT true riches. True riches are |
| those found in Jesus Christ. Yet God will use unrighteous |
| mammon to build in us faithfulness -- a faithfulness which will |
| enable Him to trust to us the true riches of the age to come. * |