Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Luke 16:1-13 is a passage of Scripture I struggled with understanding for several years until one day The Holy Spirit unlocked the meaning of the parable. If we look at the parable spoken by Jesus, we see that a rich man, who was a lord, has called his steward to account for fraudulent business practices against the rich man. As an eternal student of God’s Word, the first thing I did was to look up the meaning of “steward” in the Webster 1828 online dictionary. Why this dictionary? The Webster 1828 dictionary is based almost entirely upon The Word of God. The definition I was given for a steward is:
“A man employed in great families to manage the domestic concerns, superintend the other servants, collect the rents or income, keep the accounts, etc.”
This definition certainly makes sense as we read this parable. Essentially, the steward ran everything for the rich man. The steward was the rich man’s right hand. The rich man has called the steward to account for unlawful and unethical business practices and tells the steward he is going to fire him. Although it appears from the writing the steward determines to gain favor with his lord’s customers by reducing their debt owed after he is confronted by the lord, this is not how it occurred. The rich man would not allow the steward to continue working for him after confronting him and confirming the steward’s misdeeds. The steward had learned in advance that his lord knew of his wrong practices. Before the rich man fired the steward, the steward approached the customers with the debt reduction scheme to gain their favor so he would have somewhere to go and be sustained after being fired.
Verses 1-7 I was able to understand without The Holy Spirit’s discernment. However, verse 8 completely baffled me every time I read it. The lord is commending this unjust steward for his unlawful and unethical behavior. How can this be? I certainly would not commend this steward. And what is this statement by Jesus in Luke 16:8(b) that “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light?”
Luke 16:8
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.
Who are “the children of light?” Yes, this is us, the Believers. Who are “the children of this world?” Yes, the unbelievers or unsaved. The children of light belong to which kingdom? Yes, The Kingdom of God. The children of this world belong to which kingdom? Yes, the kingdom of darkness. Look at verse 8 closely. Notice in the verse it shifts from the parable ending (at the colon) to Jesus making a teaching observation (after the colon). It shifts from the lord commending the unjust steward to Jesus observing the children of darkness are wiser, in that generation, than the children of light. What in the world does this mean? To understand what Jesus is addressing, we must remember what Jesus, and John the Baptist before Him, according to Scripture, were preaching and teaching everywhere they visited. Yes, The Kingdom of God (Matthew calls it The Kingdom of Heaven and The Kingdom of God – same thing). What did Jesus tell us to seek FIRST in Matthew 6:33? Yes, The Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Jesus teaches us the unsaved of this world are much more learned, exercised, and successful at operating in the kingdom of darkness than the Believers are at operating in The Kingdom of God. The unsaved are wiser in their operations, in their kingdom, than the Believers are in operating in their kingdom, The Kingdom of God. In the kingdom of darkness, it is considered wise to focus on “me,” to take care of “me” first. It is a selfish, self-centered, and prideful kingdom. The laws of the kingdom of darkness fully sustain this thinking, this motivation, this ideology, this government. The laws of The Kingdom of God are based completely on love, light, and life (this IS Who God IS). We love God first, others second, and ourselves third. Love is giving while “me” is taking.
Sadly, Jesus’ Truth in Luke 16:8 is still Truth today. Most Believers have no clue about The Kingdom of God, about its government, about its Spiritual laws, and about how to operate in it to achieve everything Jesus did with consistency. The children of darkness still do a better job of studying, understanding, and operating in their kingdom than we, as Believers, do in our kingdom, The Kingdom of God. In fact, because many Believers are ignorant of The Kingdom of God and how to daily live and succeed in It, they continue to operate in the greatly inferior kingdom of darkness with the laws of hate, darkness, and death (antithesis of love, light, and life).
I am starting to see The Kingdom of God and Its government understood and taught much more often which is very encouraging. What a mighty force The Church can be in this world if we put aside denominations and dogma and come together over the full counsel of The Living God. This can only happen if “me” is put aside in favor of God and others in our lives. Understanding The Kingdom of God and how we are to operate within it requires us to become diligent seekers of The Word of God. We must set our pride, our dogma, our traditions, and our rudiments of this world aside and ask The Holy Spirit to show us the Truth. If we do, the transformation in us, in our families, and in everything to which we put our hand will be dramatic.
Next week we’ll address Luke 16:9-13, the rest of the parable and teaching by Jesus about the unjust steward.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Larry