CALLED TO ACCOUNT
‘Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.’
Luke 16:2
We call this parable the Parable of the Unjust Steward—i.e. a fraudulent, dishonest steward—and such undoubtedly he did become; but not deliberately dishonest up to the time when his lord called him suddenly to account. He was accused to his lord that he had wasted his goods; not a purposed and continued fraud, but a long-continued faithlessness to his trust. He had forgotten that he was the trustee for his lord’s possessions, and he had lived on neglecting plain duties, until at last the goods began to perish.
The man, then, was guilty of being unfaithful to his trust. And it is this that gives the parable its terrible significance for us.
I. This, then, is the question which each of us has to ask of himself and of his own life: ‘What manner of steward have I been of those things that my Lord has entrusted to me?’ God has given each one of us something to do in His household. Every one of us is, in a larger or smaller degree, a steward of the Lord. Two great gifts of God, at least, are given to every one—Time and Opportunity.
( a) Time—that fleets so swiftly, and so often unheeded, passing by moments and days, and running up to years, bringing life to a close, is God’s great trust to every one of us.
( b) And Opportunity—those moments fraught with blessings and help, or hindrance and evil, to one’s fellow-men, and which may become the means of increasing the Master’s goods or of diminishing them.
II. We have to give an account, sooner or later, to our Lord and Master of how we have used these great gifts, and many another besides; but of these two surely every one of us has to give an account. Think for a moment of the many stewardships we all have from time to time given us; and how these stewardships are terminated—now, at one time, one stewardship, and now, at another time, another.
( a) There is the parent’s stewardship of the child.
( b) The master, the employer, the statesman, the citizen, who fills any place of trust, the parish pastor—all who have any charge, any duties, any power or influence—all these have some great trust of their Lord’s to answer for, and sooner or later there rests upon each the question: ‘Have I been faithful to my stewardship?’
If a man has not kept his Lord’s trust, and has to answer to Him for wasted time and wholly neglected opportunities, how awful must be his account!
—Archbishop Magee.
Illustration
‘In spiritual things, the effective use of stewardship is the being permitted to do true work for God. The joy of success, the joy of safety, the happiness of accomplishments, is solemnised, irradiated by the assurance within the soul of its real and vital union with Christ. “Rejoice not,” Jesus said to His disciples, after successful exercise of ministry, “rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” And then, just as the faithful use of one earthly post finds its reward in opportunities of a greater and wider field of usefulness, so a true use of the trust of earthly life shall one day have its exceeding reward in the greater opportunities of what Jesus called the true riches, even the fuller service and trust of the Kingdom of Heaven. To one who, in giving account of his stewardship, can show an increase in proportion to the trust bestowed, who, receiving five talents, brings other five talents, or having but two talents yet brings other two talents, Christ will say in the day of the final account of all stewardship, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” ’

A GOOD RESOLUTION
‘I am resolved what to do.’
Luke 16:4
The words of the text were put by our Blessed Lord into the lips of a thoroughly worldly man, with whom we come in contact in that well-known parable—the Parable of the Unjust Steward. We want to remember, do we not, that our Lord’s advice to us is just this—as you mingle with the world, as you come in contact with men who are living for the world, who have as their aim securing all that the world can give, caring little or nothing what may happen so long as they secure that, then He would seem to say to us, Do not judge them, do not say hard things, do not forget that they, too, have been redeemed by the Saviour of the world, but try to learn from them a lesson which will help you in your struggle for your Christian freedom, and remember that if you are as true to your aims as they are to theirs, then you will go amongst your fellow-men as saviours of society.
You and I must give an account of our stewardship; we must give an account of the way in which we have lived our life, and used our time, and our money, and our talents.
I. Get time to think.—Anticipate the account which you must give of your stewardship. I do not doubt for one moment that our hearts are stirred by the tender appeal of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but have you let Him enter the great citadel of your will? Have you, too, said: ‘I am resolved what to do’? Have you given up the great gift which God has given to you to Him to keep for you until the day of your account?
II. Begin to act.—Watch the man of the world, see his promptness, see his position. He knows that the victories cannot be won by dreaming; he knows that he must act, and act in the living present. Give up this day, this hour, the sin that doth so easily beset you. Begin to do what in your highest moments you have again and again promised God that you would do. Forgive the enemy, and pray for him, and so make him one of your best friends. Give back in full restitution what you owe to others, and then begin like the wise man of the world—set your house in order, and take pains about your religious life. Do you leave your business to chance? Do you leave your appointments and your arrangements to the moment? You settle your plan; you have a method. You know that it would be fatal to leave such things to chance.
III. In the spiritual life there should be method.—Have we method in those early morning prayers? In the few minutes before we lie down to take our rest at night is the Word of God given any regular, systematic place in the lives that you and I are living, and do we feed our souls on the Bread of Life, and so get sustenance for this long, weary pilgrimage from the cradle to the Cross?
Then, if so, if that be our method, if we have learned our simple lesson which is being taught us every day of our lives in the world, then one last thought I leave you, and it is given you by the man who means to succeed in this life.
IV. Be consistent, persevere, let nothing turn you from the purpose which lies before you. You will be tempted, as we all are, to make those mean compromises with the world, to leave so many things as open questions until the residue of your religion is practically worth nothing. But to delay is fatal.
Rev. Canon Pollock.
Illustration
‘A young man who lived what is called a life of pleasure came home to die at his father’s house, ruined in constitution, sad at heart, until he learned once more the message of the pardon which comes to those who fulfil the conditions on which it is given from our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet from time to time a sadness came over that lad’s face. “Why,” said his father, “are you sad? Surely now you have found the answer to your heart-searching sadness and sorrow.” “Perfectly, father,” he said. “But I am sometimes sad when I remember all that God has now to give me, and I must die, and there is no life left in which to offer up my thanksgiving to God, to live my life for the honour and glory of my Saviour.” ’

THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH
‘The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.’
Luke 16:8
There are several respects in which the world shames the Church, and in which ‘the children of this world’ prove themselves wiser than ‘the children of light.’
I. There is the clearness of vision with which the worldly man perceives the object of his pursuit.
II. There is the unremitting effort with which, in relation to the attainment of this world’s good, men pursue their object.
III. Think how careful men of the world are to use all their resources for the attainment of their end.
IV. Think how determinedly the children of this world refuse to be deterred from prosecuting their schemes by the temporary failure of their efforts.
V. Is it not true that even the children of light themselves prosecute their worldly affairs in far more vigorous fashion than their religious duties?

MAKE FRIENDS
‘And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.’
Luke 16:9
Our Lord wishes us to understand that His religion and service call for just as much zeal, prudence, and tact as the pursuit of earthly gain, for the Christian life must be just as wisely regulated as the worldly, and, as far as forethought, industry, and enthusiasm are concerned, the Church has many a lesson to learn from the Exchange.
There are few spectacles more melancholy than to watch the tactless and apathetic methods by which the average Christian seems to think it likely he can lure to the ranks of righteousness and transform the forces which make for evil into the forces which make for good. The question is one of pure policy. It is the point upon which our Lord fastens for the main lesson He teaches in the parable; ‘Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.’ It implies two things.
I. We are to be stewards for Christ: that is the relationship in which we are to stand. We must not, therefore, regard anything as apart from, or outside that stewardship, and must treat nobody with a cold indifference as if they lay beyond the range of our Christian influence.
II. Everywhere and out of everything we are to try to make friends—friends first, of all, of ourselves, friends, secondly, of righteousness, and, finally, of God.
III. What is mammon?—Let me offer you a few practical examples of what is meant by the obscure phrase our Lord here employs—obscure to us, but, perhaps, clear to the Jews who heard it. The Syriac word ‘mammon’ seems to have been used as the generic term for money, food, or anything else which is made to minister to evil ends by men of evil minds. But the point to notice is that nothing is evil in itself, but may be made streams of righteousness or wells of unrighteousness. We may turn things at will into friends or foes. Our Lord teaches a strictly scientific principle, the principle which the great Francis Bacon introduced into the natural science of his day. Bacon taught that we ought to conquer nature. How? By making her our friend. Let man, he says, only stop to study and obey the laws of nature and she will show her gratitude by becoming his aid and benefactress. And now this natural principle must be reflected in our dealings with the world moral and spiritual, if, that is to say, we are to win the world to the service of God. Take, for example, the dealings we have with money. It is powerful for good or for evil; it may become the mammon of unrighteousness, or it may become a friend and ally destined to purchase entrance into everlasting habitations. It ceases to be mammon—when? Why, when you cease to use it as such. And so we see the meaning of our Lord’s saying which follows the parable: ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’
Archdeacon H. E. J. Bevan.