3. Compare the steward of our parable with Joseph, Gen. 39:1-6; also with Eliezer, Abraham's steward, Gen. 15: 2. 4. On the Christian's stewardship see 1 Cor. 9:17; 4:1, 2; Tit. 1:7; 1 Pet. 4: 10. 5. With v. 9 compare Luke 12: 16-21; 16: 19-31. 6. On the "children of this world" (v. 8) see Luke 20:34, 35; 10: 6. On "the children of light" see John 12:36; 1 Thes. 5:5; Eph. 5:8. 7. On v. 11 see Matt. 25: 40; 1 Tim. 6:10. 8. Find v. 13 in Matt. 6: 24; compare James 4:4. 9. Read the sequel of the parable in v. 14. THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS. Adult Classes. -Theme, "MammonWorship." You may have a succession of brief talks on the effect of mammonworship in business, by a business man; in society, by some woman; in colleges, by a teacher; in churches, by a church officer or the pastor; among laborers, by a workman; among newspapers, by an editor. Intermediate Classes. - Theme, "Trying to Serve Two Masters." Give each pupil a pencil and a sheet of paper divided into two columns. He will head one "God," and the other, "Mammon." In each he will write a list of what that master requires, and when he is through he will see how opposed the two lists are. THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING. THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY. Commentaries on Luke, Lives of Christ, and books on the parables, especially those by Trench, Lang, Dods, Taylor, Hesba Stretton. Chapters in Horton's The Commandments of Jesus; Farrar's In the Days of Thy Youth; Finney's The Way of Salvation and Lectures to Professing Christians; Maclaren's Expositions; Moinet's The Great Alternative; Cox's Biblical Expositions; Parkhurst's The Pattern in the Mount; Horder's The Silent Voice; Wilson's The Ideal Humanity. Sermon's by Beecher (Vol. I.), Talmage (Vol. I.), Hoppin (Sermons upon Faith, Hope, and Love), Chalmers, Wesley, Liddon, Arnold (School Sermons), Robertson (Fifth Series), Dickinson (Monday Club, Vol. XXV.), Bushnell (Sermons for the New Vs. 8, Life), etc. A novel view in Four Bible Studies, by John H. Osborne. Primary Classes. - Theme, "Faithful in Little Things." To illustrate this lesson show pictures or specimens of little things that count largely in making up the world: a handful of dust, a grain of sand, a picture of a snow crystal, a drop of water, a ray of light, a piece of coal, a thread, a cent, a match, etc. For Committing to Memory. 9; Matt. 25:21; 1 Cor. 4:2. Trying to Serve Two Masters. Introduction. Why is this parable of the unjust steward the most perplexing of Christ's parables? Because, at first sight, Christ seems in it to praise the conduct of an unrighteous man. "There is in every parable the main scope and the ornament or drapery. Sometimes, if we press too closely the drapery in which the aim and intention of a parable is clothed, we get quite the contrary of our Redeemer's meaning." — F. W. Robertson. "This parable certainly has inherent difficulties. The nut is hard, but the fruit rich." Prof. James M. Hoppin. "We have here simply a parable of Christian prudence, Christ exhorting us to use the world and the world's good, so to speak, against the world, and for God.". Trench. "I scarcely know any parable throughout the New Testament whose lesson we need more strongly.". Thomas Arnold, of Rugby. The outline we are to follow is: I. THE STEWARD AND HIS SHREWDNESS (vs. 1-8). II. FAITHFUL IN LITTLE THINGS (vs. 9-12). III. THE Two MASTERS WHICH? (v. 13.) I. The Steward and His Shrewdness, vs. 1-8. What were the duties of an Eastern steward? Such a land steward as is described in our parable was higher than a mere house steward. "It was his duty to admit and dismiss tenants; to value their land and its produce; to fix, collect, and sell their rents; for in the East, then as often now, rents his I. AND he said also unto the disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. wasting 2. And he called him, and said unto him, steward. Then 3. And How this its that I hear is was of account of thy stewardship; for thou mayet be no longer canst for the steward said within himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord taketh away the stewardship from me? I have not strength to dig; to beg I am ashamed. from me the stewardship: cannot 4. 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 5. And calling to him each one of his lord's debtors, How much owest thou unto my lord? were paid not in money, but in kind. If an olive yard yielded a thousand measures of oil annually, a certain proportion, say a tenth, was paid to the landlord: in that case the rent was a hundred measures of oil. If a farm yielded a thousand bushels of wheat, the rent of course would be a hundred bushels of wheat."- Samuel Cox. What was wrong with the steward of the parable? We are not told that he was dishonest, but merely that he was wasteful. "He had been negligent and luxurious. He had been wanting in vigilance, energy, self-denial, and so had fallen into that most common of all dishonesties which, because it breaks into no man's house and steals no man's purse, has no notion that it is dishonest.". Cox. How was the steward punished? He was required to render the account, "the proper account that should be given periodically. It would seem that the owner had not asked for this before." — New Century Bible. "The steward, knowing that he cannot disprove the charges, regards this demand for a reckoning as equivalent to dismissal."—Int. Crit. Com. Of what stewardship are we called to give account? "Is there one anywhere who has so isolated, so helpless, so solitary a position in this life that in it he has no power of helping or serving others? If he has, just in the measure and in the degree in which he has it, is he steward to God."--Archbishop Magee. "Eternal things only are our own; with all these temporal things we are barely intrusted by another, the Disposer and Lord of all. And he intrusts us with them on this express condition, that we use them only as our Master's goods, and according to the particular directions which he has given us in his word." -John Wesley. We are stewards of time. "We sometimes hear persons talk of 'making up for lost time.' That is a thing they cannot do. They can only rob the present time, to pay back that which belonged to the past; but the time itself they cannot replace.” — F. O. Morris. We are stewards of our bodies, our goods, our homes, our talents, our power of speech, our strength, our health, our beauty, our talents, our knowledge, our minds and souls. We are stewards of "the creed which we believe, the hopes which we cherish, the religion in which we find our happiness and peace as Christians.". Canon Liddon. We are to give an account of our stewardship in the judgment day; nearer than that also, at death; nearer than that also, in many cases, as when a child passes out from our home into the world, or a pupil leaves our class in the Sunday school, or a friend is removed from our influence by death. But he would better have died What prospects seemed before the steward? Manual labor, for which he had not strength, or beggary, which he was ashamed to take up. digging than done what he did do. He found a third possibility. "The original graphically represents the sudden flash of discovery: 'I have it! I know now what to do." Cambridge Bible. How did the steward provide for his future? He called to him his master's debtors, either tenants whose rent was not paid, or (Trench) merchants who owed him for bills of goods received in the past. Of these he asked, "How much do you owe? and how much you? A hundred measures of oil? Let us put it down at fifty. A hundred measures of wheat? Wheat is of more value than oil; it will not be safe to take off so much; but put it down at eighty.'”. Cox. "We are to understand that there were other debtors with whom the steward dealt in a similar manner; but these suffice as examples. The steward suits his terms to the individual in each case, and thus his arbitrary and unscrupulous dealing with his master's property is exhibited."—Int. Crit. Com. The measure 6. And he said, An hundred " measures of oil. And he said unto him, bill, Take thy bond, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. D bill, unto him, Take thy bond, and A And he said unrighteous unjust steward because he had done in their are for own generation wiser than a Gr. baths, the bath being a Hebrew measure variously estimated at from seven to nine gallons. See Ezek. 45: 10, II, 14. b Gr. cors, the cor being a Hebrew measure variously estimated at from five to fourteen bushels. 1 John 12:36; Eph. 5:8; 1 Thes. 5: 5. (Hebrew, bath) of oil contained from eight to nine gallons, and the measure (Hebrew, cor) of wheat about ten bushels. "The 100 bath of oil would probably be worth about $50, and the 100 cor of wheat from $500 to $600." Int. Crit. Com. The change had to be made quickly (v. 6), manifesting the steward's nervousness and sense of guilt. an Branch of How did the master regard this trick? "The master of the steward approved of his dexterity, not of his fraudulence."- Farrar. "The phrase might be rendered, And the landlord could not help admiring the clever trickiness of his knavish man of business.' He saw through it, but the fellow was a clever rascal after all.". Professor Lindsay. ILLUSTRATIONS. "The language of common history commends the unjust stewards on a larger scale, who have steadily pursued, through all dangers and difficulties, the several objects of their ambition and vainglory."-Arnold. Men like Alexander and Napoleon. "We can admire Lord Bacon as one of the greatest' and 'wisest' of mankind, if we also admit him to have been one of 'the meanest.' "Cox. "No one commends the morality of David when he played the madman at Gath, and scrabbled on the gate, but who has not smiled at his skill in meeting the occasion, in overreaching all his enemies, and making them serve him by the simple device of hiding the brightest intellect of the age under the vacant, silly stare of the idiot?"-Professor Marcus Dods. 66 What contrast did Christ draw between worldlings and religious men? He declared that the children of this world, "those who seek no other portion than this world, are wiser (not absolutely, for they are, one and all, the veriest fools, the most egregious madmen under heaven; but in their generation, in their own way; they are more consistent with themselves; they are truer to their acknowledged principles; they more steadily pursue their end) than the children of light, than they who see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'"-John Wesley. 'Worldly men show a superior sagacity and earnestness in pursuing their aims to religious men in the pursuit of their aims. They see their end more clearly, adapt their means to that end more skillfully, handle them more vigorously. They are more patient and indomitable in their endeavor to make a fortune than we are to gain the knowledge of God or to win an eternal blessedness. They aim lower, but they aim better. They work harder, though they are not so well paid. They do more to obtain a corruptible crown than we to obtain the crown that fadeth not away. This Christ approves in them, this wise foresight, this skillful adaptation of means to ends, this capable and resolute handling of them. But they are only wise in their generation.' When that is past, their wisdom will often prove to have been a folly. They may have made a fortune, but they cannot take it with them when they die.". - Cox. 9. And I say unto you, 'Make to yourselves friends ye mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it all fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. the eternal tabernacles. 10. 2 He that is faithful in that which is least that is unjust in unrighteous is a very little is faithful also in much: and he unjust also in much. the least 1 Matt. 6: 19; Luke 11:41; 1 Tim. 6: 17. ILLUSTRATIONS. "A kind old lady who was never known to speak evil of any one was one day asked if she had anything good to say of Satan. After a moment's pause she replied, We should all do well to imitate his perseverance.' An Egyptian monk was once moved to tears by the sight of a dancing-girl. On being asked the reason, he replied, 'That she should be at such pains to please men in her sinful vocation, while we in our holy calling use so little diligence to please God.'" Charles A. Dickinson. "Look at the splendid qualities that go to the making of a successful housebreaker. Audacity, resource, secrecy, promptitude, persistence, skill of hand, and a hundred others, are put into play before a man can break into your back kitchen and steal your goods. Jugglers and fiddlers, and circus-riders and dancers, and people of that sort spend far more time upon efforts to perfect themselves in their profession than ninetynine out of every hundred professing Christians do to make themselves true followers of Jesus Christ." Alexander Maclaren. Browning's poem, "The Statue and the Bust," enforces the same truth: "Let a man contend to the uttermost II. Faithful in Little Things, vs. 9-12. How did Christ, in echoing the master's praise, change it? And I say unto you, he said, marking his own application of the parable, Make to yourselves friends (such as Lazarus of the following parable) of (R. V., “by means of ") the mammon of unrighteousness (money, obtained and spent unrighteously); that, when ye fail (die; or, as in R. V., "when it shall fail," for we cannot carry our money with us to heaven, but only the good we did with our money), they (the poor whom we have aided) may receive you into everlasting habitations (R. V., "the eternal tabernacles," that is, heaven). "Mammon is a Chaldee word meaning riches." - Prof. Marvin R. Vincent. THE MAMMON OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. "We shall make a great mistake if we narrow down the interpretation of that word 'mammon' to be merely money. It covers the whole ground of all possible external and material possessions." Alexander Maclaren. 66 'Vergil in a memorable line spoke of the auri sacra fames, the accursed hunger for gold. There is a famous story told by Chaucer of three brothers who wished to face the shadow feared of man,’· Death. An old man pointed to a path in the wood where they would meet him. Presently the path brought them to a pile of golden coins. This, though they knew it not, was death. It was agreed that two should mount guard while the third went to the town to procure the means of conveying the treasure away. When they were parted, the two considered that if they made away with their brother there would only be two to share the gold. Meanwhile the third brother reflected that if he could despatch the two, the whole hoard would be his. He therefore brought back his brothers a poisoned bottle of wine. On his return the two fell upon him and killed him, and then they fed on the food he had brought, drank the poison, and died. That is a parable of mammon. It can transform men into fiends, and desecrate the whole of human life."- Rev. Robert F. Horton, D.D. But money has a brighter side. "In the hands of God's children it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked. It gives to the traveller and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!". -John Wesley. How may we make friends by mammon in such a way as to lead to heaven? "Rich men can so invest their wealth that the interest shall be paid as regularly in the world to come as here. They may be eternally the better for being rich men in this world." Dods. "That was what was intended when it was said of a recently deceased philan a II. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? a Or, riches. thropist that he took his wealth with him, by which was meant that he carried up with him to the heavenly home the friendships, the loves, and the prayers of the multitudes all around the earth who had had their burdens lightened and their lives strengthened and sweetened by his tender beneficence." Parkhurst. How did Christ emphasize the value of little things? By insisting that fidelity in little things (v. 10) leads to fidelity in large things, while unfaithfulness in what is least leads to unfaithfulness in what is greatest. By that which is least Christ meant the worldly goods of which he had been talking. ILLUSTRATIONS. God shows in all parts of his creation the value he sets upon little things. "God could thunder the year round; he could shake the ribs of the world with perpetual earthquakes; he could blaze on the air, and brush the affrighted mountains each day with his comets. But if he could not feed the grass with his dew, and breathe into the little lungs of his insect family; if he could not expend his care on small things, and descend to an interest in their perfection, his works would be only crude and disjointed machines, without beauty and order, and fitted to no perfect end."- Bushnell. "Throughout his whole teaching, Christ lays the most significant stress upon things which often go with us for unimportant details." Rev. William T. Wilson. The servant who was faithful " in a very little" was made ruler over ten cities. He praised the woman who had "done what she could." He praised the widow's mite, the cup of cold water. The shepherd hunted the one sheep and the woman the one coin. The same truth is prominent in the Old Testament - the one backward look of Lot's wife, the one lie of Abraham, the one petulant word uttered by Moses, are specimens of the little sins that wrought great evil. "How many there are who are continually allowing themselves to practise little dishonesties, little deceptions, and to tell little lies in trade; and yet think themselves Christians! If a man does not love God well enough to keep from yielding to slight temptations to commit small sins, surely he does not love him well enough to keep from yielding to great temptations to commit great sins.". Finney. "It is recorded of a lighthouse erected on a tropical shore that it was like to have failed because, when first kindled, the brilliant light drew about it such clouds of insects that they covered and fairly darkened the glass. And so the conscience may have the power to resist great assault, to overcome strong temptations, and to avoid fearful dangers, but there may be a million little venomous insect habits, unimportant in themselves Olive Press. taken individually, but fearful in their results collectively."-Henry Ward Beecher. How can we be faithful in the unrighteous mammon? 1. We can be thoroughly honest in money matters, to the last cent of payment, and to the first minute of promptness. Christians, above all men, should pay their debts. 2. We can have regard to the rights of others in all our business dealings, remembering that we are our brothers' keepers, whether we sell or buy. 3. We can use unselfishly all that we possess, trying to make it count the most for the good of the world. ILLUSTRATIONS. "To use money for accumulation is folly. In the Eastern tale the golden sequins stored in the chests were found to be dry autumnal leaves when the chests were opened." - Horton. "A draper once said to me- and he fancied himself, I have no doubt, very spiritual as he said it-Think of a man with an immortal soul measuring out yards of tape.' Yes, think of it. If he did it faithfully, giving full measure and the quality asked for, he was only obeying Christ's precept, and fitting himself for whatever occupation may await him in the eternal order."- Horder. |