Learning Faithfulness from the Unjust Steward

Trinity 9| Luke 16:1-13| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| August 2, 2026

The dishonest manager in Jesus’ parable was removed from his office of management. A manager is one who manages the property of another. The dishonest manager was accused of wasting his master’s property. So, he was being removed from his position as manager and he had to turn in the account of his management. The dishonest manager represents us, because we too are managers, or stewards. Everything we own in this life is not really ours, but it is entrusted to us by God for a short time. And when we die, our management will be taken away from us and we will have to give an account of our management. The books will be opened and the record of how we managed our time, thoughts, words, children, and property will be read. And we will be judged. This is the clear teaching of Scripture. Jesus says in Matthew 16, “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” (vs. 27) And St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

St. Paul speaks of pastors in the Office of the Ministry in 1 Corinthians 4, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” And pastors must give an account for how they manage these mysteries. St. James writes, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” And Hebrews 13:17 states, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” So, while Scripture praises the Office of the Ministry as a good work (1 Timothy 3:1) and says, “How beautiful are feet of those who preach Good News” (Romans 10:15; Isaiah 52:7), preachers must also give an account for their ministry before God.

This parable, however, deals not with the Office of the Ministry but with how each of us manages the temporary wealth God entrusts to us on this earth. It is called unrighteous wealth, not because it is unrighteous in and of itself. God created all things for good. But it is called unrighteous, because it is used for unrighteous things. Worst of all, we worship our wealth. We trust in it as our god. This is why Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and money.”

Yet, if God is to judge us based on how we used the wealth entrusted to us, who could be saved? And though many try to be saved in this way, none proves himself a perfectly faithful steward, as St. Paul reminds us, “None is righteous, no not one.” (Romans 3:10) So, we must ask ourselves, “Who can be confident in his salvation on the Last Day?” If we must give an account for not only every dollar we spent or refused to spend, but also every word, thought, and hour, how could anyone be confident to stand before God on the day of judgment?

Our confidence comes from God’s generosity. The manager’s scheme to forgive the debt of his master’s debtors so that they would invite him into their homes would not have worked unless the master were generous and wanted to be seen as generous. Otherwise, he would have thrown the manager in prison and insisted on the original debt. Our heavenly Master is most generous. He has paid our debts, so that we do not need to fear when the record book is opened. This is why Jesus says in John 5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (vs. 24) And why St. Paul writes in Colossians 2, “God made [you] alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (vss. 13-14)

Recently, a famous podcaster had a guest on who claimed that Martin Luther did not believe in universal truths, and that is why he believed that God could simply call us righteous, when we are in fact not righteous. Sure, the guest mischaracterized Luther’s position to the point of slander, but this is a common position taken by the Eastern Orthodox and others against forensic justification. Forensic justification means legal justification. It refers to God’s court. God is the judge. He declares the verdict. We stand in His courtroom awaiting judgment. Yet, because we have faith in Christ our advocate, God declares us just. Yet, the Eastern Orthodox and others mock this teaching. “But you aren’t really righteous! God can’t just call you righteous. You need to become righteous.” Yet, Scripture says in Romans 4, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (vss. 4-5) But how can God declare us righteous if by our deeds, we are not righteous?

God declares us righteous with real righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. Jesus truly did fulfill the Law in human flesh and so has a righteousness that deserves eternal life. And Jesus suffered and died for our real sins. He took our guilt upon Himself and was punished in our stead, and thus He paid our debt. God paid real currency, more real and more valuable than silver or gold, to pay our debts and settle the books in our favor. That is why the one who trusts in Jesus is declared righteous by God. His real sins were covered with real blood. His real debt is paid. And he is covered with the real righteousness of Christ, which pleases God forever.

Jesus teaches in Matthew 12, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (vss. 33-36) People get this backwards. They think that they will make the tree good by putting good fruit on it. They will make themselves righteous by doing righteous things. Yet, that is not how a person is made righteous. God makes you righteous by forgiving your sins and placing Christ’s righteousness on you. Then you are able to produce good fruit, to make friends with unrighteous wealth. We will be justified by our confession of Christ, who is our righteousness.

Through faith in Christ, the books are fixed in your favor. All your debt is paid. And so, you do not need to fear being condemned for your trespasses, because they have been forgiven. Yet, Jesus still exhorts us to manage wisely the property he entrusts to us. This is not so that we may earn our salvation, but so that we may prove that we have been justified by Christ. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” When you worship money, you prove that you do not trust in God. When you stop working to earn money, so that you may worship God, you show that you do not worship your money. When you give to your brother in need, you show that you trust that God will provide for you in your need. When you support the mission of the church with your tithes and offerings, you prove that you value heavenly things more than earthly things. This is fruit that comes from a good tree. And so, to prove that we do not worship money, but God, Jesus instructs us to make friends with this unrighteous wealth, so that when our wealth fails us, our friends may welcome us into our eternal dwellings. This means that Jesus wants us to use what is temporary to show love to those who will love us for eternity.

Do you believe that everything you have is from God? Do you recognize that it will all be taken away from one day? Do you believe that Christ has won for you eternal life with eternal friends? Do you believe that He will give you true wealth that will last forever? Do you believe that He will give you that which is your own after your temporary wealth leaves you? Faithfulness in the little temporary wealth God has entrusted to you comes from faith in the eternal wealth God promises you for Christ’s sake. He who is dishonest in very little is dishonest, because he does not believe that God has much in store for him. He who is unfaithful in unrighteous wealth is unfaithful, because he does not believe that God will give him true riches. So, like the rich fool, he stores up his treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, and where death will rob you if these three fail.

So, Jesus exhorts us to behave according to our faith in what He promises, full forgiveness and true eternal wealth. Treat your fellow Christians as those who will welcome you into eternity. Invest not in temporary things that are bound to decay, but in eternal things. In Jesus’ parable, the master commends the unrighteous steward for his shrewdness. This does not mean that Jesus expects us to lie and cheat as the steward in His parable did, but rather, he puts us to shame with his example. “The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light,” Jesus says. The sons of this world are diligent to gain for themselves temporal dwellings and to store up for themselves temporary wealth. But if we believed that Christ has won for us eternal dwellings, we should be even more diligent than they are to make friends for these eternal dwellings.

How you spend your time, what words you choose to say, and yes, how you deal with your money reflects what you believe in your heart. Some claim to have faith, because they know the historical details about the faith, but they do not trust in Christ nor behave as if they believe in His eternal promises. And so, it is a salutary practice to use your money to support the church, so that the Gospel may be proclaimed, which grants eternal life to all who believe. And it is salutary to use your money to help those in need, especially your brothers and sisters in Christ, so that they may bear witness to your generosity when you stand on judgment day. In this way, you put to death the old Adam in you, named after the first unfaithful steward, and you put into practice the new self, born after the image of Christ. You will not become poorer by living this way, because you have a generous Master, who will commend you for trusting in Him. And Christ promises that when you use your unrighteous wealth to make eternal friends, you will by no means lose your reward (Matthew 10:42).

Amen.