The Doctrine of Nonaccumulation

The Parable of the Talents obviously is not a lesson on financial stewardship. However, this doesn’t mean that Jesus does not teach on this subject. Nor does it mean that He doesn’t give any parables that deal with the subject of economics. On the contrary, Jesus gives a tremendous amount of instruction on how we are to use earthly wealth. He wants us to be good stewards of our earthly possession, and one of the best lessons He gives on financial stewardship is in the Parable of the Unjust Steward, found in Luke 16:1-15. (Jesus says very clearly in verses 9, 11, and 13 that this entire lesson is about how we are to use mammon, or earthly wealth.) This story is about a steward employed by a rich man to manage his possessions. These possessions did not belong to the steward. They were only entrusted to him for a time. During that time, however, he apparently had been given the privilege to do with his master’s possessions almost anything he wished. Upon finding out that he would soon be losing his job, this steward wisely went out and gave away his master’s possessions, thus making friends who could take care of him after his stewardship position had ended. Many people read this parable and shake their heads in confusion. “This man was dishonest,” they say. “He actually stole from his employer!” But was it really stealing? Not necessarily. What this man did was stealing only if he was doing something he had not been given the authority to do. Isn’t it entirely possible that as a steward of his master’s possessions he had been given the right to do almost anything he pleased, including giving the stuff away? (The response of the master in verse 8 certainly indicates that this steward had not exceeded the authority he had been given.) Furthermore, this story is a type of our stewardship position under God, and it is certainly true that we have been given this level of authority over the possessions He has entrusted to us. We have been given the power to keep them, sell them, repair them, destroy them, or give them away, totally at our discretion! So is it stealing when we give away our possessions? Of course not, because the actual owner has given us the authority to do so. _______________________ This parable, instead of condoning stealing, is a beautiful type of the stewardship position we occupy as humans. • Like the steward in this parable, we have been entrusted with property that actually belongs to Someone else—God. • Like this steward, we will someday give account for what we have done with this property. • Like this steward, we have been given notice that the time we have in our stewardship position is rapidly coming to a close. • Like this steward, the decisions we make today about what to do with our Lord’s money will have a direct impact on our well-being after our stewardship time has ended. • Like this steward, the key to our future security lies in giving these things away, not in keeping them for ourselves. To try to keep them is to lose them forever. To give them away is to keep them eternally.