The foremost God’s stewards, who became an unjust steward, were Lucifer. Lucifer became an unjust steward, blinded by his own freedom, strength and excellence. He chose to revolt against God, took honour and the mission that belongs to God. Lucifer lost his stewardship and, in his pride and hatred, continued to influence unjust servants to perdition and the decline of the church. Jesus’ parable of the unjust steward, beyond its representation of Lucifer, points to any unfaithful steward in God’s creation, such as unfaithful churchmen, kings, politicians, fathers of families, and so on (Lk 16:1-13).  The ‘creative mission’ of the unjust steward, calling the debtors to amend their bills, amounts to asking them to amend their sin for financial transaction, putting God’s mission on sale rather than pointing the debtors to Jesus. The act of unjust stewards is a warning against a dangerous tendency in the pulpit. Preachers as stewards of God’s truth must not dilute God’s moral standards or the teaching of God’s Word to make friends with the world. There is an increasingly dangerous act taking place today in the pulpit, whereby unjust stewards, having not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, are trading God’s word to make the world happy without promoting holiness

The act and parable of an unjust steward is not only a failure and disgrace to God’s mission, but also a betrayal of trust and vocation. God’s mission continues to suffer under the false piety and acts of unjust stewards with unrighteous attachment to money for personal gain. Unjust steward with zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, are ignorant of God’s righteousness, thereby going about to establish his own righteousness with his Master’s debtors (Rom. 10:2). Unjust stewards in their unrighteous acts use the human and earthly resources that God has committed into their hands for personal gain, fleeting luxury or self-interest. The church is no longer empowered and equipped to win souls because unjust stewards are compromising and trading God’s mission for money. The parable of the unjust steward reminds us that stewardship is a mission responsibility to use earthly resources for eternal gain. Rather than feeding the flock, the unjust steward fed and traded on the sheep, currying favour with the world, and anxious about the future.

Stewardship calls us to faithfulness in the small things. The warning from the parable is that, if we are not faithful with “unrighteous mammon” (worldly wealth), we cannot be trusted with “true riches” (God’s eternal kingdom). Stewardship is about love for God, not money; hence, a warning against an unhealthy attachment to money, which can become an idol, leading one to serve it instead of God. The act of an unjust steward tends towards mission sale and ruin; hence, he traded the Master’s resources to make friends for his future.

Jesus, while addressing the audience of a mixed crowd of disciples and Pharisees, begins the parable with a rich man calling his unjust steward before him to inform him that he will be relieving him of his duties for mismanaging His resources (mission). Call to faithful stewardship requires the utmost level of trust and tenacity. The unjust steward, realising that he will soon be released from his job due to his unfaithfulness and dishonesty, makes some shrewd deals behind Jesus by reducing the debt owed by several of his Master’s debtors in exchange for his personal shelter when he is eventually put out. The unjust steward failed to realise that Jesus, his Master, is an all-knowing God. Jesus commended the unjust steward for his ‘shrewdness,’ saying “For the sons of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (Lk 16:8). Jesus is here contrasting the “son of this world,” the unbelievers, and the “son of light,” believers. The reflection is that ‘unbelievers are wiser in the things of this world than believers are about the things of the world to come. The unjust steward, once he knew he was about to be put out, manoeuvred to collect some quick cash, cheat his Master by putting the mission on sale, thereby making friends of his Master’s debtors, who would then be obligated to care for him once he lost his job.’

The act of an unjust steward, in his trading shrewdness and treachery, put Jesus’ mission on sale by manoeuvring Jesus’ message to suit his personal interest. Commissioned to deliver Jesus’ message to the people, the unjust steward took advantage of the debtors’ vulnerability. The principle of the sons of this world shapes the act of an unjust steward. The act of an unjust steward amounts to the acts of unbelievers who are wiser in the things of this world. The act of unjust stewards not only declines the church, but it also dis-eases the church and its structure. The act of an unjust steward is shaped by means of unrighteousness, bearing in mind that the corrupting influence of wealth leads people to commit unrighteousness.

Jesus’ principle of a just steward is the stewardship that draws debtors, the sinners, the people for whom Jesus died, to come to Him in repentance. In contrast, the act of an unjust steward negates Jesus’ mission principle, by making merchandise of the mission, thereby inhibiting soul winning and declining the church.

The act of the unjust steward sees and takes Jesus’ mission and resources as a means for personal enjoyment and advancement. The act of an unjust steward exploits Jesus’ mission and resources to further personal goals, exhibiting unrighteous generosity for personal gain. An unjust steward expresses faithfulness in little things, that is, unrighteous mammon. The act of unjust stewardship negates ‘true riches,’ that is, stewardship and responsibility in God’s mission, along with all the accompanying. The act of an unjust steward is about serving two masters. Jesus said, “No servant 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” (Lk 16:13). An Unjust steward in his hypocrisy put Jesus’ mission on sale for his self-interest. In contrast, just stewards, in righteousness, utilise Jesus’ mission to build up God’s kingdom.