I MUST

BE
ABOUT MY
FATHER’S BUSINESS

Biblical success in business

By
Warren du Plessis
I Must Be About My Father’s Business

biblical success in business.

Text © Warren du Plessis 2014

All rights reserved.

No portion of this work may be used, copied or disributed, either

electronically, manually or mechanically or by any other means

without due acknowledgement of authorship. Further enquiries in

this regard can be obtained from the author at

admin@[Link]

All scripture quoted from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

Cover image courtesy of arztsamui@[Link]

 Contents
Parable of the Unjust Steward…8

Introduction…10

Part One

The parable of the unjust steward as foundation

1…….Luke 16:1-13...A Kingdom Overview…12

2…….Luke 16:1-13...A Business Overview…15

3…….The Rich Man…19

4…….The Steward…30

5…….A Strange Instruction…34

6…….A Matter of Trust…37

7…….Righteousness Begins Now…41

8…….Mine, Mine, it’s all Mine…45

9…….Make a Choice…50
 Part Two

Aspects of business

10…..Business and the Christian…55

11…..Wisdom…61

12…..Guidance…66

13…..Vision…71

14…..Where to Begin…81

15…..Jacob – What’s in a Name…86

16…..Nehemiah – Planning…92

17…..Financing your Business…96

18…..The Right Person for the Right Job...100

19…..Legals and Records…107

20…..Marketing – Convincing of a Need...113

21…..Buying and Selling…119

22…..Caleb – Don’t let Looks Deceive…123

23…..Samson – Negotiating with the Enemy…126

24…..Competition and Opposition…131

25…..Moses and Aaron – Partnerships…135

26…..Joshua – Successful Successors…139

27…..Joseph – Success as Number Two…143

28…..Completing the Task…147

29…..The Ideal Businessperson…150

Appendix

Additional Scripture Support

Boldness……………………………..….155

Business, finance and success…….....156

Faith…………………………………..….160

Patience……………………………..…..162

Peace…………………………………..…163

Wisdom……………………………..……164
PARABLE OF THE UNJUST STEWARD

Luk 16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a
certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was
accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
Luk 16:2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it
that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship;
for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Luk 16:3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I
do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I
cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
Luk 16:4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out
of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Luk 16:5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto
him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my
lord?
Luk 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he
said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write
fifty.
Luk 16:7 Then said he to another, And how much owest
thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he
said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
Luk 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward,
because he had done wisely: for the children of this world
are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Luk 16:9 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.
Luk 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful
also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also
in much.
Luk 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the
unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true
riches?
Luk 16:12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is
another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.
INTRODUCTION

This book is a testament to the awesome power of the Word

of God and the knowledge that it contains for those who care
to look. Within the pages of the Bible we find all we need for
life:

2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Take any situation or need you might have, whether it has to

do with family, business, leadership or life in general you will
find the answers you are looking for within those wonderful
pages.

The seed of the idea for this book was planted when I heard
a businessperson say that it was impossible to do business
and maintain biblical principles. His standpoint was that it
was necessary to remove your “Christian jacket” if you
wanted to succeed in the business world. His words
reminded me of the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16
and his illegal and sly dealings to ensure survival.

Using this parable as a starting point, I wanted to examine

what the Bible had to say about business and the result is
this book. There is very little in the business environment
that is not addressed, in one way or another, in the Bible if
you care to look deep enough.
 PART ONE

The parable of the unjust steward as foundation

 CHAPTER ONE
A Kingdom Overview of Luke 16:1-13
“There goes Mr. Smith. I wonder how he made all his
money”
“God alone knows!”
“Ah, that must be why he always looks so worried.”

Jesus was born into a nation which was largely illiterate and
mostly concerned with day to day survival. In order to get
His message of a new covenant and access to the Kingdom
of Heaven across, He often used stories or parables. A
parable is an everyday life situation that is used to explain
something else, things that the ordinary people would
understand. In Luke 16 Jesus told the story of an unjust
steward who ‘wasted’ that which was entrusted to him and
how this rogue used far-sightedness to get out of a tight
situation. ‘Wasted’ in this sense means to squander, or to
separate from ownership, in other words, the steward was
not diligent and was lax in doing his job and he lost money in
his business [Link] Jesus added these words as an
explanation of the parable:

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in

much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in
much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous
mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another
man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
(Luke 16:10-12)
The parable is a warning to all of us to be fruitful and
productive with what we have been given, for we are all
stewards or managers of the things given to us.
 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the
world,
and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)

All belongs to God, the earth, its minerals, its forests and
seas, even the inhabitants, each and every single one of us.

The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S:

but the earth hath He given to the children of men.
(Psalm 115:16)

God has placed His creation in our care, it is for us to use it

not abuse it, to look after it and keep it safe for those to
come, to be good stewards and mangers of it.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be

fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth. (Gen. 1:28)

And God saw every thing that he had made, and,

behold, it was very good. (Gen. 1:31)

God has given us the earth to be fruitful and to multiply in it.

With these words, God is saying that He trusts us with His
creation and He has given it to us in good condition, much
like an office or warehouse for hire. Before handing it over to
its new occupants, the owner ensures that all is well, that it
is in good condition and he expects, at the termination of the
lease, to receive it back in the same condition with increased
value and having profited in the interim from it.

With the parable of the unjust steward in Luke16, Jesus is

telling us that there will come a time of reckoning, a time to
lay out all that you have done, a time when you will be asked
to bring your books so that they may be checked. A time to
answer the question - have you been productive or have you
wasted that which God has given you?

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate

the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.
(Luke 16:13)

There is also the danger that the thing created becomes the
most important at the expense of the Creator. When it
comes to Kingdom values we have to keep our priorities
right. In another parable, using the jewellery business as a
metaphor, Jesus emphasised the value of the Kingdom
compared to the riches of the earth.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a

merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
(Matt.13:45-46)

In God’s plan for the human race, we are to prosper within

His kingdom, but we have to keep the important things
foremost in our dealings. How we conduct our business here
on earth, (which is a little thing compared to that awaiting
us), will determine whether we can be trusted with the
greater things He has in store.
 CHAPTER TWO
A Business Overview of Luke 16:1-13
“Get my broker on the phone, Miss Smith!”
“Yes sir, stock- or pawn- ?”

The rich man referred to in the parable, is the one to whom

everything belongs. He is the financier – the one who
supplied the money and the opportunity for his servant,
referred to as the steward, to handle his business affairs –
heard a rumor that his steward was wasting what had been
entrusted to him and the rich man called for a review of the
books.

Remember, in the time of Jesus, a large proportion of

business was done by bartering, for example, fish could be
traded for wheat, or olive oil for grapes, and so on.

The task of doing business and seeing to the financial

wellbeing of the rich man’s household fell to the steward and
he, knowing what he had done or not done, knew his job
hang in the balance. He also realised that there was no way
he would be able to do menial or hard labour such as
digging ditches, and on top of that, living the good life had
made him too proud to beg, so his future looked bleak. All he
knew was business and administration and with the word
‘discharged for dishonesty or laziness’ on his testimonial, he
had no chance of other employment in those fields. What
was he to do about his situation? First and foremost, he
needed friends, and these needed to be in the right places.
Therefore, he needed to strengthen and expand his contacts
in the business world, and the best way to do that in the
business environment is to make deals that benefit his
would-be friends, deals that would be financially beneficial to
those whose help he might need.
Money talks in the secular world and people listen especially
if there is a quick profit to be made. I can imagine how happy
those debtors must have been when the steward told them
to re-write their accounts. These accounts were usually
promissory notes describing the nature of the transaction
and the amount to be paid on or before a given date. Written
in the debtors own handwriting, with his seal or mark
confirming the transaction, these notes would serve as an
account of outstanding debt, and were binding in a court of
law. Failure to honour the debt could cost one all he had and
even land him in prison, which two thousand years ago was
not a pleasant experience and if that were not enough, there
was a good chance that the debtor, his wife and children
could be sold into slavery. (Matt. 18:23-35)

The steward, in his shrewdness, had the debtors rewrite

their notes for a lesser amount, and then by destroying the
original account, the new note became valid. Yes, the rich
man lost money but the steward gained new and probably
powerful contacts at no expense to himself; dishonest, yes,
but highly advantageous. In this way the steward literally
bought new friends, and opened doors for the day when he
would be without work.

The financier was rich and he would be able to cover the

loss, but he, obviously an astute businessman himself, did
appreciate the shrewdness of the steward.

It is unfortunate, but a large portion of society sees success

as described in a Spanish proverb: ‘A rich man is either a
scoundrel or the heir of a scoundrel.’ But this need not apply
to the Christian businessperson.

In this parable, Luke 16:1-13, Jesus acknowledges that the

world, in its dealings, is shrewder than the average believer.
Our faith and moral ethics tend to silence our lips in the face
of ruthless competition. We are afraid we will compromise
our beliefs or portray ourselves as hypocrites.
All, however, is not lost. Our faith and beliefs need not be
concealed in our efforts to gain a foothold in the business
world.

Jesus’ advice is not to do as the world does, but to make

friends with unrighteous mammon that we may always have
a place to do business. Jesus did not say, ‘accept the ways
of the unrighteous’. There are other biblical guidelines for
making your way through this world without resorting to
dishonesty and underhanded tactics.

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made

myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain
the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under
the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not
without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that
I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the
weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by
all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be
partaker thereof with you.
(1Cor. 9:19-23)

Paul says, that in whatever he did, he stayed within the

boundaries as laid out in the Bible even though he had to
deal with the world in all its diversity. His advice was:

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as

wise,
(Eph. 5:15)

Paul is telling us, that as Christians we can deal with the

world without becoming part of the world, and without
succumbing to the vices of the world. Through wisdom we
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