Faithful Stewardship

If you have your Bible with you this morning, I hope you do. I want you to turn
to Matthew chapter 25. We are in the second week of a three -week series where we
are looking at kingdom, stewardship, and generosity. As I told you last week, the
elders had asked me to speak on this subject in January, in part because this has
been a neglected topic for us as a church over our 18 -year history. We've been
pretty low -key in talking about what the Bible says regarding money and giving, and
God has always been faithful to provide for our needs, and we're grateful for that.
But the other reason they wanted me to address this is because we have something
coming up in February. We have refinancing of the mortgage on this property, and the
interest rate on that loan is going up, and so we're hoping to pay down or even
eliminate the remaining mortgage debt so that we could pay off some or all of our
existing loan and be a good steward of our resources. And I told you last Sunday
that we're going to have a big container in the church at the back next Sunday, as
you're leaving church next Sunday, you can drop in there a check or a note or a
deed or whatever it is you want to drop it. If you've got jewelry, you can bring
that and drop it in there. Anything of value that you can put in there that we
can either liquidate or we can deposit.
Some of you already reached out to me or to Curtis Thomas and let us know about
things that you intend to give, money that you're contributing. It's been very
encouraging to hear from you this week. We've already been promised and given
artwork, a nice chess set, furniture,
a vehicle, and cash that has been pledged or given to us already.
So again, very encouraging to see how you are responding to the need that we have
as a church. And I hope you will take time this week to pray and ask God how you
might be helping there. If you have an item or items that you want to give, let
Curtis or me know. If you don't think your item is going to fit in a bucket on
the way out of church or you can't put it in your pocket when you bring it next
Sunday, just let us know we can make arrangements to pick it up or store it or do
whatever we need to do. If you have cash or check that you want to bring, or if
some people have gotten in touch with us said, I'm going to give a stock gift
because I've got appreciated stock and that's a good way to give or I'm going to
give through an IRA. However you want to do it, just let us know what's going on
and keep praying that God will supply exactly what we need. It would be amazing if
somehow we were able to pay off the entire debt. That's what I'm praying for. But
whatever we're able to do that can help us as a church going forward, we're just
trusting the Lord with that. So that's a context for why we're going to be in
Matthew 25 this morning. Last week we talked about having a kingdom -first mindset in
our lives, valuing the advancing of God's kingdom over the acquiring of money and
stuff. Matthew 6, Jesus addressed that specifically. When he said, don't lay up
treasures on earth, but seek first the kingdom and God's righteousness. And don't be
anxious about whether God's going to provide for you. He will take care of you in
the process. Next Sunday, I'm going to talk about giving and generosity and how
these are biblical qualities and attributes that God brings to the hearts of those
who are truly converted. Generosity should be a characteristic in the life and heart
of a Christian. We'll talk about that next Sunday. This morning, we're going to talk
about stewardship, being a faithful steward of what God has entrusted to us.
And to see that, we're going to look at a parable that Jesus tells about three
stewards who are all entrusted with money, and we're going to see how they handled
the money that God had entrusted to them. Let me give you context for the parable
we're going to look at this morning. I told you to turn to Matthew 25. By the
way, let me just say, context matters when you're looking at any passage of
scripture to know the context, to know how it fits into the storyline of what
you're reading, to see it's not just an isolated parable that you pull out, but
this has a context around it. So if you go back to Matthew 24, At the beginning
of Matthew 24, Jesus has, he's with his disciples and he looks at the temple. He
says, you see the temple? He says, I tell you not one stone will be left on
another. That temple is going to be destroyed. And they're astounded by that, and
they say, when will this be? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end
of the age? And at that point, Jesus begins in Matthew 24,
what's called the Olivet discourse, where he explains to them what they can look
for, what to expect as the last day draws near. And the rest of Matthew 24 is
that theological discourse about the end of the age. And then when he gets to
chapter 25, he makes it very practical. He tells them three parables that tell how
they ought to be living in light of the fact that the end is coming. how you
should be living in light of the fact that Jesus is coming back. The first parable
is about 10 young women who are waiting for a bridegroom to come, and five of them
have their lamps trimmed and ready, full of oil, five of them went to sleep and
forgot to put oil in their lamp, and five were ready and five were not. Then the
second parable is a parable, the one we're going to look at this morning, about
three people who are given money. Two of them manage that money wisely. One of them
does not. And then the third parable is a parable about sheep and goats. And the
sheep are doing the right thing and caring for those in need within the church. And
those who are the goats are ignoring the needs of those who are in the church. So
you could sum up Matthew 24 and 25 this
We don't know when, but there will be signs that indicate his coming, is
approaching. We need to stay alert. We need to stay vigilant, and we need to be
diligent in doing the work that he's called us to do. We need to be advancing the
kingdom and caring for one another while we wait for him to return. That's really
the overview of those two chapters. And that's the context in which we find this
particular parable about the three money managers, the parable of the talents, it's
sometime called, the one we're going to look at this morning. And so we're going to
read this passage together, and I want to pray for us as we do that. So again,
Lord, we need your spirit to come now and to be present with us,
speaking to our hearts, softening our hearts. Lord, we need to hear from you more
than anything this morning. So speak to us through your word by your spirit and
give us not just ears to hear but hearts to obey. We pray in your name. Amen.
I'm going to ask you to stand this morning as we read this parable from God's
word. So if you'd stand for the reading of God's word, this is the word of God
for the people of God. Matthew 25 beginning at verse 14. is talking about the
kingdom coming says for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his
servants and entrusted to them his property to one he gave five talents to another
two to another one to each according to his ability then he went away he who had
received the five talents when it once and traded with them, and he made five
talents more. So also, he who had the two talents, made two talents more.
But he who had received the one talent, went and dug in the ground and hid his
master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants came and settled
accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing
five talents more, saying, master, you delivered to me five talents. Here, I have
made five talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful
servant. You've been faithful over little. I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came
forward, saying, master, you delivered to me two talents. Here I have made two
talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've
been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your
master. He also, who had received the one talent came forward,
saying, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and
gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid, And I went and hid your
talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours. But his master answered him,
you wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and
gathered, where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with
the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance.
But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. Amen. You may be seated. May God bless this reading
of his word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will
stand forever. So here's how we're going to approach this parable this morning. We're
going to see who the main characters in the parable are pointing us to. This is an
allegory. It's designed to be allegorical. So we're going to look at the master and
his journey first. Who is the master and what journey is he going on? We're going
to look at the servants.
says at the beginning of this parable is that his kingdom will be like this. It
will be like a man going on a journey. And we know this man is called master,
because later in the parable, he's identified as a master by his servants. They call
him master. And as we will see, this master is a very wealthy man.
Let me say that again, it's a very wealthy. And he's going away for a long time,
going on a journey. Now, it was not uncommon in the ancient world for wealthy
people to do what some wealthy people do today. They have a home in the north in
the summer, and they go to Florida in the winter. They have two different places,
and sometimes they will close up shop in their northern home about April, and they
call them snowbirds in Florida. They come down in the summer. They spend, or maybe
they do the other way around, don't they? Yeah, they don't go in the summer to
Florida. Close -up shop on their home in April in the north. Go to, no.
You get the idea. You know what we're talking about here, right? So they live in
two different places. They go on long journeys. They go on extended vacations. And
if you're going to close up your house in one location, you're probably going to
have somebody looking after it, right? A neighbor, somebody, maybe you hire somebody
who's going to come cut the grass or be the property manager for you. That's the
picture of what's going on here. This is apparently a picture of a wealthy man who
comes to the people who work on his estate, and he says, I'm going to my home in
North Africa for a while. I want you to look after the property here. I want you
to maintain it and take care of it. And I want you to be the overseers of it.
And, of course, when the master's gone, The servants have got it pretty good. They
got the run of the house. It's pretty quiet. Workloads down a little bit. They live
in the nicest house in town, but they've got a job to do. They've got to maintain
the house. If Pilate, like Pontius Pilate, when he was the governor of Judea,
he had quarters in Jerusalem where he would stay. He also had a palace on the
Mediterranean coast in Cessaria where he would often spend time. He'd go between the
two. So if you were one of Pilots' stewards of either of those properties, when
Pilots said, I'm going to the coast for a while and you're living in Jerusalem, you
know that you better keep that house in ready shape so that if Pilot shows up one
day and takes you by surprise, the fridge is stocked, the house is clean, and
everything's ready to go. The laundry's been done, right? You're going to take care
of all of that stuff. Otherwise, in this case, heads will roll, and maybe literally
with pilot. So in this parable, the master says,
I'm getting ready to go away, but in this case, it's not just household maintenance
he's looking for from these men that he calls to him. This master apparently has a
thriving business venture, and he calls these men to him, and he says, I need you
to maintain the business effort while I'm gone. You men see how I operate this
business. You know what I do. You've watched me do it. So I'm going to put you in
charge of different parts of the business. I'm going to give you the money, the
capital resources you need, and I want you to keep the business going. I want you
to do with it what I would do with it if I was here. Cause it to grow.
Get me a return on my investment. So the master gives to one person,
five talents. He gives to another person, two talents, and he gives to the last
one, one talent. So let's look, that's the master in his journey. Let's look at the
stewards and their talents. He calls these three stewards.
He gives them these different amounts. First question is, what's a talent? What are
we talking about here? We know how we use the word. We have talent shows where
people show off their abilities, their skills, they juggle or they sing, or they do
a dramatic reading, or they tell jokes. By the way, when I was in high school, I
was the emcee of our high school talent show, three years running. Pretty impressive
record for me, just so you know. But anyway, the ancient world talent has nothing
to do with showing off your talents and abilities. A talent in the ancient world
was a unit of weight. You would say that weighs a talent. We're not exactly sure
how much a talent weighed because different regions had different measures there.
So a Roman talent is estimated to have been about 80 pounds. In the Middle East,
a Syrian talent or a Judean talent might have been more like 55 or 60 pounds, but
it's a weight. If I'm giving you a talent, here's what I'm giving you. I'm giving
you a bunch of coins, gold, silver, copper coins, and there's going to be a lot in
there because it's going to be 55 pounds. Think of a 55 -gallon drum full of gold
coins. That's essentially what's being given. Most scholars say that what was being
given to these men, a talent, was represented about 20 years of wages for an
average worker. So a guy who's getting five talents, he's getting more than he could
earn in his lifetime. A lifetime plus worth of wages. The guy with two talents is
getting 40 years. Somebody came to you tomorrow and said, I'm going to give you 40
years wages right up front. That's a lot of money. Even the guy who gets one
talent is getting 20 years worth of work.
So Jesus doesn't specify here whether these are talents of silver or gold or copper,
but it's commonly agreed to. There was a huge chunk of change being given.
And this tells us that the master had a lot of money. He was a very wealthy man.
He's not giving the servants everything he has. He's giving them money that they can
use so that they can continue to operate his endeavor while he is gone.
He's not giving them this money to keep for themselves. This is not a bonus. Now
he knows that they're going to need to take care of their living arrangements while
he's gone. So money for food, money for keeping the house up, that's all okay with
him. But the primary purpose of this money is to keep the business thriving. The
text says he entrusted to them his property, and based on how the first two
responded, it's clear that they understood why the money had been given to them. The
master himself presumably got this money by being a skillful businessman, and we
don't know what kind of business he was in, but he had clearly prospered, and while
he was going away, he wanted these men to do the same thing. Now, money in this
parable represents money, but it represents more than money,
because when we think about what's been entrusted to us by God, which is what this
is a metaphor for, he has entrusted us with resources, with financial resources, but
he's entrusted us with time, with abilities, with skills. He's given you everything
you have, and he's said, I want you to manage this well with my agenda in mind.
That's what it means to be a steward. J .C. Ryle, the great theologian from the
1900, says this. He says, anything whereby we may glorify God is a talent.
Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge,
our health, our strength, our time, our senses,
our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges as members of
Christ's church, Our advantages as possessors of the Bible, all, all are talents.
Do you have any of these things? Yes, you do. And God has given these to you with
kingdom purposes in mind. It's a kingdom -first mindset again. So that's what God is
doing in this parable, what Jesus is talking about in this parable. These men have
been entrusted with resources designed to keep the kingdom enterprise going.
Significant to note that they've been given different amounts based on their
abilities, says that in verse 15. The master knew what the servants were capable of,
and he apportioned the resources accordingly. He didn't burden them with more to
oversee than they were capable of overseeing. That's comforting to me to know that
God does not burden you with more than you're able to manage. He gives you what
you need and says, be faithful with what I've given you. So these servants, that's
what they're called here. You know the word doulas. It's the word, excuse me, the
word for servant. Scholars disagree on whether the servants who are being mentioned
here are supposed to represent genuine believers or professing believers.
I think what this parable is pointing to is that all three of these people profess
to be servants of the master, but as we see in the parable, one is exposed for
not being a genuine servant of his master. They claim to be servants, but I think
one of the main points of this parable is that one of the ways we can tell who
are true followers of Christ is not simply do they profess to be servants of God,
but do they manage or steward what God has given them for his glory? That's good
for self -diagnosis, and it's good for us to try to be wise and discerning as we
look at those who profess faith in Christ. And of course, this is a key part of
the parable, because two of the servants are commended for how they handle the
talent they've been given while the master's away, and one of them is condemned and
punished. That's at the heart of the story. Servants one and two take the wealth
they've been given. They follow the pattern they have seen the master demonstrate.
They do what they have seen him do. They invest the money he's given them the way
that they've seen him invest money. And while he's gone, they double the money.
Five becomes 10, two becomes four. And the response of the master to these first
two servants is the same. In spite of the fact that the first one earned
significantly more than the second one did, I mean, he doubled it, both of them
doubled it, you would think that the guy who could come in and say, you gave me
100 years wages, I came back with 200 years, it's like, we're going to throw a
party for you, But the party is for both of them, because they were faithful in
what they were called to do. Both of these servants appear eager when they come
back to the master. They're eager to show him what they've done with the manage.
They say, see, they're like kids who have come and say, see what I did with your
money while you were gone. And the master's response is the same for both of them.
It's a two -fold response. He says, I'm going to increase the opportunity for you to
serve, enter into your master's joy. So we're looking here at the commendation he
gives. This is the section where we're into commendation and condemnation. And he
commends the two who are faithful.
And when he says there's going to be increased opportunity for you to serve and
invest and enter into your master's joy. When he says that, these have eschatological
implications. He's talking primarily about what's coming in the future for them. In
the kingdom, when the kingdom comes into its fullness, you have already demonstrated
your faithfulness and your ability, and in the kingdom, you will have increased
opportunity to serve, and you will be able to enter into the joy of your master.
Now, I just got to be honest with you. I don't know what that means. Increased
opportunity to serve in heaven. I don't know. We have glimpses of we're going to
rule and reign with Christ. And there are other parables that talk about somebody
raining over 10 cities. I don't know how all that's going to play out, what that's
going to look like. But I do know that the Bible says, store up treasures in
heaven, Be faithful in your service, and God's going to give you more to do.
There's a correlation between having a kingdom -first mindset in this life and serving
the Lord faithfully in this life and what we will experience in the life to come.
Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. So it's not what
you do that gets you into heaven, But apparently, some of what you do, some of
your faithfulness in serving Christ is going to have an impact in what your eternal
experience is going to be. Again, I don't know exactly what that's going to look
like. John Piper talks about how faithfulness in this life will increase your
capacity for joy in the next life. We will all experience joy, but you will have
more fullness of joy if you've been faithful in this life, you'll have more capacity
for joy. All I can tell you is that the promise is faithfulness and diligence in
this life will increase your joy in the next life. We will be glad in the next
life that we did not become weary and well -doing and that we remain faithful and
diligent in our lives. So that's the commendation that these two men receive for
their faithfulness to the Lord, the third servant comes forward, and he knows he's
blown it when he comes. And he starts making excuses right away for why he blew
it. He says, verse 24, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did
not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. This man either completely
misjudged the character of his master,
or he is now slandering the character of his master, even though he knows what he's
saying isn't true, he's making excuses by casting the blame. It's your fault, master,
that I didn't do what I should have done. I knew you to be a hard man. In fact,
the second statement is really worse. When he says, you reap where you don't sow,
you gather where you scatter no seed, he's saying about his business dealings that
you have apparently, he's accusing him of unselfish, or selfishly seizing what
belonged to somebody else. You're one of those businessmen who goes out and does
wrong of poor people. That's what he's saying. He resented his master's wealth. He
did not want his master to profit from his labors, and when he says, here, have
what is yours, you can kind of hear the contempt in his voice. The others came and
said, see what I did, Lord? It's like, here, take it back. And the master knows
exactly what's going on here. This man buried what the master had given him,
not because he feared the master, but because he was wicked and slothful.
When the master left on the journey, the man said, okay, he's gone, out of sight,
out of mind. I can do what I want now. I can go my own way.
He buried the money and he moved along. Didn't care anything about the master or
the business endeavors, about any of it. He was wicked and he was slothful.
In verse 26, when the master repeats what the servant has said to him, he says,
you knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where scattered no seed? He's
saying, is this what you're saying? Is this what you're accusing me of?
There's a question mark at the end of that. There's no punctuation in the Greek,
but scholars say he's feeding this information back to this man and saying, really,
this is your impression of me? He's not affirming the slander of the servant.
He's saying to him, this is what you really think of me? This is the charge you're
leveling against me? And the master says, you didn't even do the minimum. You could
have taken this to the bank and earned some interest on it. You didn't even do
that. So the consequence is that this man is stripped of what he was given and
cast into outer darkness. And again, not all Bible teachers agree with this, but I
think it's a clear reference to him being sent to hell. There's no outer darkness
in heaven. There's no weeping and gnashing of teeth in heaven. Given what the man
said about the master's character, how he ignored the master's command what he
entrusted to him, pretty good indication that this man didn't have much regard for
or loved for the master in the first place. He claimed he was his master, but when
the master was away,
out of sight, out of mind, he went on to other things.
So it's not that he was cast into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth
because he didn't invest wisely. He didn't invest wisely because he didn't love the
master. And that's what sends him to outer darkness. That's a key point.
Do you understand that? It's not, you didn't do what you were supposed to, so
you're being punished for your bad works. You are being punished for your bad works,
but you're being punished because they come from a corrupted heart, a heart that was
not given to me. You didn't love me, you never loved me. You claimed to,
but you didn't. So all of this, that kind of explains the parable,
what Jesus is saying in the parable, but it brings us to these principles regarding
stewards.
places in the Bible. A steward is a household manager, a person who oversees the
domestic affairs of a family or a business. He's a steward put in charge of that.
First Corinthians four, the Bible calls us, actually calls apostles, the stewards of
the mysteries of God. Here's what it says. This is how one, this is Paul speaking,
this is how one should regard us, the apostles, as servants of Christ and as
stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it's required of stewards that they be
found faithful. Paul is talking about the apostles and he's saying, our job is to
oversee or manage, take care of, and invest the mysteries of God.
We take what God's given us, the mysteries of God, and our job is to multiply
that, to use that for growth. First Peter 4. Rick Tarter referenced this passage
when he was talking about spiritual gifts two weeks ago. It connects directly to
what we're talking about this morning. Peter says, as each has received a gift,
that's all of us who are believers, use it to serve one another as goods stewards
of God's varied grace. God gives us gifts. He gives us everything so we can manage
it for his glory, so that we can take care of what he's given us and deploy it
for return on the investment that he's given us. You manage it.
You oversee and put to best use the grace that God has given you. So that's what
the two faithful stewards did when the master entrusted money to them. They managed
his business for him while he was away and the parable is telling us we ought to
be like them what did jesus do while he was here what was his enterprise what was
he involved in well he called people to repent and believe the gospel he spread the
good news that the kingdom of god is at hand he went about proclaiming what is
true about god we're called to steward that until he returns.
That's what he was doing. He entrusts resources to us and says, now, you pick up
where I left off, go steward those resources, and advance the kingdom. That means we
take what God has given us, we invest it on behalf of this mission, we steward it,
we invest it for a return. So I'm going to give you this morning just five
principles related to stewardship that will help you, I think,
see how you can be an effective steward of the resources God has given to you.
Here's the first principle. Everything belongs to God.
Everything. It's not yours. It's his. The things you think belong to you,
they don't. The Bible makes this clear. The stuff that we think is ours in the
first place is his. We are his portfolio managers for what he is entrusted to us.
In Job 41, God speaking to Job says this, who has first given to me that I should
repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
Psalm 50 verses 10 through 12, God reminds Israel, why they make animal sacrifices.
They are giving to God what belongs to him in the first place. Every beast of the
forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of mountains and
everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you
for the world is mine and all it contains.
It's all gods. That account you have down at the bank, that's God's money.
That stuff that's in your house, that's God's furniture.
Everything you've got comes from God. Your car is God's car. Your retirement account
is God's. Well, God's not going to retire. So that belongs to God. Your hot water
heater is God's hot water heater. water heater. It's all gods. I remember years ago
we had an old Chrysler minivan and we were driving I remember where it was.
We were right at the corner of Breckenridge and Rodney Perram by where the
Breckenridge and Rodney Perram, where the seven brew coffee place is now,
you know, we're pulling up there and as we pull up to stops on it, The car's
starting to chug a little bit as it shifts through gears. That's not a good sign.
When you're going through gears and it's starting to... So I took it into the shop
and I said, can you check it out? And they came back and said, yeah, your
transmission is shot. You're going to need a new transmission. Now, just to tell you
how old this was, they quoted me a price for the transmission of $1 ,900. That's a
bargain, right? Today.
Transmission today would be, what? 9, 10 grand, something like that. But at the time
it was 1900, that's a lot of money. And I was thinking, I had not set aside $1
,900 for a transmission. And I remember praying at the time and saying,
okay, Lord, it looks like you want a new transmission for your vehicle. All right?
So that's how, I was going to spend the money elsewhere, but it looks like you
want it in a transmission. So we'll do that.
That's how you steward God's resources. It's not your money or stuff. Your time
belongs to God, your skills belong to God, your life belongs to God. You are not
your own. You've been bought with a price.
Some of you are old enough to remember Rush Limbaugh when he was on the radio, the
conservative political commentator. And one of the phrases he liked to say about
himself, do you remember, he would say, talent, on loan from God.
That sounds kind of braggadocious when you say, my talent is unloan from God. It's
exactly right, theologically.
Your talent is unloan for God, from God. Anything you have, any ability you have,
God has loaned that to you in this life for you to serve him. Your talent,
Taylor Swift's talent, NFL quarterback's talents, every company executive with the
talent, every artist or architect or physician, whatever, your talent is on loan from
God for his kingdom purposes. Everything you are, everything you own,
it's all from God, it's all on loan.
If you've ever taken Curtis Thomas's class on Romans over the years. You know that
one of the passages in Romans that is Curtis's favorite passage in Romans is the
one that comes at the end of Romans 11. It's this great swelling of praise that
Paul gives at the very end of the theological section of Romans. He spent 11
chapters talking about the greatness of God and his plan of salvation and it gets
to the end and here's what he says, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and
knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways,
for who has known the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor, or who has
given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to
him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever.
Amen. It all belongs to God. Everything we have is from him and to him and through
him. It's all his. Principle number one. It all belongs to God.
Principle number two. God is expecting more than just home maintenance while he's
away. Jesus wants us to do more than just maintain the house.
He wants to keep the business going. Be easy to say, our job while the master's
gone is just to make sure the house is in order so that when he comes back, it's
spotless and ready. But the very next parable about the sheep and the goats goes on
to say, no, no, it's not just about keeping the house clean. It's about keeping
people cared for. It's about caring for one another while we wait. In fact, all
three of these parables are juxtaposing the faithless and the faithful. So in the
first one, the faithful are ready and alert and waiting. The faithless fall asleep
and aren't paying attention. In the second one, the faithful are investing wisely the
master's resources. The faithless one has put it in the ground. And in the third
one, the faithful are caring for the needs of those in need and the faithless are
ignoring the needs of those around them. It's clear in all three of these cases the
expectation that God has for his people as we wait for his return, don't be
complacent spiritually. To the women in the first parable,
don't be complacent as you wait for the Lord's return. Stay vigilant, stay alert. To
the stewards, He says, don't be complacent, steward what the master has given you,
invest it wisely. To the sheep, don't be complacent about the needs of your brothers
and sisters near and far. In the same way that the master in this parable expected
his servants to be actively involved in maintaining his work and investing in what
he had entrusted to them and not just sit and wait for his return, God wants you
and me to be actively engaged in the same work Jesus did when he was here. Go,
make disciples, baptize them, teach them to observe all that I've commanded you. I'm
entrusting you with resources to get that job done. Do it. D .A.
Carson, the the theologian, says it's not enough for Jesus followers to hang in
there and wait till the end. They must see themselves for what they are,
servants who owe it to the master to improve what he has entrusted them. Failure to
do so proves they cannot really be valued disciples at all.
So it's not just household maintenance. It's good for us to care for one another
and our needs. The Bible commends that. We're supposed to do that. But if that's
all we're doing, We buried the talents. We're not investing as we should in the
world around us. We're not going and making disciples. We're not proclaiming the
gospel.
So don't just be household managers. Here's the third stewardship principle.
God expects and rewards faithful stewardship. You worry about being faithful,
And you can leave the rest up to God. I remember when I read this parable early
as a Christian, and as someone who is predisposed toward conservative investing,
I mean, I'm not a high -risk, high -reward kind of investor. So I'm thinking,
you give me money. This guy who buried it, at least he was preserving the capital,
the other guys, they put the money at risk. What if they'd lost money on their
master? I mean, that's my thinking. I'm kind of with that last guy going, at least
he made sure he didn't lose anything, because that's what I get nervous about as an
investor. Well, here's the answer to that. When you invest the resources God has
given you, you can't lose. What do you mean you can't lose? When you go out and
do what God's called you to do, and you're faithful in that, God has promised that
as His word goes forth, it will accomplish his purposes. If you are faithful to
share the gospel with others, God has promised that will accomplish my purposes.
And you go, well, what if they hear and reject? That's accomplishing God's purposes.
So we have to recognize that our job is to deliver the mail.
What happens after that is up to God. But if we say, well, I don't want to go
out and deliver the mail because what if they don't open it? You just deliver the
mail.
When you do that, you're doing what Jesus expects his stewards to do, and he
promises, there will be an increase.
So if number three, that God is faithful to reward those who are faithful stewards,
number four is sobering, which is that God will severely judge unfaithful stewardship.
That's what the parable is telling us. The parable ends with severe judgment from
the master. Now, you may be asking yourself, hang on, I thought we're saved by
grace. is God going to judge me if I am unfaithful as a steward even though I
pledged my life to him? Well, let me ask you, if you've pledged your life to him,
what are you doing being unfaithful as a servant?
If you're content to take what God has given you and bury it and sit on it and
ignore those around you and live life the way you want to and say, well at least
I'm going to heaven you need to pull back and go wait what's going on here you
have to ask yourself why am I content to ignore what God's called me to do now
none of us who are believers is perfectly faithful we can all look back and think
I I should have spoken up there I should have served there I should have done
that. This is not here to beat you up on that.
This is, we're here to say, we've been called to faithfulness, let's be faithful.
And if you go, I don't really care about being faithful, then we have to pull back
and say, you need to examine yourself and say, do I really love Jesus? Because
those who love the master want to be faithful to please him and do what he's
called us to do. You don't earn your way to heaven by doing that, but you
demonstrate your love for Jesus to yourself and to others as you are faithful.
Which brings me to the final principle for this morning. And I remember hearing a
pastor say this, and it hit me upside the head. How much of God's money do you
keep for yourself?
See, I used to think, how much of my money do I give to God?
That's not the question.
I don't have any money. I have God's money. How much of that do I keep for
myself? It's not wrong to keep some of it for yourself. God gives you what he
gives you to sustain you so that you can feed yourself and clothe yourself and
provide shelter. So those needs being met, that's okay.
But the question is, what are you going to do with what goes beyond your basic
needs.
Now, this is a parable, as we've seen, that's about money, but it's not just about
money, it's about more than money, but it's not about less than money. Let me just
make that point clear. Yeah, it's about more than money, but it's not about less
than that. Your money,
first, it's not your money in the first place. It's a gift from God, and yes,
he does want you to care for himself, but what are you going to do with the rest
of it. We're going to talk more about this next Sunday when we talk about
generosity and giving, but I'll just say this week that if you are not regularly,
faithfully, deliberately, deliberately,
intentionally,
strategically, joyfully looking for wise ways to invest God's money for his kingdom
purposes, along with everything you are and everything you have. If you're not doing
that, you should be asking yourself, am I being faithful as a steward to what God
has entrusted to me? Do I have more in common with the first two guys in this
parable or with the third guy? How much am I burying? How much am I investing?
I'm going to give J .C. Ryle the last word this morning. He says this. were not
told that the unprofitable servant was a murderer or a thief or even a waster of
the Lord's money. But he did nothing, and this was his ruin.
And he says, let us be aware of a do -nothing Christianity. Such Christianity does
not come from the Spirit of God.
Let's pray.
Father, this is challenging for us to hear and to consider as we think about our
assignment as stewards and all that you've given to us. Lord, we acknowledge that
you are a generous God and that you gave your son so that we could be reconciled
to you. And you have been entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Lord, help us to be faithful in that ministry in our own lives personally and help
us to support that work as we see it happening around us in the local church and
beyond.
Lord, I pray for any who are here this morning who are hearing this and beginning
to question whether theirs is a do -nothing Christianity, whether they have buried
what you've given them, whether they have ignored your call on their life. Lord,
I pray that your spirit would awaken to them their need to be surrendered to you,
to be living for you, to put first the kingdom and your righteousness, to repent of
their sin, to turn to you, to believe that you sent your son to die to forgive
their sin and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness.