New Sermon Series Begins today on Stewardship. This is not a series about giving more, but more on managing those things that belong to God. To help you understand the biblical position I will be taking on this matter of stewardship, let me ask you a simple question: If you made $1,000 last week, how much of it is God’s?
I know many of you are doing the math and said, “$100.” You see tithing is not the principle I’m dealing with here. Though tithing can and should be a part of stewardship, it is not the principle of Stewardship. The correct answer is not 10%, it is, “all of it.” God owns it all.
Deuteronomy 10:14 (NKJV) Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.
Job 41:11 (NKJV) Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Considering that all things are God’s, God is the rightful owner of all we have, then we must carefully manage all of God’s things. This is the very essence of our Stewardship. It is not only what we give, it is also how we manage all that we keep. Today I hope to make this clear: "Stewardship, Generosity and Giving Are Not The Same."
I now realize, using these terms interchangeably confuses people. Stewardship is a role, giving is an act, and generosity is an attitude. In biblical times, a steward was a respected person of high integrity who was entrusted with the master’s possessions. The steward managed the possessions in accordance with the master’s wishes. Since God created and still owns all we have, stewardship is recognizing that God is the owner and we are his managers, responsible for using God’s possessions to please Him. This elevates “stewardship” for people.
Generosity involves a willingness to sacrifice for the benefit of others. Giving is merely the act of releasing something of value.
Giving can be done without generosity (the Pharisees are one example), but you cannot be generous without giving.
However, generosity is only one characteristic of a biblical steward. A steward’s primary responsibility is to manage the resources that are not given away.
We will take a look at the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14–30 for a good example of both positive and negative stewardship.[1] Remember, we manage God’s possession to please Him, not ourselves. This parable is one of several Jesus teaches in His Olivet Discourse (Matt 24-25). The context of this parable is the end of the age and His return. What should we be doing until His return?
Matthew 25:14–30 (NKJV)
In the movie Papillon, (you remember the 1973 movie with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, and their escape from Devil’s Island, a very cruel French prison, there is also a 2017 remake) The main character, Papillon, was a criminal who was imprisoned unjustly for life for crimes against the French state. The movie portrayed the dreams he had while in prison. While in solitary confinement, in one dream, he stood before a tribunal for a crime. He pleaded with the judge that he was not guilty of the crime for which he was being tried. The judge replied that he was not being tried for that crime, but for a crime that is the most heinous crime of the human race. Papillon asked what crime it was. The judge replied, “The crime of a wasted life.” Papillon wept, “Guilty, guilty.” The judge pronounced the sentence of death.[2]
What is a wasted life? What God sees as wasted may not be what we see as wasted. A very successful man by worldly standards may be a wasted life by Godly standards. A wasted life. I see wasted lives all over. Those who waste their lives with drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, crimes, and let’s not forget downright laziness, which is clearly condemned in the scriptures.
A life that is wasted is one that could have accomplished great things for God. That is the potential for each one of us. This passage today is all about stewardship. Stewardship over what has been entrusted by God to our care and use.
Matthew 25:14–15 (NKJV) “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.
The players in this little drama is clear. Jesus was the man leaving, and the implications is clear. He is returning. We do not know when. In that day when someone took a long journey, you may say I’ll return next month or even next year, but events, and transportation were unreliable so you really did not know when.
The servants be us. We have been entrusted with the possessions of the master. The servants possessed the things of the master but they were clearly not the owner, all still belonged to the master.
Notice how each of the servants received a different amount. One five talents, another two, and the last one. "to each according to his own ability." This is interesting because the kingdom of heaven does not operate according to what is “fair” but what is best. God did not entrust me with millions. The truth is, some people get more than others. Some have nicer cars, or bigger homes, or better clothes, or straighter teeth, or more hair, or flatter tummies, or curvier bodies, or more gifted singing voices, or funnier jokes, or more eloquent diction, or brighter minds, or quicker retorts. You get the idea. It’s easy to compare. And when we do, we open ourselves up to the green-eyed monster of jealousy.
The problem with comparing is it either boosts our ego as we look down at others, or it makes us feel worse as we look up at others. No matter how good you are, you’ll always find somebody better. No matter how bad you are, you can always swell in pride as you discover someone worse off.
But God gives to each according to his or her ability. God doesn’t care about the size of the gift; he cares about the faithfulness of the servant. The talent given here in those days was a measurement of silver or gold. On sources says that a talent was perhaps equal to 6,000 denarii, what a average worker would make in 20 years. A single Talent here represents a lot of money. The one who received one talent did not receive a pittance, but a respectable sum of money.
Matthew 25:16–18 (NKJV) Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.
The first two servants got busy and had a return of 100 percent of their investment. Yes they took risks, but these were not wild speculations of the market. The wisely invested. There may have been some looses along the way the but there was a net gain at the end of the day.
Then there is last servant with one talent put it in the ground. That was not unusual for that day and time. There will be not be a chance of loss with the talent hidden safely away. But there will be no chance of gain either.
The call from God was never for us to be safe. We are called to be faithful. We may experience some loss, but God is faithful, He will not allow our efforts to be unfruitful. If we are abiding in Jesus, we will be fruitful.
John 15:5 (NKJV) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
One day Jesus is coming back and we will have to give an account of what He has entrusted us.
Matthew 25:19 (NKJV) After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
Make no mistake. This is the focus of this passage. Jesus is coming again and we will have to give an account of how we managed what has been entrusted to us.
How did we take care of our families.
How did we help those in need around us.
How we have handled the Word of truth in a lost and dying world.
Look in your Bibles to verses 20 through 23. Notice how Jesus says the same thing to both the first and second servant.
Matthew 25:21 & 23 (NKJV) His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
Not only that, they received more. It was not the size of the gain, it was being faithful with what they had been given. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have. Invest it in God’s purposes and see it grow.
Luke 12:48b (NKJV) For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
If we have more, more will be expected of us. Are we faithful with what we have been entrusted? Remember Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000? One boy had five loaves and two fishes. The disciple Andrew asked the obvious question: “How far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9) But the boy took what he had and gave it to Jesus, who catered for everyone with 12 baskets left over! The point? Take whatever you have and put it in the Master’s hand, and watch him bring his kingdom growth. Faithfully invest what you have.
Now let’s consider the third servant. He did not have any faith in his master. He looked at him as a big judge with a big hammer
Matthew 25:24–25 (NKJV) “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
The man did nothing for the His master. He hid what he was given. As you can imagine, the master was angry. Not only that, the servant insulted his lord, calling him a hard man. When his lord came, all he had to show him was a hole in the ground.
Matthew 25:26–27 (NKJV) “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.
The lord call that servant wicked and lazy. Laziness is clearly a sin. When you know you could be at work for the Lord but it is too easy to something else or nothing at all. If he perceived his lord to be a hard man, what more reason to get busy. We know our Lord is merciful and one who want to see us succeed for Him. But like this this wicked and lazy servant, we too become afraid of failure. So afraid that we hid our talents in the ground and we do not do what we know we should be doing.
"I cannot teach," or is it "I’m afraid I’ll fail if I teach." "I can’t witness," or is it "I’m afraid of sounding stupid or saying something wrong if I witnessed to my neighbor."
The man could have at least put the money in the bank where it will draw at least a little interest. He could have at least enabled others to do the work. But instead He lost what little he had:
Matthew 25:28 (NKJV) So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
Now here is the tough part of the story.
Matthew 25:29–30 (NKJV) ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
With God, risking all for Him and he will reward with more success. But for those who do not manage what God has given they will be judged. And what little they have, will be taken away. In Matthew, the words, “outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” are descriptors of Hell and eternal punishment. The servant who buried his talent, who did not use what God had given to increase the kingdom, is a non-believer. He may say He believes the Lord, and He know the Lord is coming to hold him accountable but does nothing for Him.
We are saved for good works.
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We do not do good works to be saved, but can we truly call our selves saved if there are no good works to show for it?
Jesus came and died for our sins. He rose from the dead securing our deliverance from death. Jesus has entrusted us as the steward of the Good News, the Gospel. He has blessed us with many things so to accomplish His purposes. God has given us stewardship over great many things. We’re not taking about giving, thought is part of our stewardship. We’re not taking about being generous, though part of being a good steward is being generous with what God has entrusted to us. Are we faithful in those things He has given us? Are we managing those things to please Him or is it all about ourselves?
[1] What I Wish I Had Known about Stewardship | CT Pastors https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2016/august-web-exclusives/what-i-wish-i-had-known-about-stewardship.html
[2] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 358.
