Another week of witnessing fires sweep through hills and homes, continues as a backdrop to our consideration of stewardship; and developing of life of trust.
- One man on T.V., wandering thru the ashes that had once been his home… “We come into this world with nothing… We leave with nothing”
- He knew all to well the truth of what we began with last week, as we considered the question of ultimate trust.
- Stewardship begins with such question of ultimate trust and values, but this trust is to guide our lives every day as well
o Next week-faith: how we can experience and exercise our faith in giving
o Fourth and final week, as we enter Thanksgiving week, special time of giving honor to the owner of all.
(Read Matt 25:14-29) Parable of the Talents
- Apply to principles of trust and stewardship
1. TRUST BEGINS WITH ACKNOWLEDGING ENTRUSTMENT
- Who’s is it to start with?
A traveler, between flights at an airport, went to a lounge and bought a small package of cookies. Then she sat down and began reading a newspaper. Gradually, she became aware of a rustling noise. From behind her paper, she was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed man helping himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, she leaned over and took a cookie herself.
A minute or two passed, and then came more rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie! By this time, they had come to the end of the package, but she was so angry she didn’t dare allow herself to say anything. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the man broke the remaining cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half, and left.
Still fuming some time later when her flight was announced, the woman opened her handbag to get her ticket. To her shock and embarrassment, there she found her pack of unopened cookies!
How wrong our assumptions can be.
Many of us can feel that way towards God and need that ‘oops!’ experience… reminding us that “God’s the owner; I’m the manager.”
The earth belongs to God! Everything in the world is His! (Psalm 24:1)
You may say to yourself, My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:17, 18)
- A steward is one who works for and with the owner… “stewardess or steward on an airplane… Don’t own the plane; but are to distribute what the owner provides.”
- Many people recognize God as having given us so much, but fewer recognize it as a LOAN.
- This is essential to the Western World which has been shaped largely by a Judeo-Christian worldview that recognizes we are stewards, caretakers, managing partners of the earth, its resources, and all God’s work.
- Largely being lost in our culture, especially regarding our resources and ability to work and make money.
Voltaire, the atheist, once remarked that Protestantism is merely a less expensive substitute for Catholicism. Sometimes I wonder.
Lukas Vischer commented on Voltaire’s feeling by saying: “The French philosopher Voltaire was highly critical of the Roman Church for what he felt were its excesses and its avaricious demands. But he was even more critical of the Protestant churches for allowing themselves to be used as havens for those whose religious convictions were determined by the desire primarily to keep more of their money for themselves.” (From J. McCarther ‘Giving God’s Way’ p10)
- Church so abused its role in the stewardship of God’s work that the desire to keep it separate grew.
- The phenomena has only grown further in the protestant tradition.
- And yet Jesus walked right up to the place of offering in the temple, watched how much each put in and then spoke about it—commending the widow who gave all she had.
- 16 of 38 parables he taught are concerned with how we handle our money and possessions
- The scriptures in all have some 500 verses about prayer, 500 verses about faith, and some 2,000 verses on how we view our $ and possessions.
- Why? Because how we handle our money determines who owns our lives more than any other factor.
- Precisely because it is so PRIVATE; the least socially formal element in our spiritual lives.
- Thomas Merton, great Catholic theologian, said “Money has demonically usurped the role in modern society which the Holy Spirit is to have in the Church.”
- How could this come about?
- What goes on in our private world that so competes with a trusting relationship with our heavenly Father, and a reliance on the Holy Spirit to guide our lives?
-
- Verse 24: the unwise servant said “I was afraid…”
2. TRUST IS THE OVERCOMING OF FEAR
- The religious leaders who Jesus is referring to were said to be “lovers of money”, but Jesus knew greed is only a symptom of something deeper: Fear, and its natural inclination to control things.
- The failure of the servant, like the religious leaders, was that they were afraid, and trusted more in their control, than in working with God.
- While God is one who “harvests where he has not sown, and gathers where he has not scattered” (that is, he works beyond all human boundaries) they chose to control the things of God that had been entrusted to him.
- We too can know of God’s ability to ‘harvest where he has not sown, and gather where he has not scattered’, but choose to trust in our own protection, rather than his provision.
-
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an un-scaleable wall. (Proverbs 18:10-11)
- Each of us may have our own potentially un-scaleable walls
- Maybe it’s a position, or degree… or maybe its simply our knowledge of how to handle things
- There’s a part of me that says ‘Let’s go for it in our ministry… step out in faith…” and a part that fears, saying, ‘God, I can’t jump out and risk the status quo, but don’t worry I’ll keep it together and we’ll be here when you get back.’
- There’s a part that is excited in considering giving away a tremendous amount more of our personal income next year—far beyond our tithing; and another part that says “God, I’m not sure you understand economics.”
- When it comes to trusting God, we all have “control issues; and control is really a problem of fear.
- This fear, this doubt in God’s provision is the enemy’s greatest strategy in keeping us from walking in trust and faith with God.
- The very fall of humankind is depicted as the enemy, coming as the serpent, and bringing doubt about God’s provision… and he’s been doing it ever since.
- Satan loves to try and rule through fear
Loren Cunningham writes –
“Satan controls people through their fear of financial insecurity. There is the fear of not having enough money, the fear of loss of control, and the fear of losing spending power. If fear keeps us from obeying God in anything he tells us to do, then we are vulnerable to the manipulation of the Enemy. For example, the king of unrighteous trade can incite a dictator to invade another country and tie up twenty-five percent of the world’s supply of oil. This strikes fear in the hearts of the business world from Tokyo to New York to Franfurt. The price of oil jumps, even though there is still ample supply. Investors start to lose confidence. Interest rates on new loans go up. People stop buying. The flow of money is slowed or even stopped. Recession or a depression begins—all because of fear poisoning the atmosphere. Fear, by itself, can throw national economics into confusion and panic, resulting in millions losing their jobs.”
Can affect rich and poor…. Whether one is in their well decorated office willing to risk losing their family to overwork…. Or a kid in the inner city willing to kill another kids for a pair of sneakers that are in style.
- Stewardship; our ability to work with God, becomes the very point at which we can overcome this power, and even destroy it.
- Jesus could say of the Enemy, “He has no hold of me.” (John 14:30)
- He invites all who follow him to discover the same.
- Matthew 6… reminds us of the birds and their trust in God as the life of Faith.
- The issue is not one of work, but worry
- Have your abilities to manage been an instrument of faith or fear?
3. TRUST IS EARNED
- Notice, its not love that’s earned… but trust.
- Like a teenager… whose parents love them…. but the issue of trust is being tested with each day of added responsibilities and freedom.
- Similarly we are all children being raised by God; or managers in training
- Some mistake the adventure of living by faith with simple irresponsibility. What I call “Look, mom, no hands!” living
- But here we see the faithful as responsible managers.
3 STEPS IN THE PROCESS
1. TAKE INVENTORY OF ALL WE’VE BEEN GIVEN
o Notice each servant was given a specific amount
o Trust isn’t developed by vague means but by what we actually have
o Trust is not discovered by what we’d do IF… but WITH
o What has God given us?
o We have our bodies (Romans 12:1), our possessions (Luke 14:33), our time (Ephesians 5:15), our gifts, and of course, the Gospel itself
o All of these are gifts given by God for us to manage for the kingdom’s sake.
2. INVESTMENT
o Knowing what we have more importantly is what we do with it.
o Not how much you have, but what you do with it
o Notice the equal joy found in the faithfulness of the first two servants
o Story of wealthy man arriving in heaven, sees mansion… told its for his gardener (…gets excited with expectation for himself); then another… for missionary… finally a shack for him. Angel explains… “We did the best we could with what you sent us.”
o Its not how much you have, but what you do with it.
3. INCREASE IN TRUST
o Verse 29 ‘For everyone who has will be given more’
o Luke 16:10 ‘Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much; and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
o This isn’t about being given more financial reward, but of being entrusted with more of the things of the kingdom
- Mother Theresa “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”
- She has proven a faithful servant and been given much of the things of the kingdom
CAN GOD TRUST ME WITH WHAT HE’S GIVEN ME TO MANAGE? CAN GOD TRUST YOU?
