The Significance of Our Stewardship

Well, they're getting to, they're going to start a fundraising drive here. That's not the reason the reason we're going to talk about stewardship is because I've had so many questions about giving. Why don't we pass a plate? Do we believe in tithing? Should you give 10%? Should you give 10% of your gross or your net? Should you give 10% of your garage sale income? Is there a difference between giving under the old covenant and the new? All of this really hinges on the truth of the fact that we are stewards. We are stewards and we have a stewardship. It's really one of the most beautiful themes of the Bible runs from Genesis through Revelation. And of course, Jesus is the ultimate steward. One of the most lofty titles that Jesus has is that he is the servant of the Lord.

And as the servant of the Lord, he came into this world to accomplish and fulfill the stewardship that the Father had given him to save us and to reconcile us, redeem us and to bring us to the Father. And because he's a faithful steward, he's going to accomplish that very purpose. But he does that because we as a race have failed to be good stewards. Adam was a steward. Adam and Eve were stewards together. And because of their failure as stewards and a failure in fulfilling their stewardship, we are in the condition that we are in. And Christ has come to deliver us from the consequences of that. In your notes, I have a little definition here of a steward. The word, oikonamas, is the word from which we get our word economy.

It's just from two words, the word house and law, oikas, house, namas, law. It really has to do with a person who is appointed in a household, a servant, who is responsible as the house distributor or dispenser of the goods in the house. He's responsible under the owner of the household to dispense the resources that he provides for his household and to dispense it as he instructs and chooses for the good of the household. The idea of a stewardship and being a steward involves at least these three things very strongly. Responsibility, authority and accountability. Means that God's given you a responsibility. He has placed you, first of all, in this position because you have been creating his image, but secondly, because you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

And as new covenant believers, we are stewards of the manifold grace of God. We have a responsibility. We also have authority. We have the authority to fulfill this responsibility that God has given us. For example, fathers have a certain stewardship in the household and God has given them the responsibility to fulfill that stewardship, but he's also given them the authority to fulfill it. But the third thing is accountability. We are going to be accountable. We're going to be held accountable. We are held accountable for how we fulfill the stewardship which God has given to each one of us. Now, what I'd like to do is look at three things in regards to this, as you can see in those notes. The first is the creation of this stewardship which we have from God.

And I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter one. And we're going to read beginning in verse 24. We're going to look at the sixth day of creation. And what I want you to notice is I read through this as you read with me from verse 24 down to the end of the first chapter, the account of the creation on the sixth day. Notice the difference between the account of God's creation of all other living beings on this earth and this creation of man. Notice the distinction that is made and the contrast. Verse 24, Genesis chapter one, then God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind. And it was so. God made the beast of the earth after their kind and the cattle after their kind and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind and God saw that it was good.

But now notice the distinction in beginning in verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female, he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And then God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed, it shall be food for you.

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food and it was so. And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. And if you notice right in the center of that, in verse 26, God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Creation of man is set apart from his creation of all of their beasts on this sixth day in the series of, there's a series of subtle contrasts between them.

For example, he says of his creation of the creatures, let there be and he creates them. And yet when he comes to create man, he doesn't say let there be man. He says let us make man in our image. With the beast, he says he let there be these kinds of beasts according to its kind. And yet when he creates man, he says let us make man in our image. And then he makes this clear statement about his creation of man kind of his image when he says he created them as male and female. In other words, as male and female, they are in the image of God and he gives them dominion over all other living things. This isn't true of any of the other creatures. He creates man in this special way, in this significant way and then gives him this stewardship of ruling over all that he has created.

Why did he do this? He gives us this account to show to us that man is not only a creature which he is, he is a creature. You have not existed from all eternity. Man kind begin to exist the moment that God created Adam and Eve and you were procreated. But he also tells us this account in order that we might know that man is a special creation, that he is different from all other creatures. Despite what Peter says, man is different than animals because he is created in the image of God. And he has been given a stewardship which animals have not been given. Your animal has no stewardship whatsoever. So don't be surprised in the way that they have. Now notice the plural here. He says in verse 26, let us.

What is this all about? Now as Christians we look back at this and we automatically think, well this is the language of the Trinity and I believe that it actually is. But notice in verse 27, we can get a real clear understanding of why now all of a sudden God says let us. In verse 27 it stated three times that man was created. The first two times it says he was created in God's image but the third time that man was created male and female. You have the same pattern in chapter five of Genesis. When God created man he created the male and female. Now the singular word man Adam Adam refers not only to this individual Adam but also to all of mankind. And so when he creates man he creates man Adam in plurality as male and female.

And this is to reflect the image of God in a similar way. The one God created man through an expression of his plurality. And so we see expressed in mankind male and female. A reflection of the character and nature of God as God relates with himself the three persons of the Trinity so mankind is to relate to one another. The beauty to this man created the image of God is man created male and female. And then notice in verse 28 the great the blessing God bless them God bless them this becomes one of the themes throughout this account in fact throughout the book of throughout the Pentateuch the blessing it's a central point in the Pentateuch the blessing of God upon mankind. And that's what puts in such stark contrast man's actions because he was especially blessed by God.

Now notice this and this is my whole point of going here is that an intrinsic part of the image of God is stewardship because we were created the image of God and like all the other animals all animals all the creatures we have a stewardship from God we have a responsibility the environmentalists are right about this we have a stewardship we have a responsibility in how we treat what God is placed under our care and this is the great judgment that falls upon man because of his failure to fulfill his stewardship as God has called him to after the fall man has put out of the garden over which he was placed he's put outside the garden ultimately man becomes so fallen so far moved away from God if it's described in Romans chapter 1 and 2 and 3 that God brings the flood the count in Genesis 6 says that mankind's thoughts were only evil day and night and so God brings the flood and after the flood he again gives man this stewardship to oversee the earth to fill it and to be a steward over it we are stewards by nature by our creation we are stewards you will never get away from that that you are steward that there is an authority under which you must live this is at the heart of the gospel that God owns everything because he created everything and he has created man to rule over his creation under his authority everything we do in life we do it under the authority of God in fulfilling his will for us as stewards of what he has placed in our hands there's nothing that you possess that is not a part of the stewardship whether you're a Christian or not a Christian whether you're aware of it or not everything that you possess you're going to be held accountable for how you fulfill your stewardship with what you have with a mind that you have with the capacities you have with the possessions that you have with the opportunities that you have you will be held accountable as stewards of God now let's look forward to the new testament and let's take a moment to look at our stewardship under the new covenant our stewardship as believers in Jesus Christ because we have been redeemed and brought back into a right relationship with God in fact a relationship that is far greater than Adam's relationship in the garden with God we have been given a new stewardship a greater stewardship a more significant stewardship it has been heightened and the responsibility is greater the authority is greater and the accountability is greater to much is given much you will be held accountable for first Peter chapter four let me begin reading from from verse one of first Peter chapter four therefore since Christ has suffered in the flesh arm yourself also with the same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh is ceased from sin so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer that is the rest of your time in this human body in this human nature upon the earth before the coming of Christ and your transformation so as to live the rest of your human life on the earth no longer for the lusts of men for the will of God see that's the great war that's going on in your life especially in our advanced culture is your crossy being bombarded by the lusts of men by what drives people you go only go around once in life so get all the fulfill all the lust you can the beer commercial says so are you going to be driven by the lusts of men or by the will of God Peter says verse three for the time already passed it's sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles you already lived in sin long enough you have already fulfilled enough lust you've already responded to the desires of men who try to manipulate you to fulfill the desires of the flesh wasn't it long enough it's long enough isn't it and so he says the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality lusts drunkenness corousing drinking parties and abominable idolatries in all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation they are surprised that you don't live your life in such a way that you simply squander your resources for your own pleasure that's what dissipation is dissipation means you pour out your life in order to fulfill your own lustful desires think of all the advertising that is that comes to you that tries to influence you to be willing to dissipate to pour out your life to squander your life for your own pleasures he says when you stop doing that they are surprised that you will not run with them in the same excesses of dissipation and they malign you not amazing they malign you but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living in the dead there's an accountability coming and those people who live their lives out with the excess of dissipation pour out their resources in their life for their own pleasures he says you're going to have to give an account for your life for the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead and there were those who were living before and now have died they had the gospel priest to them as well that that though they are judged in the flesh as men they may live in the spirit according to the will of God in other words even though they look like other men they live out their lives instead of according to dissipation they live as good stewards of the manifold grace of God and then listen to this admonition the end of all things has drawn near the christ was raised in the dead and poured out his spirit the end of all things drew near and we have been living for these last over 1950 years in the last days the end is drawn near and we live awaiting the coming of Christ destruction of Jerusalem happened in 70 AD Jesus prophesied that that would happen 30 years after 40 years after his resurrection and since that time we have been living as people who know that Jesus could come in our lifetime the end of all things has drawn near the judge is standing on the threshold therefore be a sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer above all keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins when you love someone they sin against you you don't broadcast it you talk to them about it because love covers a multitude of sins a lack of love broadcasts a multitude of sins be hospitable to one another without complaint use your resources to meet the needs of one another as each one has received a gift a spiritual gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever notice the theme of this passage as Peter speaks about the fact that we had a live and light of the second coming of Christ he's coming back and so Peter says since the end of all things has drawn near since the day of judgment the day of reward is coming and it may come in our lifetime we got to live as good stewards of the manifold grace of God not living lives of dissipation where we simply pour out all of our resources all that we are in order to fulfill our lusts but instead we live as good stewards of the manifold grace of God and notice four things that he mentions in this text beginning in verse 7 through 11 he mentions four things that we are stewards of that our stewardship can be seen in these four things first of all our stewardship can be seen in our prayer that we are to be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer I can tell you that I really believe the implication of this verse and the implication of this teaching is that if you don't have a prayer life it is because you are not of sound judgment and sober spirit when my prayer life is lacking it is because of a lack of sound judgment and sober spirit I am not evaluating things as they really are my thinking is distorted now why is this a stewardship because you are believer priests you have access to the third heaven you have access to a throne of grace you are believer priests who can come in Christ and make petition from God there are people all around you who have incredible needs and you have access to the God of the universe because you have this access and because you have this privilege because you have this stewardship you are to fulfill it well how do you fulfill it by being of sound judgment and sober spirit so that you see prayer for what it is and so that you pray are you a good steward of your prayer privilege are you a good steward of this manifold grace of God in the form of your prayer life well that is enough to make you feel guilty isn't it that makes you feel as guilty as when you get to the part about giving of your finances do you want to beat people up talk about their prayer life and their giving are you a good steward of your prayer life the second thing he mentions is that we are to we are to be good stewards of our love for one another we are to be fervent in our love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins think about that for just one moment he's writing to a group of churches think of the importance of that be fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins and the implication is clear that we are going to sit against each other and we must be fervent in our love for one another as I said last week this is one of Peter's favorite words be fervent because it means to stretch yourself out to be serious about this to be fervent in your love for one another because you need to be able to cover a multitude of sins be fervent in your love for one another Jesus said that it is our love for one another because we love each other the way he loved us that men will look at us as a group and see that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ that is the defining mark of the church that's more important than what we stand on a lot of social issues that people are very very motivated about is are we a people who love one another fervently from the heart is amazing how people can get involved in causes while they're not loving their wife or wives when they're not respecting their husbands that always amazes me it's so much more basic than your cause and so he says you have to be fervent at your stewards your stewards of God's love the spirit of God lives in you Christ lives in you you have the capacity through faith what Paul said faith the evidence of faith is in circumcision or in circumcision the evidence that you are part of the new covenant is faith working through love faith is seen in love the third thing he mentions about our stewardship is hospitality the hospitable to one another without complaint well hospitality means to share the things that sustain life with those who need them let me show you something turn to first John 3 first John chapter 3 verse 16 first John 3 16 not John 3 16 but first John 3 16 John writes we know love by this this is the great demonstration of love this is how we know what love is we know love by this that he laid down his life for us that you wish he could just stop there in verses like this if you didn't have to read the odd and he says and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren now when you as when husbands hear from Ephesians chapter 5 that it's their responsibility to love their wife so much that they'd be willing to lay down their lives for her I think most husbands have in mind that means I should be willing if somebody shoots at my wife I'm supposed to throw my body in front of her and take the bullet that I should be willing to suffer physical death instead of my wife and you know there's truth to that but that's not really the nitty-gritty of this commandment notice what it is notice of an experience whoever has the world's goods that means the things that sustain life that's what that expression whoever has the things that sustain life food shelter clothing money to buy those things whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him how do you close your heart against somebody it's easy the way you close your heart against somebody is close your eyes to them have you noticed that when you're watching TV and one of those commercials come on about children in need with a little fat bellies and they're starving to death and they want you to contribute that all you have to do is hit the channel changer if you get it out of sight you can close your heart to it right and so he says if you see your brother in need and you close your heart against him how does the love of God abide in him little children let us not love with word or with tongue but indeed and truth in other words we are stewards of all the resources we have and that means we have to be willing to use our resources to meet the needs that God wants us to meet and when he brings before us needs of others we are to be hospitable I've always noticed I grew up in a in a real blue collar almost dirt farmer kind of church atmosphere most of the people that I went to church with as a little kid were very poor folk most of them come I'd come from Oklahoma someplace like that to California during the Dust Bowl years and and they were out here just you know working in the during the second world war working and shipyards and so forth hard work in blue collar folk many of them became very wealthy by the way because they were hard working they didn't have a lot most of the people that I remember I never saw a really fancy house until I was an adult on the inside but you know what they had an incredible capacity for hospitality they had an incredible capacity to share the things that they did have I don't remember many times going to people's homes after church and then serving as refreshments and they would be the simplest kinds of things because you knew that's all they had that they were hospitable and if people got in trouble there was a place for them to go if people needed food at least have what they called food poundings I don't know why what that expression means exactly everybody anybody ever heard that expression a pounding nobody ever had that must be an Oklahoma expression something but what they would do is if somebody was in real trouble the whole church would just rally together and then take food to these people load them up with food you see they were good stewards of the manifold grace of God in the sphere of their material things this world's goods Paul says I mean John says rather in in chapter two of first John that one of the ways the world comes against the believer is by trying to motivate you by three things the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life that expression the boastful pride of life means boasting in the fact that you have this world's goods and you don't need anybody to help you the boastful pride of life is wanting to get to that place where you would never need anybody to help you one of the ways some people get there is they just don't help anybody else Peter says we are to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God by being hospitable by sharing our life's resources with others and then the last thing notice he says that we are good stewards up in verse 10 this is the heart of the past as a yeast one has received the gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God now a steward was that servant as we said in the household whose responsibility it was was to take the resources of the owner of the household the head of the household that he provided and to dispense them to the individuals in the house as they had need in our context in most of our context where we don't have house servants the wife functions as the steward she's the one at least that's that is in my house I really like this too she's the one who makes sure that we all have what we need and since I'm the only one there it's a great life I gotta tell you with the service the steward was to make sure that every member in the household had what they needed as the master supplied it and the master held him accountable to do that now notice this he says that that's how you are to be in regards to the gift that God has given you to serve in the body of Christ every believer here I can't imagine as much as we've talked about it that there would be very many here who are not aware of the biblical teaching that every single Christian without exception has been given a spiritual gift which means a spiritual ability to dispense the grace of God in specific ways there's a list in the New Testament there's a couple lists and you put them all together you have 20 different spiritual gifts what Peter does is always much more simple than what Paul does remember Peter said that Paul's epistles are hard to understand what he does Paul mentions 20 gifts Peter mentions two kinds of gifts speaking gifts and serving gifts the gifts that are related to speaking and Paul mentions several like that teaching exhortation prophecy of different things and serving gifts notice what he says in verse 11 whoever speaks they're talking about speaking to believers in in dispensing the grace of God he's not talking about gossiping about your neighbor he's not talking about you bragging about your new car he's not talking about you you know sharing about your slice or anything like that he's talking about when we speak to believers in order to build them up in the faith when we speak to believers words of healing words of exhortation words of recruit words of correction words of teaching whatever whoever speaks if that is the realm of your gift is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God now the point of this let me go and read the rest of the verse and let me show you something whoever speaks it is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever what he's saying in this is this whatever your spirit will give you you exercise your gift understanding God is the one who is supplying what needs to be supplied to the person you're ministering to if you have a speaking gift then you would understand that it is God's oracles that you speak in other words it comes from the living God it doesn't mean that you speak ex cathedra it doesn't mean that what you say is absolute truth it means that you are to have this attitude I can only minister to people if God supplies me his word and I can only serve if my gift is in the area of serving I can only serve as God gives me the energy to serve in that way and so it is a dispensing of what God supplies to his household God is determined to meet the needs of all of his children sometimes children need to be confronted and God is determined to meet that need and so he uses people and their spiritual gift to confront sometimes our children need to be comforted and so he uses someone with a spiritual gift to speak those words of comfort see if the marvelous plan you are conduits of the manifold grace of God but realize you are a steward you can't check out of this program you can't say well I don't want to know about my gift I don't know anything about this stuff I don't want to know because I don't want to get involved in this sorry if you are a Christian you are a steward of the manifold grace of God and you are held accountable to dispense that grace according to the gift that you have received you see what he says in verse 11 he says I'm sorry verse 10 as each one has received a gift employ it employ the gift in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God we're going to have this fits we're going to have this attitude that when I exercise my gift when I minister to people and don't worry about what your gift is but as you serve people as you speak the word of God and the comfort of God the people recognize that you are dispensing the manifold grace of God into people's lives now it's manifold because it meets every kind of need it comes in the form of rebuke reprove correction instruction encouragement help when the load is too heavy service when you need someone to serve you it comes in all kinds of forms but it's the manifold grace of God your stewards but I want to impress upon your heart is this is your responsibility you're a steward and you're going to help the held accountable for this what are you doing with your with your gift are you exercising it in order to dispense the manifold grace of God now let me show you the one last thing and that is the consequences of being a steward it's found in Matthew chapter 25 turn there with me Matthew chapter 25 the all of it discourse you heard it marks version of this in this morning in the reading in Mark 13 notice in Matthew which is the fullest in Matthew 25 he is after giving this instruction about and what he's doing is he is in regards to this he is telling them how the age is going to be characterized this period of time between his his ascension and his second advent that is the period of time between the point when Jesus ascends to the father and when he comes back that's the time we're living in we've been living in this time for 1950 years now stop and think about this Jesus tells us what this time is going to be characterized by he talks about wars and rumors of wars nation rising against nation earthquakes famine persecution the church is going to advance to all the nations but all the nations are there's also going to be persecution in all the nations the gospel is going to be successful but it's also going to be opposed the church is going to be successful in taking the gospel to the whole world there's going to be opposition and so he is telling them that you ought to be ready when I come back be prepared when I come back because you have a responsibility look back in chapter 24 verse 42 therefore be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming but be sure of this that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into for this reason you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time here's the steward he says blessed is that slave whom his master finds doing so doing when he comes truly I say to you he will put him in charge of his possessions and then Jesus gives these parables to drive this point home to their hearts he wants to drive home to the hearts of his followers that when he leaves they are to live in anticipation of his return they don't understand everything he's saying but from our perspective when we look back on this we have seen some of these things happen we've seen the destruction of Jerusalem that he mentions in chapter 24 we know we are living in the last days we are know we are living in a time when Jesus could come back we believe in the imminency of his return which means he could come in our life notice this parable that he gives to encourage them to be prepared that Christ is returning verse 14 of chapter 25 for it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them to when he gave five talents to another two to another one each according to his own ability and he went on the journey immediately the one who had received the five talents went and worked it is the word he worked that money maybe invested in a business maybe started a business maybe invested in something but he worked the money and gained five more talents the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more but he received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hit his master's money now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts of them the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents saying master you entrusted five talents to me see I have gained five more talents his master said to him well done good and faithful slave you have you were faithful with a few things I will put you in charge of many things enter into the joy of your master also the one who had received the two talents came up and said master you entrusted two talents to me see I have gained two more talents his master said to him well done good and faithful slave you were faithful with a few things I will put you in charge of many things enter into the joy of your master the one who had received the one talent came up and said master I know I knew you are a hard man reaping where you did not sow gathering where you scattered no seed this guy's a union man this third the third man and he doesn't like management and he said I was afraid and I went away and I hid your talent in the ground see you have what is yours but his master answered and said to him you wicked lazy slave you knew that I reap where I do not did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest therefore take away the talent from him give it to the one who has the kin talents for to everyone who has more shall be given and he has have he will have an abundance but from the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth here is the consequences of our stewardship there's a day of accountability coming now this parable that he tells don't make it walk on all fours he's he's proving us a simple profound point there's a day of accountability coming the word talent doesn't mean talent in the English sense of the word that we use it it is a word that describes a piece of money it's not skills or mental powers it's a unit of exchange an amount of money how much I think this puts a different light on this parable if you understand how much money we're talking if we were if we were to convert the amount of money that he is speaking of in this parable to our present day it would be about three hundred thousand dollars per talent the first man was given what a million and a half dollars the second six hundred thousand the third three hundred thousand that's significant money isn't it it's basically twenty years of labor for a laborer it's paid for twenty years significant money and so he leaves these resources with them and he distributes it according to their ability obviously the first one notice in verses 16 through 18 it says these two wise servants stewards at once the good servants felt the responsibility of their assignment they go out and they work without delay they work the money if you set up a business work the money in some way to bring back a good return but one servant is unwilling to work or take risks he's the opposite of the man who lives according to dissipation in first Peter this is the man who refuses to do anything he simply brings a hole and buries the resources now I think you can see the analogy the application of the analogy in our lives has got us if God has given you great resources as he says he has the manifold grace of God he's giving you the word if you are a person with a speaking gift and he's giving you the oracles of God he's giving you a treasure that you're never going to plumb its depths what are you doing with it he's giving you a serving gift giving you the energy and the skill and sensitivity to meet the needs of people what are you doing with the resources are you a good steward and notice what happens verses nineteen through twenty three talks about this after the counting begins after a long time the implication is that the consummation of the kingdom will be a long time delayed as he has said in chapter twenty four the first servant is praised because of his faithfulness and he's given two things notice what he is given because he has used the resources that the master put into his hands and he's given two things first that the consummated kingdom it provides two things for him glorious new responsibilities glorious new responsibilities and secondly a holy delight to share in his master's joy this is exactly what Jesus says in John 15 when he says abide in me and you will bear fruit and he says the reason I tell you this the reason I give you the instructions about abiding in me so that you will bear much fruit is so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be made full I can tell you the most joyful thing in all of life for any believer is to be a good steward of the manifold grace of God and on that day on that accounting day that we would have a good account of this stewardship that he has given us and notice this third steward verse twenty four and twenty five he accuses his master of being hard scleros he's hard immovable this is his view of his master the servant saying that the master is a grasping man who exploits the labors of others he harvests you harvests where you have not sewn and he puts the servant in this uninvealable position this is how he views it this is how some Christians view some professing Christians view this whole area of stewardship that he said between a rock and a hard place if he takes the risk of trying to increase the one talent and trusted to him he's going to see little profit for himself because he doesn't want to live for someone else but for himself and if he fails and he loses everything then he's going to incur the master's wrath and he figures this is a no-in situation if I if I actually invest this money and make something of it I won't get any of the profit it'll be the masters and if I fail in my endeavor he's going to hold me accountable for losing his money you see what's wrong with him it's his view of the master what keeps us from serving as good stewards of the manifold grace of God it's our view of Christ it's our view of the master some people do see Christ as a hard task master who harvests where he does not so and maybe he's a little peak because the other two received so much more he only received three hundred thousand but one servant received a mid one point five million and so he goes out and he buries the masters money the stewardship that he had he puts it in a hole he doesn't even put it out for interest this parable teaches absolutely nothing about Jesus' view of interest by the way under the Old Testament law you couldn't charge interest to your brother who is in need you couldn't charge interest to a brother fellow Israelite under the theocratic kingdom but you could charge interest to Gentiles the Roman Empire at this time user eat was anything over 12% if you charge anyone over 12% for loaning the money it was against the law I like that law don't you I think I ought to pass that law in the United States but what the servant overlooks is his responsibility to his master and his obligation to fulfill his stewardship which he has given him and his failure betrays his lack of love for his master you see that's what is true in our own lives what is it that keeps me from being a good steward of the manifold grace of God of my physical resources of my spiritual resources what being a good steward it's my attitude about the master offered right before this you know there's the parable of the ten virgins and their lamps and those foolish virgins virgins who came without extra oil and offered says in his little commentary on this passage the foolish virgins fail from thinking they're part too easy the wicked servant fails from thinking it too hard and they were both wrong being a servant of Jesus Christ is not easy it's supernatural but he's given you supernatural resources he's giving you the spirit of God and he's giving you the grace of God grace never condones irresponsibility even those given less to obligate it to use and develop what they have as good stewards of the manifold grace of God there's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't have the resources he needs to sow in verses 26 and 27 the master condemns the servant on the basis of the servant's own words can you imagine this he stands before him and he simply quotes him and he bases his judgment upon his own view of the master but notice the consequences in verse 28 listen to this therefore take away the talent from him give it to the one who has the ten talents for to everyone who has more shall be given and he will have an abundance but from the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away throughout the worthless slave into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth wow the talents taken away from him the resources he hit in a hole he brings it back to the master no more no less exactly what he gave him and notice this wicked servant it says he's worthless he fails you good and use what God had entrusted him with for the events of the work of the master and the consequences are a loss of neglected resources use it or lose it the pretty simple principle isn't that's what he says the opposite of that is seen in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 look at that just a moment we'll look at this passage in detail and next week of the week after but look at 2nd Corinthians 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 and notice this here is the opposite of this that what you don't use will be taken away from you he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 yes it does say in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 if I would get there let me find it 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8 God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance that's more than you need for every good work now he's in the context he's talking about specifically giving money to meet the needs of some Christians who are in need here so he says God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed as it is written he scattered abroad he gave to the poor his righteousness endures forever now he who supply seed to the sore and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sewing and increase the harvest of your righteousness you will be enriched in everything for all liberality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God please get this principle we'll look at in detail but notice the opposite of this principle found in Matthew 25 that is what is neglected is lost here what is used is replenished with abundance this is a prosperity gospel this is the help in wealth gospel this is the principle that if you want to minister to people whether it's financially physically spiritually if you will give what you have he'll give you more so you can give more isn't that a great principle maybe you in the realm of your spiritual gift you're so timid you're afraid to step out and minister until you give what you have one of the things I do in the graysco theology in teaching theology courses is one of the assignments I give in a when I teach Christology is the students have to teach the subject to somebody else during that quarter and I've always found without exception that when they teach it they learn it when you give it it increases this worthless slave buried the talent over which he was steward and when he dug it up it was still one talent and still belong to the master to whom he returned it there is a wonderful principle here it's a principle if you can trust God whatever you can trust him for you can give away I'm talking about in every sphere of your life whatever you can trust God for you can give away to meet the needs to do the work of ministering to advance the gospel for the purpose and cause of the kingdom of God whatever you have faith to give you can give it that's a new covenant concept it's based on Philippians chapter 2 that Jesus poured himself out space and second Corinthians he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor and we're to follow in his in his pattern of giving ourselves our resources our lives we're to give him this way and his promises that he will not only replenish but he will replenish in an abundant way so that you can do more than you ever imagined the center point of this parable is that the watchfulness that must mark all of Jesus' disciples doesn't leave to passivity but doing our duty to growing to cultivating and developing the resources that God has entrusted you with until a long time in the kingdom is consummated the master returns and he settles accounts this is grace one of the manifestations of grace is that he will fill your life so full of grace that you can give it away and when you stand before him he'll reward you for giving away what he supplied you'll just be a good conduit you're not supposed to be a reservoir you're not to dam it up you are to dispense it that's what a steward is a dispenser of the manifold grace of God would you stand with me let's pray Father we are grateful for your manifold grace we thank you that we could never ever ever exhaust your resources I pray you would banish our fear and our selfishness and free us up to be good stewards to be good dispensers of the manifold grace of God so that would read down to the glory of Christ so that people could see in our lives what a gracious giver this God is that we serve and this Jesus is who poured himself out for us please help us Father to be a people that are characterized as good stewards we pray in Jesus' name amen amen