STEWARDSHIP
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. Matthew 25:14-17 (read 14-30)
A steward is a person appointed or employed to manage another person’s property, especially a large house or estate. Stewards are entrusted and given responsibility to take care of that that is anothers. On Day One of our Daily Encouragements, we established that everything we have ultimately belongs to God. God owns it all. We have been given the job or the role of managing or stewarding the Lord’s business. This parable parallels the handling of finance to the weightier matter of handling the Kingdom of God (its ways, statutes, principles and people). The servant who gave the Master the greatest return on His investment received a double portion AND the portion of the one who hid his talent of money in the ground.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “ (Matthew 25:28-30)
Isn’t God too nice for that? Would he really do that? First He’s only giving them what they can really handle. Then, He’s giving out this pretty steep punishment if they don’t! The parable is about money…but there’s more to it than just that. In Luke 16:1-14 the parable of the Shrewd Manager/Steward you see Jesus give us the parallel and the bottom line:
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. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
It matters how we steward God’s money, because it reflects His ability to trust us with true riches. It matters how trustworthy we are with the money, home, car, ministry, relationships, opportunities of others as a precursor to having our own. We want power with God. We want to flourish and be successful in life, in business, and in ministry, but we ignore the importance of good stewardship as a pre-requisite for God to believe that we are ready to handle our own and other people’s lives.
Luke 12:42-48 details that stewardship is not just about money but about relationships. We must treat other servants of the Lord with the same care as the Master does. They are His true gift. If we do not handle His treasured possessions the way He does, we will be ‘beaten with many blows’ (vs 47)… for “from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (VS. 48b) Good stewardship is important to God.
Sadell
