Stewardship

Intro: Over the past two weeks we have been working through our church family covenant. Just reminding ourselves of who we are called to be.

Week 1 - we focused on unity both in our homes but also corporately.

1. I will strive to live in unity as much as the Gospel commands by pursuing patience, kindness, thankfulness, humility, gentleness, joy, forgiveness, and truth. I will bear one another burdens. I will strive to forgive and to be forgiven. I will think of the well-being of others first. I will only use my words to build up and strengthen those in our gathering.

Week 2 - we focused on Kingdom living striving for holiness and purity and proclaiming the kingdom of God.

2. I will seek to proclaim the kingdom of God both in word and deed. I will pray for His will to be done.

3. I will strive to live a lifestyle that exemplifies and proclaims the holiness and character of God. I will hate sin and love righteousness. I will strive for purity both inwardly and outwardly.

Today our focus will be on stewardship. We will look at principles 4 and 5 from our family covenant. If I were to break down stewardship into categories I would say their are two main categories, Time and money. You will see both of these categories in the next two statements from our covenant.

4. I will not be idle. I will use my gifts for God’s eternal purposes and glory. I will pray for wisdom in knowing how I should best serve.

5. I will strive to be a faithful steward and generous with my time, money, and resources. I will contribute to the kingdom's work.

For some money may be easier to give than time. For others time is close to all you have to give. and the way groceries and energy prices have gone up, many people are being stretched financially.

The point of today’s sermon will not be to guilt you into giving what you do not have ,but rather for us to examine if we are making good use of what we do have both time and money.

I will not be Idle.

From the very beginning stewardship was a created part of our purpose. In Genesis 2:15

Genesis 2:15 CSB

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

We see that Adam and Eve were to work and steward all that God had given them in the Garden of Eden. In other word’s Adam and eve were not to be idle. They were to use there time, energy, and talents to fulfill their purpose on earth to bring glory to God.

In a few weeks we will look at this passage again when we are in our study of Genesis.

But the point is it seems that our primary purpose on the earth is and has always been stewardship to the glory of God. Our purpose is and always has been to please God.

A foundational principle to life is that God owns it all. We are simply caretakers.

The Key to stewardship is first understanding that you were made not as an owner in the earth but as a steward.

When I was child growing up I remember arguing with my brother or sister over who would get the last of the favorite cereal, soda, or cookie.

As an adult and I look back on this I often grin because now I understand that I was claiming ownership over something that I had not payed for, worked for, or even created. In essence I was claiming the rights to something I really didn’t own.

Now that I have children myself. I have come to realize that it is more normal than not that children feel entitled to their parents belongings. While parents freely provide for their kids, and want their children to enjoy all that is given to them, children often forget this concept that all they have has been given to them to enjoy but they are to use what they have been given in accordance with the rules and expectations of the ones that have provided it for them.

Children are in essence stewards.

In Matthew 25 we come across this parable. That Jesus told to help us understand what it means to be a good steward. Now over the years, I heard some very bad exegsis of this parable. This misunderstanding comes from the idea that the word “talent” is the same as our English word “talent.” They are not the same. A talent was a measurement used for weight. 1 Talent equals about 75lbs. If it were 75 lbs of gold your looking at 1.2 million dollars. If it were silver your looking around $15,000. Either way it was a lot of money.

Matthew 25:14–15 CSB

“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey. He called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, depending on each one’s ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately

The first thing that I want you to notice is that whether it was silver or gold it was a great deal of money that each servant was entrusted with.

I think sometimes when we look at this parable were tempted to think that God seems to shortchange certain people. That is not the case. Whether 1 talent or 5 it was a significant investment by the master to his servants.

Matthew 25:16–17 CSB

the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more. In the same way the man with two earned two more.

Matthew 25:18 CSB

But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.

Can’t you just see human nature in this passage. How often are we tempted to not do anything with what we have because we don’t have as much as somebody else.

In fact, I believe one reason why many small to normative size churches are so ineffective is because they look at what the big churches have and since we can’t do what they do we are tempted to do very little. We’ve got to stray away from the idea of that normative size churches are ineffective. God doesn’t see it that way and neither should you. He has given Park Circle exactly what they need by placing us and our sister churches right where we are.

Again notice with me that when the master hands our the talents he does so with the idea in mind not to require more of his servants than what they can do.

Remember how I told you from the beginning this message would not be about making feel guilty about what you can’t do but rather it’s about doing well with whatever you have been given.

Effectiveness has nothing to do with the amount of resources we have, The size of the congregation or even the amount of people we reach. It has everything to do with using what God has given us well. God neither expects us to be ineffective nor does he expects us to accomplish greater things than he has entrusted us with. He want us simply to use all that we have for His Glory and in that He is honored and praised.

But lets continue this story.

Matthew 25:19 CSB

“After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

The master is returning. Jesus is returning

Matthew 25:20 CSB

The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I’ve earned five more talents.’

Matthew 25:21 CSB

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

Matthew 25:22 CSB

“The man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I’ve earned two more talents.’

Matthew 25:23 CSB

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

Notice with me that the praise of his servants is exactly the same. One servant on paper brought in way more wealth than the other but both were faithful with as much or as little as they had and the master praise and joy over them was exactly the same.

Isn’t that encouraging. God provides for you with just enough for you to do whatever it is that he has assigned for you to do. Do that well and He has joy over you.

But unfortunately we also have to deal with the last servant.

Matthew 25:24–30 CSB

“The man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a harsh man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ “His master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy servant! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered, then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and I would have received my money back with interest when I returned. “ ‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. And throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

God does not expect you to give more than you can give. He doesn’t expect you do more than you can do. However, he does expect that with whatever you have been entrusted with that you will do something with it.

Are you seeing both the joy and gravity of stewardship. It is a great joy to be entrusted with time and money and gifts and talents. But to not use them you will miss out on the reward of bringing your master, and savior joy.

1 Corinthians 3:14–15 CSB

If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.

I don’t know of a single passage that better argues against a works based salvation than this one. However, I will also say that this is a very sad passage because it tells us yes their will be some in heaven that have no reward. Grace through faith got them there, but what a wasted life.

So the end of this parable is either inferring that the unfaithful servant either wasn’t saved because he didn’t understand the character of the master or he at best lost his reward due to doing nothing with what he had been given.

Church family, we only get so many days on this earth. Some of us will have more than others. But all have a limited amount. What are you doing with what you have been given. You see this is way bigger than just money. Money is only part of your life. Yes everyone should do their best to give financially to the work of the kingdom but it’s bigger than that. The question really come down to what are you doing with your life. Your life includes your resources, your children, your time, and your energy.

Have you ordered your days so that they have purpose? Are you investing your life well?

Psalm 90:12 CSB

Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

Can I offer some practical advice. Maybe it would be helpful for us to print out this verse and tape it to our TV's and laptops, place it on your fridge or on your desk at work when your tempted to choose unnecessary overtime over your kids. Look at it when you are tempted to enter into another petty argument with your spouse or tape it to your credit card before you make a bad financial decision.

Each time we see this verse we should ask ourselves is this really how I want to use my limited days and resources?

God will never require more of you than he has given you but he does require us to do something with what we have been given.

Lets say this out loud together a public affirmation of God’s expectation for us.

4. I will not be idle. I will use my gifts for God’s eternal purposes and glory. I will pray for wisdom in knowing how I should best serve.

5. I will strive to be a faithful steward and generous with my time, money, and resources. I will contribute to the kingdom's work.