Being a Good Steward

Intro:

Main Concept: Teachings on Riches

Ask the audience: If you won the lottery and were given one million dollars, how would you spend it? Whats the first thing you would buy?

By a raise of hands who would go out and spend all of their money right away?

Now who would invest their money?

Who would take care of their families by paying off their debt?

How we steward the money and blessings that God entrusts to us has significant value especially when it comes to sharing our wealth with others.

The verse we will be reflecting on can be found in the book of Luke 16:10.

Let’s look at a parable that Jesus shares with his disciples about a master and his servant. In this story Jesus tells us about a master who catches his servant squandering the master’s wealth and is ultimately fired.

Knowing that he will be fired, the servant begins to worry about his future once he loses his position as manager. Rather than begging or doing hard labor he decides to formulate a plan by building relationships with people who can support him in the future.

During this period in history debt was a big deal, the culture of this time period used a barter system where produce like olive oil and wheat could be used as currency. The servant considers the masters debt and takes on the challenge of going to the debtors in order to reduce what the master owes. First he reduces the oil debt and then the wheat debt down to half, the master now has his debt reduced by 50%.

Upon hearing the servant’s wise actions, the master praises him. Within this parable Jesus shows that many who prosper in this age are shrewder than those who are believers and do not make the most of the resources they have in order to prosper in the future.

The main point of the parable is that just as the servant was kind to the debtors to make friends with them for the future, believers also must be good to others financially to secure their future. Hoarding wealth or being stingy is contrary to the calling of discipleship.

Verse 10 highlights the principle at work in this story: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much.”

We are to be generous with our blessings and not lovers of money.

Being a good steward in small things includes our stewardship of money. Those who cannot be trusted to show kindness, generosity, and care with their earthly riches cannot be trusted with heavenly treasure.

It is necessary to point out that we can still be generous with money while saving for the future. It would be reckless to squander your money on selfish desires that only pleases our flesh for a short time but does not satisfy. While saving is beneficial we must distinguish the difference between saving our money and hoarding it, we should be cautious not to hold on so tightly to our money and never spend it just for the sake of having money. Money is not everything and we should be careful that we do not love money more than we love God and helping others with the resources or the blessings that God has given to us. Luke 18:25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Three ways we can be a good steward:

Be thankful for the blessings and gifts that God has provided, no matter how big or small. 1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in it various forms.”

Take care of what God has entrusted to us through acts of kindness and generosity. Do not be greedy or stingy with what we have. 2 Cor. 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Look for ways that our wealth can benefit others and the Kingdom of God.

As we close, let’s reflect on the resources in our lives, will we be lovers of money only thinking about our needs for right now? Or will we choose to be a blessing to those around us and to our future by investing in the Kingdom of God?