Stewardship

For a lot of people, thoughts of Spider-Man comes to mind. This phrase was introduced in the comic around 1962, but that was not the origination of the quote. This quote has been in circulation in different cultures for centuries. This quote (or a variation of it) was used in the French Revolution and by world leaders like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill as well.

It is interesting that since the use in the Spider-Man comic and movies, this quote has become a big part of our culture today. The idea that responsibility is important — even more so than position — is painted on all aspects of our culture. I believe that is a good thing.

As we continue our series on our church covenant, we come to a portion that deals with responsibility. Over the past couple of weeks, we have looked at how the church as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that the church is faithful in what it teaches and what it does in practice. This week, we will examine the phrase of our church covenant that states:

We determine by aid of the Holy Spirit to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations...

If there is one topic that many people do not like hearing about in a church service, it is money. Many critics of Christianity have stated that one problem that they have with churches is all they talk about is money. The preacher is always talking about giving and what they are doing with their money. While money should not be the sole focus of the teaching/preaching of a local church, one cannot get around the issue of money.

I want to let you know that money will not be the focus this morning. It will be mentioned, but it will not be the focus. When we look at Jesus’ words in the New Testament, we see that He used parables. About 1/3 of Jesus’ parables dealt with money in some form or fashion. If it was important enough for Jesus to spend time on teaching about it, then we should give it some attention as well.

We just will not focus only on money. The part of our church covenant that we are looking at today deals primarily with stewardship. That includes finances, but it also includes other areas as well. So I invite you to not tune out but to draw in closer because we are going to see that this issue might be more important than we first thought.

Matthew 25:14-30

Matthew 25:14–30 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 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. But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 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.’ “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.’ “The man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I’ve earned two more talents.’ “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.’ “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.’

This parable of Jesus comes in the middle of a series of parables that He shares with His disciples about how the world will end. That is the overarching context of where this parable comes from. As the disciples were wondering how everything would come to an end, Jesus drew their attention to an issue of responsibility that falls on those who are called disciples/followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus points to three important factors of stewardship in this passage.

The issue of ownership

Matthew 25:14–15 CSB

Matthew 25:14 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.

25:

Notice what Jesus says in verse 14: a man called his own servants and entrusted “his possessions” to them. Whose possessions were they? The man (owner) did, not the servants to whom they were entrusted.

It is easy fo us to get attached to the things that we have. For some of us, it might be our money. For others, it might be our children. For some, it might be hobbies or free time. We look at these things and say, “they are mine.”

The truth of the matter is that there is really nothing that we can say is truly ours.

Illustration: I was reminded of this when we lived in south Alabama. The town that we lived in is one of two remaining “single tax colonies” in the United States. The land is owned by the Single Tax Corporation, and it leases it out in 99 year leases. So while you pay an ungodly amount for your house down there, the land is never truly yours.

Just as Jesus talked about this man in His parable distributed his possessions, so God distributes everything that we have to us. The air that we breathe = not ours. Our children = not ours. Our money = came from the work that we did, so? But who gave us the strength and ability to do it.

It is in this truth that we are reminded of what comes from .

Deuteronomy 10:14 CSB

The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

Or maybe

Psalm 24:1 CSB

The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;

Everything that is created belongs to God. He is the Creator. We are not creators; we are managers. We are the ones that God entrusts certain things to, but they ultimately belong to Him and He has the final say in what goes on with them.

This is seen in how different things are distributed. In verse 15, we see that “the man” (which represents God in the parable) distributes his possessions to his servants according to their ability. God distributes His possessions to us in the way that He does because He is mighty in wisdom.

Which brings up the issue of why certain things go more to certain people.

Colossians 2:3 CSB

In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Isaiah 40:28 CSB

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.

We may not understand why certain people may have more of certain things than others. We may look at others and think, “why do I not get to experience something like that?”

All of our time, talents, and treasures are gifts from God’s hand, and He distributes them in perfect wisdom. As this parable plays out, that wisdom will become clearer.

The point of decision

Matthew 25:16–18 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. But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.

As Jesus continues this parable, He shows that the servants who were entrusted with the master’s possessions went on their way and had to make a decision with these gifts. The decision came down to: will I invest this as the master wishes, or will I just bury it, keep it safe, and return it when the master gets back? On the surface, these two options look pretty good. On one hand, you can take the gifts that are entrusted to you and invest them for more return. This could be good but risky. What if things with the investment do not go well? What if I make the wrong decision with them?

On the other hand, you’ve been entrusted with the master’s possession. You do not want anything to happen to it. So you can do everything in your power to make sure that nothing gets close to this entrustment. You want to return it to the master in as close to as received condition that you can.

The problem is that one of the options does not recognize the master’s heart in the situation. Why in the world did the master leave his possessions to his servants, if not to make sure that they are doing what they are supposed to do?

Once we get to the point of realizing that everything truly belongs to God and I’m only entrusted with it for a while, we come to a point of decision. Will we invest what God entrusts to us as He wants, or will we just try to protect it and keep it safe?

What you choose in this matter will reveal what you value.

As we see in verses 19 and following, two of the servants worked their gifts and wanted to please their master. One servant feared his master and didn’t do anything with it.

This is a reminder that just as God entrusts us with His gracious gifts, there comes a time when those who have been entrusted have to give an account to the Master about how those gifts were used or not used.

In verses 19-29, Jesus shows us that also what we choose to do with the things God is currently entrusting to us determines what will be entrusted later. We see that the servant who was given five talents made 5 talents. The servant who was given two talents made two talents. In both cases, there was a 100% return on the investment. In both cases, each was given more according to what they had done.

The one servant who chose to bury the talent given to him by his master ended up having that even taken away and given to one that was found faithful. The master could not and would not entrust this servant with any more because he was not found faithful with the little that he was given.

I don’t know about you but this can be very convicting to me. I’ve heard and even said to others, “What if God removed tomorrow everything we did not thank Him for today?” What if God chose not to entrust us with any more because we are not being faithful with what He is entrusting us with today?

There is a point of decision that comes in stewardship where we say that we will or will not do what the Master wants me to with this. There is no fence that we can ride on this. There is no grey area on this matter. It is either we do what the Lord desires with what He has entrusted us with, or we don’t. This brings us to the final factor of stewardship seen from these verses...

The necessity of trust

It all really comes down to this one issue: do we trust that God knows what He is doing better than we do? Do we trust that God is good… faithful… steadfast… sovereign…

We can use all these nice words, but the best revealer of where our faith truly lies is in what we do with what God has entrusted us with.

Isaiah 55:8–11 CSB

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

We read these words… we say ‘Amen!’ to these words… do we live these words though? It is tough at times. To truly live this out takes faith… great faith at times. But it is faith in a great and faithful God. It is faith in One that has proven Himself true time and time again.

Conclusion

When we state in our church covenant that the members of our church will contribute cheerfully and regularly, it is not just talking about throwing some money in a plate. Don’t get me wrong, the work that God is calling FBC Fulton to do will take money to accomplish. But that giving might be something more than money. It might be talents and abilities that God has allowed you to have. It might be your very life.

Illustration: The Boy and the Offering Plate:

A church bus driver was visiting a poor neighborhood to pick up children for Sunday School. He saw this poor little boy in ragged clothes and asked him if he would like to go to church Sunday. If so, he would come by and pick him up on the bus. The boy was excited and said yes. The driver asked if his parents were home so he could talk to them and the boy said they weren’t home very much so it would be alright.

Sunday the church bus pulled up and honked the horn, out came the little boy dressed in the same ragged clothes. The bus driver was kind and made him feel welcome, took him to church and introduced him to his new Sunday School teacher who was kind like the bus driver. He heard about Jesus that morning in Sunday School and thought the bus driver and his teacher must be like this Jesus because no one ever treated him this way.

His teacher took him into big church and had him sit with her. He was amazed at all the kind people, the beautiful carpet and the nice clothes people wore. They sang about Jesus, the preacher talked about Jesus and then they did something he did not understand at first. Men gathered up front and came by passing a shinny plate up and down the rolls. It passed him and he watched his new teacher put money in the plate and pass it by him. He asked her what that was for, she said it was for Jesus. His heart sank, he’d heard about Jesus, sang about Jesus and saw Jesus in his new friends, but he had nothing to give Jesus. As the man took the plate from him and moved to the next roll he got an idea. He got up and went to the man with the plate and asked him if he could have the plate. With caution the man handed it to him. The boy put the plate on the floor and stepped in it and said, “Jesus, I don’t have anything to give you but me.”

The truth is that all that Jesus wants from us is us. He wants us to be faithful stewards of the wonderful gifts He has entrusted to us.

Are we handling God’s entrustments the way that He wants us to?