"Stewardship"
Intro
Matthew 25:14-30
14 “For the
kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and
delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five
talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own
ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who
had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five
talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he
who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After
a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 “So he who had received five talents came and
brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents;
look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His
lord said to him, ‘Well done,
good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you
ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He
also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two
talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His
lord said to him, ‘Well done,
good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will
make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and
said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and
gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was
afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked
and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where
I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my
money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with
interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he
will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be
taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer
darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
God has called each
one of us to be good stewards over what He has given to us. Many times, we can have pure intentions in
our actions but mismanage what we have because we do not understand how to
properly manage what God has provided us with.
Stewardship is the job of supervising or taking care of something. A steward is never the OWNER of what they are
caring for, they are simply responsible for managing it. God has called each of us to work in some
capacity of the kingdom. Unfortunately,
there are times when we are not able to perform the task that we have been
assigned because we have not shown ourselves to be good stewards in certain
areas of our lives.
Although each of us
have received a portion of intellect and skill, we are expected to not only operate
in excellence but to also increase what we have been given. The return on investment will not be the same
for every person but the evidence of proper stewardship will be visible. In the upcoming weeks, we will examine three
areas that God expects us to manage well.
Those topics include: our time,
our finances, and our health.
