Broadway Christian Church

Broadway Christian Church 1-31-16 Pastor Ryan David Cochran

THE LIFE OF A STEWARD Luke 19:11-27

“Father, we give you thanks for the words that you continue to speak to us. You are always speaking, especially through your word. Lord, I ask now that we would be good hearers of your word, that we would listen to it and that, with your Spirit’s help, we would understand it and that we would put it into practice. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

We started our year talking about two themes that I think are really going to be coming back to us throughout the year: discipleship and stewardship. The last four weeks we have been talking about discipleship—following after Christ, learning to become like Christ and committing to certain practices in our own life that will help us become like Christ. For the next three weeks we are going to be talking about stewardship.

What is Stewardship?

Usually when we talk about stewardship in the church, too often we only talk about it in regards to money. We usually think about stewardship as the 10%, or whatever percentage you choose to give, and to put it in the offering plate on Sunday mornings. Certainly that is one part of our stewardship. One part of the ways that we take what God has given to us and then use it in such a way that honors Him and glorifies Him and recognizes that He is the giver of that gift. In fact, I think as Katie and I think about our own practice of giving to the church, I really see that as a discipline, as a practice where we know that each month as we receive our income, as we decide to give whatever it is that we decide to give—that it is a discipline that helps to shape us so that in the rest of our life we are using all of our money and, hopefully, all of our resources in a way that gives honor and glory to God. I think it is one of those practices of a disciple that helps to shape us to learn to trust in God, that helps us learn to become like Christ; to be generous in our giving.

I think it is unfortunate that we have narrowed this idea of stewardship down to that 10% tithe that we give on Sunday mornings. It is a much bigger concept in the Scriptures than that. I want to talk a little about stewardship over these next few weeks and we will talk about money in a couple of weeks. I want to talk broader today about this idea of stewardship.

A steward is someone who receives something from somebody else to take care of it and to use it. That’s what a steward is. It’s someone who receives something from someone else—who receives something that does not belong to them—something that is given to them, and then they are to use that thing and take care of it. It would be really interesting to read through the entire Bible from beginning to end through the lens of this idea of stewardship and to look at the ways that God gives gifts to His people and asks them to be stewards over it.

This starts at the very beginning of the Bible in the Book of Genesis. God makes this garden. Adam and Eve have nothing to do with creating this garden but God places Adam and Eve there and He asks them to do what? To take care of it. That is Adam and Eve’s job in the garden—to tend and to care for the garden. At the very beginning, humanity is called to be stewards of God’s gifts.

Think about Abraham as we move along in the story. Abraham is given a call to be a blessing to the nations. If you look at the story of Abraham, it would be interesting to ask the question, “how well did Abraham steward that call?” Sometimes well, sometimes maybe not so well.

Move on to the life of David. David was given authority to be king. David was the youngest son of his father. He was the one that everyone forgot about. He was out in the wilderness tending the sheep and God gave him this authority to be king. It came from outside of himself. He did not earn it. God gave it to him. How did David steward that authority and that leadership? Sometimes well and sometimes not so well.

We can think about this with Paul. Paul is given this calling. How did he steward this calling to be the apostle to the Gentiles? Being a steward is receiving something that does not belong to us, to care for it and to use it in the way that the Giver would want us to.

A Parable of Loyalty (Luke 19:11-27)

I want to look today at the story from Luke Chapter 19. There are two very similar stories in the Gospels of Jesus’ parables. In the Book of Matthew, this is called the parable of the talents. In Luke it’s called the parable of the ten minas. A talent and a mina were both a denomination of currency. In the Book of Matthew, as the parable goes, a master is going away on a long trip and he brings three of his servants together. He gives the three servants different denominations of talents and says, “now go use them. Use these talents the way that I would want you to.” In Luke Chapter 19, the story is a little bit different. The overall message is the same. There is a master who is leaving and he calls ten of his servants together and he gives each of them the same amount of money. He gives each of them a mina, which was about three months’ wages for a typical person. There is a little wrinkle in this story in Luke that is a little bit different than the one in Matthew that I think helps us gain a better understanding of what stewardship is. It gives us a deeper level of meaning of stewardship. I want to read this parable to you and point out this extra wrinkle that Luke gives us in this parable that is different than the one in Matthew.

Luke 19, beginning in verse 11: “While they were listening to this, He went on to tell them a parable because He was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once.” This is the first thing that you need to see. The occasion of this parable actually happens right after the story of Zacchaeus. This tax collector—this despised guy in culture—comes to know Jesus, commits to Jesus to give up many of his possessions and give them to the poor and then this parable is told. Luke tells us that Jesus tells this parable because there were people who thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once. It’s important for us to remember that detail in this story.

Verse 12: “He said, a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.” So he called ten of his servants and gave them 10 minas. “Put this money to work until I come back,” he said. But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.” Verse 14 is the “wrinkle” in this story. In the Book of Matthew, a master just goes off on a journey. In this story, a man goes off to the emperor to say, “hey, I want to be ruler of this area—make me the king of this area.” But those who are under him already, they don’t like him! So they send a delegation and they say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.” This is the wrinkle in this story because what happens is that each of these servants now have to decide whether or not they are going to be loyal to their master. There is a question mark here. When the master comes back, is he going to be king or will the emperor give kingship to someone else—perhaps one of his rivals? I will go ahead and finish the parable and then we will continue on.

“He was made king, however, and returned home, and then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money in order to find out what they had gained with it. The first one came and said, ‘sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ ‘Well done my good servant,’ his master replied, ‘because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ The second came and said ‘sir, your mina has earned five more,’ and his master answered, ‘you take charge of five cities.’ Then another servant came and said, ‘sir, here is your mina. I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and you reap what you did not sow.’ His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant.’ You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in and reaping what I did not sow. Then why didn’t you put your money on deposit so that when I came back I could have at least collected it with interest?’ Then he said to those standing by, ‘take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ ‘Sir, they said, he already has ten!’ He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be kind over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.”

I think there is something going on in Iowa tomorrow. Is that right? I don’t think about Iowa ever, but every four years I start thinking about Iowa. Think about in our present political system, congressmen and sometimes famous people and other people who are kind-of in the news and famous, they “endorse” political candidates, right? They endorse candidates that they like their views or they like the policies that a particular candidate puts in place. But there is also another calculation that goes in their head, right? Which of these candidates do I think is going to win, because I want to be on the side of the winner. If I commit my support to this candidate and they win, I get something more later. I might get a place in his cabinet. I might get to be on staff. But if I choose the wrong candidate, I’ve got no chance. If you are in Ted Cruz’s camp and someone else wins, Cruz isn’t going to bring you into his camp, right? If you are politicking for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton wins, Hillary is probably not going to invite you in to be on her team later, right? I think that’s what is happening in this story.

This master goes away and there is a question of who is going to be in charge when he gets back. There are really two options for these servants. Do I take this money that my master has given to me and do I go about and do business in his name, become associated with him—endorse him in the village—and when he comes back, then, something good will happen. Or—do I want to be associated with this man? Everybody seems to not like him very much. What happens if he comes back and everybody associates him with me? What is going to happen if he doesn’t become king? So, one of the men takes the five minas from his master and he goes and sets up My Master’s Butcher Shop. He goes into town and sets this up and he does work and he gains ten minas out of this investment. There is another one who says, “I want to be associated with my master,” and he goes and sets up shop, My Master’s Rug Repair Shop, and he gains five more minas. But this other one hedges his bets. He is not so sure that his master is going to be king and so he takes this mina and says, “I don’t want to be associated with my master. I am going to hide the money that he gives to me. I will give it back to him when he comes back but I’m not so sure that it is going to be of benefit to me to be associated with him. In this in-between time, when there is a question mark about where my master is going to stand, I’m not so sure that I want to throw my lot in with my master.”

It is easy to back the guy who is winning. I am never a Denver Bronco’s fan until January and it seems like every year I find myself rooting for Denver. It’s fun to be behind a winner.

What happens when the master returns? To these two that went into the village and set up My Master’s Butcher Shop and My Master’s Rug Repair Shop, he says, “well done, good and faithful servant.” You are now in charge of something great. You can be in my cabinet. I give you charge of ten cities. I give you charge of five cities. I give you the honor because now I am the master. I am the one who has the authority to do this. But to this other one he says, “what did you do with my mina?” The servant takes out his little cloth and says, “here it is—here is your mina. I knew you were a really hard man and I didn’t want to risk your money so here is your mina back.”

I think the master sees right through him. I think the master sees that that’s not really the reason why he didn’t invest the mina. He says, “Listen, you knew, did you, that I was a hard man. If that’s what you thought, that I was a hard man and you didn’t want to lose my money, why didn’t you just at least earn a little bit of interest on it?” I think the master sees right through him. I think he sees that the servant actually didn’t want to be associated with him. The master says to him, “give this one mina to the one who has ten.” This servant was not willing to be associated with his master. Two servants were loyal to the master and the other hedged his bets.

A good steward is always: 1) Loyal to the Giver.

I think there are some principles of stewardship that we learn from his parable and, certainly, from other parts of Scripture. I think the first principle of stewardship that we learn from this parable that is unique from the one in Matthew or in other parts of Scripture, is that a good steward is one who is loyal to the Giver. A good steward is one who is loyal to the Giver. Commitment to Christ. Not one time at some point in the past, but over the long haul, even when it is not obvious to our human eyes and to our experience, that He is king. To be loyal to this One.

There was a time in the U.S. when it was beneficial to be a Christian. You were actually looked at with a bit of suspicious if you weren’t. To be going to the right church or to the right place, that gave you a bit of status. You had some extra points in society if you were a Christian. The local pastor was often also the magistrate, the judge, the one who made decisions for the entire town. If you were “good” with the pastor, you were probably “good” in town. We know that is not always the case any more. Increasingly, perhaps, it is not the case that being a Christian will benefit us in society. So the question for us in this time when it is not so obvious all the time that Jesus is Lord, then are we going to be faithful? Are we going to be loyal? Are we going to be committed to Jesus when it is not so beneficial or the next step—when it may even cause us to suffer—are we going to be loyal to the Giver?

A good steward is someone who is loyal to the Giver. He is always asking, “What would the Giver want me to do with this money or this time that I have, or these resources, or this home? Whatever it may be, what would the Giver want me to do? “

A good steward is always: 2) Content with the Gift.

A second principle of stewardship is this: A good steward is content with the gifts that he or she is given. Contentment. Paul says that “godliness with contentment is great gain.” He said, “if I have food and clothing, that will be enough for me.” Are there any of us that can really say that? That if I had food and clothing, that would be enough for me. Contentment is such a good word, isn’t it? Contentment. To be at rest. To be truly satisfied with what we have. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to work hard or to use our gifts and to be creative and make money and go into the world and use our gifts in whatever way God has called us to—that’s all part of being a steward as well. But part of entering into all of our life is to recognize the importance of contentment—to know that the gifts that God has given to us are more than enough. Food and clothing—that will be fine. He has given us Christ! Contentment.

We are trained by our culture to be discontent, aren’t we? We are trained by our culture to be discontent. I looked up online this morning and it suggested that we see 5,000 advertisements a day. 5,0000 advertisements every single day! We need to be critical of these commercials that we watch and these advertisements that we see everywhere in front of us.

I want to suggest to you parents that when Deuteronomy tells us to teach our kids when we’re at home and as we walk along the road, that one of the ways you should teach your children is to be critical of the advertisements and the commercials that they see. Katie and I do this quite a bit. We will see something and say, “Hey—what is that advertisement trying to tell you about yourself or about their product?” As you are going along the road, your culture is teaching your kids. Are you going to respond to that and recognize that your culture is trying to create discontentment in your children and to respond to that and to help them to see that.

Advertisements can be useful, they can help us to know what’s going on, they can help us to know about and acquire the things that we need. They are not all bad. But they are training us to be discontent to say that “if I only had that thing, that would make me happy.” My dishes don’t quite sparkle like they should. My body odor isn’t quite as good as it might otherwise be. If I had that thing then I would be attractive in some way. I would be happier. We know, we know, we know, we know that when we watch these commercials that that’s what it’s trying to do but we are often not reflective about them. We are not critical of them. Since we are seeing 5,000 of them every day, we need to be careful about what’s happening in our heart as we see these things over and over again and the way that our culture is training us to be discontent.

The good steward will gladly and thankfully receive the gifts that God has given and learn to be content—to be content with what God has given.

A good steward is: 3) Investing Eternally.

A good steward always has eternity in mind. A good steward invests in eternity. Men—we have four commitments that we make as men of Broadway. 1) accept responsibility, 2) lead courageously, 3) reject passivity, and 4) invest eternally. The commitment that we’ve made is this: I will invest eternally by refusing to waste my time and energy and resources in earthly things where moth and rust destroy, but will seek to use all God has given me for the sake of God and my neighbor. I will invest eternally by refusing to waste my time and my energy and my resources in earthly things where moth and rust destroy, but will seek to use all God has given me for the sake of God and my neighbor. This is a great statement about stewardship. To think about all that we have been given—our time, our resources, our talents, our money—everything that we have been given—to consider how might this thing be useful—not to gain me more worldly wealth only, but how will this enable me to pursue Christ and turn my attention heavenward?

I Timothy 6:17-20 is a passage we will look at in a couple of weeks when we look at money. I think that Paul, here, really gives us some good suggestions about how we think about all the resources that we have. I Timothy 6:17-19, Paul writes this: “Command those who are rich in this present world, not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” Isn’t that a great thing to be able to say? God gives us these things that we may enjoy them. But we have to enjoy them in the proper order. God first and then the things. The things point us to God. God doesn’t help us get the things. We get that turned around sometimes. “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

We receive God’s good gifts and all of them—everything that we receive—is to be useful to us in order to gain treasure in heaven. Everything that we receive, we need to ask ourselves, “How are these things going to help me gain a better relationship with Christ. How are these things going to help me in my family life? How is this going to help me make friends? How can I bless my brothers and sisters in Christ? How will this purchase, this idea, this thing that has come to me as a gift—how will it bless my neighbor? “ We need to begin to filter everything that we do—everything that we purchase—through this question. It’s hard to do sometimes. It doesn’t seem like a pair of shoes or a pair of socks is going to benefit people, but maybe so—I don’t know. How? How do we think about the things that we have been given and to make them useful to gain Christ?

There is another curious thing about this parable. Luke 19 says there are ten servants that are called. Only three of them do we find out what they do with what the master gave them. There are seven out there that we don’t know their story. I think that that is an invitation for us to put ourselves right in the middle of this parable. There are seven servants who have a master who has gone away and it is not always obvious whether we know that that master is going to be king. How will we respond? Will we be loyal to Him and know that He is our giver? Will we be content with the gifts that He has given to us? Will we receive all things as a way to foster our relationship with Him?

A good steward is loyal to the Giver, content with the gifts and is always investing eternally. These are the three principles of stewardship that we are going to be talking about over the next couple of weeks. Would you pray with me.

“Lord, we confess to you that we are not always good stewards. We ask you to open our eyes to see, Lord, where we can be more faithful and loyal to you. In our hearts, where we are discontent and always wanting more and more and more, that you would help us to crucify that in our flesh. Give us a great imagination. Give us eyes to see the ways that all the gifts that you give to us can be used for your sake, as a way to love you and to love our neighbor. Lord, we ask that you would make us good stewards of your gifts. Amen.”