Studies on the vocations of the Bible.
Now, the Bible is a book for busy
people, because the Bible is a book about
busy people.
The Bible has nothing good to say about
laziness.
It has nothing good to say about the
careless, sleepy saint who snores his way through
life, and then one day suddenly wakes up
and discovers he's never really lived.
Did you ever notice in your Bible that
God called and used people who were busy?
Moses was taking care of his father-in
-law's sheep when God called him, and Gideon
was threshing wheat, a dangerous thing to do
at that day when God called him.
David was caring for his father's sheep when
one day he was called and anointed to
be king.
And so it is in the Bible, not
just the Old Testament, but the New Testament.
The first apostles were taking care of their
nets, mending them, hoping to go back out
fishing again when Jesus called them.
And even Saul of Tarsus, though his methods
were wrong, was doing something when God called
him.
You cannot steer a car in neutral.
If you want God to bless your life
and use your life, get busy.
Don't sit around and daydream.
Don't stand gazing up into heaven.
Get busy.
Do the thing God's called you to do
and He'll call you to the next thing,
which is why we're going to have this
series on the vocations of the Bible.
There are some, oh, dozens of different vocations
in the Bible, all the way from architects
and artists to weavers and everything in between.
Tonight we begin with one of the most
important occupations listed in the Bible, the steward.
And we turn to Luke chapter 16 and
we read the first 15 verses.
Luke chapter 16.
And Jesus said also unto his disciples, there
was a certain rich man who had a
steward.
And the same was accused unto him that
he had wasted his goods.
And he called him and said unto him,
how is it that I hear this of
thee?
Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou
mayest no longer be steward.
Then the steward said within himself, what shall
I do?
For my Lord, notice it's a small L
referring to his master, not to the Lord
Jesus.
For my Lord taketh away from me the
stewardship.
I cannot dig and to beg I am
ashamed.
I am resolved what to do, that when
I am put out of the stewardship, they
may receive me into their houses.
So he called every one of his Lord's
debtors unto him and said unto the first,
how much owest thou unto my Lord?
And he said, a hundred measures of oil.
He said unto him, take thy bill and
sit down quickly and write fifty.
That's a good discount.
Then he said to another, and how much
owest thou?
And he said, a hundred measures of wheat.
And he said unto him, take thy bill
and write four score.
And the Lord commended the unjust steward because
he had done wisely, not honestly, but wisely.
For the sons of this age are in
their generation wiser than the sons of light.
And I say unto you, make to yourself
friends by means of the money of unrighteousness.
That when it fails, they may receive you
into everlasting habitations.
He that is faithful in that which is
least is faithful also in much.
And he that is unjust in the least
is unjust also in much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in
the unrighteous money, who will commit to your
trust the true riches?
And if ye have not been faithful in
that which is another man's, who shall give
you that which is your own?
No servant can serve two masters, for either
he will hate the one and love the
other, or else he will hold to the
one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God in money.
And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard
all these things, and they derided him.
And he said unto them, ye are they
who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth
your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of
God.
Our Lord tells us in verse 8 that
we can learn from the unsafe people of
the world how better to serve God.
I dare say if the average unsafe person
in his job worked the way the average
Christian does in his Christian life, he'd fail.
If the average business were run the way
many churches are, they'd fail miserably.
I thank God that here at Moody Church
we have capable, dedicated, faithful officers who are
good stewards.
Otherwise the ministry wouldn't even be here.
Our Lord is saying that the children of
this age are in their generation wiser than
the children of light.
That means that I can watch the potter
and learn from him.
I can watch the weaver and learn from
him.
I can look at this steward and learn
from him.
It doesn't say they're wiser in eternal things.
Their wisdom is limited to their generation.
But you and I can learn from these
laborers how to be better Christians.
The interesting thing about this story is that
everybody in it is a crook.
The steward was dishonest.
These friends of his owed his master money.
The master commended him that he was wise
in what he did.
Our Lord is not using this as a
story to teach us honesty.
That's not the point at all.
The whole point of this story is that
this man was changed from a failure to
a success.
Now what was it that changed him from
a failure to a success?
Well, the thing that really changed him was
that he responded to some insights that came
to him in a crisis hour.
You know, most people know what sight is,
but they don't know what insight is.
They can see the externals, but they can't
see the internals.
They can see what's happening, but they don't
know why it's happening.
And this man came to a crisis in
his life.
This wasn't judgment day.
This was just an everyday crisis.
The boss called him in and said, you're
fired.
I've been checking over the accounts, and man,
you've been wasting my goods.
You give me an account of your stewardship
so at least I'll know how much I've
lost.
You're fired.
And in this crisis hour of life, God
gave him some insights, and he responded to
these insights, and it changed his life.
Now God has a way of doing this.
It may not be losing our job that
does it.
It may be some other kind of crisis.
It may just be an awakening.
It may be in an hour when we're
reading the Word, or listening to a message,
or hearing a song.
And the Holy Spirit of God just gives
us insights, and we respond to those, and
God changes us.
That's what needs to happen tonight.
Now what are these insights?
To which this man responded, and through which
his life was changed.
Well, there are five of them.
I'll not expound them in great detail because
you can go home and meditate on them,
but I want to name them and discuss
them and apply them.
First, he had a new insight into himself.
It dawned upon him that he was a
steward.
Now what is a steward?
We don't use this term today except Methodist
churches have stewards.
Unions have stewards.
What is a steward?
Well, when you think of the word steward,
you automatically think of Joseph.
When Joseph was sold as a slave to
Egypt, he was made a steward in the
house of Potiphar.
A steward is someone who possesses everything but
owns nothing.
The master takes his goods and places it
in the steward's hands.
So he possesses everything, but he owns nothing.
Joseph said to Potiphar's wife when she tempted
him, your husband has put all things into
my hands except you, and I cannot commit
this sin before God.
So a steward has possessions.
Now secondly, a steward is a person who
has privileges.
He has the privilege of using these possessions
for the good of his master.
And if he's a good steward, the master
doesn't breathe down his neck every day and
say, what are you doing?
In fact, Potiphar forgot all about how to
run his house.
Joseph took care of the whole thing.
Joseph had the credit cards.
Joseph had the bank books.
Joseph took care of the whole thing.
So he has possessions, but he doesn't own
them.
And he has privileges, but with these privileges,
he also has, thirdly, responsibilities.
When I was in Youth for Christ for
four years, I was a great admirer of
our business manager.
Now he's still a dear friend of mine.
But I used to watch our business manager
in Youth for Christ as he handled what
to me were just enormous sums of money.
Now back in those days, they were enormous.
Today they wouldn't perhaps look like too much.
And I'd say, oh my, there he is,
he writes these checks, and oh, the wonderful
privilege he has.
He was old, but he had responsibility.
That really wasn't his money.
He had the responsibility of making sure that
what was purchased was correct, it was the
best price, the best quality.
He had to be responsible.
But you see, with privilege and responsibility comes
accountability.
That's the fourth thing about a steward.
He possesses everything, he owns nothing.
He has the privilege of using it, the
responsibility of using it wisely, and he must
one day give an account.
I never envied my business manager friend on
that day when the auditors came in.
Now he had nothing to fear.
He was an honest man with integrity.
But there he'd sit, and they would open
the books and say, now where's the receipt
for this, where's the check stub for that?
They would audit the books, because where there
is privilege, there must be responsibility, and where
there's responsibility, there must be accountability.
This is why the Moody Church missionary policy
does not permit us to support freelance missionaries
who are not under anybody's authority.
As a pastor of this church, I can't
do anything I want to do, and I
wouldn't want to do anything I want to
do.
I am under the authority of the church,
and I have to give an account for
what I do.
There's a responsibility there.
And where there's responsibility, there must be accountability.
Now as Christians, you and I are stewards.
I don't know if this has ever dawned
upon you, but if tonight the Holy Spirit
could just light a light in somebody's mind
and heart, and you suddenly wake up and
say, I am a steward.
I possess everything in Christ, but I own
nothing.
You say, wait a minute, I own a
stereo.
No, you don't.
You possess it.
God owns everything.
He doesn't just own the cattle on a
thousand hills.
He owns the food in your pantry.
Why, He owns the very breath in your
mouth.
You and I are stewards.
We have the wonderful privilege of using all
that God's given to us, and we have
the responsibility of using it wisely, and one
day we're going to have to give an
account.
You go through your Bible and you discover
that the Christian is a steward of time.
In Ephesians chapter 5, he says now, buy
up the opportunity.
Don't waste your opportunities.
You've got time given to you.
I think one of the greatest wastes in
Christian living today is the waste of time.
People get to the end of a day
and look back and say, what did I
do today?
You students, you're stewards of time, the opportunity
God gives you.
I wish I could barnstorm the United States
and speak to every Christian college and Bible
institute and seminary and tell the students to
learn how to be good stewards of their
time.
You learn how to waste time, you'll waste
everything else.
And we're stewards of our time.
God gives us life.
God gives us a certain number of days.
We are stewards of the Gospel.
Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2, 4, we've
been put in trust with the Gospel.
So you're saved, God gave you the Gospel.
He said, now do something with it.
Get busy, do something with the Gospel.
That's a stewardship we'll answer for someday.
We're stewards of our gifts and our ability.
As good stewards, says Peter, we should use
the gifts that God's given to us.
So you have musical gifts, are you using
them?
You have gifts of writing or building or
painting or whatever it is.
Are you using them?
We're stewards.
We're certainly stewards of our material possessions.
This parable, if it teaches anything, teaches us
that we had better learn how to make
good use of our material possessions.
You say, I haven't got very much.
That doesn't make any difference.
The issue is faithfulness.
See, we have a tendency to say, well,
here's a man who is faithful in many
big things.
We can trust him with little things.
Don't kid yourself.
Jesus makes it just the opposite.
He says, the person who can be trusted
with a dollar, who's faithful in the spending
of a dollar, who makes a dollar go
the longest way possible, can be trusted with
$10,000.
Not the reverse.
The person who wastes five minutes will soon
waste an hour.
You say, well, you're a fanatic.
Maybe I am.
But you can't get time back.
And time can be turned into money and
money can be turned into souls.
And so insight number one, we've got to
see and realize that we're stewards.
We possess everything.
We own nothing.
We have the responsibility of using it wisely.
We have the privilege of using it.
And one of these days, we're going to
give an account for it.
Now, the second insight that came to this
man was the insight into life.
He saw what life really was.
Now, what is life?
Life is an opportunity for investment.
You say, what are you talking about?
Well, the best way to illustrate it is
to go through chapter 15 and chapter 16
of Luke.
Luke has put these two together.
The story of the prodigal son, the story
of the elder brother, and the story of
this dishonest steward go together.
How do they go together?
You have here three different views of life.
What did the prodigal son do with life
before he repented?
He wasted it.
It says so.
He wasted his substance with a riotous living.
There are many people today who are wasting
their lives.
They have nothing to show for their time,
nothing to show for their energy, nothing to
show for their money.
Their view of life is wasted.
Now, the elder brother had an entirely different
view.
He wasn't wasting his life.
He was just spending his life.
He worked hard.
He was respectable.
He didn't go out and carouse around.
He didn't get drunk.
But he was a miserable person, and he
made everybody else miserable by just spending his
time.
You see, the person who wastes his life
is living for the present.
The person who just spends his life is
really living for the past.
Every day is just like every other day.
Get up, go to work, go to bed.
Just spending his life.
A drudge.
And yesterday controls today, and every day is
the same.
Now, the steward in chapter 16 learned he'd
better not waste his life and better not
just spend his life.
He wanted to invest his life.
The person who invests his life is living
in the present in the light of the
future.
He's doing today what he does because of
the future.
Now, Christians ought to live in the future
tense.
Paul said, we press toward the mark, forgetting
those things which are behind.
We're looking forward to the future.
And so we spend our money today in
the light of the future.
It's an investment.
And we use our time and our energy
and our opportunities in the light of the
future.
This man got a whole new insight into
life.
He discovered he was wasting his life.
Now, that's a tremendous waste.
Because when you waste your life, how do
you get it back?
What shall it profit a man if he
shall gain the whole world, lose his soul?
What shall a man give in exchange for
his life?
What a horrible thing it would be to
come to the end of your life and
look back and discover you hadn't lived.
It had just been spent.
It had just been wasted.
Now, why was this man wasting his opportunity?
Well, he had the wrong master.
His master was money.
He was playing a little game with his
boss.
It was one for you and two for
me.
And he was living for money.
Say, how do you know he was living
for money?
Well, he was willing not to work.
He said, oh, I haven't got the ability
to dig.
I refuse to dig ditches.
And I won't beg, but I'll tell you
what I will do.
I'll lie and I'll cheat.
You see, the thing that you will sin
for is your master.
And so he calls in his friends and
says, look, I'm going to lose my job,
but I want you to be my friends.
Now, here's a 50% discount for you,
and here's a 30% discount for you,
and here's a 20% discount for you.
When he got fired, they all said, oh,
come on, stay with us, you're our friend.
Now, our Lord is not commending his dishonesty.
Our Lord is commending his wisdom in using
his opportunity while he had the opportunity.
He had the wrong master.
Money was his master.
Material things.
Now, Jesus said you can't serve two masters.
He said this man couldn't serve money and
his Lord.
And we Christians cannot serve material things and
the Lord.
Either we're going to love one and despise
the other, or hold to the one and
reject the other.
You can't serve two masters.
The thing that you and I are willing
to sin to get is our master.
And you know, money is a marvelous servant,
but a terrible master.
A man's life does not consist of the
abundance of the things that he possesses.
He was wasting his opportunity because he had
the wrong master, and he was wasting his
opportunity because he had the wrong motive.
His motive was to please himself.
He was willing to rob his master to
please himself, but he was only robbing himself.
He had this tremendous insight.
He said, hey, here is life, and life
is a series of opportunities, and I am
wasting these opportunities.
And he woke up and said, I'm going
to use this opportunity.
And his Lord said, you know, you aren't
a very honest fellow, but I want to
commend you for your wisdom.
That's why Paul says, be not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is.
That's a very kind way of saying, don't
be a dope.
The book of Proverbs has a great deal
to say about fools.
And when you read Proverbs over and over
again, it says that the fool wastes his
life.
The fool wastes his money.
The wise man invests what he has.
He saw life in a new light.
Life was not to be wasted.
Life was not to be spent.
Life was to be invested.
His life was not to be controlled by
the present.
That's the way animals live.
His life was not to be controlled by
the past.
His life was to be controlled by the
future.
And he woke up and said, from now
on, things are going to be different.
We have no idea when Jesus is going
to come back.
We have no idea when we're going to
die.
Nobody knows.
What a wise thing it would be for
us to start studying and praying and witnessing
and working and investing time and energy and
money in the light of the fact that
Jesus is coming again.
Now there was a third insight that came
to him.
He saw himself in a new light and
he saw life in a new light.
Thirdly, he saw his Master in a new
light.
All of a sudden, the light came on
and for the first time, he really saw
his Master.
You see, up until now, his Master had
been somebody to provide for him.
Up until now, his Master had been someone
to protect him.
But all of a sudden, his Master became
someone who was demanding an accounting of him.
You know, we as Christians are happy for
the Lord to provide for us.
And He does.
Thank God He sends His rain upon the
just and the unjust.
His sunshine comes down upon the wicked and
the righteous.
Thank the Lord He provides us with the
things that we need.
Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need
of these things.
Thank the Lord for the spiritual provision He
makes.
Thank Him for the protection.
How much He does for us, and that's
as far as most Christians go.
God is my provider and God is my
protector, but is He your Master?
What do you mean?
Are you ready to give an account?
Oh, that's another story.
You see, accountability is a part of life.
No one has the right to exercise authority
who's not under authority.
You give somebody authority without putting him under
authority, even though it be the authority of
God, and you have in your hands a
dictator.
Now God says to us, all things are
yours.
Life is yours, death is yours, Christ is
yours.
All things are yours, and you're Christ's, and
Christ is God's.
Someday get your concordance out, and make a
list of all of the verses that talk
about all things.
It's an interesting study.
All things are working together for good.
All things are now ready.
All things are yours.
And so here we have the blessed privilege
of God giving to us all things.
Now, He says one of these days you're
going to give me an account.
We as Christians don't like this.
We as Christians would much rather just play
our games and enjoy our lives and forget
about the fact that the Bible says we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ, and every man shall give an account
of the deeds done in the body, whether
they be good or wasteful.
Now, He's not going to ask for an
accounting of our sins.
Thank God our sins have been taken care
of by the blood of Christ.
But He's going to ask for an accounting
of our lives.
What did you do with your time?
What did you do with your money that
I gave you?
What did you do with your energy, your
abilities, your opportunities?
Here you were in school.
Here you were in church.
The average Christian does not take advantage of
all the opportunities God gives him.
Too busy wasting time and wasting opportunity.
And there's going to be an accountability.
This is the one thing I suppose that
weighs the most heavily upon me as a
pastor.
Over in Hebrews 13, chapter 17, the writer
says, Obey them that have the spiritual rule
over you, for they watch for your souls
as them that must give an account.
And when I'm out in pastor's conferences and
pastors come to me and they say, You
know, I'd like to be in a bigger
church.
I'm only pastoring a couple of hundred people,
and I always give the response Dr. Tozer
used to give.
That's enough to give an accounting for.
It weighs upon you.
One day we're going to have to give
an accounting of our stewardship.
In fact, the Lord is going to say
to us, You can no longer be a
steward.
There's no stewardship in heaven.
All of our service in heaven is going
to be faithful and fruitful and wonderful because
we'll have new bodies and we'll be like
the Lord Jesus.
He's going to say, You can no longer
be a steward.
Give me an account of your stewardship.
And you know, when we stand before the
Lord and He opens the books, it's really
not going to make a lot of difference
to Him about all these material things that
people think are so important.
Now, it's good to have the things that
money can buy if we don't lose the
things that money can't buy.
It's good to have possessions, providing you possess
the possessions.
They don't possess you.
The Bible says that God gives to us
richly all things to enjoy.
But one of these days, we're going to
have to give an account.
And that's what happened to this fellow.
He saw his Master in a new light.
Now, how do you see Jesus tonight?
Oh, He's my beloved Savior.
But He's also going to be your judge.
Oh, He's such a wonderful, wonderful...
Yes, He is.
But He's also going to be your judge.
And my judge.
When we stand before Him, it's no wonder
John wrote and said, Then now, little children,
abide in Him, that when He shall appear,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed
before Him as His coming.
Who is that faithful and wise steward who
does his job?
Ah, but then he starts getting involved in
the world and fussing around and living for
sin.
And then his Master shows up and he's
embarrassed.
He saw his Master in a new light.
It's good for us to rejoice in the
love of God.
It's good for us to draw near as
John did and put our head upon the
bosom of the Lord.
But let's also remember Jesus, when He appeared
to John, saw John fall at His feet
as though dead.
Well, there's a fourth insight that came to
this man.
I promise not to be too verbose, so
let's quickly move on.
He saw himself in a new light, and
he saw life in a new light, and
he saw his Master in a new light,
and he saw his possessions in a new
light.
Here he had this money that he had
stolen from his Master, and he realized he'd
only robbed himself.
And he says, you know what?
I have money, but I don't have a
job.
I have these possessions, but I no longer
have any authority.
I had better do something right now.
Now, he realized that people were more important
than things.
Now, you know this, but let me remind
you of it.
In this world, you have only three kinds
of entities.
You have God and people and things.
And we're supposed to worship God and use
things and love people.
And you get those confused, you're in trouble.
There are people who worship things, and they
use people to get things.
And this man suddenly looked at things and
realized that things could not satisfy him.
Things could not give him security.
The parallel to this, of course, is that
rich farmer that Jesus talked about who had
a bumper crop and said, what am I
going to do?
I know what I'll do.
I'll tear down my barns, and I'll build
a grater, and I'll store all my goods
in the barns, and I will say to
my soul, soul, take thine ease.
Thou hast much goods laid up.
And that night God said to him, you
fool, this night your soul is going to
be required of you.
And who shall these things be?
This man realized that you're supposed to use
things to help people, not use people to
get things.
That's what the prodigal son did.
Father, give me.
He used his father to get him things.
Then he used these things in his own
selfish way, and he lost everything.
This man got a new insight into his
possessions.
When you get in your car tonight, if
you have one, realize that God gave it
to you, and He owns it.
You say, no, the finance company owns it.
Well, He owns the finance company.
God owns that automobile, and He wants you
to use that automobile for people.
You know what Jesus says here?
Make friends by means of the material things
God's given you, so that when you get
to heaven, people are going to meet you.
We had an interesting experience.
I have promised people I would not drop
Africa into every message, but I must tell
you this.
We got to Nairobi, and a man came
up to me.
I would imagine he may be about ten
years older than I am.
I don't know, maybe more.
It's hard to tell.
He said, you know, I've never met the
man in my life.
He said, you know, I'm here because of
you.
I said, what do you mean?
He said, we have a big enough directional
aerial where we live.
He lives over in Michigan.
We can pick up in the winter, when
the weather is right, the Moody Church Hour.
I'm glad that the prince of the power
of the air doesn't control those things.
The Lord does.
And he said, some time ago you preached
a message from Psalm 90.
Teach us to number our days that we
may apply our hearts to wisdom.
He said, God spoke to me.
He said, I sold my business, took my
wife.
We went over here, came to Nairobi.
He was a very shrewd businessman, and he's
ministering in Nairobi now by handling all the
purchasing and all the distributing for all the
missionaries.
He has saved the mission board thousands of
dollars.
He saved the missionaries many hours of time.
He is serving God as a businessman.
And God spoke to his heart over in
Grand Rapids and said to him, why don't
you use the rest of your life to
serve me?
Now, he didn't lose the material possessions of
life.
He just began to use them to make
friends so when he gets to heaven, folks
are going to greet him and say, you
know, I'm here because of you.
That's the beautiful thing about faithful stewardship, whether
it's tithing or offerings or service or praying,
whatever it is.
When we are faithful, and I see the
word faithful twice in verse 10, and I
see it in verse 11, and I see
it in verse 12, and I'm reminded that
Paul said, Moreover, brethren, it is required among
stewards that a man be found faithful.
Not popular.
Not even successful.
Faithful.
When we are faithful, God uses that.
And I want you to know when the
rapture takes place and we get carried up
to heaven in the twinkling of an eye,
we're going to meet people up there we've
never met before.
They're going to come and say, you know,
you gave to support missions in Japan and
I'm here because of that.
You did this.
You prayed.
You say, I don't remember that.
Oh, but God does.
He saw his possessions in a new light
and he realized that possessions were not just
for pleasure.
Possessions were for investment.
And he began to invest what he had
and the opportunity that he had to make
friends.
So if someone should say to you, what
are you doing with these things that you
have?
There's nothing wrong with them until they possess
you.
What are you doing with these things?
Oh, will we be able to say, I'm
using these things to make friends for the
Lord.
There was a fifth insight.
And here we close.
He saw himself in a new light.
He was a steward.
He saw life in a new light.
Opportunity for investing in the future.
He saw his master in a new light.
One day he'd have to give an account.
He saw his possessions in a new light.
They were not to be wasted, but invested
for people.
Because people are more important than things.
And finally, he saw his friends in a
new light.
It dawned upon him his friends had a
need.
They were in debt.
They were in debt to his master.
And he was the one person who could
help them.
Now, once again, the Lord does not approve
of his dishonesty, but the Lord approves of
his wisdom.
The children of this world know how to
use their opportunities far better than do the
children of light.
Why is it the church has to be
25 years behind the dime store?
Why must we as Christians be 50 years
behind what the world's doing?
That's why Mr. Moody was called Crazy Moody.
He was 25 years ahead of everybody else.
And the folks didn't like what he did.
This man saw his friends in a new
light.
They were in debt and he could do
something for them.
And he said, look, I'm going to help
you.
Now, he was helping himself.
And this is the beautiful thing about the
Bible.
When a person is a faithful steward, he's
not only helping other people, he's helping himself.
Jesus never said that helping yourself was wrong.
He said, give and it shall be given
unto you.
That may sound selfish, but if your motive's
right, it's not.
Good measure, pressed down, running over.
In fact, when you read Matthew chapter 6,
you find our Lord's chief motive in Matthew
chapter 6 for faithful stewardship is so that
we might reap the investment.
He saw his friends in a new light.
It'd do some of us good to see
our friends in a new light and then
help them.
To look upon our friends as those who
are in bondage and those who are in
debt.
You see, God needs stewards today.
God's not looking for people who own everything.
He's looking for people who say, I don't
own a thing.
When I got saved, Lord, nothing in my
hand I bring.
And now that I'm living for the Lord,
we say, Lord, we have nothing of ourselves.
Paul said, as poor yet making many rich.
There's a paradox for you.
Broke yet we bless people.
How can we be poor and yet make
many rich?
We're poor because we have nothing of ourselves.
God still needs stewards today.
People who will look at themselves and say,
look, you're a steward.
You can't afford to waste money, can't afford
to waste time, can't afford to waste opportunities.
You're a steward.
Then look at life and say, life is
too serious to just play it away.
I'm not going to waste it.
I'm not going to even spend it.
I'm going to invest it.
I'm going to live today in the light
of the future.
What difference will this make in eternity?
And if it won't make any difference, forget
about it.
I meet people in different places who lose
sleep if they haven't read the latest book.
What difference will it make in eternity?
There are people who have apoplexy if they
miss a section of a football game on
TV.
What difference will it make in eternity?
There's nothing wrong with reading books.
I read a few.
There's nothing wrong with watching TV.
Occasionally we do this.
But the point is God needs stewards today
who will live today in the light of
eternity and see that life is a tremendous
series of opportunities to make friends for the
Lord.
And the most important thing about a steward
is that he's faithful.
Not popular.
Not even successful when measured by men.
Faithful.
You're a student.
And I remind you with all of the
seriousness I can put into this statement that
scholarship is stewardship.
And it's just as much a sin to
waste the opportunities to learn as it is
a sin to waste money or energy.
You're a Christian worker.
God gives us opportunities.
You're able to earn.
God gives us opportunities.
He wants us to be faithful stewards.
And the interesting thing is this.
He looks at the little things.
He says the person who will waste that
little amount will also waste the big.
But he who is faithful in that which
is least is also faithful in that which
is most.
He says there are two kinds of riches.
Material riches and spiritual riches.
The spiritual riches can be your own.
If you're not faithful in that which is
another's, God owns the material riches.
He can't entrust to you the spiritual riches.
There is a definite relationship between faithful stewardship
of material things and spiritual things.
He says if you can't be faithful in
that which is least, the material, God won't
trust you with that which is the greatest,
the spiritual.
Stewards.
God needs stewards.
How do you become a steward?
Just wake up and say, hey, I don't
own a thing.
I possess it.
I've got the responsibility not to waste it,
not use it, invest it.
I have the privilege of serving God with
His possessions.
And one day He's going to ask me
for an accounting.
And I want to be faithful.
Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to Thee.
Father, we want to be good stewards.
If some here tonight have been wasting time,
wasting opportunity, convict them.
Wasting money.
I pray, Father, You'll deliver us from merely
spending our lives, just existing from day to
day, the dull routine.
May we have the excitement of investing our
lives and seeing the dividends come back today
and in eternity.
Lord, thank You for teaching us from this
parable.
Help us from this moment on to use
all that we possess to make friends for
the Lord Jesus.
Friends that someday we shall meet in eternity.
In Jesus' name, Amen.