The Steward and the Master

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The Steward and the Master

• Eleven of Christs thirty-nine parables deal
  with finances and asset management.

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• Steward One entrusted with anothers wealth or
  property, and charged with the responsibility of
  managing it in the Owners best interest.

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• Jesus told his disciples There was a rich man
  whose manager was accused of wasting his
  possessions. So he called him in and asked him,
  What is this I hear about you? Give an account
  of your management, because you cannot be manager
  any longer.
• The manager said to himself, What shall I do
  now?..
• Luke 161-13

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• I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends
  for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will
  be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
• Luke 169

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• In my Fathers house are many dwellings if it
  were not so, I would have told you. I am going
  there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
  prepare a place for you, I will come back and
  take you to be with me that you also may be where
  I am.
• John 142-3

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• Well done, my good servant! his master
  replied. Because you have been trustworthy in a
  very small matter, take charge of ten cities.
• His master answered, You take charge of five
  cities.
• Luke 1917,19

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• The Stewardship Parables
• The Shrewd Manager
• Luke 161-8
• The Faithful and Wise Servant
• Matt. 2445-51 Luke 1242-48

The Watchful Servants Mark 1334-37 Luke
1235-40
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• The Talents/The Minas
• Matt. 2514-30 Luke 1911-27
• The Sheep and Goats
• Matthew 2531-46
• The Tenants (Vineyard Renters)
• Matthew 2133-44
• Mark 121-11 Luke 209-18

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• The Unworthy Servant
• Luke 177-10
• The Rich Fool
• Luke 1216-21
• The Rich Man and Lazarus?
• Luke 1619-31

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• Rich man lived in luxury, while Lazarus was
  covered with sores and longing to eat what fell
  from the rich mans table.
• Abraham to rich man Son, remember that in
  your lifetime you received your good things while
  Lazarus received bad things. Now he is comforted
  here and you are in agony.

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• Question Based on your reading of the
  stewardship parables, what lessons do they teach
  about
• The Master?
• The Stewards?

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Lessons Concerning the Master

• His ownership
• The master is the owner of all assets.
  Everything belongs to the master. Therefore He
  alone has the right to do with it whatever He
  wishes.

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• To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even
  the highest heavens, the earth and everything in
  it.
• Deuteronomy 1014

The land is mine and you are but aliens and my
tenants. Leviticus 2523
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• Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power
  and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
  for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
  Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom you are exalted as
  head over all. Wealth and honor come from you
  you are the ruler of all things.
• 1 Chronicles 2911-12

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• Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
  Everything under heaven belongs to me.
• Job 4111
• The earth is the Lords and everything in it,
  the world, and all who live in it for he founded
  it upon the seas and established it upon the
  waters.
• Psalm 241-2

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• For every animal of the forest is mine, and the
  cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in
  the mountains, and the creatures of the field are
  mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for
  the world is mine, and all that is in it.
• Psalm 5010-12

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• The silver is mine and the gold is mine,
  declares the Lord Almighty.
• Haggai 28
• You are not your own you were bought at a
  price.
• 1 Corinthians 619-20

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• The Masters power.
• The masters will is authoritative. Behind his
  words there is ultimate power.

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• The Masters trust.
• He has delegated to his servants authority
  over his money and possessions. This shows a
  trust in their ability to manage them. And
  willingness to take the risk of delegating
  responsibilities to people who may fail.

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• The Masters expectations.
• The master has high expectations of his
  stewards. Hes not easy, but Hes fair. He has
  every right to expect his stewards to do what
  hes told them.

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• The Masters temporary absence.
• The master is away for a season. The
  relationship is long-distanceconsequently, there
  is delayed accountability. Its a test of each
  servants devotion to see if the masters
  standards are maintained even though he isnt
  there to give immediate reward or correction.

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• The Masters imminent return.
• The master will come back. It may be sooner, it
  may be later, but he could return at any time,
  likely when least expected.

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• The Masters generosity.
• He has the right to expect the servant to do
  what he commanded without reward. Yet the master
  graciously promises reward and promotion to
  faithful stewards.

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• The Masters strictness.
• The masters instructions were reasonable.
  Hes not one to accept excuses. The servants know
  his high standards. They shouldnt presume upon
  his grace by being lazy and disobedient. The
  master will take away whatever reward he would
  have given the servant who is unfaithful. And He
  will discipline the servant for poor stewardship.

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Lessons Concerning the Servant

• Stewardship. Servants should be acutely aware
  that they are not owners, or masters, but only
  caretakers or money managers. Its their job to
  take the assets entrusted (not given) to them and
  use them wisely to care for and expand the
  masters estate. If a servant does not fully
  grasp the implications of the masters ownership,
  he will not be a faithful steward.

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• Industriousness. The servants must work hard,
  and not slack off.
• Accountability. The stewards will one day
  stand before the Master to explain why they did
  what they didand didnt dowith His assets.

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• Faithfulness. Servants seek to handle their
  masters estate in a way that will please him.
  They do this until the master returns or until
  death, no matter how many years. Stewardship is
  the servants life calling. Resignation isnt an
  option. Where else would he go?

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• Wisdom in investing. Because they are managing
  the masters assets, servants must choose
  investments carefully. They cant afford to take
  undue risks. Nor let capital erode through
  idleness. The goal isnt merely to conserve
  resources but to multiply them. Servants must be
  resourceful and strategic thinkers finding the
  best long-term investments.

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• Readiness for the masters return.
• When do you expect the owner to return?
• The caretakers reply Today, of course.

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• Fear of the master. The stewards know the master
  is just. His instructions were explicit. If the
  stewards work wisely, they know theyll fare
  well, because the master is generous. But they
  also know that if theyre unfaithful they will
  feel the masters wrath. This healthy fear
  motivates them to good stewardship.

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• Individual standing before the master. Reward is
  not to the group but to the individual. The
  master has a keen eye. An individual servants
  efforts will not be negated by the unfaithfulness
  of others. Each servant must do the job given
  him, and will be rewarded justly.

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• Single-mindedness in service. The wise stewards
  life revolves around service for the master. All
  side interests are brought into orbit around this
  one consuming purpose in lifeto serve the master
  well.

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• John Wesleys questions about spending
• 1) In spending this money, am I acting as if I
  owned it, or am I acting as the Lords trustee?
• 2) What Scripture requires me to spend this
  money in this way?
• 3) Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice
  to the Lord?
• 4) Will God reward me for this expenditure at
  the resurrection of the just?

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• Asceticism?
• If silver and gold are things evil in
  themselves, then those who keep away from them
  deserve to be praised. But if they are good
  creatures of God, which we can use both for the
  needs of our neighbor and for the glory of God,
  is not a person silly, yes, even unthankful to
  God, if he refrains from them as if they were
  evil? Martin Luther

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• Away, then, with that inhuman philosophy which,
  while conceding only a necessary use of
  creatures, not only malignantly deprives us of
  the lawful fruit of Gods beneficence but cannot
  be practiced unless it robs a man of all his
  senses and degrades him to a block.
• John Calvin

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• Richesare morally neither good nor bad, but
  things indifferent which men may use either well
  or ill.
• William Ames, Puritan

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• Deuteronomy 14
• But if that place is too distant and you have
  been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot
  carry your tithe (because the place where the
  LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away),
  then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the
  silver with you and go to the place the LORD your
  God will choose.

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• Use the silver to buy whatever you like cattle,
  sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything
  you wish. Then you and your household shall eat
  there in the presence of the LORD your God and
  rejoice.
• Deuteronomy 1424-26

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• Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you, use
  worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so
  that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into
  eternal dwellings.
• Luke 169

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• When you come, bring the cloak that I left with
  Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the
  parchments.
• 2 Timothy 413

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• I say to you that many will come from the east
  and the west, and will take their places at the
  feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the
  kingdom of heaven.
• Matthew 811

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• 1 Timothy 41-5
• The Spirit clearly says that in later times
  some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving
  spirits and things taught by demons. Such
  teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose
  consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
  They forbid people to marry and order them to
  abstain from certain foods

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• which God created to be received with
  thanksgiving by those who believe and who know
  the truth. For everything God created is good,
  and nothing is to be rejected if it is received
  with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by
  the word of God and prayer.
• 1 Timothy 41-5

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• Poverty also hath its temptations. For even the
  poor may be undone by the love of that wealth and
  plenty which they never get and they may perish
  for over-loving the world, that never yet
  prospered in the world.
• Richard Baxter, 1675

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• some women who had been cured of evil spirits
  and diseases Mary (called Magdalene) from whom
  seven demons had come out Joanna the wife of
  Cuza, the manager of Herods household Susanna
  and many others. These women were helping to
  support them out of their own means.
• Luke 82-3

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• While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man
  known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him
  with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume,
  which she poured on his head as he was reclining
  at the table.
• When the disciples saw this, they were
  indignant. Why this waste? they asked. This
  perfume could have been sold at a high price and
  the money given to the poor.

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• Aware of this, Jesus said to them, Why are you
  bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful
  thing to me. The poor you will always have with
  you, but you will not always have me. When she
  poured this perfume on my body, she did it to
  prepare me for burial.
• Matthew 266-12