Stewardship: A Big Loss “To everyone who shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance.” Matthew 25:29 Matthew 25:26-30 As I said yesterday, this third servant did what many Christians do today. They bury gifts, abilities, and money God has given them. They may use these things for their own gain, but God gets nothing out of it. The master wasn’t buying the servants excuse. We said Sunday that this parable is a picture of Christ’s kingdom. I believe the story pictures us believers at His judgment seat as our earthly stewardship is evaluated. This is serious stuff. Notice the three ways this man lost any reward he might have had as a steward. The first was the master’s stinging rebuke (vv.26-27). When you stand before Christ, when He shows you the price He paid so you could enjoy heaven, and when you see you could have had, it will sting to know you have incurred His displeasure. The second loss was kingdom disinheritance (vv.28-29). Christ will show you what you could have had and could have been in His thousand year kingdom that follows immediately after His judgment seat. Imagine going to work next Monday and having your boss give your paycheck to someone else in your presence. That’s something of what’s going on in verse 28. This man lost what he thought he had to take into the kingdom with him. The third judgment was exclusion from Christ’s kingdom wedding feast (v.30). I believe some of His children will be excluded from the banquet because of their unfaithfulness. The Bible teaches that there are degrees of punishment in hell (Matthew 11:21-24). By the same principle, there are degrees of blessing in heaven. So when some Christian shows up at Christ’s judgment seat, all their stuff will burn up/disappear, and they will be sent to the penalty box, like an ice hockey player who has broken the rules and has to miss some of the action. What a tragedy to know what we could have had. Sometimes we can do something to fix our regrets. At the judgment seat, there will be no fixing anything. That’s why we must be faithful stewards today. Amen? We don’t know all the loss this faithless steward suffered. But it’s something you don’t want to experience as a child of God. And neither do I. There’s a saying that goes, “It’s not what you do with a million if a million were your lot, but rather what are you going to do with the dollar twenty-five you got.” Every time I think of that saying, my mind goes to the widow of Mark 12:41-44. Jesus saw her give and called her to the disciples’ attention as a model of what God wants in stewardship. There were some rich people tossing in their fat checks too, but Jesus wasn’t impressed. They were just giving God a tip…a big tip, but a tip nonetheless. They didn’t even feel the loss of their money. But the widow gave everything she had. I’d like to talk to that woman. I’d like to ask her where she learned the principle we’ve been reviewing this week, that God owns it all anyway. How do I know she believed that? By the way she gave. I don’t think it was a death wish that made her give all she had. I think she was saying, “Lord, I don’t know where my dinner is coming from tonight, but that’s Your responsibility now.” I’m convinced that too many of us are saying, “God, if You’ll just let me hit it big, the first check’s going to You, and it’s going to be for $10,000.” And god is saying, “Really? What about the money I am enabling you to earn now?” My friends, once you become convinced that God can do more with the 85 or 90 or whatever percent you have left over after your giving than you can do by keeping 100 percent, you won’t have any problem being a faithful steward. Posted by David Coleman of The DC Ministry “Sharing The Gospel”
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 11:42:02 +0000
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