Where We Go From Here...

 "But his master answered him, '...you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.'"

        The above words come from “the parable of the unfaithful steward.”  It comes to my mind today because we just covered this in our Mens' Bible Study for the men of Stone Hearth Estates.  And of course, you have this hapless steward in the parable, who has great fear and not a lot of smarts, and takes his paltry single talent and hides it in the garden in a coffee can.  Yes, the subject of the Gospel is money, but the point goes way beyond money and reaches into every gift, every talent (real talents here - not the “money” kind of the Gospel) that we might have.  In fact, most churches, upon advertising “stewardship Sunday,” find that they have the lowest attendance on that day!  I’ve often found that puzzling.  Puzzling... AND telling of the state of the church today.  In the end, this is not just stewardship, and even not just some generic tossing out of the word "discipleship," but it is all about HOW we ought to follow Jesus.

The Gospel reminded me of a newsletter article from a 1970's church newsletter that I read once, from a church that doesn’t even exist any longer.  The article is worth reading here, because it is a modern day parable of the unfaithful steward.  Yes, this really happened!

        It came to pass that a pastor in a distant land preached a children’s sermon during the month of July. He called three young men to the altar on that day to prove understanding of Christian stewardship. To one young fellow he gave $5, to another $2, and to another $1. Not so much according to their abilities as to his available funds the pastor did divide his money among them. “Come Stewardship Sunday in the fall of this year I shall ask for an accounting of the way you have lived out your stewardship,” said the pastor.
        And stewardship Sunday did come, and, lo, it was also All Saints Sunday. “It is now time,” said the pastor, “ for you to make an accounting of the way in which you handled my money which I entrusted to your care. Present yourselves before the altar of the Lord.” Now the lad to whom $5 had been given did not merely return the pastor’s $5 plus another $5 as the steward had in sacred Scripture. O no! He gave his pastor $5 and another $24, remarking of the joy that was his. “Well done!” replied the pastor. “You’ve indeed been most faithful, returning more than could be expected, [and certainly more than the original steward.] You deserve to be happy.” Then he to whom $2 had been entrusted made his return with truly great happiness, for he, too, not only returned to the pastor that which was his own, but another $18, and his joy was also full. Then came he to whom the least was entrusted - but one paltry dollar. Knowing full well the steward of Biblical fame had hid his master’s money in the ground, returned over 100 fold what his pastor had given him, placing in his hand $61! In total the three young stewards had earned $103 plus the $8 from the pastor. This was then blessed and made a part of the morning’s offering to God.
        And the fame of these 3 wise lads spread far and wide, nor did the pastor or the congregation tire in the telling of this parable and the lesson it had taught.

        If you are counting, that modern day parable did not merely show a return on the gifts of the master at 100%, 100%, and 0%, but 480%, 900%, and finally a whopping 6100%!!  The smaller the gift, the greater the return!!  Now the point is not the disparity to which these “gifts” had been given to the different people, either in the parable or in real life.  The point is and always has been about what we do with those gifts.  We could make a great case also about what each of us should do with our money, but that would also be missing the overall point of stewardship.

When it comes to our gifts and abilities, be they time, talents, treasures, or even testimony: the point of both parables is that they should be used for the good of others.   This is how we serve God - by serving others and using our gifts for others before ourselves.  In fact, it is the modern day parable that best illustrates the Biblical principle of “whole-being stewardship.”  Whatever your gifts, be they large or small, use them to the glory of God and in accordance to the will of God by using them to help others.  And don’t let a “lack” of gifts stand in the way - for who returned the most on their gift?  It was the steward who had been given least.

So what are your gifts?  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is what you do with them.  As the old frontier preacher once said, "It's not a matter of where you've been, but where you are going from here."  Take the modern day parable to heart, and give a return on your gifts - seeking to outdo the lowly servant who could only give back 6100 percent of that to which he had been entrusted.

        You CAN make the world a better place.