Luke 19:11–27 records the parable of stewardship. And while they were listening to these things, He went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas.”
In those days a mina represented a hundred days’ wages, nearly twenty dollars. However, today’s values are so different that a hundred days’ wages now would be much more than twenty dollars. So he gave them ten minas which was a lot of money.
“And (the nobleman) said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’ ” Tenses are important in the Greek. Often when the writers of Greek speak about something in the past, they bring it into the present—as if it were happening again—in what is called the historical present tense. They take certain tenses and bring them into the present tense for emphasis. He said, “Do business with this until I come back,” as though it were future, but in the Greek it reads, “while I am coming back,” as though they were living every day expecting his imminent return. “Do business with this money while I am coming back.”
“But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ And it came about that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him in order that he might know what business he had done. And the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good bond servant, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, be in authority over ten cities.’ ” This is a command: “Be in authority,” not “I put you in authority.” “Be in authority; let it be a position that you accept.”
“And the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ And another came, saying. ‘Master, behold your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’
He said to him …” Again let us put this in the historical present tense. The translators use the past tense because English people think that way. Literally it means: “He is saying to them,” just as though it were happening to them right now. The historical present tense takes an event of the past right up into the present to give it an emphasis.
“ ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put the money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ And he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ I tell you, that to everyone who has shall more be given, but from the one who does not have” (He had a mina, so it is not saying that he did not have a mina; but what he did not have was any faithfulness to apply what he had. Within himself he was lacking in spiritual submission and stewardship.), “even what he does have shall be taken away. ‘But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here, and slay them in my presence.’ ”
Another Scripture, Luke 16:10–12, seems to provide a conclusion, and actually gives the whole theme of the parable. “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous Mammon (riches), who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” That is a demanding word about stewardship which should stir you.
This message reveals several important points concerning stewardship. First of all, let us consider stewardship and faithfulness. God must judge us for our faithfulness. He could not righteously judge us as Christians on any other basis.
Not everyone is born with the same privileges. Not everyone has the same abilities. The old saying that all men are born free and equal is not true. They are not born free and equal. Sometimes they are born under various handicaps and circumstances for which they are not responsible.
However, in Christ Jesus we all have the same opportunity and the same privileges and this is the basis on which the Lord judges us. He judges us on what He has made available in His provision for our lives, how faithfully we walk in that, and what we do with it.
A fundamentalist might say, “We’ll judge this evangelist by the numbers who were saved in a revival meeting, and on that basis he will receive all his rewards. We’ll judge another man on the basis of his successful television program.” I’m not so sure that this is a good way to judge them.
What about their evasiveness in certain areas, where a man of God could have spoken forth? Judging a man by his faithfulness might be a more accurate way of judging than to evaluate the success of his program and the numerical following he seems to have.
How will you judge your church? By the number of people who are there? By the number of churches that have come out of it? By the number of missionaries and individuals all over the world who have been blessed by it? How will you judge it? You will have to judge it by its faithfulness.
How would you judge Noah? He preached for one hundred and twenty years, yet no one listened to him—no one! Not one single convert did he have. When he and his family went into the ark not one person believed what he had to say. For one hundred and twenty years he preached righteousness without winning one soul.
How would you judge Jeremiah, the prophet? Was he a complete failure? You must judge a man by the faithfulness with which he speaks the word that God gives him and does the thing that God sets before him to do. It must be a matter of faithfulness.
In this parable stewardship is involved; we must consider ourselves stewards. Of course, it isn’t a natural gift. Freely we receive; freely we give (Matthew 10:8).
The Lord has made such a perfect provision for us that as we reach into the fullness of Christ by the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus we heal the sick; we cast out devils; we minister to people. Yet we cannot say, “Look what we did; look at all the devils we cast out; we’ll get a big reward.” It was not our power that did it. We were just being faithful stewards of all the great treasure that God gave us. If we are stewards of it, that means we are working with someone else’s money. That is the truth Jesus brought in this parable.
The nobleman gave his servants a fabulous amount of money and said, “Go out and use it.” It was not their money, but they were to use it in obedience, at their initiative, with their faith and their aggressive submission to that lord. It was not to be a passive submission.
The third slave was passively submissive. He put the money in a handkerchief and buried it. He brought it back to his master, saying, “Here’s your own. You get back what you gave, but that is all.” His lord judged him because he was not faithful.
Like this passive slave we might say to the Lord, “You saved me, You gave me the Holy Spirit, You gave me many blessings, and I was faithful to walk in them all these years.” But what did you do with them?
“I didn’t do anything with them. I’m giving them all back to you, Lord. You gave them to me, and I enjoyed them. Here they are.” That will not be enough. The treasures and the riches of God are given to us to do something with, to do the business of the Kingdom.
When I see a man, and I know what God has provided for him, it is criminal for me to hold back what belongs to him. I am not referring to old-order soul winning. I am talking about that which God has actually made available.
It is not good enough to say, “I would rather be led by the Spirit. I’d rather just let my light shine, and let my actions speak.” The devil will come up with some good actions: miracles, signs, and wonders so great that if it were possible he would deceive the very elect.
Suppose a certain man has been given the death penalty and is to be executed. In my pocket I have a pardon from the governor for that man, but I am the only one who knows about it. If I say nothing about the pardon and the man is executed, is that the end of the matter? No, I will be apprehended for criminal action because I had that man’s life in my pocket and did nothing about it.
God told Ezekiel, 33: 7 “Now as for you, son of man, I have aappointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.
There is a criminal negligence in failing to be a good steward. God has made a perfect provision for us and given us a ministry. We are stewards of it. Then God must judge our faithfulness by what we know, and what He enables us to speak.
Faithfulness in stewardship must be identified as faithfulness with His resources—not ours. If God judged each one of us by our faithfulness to our own resources, we would be judged unfairly because we do not all have the same natural talents and abilities. Some people have many different abilities. They may also have had better opportunities for education. Judging a man by his natural resources is not a good basis of judgment. God has made everything available to us, and we become stewards of His resources. “The Father has put all things in my hand,” Jesus said. “All authority in heaven and earth is mine. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18, 19). Available to us are all the resources of heaven and earth.
The stewards in this parable are called bond servants. Stewardship involves your submission to the Lordship of Jesus. When you consider yourself a bond servant in the sense that a steward is, you go out aggressively with initiative doing the business of the Lord. Faithfulness is a key to the greater gifts. The master called his bond servant to him and said, “Well done, good bond servant. You have been faithful in very little. You be in authority over ten cities.” If you are faithful in a little, then God makes you a ruler over much. If you want God to do a great deal in your life, begin by being a faithful steward of that which He has already given you.
A great ministry begins with a little ministry. When you are a faithful steward with the little you have, then God makes you a ruler over more.
The ministry is not based on knowledge, that you can say, “I’m in this church to learn. I’m going to learn all about the gifts. I’m going to learn how to do miracles. Someday I’ll even graduate to a super course, ‘How to Raise the Dead in Twelve Easy Lessons.’ Then I will have a real ministry.”
Ministry is based on wisdom and knowledge that the Lord will give. Many people have knowledge, yet they will never receive anything more from God as far as gifts and ministries are concerned because they are not being faithful with that which they already have. Did you notice how clearly this truth is stated in Luke 16:10? If you are faithful in a little, God will not make you ruler over much.
Start being faithful where you live, then, before long God will give you a word. But if you sit around thinking, ‘I’m not going to do anything; I’m too proud to take a humble place. I’m waiting for that big word from the Lord,’ you’ll keep right on waiting for it.” Don’t say, “I’ll prophesy when I can prophesy like Isaiah.” Prophesy the best you can, even if it is with stammering lips. Start with what you are and what you have and what you can do in God now and walk in that; then the Lord will be faithful to give to you more.
Remember—faithfulness, not knowledge, is the key to greater gifts. Keep that in your mind. That is the way things happen in the church. Some people coming into the church have not been taught many things, yet they seem to move ahead because they faithfully walk in every truth they do receive. Walk in every little word God gives you if you desire something greater.
Faithfulness must also be defined positively, not only in a negative way. What is faithfulness? For instance, what is faithfulness between a husband and wife? We say a woman is faithful who has never betrayed her husband by going out with another man. That definition is not adequate.
Being a faithful wife goes beyond that; it has positive aspects, too. She is faithful in what she is to her husband, as aggressively, with faith, she tries to help him. It is more than a matter of not betraying him. A woman can be a pain in the neck although she has been virtuous as far as loyalty is concerned. She may never have failed in that respect, but how aggressive is she?
She may have put up with a situation simply because she was trained to be a good moral woman. She may have been too “chicken” to sin, but has not had enough faith to be a good wife. Many motives enter into the picture. More is involved than just some negative aspect, the fact that she has not betrayed her husband. Even if she has been faithful morally, she still may have betrayed everything that her marriage was to stand for, everything she was to be as a wife. It is not merely a matter of maintaining a relationship, but is she to her husband what she should be?
Let us apply that positive definition to your relationship to the Lord. Are you to the Lord what you should be? You may say, “I’m faithful. I haven’t denied the Lord. I just pray that if the antichrist comes I never take the mark of the beast. I pray that nothing will ever happen to prevent my being faithful to the Lord.” That is not enough.
You must be faithful to be the Bride of Christ, to love Him like the hundred and forty-four thousand who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. No doubt that number is symbolical, for the Lord will have many people. The Spirit will draw them, and they will follow the Lord any place. He will do a beautiful thing in their lives.
Be set to do the will of the Lord in an aggressive way. Say like the girl in the Song of Solomon, “Draw me and I will run after thee.” She had it in her heart to follow the bridegroom. She loved him. She was dedicated to him.
God wants that of us. He wants us to be the kind of steward who is faithful with our love and dedicated in it. The servants in our parable were doing more than being good businessmen. They put their whole heart and soul in it. Faithfulness manifests a very positive and aggressive love.
Are you having a difficult time fulfilling a little ministry? You must realize that the little we do now in being faithful to God is not to be compared with the ministry we will have in the Kingdom.
I have a feeling that all of this is being done, not as an end in itself, but as a proving ground to determine where we will be in the Kingdom. The servant who was faithful with a small amount of money was given authority over ten cities. When the great nobleman returned and received his kingdom, he was ready to disperse that authority and responsibility to others.
Right now the Lord is looking to find people who will walk faithfully as good stewards of the Lord, not only for what they are able to do now. The small endowment that God gives them is multiplied ten times, and they even receive a bonus. That is good, but it still is not enough to say that this was the complete function and purpose. When the nobleman came back, he gave the faithful steward a fabulous amount of authority and wealth. Because the steward was faithful in the hard testing place, his Lord knew he would be faithful in other duties.
I think the Lord is working in a lot of people, preparing them for the Kingdom. They are training for a place and a position in God in the age that is about to unfold to us. A passage very similar to this is the parable of the ten talents in Matthew 25:14–30. In both parables the Lord is telling us, “Be faithful now because I’m preparing you for something you will be and something you will do later on.”
God judges our faithfulness. Weigh that carefully. He judges us on a basis of our faithfulness. He must do it this way. He cannot do anything else.
Someone may say, “I don’t know if I can be faithful or not. All I can do is give a tithe and work as much as I can and pray for the pastor. I will do anything I can for him, yet I seem to be so limited.” I know what you are feeling. The Word says if you give a cup of cold water in the name of a prophet, you will receive a prophet’s reward (Matthew 10:42).
That applies to anything you set your heart to do because what you do is an acceptance. Anyone can give a cup of cold water, but when you do it in the name of a prophet you will receive a prophet’s reward.
People in a walk with God must have an acceptance and a faith in what God is doing and what God is commissioning them to do. No matter how insignificant their service, if they are faithful, all are receiving a reward in it because they are all equally faithful. A stewardship is resting on all of us, and those who are faithful to it are all sharing together.
As all of us are joining together in the Body ministry and learning to pray for each other, miracles are taking place in the name of the Lord. God is trying to show us that we will be rewarded according to the faithful administration of the fullness of God.
Keep that in mind. This walk is a wonderful thing, but we cannot just sit back and think that everything is going to happen automatically. We are positioned in the Kingdom to go out and do business. Let us take that which God gives us—that truth, that revelation, that ministry, that experience—and be faithful with it. Then God will turn around and bless us again and again. We do not have to be geniuses—only faithful stewards.