Pay Now Play Later, Play Now Pay Later
Luke 19:11 The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12 He said, “A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ 14 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’ 15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. 16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’ 17 “ ‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’ 18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 “ ‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’ 20 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. 21 I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’ 22 “ ‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, 23 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 24 “Then, turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ 25 “ ‘But, master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’ 26 “ ‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
Pastor Robert Morris says – “Our belief will determine where we will spend eternity our works and our deeds will determine how we spend eternity.”
Luke 19 is specifically speaking about finances, but in Matt 25 Jesus speaks about talents in the same context, how we use our talents will also determine our rewards for eternity.
The point is how we use our time, talent, or treasure will determine how we live in eternity.
Matt 6:19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
- Faith is the foundation
The first thing that needs to be established when it comes to stewardship is that the implementation or execution of being a good steward is directly connected to our faith and what we truly believe.
Heb 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
As Jesus was teaching this parable it was during a time of Passover, where the Jews would remember the great deliverance they experienced from a time of slavery and bondage in Egypt. They would compare their current situation of being in bondage to Rome to that time of Egypt and now wanted Jesus to be the promised king, that would free them from Rome and re-establish their earthly kingdom.
But Jesus was using this parable to get their mind off the immediate and put their minds on the eternal, trying to get them to see that he was not going to establish an earthly kingdom that would only have a temporal existence but He had come to establish an eternal kingdom that would last for eternity, and the life they lived in the temporary would determine the life they would have in the eternal.
And we to by faith must constantly remind ourselves that this body we have and this place we live in is only temporal, and what we do with our time, our talent & our treasure in the temporary will determine the way we live out our eternity.
2 Cor 4:17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
II. Perspective practices principle
Now that we have established that our faith is constantly reminding us that we are only passing through our perspective will help us to spend our time wisely, use our gift effectively and invest our finances to advance the kingdom of God.
a. They had been entrusted to them to manage.
Steward – the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care
b. Obedience vs. Disobedience
When the man left them with the money he gave them direction on how to use it, now it was up to them if they would be obedient to that direction or disobedient?
Luke 19:13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’
Charles Haddon Spurgeon; “the gracious and faithful man obtains more grace and more means of usefulness, while the unfaithful man sinks lower and lower and grows worse and worse. We must either make progress or else lose what we have attained. There is no such thing as standing still in religion.”
Our belief determines where we will spend eternity, but our works and deeds will determine how we spend eternity. – Pastor Robert Morris
Rev 22:12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.
Faithfulness has a great return
Luke 19:15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. 16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’ 17 “ ‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’ 18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 “ ‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’
When we get to heaven we will have a new life to live with new glorified opportunities and it will be determined by how we live our lives here on earth.