A little girl was given $2 by her father. He told her that she could do anything she wanted with $1 but the other was to be given to God on Sunday at church. The girl nodded in agreement and asked if she could go to the candy store. With visions of all that she could buy with her $1, she happily skipped toward the store, holding the $2 tightly in her hand. As she was skipping along, she tripped and fell and the wind blew one of the dollars into the storm drain at the curb. Picking herself up, the little girl looked at the $1 in her hand and then at the storm drain and said, “Well, Lord, there goes your dollar!”
Let us consider “stewardship” the “Parable of the Faithful and Wise Servant” from Matthew 24:45-51.
What do we learn from this parable?
1) Verse 45 – We need to be “faithful and sensible” as we serve Jesus Christ. In this verse, that is defined as being in charge of the Master’s household and giving Him His fruit at the proper time. This verse deals with the idea of stewardship. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:2 that it is “required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” We will give an account to Christ for what He has given into our hands to use for His glory. See also 1 Peter 4:10.
2) Verse 46 – To reemphasize this point – the Master is coming when we do not expect Him. Christians need to be prepared every moment of every day in order to be alert when Jesus returns: 1 Cor. 16:13; 1 Thess. 5:6; 1 Peter 5:8.
3) Verse 47 – If the Master returns and finds His slave faithful, then He will “put him in charge of all his possessions.” That is a parabolic way of saying that we will receive even greater blessings in the life to come than Christ has given us here on earth. See also Matthew 25:23.
4) Verse 48 – It is an evil servant who reasons that the Master will delay His coming. Peter had to deal with scoffers in the latter days who argued that Jesus had not come back, therefore He was not coming back (2 Peter 3).
5) Verse 49 – Under the influence of false theology – “Jesus will not return for a long time” – this evil slave begins to beat his fellow slaves and to engage in hedonistic – that is self-serving – behavior, including getting drunk with drunkards
6) Verse 50 – The Master returns at an hour and on a day when the slave does not expect. That’s part of the reason why we know that Premillennialism is wrong. Jesus is coming when no one will expect Him.
7) Verse 51 – Hell is going to be painful. That’s the idea behind this evil slave being “cut in pieces.” Hell is going to be the residence of evil and wicked people. The type of people that you normally avoid at all costs on time’s side of eternity. Note that the term “hypocrites” shows that these people acted like they were followers of the Master – these are religious people. The conscious pain of hell is also illustrated by the phrase “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is a phrase used 7 times out of the mouth of Jesus, 6 times are in Matthew. Hell is certainly a place where a clear-thinking person does not want to go.
If we don’t want to go to hell, we need to be good stewards of the resources Jesus has given to us.
Paul Holland
