Message Date: June 9, 2024

Money Talks, Part 2—“Kingdom Stewardship”

Victory Life Church, Durant — Sunday, June 9, 2024

Matthew 6:24 (ESV) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

What it means to live in and from the Kingdom of God in the here and now, Jesus says that you cannot serve both God and money. You can have both God and money, but you cannot serve both. There is a throne in each of our hearts and lives, the lordship to whom we have surrendered our lives to, and it is only big enough for one. But Jesus and Money (“Mammon”) cannot both occupy that throne at the same time.

There’s a story told about Sam Houston, who was known for being belligerent and coarse. When he was led to the Lord Jesus (by a Pastor named George W. Baines, Lyndon B. Johnson’s great-grandfather), he experienced such a transformation after his baptism that he was then known for being peaceful and content. He even offered to pay half the local ministers salary. When someone asked him why, he said, “My pocketbook was baptized too.”

“There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, the mind, and the purse.” ~ Martin Luther

Last week we looked at the heart and our tendency to make money an idol. Again, there is a throne in every one of our hearts, and only one can sit upon that throne. Money can be on that throne; Jesus can be on that throne, but they both cannot be on that throne at the same time.

To follow Jesus as Master and Lord is to dethrone all others from our lives.

We have to take serious Jesus’ words, and take serious the temptation of money becoming our master, and therefore we have to take measures to ensure money does not take the throne of our hearts. So how do we do so?

Most of us don’t have a money problem, we have a mindset problem.

Last week, we looked at the heart. This week, I want to address the mind, specifically the most important mindset we can have as followers of Jesus: that of a “steward.” That word sounds very churchy and maybe outdated. It was used more frequently in the KJV, which was translated during a time and place where it made more sense. In modern English translations, it is often translated as “manager.”

“A steward is someone entrusted with another’s wealth or property and charged with the responsibility of managing it in the owner’s best interest.”

God is Owner and Source (versus the government, our jobs, or the economy). He is the ultimate Owner of everything, especially all that has been placed into our hands. And He is the ultimate Source, the great provider for us.

Matthew 7:7–11 (ESV) 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Lord is a good Father and generous Owner; He doesn’t just call us into His service, He invites us to live securely as His child. He wants to provide for what we need, handling wealth for our enjoyment without a sense of entitlement, living generously without greed, but also to seek relationship with Him over the resources He provides. It’s tempting to turn the resources He provides into the source of our lives. He wants us to know Him as the Provider, without turning His provision into what we seek.

The Parable of the Talents

God is the Owner of all, humans are stewards (or managers) of His property. We are not the owners. There are three specific parables Jesus tells concerning stewardship or management of God’s resources. We’re gonna look at the one in Matthew 25.

Matthew 25:14–30 (ESV) 14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Master of the servants is the Owner of all. The Master generously entrusts his servants with his resources (his “property”) to use “according to their ability.” There is an expectation from the Master for the servants to do something with his property, they must work with it in order to multiply it. Though the Master leaves for awhile, he will return. The time period for the Master to be gone is unknown, but there is a certainty that he will return, and when he does, he will settle accounts with the servants.

It is clear that the servants are not the owners of the property, it belongs to the Master, but they are entrusted with it as stewards or managers. They understand there is an expectation to do something with it, because the one with five talents “went at once” and traded with what was entrusted to him, and it’s implied the one with two talents did the same. There is an expectation that they don’t just hold onto the property, but be fruitful with it and multiply it. And one key point Jesus is driving home is that there is accountability for the servants, the Master will settle the accounts. There is a reward for faithfulness, discipline for poor stewardship.

There is so much in this parable Jesus packs in with just a short story, but just a few things to point out. Money is not just a natural or physical thing, it carries spiritual implications. Jesus has plenty to say about money and business. In this parable, Jesus discusses what it means to work with capital, to engage in investments, working with banking, and even collecting interest, all this to sho that these things are not just “carnal” things, but have spiritual implications.

There are a number of key takeaways from this that should inform our mindset around money: Jesus is the Master, that much is obvious. Jesus, as the Master, has entrusted us his servants with “his property.” This is a small scale of a major theme in all of Scripture that begins on page one of the Bible. Everything in all of creation is his, He is the Master Creator, and everything we have is a gracious and generous gift from our Lord. God made mankind in His image, and after His likeness, and part of bearing His image is to work. He blessed humanity with a purpose, which included being “fruitful and multiplying.”

God expects Humans to work (if they are able). This was our original vocation and purpose. Humans were to put in the Garden of Eden to “work it and keep it,” (Genesis 2:15 — see extended notes on this verse below). We all were called to put our hand to work in some way, taking the resources God has placed in our hands, and with care, multiplying it. Our resources are gracious gifts from Jesus, the Master, Owner, and Creator: our very breath and life is a precious gift (there are no guarantees of this in this world), each day we live is a gift, our gifts and talents are gifts from the Lord, our bodies, our strengths are all gifts from the Lord entrusted to us from His generous and gracious hands. Servants can neither afford to take undue risks nor let capital erode through idleness. The goal isn’t merely to conserve resources but to multiply them.

“God owns everything; I’m His money manager. What I call my money is really His. The question is, what does He want me to do with His money?” – Randy Alcorn

But this point is critical: the “talents” were given to the servants “each according to their ability.” It was not everyone getting the same thing. Different levels of resources are entrusted to different servants. We are not the Master, nor are we a judge of any other servant.

Most of us don’t have a money problem, we have a mindset problem.

Romans 14:4 (ESV) Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Every human being is different, and every servant has been entrusted with different resources. We do not all have the same abilities and gifts, we all have different backgrounds, and to state the obvious, we all have different starting points. Some of you have started from nothing, and some of you have come from prosperous families before you entered it. To use a baseball analogy, some of us started on “third base,” and some started from the “dugout.” There are differences in cultural and ethnic backgrounds, place of birth, family of origin; differences in education, the neighborhood (or state or region or country) you grew up in, which side of the tracks you were raised on, etc. Differences abound among all of us!

And here is the harsh reality we see in Jesus’ words: those differences are not a legitimate excuse. Accountability and judgment comes to each servant, regardless of differences.

Romans 14:12 (ESV) So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

One subtle yet critical point Jesus is making in this parable: HE IS COMING BACK! And when Jesus comes back, each servant will have to give account for their life and the resources that were entrusted to them.

But don’t miss this point in the story: The accountability the Master brings to each servant is based on what they did with what they had, not what they didn’t have. Every servant is individually held accountable for what they did with the resources that were entrusted to them. When each of us stand before the Lord giving an account, we will have no excuses. It is simply this, “what did you do with what you had, not what you didn’t have?”

The desired outcome of each servant is to be found faithful. There is a reward for servants that have been found to be faithful stewards of the Master’s resources, and there is discipline for servants who were poor stewards.

“A steward’s primary goal is to be found faithful by his master as the steward uses the master’s resources to accomplish the tasks delegated to him.” ~ Randy Alcorn

Hearing Jesus say of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master,” (25:21, 23) should be our heart’s deepest desire. But keep in mind how the Master uses the word faithful: He uses it to describe how the servant wisely utilized the Master’s resources entrusted to him to multiply them. Jesus describes faithfulness by fruitfulness. Being “fruitful and multiplying” is how He describes faithfulness. Simply returning to the Master the exact amount entrusted to the servant is described as “wicked and slothful” (25:26). The NLT says “wicked and lazy.” You could say that servant “faithfully” returned to the Master the exact amount entrusted to him. But doing nothing with it is described as “wicked and lazy.”

Most of us don’t have a money problem, we have a mindset problem.

[ Story ] Ronald Read vs. Richard Fuscone — There’s a Wikipedia entry that reads, “Ronald James Read was an American philanthropist, investor, janitor, and gas station attendant.”

Ronald Read was born in rural Vermont, and the first person in his family to graduate high school, which he had to hitchhike daily to attend. Ronald Read’s life was as low key as they come. He fixed cars at a gas station for 25 years and swept the floors of a JC Penney for 17 years. He bought a two-bedroom house for $12,000 at age 38 and lived in it the rest of his life. He was widowed at age 50 and never remarried. He died in 2014 at the age of 92, which was when this humble rural janitor made headlines.

In 2014, 2,813,503 people died, and fewer than 4,000 of them had a net worth of over $8 million when they passed away. Ronald Read was one of them. In his will the former janitor left $2 million to his step children and more than $6 million to his local hospital and library. This was baffling to those who knew him. Where did all this money come from? There was no secret, no jackpot, no lottery, no inheritance. He saved what little he could and invested it in blue chip stocks. Then he waited, for decades on end, as tiny savings compounded into more than $8 million.

A few months before Ronald Read died, a man by the name of Richard Fuscone was in the news. He was everything Ronald Read was not. A Harvard-educated Merrill Lynch executive with an MBA, Fuscone had such a successful career in finance that he retired in his 40s to become a philanthropist. Former Merrill Lynch CEO David Komansky praised Fuscone’s “business savvy, leadership skills, sound judgment, and personal integrity.” Crain’s business magazine once included him in a “40 under 40” list of successful businesspeople. But then the bottom fell out.

In the mid-2000s Fuscone borrowed heavily to expand his 18,000-square foot home in Connecticut that had 11 bathrooms, two elevators, two pools, seven garages, and cost more than $90,000 a month to maintain. Then the 2008 financial crisis hit. Though that crisis affected everyone financially, it turned Fuscone’s to dust. Massive debt and illiquid assets left him bankrupt, and his multiple properties across the country foreclosed on. He allegedly told a bankruptcy judge in 2008 “I currently have no income.”

These two differing stories show that no matter what we think we have or don’t have, no matter what other people have, we each can be good stewards over what has been entrusted to us. No one, no matter how successful we think they are, is above being a poor steward. Our lives will not be held accountable based on what other people did with what they had, each of us will be held accountable for what we did with what we had. When Jesus holds each of us accountable, there will be no excuses and no blame-shifting. Each servant must do the job assigned to them by the Master, and then be prepared to give an account to one from whom nothing can be hidden (Hebrews 4:13).

Hebrews 4:13 (ESV) And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), in summary, shows that we’re each entrusted by God with different financial assets, gifts, and opportunities, and we’ll each be held accountable to God for how we’ve invested them in this life. We’re to prepare for the Master’s return by enhancing the growth of his kingdom through wisely investing his assets.

1 Corinthians 4:2 (ESV) Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

How do we ensure we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and not, “You wicked and lazy servant”?

Conclusion: Faithfulness

Another one of the stewardship parables of Jesus is Luke 16:1-13. Let’s look at the conclusion of this parable, where Jesus bluntly gives the key takeaway. This conclusion includes Luke’s passage of this same idea Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 that we looked at last week and began this week with.

Luke 16:10–12 (NLT) 10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? 13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

“Faithful” here can also mean “responsible.” If you were responsible for little things, you’d be responsible for larger things. But the opposite is also true: if you are irresponsible, dishonest, and unjust in little things, you will be irresponsible in larger things. No matter how small or seemingly insignificant, be responsible with it, have integrity in it.

How do we become better stewards? Be faithful in every little thing we have in our hands. If you only have a dime to your name, what can be done to steward that properly? Tithe a penny of it. Are you in a rental property? Steward it as if it were yours. If you are not the boss or the leader at work, treat your specific job with the care and attention as if you were the owner.

Luke 16:14–15 (NLT) 14 The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.”

In a world of comparison, ultimately it does not matter what other people think, only what God thinks. Do we love God or do we love what other people think of us? Are we a lover of God or a lover of money? In this story and the story of the talents, everyone else’s evaluation of the steward (us) is utterly meaninglessness compared to the judgment of our one and only Master. In the day that we stand before our Master and Maker being held accountable, what will matter is one thing and one thing only—what the Master thinks of us. Where do you stand today?Additional Notes on the Parable of the Talents

The Master, who represents Jesus, goes away (ascends to heaven) and will return (Second Coming). He owns everything, His word has power and authority over the servants. He also shows a significant amount of trust to His servants, considering the amount of resources He leaves with them. But with this trust comes clear expectations. The Master will be absent for a period of time, but He will return. Though the Master is exceptionally generous, He is also strict in His accountability. The same is being explained about Jesus: He ascended into heaven, seated on the throne, but He will come again, and when He does, He will hold all to account.

The Servants in this parable represent followers of Jesus, who are entrusted with resources and responsibilities. Servants are to be acutely aware that they are not the owners, or the Masters, but only caretakers or money managers. They will be held accountable for how faithful and fruitful they are with the resources entrusted to them from the Master. So we are to be faithful and fruitful with what we have been entrusted with. Like the faithful servants, we are to be industrious and creative in our management of God’s resources. Though we are encouraged to take risks, we are called to invest and work with wisdom. Because the servants (we) are managing the Master’s assets, servants must choose their investments carefully. They can neither afford to take undue risks nor let capital erode through idleness. The goal isn’t merely to conserve resources but to multiply them. The servants must be intelligent, resourceful, and strategic thinkers regarding the best long-term investments. Servants should also maintain a readiness for the Master’s return. Scripturally, we can put this in the category of “walking in the fear of the Lord.” We must be ready for His return, knowing we will be held accountable. This should give us a single-mindedness in our service, being undistracted from the temptations of the greedy world around us.

The “Talents” given to each servant in different amounts are a large sum of money, symbolizing the gifts, resources, and opportunities God gives to individuals. In the ancient world, a “talent” originally referred to a large unit of weight, typically used to measure precious metals like silver and gold. The exact weight of a talent varied between cultures and regions. For example, a Hebrew talent was approximately 75 pounds, while a Greek talent was around 57 pounds. Considering Matthew was written to Jews, and Jesus was talking to Jews in Matthew 25, it’s a safe assumption he was talking about the Hebrew talent. 75 pounds of gold is worth $2.1 million today. Over time, the term “talent” came to be used as a monetary unit, representing a significant amount of money due to the value of the metal it weighed. In the parable, the talents are given to servants to invest, suggesting their role as a form of currency rather than just a measure of weight. A single talent was worth about 6,000 denarii, and considering that one denarius was roughly a day’s wage for a laborer, one talent equaled about 20 years’ worth of wages. The substantial value of a talent underscores the great responsibility and trust the master places in his servants. It emphasizes the significant resources God entrusts to individuals (preaching the gospel, spiritual gifts, income from a job to care for a family, children, etc.) The servants’ actions with these talents (investing vs. hiding) represent their faithfulness and productivity in using the resources and opportunities God provides. The large monetary value can symbolize the spiritual gifts, abilities, and opportunities given by God, which are expected to be used wisely and productively for the Kingdom of God. There is a clear lesson on using personal wealth for God’s kingdom as well. The parable illustrates that those who are faithful in what they are given will be rewarded, while those who are not will face consequences.

Each servant receives talents “according to his ability.” This indicates that the master assessed each servant’s capability and gave them responsibilities aligned with their abilities, suggesting a tailored approach to stewardship. This suggests to us that God knows the capacities of each person and entrusts them accordingly.

The first two servants invest their talents and double them, representing faithful stewardship. These servants were pre-occupied with responsibilities, not rights. As stewards our rights are limited by our lack of ownership. Instead, we manage assets for the owner’s benefit, and we carry no sense of entitlement to the assets we manage. It’s our job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will. If we focus on the master’s rights, we will fulfill our responsibilities. But the moment we begin to focus on what we think we deserve, on what we think our master or others owe us, we lose perspective. The quality of our service deteriorates rapidly.

The commendation “good and faithful servant” used for these two servants uses the Greek ἀγαθός (agathos) and πιστός (pistos). Agathos implies moral goodness and uprightness, while pistos denotes reliability and faithfulness. This combination highlights the qualities valued by the master: moral integrity and dependable stewardship. Their reward is not only increased responsibility but also entering into the master’s joy. The phrase “enter into the joy of your master” uses the Greek χαρά (chara), meaning joy or delight. This expression not only indicates a reward but also a relational and joyful union with the master, symbolizing eternal reward and fellowship with God.

The third servant hides his talent out of fear and a negative perception of the master. The term used for the unfaithful servant, “worthless” (ἀχρεῖος), carries a strong connotation of being useless or unprofitable. This term starkly contrasts with the “good and faithful” servants, emphasizing the failure to meet the master’s expectations. The third servant’s inaction and lack of faithfulness result in severe punishment. The master condemns the third servant’s lack of action and rewards the proactive servants, illustrating that God expects believers to actively use their gifts and opportunities to further His kingdom.

The parable concludes with a message about judgment. Those who are faithful will receive more, and those who are unfaithful will lose even what they have, facing severe consequences (symbolized by outer darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth).

In reflecting on the parable as a whole, we servants, as followers of Jesus, are encouraged to reflect on the talents and opportunities we have been given and consider how we are using them for God’s glory. The parable calls for our proactive and diligent use of resources, emphasizing that fear or risk should not prevent us from serving God effectively. It also underscores the importance of living with an eternal perspective, focusing on faithfulness and readiness for Christ’s return. In summary, the Parable of the Talents emphasizes stewardship, faithfulness, and readiness for accountability before God. It encourages believers to use their God-given gifts wisely and actively, ensuring they are prepared for the final judgment.

Extended Notes on Humanity’s Vocation to Work (Genesis 2:15)

Genesis 2:15 (ESV) The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

“The man” in Genesis 2:15 is the Hebrew adam (Adam). That word is less a name as simply a description that we’ve turned into a name. It often is used to indicate “humanity” as a whole, not just a singular individual as a name. “[God] put him in the garden TO work it and keep it.” “To” here is the letter “לְ”. To, toward, and for are all good translations. The point with this word is that Adam didn’t just “happen to be in the garden, so he might as well work.” God put him in the garden for the purpose of working it and keeping it. The bigger picture is the idea that God places us in certain places TO work. We aren’t here only to relax and enjoy things, or to live off the fruits of other people’s labors.

Genesis 2:15 (NLT) The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

“Work and keep” are good translations. The idea is to “build and maintain.” The word for work, “abad” is also used for the concept of being a servant or a slave. It is possible to make the connection here that work is not an option. In America, we have the option of what work we’ll do, but work itself is not an option. The word “keep” also has some connotations of guarding, defending, or preserving. For most people, we are preserving or defending a work that was started before us. Perhaps we started our business, but we didn’t invent the service we render. Or, we didn’t invent the need to serve others through a particular service. We are preserving our family, our community, and our nation through our work.

Genesis 2:15 shows how God assigns humans work: to labor and to care for His garden. Man was made (formed and fashioned) to work hard. The way humans are to work on whatever they are doing is to “keep” it. “Keep” here is a word that is used many different ways in Scripture, but the framing of the word is generally work done with care, like shepherding. To “keep” sheep was to watch over them, guard them, protect them, pay close attention to their needs, care for them. It’s a word that describes “watchman” on cities walls “watching” or “keeping” the city, they are guarding it and paying attention to potential dangers in order to protect its citizens. It’s also a word used for how we “keep” God’s law, which is to pay attention to them, contemplate what they mean, be careful to obey them in every situation. The word “keep” when it comes to our labor is that whatever we are doing in our work, we are to pay close attention to it, care for our work, consider its effects on our world, and bring God’s goodness and order into it, extending that order and goodness as you bring out the raw potential of whatever you are working on. “Keeping” and caring is the appropriate way we “subdue” the earth. We don’t enslave it, we tend to it.

Genesis 2:15 (MSG) God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.

“Keep” (Genesis 2:15) (Hebrew – “shamar”) — guard; to protect, attend to, take heed, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save wait for, watch, as in a “watchman.”

- - Genesis 17:9 – Abraham instructed to “keep” God’s covenant with him
  - Genesis 30:31 – Jacob asks for sheep to “keep” as payment
  - Exodus 31:13 – Israel instructed to “keep” the Sabbath(s)
  - Psalm 119:9 – our way is made pure by “guarding” it according to God’s word
  - Psalm 121:3-4 – God “keeps” Israel in protection
  - Psalm 127:1 – Unless the Lord “watches” over the city
  - Proverbs 13:3 – wisdom is to “guard” our mouths
  - Proverbs 19:16 – in “keeping” God’s commandment we “keep” our lives
  - Proverbs 29:18 – blessed is the one who “keeps” the Law

Additional Quotes concerning “Stewardship”

“Once we allow money to have lordship over our lives, it becomes Money with a capital M, a God that jealously dethrones all else. Money makes a terrible master, yet it makes a good servant to those who have the right master—God.” ~ Randy Alcorn

“Money is a good servant but a bad master.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

“Stewardship is not a subcategory of the Christian life. Stewardship is the Christian life.” – R. Paul Stevens

“God entrusts us with His resources not so we can hoard them but so we can use them for His glory and the good of others.” – Rick Warren

“We are God’s stewards, managing His resources according to His will and for His purposes.” – Timothy Keller

“We are stewards of the wealth God has entrusted to us, and our stewardship is a reflection of our relationship with Him.” – Charles Stanley

“Stewardship is a theology of the whole life. It encompasses everything we are, everything we have, and everything we do.” – R. Scott Rodin

“Christian stewardship means giving our time, talents, and treasure for the purpose of God’s work in the world.” – Haddon Robinson

“In spending this money, am I acting as if I owned it, or am I acting as the Lord’s trustee? What Scripture requires me to spend this money in this way? Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice to the Lord? Will God reward me for this expenditure at the resurrection of the just?” ~ John Wesley

Citations

Sam Houston was a General and Statesman, acting as Governor of Tennessee and Texas, a US Representative for Tennessee and a US Senator for Texas, even the first and third President of the Republic of Texas before it was a state, playing a prominent role in the Texas Revolution and the Mexican-American War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston

Story cited from Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003), pg. 173

Martin Luther, as quoted in Paul B. Huffman, Stewardship and the Economy of God (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984), 82.

“Steward” — Greek “οἰκονόμος” (oikonomos): steward; manager; see Luke 12:42, Luke 16:1-12, 1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, Titus 1:7; translated as “treasurer” in Romans 16:23

Ben Patterson, The Grand Essentials (Waco, TX: Word, 1987), pg 17.

More Scriptures to consider God’s ownership of everything: Deuteronomy 8:18, Deuteronomy 10:14, Leviticus 25:23, 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Job 41:11, Psalm 24:1-2, Psalm 50:10-12, Haggai 2:8, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

More Scriptures to consider God as the Source and Provider: Philippians 4:19, Psalm 23:1, 2 Corinthians 9:8

For a more detailed review of the lessons that can be taken from the three parables from Jesus about stewardship (Luke 16:1-13, Matthew 25:14-30, and Luke 19:11-27), see Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003), pg. 147-150

This parable is part of Jesus’ teachings about the end times, emphasizing the importance of faithfulness and readiness for the return of Christ. It follows the Parable of the Ten Virgins and precedes the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, all focusing on accountability and preparedness.

Genesis 1:1-3, Psalm 33:6, Proverbs 8:22-31, John 1:1-5, Colossians 1:15-17

See Genesis 1:26-28. Verse 28 states the vocation and purpose God blessed humanity with: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…”

If a person is genuinely unable to work because of injury or disability or circumstances, the family and the church is called upon to care for that person, either for a period of time until they are able to once again work. See 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, 5:14, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12, and 1 Timothy 5:3-16.

James 4:13-17, Psalm 49:1-17, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2001), 25.

1 Peter 4:1-4, James 5:9, Acts 17:30-31, 2 Timothy 4:1, Acts 10:42, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003), pg. 140

Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money, pg. 2-4; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Read_(philanthropist)

Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003), pg. 147

“Faithful” is Greek πιστός (pistos). adj. trustworthy, faithful; trusting, believing. Describes a person or thing as characterized by trustworthiness or belief. It can be a way of describing someone who is “responsible.”

“Dishonest” is the Greek word ἄδικος (adikos) which can also mean “unrighteous.” This makes verses 10 and 11 together make a little more sense, which says, “One who is faithful (pistos) in a very little is also faithful (pistos) in much, and one who is dishonest (adikos) in a very little is also dishonest (adikos) in much. If then you have not been faithful (pistoi) in the unrighteous (adiko) wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” Jesus is making a play on the words to drive his final point home.

In the ESV, NKJV, KJV, this verse begins with “No servant can serve two masters…” “Servant” in this verse is the Greek word οἰκέτης (oiketēs) which is the word for a household servant. Jesus is telling us that we are household servants, and that he should be our Master, yet there is also a possibility or “Money” being our master.

“Masters” is the Greek word κύριος (kyrios), which is often translated as “Lord,” as in the “Lord Jesus Christ;” “owner, ruler” are also possible ways of translating this word. Jesus is telling us that we can either be owned by money or God, but not both.

This phrase in this verse “For you will hate one…” is stating that if we are owned by or serve money, we will eventually hate God. “Hate” is the Greek word misēsei. The English term “hate” generally suggests emotional connotations that do not always do justice to the word “hate” in Scripture, especially to the Semitic “shame-honor” oriented use of שָׂנֵא (Deut 21:15-16) in the sense “hold in disfavor, be disinclined to, have relatively little regard for.” In the same way that Biblical love isn’t only a matter of emotion, neither is hate. It is a systematic choice to favor money over God.

The proper understanding of this kind of “hate” is to think in contrast to “preferential treatment.” It is the opposite of how you show favorites of a special person. See Deuteronomy 21:15-16 — “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn, in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn.” “Unloved” is שָׂנֵא (“sane“). This verse highlights what shame-honor “hate” looks like. You can’t say that the husband hates his wife in the English sense, because he had a child with her. It’s about preferences. One wife is preferred over the other. Moses’ command here is that that husband must still honor the inheritance of the firstborn, even if that boy comes from the wife that isn’t preferred.

Again, the NKJV translates the last phrase in verse 13 as, “You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003), pg. 19

Charles Spurgeon, as quoted in Paul Klapp, The Treasury of Religious & Spiritual Quotations (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1994), 90.

R. Paul Stevens, The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 28.

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 44.

Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just (New York: Dutton, 2010), 97.

Charles F. Stanley, The Glorious Journey: Walking with God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 212.

R. Scott Rodin, Stewards in the Kingdom: A Theology of Life in All Its Fullness (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 26.

Haddon W. Robinson, Mastering Contemporary Preaching (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1989), 123.

John Wesley, quoted in Charles Edward White, “Four Lessons on Money from One of the World’s Richest Preachers,” Christian History (summer 1988): 23.