Allen's Sermons
Go Back to SermonsStewardship
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Foundations for Families 2: Stewardship
August 13, 2006 Mount Pisgah Allen R. Hunt
I. God is funny – my very first job was in the church
Worked in middle school as an assistant to Mr. Herman White – he was our church’s custodian – had been so for probably more than 30 years
Herman was nearing retirement, had large, calloused hands – indications of how serious he was about making sure that everything at the church was clean and working properly
Herman was gentle but firm and I learned that the very first day
He entrusted the lower floor of the building to me – he would clean above – I was to vacuum below
He walked me through the task – showed me where the cleaner was
And then he left – and he made it clear – he would return to check my work
In that way, Herman White was a lot like Jesus - that is exactly what Jesus is saying here
The Master has stepped out and will return. (25.14-15)
(Matthew 25.1-13; 31-46)
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
Favorite chapter of the Bible to me – this chapter changed my life
These 3 parables all make it plain – Jesus is the Master – He was here, He has stepped out for a while and He will return
1st parable – 10 bridesmaids wait on the bridegroom to return – 5 take oil for their lamps, 5 do not – when groom returns, 5 who area ready enter the wedding feast, 5 unprepared locked out
3rd parable, King returns at judgment time, separates the sheep from the goats – based on one thing – compassion – hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, prison – some enter into eternal life, some to eternal punishment – judged when the King returns
Jesus makes it plain – He is the master, He has stepped out for a while, and He will return
II. While He is away, what’s His is yours. (25.14-18)
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
While Herman was away, he entrusted the care of the bottom floor to me – it was mine – but I knew that soon he would be back to inspect what I had done with it
So the Master entrusts His stuff to his servants
One servant entrusted with 5 talents – each talent about 15 years’ wages for laborer – let’s call it $30,000 – so $450,000 per talent – 5 talents in 2.25MM – to a second servant, 2 talents, so $900,00 and to final servants 1 talent – about $450,000
They each have an account – but it is clear who owns it – the Master
They simply manage it while he is away
Jesus is the Master, He has stepped out for a while and will return
In the meantime, He entrusts this world, and everything in it, entirely to us
We each have an account – our name is on it – but be very clear, God owns it all
I mean, look at Scripture
ANdy and Mickey, I’d like to have each of these verses below come up as I go through them rapid fire
Money (Deut 8.18)
Ideas (Romans 14.10-12)
Spiritual gifts (Romans 12.1-9; 1 Cor. 12.4-6)
Relationships (1 Cor. 4.1-5; Romans 15.5-7)
Body and Life (1 Cor. 6.19-20)
Time (Col. 3.23-24)
Possessions (Lev. 25.23; Haggai 2.8)
Everything (Psalm 24.1)
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. (Ps. 24.1)
God makes it pretty clear, doesn’t He?
He owns it all – there is nothing that is not ultimately His
He is the big Herman White in heaven above – One who entrusts it to us to take care of
We are just His managers, His stewards – He entrusts everything to us and He does not force us to do it well
Take the lawsuit in NYC now – where Anthony Marshall is being sued by his own son, Philip, for failing to manage the $45MM assets of his mother, Brooke Astor as she lives her last years
Philip accuses Anthony of forcing his 104 year old mother to live in squalor while enriching himself on her money
"Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine.”
Feeds her a bland diet of pureed peas, carrots, liver and oatmeal.
Nurses who attend to her 24 hours a day has been cut from two to one.
He has allegedly refused to open up her country estate in Briarcliff Manor, north of New York, even though Mrs Astor has said that she wants to die there.
He even forbade nurses from buying his mother a new outfit for her 104th birthday.
She has been unable to see her beloved dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, because they have been kept locked in a pantry for six months to stop them damaging her apartment.
I.e., Brooke Astor has entrusted her life and her possessions to her son to manage for her – and he is betraying the trust
I mean, think about the world’s worst Fed Ex guy – imagine if he were keeping all the stuff we entrusted to him
Socking it away – everything – storing it up for himself
“What in the world are you doing?”
“If you didn’t want me to keep it, why did you give it to me?”
We are God’s Fed Ex guys
Money, ideas, spiritual gifts, relationships, body and life, time, possessions, everything – all given to us by God – our job is to get them to the right places and the right people
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Cor. 4.2)
III. When the Master returns, He expects a_return (on His investment) (25.19, 25, 28-30)
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them…So I was afraid and went out hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you….Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. Fr everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servants outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
v. 19 - These are words to take to heart – the Master is coming back
And when He returns, He will inspect and expect
He expects results – He expects a return on investment – He has entrusted you with money, ideas, spiritual gifts, relationships, body and life, time, possessions, everything
And He expects results for His Kingdom
And who wouldn’t? If you have an investment manager, you expect a return – fire him if he doesn’t
If you have a FedEx guy, you expect him to relocate what you trust to him – fire him if you don’t
And Herman White expected the bottom floor to be clean – fire me if it wasn’t
v.25 - Jesus not tolerant of those of us who live by fear, those who fail to deliver or even try at all – one servant afraid of messing up, not pleasing Master, so he took everything entrusted to him and buried it in the ground – better to make zero than to lose anything
And the Master is not pleased
Two servants have doubled their trust – turned 5 talents into 10, and 2 talents into 4
Master is elated – “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master’s happiness!” – Good words to hear from the Master
But third servant has done nothing – nothing at all
And the result is not pleasant – vv. 28-30 – loses everything, thrown into outer darkness
Because his life has been about the wrong business
Instead of managing all things for the glory of God, he was paralyzed by fear
His life has been about the wrong business
My friend Fred pastored in Custer City, Oklahoma, a town of about 450 souls
Four churches there, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Nazarene, and a Christian church
Each had share of population on Wednesdays and Sundays
Attendance rose and fell according to weather and whether was time to harvest wheat
Most consistent attendance in town- at little café where all pickup trucks were parked
Men discussing weather, cattle, wheat bugs, hail, wind, and is there going to be a crop.
All their wives and sons and daughters were in one of those four churches.
Café had consistently good attendance, better attendance than some of the churches. They were always there - not bad men, but good, family men, hard-working men.
Fred says patron saint of the group at the café was Frank.
Frank was seventy-seven when he and Fred first met
Good, strong man, a pioneer, a rancher and farmer, and a prospering cattle man too. He had been born in a sod house; he had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him their patron saint. "Ha! 0l' Frank will never go to church."
Fred says, "I met Frank on the street one time. He knew I was a preacher, but I just was shaking hands and visiting with him when he took the offensive. He said, "I work hard, I take care of my family and I mind my own business. Far as I'm concerned, everything else is fluff." You see what he told me? "Leave me alone, I'm not a prospect." I didn't bother Frank. That's why the entire church, and the whole town were surprised, and the men at the café church were absolutely bumfuzzled when old Frank, seventy-seven years old, presented himself before me one Sunday morning for baptism. I baptized Frank. Some of the talk in the community was, "Frank must be sick. Guess he's scared to meet his maker. They say he's got heart trouble. Going up there and being baptized, well, I never thought ol' Frank would do that, but I guess when you get scared..."
All kinds of stories.
"We were talking the day after his baptism, and I said, 'Uh, Frank, you remember that little saying you used to give me so much: "I work hard, I take care of my family, I mind my own business?"'
He said, "Yeah, I remember. I said that a lot."
I said, "You still say that?"
He said, "Yeah."
I said, "Then what's the difference?"
He said, "Before, I didn't know what my business was.”
Your job is to be about your father’s business – now you know
5 minutes after you die, you will know how you should’ve lived – since this parable teaches you how, shouldn’t you start now?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5 Helps for Families
Goal: To teach children to be good stewards and remember all that they are and all that they have is a gift from God
MONEY: Prepare a weekly offering for worship together on Saturday evening. Tell them why and what you give and invite them to join you.
TIME: Schedule a time each week as a family to serve God in a setting other than church. Pray together for 15 minutes. Serve meals in a soup kitchen. Visit a shut-in neighbor. Send a card to someone. Discuss how all time belongs to God.
RELATIONSHIPS: Practice kindness and forgiveness in relationships. Say kind things about others. Discuss how you forgave someone. Re¬mind your child “What Would Jesus Do?”
SKILLS: Share with your children that all their talents and skills come from God. Listen more than you talk as your children explore why God has given them these skills. Ask: What might be the purpose of your life?
IDEAS: Even ideas are a gift from God. When your children have creative thoughts on how to serve others, ask them “How do you think God would like you to use this idea?”
August 13, 2006 Mount Pisgah Allen R. Hunt
I. God is funny – my very first job was in the church
Worked in middle school as an assistant to Mr. Herman White – he was our church’s custodian – had been so for probably more than 30 years
Herman was nearing retirement, had large, calloused hands – indications of how serious he was about making sure that everything at the church was clean and working properly
Herman was gentle but firm and I learned that the very first day
He entrusted the lower floor of the building to me – he would clean above – I was to vacuum below
He walked me through the task – showed me where the cleaner was
And then he left – and he made it clear – he would return to check my work
In that way, Herman White was a lot like Jesus - that is exactly what Jesus is saying here
The Master has stepped out and will return. (25.14-15)
(Matthew 25.1-13; 31-46)
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
Favorite chapter of the Bible to me – this chapter changed my life
These 3 parables all make it plain – Jesus is the Master – He was here, He has stepped out for a while and He will return
1st parable – 10 bridesmaids wait on the bridegroom to return – 5 take oil for their lamps, 5 do not – when groom returns, 5 who area ready enter the wedding feast, 5 unprepared locked out
3rd parable, King returns at judgment time, separates the sheep from the goats – based on one thing – compassion – hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, prison – some enter into eternal life, some to eternal punishment – judged when the King returns
Jesus makes it plain – He is the master, He has stepped out for a while, and He will return
II. While He is away, what’s His is yours. (25.14-18)
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
While Herman was away, he entrusted the care of the bottom floor to me – it was mine – but I knew that soon he would be back to inspect what I had done with it
So the Master entrusts His stuff to his servants
One servant entrusted with 5 talents – each talent about 15 years’ wages for laborer – let’s call it $30,000 – so $450,000 per talent – 5 talents in 2.25MM – to a second servant, 2 talents, so $900,00 and to final servants 1 talent – about $450,000
They each have an account – but it is clear who owns it – the Master
They simply manage it while he is away
Jesus is the Master, He has stepped out for a while and will return
In the meantime, He entrusts this world, and everything in it, entirely to us
We each have an account – our name is on it – but be very clear, God owns it all
I mean, look at Scripture
ANdy and Mickey, I’d like to have each of these verses below come up as I go through them rapid fire
Money (Deut 8.18)
Ideas (Romans 14.10-12)
Spiritual gifts (Romans 12.1-9; 1 Cor. 12.4-6)
Relationships (1 Cor. 4.1-5; Romans 15.5-7)
Body and Life (1 Cor. 6.19-20)
Time (Col. 3.23-24)
Possessions (Lev. 25.23; Haggai 2.8)
Everything (Psalm 24.1)
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. (Ps. 24.1)
God makes it pretty clear, doesn’t He?
He owns it all – there is nothing that is not ultimately His
He is the big Herman White in heaven above – One who entrusts it to us to take care of
We are just His managers, His stewards – He entrusts everything to us and He does not force us to do it well
Take the lawsuit in NYC now – where Anthony Marshall is being sued by his own son, Philip, for failing to manage the $45MM assets of his mother, Brooke Astor as she lives her last years
Philip accuses Anthony of forcing his 104 year old mother to live in squalor while enriching himself on her money
"Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine.”
Feeds her a bland diet of pureed peas, carrots, liver and oatmeal.
Nurses who attend to her 24 hours a day has been cut from two to one.
He has allegedly refused to open up her country estate in Briarcliff Manor, north of New York, even though Mrs Astor has said that she wants to die there.
He even forbade nurses from buying his mother a new outfit for her 104th birthday.
She has been unable to see her beloved dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, because they have been kept locked in a pantry for six months to stop them damaging her apartment.
I.e., Brooke Astor has entrusted her life and her possessions to her son to manage for her – and he is betraying the trust
I mean, think about the world’s worst Fed Ex guy – imagine if he were keeping all the stuff we entrusted to him
Socking it away – everything – storing it up for himself
“What in the world are you doing?”
“If you didn’t want me to keep it, why did you give it to me?”
We are God’s Fed Ex guys
Money, ideas, spiritual gifts, relationships, body and life, time, possessions, everything – all given to us by God – our job is to get them to the right places and the right people
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Cor. 4.2)
III. When the Master returns, He expects a_return (on His investment) (25.19, 25, 28-30)
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them…So I was afraid and went out hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you….Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. Fr everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servants outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
v. 19 - These are words to take to heart – the Master is coming back
And when He returns, He will inspect and expect
He expects results – He expects a return on investment – He has entrusted you with money, ideas, spiritual gifts, relationships, body and life, time, possessions, everything
And He expects results for His Kingdom
And who wouldn’t? If you have an investment manager, you expect a return – fire him if he doesn’t
If you have a FedEx guy, you expect him to relocate what you trust to him – fire him if you don’t
And Herman White expected the bottom floor to be clean – fire me if it wasn’t
v.25 - Jesus not tolerant of those of us who live by fear, those who fail to deliver or even try at all – one servant afraid of messing up, not pleasing Master, so he took everything entrusted to him and buried it in the ground – better to make zero than to lose anything
And the Master is not pleased
Two servants have doubled their trust – turned 5 talents into 10, and 2 talents into 4
Master is elated – “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master’s happiness!” – Good words to hear from the Master
But third servant has done nothing – nothing at all
And the result is not pleasant – vv. 28-30 – loses everything, thrown into outer darkness
Because his life has been about the wrong business
Instead of managing all things for the glory of God, he was paralyzed by fear
His life has been about the wrong business
My friend Fred pastored in Custer City, Oklahoma, a town of about 450 souls
Four churches there, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Nazarene, and a Christian church
Each had share of population on Wednesdays and Sundays
Attendance rose and fell according to weather and whether was time to harvest wheat
Most consistent attendance in town- at little café where all pickup trucks were parked
Men discussing weather, cattle, wheat bugs, hail, wind, and is there going to be a crop.
All their wives and sons and daughters were in one of those four churches.
Café had consistently good attendance, better attendance than some of the churches. They were always there - not bad men, but good, family men, hard-working men.
Fred says patron saint of the group at the café was Frank.
Frank was seventy-seven when he and Fred first met
Good, strong man, a pioneer, a rancher and farmer, and a prospering cattle man too. He had been born in a sod house; he had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him their patron saint. "Ha! 0l' Frank will never go to church."
Fred says, "I met Frank on the street one time. He knew I was a preacher, but I just was shaking hands and visiting with him when he took the offensive. He said, "I work hard, I take care of my family and I mind my own business. Far as I'm concerned, everything else is fluff." You see what he told me? "Leave me alone, I'm not a prospect." I didn't bother Frank. That's why the entire church, and the whole town were surprised, and the men at the café church were absolutely bumfuzzled when old Frank, seventy-seven years old, presented himself before me one Sunday morning for baptism. I baptized Frank. Some of the talk in the community was, "Frank must be sick. Guess he's scared to meet his maker. They say he's got heart trouble. Going up there and being baptized, well, I never thought ol' Frank would do that, but I guess when you get scared..."
All kinds of stories.
"We were talking the day after his baptism, and I said, 'Uh, Frank, you remember that little saying you used to give me so much: "I work hard, I take care of my family, I mind my own business?"'
He said, "Yeah, I remember. I said that a lot."
I said, "You still say that?"
He said, "Yeah."
I said, "Then what's the difference?"
He said, "Before, I didn't know what my business was.”
Your job is to be about your father’s business – now you know
5 minutes after you die, you will know how you should’ve lived – since this parable teaches you how, shouldn’t you start now?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5 Helps for Families
Goal: To teach children to be good stewards and remember all that they are and all that they have is a gift from God
MONEY: Prepare a weekly offering for worship together on Saturday evening. Tell them why and what you give and invite them to join you.
TIME: Schedule a time each week as a family to serve God in a setting other than church. Pray together for 15 minutes. Serve meals in a soup kitchen. Visit a shut-in neighbor. Send a card to someone. Discuss how all time belongs to God.
RELATIONSHIPS: Practice kindness and forgiveness in relationships. Say kind things about others. Discuss how you forgave someone. Re¬mind your child “What Would Jesus Do?”
SKILLS: Share with your children that all their talents and skills come from God. Listen more than you talk as your children explore why God has given them these skills. Ask: What might be the purpose of your life?
IDEAS: Even ideas are a gift from God. When your children have creative thoughts on how to serve others, ask them “How do you think God would like you to use this idea?”