20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. 23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Now we see another principle of stewardship. The principle of reward. God is a just Lord. He will reward us for all the work that we do for Him and He will reward us both in this world and in the next.
Colossians 3
22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Furthermore God will deal with us according to our own individual gifts and abilities. The servants who doubled their master's money were praised exactly the same even though one had produced more than the other. God didn’t judge them on amounts, He judged them on percentage. God deals in percentage. How much of what He has given you are you increasing?
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Like this servant, most Christians think that fulfilling God’s purpose is too demanding and therefore choose to do nothing about serving Him. We choose to ignore that prompting in our heart asking us to get out there and serve God and do what God created us to do. We imagine that somehow ignoring it will exonerate us from accountability. However this will actually increase our accountability. If you really believe that God’s purpose is too demanding, the more reason you should be diligent to do it. God will use that very reason to hold you accountable. You knew that it was important, you knew that it was demanding, why then did you ignore it? Why weren’t you faithful?
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Those that have get even more and those that don’t have lose even what they have. What did the good stewards have that was added unto?
They had faithfulness, diligence, understanding, increase. So their lord added to them even more riches so that they had more abundance. Faithful stewardship will lead to abundance in our lives. God gives more resources to good stewards because He trusts them to increase those resources and accomplish His purpose upon the earth.
What did the slothful steward not have?
He did not have understanding, faithfulness, diligence or any increase. So even the little he had was taken away from him. If you refuse to be a good steward you will end up poorer and insignificant.
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