Stewards

Stewards

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much . . . .” V. 10. That which is least is all the earthly things; that which is much is the heavenly things.

“Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” V. 11. The unrighteous mammon is the opposite of the true riches; in other words, mammon is false riches. Money and all that is perishable—the visible riches—are false riches. That which is spiritual and invisible is true riches.

All of us have been entrusted with something—some more, some less—whether it be money or other earthly riches. How can God entrust a person who is not a faithful steward of earthly things—the false riches—with true riches? God’s light and the revelation of the Spirit are true riches. We see that only a few have been entrusted with hem. That speaks volumes about what kind of stewards they are with the earthly things that have been entrusted to them.

“And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?” V. 12. No one owns earthly riches. That is evident when we die; we cannot take anything with us. If it had been ours we could have taken it with us, but we have to leave it behind. We have to give account of our stewardship with things and pass the stewardship on to others. If we have been faithful in that stewardship, God will give us something of our own. We have received the Spirit of adoption and the right of inheritance together with Christ. The revelations of the Spirit and the wisdom of God that have been entrusted to us throughout our life, during the time of our stewardship, are the true riches we will take with us—and which we must have so we can get something of our own and not waste our inheritance. This inheritance will never be taken from us again. It will be our everlasting possession.

On the other hand, if we are unfaithful stewards and consider earthly possessions to be ours to do with as we wish, using them for the enjoyment of the flesh and its lusts, we are unfaithful stewards; we are robbers. In this case we squander what belongs to another on our own lusts. God is the rich man who has appointed us as stewards. He makes poor and He makes rich. He divides up the talents according to how He thinks is most profitable because they are His.

If I am not a good steward of the talents according to His will, but let my lusts rule and consider the money I have earned as mine, then I am unfaithful. Many people consider what they have as their own, but at the same time they also feel that they should support God’s cause, and they are always in doubt about how much they should give to God. Most people have a very difficult time finding the balance between how much to give to God and how much to use for themselves.

No one can follow Jesus, or be His disciple, without forsaking everything. You have to begin on a righteous foundation by giving away everything you have robbed and then coming into the right state by not considering yourself an owner but a steward. You have to be faithful here so that you seek the owner’s will and are a steward according to His will and not according to your own will. 1 Chron. 29:14-17.

We are meant to learn to know God’s will and partake of His wisdom within the area in which we have been appointed stewards and within the limits for which we have received responsibility. There we shall receive our education to take over the true riches as our own possession. As I am in one area, so I will be in another area, for I have only one heart out of which proceed the issues of life. “For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” Neither does God call someone who ends up in debt and bankruptcy to be an evangelist or a leading brother.

“No servant can serve two masters . . . . You cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:13. It is absolutely necessary for us to learn this lesson which Jesus teaches us here. Paul says, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” 1 Tim. 6:9.

He does not say those who desire to be rich are in danger of falling, but that they can possibly avoid doing so. Not at all! He says they fall, and they drown. This is in harmony with Jesus’ words, “You cannot serve two masters.” When a person considers something as his own, he also cares for it and has his life in it. It fills his soul, and he becomes earthly. On the other hand, if he is a servant or a steward, it is the owner’s will that fills his mind and soul. In that case he becomes a heavenly creation. This is when a person’s faithfulness becomes evident. When some people gather and the atmosphere is more relaxed it becomes evident what their souls are filled with.

We are not to judge each other in this matter of stewardship. If we do, we become busybodies in other people’s matters. It is God who judges. If people are not being entrusted with true riches, we know that they are not faithful stewards. He who has an ear to hear hears a glaring unfaithfulness among believers when he is among them. Many people suffer in gatherings under this emptiness and talk about earthly things because of this unfaithfulness, and they have not been sufficiently faithful themselves to have been entrusted with God’s wisdom and strength to put a stop to all this talk about earthly things and offer something spiritual instead.

May God, in these end times, raise up many faithful stewards. When Jesus returns, He will fetch only those who are faithful. Luke 12:29-44.