I Corinthians 4:1: Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy.
I Peter 4:10: 10Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Jesus tells a parable. A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It is a type of analogy.
A man is preparing for a trip, and he puts his servants in charge of his property. He gives to each a sum of money measured in TALENTS. Which is an unfortunate name, because we automatically go to our meaning of the word talent. But what is a talent? The talent (Latin: talentum, from Ancient Greek: "scale, balance") was one of several ancient units of mass, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal.[1] It was approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora, which is one of those 2 handled clay vessels used to hold lots of things, but mostly wine. A Greek, or Attic talent, was 26 57 lbs. A Roman talent was 71 lbs. The heavy common talent, used in New Testament times, was 130 lbs. So, this first servant gets about 650 lbs of some precious metal. The second gets 260 lbs, and the last gets 130 lbs.
So they take this measure of silver, or gold, or whatever it was, and off goes the master. The master gives no instruction, just heads out, entrusting his servants with his wealth. The first does business with this wealth, trading and bartering and doubles his money. The second does the same. But the third buries his talent. DO NOT READ HEAR THAT HE BURIES HIS GOD GIVEN ABILITIES. A talent is a measure of precious metal. He buries his little pile of gold in the ground. He hides it, goes along his merry way, and simply digs it up when the master returns.
This parable is not a lesson about money. This parable is not a lesson about talent, as in playing basketball or an singing. A man leaves town, entrusting his WEATLH with his servants.
Okay, it’s a parable, so we have got to break this down a bit. Who is the master? Easy answer: Jesus. Or God. Who are the servants: again, easy answer- the followers of Jesus. Now, what is the wealth that he leaves behind with them? What is the treasure, the gold and silver and that is left behind?
PAUSE
This is a parable about stewardship. Our Vision Forward focus this week is good stewardship, in other words the use of what God has given us. We often in the church focus on financial giving. Which is important. Jesus talked about money more than any other topic. So how we deal with money is very, very imortant. Because, as Jesus says in Matthew 6.21, and Luke 12.34: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
But the only reason for being good financial stewards is because we are called to an even higher stewardship. So back to the story of those servants with the talents: If Jesus is the master, and we are the servants, what has he left behind for us to care for, to be good stewards of?
I Corinthians 4:1: Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy.
The Talent, the measure of “gold” we have been given to steward, are the mysties of God.
I Peter 4:10: 10Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
We have been given the grace of God. We hold the teachings of Jesus, the gift of salvation through cross and resurrection, in our hands. We have been given the very words of eternal life. We are stewards of the mysteries of God. We are stewards of God’s grace. We hold this treasure in our hands. So what are we going to do with it?
Stewardship of land
Stewardship of the things we have been given; homes, cars, money.
Stewardship of the people that are in need in our community.
Stewardship is not just financial giving, as important as that is. Stewardship is so that we can share the treasure of the Gospel with the world.
Our mission statement of the United Methodist church which The Vine UMC is apart of is “Making disciple of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” John Wesley, our founder, said we should earn all we can, and save all we can, so we can give all we can. And giving is about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are stewards of the mysteries of God. We are stewards of the grace of God. Our master, Jesus, has gone on a journey. He has left us his treasure. We hold this treasure in our hands. What are we going to do with it? Invest it and multiply and be prepared for his return with the fruit of our labor? Or hide it? Bury it? Hoping he won’t mind that we just took it easy while a lost world, community, neighbor, never heard or felt or experienes the Gospel?'
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