This is not enough. Christian stewardship is a massive topic. As we'll learn, it really is another way of talking about the Christian life. What I plan to do is start with something very basic today, the basics of Christian stewardship. Next week, Vernon will present stewardship in the context of work. Then I'll come back and I will talk about stewardship in the context of creation and redemption. Then he's gonna come back and do something. I don't know what his second lesson will be, as he told me. And then I finish the whole thing up talking about stewardship with respect to our money. How much do we give? How much do we get to keep? How does that affect our lifestyle? So that's towards the end. So five lessons on Christian stewardship. Do all of you have something called, I've titled The Basics of Stewardship, a study sheet. Do you all have this? Okay. When I teach, I like to have more involvement on the part of the participants. I think it's important that we engage with the text of scripture. I certainly could stand here and talk for 50 to 60 minutes. I've done that many times. It's not my preferred method. I think it's important that you look at the Bible for yourself, answer some questions from the text, engage with it. The questions are not difficult. They're really observational. The answers will jump right out of the text for you, but it'll get you engaged with it And then I say, be ready to share your answers. So what I'm hoping is that you will not be shy, and when I ask questions, you'll just pop right up and give some feedback. I don't think you can get answers wrong. This is not a theological exam for ordination, okay? We're not gonna ask hard questions here. All right, so let's begin with a reading from 1 Peter chapter 4 beginning at verse 7, just to orient us a bit. But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen and amen. Let's pray. Gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for calling us into another Lord's day. We thank you for watching over us in the past night, for giving us rest and strength for this day. We pray that you would take our thoughts captive to your son and to your word. We pray you would teach us the things you have for us this morning, that we might love you better and serve you more fully. Bless us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, just to begin, let me, Again, here's where the first opportunity to participate. What do you think comes to mind when a person hears about the topic of stewardship? What words do you think come to the person's mind? Budgeting, okay, what else? Time, okay, money, yeah, what else? Talent, okay, talents and treasures, someone else? Health, okay. All right, good. Resources, anyone else? All right, so I heard budgeting, finances, money, time, health, using resources well, according to God's plan. Maybe I missed a couple. What's that? Servant. Okay. Serving. Good. So now you heard these words. I wish I had a whiteboard. I would have written them on here. I think this is something that the church needs to spend some money on. Uh, I don't, I feel like kind of, I'm not, I'm working without one hand here. So if you could see these words on the board, do you think there were any concepts represented there that make people uncomfortable or things they don't like to talk about? What would that be? I think my ears are a little stuffy, so don't be afraid to speak up. So budgeting, do people like to talk about budgeting? No. Do people like to talk about money? I've never had a conversation at work where someone told me how much they made, thankfully. Do people like to talk about their personal investments? No. About their health? Yeah, probably. A lot of people talk about their health. That's pretty popular. Some people too much, I think. And that's understandable. It's understandable that this is a topic that can make some people squirmy. In my own reading, as I was preparing for the lesson, I get a little squirmy, right? I got convicted a few times in some of my study about the use of my own money and whether I'm properly managing that to God's intentions. And I live a, we live a fairly modest lifestyle. So yeah, these can be difficult things to talk about. Let me quote from a man named Charles Lane. He says, many faithful Christians hear stewardship and almost instinctively grab for their wallets to protect them from outside attack. And this breeds the idea that stewardship is a negative concept. Um, Again, I said that's understandable because more often than not, the topic of Christian stewardship is done in the context of raising funds for some project, either the operational budget for the church, or we plan, you know, we bought a piece of land, so the next thing we'll probably do is put a big board up here on the platform, and we'll break it out into square footage, and we're gonna ask each of you to come up and color the number of squares that you want to fund. Well, and I'm going to have Peter come and preach a damnable sermon about why you're headed to hell if you don't purchase some of that land on behalf of the church. That makes me really squirmy. I don't think, let me know when that sermon is. I think I'll be sick. Um, When I was doing some research on this, most of the stuff I found really revolved around stewardship Sunday. I don't think it's wrong to teach about the need to fund the church. I think that's necessary, it's important, it's required. But it should be in the context of what it means to live to the glory of God and how we manage what God has given us, not just in terms of our money. It can be very effective. I went to a small church a long time ago. I was born into a Catholic family. I made my first communion. I went to a lot of Catholic stuff. I'm from Lowell, Massachusetts, a very Catholic part of the country. And so I think there's a way in which God used that in my life to bring me to himself. Say what you will about the Roman Catholic Church. I knew who Jesus was. I knew who the apostle was. I knew what the Bible was. But I was converted in 1987, and I went to a Baptist church. I'd never been to a Baptist church. I went for the first time, and I expected to participate in a mass. That's how little I knew about the Protestant church or a Baptist church. I was really surprised. And eventually landed in a very small fundamental Baptist church in Natick, Massachusetts. Very small, 25 to 30 people, barely had any money. And we needed new carpeting, and the pastor put a board up, with the square footage of the carpet. And we all bought pieces of the carpet that actually helped. And we, we, we put a carpet up. There was no fire and brimstone preaching. So it's gimmicky and we're not going to do it, but that's not what Christian stewardship is. It's much bigger than that. But having said that, it is important to remember that as stewards, we do not actually own anything. Okay. Let me quote from a man named Stephen Oldford. Man is a created dependent being. and as such is a steward of all he has. Man is not a possessor, he is a manager. God created all things, therefore he owns all things. Man does not possess his own life, his own time, his own gifts, or his wealth. He manages them. So at the start, it's important that we realize that ownership and stewardship are mutually exclusive tasks. We're not owners. We enjoy the state of ownership, and we'll talk more about that later, but we don't really own anything. God owns everything, and he gives it, and he takes it away at his pleasure. So let's move into a deeper understanding of the concept of stewardship. What is it? What are we talking about? Well, the word stewardship comes from an old English word called stiwarden. Sty warden, it's almost what you would think. A sty warden was someone who managed the ruler's meat supply. Maybe a butcher, I don't know, but someone who managed the ruler's meat supply. Let me read from R.C. Sproul. He helps us here with the definition. He says, the word that is translated stewardship in the Bible is the Greek word economia. Does that sound like a word you might be familiar with? Which one? Say it, say it. Economy, yes. It is two distinct words joined together to create a new word. Oikos, which comes from the Greek word for house, and nomos, which is the Greek word for law. The word that is translated stewardship, stewardship literally means house law, or house rule, often household. In the ancient culture, the steward was not the owner of the house, Rather, he was hired by the owner to manage his house affairs. The steward managed the property and was responsible to allocate the resources of the home. It was his job to make sure that the cupboards were filled with food, the money was taken care of, the grounds were tended to, and the house was kept in good repair. Humankind's stewardship began in the Garden of Eden, where God gave Adam and Eve full dominion over the entire creation. That's a big calling. were called to steward the whole thing. Adam and Eve were not given ownership of the world, rather they were given the responsibility of managing it. They were to ensure that the garden was tilled and cultivated and not abused or exploited, and that the goods God provided were neither spoiled nor wasted. So what we are talking about fundamentally when we discuss biblical stewardship is responsibility for managing or allocating resources that do not belong to us. They belong ultimately to God. Really helpful definition. We'll talk more about the creation aspects when I come up here for the third lesson. Now, what I read was that there's no Hebrew word that directly translates into stewardship. I don't know if that's true. I mean, I looked it up in Stroggs. There are certainly words there, but they don't mean steward. They mean something akin to it. But helpfully for our own formation in this, The Old Testament provides us with some really great examples of what it means to be a steward. We'll talk about that towards the end. So I think you get the point. My son for a time was a barn manager at an equestrian center. And the owner was almost never there. Everything was placed under his control, if you will. The care of the horses, the cleaning of the barn, taking care of the needs of riders. But he didn't own it. She did, he was simply there to do his duty and manage it, that is stewardship. Now I wonder, have you ever considered your role as a steward of God's creation in this way? Why or why not? Your turn. Have you ever considered your role as a steward of God's creation in this way? Someone? Let me change the question. Do you think people think about their stewardship of God's creation in this way? See, if I go for people, I think, so what's threatening if I say you? Not often, because we do own things, and we think of it as, this is the money I make, this is the house I bought, this is my land, etc. Which means what? So it's yours, so what does that mean? What are the implications there, if you think that way? You get to do what you want with it, right? Yeah. That is common, I mean, another topic that comes up frequently when you look up stewardship is the environment. And, yes, Clay. and you're a household leader or a father or mother, are you going to come for your family? You see that it's not really for your purposes, it's for your family. As you get older too, you start to see your parents take on all the accumulated earthly goods of their parents. And what do I do with these now once their parents are gone? And you're looking at them thinking, oh my, what am I going to do with all their stuff that they leave me? Yes. You say someone else's problem. I read a book last year, maybe this year. I think it's a Swedish woman. They have the practice of what they call death cleaning. It has nothing to do, it has a little bit to do with this topic. Death cleaning, not a very happy phrase, but basically what she's saying is don't leave a mess for your kids. Start, Getting rid of stuff while you can. Give away things that they might want. Ask them what they'd like to keep. Give away the rest or throw it in the trash. Yeah, good. So for those who have not thought about stewardship in this way, these lessons hopefully will be helpful to you. To give you a more divine perspective on what it means to be a Christian and how to use what God has provided to you. I said it's the whole Christian life. For those of us who are familiar, hopefully it'll be a time to reflect. And maybe in those quiet moments ask, you know, am I really managing things the way I should be? How am I managing my marriage? How am I managing my parenting, my job, my involvement in church, my activities in the community, my money? And maybe give rise to a bit of repentance and some conviction about how to make better use of what God has given to you. And so, and also lead to the recognition again, that all we have has come from the hand of the master. So a major, thank you for those answers. The environmental thing is really interesting. I do think that we have responsibility to not waste natural resources. I pray at least once a week that we not do that, that we use them in a good way so that a future generation will not suffer harm from our abuse, but we'll continue to give, give God thanks for his final for goodness. But the problem in the climate community is this has become the religion, right? It's not about how man is served by the careful use of our resources, but it's for the sake of the environment in itself to the, to the harm of humankind. It's a religion. It has religious fur to it. A suggested definition from a major evangelical church. Stewardship is the free and joyous activity of the child of God and God's family, the church, and managing all of life and life's resources for God's purposes. The free and joyous activity of the child of God and God's family, the church, and managing all of life and life's resources for God's purposes, we'd say God's glory. And I find this to be a very helpful definition. First of all, take note of the fact that it's a call to manage all for God's purposes. It doesn't allow for us to compartmentalize our lives. Whoever said, well, it's my stuff. Well, it's all God's stuff. So we can't say, well, one for God, Two for me, two for God, three for me. You know how it goes. I can't reduce my Christian life to a morning devotion or a service at church. I can't reduce my giving to the offering plate and ignore the needs of those who are suffering want. I can't compartmentalize. It's all of life. It moves us beyond the thinking that stewardship is only financial stewardship. It's all of life, all of life's resources. But stewardship does lay claim to two of the things that we most highly value, our time, someone said, and our money. It does lay claim to that. The Bible has a very lot to say about it. Randy Alcorn, who's written a lot of books on this, wrote that 15% of Jesus's sayings or teaching was about money in one way or another. Over 2000 verses deal with money, I think from the lips of Christ. Money's important to the Lord. It places faithful Christian stewardship under the word of God, which is really important. How do I know how to manage what God has given me? Thankfully, he is, in his kindness to us, has given us a book full of instruction about how he wants us to live and manage the resources he's entrusted to us. And as I said, it claims the entirety of the Christian life. Okay. I gave you a worksheet. Take about 10 minutes or so, maybe less. Let me see. Time check. I think we need to be done by 1025. Time check is It's 9.54, so take five or 10 minutes, look up the verses, and answer the questions. They're not hard, they're not hard. And I'll set a timer. Oh. Okay, let's, um, I said 10 minutes, but I'm going to cut it off here just for time's sake. So the first question is first Corinthians four verses one through two, let a man. So consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. So what's the standard altogether? There you go, faithfulness. I thought it wasn't hard. So the standard is faithfulness. Um, the word used here is pistos if I'm saying that correctly. And when used of a human being, it has to do with the history of one's conduct. God has a simple standard, be faithful, be faithful in doing your duties as you've been called by God, less showing that you're worthy of his trust. Be faithful. Um, For the Apostle Paul, he applies that to his stewardship as a steward of the mysteries of God, incredible stewardship. And I think we'd all agree we would apply that to our ministers today, pastors. Their faithfulness is in how they handle the mysteries, the word of God and its teaching, its preaching, its application. I'm not a pastor. I went to Bible school a long time ago. I thought I might be a pastor one day. It turns out that every door that ever got open for me was a ruling elder. That's the providential working of God in my life. Some of you may be a pastor. Are you a pastor? Are you River's father? I come from Massachusetts. But most of us aren't. Some want to be pastors. So you'd be stewards of the mysteries of God. What about the rest of us? How do we apply this in our own lives? I think you could say that we live life in three different realms, right? I'm not going to get into sphere of sovereignty for anyone who doesn't like Kuiper. That's not my point here for anyone familiar with that. But we live our lives in the home, in the church, and we could say in the world or in society or some might say in the state, right? And we're called in those realms. The home is governed by, Who? Parents. Given the task not only but primarily of rearing children and glorifying God in the state of marriage. Funded by lawful labor, commerce, right? My job in its current lighting, I believe, falls into the house bucket and wields the rod in terms of discipline. The church governed by elders. tasked with making disciples, funded by offerings, tithes, and holds the keys in terms of discipline. The state is governed by the civil magistrate, our elected officials for us, tasked with the governance of its citizens, funded by taxation, and wields the sword. I think that's a good overview of where we live our lives. day to day. An interesting thing, you know, God is a master designer. You could never do this. We could never do it. All of these interrelate and connect. I'm an elder right now. I'm an elder. I'm always an elder. So long as I hold office, I'm a father, parent, church member, citizen, you get the point. And so Calvin is helpful here. I think this is from his, um, the golden book, I think it's called the Christian life. He talks about being faithful in your divine calling. He says, finally, we should note that the Lord commands every one of us and all the actions of our life to be faithful to our calling. For he knows that the human mind burns with restlessness, that it is swept easily hither and thither, and that its ambition to embrace many things at once is insatiable. Therefore, to prevent that general confusion being produced by our folly and boldness, he has appointed to everyone, his particular duties in the different spheres of life. So he's called us providentially simplifies things for us and that no one might rashly go beyond his limits. He has called such fears of life vocations or callings. Every individual sphere of life, therefore, is a post assigned him or her by the Lord. Our present life, therefore, will be best regulated. If we always keep our calling callings in mind, no one will then be tempted by his own boldness to dare to undertake what is not compatible with his calling, because he will know that it is wrong to go beyond its limits. Anyone who is not in the front ranks should be content to accomplish his private task and should not desert the place where the Lord has put him. There will be no small comfort for his cares, labors, troubles, and other burdens. When a man knows that in all these matters, God is the guide, his guide, her guide. One of the biggest things, one of the biggest problems elders have, one of the biggest challenges we face is when there are men in the church who want to be elders. Now we're open to feedback, don't take it the wrong way, but we, every now and then you run into a man who thinks he can do it better than you, and maybe he can, just hasn't been called yet to do that. It's an example, right? We stay within the rank, the, we stay within the boundaries of our callings as given to us by God and focus there and be faithful in our duties. The magistrate will then carry out his office with greater willingness. The father of a family will then perform his duties with more courage, and everyone in his respective sphere of life will show more patience and will overcome the difficulties, cares, miseries, and anxieties in his or her path when he will be convinced that every individual has his task laid upon his shoulders by God. If we follow our divine calling, we shall receive this unique consolation that there is no work so mean and so sordid that does not look truly respectable and highly important in the sight of God. That is a blessing, amen. So, homemaker, calling by God. School custodian, calling by God. Trash collector, calling by God. CEO of a company, get the point. Parent, elder, church member. Calling by God. I'm married, I'm a husband. And God has called me to be married to a very specific woman named Paula Sosha, now Paula Lauren. I have to learn how to love her more and more every day and still learning. I'm a father to five specific children. Each of us has a specific calling in these realms. And God calls us to be faithful in our duties. Time check. Luther helpfully lays this out in his, I think his small catechism. It's called the Table of Duties. I won't read it, but he lays out the duties along this same concept to bishops, pastors, and preachers, to the hearers and what they owe their pastors. Interesting. And he's just quoting scripture. The Table of Duties come right out of the Bible. Of civil government, of citizens, to husbands, to wives, to parents, to children, to workers of all kinds, to employers and supervisors, to youth, to widows, to everyone. Summed up in love your neighbor as yourself. Calling realms of life, our divine callings, our duties, or how we exercise faithfulness as stewards. Okay. Luke 12 verses 41 through 48. What is the mark of the faithful steward and the words of Jesus? Acting according to the will of the master. Very good. Acting. So the master showed up and what did he find? That he was doing his duty, right? Carrying out the household affairs. And what was the, What happened when he returned? What was the reward, if you will, for his faithfulness? Greater responsibility. That's right. So it's not the health and wealth gospel. If we're faithful, God will increase our money supply. That's abhorrent. And of course we reject that. Sow the seed and reap the harvest. The only ones reaping the harvest are the ones telling you to sow the seeds. So greater responsibility, greater opportunities for service to the Lord and to our neighbor. What are the marks of the unfaithful servant? Someone? Jeff? Abuse of his position. Yes, he abused his position. What was he doing to the household? Beating the servants. Was he getting drunk? He was getting drunk. He got in this, he slipped into a position of ownership. Not good ownership, right? And at least one commentary I read said he probably was enjoying it. He was an abusive person who enjoyed beating the servants and making misuse of the resources. And then something interesting happens. The Lord shows up, the master shows up. Can you imagine beating, beating? Who's in the house? And what's the consequence for this unfaithful steward? What is it? Yes, severe discipline. Yeah, reaps what he sows. I think that's a parable where he says, cut them in two, cut them in pieces. That's brutal. That's brutal. Severe discipline. eternal judgment. And the context of the parable is waiting for the Lord's return. Because I think, if I remember correctly, there's a parable, Peter asks a question, says, who are you talking about? Is this us or somebody else? And then Jesus doesn't really answer the question. He basically says, be a good steward. We will suffer consequences for unfaithful stewardship. I believe the faithful steward is the believer. We're not talking about earning salvation. But I do believe that as Christians, we have to take the warnings of the Bible very seriously. So when the Bible says the unfaithful steward will be severely judged, we ought to perk up our ears and say, not me, Lord, I want to be faithful. It's a real warning. And unfaithful stewards, when Christ returns, will be judged with everlasting fire. because they've squandered their life in rejection of the master and acted as owners. They're unbelievers, they're deceivers, okay? So very good, thank you. So now let's look at some biblical examples of faithful and unfaithful stewardship. Who, in your mind, is the prime example of stewardship in the Old Testament? Who comes to mind? Joseph, very good, Joseph. The prime example, Genesis 39, let's turn there. Genesis 39. You're quoting from the gospels, I believe. Genesis 39, now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, steward, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was from the time that he had made him overseer, steward, of his house, and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. Interesting that people in the world can be blessed by the faithful activities of the church. I said that, thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. That's all deep trust. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance, which I think is a foreshadowing of the trouble to come. Verse 11, but it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was inside that she, Potiphar's wife, caught him by his garment saying, Lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside. And so it was when he saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them saying, see he has brought into us a Hebrew to mock us. He came into me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice. And it happened when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out that he left his garment with me and fled and went outside. So she kept his garment with her until his master came home, that she spoke to him with words like these, saying, the Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me. So what happened is I lifted my voice and cried out that he left his garment with me and fled outside. And so it was when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him saying, your servant did to me after this manner that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in the prison. And then something interesting happens. The same pattern is repeated. and he's put in charge of everything in the prison. And so that the keeper of the prison didn't even look into anything. It was all in Joseph's care, okay? So that's stewardship. So we know the story really well. 17-year-old boy sold into slavery by his brothers. Purchased by Potiphar, made overseer of his house. I said twice, steward. God's providence is at work here. This is not what Joseph would have chosen. He thought he was gonna be head of the clan, right? All would bow to him. The stewardship is given to him by God. And then Joseph's faithful stewardship is blessed by the Lord on Joseph, on Potiphar's house. And it said Potiphar's trust was so strong that he only knew about the bread he ate. Everything, everything was taken care of by Joseph. And so he was faithful in his care of Potiphar's estate and in his relationship with God. Not to press the issue, but with respect to the home, he's taking care of everything and using it wisely. And with respect to the church, he says, how can I sin against God and take you to myself? You're not my wife. He's given me everything, but not you. I'm not the owner here. You're not my wife. This would be a sin against God. Very interesting that Joseph had that sense of the moral law of God. I don't let the Old Testament patriarchs off very easy because of progressive revelation. He knew. this would be a sin, and in his stewardship of his relationship to God, he says no. And then we get into verse, we won't have time to go through all of. Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's where we're headed. So, same pattern repeats in the prison, as I said. He's put over all the prisoners. You know the story, he tells the meaning of dreams to the baker and the cup bearer. He's there for another two years or so, and finally the pharaoh in chapter 41 has a disturbing dream. And the dream, as you remember, is healthy cows being eaten by decimated cows, gaunt cows. Healthy plumps of grain being consumed by blighted stalks of grain. And it's so bad that Pharaoh can't sleep. Looks for an answer. And I believe it's the cup bearer who says, I remember a man. I remember a man in prison named Joseph. And so they call Joseph into Pharaoh's presence where he explains the dreams to Pharaoh. And then as Mr. Ellis said, he places him over his whole house, the nation of Egypt. That's the state. Now, you see the sweep of Joseph's life as a faithful steward. As Jacob's son, Potiphar's house, the prison, second in command of Egypt. That was God's providential working. And what did Joseph do? He faithfully carried out his duties. He could never determine the outcome. That's the good news about being faithful. We can be faithful. Stewardship isn't managed in terms of the level of success. The number of the titles and the trophies and the climbing of the corporate ladder, the gold medals. We have the prettiest, smartest, most intelligent kids in the community because of our parenting. We don't control the outcome, but we're faithful in doing our duties and God brings the reward. So in each realm, Joseph, as I said, did his duty as a steward appointed by God. Now the remaining time, let's look at Luke 16, verses one through 13. This is the unfaithful steward. Someone called the unjust steward. Luke 16. Very interesting parable. One of those parables where Jesus uses a bad example for a good teaching, okay? Luke 16, beginning of verse one. He also said to his disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called them and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward. Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? My living is being taken away, what do I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig, and I am too ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. Right, the ones who owe the master. So he called every one of his masters debtors to him, and he said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said 100 measures of oil. So he said to him, take your bill, sit down quickly and write 50. And you owe me 50. He didn't say that, but that's the implication. Then he said to another, and how much do you owe? So he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, take your bill and write 80. So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly, wisely. And listen to the words of Jesus. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. So the unfaithful steward, Loses his income, he's gonna lose his support, lose his provision, lose his future. And so, though dishonest, he acts in a, Jesus says, in a wise way. And he uses the master's resources to make friends for himself so that he'll be taken care of when he's thrown out. And the consequence of his unfaithfulness is the loss of the job, okay? We need to take that seriously. If I don't steward my body, which is given to me by the Lord, I'll suffer ill health. If I don't steward my relationship in the church, I might find myself excommunicated. If I don't steward my investments, my job, I might lose income and my home, right? This is a real warning and we need to take it seriously. But the Lord then takes this bad example and makes a very interesting point, a very provocative statement. He says, the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. There's something we can learn from people in the world about how they use their money. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon or wealth. that when you fail, or when the money's gone, when money doesn't matter anymore, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? Faithful, faithful, faithful. No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God in money, God in wealth, God in mammon. And so what is Jesus telling us? He commends the unjust steward for being wise. He tells his disciples to make good use of the resources provided, their wealth. He teaches that we should use material things for future benefit. That's the lesson. The unjust steward is using the ruler's wealth. wealth for his own benefit. As Christian stewards, we're to use our master's wealth for spiritual benefit, future spiritual benefit. And the Lord applies this in three ways. He says, use money to win people into the kingdom. You'll have eternal friends. I hope you're my friends. I want to be a friend to you. We're brethren. We enjoy the communion of the saints. Let's increase it. So worldly wealth in itself is not bad, but it must be used as a disciple's servant and not the other way around. We don't serve money, we use money to serve the kingdom, to lead others to faith in Christ. And then Jesus says faithfulness in the use of wealth results in being trusted with the true riches, which would be the spiritual riches of the kingdom, storing up treasure in heaven. And then he says we cannot serve God in wealth. They're mutually exclusive masters. Love for stuff, I guarantee it, love for stuff will drive you away from God. But love for God will put wealth in its proper place. So let us use our stewardship to invest in the kingdom and make eternal friends. Okay, that's the lesson. What did I miss? Any comments? Something you have to say? I'm open, we're all open to it. I mean that sincerely. Any questions or comments? River. I really appreciated your point about how the unfaithful servant slipped into a position of ownership. And not just any ownership, but a selfish one. Good, thank you. Someone else? Less than five. Come back for lesson five. So to be a little bit coy, if someone says, how much should I give? My answer, my first answer would be probably a little bit more. Right. But to your point, we need to navigate through asceticism on one side and materialism on the other. And the Bible, I think, clearly teaches that God has given us freely all things to enjoy. So we serve a lavish. God is lavish with us. Remember I said earlier, he's made us stewards over the entire creation. Go take a look at it. It's pretty impressive. And so there's a middle ground and it's more principial than it is legislated, if you know what I mean. A lot of the Christian life is about wisely applying what God is teaching us. But you read through the early chapters of Deuteronomy, beautiful stuff. You're going into the land, eat whatever you crave, drink what you drink, just don't forget God. Proverbs talks about it, Ecclesiastes talks about it. First Timothy has things to say about how we use our wealth. So there's an answer there. So it's not wrong to take your wife to a good dinner. But I do think my own conviction is that God calls us to modesty. Modesty and humility in all aspects of life. And we should always be spending a little bit less. Be satisfied. What did he say? If you have food and clothing, if you have food and covering, be content because contentment with godliness is great gain. We need to learn to be content with maybe a little bit less, but not to the degree of asceticism. Hopefully that helps you, but there'll be more about that in the fifth lesson. Someone else? Jeff? I think this whole lesson is very counter-cultural to the world that we live in, which is very materialistic. In this world of consumers, we're talking about politics, right? Consumerism, materialism, you need more stuff. No, you really don't need more stuff. We started out with a lesson, somebody made a comment about Let's talk about death cleaning. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, Michael. So there's a time for all these things, and there's a time for extravagance, and there's a time for celebrating the goodness that is now, and there's other times for fast food. So part of being part of wisdom, in general, and stewardship, and food, and all those things, is applying wisdom to the situational aspects of our lives. Yeah. Good. Thank you. All right. Let's let's pray. Father, we thank you for giving us this time to study your word, to be instructed by your spirit and how you've called us to live. We do thank you that you are abundantly generous to us, bountiful in your goodness, and we do pray you'd help us to use it well to your glory. And even now, we ask you to prepare our hearts and minds to worship you. We thank you for this weekly feast. where we get to come into your presence, enjoy the community of saints, and be refreshed in the presence of our great God and Savior. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.