Incentives for Faithful Stewardship, Part 3 | How to be a Faithful Steward

Luke chapter 12. Hopefully we can finish this, this section of our Lord’s teaching, which is about how to live in light of the second coming. We have an account to give before the Lord. We have a stewardship to keep before him and so Jesus is exhorting us and really motivating us with some enticements for faithful stewardship, incentives. I’m going to start by reading just to set some context, back in verse 35, we’ve already covered that section, but we’ll start back there just to lay it all out there before us starting in Luke 12:35.

And Jesus says, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Those words, that teaching, that parable prompted Peter to ask a question. It’s one that all the Apostles really were wondering about, and it’s a question that we have too. In verse 41, “Peter said, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?’” For us apostles, or for all believers, or he could have been saying for us believers, or is he telling it for all people. What’s the scope of the instruction here Lord? Who is included?

The Lord answered his question, but not directly. He answers in verse 42, “The Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give him their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all of his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed incoming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day he does not” expect, “expect him and at an hour he does not know, he’ll cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating.’”

That’s the end of the parable and then the Lord provides the principle undergirding the whole parable. This is the principle that we’ve been talking about, the principle of stewardship. So he gives that there at the end, at end of verse 48, “everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Now, as I mentioned last time, I believe that Jesus has all people in mind when he is saying that. Everyone. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, believer and unbeliever. That is the most important division of the, of humanity, is into believer and unbeliever.

But every human being has a stewardship from God, and God holds everyone accountable to the stewardship they’ve received from God. Their life, their gifts, their education, their opportunities, their wealth, their time, their thought life, everything. Having said that though, if Jesus was to look at a bull’s-eye through the scope of his rifle, I believe Jesus has put the crosshairs of that scope on the hearts of his disciples, that’s who he’s aiming at; in particular, of all humanity, they are the ones to whom much has been given.

But the immediate audience, I think, Jesus has in mind those whom he intends to motivate the most, to remain faithful, because listen, if you get the leadership then you influence all the people, right? Bad leadership, bad followership, good leadership, good shepherding, and there’s more of a, an opportunity for the Christians to also hear their master’s voice through the preaching and teaching of the word, hear Christ’s voice, come follow the Good Shepherd through the mouthpiece of every pastor and teacher who’s faithful.

So I think Jesus has in mind, his Apostles, the wider group of disciples. He’s focused here on a believing audience. Even though the entire world will one day bow the knee, give an account to Christ. In Jesus’ day, those who were in the positions of leadership and authority, those who had charge of God’s word, it was the Pharisees and the scribes and the priests. They were worthy of condemnation because of their personal sins and their sinful abuse of authority.

And as those who held positions of spiritual leadership, and they had a stewardship of spiritual influence to exercise spiritual authority, they provide the most obvious contrast for Jesus’ disciples and his Apostles and he alludes to them actually, and verses 45 and 46. That’s where we’re going to start today.

We saw some positive incentives last time in verses 43 to 44, to be faithful wise stewards. This week we’re looking at some negative incentives. We can be influenced, incentivized through positive and negative enticement and example. Warning, you might say, warnings against wicked, indifferent, or ignorant stewardship. That’s what all flows out of the text here and my hope is that as you listen to this, you’ll come to see your own stewardship in a clearer light than you ever have before in your life.

So as you listen to Jesus’ teaching here, listen prayerfully. Think carefully as we move through the text. Reflect honestly on your own life, the condition of your own stewardship and maybe, maybe consider what the Lord would have you to do, how you might become more informed in your stewardship, more interested. So you can take an interest to be a wise steward of what God has given so that you can grow in wisdom and faithfulness and become a better steward of the manifold grace of God. That’s what I hope and pray for every single one of you.

As we return to the parable. Just notice in each scenario here, there’s a master who has gone away continuing the same theme from last time. There’s a master who’s gone away, he’s gone away for an unspecified period of time. He’s left his household servants under the care of his chief steward. That chief steward is someone that he trusts someone he relies on to do his will while he’s gone. The master has equipped him, provisioned him and trusted him with an important task to deal out regular rations of food.

Now you might think, well, that’s not a very glamorous task for a steward in the household of God, but you know what? It is an absolutely critical one, because servants don’t work well or for long when they don’t eat. So you gotta keep the servants fed. It’s critical. The servant needs to exercise wisdom in his work. He needs to remain faithful to it because the servants need to be fed. They need to stay healthy, strong in order to be productive until the master returns to assess them whenever that is. Whenever that master returns and that is the issue here, isn’t it? That’s the rub. There’s the fact of his return, but the timing of his return is less certain to us, right?

We know it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when it’s gonna happen. And it’s the uncertainty about the timing of the master’s return that is the issue here. Not knowing when he will come back, that becomes a test of faithfulness. Will the steward keep doing his masters will? Or will he lose interest and start doing something else?

This takes us into our first point, for today. Got four points. I’ll just give it to you, one at a time. But first point for today: A revelation of faithfulness. A revelation of faithfulness, that is to say, the Lord’s absence will reveal a servant’s faithfulness, or you could say his lack of faithfulness because that’s what we see here.

The Lord’s absence will reveal a servant’s faithfulness, or his lack of faithfulness. Think about yourself as we read through this in the first scenario, verses 43-44. Like we saw this last time, the master returns to find the steward’s faithfulness tested by his absence. Tested by the uncertainty of his return, but proven. His faithfulness is proven. In the Lord’s absence, the faithful steward has been doing exactly what the master appointed him to do.

The master is so pleased with this steward, why? Because he can be counted on. He can be relied upon. The Lord’s confidence has been maintained. His will’s been performed. His servants have been cared for. Greater stewardship in the master’s house. That is the reward for a faithful steward. So far so good.

Come to the unfaithful stewards in verses 45 and, through 48. In the master’s absence has tested all of them and found them wanting. Their character is revealed in their works, their lack of love for the master comes to light. It’s very clear. Varying degrees of unfaithfulness here are exposed and revealed and then judged accordingly. And the worst of these three examples comes in the first, first, first couple verses, verses 45-46. As this servant’s faithfulness or you can say his faithlessness, his lack of faithfulness, it’s been revealed in the master’s absence. He’s the one who’s punished most severely. And Jesus reveals here a very different sort of person.

Verses 45, “If that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming.’” Delayed is the word chronizo, chronology. He’s taking a long, long time to return. Okay, well what of it? If you’re his servant, his steward, you’re to be faithful and wise in the execution of your stewardship, who cares how long he takes to return? Is he not the master? What then?

Two proverbs come to mind when I read those words, “my master is delayed in his coming.” You can probably think of them, right, the first one. You probably heard of it. In fact, I’ll just give you the first part. You can tell me the rest when the cat’s away what? The mice will play. People tend to mess around right when they’re not under the watchful care of, the watchful eye of someone in authority. Doesn’t that reveal the heart?

Absence scrutiny people tend to get less done, if anything at all. That ought not to be among Christians, of course. Paul says in Ephesians 6:5-8 and Colossians 3:22-25 Christians who work for others, they understand that they don’t just work for somebody else, they work for Christ. Christ is above their boss. Christ is above the master and they, they do what they do for him, not for eye service to man. “Whatever you do work heartily as for the Lord, not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward, you serve the Lord Christ.” Listen, we already have an inheritance. We are already wealthy with infinite treasure in heaven, not working for a paycheck, paychecks come. We’re working because we love Christ because we already have everything; we work to serve and please him.

So whether or not the boss is around, whether or not we’re under the watchful eye of some human being, we know that God is watching us. He’s always there, always watching over us, always seeing our diligence, seeing our labor. For those who are disobedient, though, they need the rule of law. They need the rule of fear. They need some form of tyranny. Those who are disobedient, ignore the reality of the omniscient, omnipresent God, then they go on doing whatever they want to do, giving little or no regard for God, refusing to live in the fear of God.

And so there’s a second proverb you may be familiar with. It’s this: time and truth go hand in hand. Time and truth go hand in hand. That is to say, give it enough time, the truth will come out. What is concealed will be revealed. What’s hidden in the darkness is brought into the light. What is whispered in the inner rooms will be shouted from the rooftops. The heart always, always, always becomes known.

For unbelievers that’s a fear, to be exposed. To be exposed before the world and before those that they regard. They have no idea that the final exposure will be the worst when Christ comes and reveals everything. But for us as believers, man, this is why we wait so eagerly for our Lord’s return that everything can be exposed. We want him to be seen for who he is. I’m tired aren’t you? Aren’t you tired of how the world portrays Christ and Christianity? Don’t you want the truth to come out about who he really is?

He’s no longer the suffering humiliated, dying on a cross. But yes, dying on a cross. But that is glory and look at the pathway to glory and who he is now. Eyes like a flame of fire, face, hair, bright white like wool. Blazing glory. Sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. Voice of many waters, thundering, roaring. That’s Christ now. When he returns, people will see him and we long to see him. He’s the object of our faith.

He’s the focal point of our worship. When he appears, we’ll see him and will be like him because we’ll see him as he is. As we saw in the earlier parable, he longs to be with us too. He longs to return to share in that table fellowship, verse 37, he’s eager to return home for the wedding feast. The father delays the return of Christ because, 2 Peter 3:9, he’s patient toward you. He’s patient toward the elect of God. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,” 2 Peter 3:9, “He’s patient toward you not willing that any of you should perish, but all should reach repentance.” So he’s patient toward you, toward the elect, toward believers.

There’s another reason, though, that the father delays our Lord’s return. That’s because of what we’re seeing right here. Because delay and time, reveals the truth. Delayed time delayed arrival it reveals the truth of what’s in the heart. The Lord’s return is delayed, to test faithfulness, to reveal the heart, to expose the things that are hidden from plain view, from our eyes, human eyes, human scrutiny. The apparent delay is a test beloved.

I say apparent because it’s really not delayed according to time, God’s timetable. He’s right on time, he’s executing his plan perfectly. He will not send the Lord Jesus Christ too early or too late by a second. He’ll come right on time. This is just an apparent delay for us, but it’s, it’s a test to see how we act when Christ is not physically present.

So for the believing, God tests, tests us, he tests us with his delay to prove our faithfulness, to prove it, to show that we are faithful to the stewardship that he has entrusted to us. That’s how you can see a believer. That over their life, over time, you see that they have greater and greater acts of faithfulness, more maturity, more growth. If you see somebody and there is no change between this year and five years ago or ten years ago, you wanna question whether or not that person is really a Christian, because believers change. They grow. They become more faithful to the stewardship we’ve been entrusted. We grow in endurance for the sake of Christ’s name.

Note, he’s not testing us to see if we are faithful, he knows that already. He’s testing to show that we are faithful. Peter writes to encourage Christians in the midst of trials that they face, some of them he describes his fiery trials. And so that, 1 Peter 1:7, “the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes, though it’s tested by fire. So the tested genuineness of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” So listen, the waiting, especially when it’s hard, the waiting is what proves, exposes, reveals Christian faithfulness.

For the unbelieving, God tests them too. Again, it’s not to reveal anything to himself. He knows all things. God is testing the unbelieving to expose and reveal what’s in them to make it apparent to make it apparent to us, make it apparent to everyone. It reveals what’s in their hearts. It doesn’t require fiery trials for them. In fact most, many unbelievers have relatively easy lives. We always wonder that, right?

Why do the, why do the wicked prosper? Why do they get appointed to positions of office? Why do they take our tax money and spend it on whatever they want? They don’t need fiery trials to reveal their faithlessness, and then unfaithfulness, all it takes for them is a little time, time, delay. The Lord’s absence reveals a servant’s faithfulness or lack of faithfulness, faithlessness. When the masters away, what will the servant do?

Well, here’s one form of servant, verse 45, and this is a second point: An assignation with justice. Assignation, if you’re wondering how to spell that, write the word assign and then the word nation, and take out one of the Ns in the middle. Assignation with justice. The Lord’s return is an assignation, appointment if you want to write that word. Appointment with justice. His return is an appointment with divine justice. The idea here is that a date has been set. It’s been set by God for this reckoning with justice.

So again, verse 45, “If that servant says to himself, my master is delayed incoming.” Didn’t even finish the thought. He just acts. Begins to beat the male and female servant, servants and to eat and drink and get drunk. Figuratively speaking, this is how Jesus saw the Jewish leadership. They’re, they’re self-serving, self-indulgent, self-gratifying. They’re heavy handed, cruel, even sadistic. Notice unfaithfulness is first a matter of the heart, that heart that’s known to the Lord.

The master’s absence draws out his sinful desires. It sees the delay of a return as an opportunity for satisfying sinful desires. This wicked steward here has a covetous heart. It’s been restrained in the presence of the master, but once that master leaves, and especially as that return is delayed, this guy’s heart gets antsy. Gets wiggly. He can’t sit still. Wants to get up and start doing sin. Wants to do his own will.

He’s lured away from fidelity to the master. He’s enticed by his own desire, which James says it conceives and gives birth to sin. And sin brings forth his own demise, his own death. The master’s away. This guy is gonna go to play. Listen what you do when you think no one is looking. That’s who you really are. Young people, are you listening? If you’re under 25, are you listening?

What you do when you think no one is looking that is who you really are. A young couple once sat in front of their pastor, shamefaced as they were confessing to him that they got physical with one another while parked in a car, in the dark. They were heavy with the burden of their guilt. Felt ashamed as they confessed what they’d done out there when they thought no one was watching. The pastor told them to their horror, Actually, someone did see you out there. They went sheet white as the blood drained from their faces. And he said, God saw you, and they replied, Oh, good. They were relieved, in their minds, that no one knew.

Kind of revealing, isn’t it? Because God is always there, reveals that they had a fear of man and no fear of God. They’re confessing their remorse before a pastor and yet, when it’s revealed all their, all their concerned about is the exposure, but not before God, before man. God is always there. He always knows the heart. He’s always seeing your actions. He’s that all knowing ever present, always watching God. And what you do when you think no one is looking, that’s who you really are. And so what does your private life say about you?

Would anyone mistake you for a Christian if they saw what you do in private? Think about your private time, your alone time, your me time. Think about that instead as God’s time. Think about that instead as a stewardship you have from God. This servant, in verse 45, he sees that private time is time to get busy playing, partying, even engaging in sadistic cruelty. Those, in verse 45, he doesn’t even deny the fact does he, doesn’t deny the fact that the master will return.

“My master delays his coming,” so he affirms the coming. He affirms that’s his master, recognizes the Lord will in fact come back one day. But that’s really just mental ascent. He’s not fully embracing the truth of that. He’s actually wishing the master will never return. Because he sees here an opportunity for his covetous, wandering, unfaithful heart to run riot. It’s like the Pharisees, Luke 11:39, inside this man is full of greed and wickedness.

Same thing today, isn’t it? We see it getting worse all around us. Peter quotes the unfaithful challenging Christians, saying things like, 2 Peter 3:4, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” In saying everything staying the same, you know what they’re actually saying. We want things to say the same. We like things the same. No return of the Lord. No, no second coming. Why? Because they’re driven by covetous desire, they just wanna eat, drink and get drunk.

But on this day, the master shows up. Lord’s return is an assignation, an appointment with divine justice, verse 46, “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him in an hour he does not know. He’ll cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.” Of course, it’s a, a day he doesn’t expect him, in an hour he doesn’t know; he doesn’t expect him that day, because he hasn’t expected him on any day. He’s not even been looking for him at all. So it’s an hour he doesn’t know because it’s an hour nobody knows. Jesus said that back in verse 39. It’s what he warned us about.

Nobody knows the hour. So you gotta be ready when the Son of Man comes. This guy has no love for the master whatsoever, because he didn’t ready himself. He didn’t wait expectantly. He didn’t remain watchful. He didn’t heed the warning that the master can arrive at anytime, any hour, like a thief in the night. Why? Because whatever this man professed. This man’s an unbeliever. He’s an unbeliever. He does not believe and how do you know?

Because of what you see on the outside, there’s no fruit, there’s no action. What does the Lord do with this man? This man, who is his steward, charged with such a high stewardship. It says in verse 46, “He’ll cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.” Cut him in pieces. The verb dichotomeo, we get the word dichotomy from that, means to cut in two, right? Graphic word, literally means to cut into and then cut in pieces. Dismember, ooh, it’s a gruesome image, isn’t it? I think we see the heart of the Lord in his anger toward this sin, don’t we? And being willing to dismember, separate somebody’s limbs from him and his body parts from him, because of this sin, he’s so angry about it.