Resource by Peter Park
Last weekend we wrapped up our replanting series – Garden City Church – Our Name, Values, Mission, Vision. And there’s a lot of excitement as we move into this next season as God is growing the church and we’re asking and expecting him to do big things.
Question: Now what? Cause it’s one thing to talk about and get excited about what big things God will do but it’s another to see it become reality. And two things generally need to happen for us to see God’s mission and our vision fulfilled. First, of course God is going to have to move. Nothing meaningful is going to happen without him.
Second, God’s people have to do their part. God’s chosen way to fulfill the mission and reach the nations is through the church, through his people. God is often faithful in keeping his promises and moves through the faithfulness of his people. Yes, God is faithful even when we are faithless. God could simply speak a word and everything that we hope to see can come to fruition. But God’s normal mode of operation is through the faithful engagement of his people in the mission. It’s through the faithfulness of his people that God works his faithfulness.
So today we’re starting a new series – Whatever It Takes – Stewardship/Generosity Series – to talk about what our faithfulness needs to look like if we want to see God move. Whatever It Takes – Heart posture that values and desires to see God’s mission and our vision accomplished, more than anything else and then actually doing anything and everything necessary to make it happen.
Bible. Matt. 25. Turn. Screen. Look at one of Jesus’ teachings that will lay the foundation for the rest of the series.
Text: Matt. 25 14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Start by giving you some Stewardship Principles from this text…
1. Everything is God’s. God is the owner. This is pretty straightforward. As we look at these verses, God is the master and we are the servants, just so we’re clear. Everything we have are all gifts from God that he’s entrusted to us. Nothing is our own or from us. 1 Cor. 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Need: humility and the right understanding that everything is God’s and is from God.
2. The owner decides the purposes for which he entrusts and how much he entrusts. Because God is the owner, he gets to decide what he wants done with his resources. And with all that he’s entrusted to us, he wants us to do two things: 1) He wants us to enjoy them. He’s a good God who gives good gifts to his servants/children to enjoy. 2) He wants us to leverage them for his mission – for his purposes.
As owner, God also decides according to his wisdom and “according to (our) ability” what and how much he entrusts to his servants. It’s easy to look at other people who have more and say, if I had as much as them, then it’d be a lot easier for me to steward. To wish we were entrusted with more or something else. But that’s not how it works. Regardless of what we’ve been entrusted with…
3. Stewards oversee and leverage. This is our job. This is who we are. We are stewards of everything God has entrusted to us – our gifts, skills, resources, our lives. And faithful stewards leverage God’s resources for his purposes/kingdom – to honor their master. Greatest desire.
Now, sometimes, God gives very detailed instructions and callings on how he wants things stewarded. I want you to do x, y, z, this way. And other times, it’s more wide open. (Ever experienced that in your life? God, what do you want me to do? This job or that job? Move to this place or that place? Sometimes it’s unmistakably clear but other times it seems like there’s silence. And oftentimes, it’s because he’s given us the general direction he wants us to go or what he wants us to do and he gives us freedom on some of the smaller details.
4. Stewards are only responsible for what’s been entrusted to them. Ask you: Was the first servant more faithful than the second? He made more for the master than the second servant. No. They are commended the same – Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful…enter into the joy of your master – because they were both faithful according to what was entrusted to them.
God doesn’t expect you to steward what you haven’t been given. We’ve all been given different gifts and amounts. Some of you weren’t given the gift of a good singing voice (statistically, not experientially). Maybe you have a hard time keeping time, you can’t sing on key, and you’re the most musically ungifted person God ever created. If that’s you, then God doesn’t expect you to become a worship leader and to sing on stage. And that’s ok. Now, if that’s you, I want you to worship and sing your heart out here from where you’re standing because God still deserves the best you have to offer. Welcome to do that here. That’s why the music volume is where it’s at so don’t hold back.
5. Stewardship involves action and risk. For both the first two servants, their faithfulness led them to take some risk. Text doesn’t say exactly what they did but they traded and did some stuff and multiplied what they were given. Could they have lost money? Of course. Making money or doubling your assets isn’t always guaranteed. If it were, we’d all be rich. The point is, they took action and made wise risks for the sake of being faithful. That’s what good stewards do. (I didn’t take a $10 risk with bitcoin. And so now, I have nothing.)
6. Faithful stewards are entrusted with more. It’s easy to think that we would be better stewards if we had more. But the truth is those who are unfaithful with little are unfaithful with much and those who are faithful with little are faithful with much. Because it’s not how much you’ve been entrusted with that determines your faithfulness, but your heart. And it’s that heart level faithfulness that God is looking for and often he rewards your faithfulness with entrusting you with more.
7. Stewards will give an account to their master. In the verses, it says that the master came back after a long time. Here’s what that means, the servants didn’t know when the master was coming back. So they couldn’t put things off until the last second. The master could come back at any time. And when the master does return, he’s going to check in with his servants and want an account of what happened with what he’s entrusted to them.
Now the third servant – What did he do wrong? Did he misuse the master’s resources? Did he buy drugs? Did he gamble it away? Steal or lie? No. But he did nothing with it = Poor stewardship – inactivity, passivity, laziness, etc. is unacceptable. Master – Wickedness.
Blame shifts to the master – It’s your fault, not mine, because I know what kind of person you are. He misjudges his master’s character. So important – If you don’t correctly understand who God is and what his purposes are, you are going to make your life decisions based on faulty information which is going to lead to devastatingly bad decisions in your life. (Ever been told a lie. You believed and acted. Only to find out it wasn’t true? So it backfired on you. One of my kids – Mommy said we could…Well, who am I to defy her orders? Mommy is the boss, so I let them do it. And then I get in trouble. False.)
Punishment for “the worthless servant” is severe – Cast into “Outer darkness – weeping and gnashing of teeth.” – Hell and eternal damnation. What does this mean? True servants of God are those who are faithful stewards. To be clear – Good works doesn’t save you. But if you’re not faithful in stewarding what God has entrusted to you, you have to question whether you believe in him or not. Are you a true follower of Jesus if you don’t obey his commands, if you’re not concerned about the things he is, if you’re just living your life and your so called faith in Jesus doesn’t make any difference at all? Probably not.
We’re all going to have to stand before God one day and give an account for our lives. You don’t know when that day is. So the time to start faithfully stewarding is not tomorrow. It’s today.
So I want to quickly go over how this applies to us as a church coming out of our replanting series so you can start praying and preparing yourself to make a commitment at the end of this series. Stewardship – Time, Talent, and Treasure. For some of you, this will be the first time you’ve thought about this. And that’s great. I’m excited for how it’s going to grow and challenge your faith.
For those of you who feel like you’re mature and you’re good in all these areas, I want to challenge you to reevaluate your life again. Don’t just assume you’re good. Maybe you are. But don’t coast. Join with us as a church as we go before God with everything we have and let him identify again how you can better steward all that he’s entrusted to you.
So I’m talking to every single person here no matter what you already do, what you already give, whether you’ve only been a Christian for a day or for a lifetime. My goal is for every single person to take their next step in following Jesus throughout this series. Maybe it’s joining a serving team here at the church for the first time. Maybe it’s going and serving with refugees. For others it’s giving for the first time. Or maybe it’s growing in something you’re already doing.
Give personal examples of how my family and how I’m living this out – not to brag on us. But to show you how we’re stewarding our lives as an example and encourage you to follow Christ as we are. If God can do it in and through us, he can with you too.
(Ps. Eric is going to cover time and talent over the next two weeks so let me just touch on them quickly…)
Time: God created us to be in relationship with them. God saved us to restore us back to himself. And God commissions us to share him with others so they might know him too. What are you doing with your life? Are you living for God or are you living for yourself? How are you spending your time? Are you doing anything with God or for him outside of 90mins on Sunday morning? Do the nonbelievers around you look at how you live and say – there’s something different about them. Or does your life look no different from theirs?
Think: My life, my choice. Wrong. You didn’t give yourself life. You had nothing to do with it. And you don’t know when God is going to give you your last breath. The scriptures talk about our lives like a vapor/mist that’s here and gone. 1 Cor 6:19-20 and 1 Cor. 7:17, 23 – You’ve been bought with a price. Even your body, your life, is not yours anymore! So honor God with it.
Every believer’s primary goal in life…stewarding every breath they’ve been given for God. Leveraging their lives, careers, etc. for his sake… There are so many application points here – One: Are you finding time to abide with Jesus every day in his word? It’s your life! It’s as important as breathing for your spiritual life. Want to hear from God? Every time you open up the word, God is literally speaking to you.
Our family moved here to KL in 2023. We loved Durham. I had a great job. Grace was experienced in her career. Safe/Secure/Stable. Church was great. Life was awesome. Nothing we would really change. But God was sending us to KL. We had to decide – Will we do what we want or obey? We of course obeyed and came here. It hasn’t always been easy, but the greatest joy we can ever know is obedience to Jesus.
Talent: God has given us gifts and talents, some natural in the way he created us, others given as spiritual gifts by the Spirit to be used for the building up of the church. When you don’t use your gifts… Not passive or harmless. Actively tearing down the church. (Jenga)
Where are you serving in the church? Are you on a ministry team? If not, you need to join one. There’s a place for you here and we want to help you find that place.
My gifting/strengths to take something and make it better. Not start from scratch. (Food critic vs. Chef. I can tell you everything about why a cinnamon roll is good or bad. Compare and contrast. (Pick/Plop.) But if you ask me to make it from nothing, I’d be completely lost. Grace – If she could do it all over again, she’d marry someone who knew how to cook.) IDK – If I was asked to come and plant a church from scratch as opposed to coming here to this church, maybe we wouldn’t have come.
Warning T/T: Success in your career, education, etc. is not always a sign of God’s blessing. I’m doing well so I must be doing something right. God must be opening doors and blessing me. Not necessarily. The world is full of wildly successful people who don’t know or follow God.
Treasure: Money. How you view money, your relationship with money, may tell more about your spirituality than anything else. Money and possessions have a way of entangling our hearts to this world.
Every year, as a family, we ask if we are giving God our first and best. And I want you to start praying now and my ask is that by the last Sunday of Feb. when we finish this series, you’ll have committed to giving whatever amount/percentage after serious prayer and planning.
Thoughts on stewarding your treasure/finances…
1. Give to the church first. The church is the one institution Jesus established and left behind for this fulfillment of the Great Commission. When my family does our budget, the first thing we do is carve out what we are giving and we give generously to the church. And then on top of that, we also give to other good things like supporting missionaries and other people who are raising support to do ministry. But our first and best goes to the church and then we give to other things.
2. Start somewhere. Ask – How much should I give? A good starting place is 10%. Not the cap – I’m giving 10% so I’m good. God is getting his part and the rest is for me. No. We want to grow in generosity – How can I give more and leverage more of what I’ve been given for God.
Gross. Right off the top – We give to God first. And then the government takes their part – taxes, the wife takes her part, my four kids take their part, and so on.
3. Start now. There will always be reasons to put it off until next month. Until the next job, until the next promotion. It’s never convenient to give. So start now. Just do it.
4. Make a plan and stick to it. Again, things are going to come up. Obviously, there are extreme factors like losing a job. But outside of those kinds of exceptional things, commit to sticking with the plan. Don’t let your giving be the first place you dip into when you need to adjust. Good idea to build margin into your budget.
5. Give cheerfully. I’m not sure why people get so upset or give begrudgingly to the church and its mission. I can’t think of a better, more important place to give. Perspective: Not begrudgingly – this is something I have to do – but joyfully – I can’t believe this is something I get to do and be a part of. Not exaggerating when I say this – When you give to the church, you are giving to eternal purposes. Your giving is making an eternal impact as people are reached with the gospel.
So our family gives to this church generously. There are special circumstances with support raising right now that make this possible but we give more to the church than the church pays us. And I don’t know how long this will be doable but I want to do it as long as possible, at least 5 years.
Common Objections:
1. Of course the pastor wants me to give – He wants to take money out of my pockets and into his. Listen – Your giving doesn’t go to me. Our budget is set. Goes to everything we do here – ministries.
2. I don’t trust the church – Give somewhere else first. Maybe you’re new to the church or you’ve been hurt by the church in the past. First off, I’m sorry that’s been your experience. Secondly, if you’re not in a place where you feel like you can trust and give to this church joyfully, then give it somewhere else for now, another church. And after 6-12 months, if you still don’t feel like you can trust this church, we want to help you find another church family where you can fully engage with them. What we really care about here, is helping people grow in their walks with Jesus and becoming more like him.
3. I don’t have a lot to give…It won’t make a difference. If I had more, then I would give. It’s not about how much you give. The person who gives rm1 may be more generous than the person who gives rm100m. The heart and your faithfulness is what God is after.
4. I give to other things already. That’s awesome. I hope you continue doing that. But again, I strongly believe that the church is where you should primarily be giving. And the church also gives to good things like church planting efforts and refugee ministry outside of our walls.
5. I have real needs. I understand. I have a wife and four kids. My wife is perfect. But my kids, man, I don’t know why they eat so much, why they keep growing out of their clothes and shoes, etc. They cost so much. Challenge to you – Whatever you decide, between you and God, and maybe counsel with other believers – trust God with your giving and with your needs. And if you have urgent needs, share those with the believers around you and this church so we can see how we can help.
Giving should cost you something. If you’re giving generously, then that probably means that you’re living at least a step or two below the lifestyle that our peers are living. Our homes, cars, holidays, the quality of the stuff we have is going to be lower than our peers. And that’s ok!
Question: Do you think it’s worth it? Is giving your time, talent, and treasure to do whatever it takes worth it to advance Christ’s kingdom? For others to hear the gospel and be discipled? For churches to be planted and nations reached for Christ?
This kind of stewardship only comes from the heart. If you don’t understand who Jesus is and what he has done for you, you’ll never desire to live for him and steward all he’s given you for his sake.
Faithfulness is what is pleasing to God and what he requires. But we were unfaithful – We walked away from God and decided to live for ourselves. But Jesus was perfectly faithful. And he died the death we deserved for our unfaithfulness in our place to give us his perfect record of faithfulness. And now he calls us into his service again, to be faithful stewards by the power of his Holy Spirit.
The call to follow Jesus is to call to die to yourself and to live for him. And it’s in living this way that you find the greatest joy because it’s living the way and purpose for why he created us. Faithfully stewarding – Time, talent, treasure. And taking wise risks and attempting big things for God. Doing whatever it takes to advance Christ’s kingdom. What does that look like for you?
CT Studd – Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.
You will have to give an account for your life to God. And either you will be found unfaithful or you can stand in confidence knowing that Jesus has been faithful on your behalf.
Jesus demands your life but gives you life. He’s a good master. Every other master will fail you. They will not deliver on what they promise. And will ultimately lead to death. Receive…
Other videos in this series:
- December 29, 2024 – All Things Made New (Revelation 21-22)
- January 26, 2025 – Garden City KL: Our Vision
- January 5, 2025 – Garden City KL: Our Name
- July 28, 2024 – Everything Broken Will Heal (Malachi)
- June 9, 2024 – What’s the Point? (Ecclesiastes)
- May 26, 2024 – Healed in Muddy Waters (2 Kings 5)
- May 5, 2024 – A House for God (1 Kings 8)
- November 10, 2024 – Your Role in God’s Mission (Romans 15:14-23)
- November 21, 2020 – Generous Giving (Deuteronomy 26:1-11)
- November 24, 2024 – God’s Inexpressible Gift (2 Corinthians 9:6-15)