1 Corinthians 4:2-3 (ESV)
[2] Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
[3] But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by
any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
A steward is required to be
faithful. To be faithful means to be trustworthy. It means to care for whatever
has been entrusted to the steward’s care. In this case believers have been
entrusted with the mystery of the Good News, the gospel. As stewards of the Good
News, have we been faithful?
What does it mean to be faithful?
This brings to mind the parable Jesus told about the three servants entrusted
with the Master’s money (see Mt 25:14-30). It is often referred to as the Parable
of the Talents because one servant is given five talents, one two, and one is
given one talent. Unfortunately we then apply this parable to our own talents
or gifts, but that is not really the point of the parable. A talent was a measurement
of weight. They were each given a different amount of money based on weight.
They were entrusted with this money and expected to use it for the good of the
master. Using the master’s money was being faithful stewards. Believers have
been entrusted with the mysteries of God and are expected to be faithful
stewards.
To be faithful does not mean to
hide in our church buildings guarding the mysteries of God. Too often we have turned
inward as the World has turned away from God. We have huddled in our safe
congregations, holding on to truth until the Master returns. But in the
parable, the servant who hid and protected the money with which he had been
entrusted was chided for not investing it. To be faithful means not to huddle
and hide, but to sow the seeds of the Good News even if the ground seems hard. Seed
if for planting. Wealth is for investing. The Good News if for sharing. To be faithful
stewards means to stop worrying about our own safety and begin to sow the seeds
of the mysteries of God in a broken world. Am I a faithful steward of the
mysteries of God?
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