It begins with some bags of gold.
In Matthew 25, Jesus offers a series of striking parables designed to develop a watchfulness in the listener for Christ’s return. In Matthew 25:14-30, a master is planning a trip away and entrusts three servants to steward some of his wealth in the form of several bags of gold.
As Jesus looks towards the future that contains not only his death and resurrection but also his eventual return, it seems one of his chief concerns is for his disciples to not stand idly by but rather to develop a posture of readiness through good investment and faithful stewardship of all they have been given.
For Jesus, stewardship is not limited to just money (gold) but contains the entirety of our lives. A simple way to think about what stewardship involves could be to see our time, talents, and treasures all in service to King Jesus.
In this article, I would like to argue that the parable of the bags of gold offers us a paradigm for faithful Christian stewardship today. But before we explore it together, I invite you to pause and read the parable as told in Matthew 25:14-30 before continuing to read this article.
Same but Different
The stewardship of God is never generic but always specific. Note in the parable that each servant was given a certain number of bags of gold “according to his ability” (Matthew 25:15). At the first reading of this parable, this insight might produce in us a sense of questioning. We might respond with: “I hope I am not a ‘one bag of gold’ person.” But instead of falling into a spiral of introspection and self-pity, what if the intention of the phrase “according to his ability” is meant to liberate you from the tyranny of comparison when it comes to stewardship? More than just comparison, this truth should give us unbelievable peace in our current circumstances knowing that God has only entrusted to us what he knows we can manage and nothing more.
This truth should give us unbelievable peace in our current circumstances knowing that God has only entrusted to us what he knows we can manage and nothing more
Stop for a moment and walk over to your refrigerator. When you open the door of the fridge, what do you see? Whether the fridge is full or largely empty, see those items as a picture of resources you have been entrusted to steward. Imagine with the current ingredients in your fridge what creative meals you could make in service to Jesus and the Kingdom of God.
The Two Thieves of Faithful Stewardship
This might sound exciting, but all of us know faithful stewardship is not that simple. In my experience, Christian stewardship is in danger of two thieves: wish and was.
Wish
For many of us, we wish we had more to steward than we currently have. Whether it’s wishing for more financial stability or success, or the wish for greater capacity amidst the daily demands.
Was
Wishing often leads us into the hands of the other thief: was. Instead of longing for more, we dwell on what we once had. We look back at different seasons of our lives with a romanticism of the abundance of resources, time, and capacity we used to be entrusted with.
Whether you get robbed more by wish or was, the reality is both of these thieves of stewardship create paralysis in us. Could it be that in the parable, the servant with one bag of gold wished he had been given more? Could it be that in his wishing, it stunted his ability to invest well?
In the experience of my own life and in the lives of others I have led, there is a common mantra: “Once I acquire more, then I will finally invest.” The intentions of this phrase might mean well, but often “more” never becomes enough, and instead of stewarding all we have, we hoard.
In the parable, notice how when the master returns, he wishes that the one bag of gold servant would have at least deposited his money in the bank to receive interest (Matthew 25:27). Simple obedience in stewardship (even just gaining interest) is always better than passivity and paralysis.
What Kind of Master?
At the end of the parable, the one bag of gold servant claims that his inactivity and hoarding was not his fault, but the result of the “hard” character of the master (Matthew 25:24). Interestingly, the master does not confirm nor deny this claim by the servant. The question it invites us to ask as the reader is: What kind of master was he?
There are a variety of perspectives from scholars on the character of the master in the parable, but I would like to argue that if the master is to represent Jesus himself, we can know assuredly that he is not a “hard” man but one “that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). In contrast to the servant’s perspective, Master Jesus is abundantly generous and kind.
Beneath patterns of greed, the hoarding of our resources, or the (false) security that comes with money, exists a belief that God is a ruthless and harsh master who isn’t trustworthy
Could it be that our lack of faithful stewardship has a direct correlation to our faulty understanding of our Master? Tim Chester says, “Beneath every sin is a failure to believe a truth about God.” Beneath patterns of greed, the hoarding of our resources, or the (false) security that comes with money, exists a belief that God is a ruthless and harsh master who isn’t trustworthy. Is this not why Adam and Eve first reached for the fruit? They began to question the very character of their generous God.
My hope is that the parable of the bags of gold would be planted deep in your heart and would begin to create individuals and communities that consider this year what they have been entrusted to steward by Master Jesus. And like small sprouts shooting from the ground this spring, there would be story after story of not spectacular but simple acts of stewardship when it comes to what we do with our time, talents, and treasures.
Charlie Meo serves as a pastor with Missio Dei Communities and as the curriculum director for the Surge Network in Phoenix, Arizona. He also contributes as a curriculum creator for City to City North America. He is married to his wife Keaton and together they are raising three kids.