Address—Bruce Imbeau
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278 Savior, we long to follow thee daily, thy cross to bear and count all else, whatever it be, unworthy of our care. Someone start that, please.
We are not.
Done on my point. The world so the.
Oh, Jesus soul.
Are you all?
Commit our time to the Lord.
Our God and our Father, just do look to Thee for guidance this time blessing as the very Word of God is open.
They'll just encourage us, build us up, that we might have a heart to serve and to honor thee, Lord Jesus, in this world, the world where thou was taken out, rejected, crucified.
We pray that we might shine his lights to Thy glory and my honor. In my name we do pray and give thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
So kind to turn with me to a verse in First Corinthians chapter 4.
First Corinthians chapter 4 and it's verse 2.
Moreover.
Is required in Stuart's that a man be found faithful?
Our topic this afternoon will be Stewards.
Coupled with stewardship, is this word faithful?
So we're going to spend a bit of time.
Talking about faithful.
And also the word will pop up throughout the meeting.
What does it mean to be faithful? Well, actually the word seems to have several.
Aspects to it.
The way that it's used in the Bible.
One of them, very obviously, is full of faith.
Faithful forward.
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And it certainly makes me think of a man like Abraham.
He's called the Father faithful.
And we know that he was very much.
A man of faith.
As a matter of fact, one of the ways in which the word faithful is translated.
In our King James Version, is believing or to believe or believed.
So that's pretty obvious what Abraham did. He believed God and it was counted to him.
For righteousness.
But you know, that isn't the only way we seem to use the word faithful.
There's another way that it's used that.
Reminds me of Caleb.
The Old Testament Caleb's name means dog.
And I know that dog is not presented very positively in the Bible, but let's take the positive side.
You think of a loyal dog.
And certainly Caleb was that, wasn't he? He's very loyal to his God. He stood up against 2 million people because he had a different.
Thought than the other two million had. Now you try that someday.
That's pretty rough.
Loyal.
But we think of faithful in another way also, and sometimes we talk about a faithful translation.
Like a translation of the Bible.
A faithful translation. And first of all, we need something that's accurate.
But we also mean something that's like dependable.
There's obvious overlap between some of these meetings, so don't think I'm categorizing too closely here.
But who would you think of?
In that kind of way, would you think of Moses? I would.
He was given the oracles of God. Those were to be delivered.
Faithfully to the people of God.
He was given the pattern of the Tabernacle. Those things were to be followed accurately.
Translated into real boards and gold and silver, it had to be done right.
I would think of the apostle Paul and the revelations that he received from the Lord, and they were to be delivered to the people of God in the way that they were received.
But you know what?
Who would really be a real prime example?
Of a faithful translation, while the Lord Jesus himself.
And the Lord Jesus himself in the Bible is referred to as faithful at least 10 times.
You say, well, he's not.
You know, I, I need to be full of faith, but Christ doesn't need to be full of faith. He's God himself.
But he absolutely accurately portrayed who God was because he was God.
And so he brought those things forward in his own person.
As that faithful translation of who God is.
And His love, His kindness, and His grace to us.
So we go to the scriptures.
Again, turn over to Hebrews chapter 3.
And we'll get two of the those last examples.
Kind of brought together Moses and Christ. Hebrews, chapter 3.
Also, in this passage we will also get a very good definition of what a steward is.
Hebrews chapter 3, verse one. Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful. There's one of the times when crisis refers to his faithful who is faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Now his house is God's house.
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And verse five. And Moses verily, was faithful in all God's house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were be spoken after, but Christ as a son over his own house.
The definition of Stewart fine right there in verse five and very similar up in verse 2. But verse 5, Moses verily was faithful in all of God's house as a servant.
That is your definition of a steward.
A steward comes from the word house and is taking charge and taking care of the affairs of the house.
And that's what Moses did. And so he was, he's not called in Scripture a steward, but that's really what he was. He was a steward.
The Lord Jesus Christ and I want to make this distinction.
He certainly comes across as a good and faithful steward, but he's never really called that. And there is a particular reason, of course, we might imagine there might be because he's a son.
He's not steward. He came in the form and fashion as a man. He came as a servant in this world, but he is the son.
And the sun has a different position.
Than a servant or a steward.
And so during this meeting, even though I'm going to be kind of crossing.
Back and forth a bit referring to Christ and then referring to various scriptures having to a stewards.
Keep this in mind.
That.
Our usual St. level definition of a steward is not fitting to the Lord Jesus Christ because he is Son over his own house or over God's house.
Now, as a son, it's an ownership position.
And so there's really 3 levels that I have found in Scripture that have to do with with stewardship.
Or that idea of taking charge and managing a house.
And the first one is the ownership position.
And so you have.
Mentioned several times in the Bible about the Goodman of the house or the householder.
That's the person who who owns the place and that's why they have the authority to take charge of it. So yes, they do function as a steward, but they're not in the servant capacity, they're the owner capacity.
And that's really where Christ is. He functions as a steward, but he's in the owner capacity.
There's another one which.
Is translated Stuart.
In the Bible and that is more of a personnel manager.
Kind of cares for the needs of the employees, the people.
And they have a pretty high-ranking.
And they have authority to make decisions. Again, there's overlap between these different categories, but but there is a particular decision making capacity there. And maybe in our own existence, we do think of at work, there's people who are personnel managers and there's HR people and you know, they are to be looked up to because of their role, their position. Well, they are that type of steward.
One of the ways it's translated. Maybe this will help.
One of the ways this particular word is translated in the New Testament is Tudor. That's in Galatians.
Because this person who is a servant, he had a particular.
Role in the household of developing the children's spirits and intellect.
And that was what they were supposed to do, dealt with the children as a tutor and to direct them. So that's one of those levels.
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The third level is the one that will basically be talking about today.
Is more having to do with.
The physical things of a household taking charge of the inventory. If you're at work, it'd be inventory control type person, production control type person.
Quality control, quality assurance person and that is kind of the steward that we will be.
Talking about mostly today.
Let's do talk about because it's very important, obviously, because things flow from the top. Of course, God is always at the top, but in the human realm. If you will turn with me, please, to First Timothy.
First Timothy, chapter 5.
And verse 14.
I will therefore that the younger women marry bear children. Guide the house. Now that's our expression right there is guide the house.
Now before we get any further, just for.
Interest sake.
It says here I will therefore that younger women marry. And really the thought here is younger widows. It's a particular word to those that are widowed. And it's an encouragement that if there is the opportunity to be married, take the opportunity. It's it's an OK thing to do. And when they do, then they will bear children and they will guide the house.
And this is again a stewardship position, but it's the ownership position.
It's it's not not a servant.
There to guide the house as the owner of the house.
And that's very important. This is really generally the woman's.
Role, and this is what they are to do. Very, very important.
It's not a servant position, it's an ownership position.
Now for men, if you go back a couple chapters, yeah, a couple chapters, First Timothy 3.
And verse 4.
It's speaking about bishops.
And it says one that ruleth, well, his own house.
Having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church?
Of God.
And so here was position for the man. He was to take charge of his house.
As a servant, no. But is the ownership position just like with the wife. So the husband and the wife, they work together, both function in guiding the house.
Now you say.
The first verse is about the women was the young widows and these verses here are two bishops.
And like I don't follow neither one of those categories.
Well, you do.
You see the things that are laid out.
For those women or laid out for this for these men.
Are what is generally required of God for men and women.
OK, it's not us, it's not a strata thing. It's not certain people, certain levels of society do this or do that. This is what God is laid out for men and laid out for women. And if.
If you are a Bishop, you will come under a certain scrutiny.
To see to it that you are living up to the general standards of a man or a woman.
These are not additional, These are not special standards. This is the general standard. It's just if you're going to take a position of oversight among the people of God, you better.
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Be up to snuff on your general standards that God is required of us.
And that's a very, very important thing. As a matter of fact, if you want to just on your own, go back to the verse one of this chapter and read through and just say to yourself, well, I'm not a Bishop, so this doesn't make any difference. And then go to the next little phrase and go, well, I'm not a Bishop, so this doesn't make any difference. And about the, you know, pretty quick, you're laughing at yourself because.
It's pretty obvious that it all makes a real difference.
Don't think for a minute that among God's people that God has different standards for us.
We're all part of one body. We all belong together. We're members.
And God has his requirements for us as people.
Very, very important. So as I say, just just challenge yourself, go through some of those things and say, oh, well, I guess that's not important for me and that's not important for me and.
Pretty soon you'll you'll get the idea what I'm talking about.
In what way are you a steward?
And obviously you knew I'd be getting to this point. This is kind of the core part of the meeting.
Well, first and foremost, you are a steward of yourself, of your own person.
In the book of Galatians, in the list of the fruits of the spirit, the last one mentioned is temperance. Temperance means self-control.
And self-control is obviously very important.
For certainly if you cannot control yourself.
How can you really function as a Christian?
And certainly, how can you be of any help to anyone else?
And so that is really first and foremost. Now I'm going to emphasize.
Because there's all kinds of things that you could put in this category, but I'm going to talk about moral issues.
Because moral issues are very, very important. And when I'm done there were in just a minute, I will mention why it's so important. But let's take a look at.
First Corinthians, chapter 6.
No, that's where that maintenance what order? But that wasn't the first one to want to look at. I want to look at First Thessalonians 4, sorry.
1St Thessalonians 4 is sometimes referred to as the Enoch chapter.
Enoch walked with God.
That's the first half the chat and then he was not because God took him and that's the second-half of the chapter.
So we're to live in the presence of God and will be taken in the rapture by God, and that's First Thessalonians chapter 4 is how we live and then how we'll be taken.
The Enoch chapter.
But there's quite a bit said about moral things here in First Thessalonians chapter 4.
Let's read verse three and four for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication.
That everyone of you should know how to possess His vessel and sanctification and honor.
Now let's go to 1St Corinthians chapter 6.
First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19. What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple, the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own, for you're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
You're to be a steward of yourself.
Now, why do I emphasize this?
Occasionally you hear some things that are really pretty pathetic.
Such as this statistic.
That among evangelical Christian young people.
The rate of immorality is approximately what the world is, which is 50%.
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If you there, if you also looked at statistics and I think there's a relation.
At failed marriages.
Failed marriages in the world are 50%.
Among evangelical Christians, it is very close to 50%.
Are there a connection between those two statistics of immorality and divorce? I would suggest very strong.
Just as an aside.
If you like statistics.
And my kids know what three things I'm going to mention next.
But how do you want? Do you want to have a better marriage?
What are the three things that move the rates of divorce from one out of two?
One out of 400.
Three things.
Eat meals together.
Hey, look, you're going to eat, so eat together.
OK, I mean, you know, it's that easy. We all eat, so just eat together.
Read the Bible together. Some people call it family devotions or family altar, whatever you want to call it.
Read the Bible together. You're a Christian, you're going to read the Bible, so read it together.
Third thing is.
Quote UN quote Go to church together.
You know you're going to do something on Sunday morning, whether it's a football game or otherwise, but you're going to do something.
Go with your family to meeting.
It's that easy. Three things will move the ratio of of failed marriages from one out of two to one out of 400.
Over in First Corinthians chapter 12.
And.
The last part, yes, the last part of verse 25, First Corinthians 12, verse 25, the last part. But that the member should have the same care one for another. Here's another Ave. of stewardship.
And that is to care for others that are around us.
We need each other, we belong to each other and we are to cure for one another.
Let's go to John.
The last chapter of John.
John, Chapter 21.
And this has to do with the Lord and Simon Peter.
And I'm just going to read the last part, verse 15 and the last part of verse 17.
The Lord had asked, Lovest thou me? And Peter answers, Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Then Jesus saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
And in verse 17, at the very end, Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
That word.
Feed kind of means to to pasture the animal. They'll give them something to take them out and feel give them something something worthwhile.
And of course, the Lord Jesus is referring to Peter.
Feeding God's people spiritual things.
You know we're going to feed each other something.
I'm going to kind of repeat this a few times.
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But we all have an impact on each other.
And there's something we're conveying.
It's just the way life is.
If you go through the gospels and you pick up the same word.
In Matthew, Mark and in Luke use the same word is in connection with feeding pigs.
In the Gospel of John it's used twice right here. It's a connection of feeding lamb's and sheep.
And there is a difference between sheep and pigs.
When dad sends Johnny out and to feed the.
The pigs, he says, slop the Hawks.
Well, you don't slop the sheet.
There's a whole different technique. It's a whole different approach.
It's different.
But we're going to be influencing each other one way or another, so we might as well treat each other sheep.
And do it right.
There's a verse in the Old Testament that talks about looking well after your herds.
And that's very important, having that care one for another.
There's plenty of other verses that you can put in this category.
You probably think of several of them right off the bat.
What other things might you have an interest in?
Stewardship, and I'm just going to list a few, we work. You want to look after the interest of your employer. If you're an employer or business owner, you want to look after the affairs of your employees. It is absolutely A2 way St. That's the only way that that the system runs. But do the things in the presence of God to care for your employer, to care for your employee.
We have time. Use your time wisely. Be a good steward of your time. Don't waste your time. You're going to be doing something with your time, so do something useful.
It's that easy.
Money. Money is a big issue. Speaking of issue, that was an issue last summer and the Christian magazine right Stewardship of money.
Now, don't be afraid of money.
Because first on my little list here is make money.
And you know I want you to make money.
Don't be afraid of money.
Money is really just a simple translation of your labor.
All income ultimately or all money ultimately comes income. If you want to discuss economic theories, we can do that later, but.
All money is ultimately income.
And it is nothing more than a translation from your labor into a unit that can then be traded off for someone elses labor. Say no, I don't want someone elses labor, I want things. OK, but somebody had to make the thing.
So you're really paying for their labor, and what you're doing is trading off in society your labor with someone else's labor.
That's what money is, so don't be afraid of it and get out there. And the Lord teaches us to work. And in this society, when you work, you get money.
You want to give money?
Be a good steward of your money.
And to do so, you give away money. That's a good thing to do. What are you doing? You're taking your personal labor.
You're translating it into a greenback. You hand it off to someone else, and now they can buy someone else's labor and get things that they need. Because presumably you're giving money to people who need it or can use it maybe more wisely than you can. And that's good too.
Don't wait. We don't want to waste. Nothing wrecks an economy or wrecks a family or wrecks a person more than wasting human labor. Money is but a translation of human labor. Don't waste labor.
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Save money.
Should I have a bank account? Is it the right thing to do?
Yes, it's taking your labor and it is storing it up.
So that you can then get something else like a down payment for a house.
Quite appropriate. You need to buy a car.
All you're doing is saving up your labor. You decide to get get a car. You can't go out in the next two weeks and work hard enough to earn a car. At least most of us can't.
And so you store up your labor ahead of time.
Debt is a completely different issue or very difficult issue and there's good debt, there's bad debt. If you don't know the difference, please talk to me afterwards.
Going into debt is not wrong in and of itself.
Keep that in mind.
But there is such a thing as bad debt.
There are the things of God, in fact, right where we started in First Corinthians.
4 You talked about the apostles, who were stewards of the mysteries of God.
And to them have been committed various things having to do with the Lord Jesus and His work here in this world. And you are given things too. Do you know about salvation? Well, of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting in this room. Well, that it belongs to you. It's information that you can use.
As a steward, you can. You can allocate those resources, you can.
You can tell others about the gospel. You know very well about God's purposes in this world. Those are things that belong to you, and you're a steward of those things. Make use of them. Enjoy them yourself, enjoy them with others. Things can do you with the church, things having to do with the breaking of bread.
Christian ministry, all these things.
Are involved and they belong to you, but don't just sit on them. Be a good steward. Use them well. Don't forget that a steward is one who has inventory control, production control, quality control.
And these are things that are involved in spiritual things as well.
We're going to turn to the best known story in the Bible about a steward.
And that is in John, excuse me, that is in Luke chapter 16.
And this man is called the unjust steward.
The unjust Stewart.
I'm going to tell the story The Unjust Steward as I understand it, and this might be a little different than.
But then sometimes relate but.
Related.
Here's a man who is a servant to a large landowner.
And as a steward is supposed to do, he took control of the items that this landlord had, and he was responsible.
Well, it says that he wasted his goods. And to waste doesn't necessarily mean to fritter away, but it means to to to make it disappear, to destroy it. To like you, like an army will lay waste of land. And that's really the meaning of the word.
And one way to to destroy things as far from the point of view of the landowner is to take them.
And it appears that this is what this steward did. He took items he stole from his employer.
Well, these things came to the attention of the.
Of the landowner, the boss, and he says you can't have your job anymore.
OK, tie up loose ends and then you're out of here.
And so this fellow had a smart idea.
And even the Bible, even God commends him for his smart idea, and the smart idea was to find people that owed his master some money.
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There wasn't necessarily money. It was, you know, bushels of wheat and and, you know, commodities.
So he sat him down and said, how much do you owe?
And it says here.
100 Measures of oil.
And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write, 50.
OK, so he wrote down the account by half.
Well, how can you get away with that? I mean, even the person who was paying back the money, he knew that there would be something wrong and the owner, that the business owner was still going to come after him for the other fifty. I mean, come on. Because something is done under the table doesn't make it legal.
Or binding. So what was the deal? What what really happened? Because this unjust steward was not interested in getting those people in trouble. No, no, no, he was not interested in getting those people in trouble. He just wanted those people to think that he was smart and that he was helpful so that when he got kicked out of his job, they would hire him and they wanted a smart person. So he put himself forward as a smart person.
Now catch this.
100 measures of oil, he says. Quick write down 50 Sign your name to it that is paid in full.
What was paid in full? The 100, of course. That's the only way it could be paid in full.
The unjust Stewart then took his hand. Dolly.
And went charging over to his own garage.
Took the oil that he had stolen from his master, 50 measures of it, and carted it back into his master's warehouse. And so it was all accounted for.
And that's how the system worked.
God commends him for this cause, not because he was a thief, which he was, but because he took what he had.
He took what he had and used it.
Wisely in this world, as far as this world's dealings are concerned.
That's the story of the unjust steward.
Verse 2.
I really well.
We're going to make a contrast. We have 4 minutes in which to make some contrasts.
You're going to finish it off yourself, I guess.
But we have read or we have heard the Lord Jesus Christ being a faithful one.
And this unjust steward stands in dramatic contrast to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
First of all, Jesus is the faithful and the true. This man was unjust.
So that's a pretty solid contrast between the two right off the bat.
Verse two he called him and said, How is it that I hear this of thee?
What do we hear of the Lord Jesus? Do we hear bad things or good things?
Oh well, you know, like the folks, it's all through the Bible, but we hear the good things of the Lord Jesus, the back in this time the Samaritan lady and people came out to see Jesus and, and when they came and they, they told her, I said, it's, it's great that you sent us here, but we, we didn't necessarily believe your word. But when we heard him, we acknowledge now that he is the Savior of the world.
So there's things that we hear about the Lord Jesus that are very, very positive. What this man heard was very negative.
Give an account of thy stewardship.
Well, he had a sad story to tell if he was very honest about how he was going to.
How he functioned, but the Lord Jesus Christ, what does he say? He says.
I have come to do thy will, Oh my God.
That's his accounting of his stewardship, that he came to do the Father's will.
Verse three in the middle, My Lord taketh away from me the stewardship.
God has given everything to the Lord Jesus Christ. Things are not going to be taken away from him, but everything is given to Him, All things in heaven and earth given to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I cannot dig.
Because he thought it was below him.
But when it came to Israel, the Lord Jesus, if you go back a few chapters, there was a fig tree.
That wasn't bearing and there was someone who is willing to dig around that tree.
And say look, I'll just give it some help.
It wasn't beneath him. And the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came, he had that principle also. It wasn't beneath him.
He came to stir up the hearts and the consciences of people of Israel, bring them into blessing.
And to beg. This man was ashamed. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he cries out, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, he pleaded with them, He wept over the city.
And.
There's the Gethsemane.
Where the Lord Jesus?
Says he fell on his face.
And the dust.
It wasn't beneath him.
Very Son of God to plead in that way.
Begging in that way.
Hebrews tells us of another part of that where he was heard.
In that he was delivered later.
In resurrection.
This unjust steward.
He had the wherewithal, don't worry. He made off like, abandoned, quite quite literally, but.
He had their wherewithal to pay off all these people's debts. Probably he had plenty in his own garage could have carted over.
But he says here, pay half.
Well was the Lord Jesus do when it comes to us? We're the people that owe.
We owe lots and lots. He paid it all, didn't he? He didn't say, oh, you just pay half of it.
He paid it all.
And are you that?
But the Stewart, the unjust steward, he took things that he had already stolen and paid them back to the master.
But the Lord Jesus Christ, he says in the book of Psalms, he says, I restore that which I took, not away.
He didn't pill for something so as to give it back to God. No, says I restore that which I took, not away.
So it's just the absolute opposite of this unjust story that is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, something else that you should be keeping.
Just in closing First Timothy.
First Timothy, last chapter and verse 19.
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. Oh Timothy keep.
That which is committed to thy trust.
Be a good steward, Keep that which is committed to thy trust.
Back in the book of Proverbs you can read Keep by heart with all diligence.
We're all stewards.
Be a good steward.
Because you're going to either be a bit bad, steward a good story. You're all responsible for something.
So be a good one.
In honor to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's good. Thanks our God and our Father, we do thank thee.
For another day of the grace of God, another day that we can serve thee and honor Thee. We just do pray that we might not be wasters, but we might keep.
Those things that have truly been committed to our trust, spiritual things certainly, and even physical things that thou has given us family, time, money. We just do pray that we might.
Seek to be an example and a help to those around us. In thy name we give thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.