The Rewards of Stewardship – Episode 42

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah moments podcast. We hope this little pause in your day refreshes and encourages you friend. Let’s take time to know God through his word and love him more and more. This Sweet Selah moments podcast is brought to you by Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole (00:21):

Welcome to episode 42, The Rewards of Stewardship. We are diving deep into parables this season. And today we’re going to look at the rewards of good stewardship. Let’s start with a simple definition. A reward is a thing given in recognition of one’s service, effort or achievement. I know rewards are nice to get at any age, but my kiddos love to earn rewards for extra things that need doing around the house. When I offer extra TV time or an extra dollar or two for vacuuming the stairs, suddenly they’re all jumping up to do it. Rewards really do make hard tasks more fun to tackle. I personally love kind words said to me. Words of encouragement is one of my love languages and hearing my husband pray over supper and thank God for me and for the hard work I did that day to take care of them all, that just makes my day Sharon.

Sharon (01:11):

Aw, that is so sweet. Yes.

Nicole (01:11):

It is. All the stress and hardships of the day seem to lighten after that. Maybe that’s his brilliant plan each day to ease me into a better mood.

Sharon (01:19):

Oh, it could be. It seems to be working too so that’s great.

Nicole (01:21):

It does. He’s smart. How about you, Sharon? What are some of the rewards that have meant the most to you?

Sharon (01:27):

Well, first of all, I love that Josh prays that for you in front of the girls, so that what he’s modeling for them is, you know, your mama works hard and we thank God for her. That’s just, it’s kind of Proverbs 31- ish. Your husband will praise you at the gates kind of thing.

Nicole (01:44):

I know, isn’t that sweet? It just makes you feel seen, like he knew I had a frazzled day.

Sharon (01:47):

It makes you feel seen. I like that. It’s really neat.

Nicole (01:47):

Yes, it’s very nice.

Sharon (01:47):

And I just did a rewards thing with my grandchildren this year. I love the Psalm 23, the shepherd’s psalm. And I memorized it as a little girl. And whenever I’m scared or whenever I don’t know what to pray, I can even pray through the shepherd’s psalm. Like, Lord, you are my shepherd. Thank you for that. You know, and just kind of pray it. So I suddenly decided that my grandchildren should memorize it now. So I offered them $10 if they could recite the shepherd’s psalm for me. And then every time I see them for the next couple of years, afterwards, five bucks, if they can still say it.

Nicole (02:28):

Wow. That’s a great deal.

Sharon (02:30):

I know. You’re not kidding.

Nicole (02:31):

Can I learn it too for you?

Sharon (02:34):

They totally ate it up. Oh, and so they’ve all recited it. Even the five-year-old, yeah, she’s five. Even the five-year-old and said it perfectly. And so I feel like this was sort of Easter for me this year. They didn’t get Easter eggs. They got 10 bucks.

Nicole (02:51):

And a whole passage of scripture that they know forever.

Sharon (02:53):

And they got that. So yeah. So rewards are fun and shoot, what better way to spend $10, you know?

Nicole (03:00):

Right.

Sharon (03:00):

Easter bunny? Memorize the psalm.

Sharon (03:01):

So I feel really good about it.

Nicole (03:03):

That’s a good one.

Sharon (03:05):

So, okay. What kind of rewards have I had? Well, typical things like I had best penmanship award in third grade, you know, things like that. But words are mine too. Words reward me. The other day one of my daughters told me I was her hero.

Nicole (03:21):

Oh, Sharon!

Sharon (03:23):

And I was not always a great mother. And I could list for you some things that make me the antihero in a daughters’ life. So for her to say that and for her in her graciousness to remember the good parts.

Nicole (03:37):

Yeah.

Sharon (03:38):

Boy Oh boy, that just fills my heart with, you know, so much joy. It really does. So, and I also, I’m kind of weird like this. I like to self reward because I don’t like housecleaning. We were just talking about that before the podcast began. So, but one does have to house clean, whether one wants to or not.

Nicole (03:57):

Sadly.

Sharon (03:58):

So I will talk to myself and I will say, all right, Sharon, if you will spend a half an hour in the kitchen and do the following chores, you may sit and have a cup of tea and your book. And then I’ll say, really? And then I’ll say, yes. I know this is odd but it gets me motivated. So then I do my cleaning and then I’m like, Oh, now tea and a book. Because it’s strange, but that is the best reward you could ever give me.

Nicole (04:24):

But it works for you.

Sharon (04:25):

It works for me.

Nicole (04:26):

It gets you to do the hard thing.

Sharon (04:27):

Yes, it does. Rewards motivate. They just do. So, okay, so I’ve noticed over my life that God also blesses us when we labor for him in really interesting and fun ways, not expected ways, but just fun ways. And I’ve shared some in the podcast before how when Ray took his job as Christian school teacher, we dropped $40,000 a year in income. That’s a lot of money and yet we kept getting free vacations. Oh, like one of them was an orange juice can, you know, on the back of it, you, you look to see if you won a bed and breakfast vacation. We did.

Nicole (05:06):

Are you kidding me?

Sharon (05:09):

No, so we went to Boothbay Harbor and stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast for the weekend because of an orange juice can, but actually, because of God. Because he blessed our decision to make a whole lot less money. And I couldn’t demand it of him. And I didn’t know when it was going to happen, but randomly we would have blessing poured out on us and we never lacked; we just never lacked. So God does reward. He really does. So, okay. Well enough about that. Let’s talk about good stewardship because God rewards good stewardship. So let’s start with a definition. Nicole, what in the world is stewardship?

Nicole (05:47):

What is stewardship? Well by definition, stewardship means utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of his creation. So stewardship acknowledges in practice that we do not have the right of control over ourselves or our property. God has that control. So a steward is someone who manages the possessions of others. So clearly we are not the owners of what we’re overseeing if we are called the stewards.

Sharon (06:15):

Correct. And of course we really own nothing in the sense that God gave us our brains. God gave us everything we have because he made it all. So yeah, it’s all on loan to us, the way we steward what he has given us makes all the difference. So we’re going to read a parable about good stewardship and look at our own lives. And we’re going to ask the questions, how are we stewarding our time, our money, our talents, and our possessions? Those are going to be our questions today because all of those are areas where we’re given something by God and we ought to be using it for him. And we’re going to look at how we’re doing at that. Well, this parable is sobering. So let’s transition to our Selah moment and read Matthew 25:14-30. And Nicole, why don’t you start off with verse 14?

Nicole (07:10):

All right. This is the parable of the three servants. “Again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone.”

Sharon (07:22):

“He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.”

Nicole (07:35):

“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more.”

Sharon (07:40):

“The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more.”

Nicole (07:45):

“But the servant who received the one bag of silver, dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.”

Sharon (07:51):

“After a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money.”

Nicole (07:59):

“The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest. And I have earned five more.”

Sharon (08:09):

“The master was full of praise. Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together.”

Nicole (08:22):

“The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest. And I have earned two more.”

Sharon (08:30):

“The master said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together.”

Nicole (08:42):

“Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you were a harsh man harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate.”

Sharon (08:52):

“I was afraid I would lose your money so I hid it in the earth. Look, here’s your money back.”

Nicole (08:59):

“But the master replied, you wicked and lazy servant. If you knew I harvested crops, I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate”

Sharon (09:07):

“Why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.”

Nicole (09:13):

“Then he ordered, take the money from the servant and give it to the one with the 10 bags of silver.”

Sharon (09:19):

“To those who use well with what they are given, even more will be given. And they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”

Nicole (09:31):

“Now throw this useless servant into utter darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Sharon (09:38):

Yeah, that part’s hard.

Nicole (09:40):

I don’t want to go there.

Sharon (09:40):

I know.

Nicole (09:43):

It doesn’t sound nice.

Sharon (09:43):

Well, I think it’s fascinating that the master says you were, you know, doing well with a small amount because in my mind, this wasn’t a small amount. The bags of silver were originally called talents in the Greek. And a talent or bag of silver was worth $16,500 in February, 2016. So that was a lot of money.

Nicole (10:06):

Yeah.

Sharon (10:06):

So let me translate this for us. The master gave five bags or he gave $67,500 to one guy, two bags or $27,000 to another and one bag or $13,500 to the last. This wasn’t tiny. These amounts were big. That’s a lot of money. At least it sure is for me.

Nicole (10:28):

Yeah.

Sharon (10:28):

Yeah.

Nicole (10:29):

It’s not a small amount like here’s a hundred dollars. See what you can do with it.

Sharon (10:30):

I know it, just so stunning. And yet he says, now you’re going to have more, like, what I give you is piffle compared to what I’m going to give you. And I think that’s kind of a hint of heaven to us. So anyways, let’s dissect this parable a little bit and figure out how it applies to us. Nicole, why were they given this money?

Nicole (10:51):

Well, he was going on a trip. So he probably wanted them to conduct his business for him while he was away maybe, and try to increase his finances. It is interesting that he divided it in proportion to their abilities. So I think he was also testing them and their work ethic or worth as a servant.

Sharon (11:07):

Yeah, I agree. I’m intrigued by the time they had in which to invest and improve on it. Because verse 19 says, after a long time, their master returned from his trip. So they weren’t expected to do great things with the money in a week.

Nicole (11:21):

Right. He gave them a little bit of time to figure it out.

Sharon (11:23):

Which would be a little bit awkward yes. Perhaps they even had a few years. We don’t know. So well, what we’re going to do is look at our four categories of what we steward. Time is a variable. You probably have more time left, for example, than I do. One never knows, but you know, I’m 63. I’m running out of time here. That’s okay. I get to go there and have eternity. Money’s also a variable. Ray and I are only supporting Bella, our little 13 pound puppy. Actually she’s 15 pounds. She gained two pounds.

Nicole (11:52):

Oh, my!

Sharon (11:53):

She’s on a diet. But anyways, that’s all we have to steward right now with right now with money. You and Josh have four kiddos, plus your puppy. So the money we have is going to be different.

Nicole (12:03):

Yeah.

Sharon (12:04):

It’s a variable. That would apply to our possessions and talents as well. So this really fits the parable. God assigns each steward, different amounts of silver and each is expected to work with what they have. You have a different amount of time to give because of all your children than I do and what he expects from you and what he expects from me are different things. It’s what do we do with what we’ve got? I love that. I love it, as praise for the steward who doubled two talents was actually exactly the same words as for the steward who doubled the five talents. They each worked hard and utilized what they were given wisely. So same thing. Yeah. Yeah. So Nicole, as you look at the two good guys in our story, what other lessons can we learn from them? And what’s their reward?

Nicole (12:49):

Yeah. They seem to have the courage to get right to work with what he had entrusted to them. I mean, we didn’t really see too much of a timeline, but it seems like they just went right ahead and got to work. Yeah. They made the most of his money and time. The reward was even better than what they had first been given. He gave them high praise, more responsibility and trust, and it looks like they had a party at the end.

Sharon (13:11):

I am just so stunned by how many parties there are.

Nicole (13:14):

There’s a lot of parties in the Bible.

Sharon (13:14):

Yes, there are. You lose the coin. The woman finds the coin. She has a party. And there’s a lamb. You find the lamb, you have a party.

Nicole (13:23):

Parties happen with the angels.

Sharon (13:24):

You have a party when your son comes home. There’s parties every time a sinner repents, goodness gracious. And when we steward our time and our money and the things that God gives us wisely, he celebrates.

Nicole (13:37):

Yeah.

Sharon (13:37):

I think that’s so neat. God is a joy God. Sometimes we forget that, that he is a source of joy and those that know him and love him can kind of get filled up with it.

Nicole (13:50):

That’s true.

Sharon (13:50):

Which I really like, so, all right. So now though, we’re going to look at the bad guy. He did nothing with what he was given. Now, he wasn’t wicked in that he didn’t go out and spend it on himself.

Nicole (14:02):

Right.

Sharon (14:03):

Right. But he also didn’t take what was given to him and use it for the good of his master. And it wasn’t his money at all. It was his master’s money. So I also find his opinion of his master disturbing on what he says. So Nicole, what were his thoughts about the master?

Nicole (14:21):

He said he was a harsh man and he said he gathered what he didn’t plant and he harvested what he didn’t cultivate. So it sounds like a pretty like ruthless businessman or like a big-wig on Wall Street or something nowadays, you know, like not someone you’d want to cross.

Sharon (14:35):

Yeah, and that just doesn’t sound like God, or like the Master. The Master trusted them with a lot of money and then just let them, he didn’t even have somebody supervising them.

Nicole (14:46):

That’s true.

Sharon (14:47):

Right?

Nicole (14:47):

Yeah.

Sharon (14:48):

And he said, go, you know, invest it. And then we see who the Master is, by the way he responded when he got back. There was equal praise for the two talent guy and the five talent guy. He didn’t show favoritism there at all. And if this one talent guy had just done something with it. You know, I bet even if he lost the money, but had tried, he probably would have still got a party. Right?

Nicole (15:11):

Right.

Sharon (15:11):

Because he would have tried.

Nicole (15:13):

He would have done something. Right?

Sharon (15:14):

Exactly. I mean, he didn’t even put it in the bank.

Nicole (15:17):

Right, to earn interest.

Sharon (15:17):

He just hid it in a hole, what is that?

Nicole (15:20):

Yeah.

Sharon (15:20):

So I feel like he couldn’t have known the Master. Well, yeah. And he was making excuses or he was just justifying. He had the total wrong idea about his Master and that was really sad.

Nicole (15:33):

That is.

Sharon (15:34):

Yeah. Yeah. And we can do that if we don’t know God, we can have the whole wrong idea about him. We can. One thing that I’ve noticed is people that have bad fathers, you know, really mean ones or distant fathers or erratic fathers, can get the wrong impression of God as Father, because their only reference point of father is their own.

Nicole (15:59):

And the one they’ve seen isn’t very good. Yeah, that is tough?

Sharon (16:02):

It is hard sometimes to separate preconceived notions about God, from who he really is.

Nicole (16:09):

Right, right.

Sharon (16:09):

It is. And this guy basically got it wrong.

Nicole (16:12):

Right. Well, maybe he wasn’t working. Like, I feel like if you have a job, you try to build a relationship with your boss and get to know them so that you can serve them better and work as a team. Maybe he wasn’t working with the right intentions if he didn’t really know him and said, well, you’re just a harsh man that does this and does that, you know? Maybe he just didn’t try to really get to know him and be a good employee.

Sharon (16:30):

He probably didn’t. He probably skulked around and hid from him. Isn’t that sad?

Nicole (16:36):

Right. That is. He missed out so much.

Sharon (16:37):

Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. We can do that too. We can get all judge-y.

Nicole (16:40):

Oh yeah.

Sharon (16:41):

Before we know a person, so. Wow. All right. Well, we’re going to finish this chapter now because these last verses, although they’re not actually an official explanation from Jesus as to what the parable3 means, they really do flesh it out for us. Especially helping us understand that, doing nothing with what God has given us does not impress him. In fact, we’re in big trouble. If we do nothing with all he has given us. So Nicole, start us off with the next section.

Nicole (17:11):

All right, Matthew 25 starting at verse 31. “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.”

Sharon (17:21):

“All the nations will be gathered in his presence and he will separate the people as a. Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

Nicole (17:29):

“He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.”

Sharon (17:33):

“Then the King will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.” (For, whoops, your turn. I’m just so excited about it.)

Nicole (17:50):

“For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger. and you invited me into your home.”

Sharon (17:56):

“I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me.”

Nicole (18:05):

“Then these righteous ones will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink?”

Sharon (18:13):

“Or a stranger and show you hospitality or naked and give you clothing?”

Nicole (18:17):

“When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?”

Sharon (18:21):

“And the King will say, I tell you the truth. When you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me.”

Nicole (18:30):

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, away with you, you cursed ones. Into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his demons.”

Sharon (18:38):

“For I was hungry and you did not feed me. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me a drink.”

Nicole (18:45):

“I was a stranger and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison and you didn’t visit me.”

Sharon (18:54):

“Then they will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not help you?”

Nicole (19:03):

“Then he will answer. I tell you the truth when you refuse to help the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you are refusing to help me.”

Sharon (19:13):

“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Nicole (19:20):

Wow.

Sharon (19:21):

Oh boy. So now we have it. The goats in this story did not necessarily kick the hungry or the thirsty when they were down, right? They didn’t shove the stranger into a ditch or feed the sick, poison. They weren’t actively evil in that way.

Nicole (19:39):

That’s true, yeah.

Sharon (19:39):

However, by ignoring the needs of those, they saw, they ignored Christ in all the work he had for them to do, right? Like the bad servant, who clearly did not know his master well, so those who ignore the hurting ones do not know their Master Jesus well, who always stopped and helped the hurting. Even like when he was on the way to heal the boy that was dying and the woman touches his garment.

Nicole (20:05):

Yes, he stopped.

Sharon (20:06):

He stopped. And he was like in a hurry, there’s somebody dying over here. So he always stopped. And so we’re supposed to do that too. Charles Swindoll has this great quote. I love my Charles Swindoll study Bible so much. Here’s the latest Charles Swindoll quote that I love, “There is no heavenly reward for doing great things for great people. That is not something that will capture God’s attention. Something happens, however, when you stoop and take time to care for those who can do nothing for you in return”.

Nicole (20:38):

That’s beautiful.

Sharon (20:39):

Isn’t it beautiful?

Nicole (20:40):

It’s a good reminder.

Sharon (20:41):

Yes. It’s much easier to help someone that you know is going to help you back.

Nicole (20:44):

Right.

Sharon (20:45):

At some point, right? I got your back, you got mine.

Nicole (20:48):

Yes.

Sharon (20:49):

Cool. But helping someone that is in such a place that they may never do anything nice back for you. You’re doing it for him.

Nicole (20:58):

Absolutely.

Sharon (20:58):

You’re doing it for him. And that’s what God wants us to see. So, okay. So now we really want to be the ones that do. You know, we’re not saved by doing, we’re saved by his grace, but the result of that saving is a desire to be like our master. So let’s look at these categories and ask ourselves how we can invest time, money, possessions, and talents in these particular situations.

Nicole (21:27):

That’d be good.

Sharon (21:27):

Let’s start with the hungry. How do we steward our time, money, dah, dah, dah, dah, to help the hungry. What do you think?

Nicole (21:36):

Yeah, well, our church is really good with that. We have a new pop-up food pantry that we can bring food to.

Sharon (21:43):

I love that.

Nicole (21:43):

Yes, my girls keep (saying) Oh, we’ve got to bring in food. I love that they’re excited about it. We can volunteer at House of Hope, which is a local place or donate food. Or if you know someone in your neighborhood, I think being involved in our community and knowing what’s happening around us can help us be aware of who has needs and be able to meet them, you know?

Sharon (22:00):

Yes, I agree.

Nicole (22:01):

If they’re not involved in a church or whatever, take care of it.

Sharon (22:03):

Yes, I agree. And it’s one of the neat things about being part of a church family. Your money goes further because you pool it together and then you also have wise people making good decisions about how to spend it. I love that. I really do. And then we send to overseas missionaries and we do things with our church that way as well. And so, anyways, there’s lots of ways to do it. Can you, or I single-handedly feed the hungry of the world completely and make all their bellies full?

Nicole (22:35):

No.

Sharon (22:35):

Not even close. Can we help? Yes. Yes we can.

Nicole (22:40):

Absolutely.

Sharon (22:40):

So I think kind of the same for the thirsty.

Nicole (22:44):

Yeah.

Sharon (22:45):

But I’d also like to twist that just tiny bit and because God says we’re to thirst for him. So how do we steward our time, money, la, la, la and help those that are thirsty for God? How do we do that?

Nicole (22:59):

I think we’d use time and maybe talents. So you could do a Bible study or just take the time to sit with a friend or a neighbor or someone you know, that is thirsty for God. So time seems like a very valuable resource lately. We’ll all so busy.

Sharon (23:14):

It does, doesn’t it?

Nicole (23:14):

But even just sitting down for a little bit with someone, answering those questions about God, like that’s, that’s a real gift.

Sharon (23:19):

It’s a huge gift. It is. Absolutely. And then again, church enables us to support vacation Bible schools and support missionaries and things like that. But I agree in our own backyard as well we need to be looking for who’s thirsty. Every two or three years, I have a Bible study in my neighborhood and it’s called Christianity Explained, and it simply explains Christianity.

Nicole (23:41):

Oh yeah, nice. What a good idea.

Sharon (23:41):

And that is a little way to try to find the thirsty you know? Because they’re the ones that come.

Nicole (23:47):

Absolutely. Oh, that’s good.

Sharon (23:49):

So okay, how about the stranger?

Nicole (23:52):

Hmm. Well, you could take time to show them kindness, I think. So time again, probably there. And then introduce them to friends. Invite them to church.

Sharon (24:01):

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Little things like that. And also just noticing like, if somebody drops all their packages in the grocery store, it’s a little thing, but help them pick it up. Although during COVID, I don’t know. Maybe they wouldn’t think that a kindness. This is such a weird time we’re living in.

Nicole (24:18):

It is a weird time. Although I had a lady chase me out of Aldi’s the other day with a little bag of chips she thought I had dropped. And her leg was in a cast and she was hobbling along.

Sharon (24:25):

No kidding.

Nicole (24:26):

And I was like, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t my bag of chips. I said Oh, thank you. She said, I saw you drop this. I wanted to give it back to you. And I said, thank you so much. And then my girls were like, Mom, she’s so nice. She must love Jesus. I’m like, well, maybe she does.

Sharon (24:43):

Maybe she does. I can’t even…but that’s such a good example. We should have an eye to the stranger because look what that did for us, that little act just made our day.

Sharon (24:50):

Beautiful.

Nicole (24:50):

Free bag of chips.

Sharon (24:51):

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I also think of the stranger and the next one, the naked, as refugees as well, you know, and how do we support those that have been thrown out of their homeland? And one of our missionaries, Heather, in our church works with refugees in Cyprus. And so, a lot of our money and stuff goes there to help the stranger and the naked one.

Nicole (25:13):

That’s wonderful.

Sharon (25:13):

So, and that’s where possessions comes in too, you know? Cause we’re to steward our possessions.

Nicole (25:18):

Yes, right. We can donate stuff.

Sharon (25:21):

We can donate clothing. We can donate extra, I don’t know, plates and cups for people that don’t have much, whatever.

Nicole (25:27):

Yeah, for someone after a fire or something.

Sharon (25:28):

Yes. Yeah. After a fire, bringing stuff, bringing your extra coats, things like that. We need to steward them. That doesn’t mean we hoard them all. It means that we’re sharing. So yeah. How about the sick Nicole? There’s the next one.

Nicole (25:41):

The sick. Drop them off some soup.

Sharon (25:46):

Give them soup.

Nicole (25:46):

Or send flowers or a card. I know now again with COVID you can send things though. There’s so many neat little things, right? You can send like a tin of cookies to someone through websites; even a phone, call, or a text.

Sharon (25:56):

I was just going to say that. Even a text. Something that says, I remembered that you’re sick.

Nicole (26:00):

Yes.

Sharon (26:01):

I have a friend that just had surgery and texted her and said, praying for you. Just so she knows we haven’t forgotten. We were praying on your surgery day.

Nicole (26:10):

And that’s so sweet cause sometimes you feel like the world has moved on without you and you’re just dying in bed.

Sharon (26:15):

I know. And no one cares. It’s so, so neat.

Nicole (26:17):

It does feel good to have that little text.

Sharon (26:18):

And then the imprisoned. How do we help the imprisoned? My goodness this is a long list.

Nicole (26:26):

I know. I haven’t done much to help the imprisoned, but my dad, when I was a little girl, he used to have a prison ministry and he’d go in and talk to the prisoners and read scripture with them and do a little Bible study so I could support him in his going to the prison. I don’t think I’m called to go to the prison.

Sharon (26:41):

Exactly. And that’s okay. I mean we could not sleep, doing all the things. I think the important thing and the message Jesus is saying here is when we see a need and we have the resources we’re to meet it.

Nicole (26:55):

Absolutely.

Sharon (26:56):

We just are. That’s the way it is.

Nicole (26:56):

Well the cool thing is, we’ve talked about how we give money to a church and the church has these different places because we can’t do it all. We rely on each other, brothers and sisters, you might research and know a fantastic organization. I may not have the time, but I have the money.

Sharon (27:10):

Right.

Nicole (27:10):

You might have more time than money. So it’s just so cool how we can all work together to fulfill so many more needs than one person on their own.

Sharon (27:18):

I love it. I really do. I love that about being a part of a church. So here’s a plug. Go to church.

Nicole (27:23):

Find a church. It’s a wonderful place.

Sharon (27:27):

Okay. Well now let’s get back to the reward part of stewardship, again. The reward for stewarding, our time, money, possessions and talents is huge. We get to celebrate with the Master, number one. That’s going to be some party celebrating. Number two, we are welcomed into God’s forever kingdom, eternal life. Hello. That’s pretty good too. And we have to just put a caveat in here. We’re not welcomed in because we fed the poor. We’re welcomed in because of God’s grace in saving us. But the result of a genuine conversion is a desire to make the Master happy. So it comes from our salvation, but we don’t do it to get salvation. That’s just kind of an important point there.

Nicole (28:10):

It’s very important.

Sharon (28:12):

Okay. And number three, interestingly, it seems like we’re going to have responsibilities of some kind in heaven and $67,500 will be nothing. You know? I mean, you know, with all that the five talent guy had the Master said, well, with that small amount now you get something bigger. I have no idea what God’s going to ask us to do in heaven.

Nicole (28:30):

I know, it’s fascinating to think about.

Sharon (28:30):

I can’t even imagine. I just don’t know, but somehow there’s going to be a reward and it’s going to be really big.

Nicole (28:37):

Wow.

Sharon (28:38):

And we’re probably going to be very humbled by it because we’re going to say, but actually we couldn’t have done anything we did without you.

Nicole (28:43):

Right, but you did this through me.

Sharon (28:45):

Yes, yes! Oh man. So,

Nicole (28:48):

It’ll be super exciting to see. Yeah. That’s one of the things I’m really curious about heaven. When I first heard someone talk that we might have jobs or responsibilities there that just makes it even more intriguing. I am really excited to get to heaven, to find out, you know, what God has for us up there too.

Sharon (29:03):

Yes. Yeah. It’s going to be fun. It just is. Okay. One teensy, parable we’re going to squish in at the end because it talks about not hoarding. So Nicole, would you read Luke 12:16-21 before we close?

Nicole (29:15):

Yes. “Then he told them a story. A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, what should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops. Then he said, I know I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, my friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now, take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, you will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for? Yes. A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth, but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Sharon (29:56):

Let’s pray. Oh Father, we come back to relationship with you again and again and again. You want us to know you. You want us to know you as a good master. Father, we want to work for you because you are good. And because we want to be like you. So help us not to hoard, but to share generously from our time and our money and our possessions. All we have, Lord is yours. Teach us how to be good stewards. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Nicole (30:33):

Thanks for joining us as we looked at God’s deep compassion for the hurting among us. Let’s all be very grateful for all we’ve been given and seek God on how we would share it with others in the weeks and years ahead. One thing you could do for us that would help tremendously and would only cost you a couple of minutes of your time. Write a review for us on your favorite podcast app. When you review us, it helps us get seen by more people to learn more about our podcast and our needs visit us anytime and comment @sweetselah.org/podcast. Next week, join us for episode 43. We are calling it Be a Part of the Harvest. Have a sweet week.

Speaker 1 (31:15):

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. Sweet Selah Moments is a co-operative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this Sweet Selah Moments podcast, including show notes, can be found at sweetselah.org and at wordradio.net. Thank you for joining us.