Undertaker Or Risk-Taker?

Even the money you give to God is His in the first place. When Solomon built the Temple in the Old Testament, the people came and gave financial gifts for the cost of the construction, exactly what we are doing. Notice what Solomon prayed as He offered this money to God: “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things...but who am I, and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (I Chronicles 29:12-13) I give thanks to God for the generosity you have shown over the past few years as we built this worship center, but we need to understand we were only giving back to God that which has come from His hand.

Now, you may be scratching your head wondering why God asks us to give to back to Him, why doesn’t He just keep it for Himself in the first place? The answer is twofold: First, He wants us to be blessed by the joy of giving to Him, and, second, He is blessed when we sacrifice to Him.

When my daughters were little, I took them Christmas shopping and I would give them a certain amount of money to spend on Christmas gifts. The money was not theirs, they hadn’t earned it, I gave it them. They would use the money I gave them to buy me a Christmas gift. Now, I could have said, “Instead of giving you $20 to buy me a present, I’ll just keep the money and buy something for myself.” No, I wanted to give them the opportunity to be blessed by buying me something. And on Christmas morning, when I unwrapped their gift to me (that they bought with my money) I was blessed, too! It’s the same with God.

As you read the parable, you may be confused about WHY the Master gave one servant $5,000, another $2,000, and another $1,000. You may object, “It’s not fair!” The Bible says the Master gave to the servants, “according to their ability.” The Lord knows some people have been blessed with a greater ability to serve Him, so He has entrusted with them more treasure. God knows the potential ability of each of us, and He gives us gifts according to those abilities. If you have been blessed financially, it’s because has seen in you the ability to produce more for Him. Our job is not to complain if someone has been given more than us, it’s to make the most out of what we have been given. So, it’s not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice. The next lesson is:

2. WE’RE MANAGERS OF GOD’S TREASURE (NOT OWNERS)–WE WILL GIVE A FINAL ACCOUNT

It this parable, the Master gives money to the three servants and then He leaves for a foreign country. It is implied He expected the servants to manage the money in such a way that when He returned, the money would have increased. Upon His return, He required each servant to give Him a full account of how they managed His money while He was gone. That’s what is happening right now, Jesus has left planet earth to return to heaven, and He has given you some of His treasure to manage. One day He will return and we will have to report to Him about how well we managed His treasure.