Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Luke, Luke Chapter 12, beginning with Verse 35 through Verse 48.
Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning;
and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him.
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them.
And if He shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not have left his house to be broken through.
Be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.
And Peter said, Lord, speakest Thou this parable unto us, or even unto all?
And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath.
But if that servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful.
And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more.
Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians Chapter 4, just Verse 1 and Verse 2.
Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together this morning. We do gather in the name of our beloved Lord, and we fully believe that Thou art faithful, and Thy presence is now with us.
Dear Lord, we do realize that we are standing on holy ground. We will remove our shoes, stand in our rightful place, look up to Thee, and say, “Lord, what hast Thou to say to us? Thy servants are here, listening. Speak, Lord.”
And work until Thy will is done, to the praise of Thy glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together this morning. I always feel that it is a rare opportunity that God’s people, in this day, can come together and seek the face of the Lord together. To me, I always feel it is mercy, and He is merciful to us.
The text of this conference is taken from Luke Chapter 12, Verse 42. Our Lord is here asking a question:
Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
You know, our Lord Jesus oftentimes answered a question with a question. Because actually, here you find it is Peter who is asking a question. Peter said, “Lord, art Thou speaking to us, the apostles? Or art Thou speaking to all?”
And our Lord answered him with another question: “Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom the lord will set over his household to give the measure of corn in season?”
Now, if you read the context, you will find that our Lord Jesus was talking about His return. He is challenging us to gird up our loins and keep our lamps burning, waiting diligently for the Lord coming back from the wedding.
He will come back and knock, and whoever answers the door immediately, the Lord will come in and He will serve them. And the Lord said, if you know when the thief is coming, you will be watchful, and you will not allow him to come without notice.
So, when our Lord was using this parable, Peter asked the question, “Whom are You referring to? Do You mean that we, the apostles, are the stewards of the mysteries of God? Do You mean that we are to keep ourselves always ready, alert, watchful, waiting; and when You come back, we open the door immediately? Or are You referring this to the multitude, those people who are here listening?”
And our Lord Jesus gave him the answer with another question. I think if you read the question and the parable that follows, it is evident that what our Lord Jesus is referring to is not just the apostles; it is to all.
Every one of the redeemed—we are all stewards of the household of God. And we are all supposed to be always ready, always watching, always waiting; never, in any sense, let up, go to sleep, or even beat our fellow bondmen and get drunk.
Brothers and sisters, here is something that is applied to every one of us here. As was presented last night, we are in the last days. The Lord has promised that He is coming, and His coming is imminent. He may come at any time.
He may come in the second watch, which is from nine o’clock in the evening till midnight; or He may come in the third watch, which is from midnight till three o’clock in the morning. He may come at any time.
Brothers and sisters, I believe we all believe in the coming of our Lord Jesus. As we look around the world, as we look upon the situation in which we are living today, as our brothers say, it is a dangerous day, a day of testing, of trials. Things cannot be worse than what we have experienced in our days.
The end is approaching. The Lord is able to come at any moment. Some people feel that the Lord will not come until certain signs are fulfilled. May I tell you that all the signs that foretell the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled.
There are still signs to be fulfilled, but they will be at the coming, after the coming of the Lord. Strictly speaking, dear brothers and sisters, we are approaching midnight. He may come at any moment. It may be today. Thank God if it is today.
But are we ready? Are we girded up spiritually? Is the lamp within us burning? Or do we think that the Lord has delayed His coming?
“He will not be coming now. It may be ten years from now. There is plenty of time till we get ready.” So now you just go on with your own lives, seeking the things that you think are important to you, hoping that at the right moment you wake up and He comes.
What did our Lord Jesus say? He said, at the time that you think He delays, at the time that you know not of, He comes.
So, brothers and sisters, we do feel the urgency of our time. We do not have much time left for us to fulfill the stewardship that He has given to us.
If that is the case, do you think that it is time for us to wake up and really mean business with the Lord, surrender our whole being to Him, no longer live for our petty place, but live daily for Him, waiting for Him, doing His bidding, being faithful, and knowing His will?
So that is the reason why we feel very much burdened with this matter of spiritual stewardship.
God willing, I would like to share with you, dear brothers and sisters, this morning, very simply, the steward and his responsibility. If we still have time, we will share next time on the stewardship.
I want to ask you, brothers and sisters, a question: Does God need stewards?
Our God is the Almighty God. He is the One who created the universe. He is not only the One who is able to create, but He is able to manage.
Not only was our Lord Jesus entrusted with the creation of the universe; all things were created in Him, by Him, and for Him. But the Bible also tells us that all things subsist in Him. In other words, after they are created, they are being held together by Him.
He manages the universe. He is the Lord of the universe. He is in full control. He does not need any help. He knows everything.
You remember, the Bible tells us that two sparrows cost a penny; but if you have two pennies, you can get five sparrows. In other words, the fifth one is added without any cost. It is worthless.
And yet, our Lord Jesus said that if your heavenly Father does not permit, not even that sparrow will fall to the ground. How many hairs do you have on your head? Who has counted them? But our God has not only counted your hairs; He has numbered your hairs. And when you were combing your hair this morning, number so-and-so fell off.
Do you think He needs to do it? I feel He has no need for stewards, for managers, to manage things for Him, because He is well able to do everything without anybody else. And in a sense, if somebody else comes and helps, he gives Him more trouble.
You know, brothers and sisters, have you thought about this? Does God need any steward to manage His household, His estate? I believe we all know that He does not need it. But He does it. Now, why is it so? Because this is just like Him.
Our God is love. And because He is love, He wants to give. Because He loves, He wants to draw people near. Because He loves, He wants to have people share with Him—not only in His blessing, but also in His responsibility. Think of that.
We think more of blessing. I believe everybody wakes up and says, “Lord, bless me, because without Your blessing, I cannot go through this day.” And it is true.
But do we ever think, when we wake up in the morning, and say, “Lord, what responsibility do You want to share with me, that I should do in order to fulfill Your heart, Your desire?”
Probably we never say such a thing, never even think of such a thing, because we think, “Well, He is Almighty, all-sufficient, El Shaddai, so let Him do everything. We just enjoy and enjoy and enjoy, and be selfish and self-centered and live for ourselves.”
Brothers and sisters, has the Holy Spirit ever reminded us that God wants us to be like Him? He wants us to take up not only His life, but also His character. This is the will of God.
And because He is the One who always wants to share, therefore He calls for stewards to His household, to manage His estate, as if it depends upon us. Is that not marvelous?
Brothers and sisters, I feel that blessing is marvelous. Who does not want blessing? The more, the better.
But do we ever think that responsibility is something more than blessing? Or may I put it another way? It is the blessing of all blessings that God should draw us to share His work with Him, to share His responsibility with Him, to bring about, as it were, the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.
What a privilege. What an honor that He has bestowed upon us. And unfortunately, dear brothers and sisters, how we fail Him.
After God created man in the Garden of Eden, as the Bible says, He created man in His own image, after His likeness. And immediately after He created them, He also said, “Let man have dominion over the fowls of the air, the living things on earth, and the fishes of the sea.”
Is it not from the very beginning of creation that God has made His mind known to us? Why is it that God should create man in His own image, after His likeness? He has never done that to any other creature—only to man. Why? Because He wants to share His life with man.
The mountains cannot receive His life; they manifest His magnitude, His power. The animals cannot receive His life; they depend upon Him for their livelihood. It is only man, who is created after God’s image, who has the capacity to receive the very life of God into his life.
But giving that life to man means something. It means that you are to have dominion over what God has created. God created it all by Himself, but God wants to govern it with man. This is what God purposed in the very beginning.
But unfortunately, man failed God. Instead of having dominion over the created things for God, to subdue and bring everything back to the will of God, to the feet of Christ, man himself succumbed to temptation and himself failed, sinned against God.
Not only did man fail, in a sense, to help God; he created more trouble for God. That is what we are. But thank God, He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Once His mind is made up, no matter what happens, He will see it through gloriously.
So, you know what our God did? He sent His only beloved Son into this world to be a man. This is the great mystery: the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, God’s purpose for man has never changed. Man has failed God, but God never fails man. What He has in His heart to do, He will do it.
So He sent His beloved Son into this world to be a man. And as a man, how He fulfilled His stewardship! All through His life, He gave Himself totally to God. He took upon Himself the form of a bondslave. He was obedient to God even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
On the cross of Calvary, He shouted, “It is finished.” The mission is fulfilled. What God has entrusted to man is now made possible. It has been proven and demonstrated in the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And having put His life in us—the life of the Son of God, the Son of Man—He has made every provision for us to fulfill our stewardship. Is that not marvelous, brothers and sisters?
When you look into 1 Corinthians Chapter 4, here you find the letter of Paul to the Corinthian believers. In Verse 1, he said, “Let a man so account of us, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
Now, when you read this verse, it may give you the impression that the stewardship of the mysteries of God is limited to the apostles, or to those who are called to work for Him. Because we know that 1 Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul.
But he did not write this letter alone. He always tried to draw in someone who was staying with him, together sending out this letter. It is so much like God in the life of Paul.
So, if you read the first chapter, the beginning of the letter, he said, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.” Here you find the Apostle Paul, and there you find Brother Sosthenes.
At least Sosthenes was working for God. So here you find he said, “Let a man so account of us.” At least it refers to the two of them. And as you read 1 Corinthians, you know that the “us” here is really more than Paul and Sosthenes, because he mentioned Apollos, he mentioned Peter, and he mentioned other people.
In other words, when we first read this, we may think that stewardship is given only to the apostles and those specially called by God, and that they are the stewards of the mysteries of God. But this is not so.
Why is it? Because when you come to Ephesians Chapter 3, we read from Verse 9 through Verse 11:
And to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things;
to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God,
according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, it is true: the mystery of God, which is Christ, was revealed to the prophets and apostles, because it is a mystery. Those brothers and sisters, God has mysteries—secrets. Do you have secrets? God has secrets.
And He has kept His secret so well that it was formed in Him before the foundation of the world. Before He created the heavens and the earth, in eternity past, when God alone existed by Himself, He had a secret.
And that secret is made according to His good pleasure. In other words, His secret does not come from anywhere else, because there was nobody else. His secret comes from Himself, and this is His good pleasure.
In other words, it pleases Him. That is the thing that He likes. And He formed the secret even before the foundation of the world. And it is upon this secret, this mystery, that He began to work all things.
All His counsels are based upon this secret. And this secret, we call it the eternal purpose of God. You know, God has a purpose, and He made that purpose before He did anything. Everything that He does is according to that purpose.
And He will see to it that His purpose will be fully realized, so that He may be glorified. Brothers and sisters, here you find we are touching something tremendous.
You know, we often are so limited, so small, and everything we touch is just me and mine: I, my family, my things. That is all we have.
But our God is infinite. He is rich—the unsearchable riches of Christ. So here you find God has a secret in His heart. It is so dear to Him. It means everything to Him. He wants to see that secret finally become a reality.
And He is working. From eternity through time, He is working, and He is working toward that purpose.
And brothers and sisters, just think: if you are to be connected with the secret of God, if you are being drawn into that eternal purpose of God, brothers and sisters, we cannot contain ourselves.
Why should we be so bothered with our petty self, knowing that He has called us into something tremendous, infinite, even the very purpose of God, even His heart’s desire? And we are involved in it.
Now, will you please forget your petty little plan and get into His immense plan, that God may be satisfied? Think of that. Brothers and sisters, I do not know how to contain myself.
God, from the day of His creation, is working out His purpose, even though it has been frustrated time and again.
Even in the former world, the angels, the spirits He created—how Lucifer and one-third of the angelic host rebelled against His purpose. But He did not give up. He worked further on.
As a matter of fact, to Him every seeming failure is a step forward. That is the way God works. He created man a little lower than angels, and yet destined to be above angels. But man fell into the hand of the fallen angel, Satan.
How, through our Lord Jesus, He redeemed man. He redeemed us—worth nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing—and yet He gave us His own life.
He sees to it that our life will grow, not just babes in Christ. This is not God’s purpose for us. He wants us to grow in that life, from little children in Christ Jesus, to young people in Christ Jesus, to fathers in Christ Jesus.
Why? Why grow? Why spiritual growth? Why not stay in babyhood?
Probably, to many of us, as we recall, we like our babyhood more than any other time. What if I remained a baby for a hundred years? Would that not be wonderful? I have no responsibility, always helped, always supplied, always taken care of; and whatever I want, I just cry and get it.
But why is that not God’s purpose? Oh, brothers and sisters, may we be purpose-oriented and not need-oriented. As long as we are need-oriented, we remain babes. We have to outgrow it.
And God wants us to grow into sons and daughters. Why? That we may be placed as sons. Sonship and stewardship are connected, closely related.
The more you grow in Christ Jesus, the more His character is built in you; the more you are able to have a greater part in that mystery of God; the more you are able to serve Him in the right way, instead of doing disservice to Him.
Through the apostles and the prophets, the secret is now made known to us. And after we have known this secret, what shall we do?
The Bible says even the principalities and authorities will learn wisdom, the manifold wisdom of God, through the church, the body of Christ.
We often say that angels are more intelligent than we are, and that is true. But do you know we can be more intelligent than the angels? Even the angels have to learn from us—the manifold wisdom of God.
You know, in 1 Peter Chapter 1, it tells the same thing. Not only were the prophets looking into this salvation that Christ has prepared for us, but even the angels desired to know: how can fallen men, lower than angels, fallen even lower, and yet God can raise them up, put life in them, give character to them, give them responsibility, and enable them by the grace of God even to fulfill their stewardship?
That is the manifold wisdom of God. The angels never had that, and they are looking at the church to see how the church reveals even this to the angels. Oh, brothers and sisters, is that not all too marvelous for us?
So here you find, even though Paul and Sosthenes are considered as stewards of the mysteries of God, because they have passed this mystery on to us, the church, the body of Christ, every member of the body of Christ—therefore, brothers and sisters, this stewardship is to us all.
Do not forget your stewardship.
I believe, brothers and sisters, last year when we were here together, we talked about this matter of spiritual sonship. And if you have really heard it, I believe that throughout the year you want to grow to be sons.
You want to be placed as sons by your heavenly Father. You desire that He will notice you, pay attention to you, always think of you, helping you to see that you really grow up into sons, that He may place you as sons into that responsibility of His.
But do you know? Sonship and stewardship are inseparable.
Son speaks of life: divine life, spiritual life, the life of Christ. Steward speaks of service, responsibility. Sonship may speak of privilege; stewardship speaks of responsibility. And these two things always go together.
The Apostle Paul shows us how we can be stewards of the mysteries of God. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 4, Verse 1: “Let a man so account of us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
In other words, you find that before this matter of stewards, he put this matter of servants first. We are both. But if you are not a servant, you cannot be a steward.
Now, we know that in the New Testament, in the Greek, there are several words used to describe a servant. Some words used there mean bondman—you are a slave.
Now, we do not want to be slaves. But thank God, when you come to the family of God, we want to be slaves. We are slaves: bondslaves, love slaves.
And this word “servant” here is a special word. In the original, the background of this word is “under-rower.”
You know, in the old days, you did not have steam engines or steamboats. So all these ships, boats, galleys—they were rowed in order to go anywhere.
So here you find it is as if there is a boat, a ship, and there are a number of people rowing this boat. And they are called under-rowers, because in the old days those rowers were usually slaves, chained down at the bottom of the boat.
And they were there, rowing the boat. Whenever the boat wanted to go anywhere, they had to row it. And they were under the command of one who was beating the drum.
And when he beats the drum, then you row together, so that you will all be in unison. There will be no discord, because if you row this way and row that way, the boat goes nowhere. So they have to row as one, under the command of the person at the drum.
Their position is very low. They are way below the sailors. They are slaves, with no liberty of their own, and they are completely under command.
And then the boat will go, maybe from Europe to Asia or somewhere else, and do the job.
So, brothers and sisters, who are we? So far as our life is concerned, we are sons—oh, daughters of God. Wonderful. But at the same time, we are slaves, bought with a price.
We are love slaves. We do not want to go out free. We love our Master and His household.
We are both sons and under-rowers. That is what we are.
Just as our Lord Jesus, He is the Son of God, and yet He took upon Himself the form of a bondslave. Only a son-servant can fulfill stewardship.
Christ is the Son-Servant. He fulfilled the stewardship, and by His grace, we, as sons, too, are able to fulfill our stewardship.
So, brothers and sisters, after receiving the life of Christ, yes, after His love has called us and constrained us, have we really surrendered voluntarily, willingly, fully, and absolutely, as we know how, to our Lord Jesus as our Commander, as our Lord?
So that we may row together under His command, in unison. If there is anything in any one of us thinking that he is master of himself, you spoil the purpose of God. You can never row together under command.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we have a tremendous responsibility.
Where are we?
You know, in Luke Chapter 16, we find the parable of the unrighteous steward. The steward of the household wasted away the property of the master.
You know, a steward usually does not own the property. The property is so immense. You know, Abraham, if you read the Old Testament, had so many sheep, so much cattle, so many possessions, that he had a chief steward to manage his affairs.
Now, a steward is one who manages the affairs and the estate of the household of his master. He does not own the property, but he manages it according to the will of the master. Everything is supplied by the master.
He is supposed to be faithful and prudent in dispensing the food in measure and in season.
But this unrighteous steward used his master’s property to benefit himself. He is an unrighteous steward. And one day the reckoning will come.
So, brothers and sisters, if we are not faithful in what He has entrusted to us today, as the Bible says, who will give more to you? Who will give what is yours to you?
This is the time—the only time—that we can prove our stewardship. If we do not do it now, when the Lord shall return and He reckons with us, the time is gone. The opportunity is gone.
So thank God, brothers and sisters, we do not know how long our time will be, but we know that as long as it is today, He desires that we should be faithful and prudent.
Faithful in the sense of giving our all to it; prudent in the sense of knowing the mind of the Master.
In the Bible, you find many parables that are connected with this. For instance, you have in Luke Chapter 19 the nobleman who was going away to receive his kingdom, and he gave his property to his ten bondslaves. Everyone got a mina.
And a mina is about one-sixtieth of a talent. They are given equally, because the mina here speaks of the grace of God. In the family of God, the grace of God is entrusted to every one of us equally.
You may think certain brothers and sisters seem to receive more grace than I do. Not so. So far as grace is concerned, it is equal. Why is it that some people manifest more grace and other people do not? It depends upon your faithfulness.
We are all given one mina. But some gained ten minas, some five minas, and some just one mina, because they were lazy. They wrapped it up in a handkerchief, no sweating, put it in the earth, thinking that they had kept all, but they lost all.
And then you find also, in Matthew Chapter 25, the talents. Three servants: one received five talents, one two talents, one one talent. In other words, there it speaks of gifts. God gives gifts according to our capacity.
And if we do according to our capacity, “Well done. Come and enjoy the joy of the Lord.” But the one with one buried his talent. How many of God’s people today bury their talent? What a pity.
So, you get the words: when you read Matthew Chapter 24, you find the same parable as Luke Chapter 12. “Who,” our Lord said, “is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the Master has set over His household, to give the corn in measure, in season?”
The same person can be the wicked one. The same person can be the faithful one. It all depends on how you respond to it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we are all stewards. He has entrusted Himself to us, according to our capacity, and yet we all are responsible. Are we faithful and wise in managing His affairs?
If so, when He shall come back, we will welcome Him with joy. We will hear the voice: “Good, faithful and prudent servant. Come and enjoy the joy of the Lord.”
But if we are not, the discipline will be severe. God disciplines His children. He does not punish us; He disciplines us.
If we do not receive discipline today, when He shall return, there will still be discipline. And if you read the Scripture, you will find it can be very severe: cut in two, as if you are an unbeliever.
But that does not mean you will lose your salvation. You will lose the kingdom, the thousand years of reigning and ruling with Christ.
But thank God, God never fails. When eternity shall come, all will be restored. All will be faithful and prudent servants. His name will be upon their foreheads, and they shall see Him in everlasting glory.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we do want to praise and thank Thee. How great, how marvelous, how wonderful, how glorious is Thy purpose—and that Thou shouldst involve us.
Oh, Lord, do not allow us to be complacent. Do not allow us to sit back.
We pray, Lord, that the girding of our loins and that our lamps may be burning, and at Thy knocking, immediately we open the door. Welcome. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.