Stewards

by G. Prasher | Category: General | Feb 1943

How much is written concerning stewards in the Scriptures of truth! A steward is one that manages the affairs of another. The affairs to be managed, the business to be controlled, require a person on the spot to give his time, his attention, his ability to the things with which he has been intrusted. The concern may be simple or complex; it may be run with ease, or may be exacting in its demands upon the one who manages it; it may be in matters temporal or in matters spiritual, but whatever the nature of the business there is one outstanding requirement in the steward, namely," It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4.2).

To be caring ostensibly for the affairs of a master and at the same time actually exploiting the business for his own ends is a practice which, alas! is only too frequently in evidence. The selfishness which is innate in the human heart will be sure to assert itself unless the controlling influence of righteousness has its place. "Being filled with all unrighteousness " is the condition in keeping with a reprobate mind (Romans 1. 29); and while the child of God should be far removed therefrom, yet he. requires to be alert against the insidious approaches of an evil nature, and the tendency to seek his own. Of the many things said concerning love is this, that it" seeketh not its own" (1 Corinthians 13.5). How beautifully this was exemplified in God's servant Paul! who could testify: "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved." He stands out in bold contrast to the steward of unrighteousness, who was accused of wasting his lord's goods, see Luke 16.1-18, and note how it is an impossibility to serve two masters.

Paul's Master was in heaven, and he had a stewardship from Him. He was intrusted with the gospel (1 Thessalonians 2.6) which in Galatians 2.7 he terms "the gospel of the uncircumcision," on account of his being sent to the Gentiles with the message; so he says, "we speak; not as pleasing men, but God which proveth our hearts." He was accountable to the Lord as a minister of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God, and he lived before God in all good conscience. There was no thought in this great man's heart that his Master did not see him. He lived before God, and while he knew nothing against himself in his devoted service as a steward, yet such is his humility of mind and heart that he says :-" Yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord." The time of judgement for stewards is when the Lord comes. Therefore he said to the Corinthians, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God" (1 Corinthians 4.1-5).

The responsibility conveyed him in his stewardship led him to make the gospel without charge, adapanos, gratuitous; though free from all, to bring himself. under bondage to all, that he might gain the more; and to become all things to all men, that he by all means might save some. There was no washing of his Master's goods 0n the past of the Apostle, but he suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but offal, the sweepings, that he might gain Christ.

Let us bear well in mind that although we are so small and worthless as to be unworthy of comparison with God's great servant Paul, yet our Master takes account of even the tiny service we may render. Gifts are distributed in keeping with ability, as five talents, two talents, and one talent. " There are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord." It is this Lord who says : "He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is' unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much " (Luke '16.10). What should really concern a steward of God is not the number of talents he has been given, but faithfulness in the use to which he puts his talent or his talents. Let us see to it that we neither dig in the earth and bury our talent, nor ,lay up our pound in a napkin. Let us enter into the business of soul-winning with a zest that will double our pound or talent. Let us remember the query put by our Lord:

"If ye have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?"

Not only is there the solemn responsibility to win souls by preaching the gospel, which caused Paul to exclaim, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel, "but there is also the question of giving the portion of food to those of the household in its due season. The concern of shepherds should be to feed the flock of God, not themselves. They should not be blind mouths, as Milton wrote of certain in his days. "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" (Luke i2. 42, 48). Oh to be blameless, as God's stewards!

Stewardship may be in things temporal as well as spiritual, as we have already remarked, and this is manifestly included in the exhortations of Peter. He says-" Using hospitality one to another without murmuring: according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4. 9, 10). Let us minister then "as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

G. Prasher | Feb 1943
General