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Sermon Summary. This is the last sermon in the series on stewardship. As a reminder, all that we have and are, is from the Lord. “God has everything, everything belongs to him.” The Lord blesses us, and the blessing is with a reason and for a purpose. We are blessed to be a blessing to others. As stewards, we are entrusted with the things of God. He expects us to utilize them to bear fruit in the lives of others and to bear fruit for his kingdom. In this parable, we see the master departs for a while and leaves things entrusted to his servants. Some of the servants recognize that what they have is the Lord’s and they seek to grow it. One hides his blessing. We see that this is not satisfactory to the master. What we have from God is to used in service to others. God is not pleased in this parable, nor is he pleased in our lives when we don’t use what he gives us. We must use what the Lord gave us. And, as in the parable, if we don’t use it to bless others, the Lord may pass it along to another who will. Use what he gave us . . . use it or lose it.
Christ’s Departs and Entrusts (v13-15). Christ is returning; this is the context of this text and parable. Like Christ, the master is leaving and entrusting us, his servants with some things.
•How do we feel about Christ returning and entrusting us with his labor? What does this mean about how we spend our time on behalf of ministry?
•Review some of the following verses to reflect on some of the spiritual things God entrusts us with the Gospel (1 Cor 4:1, Galatians 2:7, 1 Thess 2:4, 1 Timothy 1:11, 1 Timothy 6:20, Titus 1:3) we are entrusted with God’s work (Titus 1:7), we are entrusted with people (1 Peter 5:3), entrusted with the faith (Jude 1:3)
•What do we think about the fact that some received more than others? Why does God do this?
The Three Stewards. Now, each of these servants . . . each of us have the things that God has entrusted into our care. What will we do them?
• How did the first two servants move based on what the Lord had \ provided?
• How did the third respond?
• Do we respond either of these ways? Why?
The Master and The Good Stewards. Christ is returning . . . just as this master returned. How will we be received with what we have done?
• Look at the responses of the stewards. What did the first two seem to embrace that the bad steward didn’t? What does it mean to be entrusted?
• Why does the Lord provide us with blessings? Is it important to the Lord that we produce?
The Master and the Bad Steward. The bad steward responds differently. He did not bear any fruit with what the Lord had provided. We don’t want to be in this situation.
•What did the man do with his talents? Do we ever do this?
•What did the man say caused him to hide his talents? Do we ever operate out of fear?
The Consequences. We would hope that God would be gracious to us in this situation. He sometimes is but . . . God is particular about how we use what he gave us. We need to pay attention.
•How does the master reply to the servant? Do we feel like it is harsh to be referred to as wicked and lazy? Nonetheless, this is what he master said.
•The master says “at least get me some interest.” Do we remember that even when things look hard or fearful, we always have something to give to the Lord? This is what it means to have “mustard seed” faith.
•The sermon talked about use it or lose it. Why do we think the master took from the one with the one talent and gave it to the busiest servant? Remember, the Lord is looking for us to bear fruit.
