![]() The one with the two talents, he gains the two more. We have good stewardship on display with the one who had received the five talents he goes at once, no procrastination, focuses on the talents and he gains five more. I'm not going back through the parable, but you saw what happened. These are the basic ingredients of stewardship.įriends, we are all stewards, aren't we? Of so many things, so many rich blessings. The servants must give an account back to the master what they did with the things entrusted. The property is entrusted to the servant, is given over to the servant to be managed in the absence of the master. His property, everything in the parable is his, it all belongs to him. He's going on a journey, the master is going to be away for a key period of time, so the servants are going to be able to function without him visibly right there. ![]() ![]() You have servants who are owned by the master and are accountable to him. It says in verse 14, “it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.” So, you have this master and he's the owner. You have a master who has authority and is the owner of all things. I said last week that in Matthew 25:14-15, the greatest single-focused verse or two verses on the essentials of stewardship, all of the basic ingredients of stewardship are there. Now by way of review, you've known the reading of the parable of the talents is rich and full. In the context of this statement, this one verse, verse 21, also verse 23, same verse, is the parable of the talents that we looked at in detail last week. It is a life that God will richly reward by grace on Judgment Day." Today, we're going to zero in on the concept of eternal rewards, heavenly rewards for being good stewards of the grace that God has entrusted to us. According to Paul in Romans 2, "This and this alone is the only way to live your whole life. We want to be immortal, that is, we want to live forever. It's a life that's characterized by, as he puts it, "Persistence in doing good, seeking glory, honor, and immortality." Clearly, since immortality is not something we seek for God, these are self-referential things. But for those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." Paul then describes the kind of life that leads to eternal life. Romans Chapter 2:7-8 says, "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. It's actually sinful not to yearn for it and long for it. It's of the essence of the life that God has implanted in our hearts, in our souls. What are you going to do with the fact that most knowledgeable Christians if you ask them and say, "What is the one thing you'd want on Judgment Day?" It would be this, "To hear these words from Christ, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'" Is it wrong to yearn for that? Is it wrong to yearn for praise from Jesus? Actually, amazingly, the Scripture says, not only is it not wrong, but we must also yearn for it. So, we might immediately try to distance ourselves from that drive to be praised, that drive for glory. It is essentially idolatrous in the non-Christian because it's not connected in any way with the glory of God and faith in Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Why is that? I think it's because inside each one of us is a yearning for glory and recognition, for honor and praise. Napoleon said these motivate men more than just about anything he knew. He reflected back over his amazing military career and the immense sacrifices that soldiers had made to win him an empire, and he uttered some famous words, "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon." Medals of honor, medals of valor, medals of glory, medals of achievement, medals of bravery, medals of service. As Napoleon was talking with the captain of the Bellerophon, the ship that would carry him to his exile, he was in a pensive and somewhat ironic mood. His soldiers were fanatically loyal to him, were willing to trudge across the bitter snows of Russia to win him an empire. The Napoleonic Wars resulted in the deaths of perhaps as many as six million human beings. He had led armies of over 600,000 men, he had won battles in Egypt and throughout Europe, and at one point controlled most of continental Europe. ![]() This is a man that had thrown the world into turmoil for 20 years. Helena, which is in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, 700 miles from the nearest landfall, several thousand miles from coastlines of Africa or South America, just in the middle of the ocean. He was being exiled to the tiny volcanic island of St. On July 15th, 1815, the defeated former Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, boarded the British warship, the HMS Bellerophon, and was being sent to his final earthly destination.
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