THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST UK

NATIONAL YOUTH CONFERENCE 2015

SPEAKER: DR PETER OHENE KYEI

THURSDAY, JULY 30th 2015

YOUR RESOURCESSTEWARDSHIP OF

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS MATTHEW 25:14-31

• A talent is a special natural endowment that is invested into our lives for the purpose of yielding profit. It is not something we can acquire.

• The Master gave his servants 5 – 2 – 1 talents respectively. One talent was equivalent to 10,000 denarii.

• BUT: Talents are not only limited to money. They include valuable resources that God has invested into our lives:• Natural gifts and abilities that each of us has been endowed with

like sports, Persuasive Speech, Good Voice, logical presentation, love for numbers, etc.

• Spiritual Gifts given by the Holy Spirit 1Cor.12:4-11; Rom 12:6-8

TALENTS

• Ability refers to our level of competence and what we are able to do or handle. Ability is the possession of power or skill in some area of your life.

• We have to develop our abilities and skills to meet Gods talents and abilities

• The MASTER gave his servants the talents according to their ABILITIES – showing the different competencies of the three servants.

• They were to do business/trade with the talents (negotiating for, buying and selling or bartering commodities, ideas or services. To give up what you have for what you need.

• They were to make PROFIT. God is interested in Profit. He is GAIN-ORIENTED and PROFIT-ORIENTED. He expects more than He initially invested:

• The First servant immediately went to Trade with his talents

• The Second servant also did the same

• The Third servant dug the ground and buried his Talent

ABILITY:

• “To everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance;

•But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away”

•When we fail to utilise our talents properly through irresponsible actions, we lose what we have to those who have already made gains.

JESUS’ CONCLUSION (MATTHEW 25:29)

• There was unequal opportunities among the servants. On the surface, it may appear that the MASTER:

• Favoured some to the detriment of the last servant

• Was discriminatory

• If this is so, then we may assume that if a person was born to poor parents he/she is doomed to be poor!

• That is FATALISTIC THINKING

• It discounts the power of the human will to CHOOSE creative responses to the different situations we face.

CHALLENGES WITH THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE TALENTS:

The master called his own servants and gave them talents according to their ability to do business or work with the talents till he comes. The talents were his own resources given to his own servants.

The following are identified in this parable:

1) SERVANT: Servanthood involves rendering of basic services and the person who renders the services is the servant. Servants usually occupy the lowest position in a home or their place of employment and their rights are limited.

LESSONS FROM THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

• A Servant performs very basic and usually menial duties for his/her master.

• He/she accepts tasks without complaining or grumbling and complies with the demands of his/her master.

• Servants are expected to work hard for a minimal fee and sometimes without reward.

• Any favours for servants are at the discretion of their master/mistress

PORTRAIT OF A SERVANT

Stewardship involves rendering of services from a higher position with the support of other servants.

• A Steward is someone who manages property or other affairs for someone else, rendering account directly to his master/mistress

• Biblical examples of stewards include:• Joseph – Gen 39:4 – “Potiphar put him in charge of his household”

• Eliezer - Gen 24:2 – “…. the one in charge of all that he had”

• (Gen 15:1-2)

• In 1Corinthians 4:1-2, the two are combined.

STEWARDSHIP

STEWARD VERSUS SERVANTProgression of Status

NOBODY SERVANT FRIEND STEWARD

• All Stewards are Servants but not all Servants are Stewards

• A servant must progress into the trustworthy position of a friend before he can be assigned stewardship.

• Stewards have greater responsibilities with other servants in their charge or care.

GOD’S OWNERSHIP OF US•We are God’s creation and we belong to Him

•GOD has the right or control over our property and our very selves.

•He is the Master and we owe all allegiance to Him.

•God the Creator has absolute rights of ownership over ALL things

•Our ability to fully grasp the concept of God’s ownership and imbed it in our hearts will make us understand the doctrine of stewardship better

LAW OF RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP:• ‘Nothing truly belongs to us: EVERYTHING actually belongs to God’

• Christ is the Lord of all life including our gifts and possessions.

• PSALM 24:1-2 - “The earth is the Lord’s and Everything in it. The World and all its People belong to Him. For He laid the earth’s Foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths”

• HAGGAI 2:8 - “The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies”

• PSALM 104:29 - “You hide your Face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust”.

MAN IS UTTERLY DEPENDENT ON GOD FOR EVERY BREATH HE DRAWS

• I CORINTHIANS 4:1-2 - This is how you should regard us, as servants of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required of stewards that they are found trustworthy.

CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP“Christian stewardship is the practice of systematic and proportionate giving of time, abilities, material possessions and all God’s gifts to us based on the conviction that these are trust from God, to be used in his service for the benefit of all mankind in grateful acknowledgement of Christ’s redeeming love” JOHN HAGGAI

CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP• Is our obedient witness to God’s sovereignty

•Motivates the follower of Christ to move into action and do the deeds that manifest his belief in Christ

•Acknowledges the Lordship of God through Christ and accepts that we do not have the right or control over our property or ourselves.

• Therefore expresses our total obedience to God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

THE REALITY• Servant – Kofi 5 Talents

• Servant – Ama 2 Talents

• Servant- Kwame 1 Talents

• Discriminatory? Why not 5 Talents for all – ABILITIES DIFFER!!!

• Why did KWAME refuse to do business or trade with his?

• he might have felt he had been put at a disadvantage right from the start?

• Or he might have thought he had no way of catching up with the others or turning what he had into anything useful?

• (Assuming 1Talent was £1,000)

• Servant Kofi had £5,000.00; Servant Ama had £2,000.00 and Servant Kwame had £1,000.00

• Kwame could be justified in his conclusion that his master had no confidence in him. If he accepts that conclusion, he remain in his disadvantaged position and it will continue like that ; it won’t work, once poor always a poor person – DEFEATIST MINDSET

STAND UP AGAINST THE DEFEATIST MINDSET

ONLY GOD CAN GET YOU THERE…BUT YOU MUST:

INTRODUCTION OF VALUE BY THE DOT

WE DON’T BEGIN LIFE ON THE SAME LEVEL PLAYING FIELD (THERE IS UNEQUAL START):• Your Parents

• Your Birth Location

• Birth Experience

• Environment Of Birth

• Inheritance From Parents

• Physical Traits E.G. Structure; Health Status; Skin Colour; Height Etc.

•BUT YOU CAN MOVE THE DOT!!!• JOSEPH moved the DOT till he went to the Palace and assumed his new position as the Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister. • From the Pit to a Slave & Steward in Potiphar’s house to Leader in Prison to the Palace as Deputy Prime Minister to Serving the Whole World – Saving Lives!

REASONS FOR JOSEPH’S SUCCESS IN MOVING THE DOT• He knew his God

• He consistently lived for God

• He did not complain in the midst of life’s difficulties (no pity parties)

• He made the right choices

• BUT everything belongs to God; we owe nothing. He gives them to us to develop them for great Profit to serve God, His Church and society at large.

According to 1Peter 4:10-11 (NIV):

• “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Christ. To him be the glory and the power.”

OUR VOCATION• As Christians, we are stewards of the resources God gives us for

serving the human community. Our vocations are one avenue for doing God’s work in the world. All forms of work are participation in God’s work. For Stewardship, there is no separation between work and life. We are responsible for both.

• Martin Luther insisted:• “All forms of work are God-honouring callings e.g. Farmer,

a craft man or artist etc. are just as much a vocation, a calling from God as a preacher”

• When Christians do “secular” work, they function as salt and light in the world (Matt. 5:13-16). As salt and light at the work place serving with integrity through the skills/abilities acquired.

FINANCE• The first century Christians believed they were on earth to serve

Christ and were being blessed with material possessions to help others.

• The Macedonian Believers Generously gave their resources to expand the Kingdom (2Corinthians 8:1-7

• A man’s money is at the centre of his being. When he gives his money, he gives his life.

• But God gives these financial resources to us to serve His Church and society as follows:

• Being a Faithful Thither – 10% of your income (non negotiable). Tithes are Funds in this world managed by God Himself and not any Bank or investment Consultant.

EXAMPLE OF NOTED TITHERS:• William Colgate (shaving cream, tooth paste etc.). He started

tithing in his youth – 1/10th. Then 2/10th , then 3/10th … 5/10th . Then he saved enough to live on and gave all his income as Tithes.

• John D. Rockefeller: One of the richest men who ever lived began tithing at the age of 8. He said:

• “I have tithed every dollar that God has entrusted to me and I want to say to you that I would never have tithed on my first million if I had not tithed on my first salary which was $1.50 a week”

SERVE GOD WITH YOUR MONEY

• “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of Gods’ varied grace” (Proverbs 3:9-10).

• Feed the hungry

• Cloth the unclothed

• Educate the uneducated

• Bring healing to the diseased

• Bring smiles back to the faces of sad people

• Empower people with your Finance.

• Serve the Church and society with all the resources God has entrusted to your care.

• Always remember:

…“Not by Might, nor by Power but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty”(Zachariah 4:6).

…NOT BY MIGHT NOR BY POWER (ZECHARIAH 4:6)It is TIME to TRAVAIL IN PRAYER, to break the Status quo and take hold of your FUTURE AS A STEWARD TO SERVE YOUR GENERATION

…As soon as ZION TRAVAILED she brought forth (Isaiah 66:7-8).

• WHEN YOU BECOME RELENTLESS IN YOUR PURSUIT FOR GOD…YOUR PRIORITIES WILL CHANGE… YOU WILL BECOME DRIVEN BY GOD’S VISION FOR YOUR LIFE. (Philippians 3:7-10)

• THE DISCIPLES TRAVAILED FOR 10 DAYS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT FELL (Acts 2:1-3)

THESE MEN HAD BEEN WITH JESUS (ACTS 4:13). THIS IS YOUR TIME!!