To whom much has been given.
Luke 12:42
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
A first read of these words of Jesus gives a rather harsh look into His thinking.
Or does it?
For one thing, this was a time of slaves and flogging. There was no HR department to complain to, no employment tribunal, and no police to call on to enforce laws of conduct. Even the courts were less than sympathetic if you were ways down the food chain.
A master was a position of huge power. And a steward was often a slave.
Look busy
In contemplating this part, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” It is easy to focus on the possibility of a flogging.
We have seen the meme, “Look, busy guys, Jesus is coming.” (As if he does not already know what we have been doing.)
The “much will be required” part is easy to focus on in a negative sense, like an angry master who wants to give a flogging if he can. Any lack of full duty or service on our part will reward us with condemnation.
This is how easily a poor idea of the nature and character of Jesus or especially our Father can creep into our minds and poison
Let's turn this around.
Yes, there is a call to service: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required,” but there is also a call to prosperity.
“Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time?”
The “much” we have been given is the same much as of Abram.
Gen 12:1-2
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
God blesses Abram so that God will be glorified, and Abram will be blessed, and those around him will be blessed… prosper.
I have some better ideas for us.
The slave given command over the household is also blessed to correctly give to the other slaves what is due and to become an entrepreneur of the master’s household. I would say that the increase he brings to the master’s household is to bless all—the other slaves, the master, and even himself.
Think of it like this: the “required” expected of us does not come from our thread-bare pockets, so we now have nothing. The “required” comes from the greater “much” we have already been given for being over the master’s household.
We get to eat from this “much,” to clothe ourselves from it, find shelter in this “much,” and also bless those we are over in the master’s household with food, shelter, clothing, and prosperity.
Could I suggest that if you have little “much,” it is because you have not yet learned to be a steward in your master’s household?
We all have received something from Jesus.
The greatest thing we have all received from our master is our eternal acceptance and salvation.
This alone is a vast “much.”
How much do you appreciate your reconciled relationship with Father through Jesus?
How much do you enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life and body?
How much do you practice the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life?
Think about what you had before you had the Fruit of the Spirit in your life.
The newest convert now had nine Spirit-empowered fruit.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Here are three amazing “much” you have been given.
Reconciliation
Internal Holy Spirit.
The fruit.
On top of this you also have gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith [d]by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of [e]healing [f]by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the [g]effecting of [h]miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the [i]distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
What have you been gifted with.
How are you using this gift to feed yourself?
How are you using this gift to feed others?
From all these four things and more increase comes in to your life.
Properly stewarded, fruit and gifts they will help you to prosper, but you do not prosper for your own sake, you prosper that you might show the goodness of God, to dispel bad ideas about God, bless others and see our masters household grow.
Yes much is required of us, but that which is required is going to come out of the much we have already been given.
A small aside.
Am I helping you with a website?
You are not an interruption to my work; you are my work.
When you book one-on-one sessions, you are helping me to be a good steward of what God has called me to.
When you make corrections to my seminars, you help everyone.
This is us sharpening each other.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another.