Being Good Stewards, Money, and the Parables of Jesus

This quarter the church is studying about being good stewards. The first thing we think about is money. We must indeed be good stewards with money. We are also being instructed to save your money, think about the future, and not waste things. We need to save and worry about retirement, kid's college, new car, etc.

But won't the Earth be destroyed, and everything in it?

Why does The Bible, Jesus, Bible Authors, and Apostles warn us to NOT think about the future? That is, our monetary future? We are not supposed to worry about such and such when we don't even know what will happen today.

Did Jesus tell us that the lily has no worries about its clothes and so should we be?

What then, does one make about the parables of Jesus about money. These parables apparently teach us about saving and investing money.

Or do they....

Jesus told parables about sheep. We readily agree the parables are NOT about sheep keeping.

Jesus tells us parables on sowing seeds. Of course this is not about farming.

He warns us about having oil in lamps. Most assuredly he is not talking about having lamps lighted.

A son returns to his father after squandering his inheritance. Family matters are not what that was about.

Whey then do we talk about the parables of money.....as if they were about money?

We cannot have it both ways. We cannot be told to worry about the future....but we must save our money just in case?

Jesus tells of a man who did just that. Saved huge amounts in his barns....and then was satisfied. But he died without ever enjoying it. No retirement for him.

Jesus' parables on money must be on something more. Just like all of His other parables.

Each and every one of these parables of money could have The Light substituted for money.

The people in these parables who hid the money were not rewarded.

Are we supposed to hide The Gospel?

The people who took the money and made it grow were rewarded.

Are we not required to spread The Gospel?

After further review, each and every parable that Jesus told was about spreading The Good News. Not saving and investing money.

Jesus had no money. The disciples had little money. Peter and John had no money to give the lame beggar. They have him Jesus.

We should not be saving money just for the sake of saving money. We should not be investing money because Jesus told a parable on it. Just like we would not be going out and taking care of one hundred sheep.

We must use our money, whenever we can, for spreading of The Gospel. We would be foolish and very un-Biblical to say to ourselves, "I'm putting my money in stocks, bonds, CDs, and annuities because I need retirement money to live until I'm 90."

Let's look at what Jesus says:

Matthew 6:34 

³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

James 4:13-16 
 
^"13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."

Conclusions?

Of course we need to think about the future. If you spend your time worrying about your retirement, socking money away, and other worries, you are not listening to what The Bible says.

What if you die tomorrow? What good is your retirement savings? What good is your bank account? What good is your new car? What came of your worries and plannings?


A Biblical perspective on your future money worries, or non-worries, is what you should be concentrating on.

Are you using your money wisely to spread The Gospel, or filling your earthly storehouses?
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