To Whom Much is Given…

This month, we are focusing on Stewardship: To Whom Much is Given…(Luke 12:48b)   

Luke 12:48b always makes me think of Spiderman when Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben imparts this transcendent wisdom to him – “With great power comes great responsibility.” Then, after Spiderman (the Tobey Maguire version obviously), my mind jumps and cross references itself over to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Take a few minutes to reacquaint yourself with the story. The parable…not Spiderman.

3 Types of People

What stays with me about this passage is the three types of people we encounter – one talent, two talent, and five talent people. We’ll save a study on the one talent person, who buries his talent in the ground, for another time. In short, it is not faithful stewardship to hoard the talents we’re given, and fearfully “bury them in the ground” to keep them, and us, safe.

But what about the two talent and five talent people? After spending a lifetime as a Christian and over twenty years in vocational ministry, I’ve come to realize we’re constantly thinking we should be five talent people. Or at the very least we feel a lot of pressure, self-imposed or perceived from others, to be five talent people. That must be what God wants out of us if we’re to be faithful Christians, right? (There’s even an organization in the Christian Economic Development network that runs savings groups called Five Talents. I hear they do great work!)

Navigating Comparison

Do you sometimes find yourself wishing you were given as much as someone else was given? Or that what you have been given feels like too much to steward, but you wrestle with disillusionment that you SHOULD be able to handle (steward) more? Do you wish you had the influence, platform, skills, reach, or impact of others? Do you get intimidated when you’re around certain Christians? My wife says the things we’re most intimidated by in others reveal what we most highly value.

There’s a common experience in the Christian life as we strive through our sanctification journey. We tend to take things we admire in other Christians – their high capacity, tirelessness, godly character, musical ability, advanced degrees…their style, prayer life, marriage, parenting, Bible knowledge, teaching prowess, speaking ability, piety, relational acuity, health, tenacity, opportunities, talents…the list could go on forever – and we form this image in our minds of what the ideal Christian looks like. “That’s the kind of person I should strive to be if I’m to be most effective for the Kingdom!”

The “Ideal Christian” Doesn’t Exist

But here’s the problem with that. It’s a Phantom. Our “ideal Christian” doesn’t exist. We made the person up. Even the specific people we took the things we admire from to form this Phantom don’t measure up to this conglomeration of a person we invented in our minds. And the Phantom falls FAR short of Christ, whose example we are actually called to live toward, and who, in his mercy and grace toward us, empowers us to glorify Him through the power of the Holy Spirit living and working in and through us. The talents we’re given to steward come from God in the first place, and are FOR God. They aren’t self-generated. The Phantom is a false idol we’ve unwittingly set up to make ourselves feel not good enough or less than. The Phantom makes us feel like we’ll never be who we’re supposed to be or have the capacity to steward enough talents to make God happy.

2 or 5 Talents

Let’s turn our focus back to our passage and what happened with “the Master” and his five talent and two talent “servants”.

• Five talent guy traded with his talents and doubled them.

• Two talent guy traded with his talents and doubled them

• Five talent guy heard from the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

• Two talent guy heard from the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Did you catch that? They both had the same experience with the Master. They both received the same commendation. They were both told they started out with “little”, proved themselves to be faithful, and were given much more to steward. The only difference is the five talent guy was given a little extra to steward after the one talent guy failed with what he’d been given. Remember Uncle Ben’s admonition to Spiderman?

Regardless of number, we will faithfully steward

So, what do we take from all this? Listen…most of us aren’t five talents people. I’m not. We all probably know some. You’re probably thinking of some in your life right now. Maybe the sources of your Phantom idol? But please hear me. They’re rare. Most of us, and our co-laborers for Christ around the world, are 2 talents people.

Whether we’re five talent or two talent people, we all should have the goal of faithfully stewarding what God has entrusted to us. Faithful stewardship begets increasing responsibility regardless of our capacity. The Master said he would set both the five talents guy AND the two talents guy over much. We won’t be left wanting. As we remain faithful, we’ll be stretched and empowered to glorify God with the talents He’s entrusted to us.

Faithful stewardship is the goal, not more talents. What might happen if our focus is directed toward our talents in and of themselves, or gaining more talents as an end in itself? Pride and a striving after the Phantom. I think Ecclesiastes 1:14 calls it “vanity and a striving after wind.”

Well Done

What didn’t the Master say? He didn’t say that the two talent guy should have outperformed his capacity, worked harder and earned three more talents, or five more like the five talents guy did. He didn’t say the 5 talent guy should have been a 10 talent guy who produced 20! There’s self-imposed pressure all around. That kind of constant striving is what leads to burnout. They were BOTH told, “Well done!”, and to enter into the Master’s joy. I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive to do as much as we can in service to the Lord, but how often, in our striving and serving, do we feel like we’re entering into the Master’s joy for faithfully stewarding what He’s entrusted to us? I fear it’s not very often. Most often we’re feeling shame or guilt for not doing more, or doing as much as that Christian over there.

High capacity, top performing joylessness is not faithful stewardship. God doesn’t say, “Well done, good and FRUITFUL servant.” He says, “Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant.”  When striving, may we all strive for faithful stewardship of all God has entrusted to us instead of focusing trying to become someone we’re not (or who may not even exist).

Slay the Phantom. Live for Christ.

– ABOUT THE AUTHOR –