In this article, we're going to be looking at a very important concept in the kingdom, it is called “Stewardship”. We're going to be looking at stewardship in the kingdom. But stewardship in the Kingdom is such a vast area of conversation, that if we're going to start today, we're going to spend a lot of time examining stewardship. So, the Holy Spirit will help us to focus on an area of stewardship; so, it’s not going to be an exhaustive teaching in the area of stewardship.
A particular area will be the focus of stewardship in the Kingdom today. And that area will be taken from the book of Luke chapter 8 verses 16 to 18. We will look at stewardship in the Kingdom. Luke chapter 8 verses 16 to 18. Let’s see the Word of Jesus in these few verses. No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.”
Now, these are three verses that carry a lot of meaning, so I want us to pay attention. I'm starting again. Luke chapter 8 verse 16. It says; “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. 18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he [i]seems to have will be taken from him.” May the Lord bless the reading of His Word in Jesus name!
Let's start by understanding stewardship. What is stewardship? Stewardship means that you are holding something in trust. When you are a steward, it means that you are holding something in trust. So, when you are holding something in trust, it means that you are not the owner. So, the concept of stewardship is that you are given something, Sir, but it is not your own but in your possession. You are given something that is not yours. So, when they asked you, who is the owner of this? You cannot claim right to be the owner. You are holding it in trust.
Even though you are using it; even though it's available for you, you are not the owner. That's the concept of stewardship. So, in these three verses, Jesus explained a particular dimension of stewardship in the kingdom for us. And He started from verse 16.
He said, “No one, when he has lit a lamp,” so the lamp is there. The lamp is not useful until the lamp is lit. Just like we have lamps in this room this evening. Now, the lamps we have in this room are not useful until they are switched on. So, the same way Jesus is speaking about a lamp here using it in a figurative sense: the conversation is not about lights. In the pure sense of the true sense of light. The conversation is a deeper sense of conversation, how do I know this?
When we got to verse 18, the conversation changed. Jesus said, “Therefore,” meaning that everything He had been saying from verse 16 was now going to make sense to us in verse 18. So, let's go back to 16. He said, “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel”. So, no one has a treasure; no one has a useful life; no one has a useful destiny and covers it up. Jesus said, “Or puts it under a bed”. But what is he supposed to do?
He said, “But sets it on a lampstand”. So, when we talk about stewardship in the kingdom is like having a lamp. Our lives in this context of stewardship is what Jesus is using in a figurative sense to represent what a lamp. So, my life and your life is like a lamp. The lamp is not our own. There is a proverb that says, “When the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable”. So, if you don't know the purpose of the lamp, it is possible that you cover it.
Have you not seen stories or films that depict the Stone Age, when people in Africa for instance, don't know the essence of certain objects that were brought from the European countries. So, they will sell their lands for a mirror. Imagine if they knew the value of a mirror, they will collect their resources for umbrella, you understand. If they knew that the value of what they are giving up versus what they are given is not the same; I'm sure they won't trade in such a manner. But because the purpose is not known, they were abused.
The same way as disciples, if we don't know the purpose of our lives, we will trade our lives for things that are not of value. I'm sure as I was giving that example, some of us would say, ‘how can I give treasures for umbrella? How can I give a land for mirror? Because, you know, imagine that you don't know. That's the same thing that happens to our lives. Many of us don't know the value of our lives.
You know, in the Book of Revelation, the Bible says that when we get to heaven, it says there will be no weeping; there will be no sorrow; there'll be no death. And it says, “He will wipe tears away from their eyes, but you will wonder, why should those that have gotten to heaven be having tears in their eyes? Why should they wipe tears away? Why should they even cry in the first place? Ma, the reason why many people will cry is because when they look at how they lived versus how they ought to live, how they were programmed to have lived, they will see that they were robbed.
Giving the example of the colonial masters and how they robbed Africa, we can look at it and be very upset and look at it and be very angry that I wished I was alive during that time. I would have bashed those guys, but let us look at our lives today, how many of us are being robbed? If we look at our lives today, how many of us can we say that we are living the lives we ought to live? Hope our lamp is not under a bed or covered with a vessel. As disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is a way we have been called to live. There is a life we have been called to live, and we must find out how to live that life.
Now, when Jesus was saying in verse 16: “No one,” He means no one in his right senses; no one having full information, would light a lamp, and now cover it with a vessel, because you are making it useless. This light as it is now, I should just carry a wrapper and cover it, wouldn’t you look at me somehow, Ma, what are you trying to achieve? What are you trying to do? Because it doesn't make logical sense.
The same way we live our lives daily, does our life portray the treasure, the Bible says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessel”. The earthen vessel that is being described in that Scripture is you and I, there is a treasure in your life. Your life is like a lamb that has been lit. It should not be covered. It should not be put on a bed. To put something under a bed means to hide it. To cover it is to say, ‘Don't shine’, ‘don't fulfill the purpose of which you have been sent’. You and I, our lives, we are holding it in trust for God. We are stewards. If we don't know the purpose of our life, we will waste it. And that's what the Bible say, “There will be tears in heaven”. Tears will be wiped off people's faces because when they play the life they were supposed to live and they look at the life that they lived, they will cry. And I pray it will not be our portion in Jesus' name.
So, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to steward our lives in the kingdom? He said, “But set it on a lampstand,” your life and my life are supposed to be set on a lampstand. To steward the life that God has given us correctly is to put it on a lampstand. Apostle Paul lived his life in such a way that his lamp was not covered. His lamp was not put under a bed. Even when he was in chains, he was writing.
By every means, can you give expression to the life of God inside you? By every means possible, because if you will look at it, he has a genuine excuse. After all, ‘I'm in prison,’ who preaches from prison? Apostle Paul said, you see the mindset he had, “Woe is me if I don't preach the gospel”. So, he got himself to that point that by every means, he said, “I become all things to all men so that I can gain,” what are we gaining with our lives? As disciples of Lord Jesus Christ, how are we stewarding this kingdom? Are we becoming all things to all men? We are not in prison; we are not in chains; how much are we doing with our liberty in Christ Jesus? How much are we doing with the liberty of the Spirit, with the freedom that God has given to us? How many people have through your status experienced the love of Jesus? How many people through your life have been able to touch the kingdom?
So, this life we're living, we are stewards and we will give account. The Bible says we will give account of everything we have done in this body; we will give account. And guess what, the Bible says, “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”. Do you know what that scripture reminds me of every time?
Paul is there, Sir, Moses is there, Mary Magdalene, Peter, James; these were people that were boiled in oil, crucified upside down for the sake of Christ; people that were persecuted. Their society did not allow them to preach, and in spite of the odds or despite the odds, they went out with boldness and still preached and were locked up. James was killed. Stephen was stoned. Those are the cloud of witnesses that the Bible says we are surrounded with. So that when you want to give your excuse, there is a witness that can say, ‘Excuse me, Sir, that's crazy, that excuse you are giving, I was born in so, so, so time. During my time these are the challenges we face and we still stood for Christ”.
So, you will now realize that that Scripture is true, “Oh man, you are inexcusable”. Apostle said, “What can separate us from the love of Christ? Is it persecution, famine, or shipwreck? He said, “Nothing!” They said, “Nothing!” Nothing can separate us from the love that we have for Christ. So, the question the Holy Spirit is posing to us this evening is how are we stewarding in this kingdom? Are we allowing a vessel to cover our lamb or we are putting it ourselves under a bed?
He said, “But set it,” the challenge this evening, to steward correctly set it. To set something requires intentionality. You look at the room, and you are strategic. To set something is about being strategic. How strategic are you about the Kingdom of God? Or every other thing in your life carries your strategic and critical thinking except the kingdom? He said, “But sets it,” it requires intentionality and strategy. Where will I place this thing that everyone that comes in will encounter? How would I live this life that nobody will see me, the Bible says, “…and the one that escapes the sword of Hazael, Jahu will slay…”
So, nobody is escaping. A system has been set up in such a way that your life is speaking volumes concerning the kingdom that if you escape Christ in my business, you can't escape in my family. If you try to escape Christ in my family, when it comes to my personal dealings, you can't escape Christ. If you escape Christ while I'm walking, you can't escape when I'm talking. If you escape Christ when I'm sitting, when I'm standing, you can't escape — strategic! He said, “But sets it.” To steward in this kingdom, we must be strategic.
Enough of living our lives based on ‘It’s God's work, He will do it”. Why don't you put food in front of you and say, “it's my food,” since it is my food, let it eat. How comes we use spoon to carry the food into our mouth. But when it comes to God's work, when it comes to the kingdom, it is God's work, God will do His work. It is God's thing; He will handle it. How come we don't get strategic when it comes to the kingdom? He says, “Set it on a lampstand that those who enter may see,” those who enter may see.
Imagine if this evening I'm preaching from the back and the chairs are set the way they are set, will it be strategic? This pulpit has been set surgically so that those who enter will see. Our lives must also be strategically placed so that those who come in contact with us will not miss Christ. Nobody will miss Christ; they will get it just like that song says:
Jesus, you're the center of my life: Jesus, you're the center of my life, from beginning to the end, He will always be….He is always Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you're the center, everything revolves around you.
Jesus must be strategically placed in our lives, so that our lives do not miss Him. And people that come in contact with us do not miss Him. See, there's something about that man. “So, you too, you have noticed.” Yes! Every time I talk to him, every time I reach out to him, there is something. That's how we must steward in the kingdom.
Stewardship in the kingdom is about the light. People must see the light. Our lives must be lights indeed. Jesus said, “I'm the light of the world,” He turned around to say to us, “you are the light of the world, a city set upon a hill, you should not be hiding,” you should not be put under the bed or covered with a vessel. And sometimes it is we ourselves that cover ourselves. You would say, ‘I just don't want them to know, I don't know. I just don't want them to know that it is Jesus. I don't know, I don’t want to appear as a fanatic”. But a Muslim will keep you in his shop and say excuse me, you want to pay him money, and he will go and pray and you wait there for him to come back. But to you, he does not appear a fanatic. You are the one that appears a fanatic. Those are lies from the pit of hell.
Stewarding in the kingdom requires being strategic. Apostle Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” I am not ashamed. who did it? Jesus! If you don't like it, is your business. If you like it, come and enjoy Jesus with me. Who is facilitating your destiny? Jesus. That's how we steward the kingdom not by hiding under the bed. In verse 17, He said; “So that those who enter may see the light, for nothing is secret that will not be revealed,” I love this verse 17. And I'm going to explain it to us. “For nothing in secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” What does it mean?
The life you are supposed to live cannot be hidden. You can choose to deny the life here; you can choose not to live the life, but when you get to heaven where all things are made plain, you will see the life you were supposed to live. Bro. Francis, that book that you and I read about the horrors of hell that this man wrote, I have forgotten, I want to remember the title of the book. When he had a vision and God was showing him, he was taken up in the spirit. And he started having encounters in the heavenly realm. And he saw the life. He saw the beauty on the earth. He said before then, he complained about everything.
When he's walking, he will complain about the beggar on the streets. He will complain about the state he is living in. He does not appreciate any of the works of God. He said, he was just a bitter preacher. He said until he got to heaven, and Jesus was showing him; a man that he used to pass by every day. And he would just despise the man. And when he got to heaven, they showed him that if only you had allowed the Holy Spirit work in you, and you had ministered to this brother, and had not despised, this is who this man would have become. He said, “what!” He said, if you see the glory, if you see the transformation that happened with this young man, He said because you have failed to do it; see what happened to the person. He said, he didn’t know, when he started crying.
That is why they say, even though you make it and you don’t live the life you're supposed to, you will still cry. The cry is not because you missed heaven; it is because there was so much that you could have accomplished here on earth, that you did not because of fear. Fear of if I meet him, what will he say? The maximum anybody can say is no, and with the no, when the person says no, they will now put it on the front of your head everywhere you go, and everybody will see, ‘NO,’ the man with no, is it what happens? When you say Jesus loves you and person looks at you somehow, would the look gum to your body?
I know there was a time I used to live around that Nyaya side. And I was coming from work and the Holy Spirit pressed it in my heart, ‘preach’. I said, ‘Ah’, I looked at the number of people in the bus, I said, “Holy Spirit, I don't know, but these faces are scary. Can I skip it?” He said, “No”. And I had tracks, and I said, “Can I just share the track?” He said, “No, preach”. There's a difference between preaching and sharing tracks. After a long time, when I could not resist again, He said, “Just try, just say praise the Lord, if nobody says hallelujah, keep quiet”. I said, “Okay, it's a good bit”.
So, I said, “Praise the Lord, I used one of the smallest voices that I had. ‘Praise the Lord,’ the person beside me said hallelujah. Yes, that’s it and He said, “Open your mouth and I will feel it”. I preached, got down from the bus, nothing happened. It was the devil that was put to shame.
So, when we talk about stewarding the kingdom, one of the things that stop us from stewarding the kingdom is fear, fear, fear, fear! We are too afraid. And the Bible says, “You have not been given the spirit of fear”. So, where did you get it from? When you are afraid, it is not from God. You have not been given the spirit of fear is in your Bible, is in my Bible, “You have not been given the spirit of fear but of power, of love, and of a sound mind”. Don't think people would think there's something wrong with you, nothing is wrong with you; you have a sound mind. Don’t say God wants to shame me today, God will not shame us. Say it with boldness.
When the apostles were challenged, they went back to their company and they prayed. They said, “God, hear them, what we want give us boldness so that we can go back,” and they prayed and received boldness and they went back. there is how to steward the kingdom, it is stewarding it in light. There is no fear in light. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear.
See, you have not heard about Jesus, you don't know about Jesus, let me talk to you about Jesus. And the Bible says, “When they saw their confidence, when they saw their boldness, when they saw the wisdom in which they spoke and they observed that they were unlearned men, they said, these ones have been with Jesus”. When people see you, will they know you have been with Jesus? When people encounter you, will they know you have been with Jesus. So, “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Everything we see come to light, so why hide it?
Verse 18: “Therefore [the cross of the conversation] take heed how you hear”. The Bible says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing,” in the Book of Romans, “faith comes by hearing”. So, take heed how you hear so that fear is not built in your heart. Take heed how you hear so that you can communicate in faith, so that the communication of your faith can be effectual. Take heed, be careful how you hear, “For whoever has,” so you will see that everything Jesus had been talking about, it was about stewardship. He said, “For whoever has, to him more will be given,” but the word is has what?
Whoever has the fruits of the kingdom, whoever has the evidence of faith, whoever has the results of the kingdom, Jesus was speaking in John chapter 15 that I am the vine and my Father is the vinedresser. He said, “Any branch that does not produce,” that does not have, He said, “My father will prune,” will cut off. I said the one that is producing, He will prune so that he will have more fruits, is it not the same thing Jesus is saying here? “For whoever has to him more will be given,” capacity, capacity to do more.
Some of us will look at generals in the kingdom of faith and say, “You know, see how this man of God is just expanding,” he has something. And it's a principle in the kingdom, that when you steward well, more will be given to you. So, you can go and, don’t let me see what is in my mind, let me just say it loosely, you can go and hug transformer, he will continue to increase because it's a principle. God is not a man that will lie, nor the son of man that will repent. If you don't have anything, God will not pity you and give you something.
He said, see it, “For whoever has to him more”. So, what should be our desire as stewards of the kingdom? To have. And thank God, He didn’t say those that have money so that you will think that the kingdom is not for those that are rich. Those that have fruits to show; those that exercise their faith to produce, He said, “…more will be given and wherever does not have,” see what He said, “even what it seems he has…”
You know, you can be stewarding and you think you have. You know, you just don't have it in your subconsciousness. There's just a mindset you have that it looks as if I have something, but the something you have has not produced anything. He said that what you even think you had ‘will be taken from him’.
The Bible says that, that servant that the master finds so doing, he will call good and faithful. When Jesus gave the parable of the talents, He said, “To one was given five, another three, another one,” I think two or one, the one that had five, went to trade and had what five more. The one that had two went to trade and had two more. Then the one that had one is the one that had a lump and covers it with the vessel. The one that has one is the one that puts it under a bed, and said, “What do I have, in fact, there is nothing to do with this thing. Let me just keep it and he kept it.
When the master came and they were supposed to give account, the one that had five came and said, “Master, you gave me five when you were going on your journey. I traded with it and have five more”. He said, “Well done good and faithful servant”. The one that had two said, “Master, you gave me two where you were going, I traded with it, and I had two more”. He said, “Well done”.
The one that had one came and said, “Master, I know you like to reap where you did not sow,” see what I did, I just took that one you gave me and I hid it. I buried it for you, just as you gave me take it back,” and he called him, “wicked”. In stewardship, do you want to be wicked or faithful? As you steward the kingdom, do you want to be called wicked or faithful? It is your disposition; it is not about what was given, because we must understand it, the one that had two traded it and got two more. Imagine the one that had one traded and got one more, will he be called wicked? He got nothing. The master said if you knew, since you knew I was a shrewd man, since you knew that I was wicked; I love to reap where I didn’t sow, at least you should have put the one I gave you in the hands of the usury so that at least they can be interest on it. Praise the Lord!
Stewardship in the kingdom requires faithfulness. Your life should not be a life that you are living at your own beck and call. Your life should not be one that is covered. Your life should not be the one that is kept under a bed. Your life should be set strategically. Our lives must become Kingdom treasure. Our lives are Kingdom investments, there must be interests. We must not live our lives for me, myself, and I; our lives must bless God and humanity. Jesus was born to face God and say, “I glorified you on the earth [the life You gave to Me, I used the life to glorify You on the earth]” and He said Father, “Give Me the same glory that I had with You from the beginning”. He could demand because He was faithful. Many of us cannot demand anything from God because we know we are wicked.
I'm sure when the disciples of Jesus were saying to Jesus, “We have abandoned all and followed You,” I don't think Judas Iscariot was part of those that said that they had abandoned all and followed You because he knew the things he was still holding unto, he knew. He was a wicked servant. He sold his Master for 30 pieces of silver.
How are we stewarding the kingdom; faithfully or wickedly? And it's not a choice that we have to make, it is not a product of permutation, it is how we live. The Bible says, “Do all that you do as unto the Lord”. You are placing your life strategically not because people are good to you, not because they said, “Thank you,” not because they greet you in the morning. Don’t say, ‘These people why should I,’ don't be like Jonah. The Bible says, “Do all that you do as unto the Lord”. He said, “Whether you eat or drink do all that you do as unto the Lord for He is the One that will reward you,” He's the One that will reward you.
So, what have we been called to as we steward the kingdom? Be a revealed light, let the people that enter see the light. Let people that come in contact with your life see the light. Let people that encounter you see the light. Not that when everybody is driving, and they say, “You this man, look at you,” before you know it, they have already raised 5 fingers to insult you and you too, you drive and say, “don’t mind them, that's how they are, just give it to him so he will know that what he did was wrong”. show the light. Let people see the light. Let the light, the lamp, that God has lit be set on a lampstand so that everyone that enters will see the light.
