This morning, we continue our series on “The Parables of Jesus.” We will seek to glean “Pearls from the Parables.”
Before we get to the parable, let’s look at a scripture we have been looking at all year. This is something I believe the Lord wants us to meditate on.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us.
(Matthew 25:14-30 TPT)
14 “Again, heaven’s kingdom is like a wealthy man who went on a long journey and summoned all his trusted servants and assigned his financial management over to them. 15 Before he left on his journey, he entrusted a bag of five thousand gold coins to one of his servants, to another a bag of two thousand gold coins, and to the third a bag of one thousand gold coins, each according to his ability to manage.
16 “The one entrusted with five thousand gold coins immediately went out and traded with the money, and he doubled his investment. 17 In the same way, the one who was entrusted with two thousand gold coins traded with the sum and likewise doubled his investment. 18 But the one who had been entrusted with one thousand gold coins dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.
19 “After much time had passed, the master returned to settle accounts with his servants. 20 The one who was entrusted with five thousand gold coins came and brought ten thousand, saying, ‘See, I have doubled your money.’
21 “Commending his servant, the master replied, ‘You have done well, and proven yourself to be my loyal and trustworthy servant. Because you have been a faithful steward to manage a small sum, now I will put you in charge of much, much more. You will experience the delight of your master, who will say to you, “Enter into the joy of your Lord!” ‘
22 “Then the one who had been entrusted with two thousand gold coins came in and said, ‘See, my master, I have doubled what you have entrusted to me.’
23 “Commending his servant, the master replied, ‘You have done well, and proven yourself to be my loyal and trustworthy servant. Because you were faithful to manage a small sum, now I will put you in charge of much, much more. You will experience the delight of your master, who will say to you, “Enter into the joy of your Lord!” ‘
24 “Then the one who had been entrusted with one thousand gold coins came to his master and said, ‘Look, sir. I know that you are a hard man to please and you’re a shrewd and ruthless businessman who grows rich on the backs of others. 25 I was afraid of you, so I went and hid your money and buried it in the ground. But here it is–take it, it’s yours.’
26 “But his master said to him, ‘You’re an untrustworthy and lazy servant! If you knew I was a shrewd and ruthless business man who always makes a profit, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? 27 Then I would have received it all back with interest when I returned. 28 But because you were unfaithful, I will take the one thousand gold coins and give them to the one who has ten thousand. 29 For the one who has will be given more, until he overflows with abundance. And the one with hardly anything, even what little he has will be taken from him.’
30 “Then the master said to his other servants, ‘Now, throw that good-for-nothing servant far away from me into the outer darkness, where there will be great misery and anguish!’ “
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. To walk with God effectively, you must get to know Him. You must know His heart.
When the unfaithful steward misunderstood the heart of the master, he thought the master was trying to take advantage of him. He believed the master wanted to exploit him. In reality, the master wanted to empower him. The steward thought the master was trying to get rich off of him. However, the truth is that the master already owned everything. He was already wealthy. It was not a matter of the master trying to take something from him; it was an opportunity for the master to give something to him.
Since the steward thought the master was trying to exploit him, he couldn’t see that the master was actually trying to develop him. The things that God tests us with are not designed to destroy or deceive us; they are designed to develop and empower us. The way God develops us is by giving us opportunities to put into practice the principles He teaches us in His Kingdom, through His Word and Spirit. If we don’t take these principles and put them into practice, then the best they will ever be for us will be mere concepts.
To walk with God, you have to get past the conceptual phase. The things that are concepts and theories must be put into practice so they can be proven. The reason why God wants you to have experiences with Him is that once you have an experience, it will do something for you on the inside–in your psyche, in your confidence, in your soul–that mere concepts never could. Put another way, heart knowledge gained through experience is much stronger than head knowledge gained through intellectual study.
The master wanted this man to have the experience of stewardship, but he missed out on the opportunity because he was suspicious of the master. He thought the master was trying to take something from him. Please don’t make the same mistake. God is not trying to get something from you; He is trying to get something to you. But you will never understand that if you don’t understand the heart of the master.
2. You will miss God if you have a misconception of His Intentions.
(a) Understanding God’s heart.
— God is not a taskmaster but a loving Father.
— He wants to bless us, not take advantage of us.
— The unfaithful stewards in the parable misunderstood God’s heart.
— He thought God (or the master, in the parable) was trying to take advantage of him.
(b) The Danger of wrong perceptions of God.
— Misunderstandings can lead to missed opportunities.
— The point of reading and studying the Word of God is to get to know the God of the Word.
— Your mind must be renewed to think and act like God.
— If you don’t renew your mind, you will miss what God is doing, leading to missed opportunities.
— The unfaithful steward had a tremendous opportunity with the master, and he missed it because his perception of the master was off.
(c) Don’t miss God!
— The unfaithful steward’s wrong perception led him to miss out on growth and blessings.
— The same things will happen to you if you fail to discern the heart of God and what He wants to do in/with/through your life.
— God is not trying to take something FROM you. God is trying to get something TO you!
3. God’s tests are opportunities.
(a) The purpose of divine tests.
— God’s tests are meant to develop us, not to set us up for failure.
— When we look at situations that are testing us from God’s point of view (which requires the lens of faith), we will see that God’s tests are stepping stones to a higher level of faith.
— God’s tests are not designed to destroy us. They are designed to develop us.
(b) Walking with God requires obedience, even when you don’t understand what he is doing.
— The unfaithful steward did not understand what the master was doing, so he refused to participate.
— He was disobedient because not only did he misunderstand the heart of the master, but he was actually deceived into thinking that the master was trying to take advantage of him.
— If you condition your heart to obey God, even when you don’t understand what He is doing (reminding yourself that God is a good God and He wants to bless you), then you will be in a much better position to resist the impulses from satan that are designed to derail you from your destiny.
— Refuse to disobey God. Condition your heart to obey Him, no matter what, because, in the end, you will discover that God had your best in His heart.
4. You can’t just know God from a book!
(a) From head knowledge to heart knowledge.
— Theoretical knowledge must be applied for it to become wisdom.
— The transformational power of God is only truly known through experiences with Him.
— The master was offering three stewards the opportunity to experience him on another level.
— The master already had money and knew how to be a good steward. He could have given them classes on how to be a good steward. But hands-on experience is different!
— Once you experience something in real life, the knowledge goes from your HEAD to your HEART, and no one can take it from you!
(b) The joy of alignment.
— We get JOY in knowing that we are in the center of God’s will.
— God gets JOY (like the master in the parable did) when He sees His children doing what He called them to do!
— God takes JOY in our success! Why? Because we are His children, and we are called by His name!
— Not only do we get JOY, and God gets JOY, but then God invites us (like the master did in the parable) to experience ANOTHER LEVEL of JOY because we have proven we can be faithful over where we are!
— When we are faithful over little, God ELEVATES US and puts us in charge of much!
(c) It takes faith to get beyond head knowledge.
— The parables have taught you about God, His Kingdom, and His ways. At some point, your LEARNING must turn into LIVING!
— The stewards in the parable were given an opportunity to DO what the master had been doing. The more you walk with God, the more He will reveal what He is doing on the earth. Why? So you can get involved.
— It’s one thing to know that God can do “this or that” on the earth. But believing that He wants to do it THROUGH YOU is another thing!
— The master in the parable gave three of his servants an opportunity to get involved in what He was doing. God will do the same for you!
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19 NLT).
— Did you catch that?
— Jesus only DID what He SAW!
— Jesus was not going around doing whatever He wanted and then asking the Father to bless it.
— Jesus asked the Father to OPEN HIS EYES to see what He was ALREADY DOING, and he saw the REVELATION as His INVITATION for PARTICIPATION!
— You don’t just know God from a book. God will reveal to you what He is doing around you because He wants you to get involved!
— Once you get involved, you will experience a JOY (like two of the three stewards in the parable) that far exceeds anything you can experience any other way!
— What are you waiting for? Get involved in what God is involved in around you, and do it today!
In closing:
— Don’t misunderstand the heart of God; He wants to empower and bless you, not exploit or take advantage of you.
— Seize the opportunities God gives you to grow and steward His resources and blessings. If you fail to seize the opportunities, you may miss out on God’s best.
— If there is ever a question of what God wants to do or what He is trying to do, always err on the side of giving God the benefit of the doubt. If the unfaithful steward had given his master the benefit of the doubt, he would have made the most of the talent he was given, even when he did not understand the master’s heart.
— Trust God, even when you don’t know what He is doing!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me! I boldly declare:
I commit to knowing You more deeply and understanding Your heart.
I recognize that everything I have comes from You, and You are not trying to take from me but to give to me.
I embrace the tests You send my way, not as attempts to destroy me but as opportunities to develop and empower me.
I understand that Your tests are opportunities for elevation and growth.
I will move beyond mere concepts and theories, putting Your principles into practice in my life. My learning turns into living!
I commit to obeying You, even when I don’t fully understand the path You’ve set before me.
I seek experiences with You, Father, to transform my theoretical knowledge into wisdom.
I will not just know You from a book but seek revelation from You daily, desiring to participate in what You are doing on the earth.
Living with this mindset, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
