13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13 – 21)
Theme: If not You, then Who?
What a blessing it has been to hear stories of service over the last three days from fellow participants. I hope we are even more inspired to do our part in advancing God’s kingdom.
Over the next two days, we will turn our attention to the Discipline of Stewardship. If the ongoing pandemic has taught us nothing else, I hope it has taught us that our control over our lives has significant limitations. I also hope that this lesson increases our understanding of our roles as stewards in God’s kingdom. All the resources we have (not just physical assets), are on loan from God and we should use the resources God has blessed us with in service to Jesus. That in essence describes the Discipline of Stewardship.
Our passage for today highlights the futility of assuming more ownership and control than we really do have. The parable in the passage addresses agricultural assets but the application is much broader. The lessons apply to other resources such as our talents, our vocation, and our very lives.
Please read the passage carefully and answer the question below.
Question:
Why is it important for us to understand our role as stewards if we are going to advance God’s kingdom?