Lesson Seven

Stewards and Pilgrims

Reading Assignment: Chapters 10 and 11

Stewardship is not a subcategory of the Christian life. Stewardship is the Christian life. What is stewardship? It is the use of all that God has entrusted to us: life, time, talents, money, possessions, family, and his grace.

1. Luke 16:1-13. Read the parable of the shrewd manager, often called the “unrighteous steward.” See page 142 for several different interpretations of the parable. What do you think the passage means? What message do you get from it for your life?

2. Luke 16:10. Jesus says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” What does this mean?

3. Luke 16:11-12, 17, 19. Identify the key word in each of these verses.

4. Matthew 25:14-30. Read the parable of the talents. How does this parable support the central teaching of Luke 16?

5. Luke 19:11-27. Read the parable of the ten minas. What further insights into stewardship do we find here?

6. On one side of a chart write “The Master.” On the other side, write “The Servant” or “Steward.” In the appropriate places, list the “lessons concerning the master,” found on page 147, and the “lessons concerning the servant,” found on pages 148–149.

7. Read together the overall lessons from the stewardship parables on pages 149–150. Which of these lessons strikes you as being particularly significant at this point in your life?

8. Besides the two kingdoms, Scripture teaches us there are two covenants and two “countries” (this world and our heavenly home). Because we have not yet reached our true home, we are “pilgrims” on earth, a foreign country. Material things are valuable to pilgrims, but only as they facilitate their mission. If you are a Christian, what are the implications of the fact that heaven, not earth, is your home? How should that affect your giving and financial decisions?

9. Agree or disagree: “In the truest sense, Christian pilgrims have the best of both worlds.” We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next, and we take solace whenever it does not.

PRAYER: Lord, help us to be faithful ambassadors as we serve you on this foreign soil, never forgetting that although we are headed home, we’re not there yet.