Daddy Issues 16: Stewarding the Blessing

There once was carpenter who was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the construction business and to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and even used inferior materials and pocketed the remaining money. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the employer came to inspect the house, he handed the key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you.”

The carpenter was unfaithful with another man’s dream and ended up reaping the consequences. What should have been a blessing turned into a disaster, not because the employer was evil, but because the carpenter was a poor steward of his time talents and resources.

God has put time, talents, and resources into your hand. How will you steward the blessing?

Last week we talked about the father’s blessing which aids the accomplishment of the will of God for your life.

Will: a legal declaration of a person's wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

God has a will for your life, and its not all about rules and religion, but about relationship. He, as your heavenly Father wills or desires that you would proper in every area of your life.

3 John 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

This is why getting into the word of God is so important, so you can know your Father’s will, and what you get as an inheritance.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Ephesians – the treasure chest of the Christian life

Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

God’s will for your life isn’t just about you. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is your God, as well as the God of your parents and your children.

Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children

A good person considers today, and is next generation minded. The opposite is also true. One who is selfish, lives only for today and does not consider the next generation, is not a good person.

God wants us to imitate Him in being generationally-minded.

So we see that God’s blessings are not only for us, but also for our children, for those that come after us. God owns everything. We own nothing. We are merely stewards of what He puts in our hands. My money, job, spouse, my car, my house, all belong to God, I am merely a steward who will have to give an account of how I handled God’s property.

Steward: A person employed to manage another's property, especially a large house or estate.

Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Talents

Matthew 24:45-51 “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus is very clear, how we steward what we have been entrusted with is evidence of where our faith and focus truly is.

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

God’s focus is not on your money, but your priorities. Your bank statement will reveal what your passions are.

Matthew 6:34 So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

He said “don’t worry”, not “don’t plan.”
Stewards manage the property of another and do not waste increase on themselves. If they do, there will be consequences.

An equity fund CEO was charged with bilking investors of over $27 million by fraudulently exaggerating his fund’s investment performance and by embezzling from the fund.

He now is facing 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years supervised release.

He was a bad manager and there is a price to pay.

We will also be rewarder or punished based on our stewardship of our money, family, relationships, job, school, and possessions.

Again, God describes himself as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. His blessings to them were generational, and they stewarded or managed the blessing for their time and grew it so that they could leave a blessing to the next generation.

They had a great deal of possessions and livestock. Livestock needs food to eat, and more importantly, water to drink. There aren’t a lot of fresh water sources in the middle of the desert, so this family learned to dig wells to sustain their blessing even in dry and desolate places.

Genesis 26:18 [Isaac] reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them.

A well is a reserve of water that brings life and refreshing. Abraham dug wells in the desert. He taught his son Isaac, who then taught Jacob. These wells were generational locations of life in a deadly climate.

Jacob’s well was maintained for over almost 1800 years when Jesus had a conversation with a woman there that transformed the region. No well, no woman, no revival.

Wells can be symbolic of resources, skills, trades, relationships, etc. There are also spiritual wells of prayer, revelation, and anointing.

David’s temple
1 Chronicles 22:5 David said, “My son Solomon is still young and inexperienced. And since the Temple to be built for the LORD must be a magnificent structure, famous and glorious throughout the world, I will begin making preparations for it now.” So David collected vast amounts of building materials before his death.

1 Chronicles 29:3 Using every resource at my command, I have gathered as much as I could for building the Temple of my God. Now there is enough gold, silver, bronze, iron, and wood, as well as great quantities of onyx, other precious stones, costly jewels, and all kinds of fine stone and marble.

David was a king. Yeah, but he started out as a shepherd that no one wanted around and who no one thought was worth anything.

Ok, but Jacob had Isaac, and Isaac had Abraham. Yes, nut Abraham’s father Terah was called of God heading toward the promise but got stuck when his son died. That’s why God called him to leave his father’s house.

God is saying that your past doesn’t have to determine your future. Your parents may have failed, gotten stuck, or missed the mark, but you have a heavenly Father that will start the blessing with you if you would just trust and obey Him.

God is calling us to re-dig the wells of faith of men and women of God, and to dig new ones for ourselves and for our children so that those that come after us can drink from the reservoir of prayer and provision, or revelation and resources, of anointing and inheritance.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

How do we ensure rewards in heaven and that our work will not be burned up?

1 Corinthians 4:2 It is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

We must repent of our selfishness, ask for wisdom and grace to discipline ourselves for the sake of His kingdom, and our legacy in our children. By God’s grace, we must do better, so they can do better. The better stewards we are, the more God has to work with in the lives of our children.

I don’t want to be like the carpenter that causes my kids to inherit a broken down cheap and worthless house because of my selfishness, laziness, and foolishness.

God, You’ve given us the keys, but it's Your house. Help us to steward it well in Jesus name.