Enriched to Enrich

So far in this Being A STEWARD series, we've seen that a good steward Sows bountifully and Trusts God. This week, as we come to the E, we discover that a good steward of God's resources is Enriched to Enrich.

This concept comes from verse 11 of our key passage for this series, 2 Corinthians 9.

"You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God"

2 Corinthians 9:11 (ESV, emphasis added)

Giving to the Given

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about a wealthy man who leaves on a journey, but before he departs, the master entrusts huge sums of money to three different servants. He expects each of them to invest the money they've been given to make him more.

When the man returns, he asks his three servants what they did with the money. The first two servants doubled what he had given them, earning his praise. The third, however, (who'd been given the least amount of money) buried the treasure only to give it back when the master returned. This enraged the rich man. Out of his anger, he took the money from this last servant and gave it to the first servant.

Jesus summed this parable up with these words...

"For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

Matthew 25:30 (ESV)

When I was younger, this parable bothered me. It didn't seem fair nor loving. Why would the rich dude take the little bit of money from the third servant and give it to the first guy, who already had so much? It's not like the third servant stole the money! He returned it. So why get all bent out of shape, take the money away, and give it to the guy with the most?

Think about it from the perspective of the wealthy man: Who would you entrust your wealth to? The one who can double it through wise investing? Or the one who does nothing with it and just gives it back?

When God (the wealthiest being in all the universe) entrusts you (His servant) with His riches of talents, relationships, finances, time, and more, He wants you, as His steward, to use wisely invest them by generously giving them to others. In other words, you have been enriched to enrich others. And realize, the more you enrich those around you, the more God will keep enriching you so you can keep generously giving, allowing the cycle to continue.

If you'd like to dive deeper into this idea of giving to others, listen to the last sermon in our Up In Out series on the importance and power of focusing on others.