Luke 19v13 says, "And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, occupy till I come." (KJV). In the New King James Version, it says, "So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come'.
We see in these verses an instruction in this parable that we need to occupy our place of responsibility until the kingdom of God comes. We need to continue to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to us until that time. Our reward will be given, just us in this parable, based on what we did with what was entrusted to us.
I recently listened to a podcast and this quote stood out for me: "you cannot properly love what you do not know". I want to say the same about this place of occupation or what we have been given stewardship over. In order for us to be good stewards and put effort into what we have been given to steward, we need to firstly be able to accept God's love and then let our love for God grow out of that. . A lot is birthed out of love that will bear lasting fruit. Unlike the master in the parable that his servants feared, we are not to steward from a place of fear of punishment, but rather out of a place of willingness and wanting to occupy because we love God. With a reverant fear.
We serve a fair God - He gives just reward just like the master in the parable. As children of God, sons of God, we need to understand our position. He gives responsiblity to those that have an understanding of their position and the measure of that responsibility depends on our maturity as His sons and daughters.
So, I want to give you a shocker today - don’t consider ministry if you do not understand who you are as a son of God. Many of us are operating as slaves, thinking that if we do this or that God will be pleased with us or if we don't do this or that He will be upset with us.
Slaves work to please and fear punishment if they don’t. Sons are confident and have a Father who disciplines and corrects - this is training. We serve the King of kings and a Lord of lords. So what does this mean? There are lords and kings under our King and Lord. Who is that? It is us. We are supposed to rule and reign and judge with Him one day. So, we must allow Him to train us in our position and come under His authority.
If we are caught up in the world and the things that do not really matter in the bigger scheme of things - like Sally did this and John did that and this one didn't do this or that, or someone said this or that - then you are still a child. These are the things of children.
Maturity looks very different. Maturity looks at the bigger picture and the bigger scheme of things. Yes, our lives matter, but they are only training ground and vehicles to get us to where we need to be. To learn what we need to and how to be in relationship with others. To take up our space and our place. Do you understand that this parable is referring to the kingdom of God, where we will be given rulership if we have proved ourselves faithful here in what God has assigned to us. In fact, we can already start to rule in our heavenly capacity if we understand that we have access to the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus Christ. But this is a blog for another day.
The problem is that most of us do not know what God has assigned to us. We operate out of a place of presumption or of what other people say we must be doing or have prophesied over us. Sometimes, the church and leadership are not always "doing it right", and so we are often forced into serving and serving because we are told we need to serve a ministry and pay our dues. There is nothing wrong with volunteering to serve in a ministry. This in itself is part of training to take responsibility and be a good steward.
Serving in a church, however, is not necessarily your calling or assignment. It is a work or act of service. I have counselled many who have worked for churches where the leadership has had them convinced this is their calling. But they were unhappy, burnt out and unfulfilled. This is not an indication that this is what they are supposed to be doing. This is spiritual abuse.
We all have to take a place of authority; we have a place of authority in the heavenly realm - if you are not sitting on that seat, then who is?
Ephesians 1v20 speaks of believers being spiritually united with Christ. Just as Christ was raised from the dead and exalted to sit at the right hand of God, we are spiritually raised and seated with Him. "Heavenly places" refers to the spiritual realm where Christ reigns in authority. It’s a place of victory, power, and communion with God. Being seated with Christ indicates sharing in His authority. This doesn’t mean we are equal to Christ but that we operate under His authority in spiritual matters. It means He trusts us to do business until He comes.
I put this diagram together to explain how life on Earth could prepare us for our eternal responsibilities. The three blocks represent areas in which we mature and lead to greater responsibility. We will first look at it vertically and then horizontally.
We see in the first block that when we love God and understand His love, we can authentically love others and then also be good stewards over those in our sphere of influence to walk in love, but also to steward what God has given us well.
Then, we see in the second block that when we know what our purpose is, we can take up our space and have dominion over the territory assigned to us. This leads to operating in authority.
In the third block, we naturally, from a place of authority, can learn to rule and reign with Christ. When He can trust us to be Kings and Priests for Him and then we can judge in His courts.
1 Corinthians 6:2-3 (NKJV):
"Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?"
Let us look at the diagram horizontally.
Loving God and seeking Him leads to us finding our purpose in Him and when we find our purpose, we can understand our "why" and then also receive the training in this area that we need to be able to walk in authority to rule and reign. This training often comes through our life situations but also through His guidance in our life in those situations.
When we can love others as Christ loves us, it makes space for us and creates favour. It teaches us how to work with people and be able to influence through a godly view of leadership. It leads to godly networks and influence. Kings and priests have people under them or in their sphere of influence. What they do will affect the people around them. So, we need to understand the importance of our position.
When we can learn to be good stewards, it is part of the training to operate in our authority. Once we operate faithfully in our authority, we are given a position to judge in the courts of God.
Let us ponder as we approach the new year at what stage we are and ask God to lead and guide us in the areas that we need to mature in. Let us be resolute to be who He destined us to be with all that comes with that. He is faithful to help us when we open our hearts to Him and willingly give ourselves over to Him. Let us allow Him to show us how to occupy until He comes. How to do business until He comes.
Bless you all today in the mighty name of Yeshua!