(Sometimes after I preach a sermon, I think of something good that I really wish I would have said. That happened this week, and this is my addendum. Although my sermon clocked in 66 minutes, so I probably didn’t need to add another single blessed thing.)

In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus told a parable about stewardship.
Three men managed money for their master, and the one who took the greatest risk with the master’s money received the greatest reward.
The most conservative one who took no risk was severely punished, and Jesus called him worthless.

I’ll tell you one thing, this flies in the face of the way most church committees and deacon boards think about stewardship. I mean, how many Spirit-led and God inspired budget items and mission initiatives have been voted down by church boards and congregations because:
“We can’t spend God’s money like that… we have to be good stewards.”
This is often code for: “We can get away with being cheap and faithless, if we blame it on God and couch it in Biblical terminology.”

Of course, there are times when purchases need to be denied. Of course, we need to operate with sound wisdom, and not every good idea is a God idea.
But the point stands: the best steward award in Jesus’ parable went to the man who risked the most… not the man who played it safe in the name of “good stewardship”.

Is it possible that in the name of good stewardship, some churches never get out into the realm of faith, putting themselves in a position where God has to come through? Is it possible that the churches to be commended as the “best stewards” aren’t the ones sitting around with a 57 year old trust fund earning interest that eliminates any need for God’s help? Or the churches who refuse to spend money to enter the modern age and do ministry with excellence because “it’s not good stewardship”?

Good stewardship requires wise decision making, to be sure.
And there’s a fine line between faith and foolishness.
But good stewardship also requires aggressive risk taking.

God’s people should never veto God’s will in the name of good stewardship.