Look at Luke 12. Starting in verse 41, I’ll read through verse 48, “Peter said, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable,’” The one he just told, “‘Are you telling this parable for us or for all?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then, is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household? To give them their portion of food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, “My master is delayed in coming.  And he begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat, and drink, and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and in an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much. They will demand the more.

So we can discern here in Jesus’ answer, that he wants Peter to see, that all believers, all Christians, are in the scope of this text. All believers serve in the sphere of their stewardship. They serve the household of faith, as their special charge, as the great privilege and responsibility that’s theirs. This is a blessed stewardship, that we have as Christians, isn’t it? I believe, though we can narrow this even further. Dial it in even tighter. I think Jesus has the apostles in mind here, in specific; yet it’s not to the exclusion of all disciples, it’s just to the emphasis in the lifting up of the apostles. Christ has built his church on “the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets,” Ephesians 2:20 , “Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone.” And that foundation, that’s been provided, for the church, to be built upon, is a foundation of truth, the word of God.

Now that the ministry of the New Testament apostles and prophets has been completed, now that it’s come to an end, which it came to an end in the first century, in the completed canon of Scripture, when the Apostle John put down his pen, Revelation 22. That’s fear of responsibility. The stewardship of feeding the household falls to, Ephesians 4:11 , other men who are gifted there, the evangelists and pastors and teachers. They’re listed as alongside the apostles and prophets. Evangelists, pastors, and teachers, they’re the ones who continue that Apostolic ministry, and that’s why Jesus answers, as he does. If we’re gonna understand the heart of our Lord, if we’re going to serve him well, if we’re going to fulfill our own stewardship in the household of God, we need to understand what makes our Lord tick. He has a heart to care for his people. He loves them and he wants to make sure his sheep are well fed, that they’re properly cared for, that they’re lovingly attended to. To have his flock, under his care, to feed and care for the sheep, that Jesus died to save, what a tremendous privilege. Beloved, that privilege has come to us. Plain and simple as that.

You don’t have to be a pastor or an elder to serve that task, to make sure the sheep are well fed. Ephesians 4:11-16, all of us would be equipped by the pastors, and teachers, and evangelists. We’re, we’re, to be equipped to do the work of the ministry, and that work of the ministry, is all about growing to maturity in the Word of God. The Word of God would saturate our lives, saturate our hearts. There’s so much to do, so much to proclaim; such goodness of our Lord to proclaim. And that’s what we want to do, is take the gifts that he’s given, and use them according to their design, according to their intended purpose, to convey to us God’s goodness, so that we can be conduits of God’s goodness to other people; all for the purpose of bringing glory to God, in the name of Jesus Christ. That’s what we get to do. That’s our stewardship. Fantastic. So how do we know, if we’re doing that well? How do we measure ourselves? What is the standard? We’ve seen the scope and sphere of our stewardship.

Let’s look at a third point: the standard of Christ’s judgment. The standard of Christ’s judgment. Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, look at verse 42 again, “Who then, who therefore, is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant.” What servant is blessed? The one who is faithful and wise. “Blessed is that servant, whom his master will find so doing.” So it’s not just thinking thoughts of faithfulness. It’s putting into practice, right? Blessed is the one who not only hears, but does the Word. “Blessed is that servant, whom his master will find, so doing when he comes.” Two aspects of stewardship here. The standard that Christ is going to use to judge our stewardship. First, it’s our character and second, it’s our works. Our character and our works. When judging our stewardship, Christ examines our character and our works. So you can’t be somebody who says, you know what? I’m brimming with character, even though I do nothing. Well, let people discover that by doing something. And you can’t be someone who works, works, works, but your character is deplorable, and everything you do causes more problems. You can’t be that person either. Both things go together, character and works. That’s how Christ judges our stewardship.

First notice matters pertaining to character. They’re virtues: faithfulness and wisdom. Faithfulness, here, describes someone who is characterized by constancy. It’s someone who is reliable, dependable. Someone who is worthy of trust. So you could see using the word trustworthy. It’s really important, isn’t it? To be dependable, faithful, reliable, when it comes to feeding people food. The one who appoints you to feed others, and those who need to be fed. They are alike. Very fond of those who attend to that duty, with faithfulness and regularity. A mom who prepares one grand, eight course meal for her family, once every six months. Not so good, right? You need that mom who’s constant in the kitchen. Just taking care of the kids, taking care of, I know, it’s sometimes just PB and J and bananas, and sometimes it’s Rahman, but listen, regularity, faithfulness in feeding, that’s what’s more important than, grand once in awhile. Wisdom. Wisdom is the word phronimos. It’s related to the verb phroneo. Phroneo means to think, to understand, to ponder. It’s about a quality of the thought life. It’s thoughtfulness that comes from steadied insight. So you might call it, applied intelligence; the skillful use of knowledge. Wisdom, which is prudence, which is sensibility, again, a very important quality, when combined with faithfulness, because whoever is assigned to feed and care for the rest of the household servants, needs to use both things, when it comes to feeding. These virtues go together, faithfulness and wisdom, in the stewardship. Both are required to fulfill our stewardship. The Lord has given us, namely, to give food to household slaves at the proper time.

Every faithful mother knows there’s no glory in this. There are no accolades coming for faithful peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In the faithful, wise feeding of a family, there’s no one there to put her on, you know, some magazines number one woman of, of, the year. Every faithful pastor knows this, too, as well as, every faithful Christian; many of whom work behind the scenes. No one seeing what they do, except Christ, serving the word of the flock. There’s no glory in it, no prominence to be gained, just a lot of hard, faithful work. Wise work. To feed others faithfully requires a commitment to faithfulness as, a as a virtue that pleases the Lord. Faithfulness is required to tend to a rather mundane and monotonous task. There’s no glory or prestige in feeding, feeding, feeding, feeding. Faithfulness is required to tend to a never-ending task. I mean feeding your family, it seems to have no end. Like laundry, no end. But where did all these dirty clothes come from. Didn’t I just do this load of laundry? Only when people die; they have no longer have a need for food, right? That’s not a very cheery thought. I can stop feeding my kids when they’re dead. No, that’s not how you think. I could eat multiple times a day. I kind of require it, depend on it.

Faithfulness is required to tend to important vital tasks, though right knowing. The feeding of hungry children, or in this case hungry slaves, or in our case, a hungry church. It’s a will of a good, kind hearted master. That’s faithfulness. Wisdom is required for our stewardship too. To feed any sized household, particularly larger households, wisdom is required to feed a family, to feed a church, in a way that pleases the Lord. Wisdom required for thoughtful scheduling. Note, to give them their portion when? At the proper time, not whenever you feel like it, at the proper time. So wisdom’s required for that, wisdom’s required for the logistics, for the planning, for the shopping; make sure the family or the slaves, even when they come in for the food, that they stay the most productive. That the slaves file in at certain mealtimes, so they can get back out and do the master’s work. So everything remains efficient, productive. Wisdom is required for proper nutrition. Making sure his slaves are well fed. They’re healthy. They’re strong for their tasks. They’re not undernourished or malnourished, in some way. There’s proper meal planning required. Preparation, shopping, all that to ensure that the master’s resources are not squandered in laziness, or frivolity, or foolishness. It’s hard work. Isn’t it?