Help Wanted a Steward — Warren Wiersbe

Studies on the vocations of the Bible. Now, the Bible is a book for busy people, because the Bible is a book about busy people. The Bible has nothing good to say about laziness. It has nothing good to say about the careless, sleepy saint who snores his way through life, and then one day suddenly wakes up and discovers he's never really lived.

Did you ever notice in your Bible that God called and used people who were busy? Moses was taking care of his father-in-law's sheep when God called him, and Gideon was threshing wheat, a dangerous thing to do at that day when God called him.

David was caring for his father's sheep when one day he was called and anointed to be king. And so it is in the Bible. Not just the Old Testament, but the New Testament. The first apostles were taking care of their nets, mending them, hoping to go back out fishing again when Jesus called them.

And even Saul of Tarsus, though his methods were wrong, was doing something when God called him. You cannot steer a car in neutral. If you want God to bless your life and use your life, get busy. Don't sit around and daydream.

Don't stand gazing up into heaven. Get busy. Do the thing God's called you to do and He'll call you to the next thing. Which is why we're going to have this series on the vocations of the Bible. There are some, oh, dozens of different vocations in the Bible, all the way from architects and artists to weavers and everything in between.

The Dishonest Steward and the Call to Faithful Work

Tonight we begin with one of the most important occupations listed in the Bible, the steward. And we turn to Luke chapter 16 and we read the first 15 verses. Luke chapter 16. And Jesus said also unto his disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward.

And the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer be steward.

Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my Lord, notice it's a small L referring to his master, not to the Lord Jesus. For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig and to beg I am ashamed.

I am resolved what to do. That when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him. And said unto the first, how much owest thou unto my Lord?

And he said, a hundred measures of oil. He said unto him, take thy bill and sit down quickly and write 50. That's a good discount. Then he said to another, and how much owest thou? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat.

And he said unto him, take thy bill and write four score. And the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely, not honestly, but wisely. For the sons of this age are in their generation wiser than the sons of light.

And I say unto you, make to yourself friends by means of the money of unrighteousness. That when it fails, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.

And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous money, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God in money. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things, and they derided him.

And he said unto them, Ye are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Our Lord tells us in verse 8 that we can learn from the unsafe people of the world how better to serve God.

I dare say if the average unsafe person in his job worked the way the average Christian does in his Christian life, he'd fail. If the average business were run the way many churches are, they'd fail miserably.

I thank God that here at Moody Church we have capable, dedicated, faithful officers who are good stewards. Otherwise the ministry wouldn't even be here. Our Lord is saying that the children of this age are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

That means that I can watch the potter and learn from him. I can watch the weaver and learn from him. I can look at this steward and learn from him. It doesn't say they're wiser in eternal things. Their wisdom is limited to their generation.

But you and I can learn from these laborers how to be better Christians. The interesting thing about this story is that everybody in it is a crook. The steward was dishonest. These friends of his owed his master money.

The master commended him that he was wise in what he did. Our Lord is not using this as a story to teach us honesty. That's not the point at all. The whole point of this story is that this man was changed from a failure to a success.

Now what was it that changed him from a failure to a success? Well, the thing that really changed him was that he responded to some insights that came to him in a crisis hour. You know, most people know what sight is, but they don't know what insight is.

They can see the externals, but they can't see the internals. They can see what's happening, but they don't know why it's happening. And this man came to a crisis in his life. This wasn't Judgment Day.

This was just an everyday crisis. The boss called him in and said, You're fired. I've been checking over the accounts, and man, you've been wasting my goods. You give me an account of your stewardship so at least I'll know how much I've lost.

You're fired. And in this crisis hour of life, God gave him some insights, and he responded to these insights, and it changed his life. Now God has a way of doing this. It may not be losing our job that does it.

It may be some other kind of crisis. It may just be an awakening. It may be in an hour when we're reading the Word, or listening to a message, or hearing a song, and the Holy Spirit of God just gives us insights, and we respond to those, and God changes us.

That's what needs to happen tonight. Now what are these insights? To which this man responded, and through which his life was changed. Well, there are five of them. I'll not expound them in great detail because you can go home and meditate on them, but I want to name them and discuss them and apply them.

Seeing Ourselves as Stewards

First, he had a new insight into himself. It dawned upon him that he was a steward. Now what is a steward? We don't use this term today except Methodist churches have stewards. Unions have stewards. What is a steward?

Well, when you think of the word steward, you automatically think of Joseph when Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt. He was made a steward in the house of Potiphar. A steward is someone who possesses everything but owns nothing.

The master takes his goods and places it in the steward's hands. So he possesses everything, but he owns nothing. Joseph said to Potiphar's wife when she tempted him, your husband has put all things into my hands except you, and I cannot commit this sin before God.

So a steward has possessions. Now secondly, a steward is a person who has privileges. He has the privilege of using these possessions for the good of his master. And if he's a good steward, the master doesn't breathe down his neck every day and say, what are you doing?

In fact, Potiphar forgot all about how to run his house. Joseph took care of the whole thing. Joseph had the credit cards. Joseph had the bank books. Joseph took care of the whole thing. So he has possessions, but he doesn't own them.

And he has privileges, but with these privileges, he also has, thirdly, responsibilities. When I was in Youth for Christ for four years, I was a great admirer of our business manager. Now he's still a dear friend of mine.

But I used to watch our business manager in Youth for Christ as he handled what to me were just enormous sums of money. Now back in those days, they were enormous. Today, they wouldn't perhaps look like too much.

And I'd say, oh my, there he is. He writes these checks, and oh, the wonderful privilege he has. Oh, but he had responsibility. That really wasn't his money. He had the responsibility of making sure that what was purchased was correct.

It was the best price, the best quality. He had to be responsible. But you see, with privilege and responsibility comes accountability. That's the fourth thing about a steward. He possesses everything.

He owns nothing. He has the privilege of using it, the responsibility of using it wisely, and he must one day give an account. I never envied my business manager friend on that day when the auditors came in.

Now, he had nothing to fear. He was an honest man with integrity. But there he'd sit, and they would open the books and say, now, where's the receipt for this? Where's the check stub for that? They would audit the books.

Because where there is privilege, there must be responsibility. And where there's responsibility, there must be accountability. This is why the Moody Church missionary policy does not permit us to support freelance missionaries who are not under anybody's authority.

As a pastor of this church, I can't do anything I want to do, and I wouldn't want to do anything I want to do. I am under the authority of the church, and I have to give an account for what I do. There's a responsibility there.

And where there's responsibility, there must be accountability. Now, as Christians, you and I are stewards. I don't know if this has ever dawned upon you, but if tonight the Holy Spirit could just light a light in somebody's mind and heart, and you suddenly wake up and say, I am a steward.

I possess everything in Christ, but I own nothing. You say, wait a minute, I own a stereo. No, you don't. You possess it. God owns everything. He doesn't just own the cattle on a thousand hills. He owns the food in your pantry.

Why, He owns the very breath in your mouth. You and I are stewards. We have the wonderful privilege of using all that God's given to us. And we have the responsibility of using it wisely. And one day, we're going to have to give an account.

Stewardship of Time, the Gospel, and Spiritual Gifts

You go through your Bible, and you discover that the Christian is a steward of time. In Ephesians chapter 5, he says now, buy up the opportunity. Don't waste your opportunities. You've got time given to you.

I think one of the greatest wastes in Christian living today is the waste of time. People get to the end of a day and look back and say, what did I do today? You students, you're stewards of time. The opportunity God gives you.

I wish I could barnstorm the United States and speak to every Christian college and Bible institute and seminary and tell the students to learn how to be good stewards of their time. You learn how to waste time, you'll waste everything else.

And we're stewards of our time. God gives us life. God gives us a certain number of days. We are stewards of the gospel. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2 .4, we've been put in trust with the gospel. So you're saved.

God gave you the gospel. He said, now do something with it. Get busy. Do something with the gospel. It's a stewardship we'll answer for someday. We're stewards of our gifts and our ability. As good stewards, says Peter, we should use the gifts that God's given to us.

So you have musical gifts. Are you using them? You have gifts of writing or building or painting or whatever it is. Are you using them? We're stewards. We're certainly stewards of our material possessions.

This parable, if it teaches anything, teaches us that we had better learn how to make good use of our material possessions. You say, I haven't got very much. That doesn't make any difference. The issue is faithfulness.

See, we have a tendency to say, well, here's a man who is faithful in many big things. We can trust him with little things. Don't kid yourself. Jesus makes it just the opposite. He says, the person who can be trusted with a dollar, who's faithful in the spending of a dollar, who makes a dollar go the longest way possible can be trusted with $10 ,000.

Not the reverse. The person who wastes five minutes will soon waste an hour. You say, well, you're a fanatic. Maybe I am. But you can't get time back. And time can be turned into money, and money can be turned into souls.

And so insight number one, we've got to see and realize that we're stewards. We possess everything. We own nothing. We have the responsibility of using it wisely. We have the privilege of using it. And one of these days, we're going to give an account for it.

Life as an Investment Rather Than Waste or Mere Existence

Now, the second insight that came to this man was the insight into life. He saw what life really was. Now, what is life? Life is an opportunity for investment. You say, what are you talking about? Well, the best way to illustrate it is to go through chapter 15 and chapter 16 of Luke.

Luke has put these two together. The story of the prodigal son, the story of the elder brother, and the story of this dishonest steward go together. How do they go together? You have here three different views of life.

What did the prodigal son do with life before he repented? He wasted it. It says so. He wasted his substance with a riotous living. There are many people today who are wasting their lives. They have nothing to show for their time, nothing to show for their energy, nothing to show for their money.

Their view of life is wasted. Now, the elder brother had an entirely different view. He wasn't wasting his life, he was just spending his life. He worked hard, he was respectable, he didn't go out and carouse around, he didn't get drunk, but he was a miserable person, and he made everybody else miserable, but just spending his time.

You see, the person who wastes his life is living for the present. The person who just spends his life is really living for the past. Every day is just like every other day. Get up, go to work, go to bed, get up, go to work, go to bed, just spending his life.

A drudge. And yesterday controls today, and every day is the same. Now, the steward in chapter 16 learned he'd better not waste his life and better not just spend his life, he wanted to invest his life.

The person who invests his life is living in the present in the light of the future. He's doing today what he does because of the future. Now, Christians ought to live in the future tense. Paul said, we press toward the mark, forgetting those things which are behind.

We're looking forward to the future, and so we spend our money today in the light of the future. It's an investment. And we use our time and our energy and our opportunities in the light of the future.

This man got a whole new insight into life. He discovered he was wasting his life. Now, that's a tremendous waste, because when you waste your life, how do you get it back? What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, lose his soul?

What shall a man give in exchange for his life? What a horrible thing it would be to come to the end of your life and look back and discover you hadn't lived. It had just been spent, it had just been wasted.

Now, why was this man wasting his opportunity? Well, he had the wrong master. His master was money. He was playing a little game with his boss. It was one for you and two for me. And he was living for money.

Say, how do you know he was living for money? Well, he was willing not to work. He said, oh, I haven't got the ability to dig. I refuse to dig ditches. And I won't beg, but I'll tell you what I will do.

I'll lie and I'll cheat. You see, the thing that you will sin for is your master. And so he calls in his friends and says, look, I'm going to lose my job, but I want you to be my friends. Now, here's a 50 discount for you, and here's a 30 discount for you, and here's a 20 discount for you.

When he got fired, they all said, oh, come on, stay with us. You're our friend. Now, our Lord is not commending his dishonesty. Our Lord is commending his wisdom in using his opportunity while he had the opportunity.

He had the wrong master. Money was his master. Material things. Now, Jesus said you can't serve two masters. He said this man couldn't serve money and his Lord. And we Christians cannot serve material things and the Lord.

Either we're going to love one and despise the other, or hold to the one and reject the other. You can't serve two masters. The thing that you and I are willing to sin to get is our master. And you know, money is a marvelous servant, but a terrible master.

A man's life does not consist of the abundance of the things that he possesses. He was wasting his opportunity because he had the wrong master, and he was wasting his opportunity because he had the wrong motive.

His motive was to please himself. He was willing to rob his master to please himself, but he was only robbing himself. He had this tremendous insight. He said, hey, here is life, and life is a series of opportunities, and I am wasting these opportunities.

And he woke up and said, I'm going to use this opportunity. And his Lord said, you know, you aren't a very honest fellow, but I want to commend you for your wisdom. That's why Paul says, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

That's a very kind way of saying, don't be a dope. The book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about fools. And when you read Proverbs over and over again, it says that the fool wastes his life. The fool wastes his money.

The wise man invests what he has. He saw life in a new light. Life was not to be wasted. Life was not to be spent. Life was to be invested. His life was not to be controlled by the present. That's the way animals live.

His life was not to be controlled by the past. His life was to be controlled by the future. And he woke up and said, from now on, things are going to be different. We have no idea when Jesus is going to come back.

We have no idea when we're going to die. Nobody knows. What a wise thing it would be for us to start studying, and praying, and witnessing, and working, and investing time, and energy, and money, in the light of the fact that Jesus is coming again.

Accountability Before the Master

Now, there was a third insight that came to him. He saw himself in a new light, and he saw life in a new light. Thirdly, he saw his Master in a new light. All of a sudden, the light came on, and for the first time, he really saw his Master.

You see, up until now, his Master had been somebody to provide for him. Up until now, his Master had been someone to protect him. But all of a sudden, his Master became someone who was demanding an accounting of him.

You know, we as Christians are happy for the Lord to provide for us, and He does. Thank God He sends His rain upon the just and the unjust. His sunshine comes down upon the wicked and the righteous. Thank the Lord He provides us with the things that we need.

Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things. Thank the Lord for the spiritual provision He makes. Thank Him for the protection. How much He does for us, and that's as far as most Christians go.

God is my provider, and God is my protector, but is He your Master? What do you mean? Are you ready to give an account? Oh, that's another story. You see, accountability is a part of life. No one has the right to exercise authority who's not under authority.

You give somebody authority without putting him under authority, even though it be the authority of God, and you have in your hands a dictator. Now, God says to us, all things are yours. Life is yours, death is yours, Christ is yours.

All things are yours, and you're Christ's, and Christ is God's. Someday get your concordance out, and make a list of all of the verses that talk about all things. It's an interesting study. All things are working together for good.

All things are now ready. All things are yours. And so here we have the blessed privilege of God giving to us all things. Now, He says, one, these days you're going to give me an account. We as Christians don't like this.

We as Christians would much rather just play our games and enjoy our lives, and forget about the fact that the Bible says, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and every man shall give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or wasteful.

Now, He's not going to ask for an accounting of our sins. Thank God our sins have been taken care of by the blood of Christ. But He's going to ask for an accounting of our lives. What did you do with your time?

What did you do with your money that I gave you? What did you do with your energy, your abilities, your opportunities? Here you were in school, here you were in church. The average Christian does not take advantage of all the opportunities God gives him.

Too busy wasting time and wasting opportunity. And there's going to be an accountability. This is the one thing I suppose that weighs the most heavily upon me as a pastor. Over in Hebrews 13 chapter 17, the writer says, Obey them that have the spiritual rule over you, for they watch for your souls as them that must give an account.

And when I'm out in pastor's conferences and pastors come to me and they say, you know, I'd like to be in a bigger church, I'm only pastoring a couple of hundred people, and I always give the response Dr. Tozer used to give, that's enough to give an accounting for.

It weighs upon you. One day we're going to have to give an accounting of our stewardship. In fact, the Lord is going to say to us, you can no longer be a steward, there's no stewardship in heaven. All of our service in heaven is going to be faithful and fruitful and wonderful, because we'll have new bodies and we'll be like the Lord Jesus.

He's going to say, you can no longer be a steward, give me an account of your stewardship. And you know, when we stand before the Lord and He opens the books, it's really not going to make a lot of difference to Him about all these material things that people think are so important.

It's not good to have the things that money can buy, if we don't lose the things that money can't buy. It's good to have possessions, providing you possess the possessions, they don't possess you. The Bible says that God gives to us richly all things to enjoy, but one of these days we're going to have to give an account.

And that's what happened to this fellow. He saw his Master in a new light. Now, how do you see Jesus tonight? Oh, He's my beloved Savior, but He's also going to be your judge. Oh, He's such a wonderful, wonderful...

Yes, He is, but He's also going to be your judge, and my judge. When we stand before Him, it's no wonder John wrote and said, Then now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him as His coming.

Who is that faithful and wise steward who does his job? Ah, but then he starts getting involved in the world and fussing around and living for sin, and then his Master shows up and he's embarrassed. He saw his Master in a new light.

It's good for us to rejoice in the love of God. It's good for us to draw near as John did and put our head upon the bosom of the Lord. But let's also remember Jesus when He appeared to John, saw John fall at His feet as though dead.

Possessions as Tools for Serving People

Well, there's a fourth insight that came to this man. I promise not to be too verbose, so let's quickly move on. He saw Himself in a new light, and He saw life in a new light, and He saw His Master in a new light, and He saw His possessions in a new light.

Here He had this money that He had stolen from His Master, and He realized He'd only robbed Himself. And He said, you know what? I have money, but I don't have a job. I have these possessions, but I no longer have any authority.

I had better do something right now. He realized that people were more important than things. Now, you know this, but let me remind you of it. In this world, you have only three kinds of entities. You have God and people and things.

And we're supposed to worship God and use things and love people. And you get those confused, you're in trouble. There are people who worship things, and they use people to get things. And this man suddenly looked at things and realized that things could not satisfy him.

Things could not give him security. The parallel to this, of course, is that rich farmer that Jesus talked about who had a bumper crop and said, what am I going to do? I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and I'll build greater, and I'll store all my goods in the barns, and I will say to my soul, soul, take thine ease.

Thou hast much goods laid up. And that night God said to him, you fool, this night your soul is going to be required of you. And who shall these things be? This man realized that you're supposed to use things to help people, not use people to get things.

That's what the prodigal son did. Father, give me. He used his father to get him things. Then he used these things in his own selfish way, and he lost everything. This man got a new insight into his possessions.

When you get in your car at night, if you have one, realize that God gave it to you and he owns it. You say, no, the finance company owns it. Well, he owns the finance company. God owns that automobile and he wants you to use that automobile for people.

You know what Jesus says here? Make friends by means of the material things God's given you, so that when you get to heaven, people are going to meet you. We had an interesting experience. I have promised people I would not drop Africa into every message, but I must tell you this.

We got to Nairobi and a man came up to me. I would imagine he may be about ten years older than I am. I don't know, maybe more. It's hard to tell. And he said, you know, I've never met the man in my life.

He said, you know, I'm here because of you. I said, what do you mean? He said, we have a big enough directional aerial where we live. He lives over in Michigan that we can pick up in the winter, when the weather is right, the moody church hour.

I'm glad that the prince of the power of the air doesn't control those things. The Lord does. And he said, some time ago you preached a message from Psalm 90. Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

He said, God spoke to me. He said, I sold my business, took my wife. We went over here, came to Nairobi. He was a very shrewd businessman and he's ministering in Nairobi now by handling all the purchasing and all the distributing for all the missionaries.

He has saved the mission board thousands of dollars. He saved the missionaries many hours of time. He is serving God as a businessman. And God spoke to his heart over in Grand Rapids and said to him, why don't you use the rest of your life to serve me?

Now, he didn't lose the material possessions of life. He just began to use them to make friends so when he gets to heaven, folks are going to greet him and say, you know, I'm here because of you. That's the beautiful thing about faithful stewardship.

Whether it's tithing or offerings or service or praying, whatever it is, when we are faithful, and I see the word faithful twice in verse 10, and I see it in verse 11, and I see it in verse 12, and I'm reminded that Paul said, Moreover, brethren, it is required among stewards that a man be found faithful.

Not popular. Not even successful. Faithful. When we are faithful, God uses that. And I want you to know when the rapture takes place and we get carried up to heaven in the twinkling of an eye, we're going to meet people up there we've never met before.

They're going to come and say, you know, you gave to support missions in Japan and I'm here because of that. You did this. You prayed. You say, I don't remember that. Oh, but God does. He saw his possessions in a new light and he realized that possessions were not just for pleasure.

Possessions were for investment. And he began to invest what he had and the opportunity that he had to make friends. So if someone should say to you, what are you doing with these things that you have?

There's nothing wrong with them until they possess you. What are you doing with these things? Oh, will we be able to say, I'm using these things to make friends for the Lord? There was a fifth insight.

Helping Others as Faithful Stewards

And here we close. He saw himself in a new light. He was a steward. He saw life in a new light. Opportunity for investing in the future. He saw his master in a new light. One day he'd have to give an account.

He saw his possessions in a new light. They were not to be wasted, but invested for people because people are more important than things. And finally, he saw his friends in a new light. It dawned upon him his friends had a need.

They were in debt. They were in debt to his master. And he was the one person who could help them. Now, once again, the Lord does not approve of his dishonesty, but the Lord approves of his wisdom. The children of this world know how to use their opportunities far better than do the children of light.

Why is it the church has to be 25 years behind the dime store? Why must we as Christians be 50 years behind what the world's doing? That's why Mr. Moody was called Crazy Moody. He was 25 years ahead of everybody else.

And the folks didn't like what he did. This man saw his friends in a new light. They were in debt and he could do something for them. And he said, look, I'm going to help you. Now, he was helping himself.

And this is the beautiful thing about the Bible. When a person is a faithful steward, he's not only helping other people, he's helping himself. Jesus never said that helping yourself was wrong. He said, give and it shall be given unto you.

That may sound selfish, but if your motive's right, it's not. Good measure, press down, running over. In fact, when you read Matthew chapter 6, you find our Lord's chief motive in Matthew chapter 6 for faithful stewardship is so that we might reap the investment.

He saw his friends in a new light. It'd do some of us good to see our friends in a new light and then help them. To look upon our friends as those who are in bondage and those who are in debt. You see, God needs stewards today.

God's not looking for people who own everything. He's looking for people who say, I don't own a thing. When I got saved, Lord, nothing in my hand I bring. And now that I'm living for the Lord, we say, Lord, we have nothing of ourselves.

Paul said, as poor yet making many rich. There's a paradox for you. Broke yet we bless people. How can we be poor and yet make many rich? We're poor because we have nothing of ourselves. God still needs stewards today.

People who will look at themselves and say, look, you're a steward. You can't afford to waste money. Can't afford to waste time. Can't afford to waste opportunities. You're a steward. Then look at life and say, life is too serious to just play it away.

I'm not going to waste it. I'm not going to even spend it. I'm going to invest it. I'm going to live today in the light of the future. What difference will this make in eternity? And if it won't make any difference, forget about it.

I meet people in different places who lose sleep if they haven't read the latest book. What difference will it make in eternity? There are people who have apoplexy if they miss a section of a football game on TV.

What difference will it make in eternity? There's nothing wrong with reading books. I read a few. There's nothing wrong with watching TV. Occasionally we do this. But the point is God needs stewards today who will live today in the light of eternity and see that life is a tremendous series of opportunities to make friends for the Lord.

And the most important thing about a steward is that he's faithful. Not popular. Not even successful when measured by men. Faithful. You're a student. And I remind you with all of the seriousness I can put into this statement that scholarship is stewardship.

And it's just as much a sin to waste the opportunities to learn as it is a sin to waste money or energy. You're a Christian worker. God gives us opportunities. You're able to earn. God gives us opportunities.

He wants us to be faithful stewards. And the interesting thing is this. He looks at the little things. He says the person who will waste that little amount will also waste the big. But he who is faithful in that which is least is also faithful in that which is most.

He says there are two kinds of riches, material riches and spiritual riches. The spiritual riches can be your own. If you're not faithful in that which is another's, God owns the material riches. He can't entrust to you the spiritual riches.