Dear Christian friends:

Yesterday we flew back from New York at 39,000 feet. When I looked down on the earth the houses and cars and roads it seemed small like toys. I thought, "Perhaps that's how God sees our world." Often we see our buildings and machines and we think we are very great. We forget about God. We talk and act as if we are free and owe nothing to God.

The Bible says, "The earth is the Lords, the world and they that live on it." God Himself says, "The gold is Mine and the silver is Mine." Again He says, "The cattle upon a thousand hills are all mine." When you catch a fish maybe a northern pike and see how beautiful and wonderful that fish is, you will know God is the Maker. He is a great and wonderful Lord.

So we are not free from God. He is our Maker. He is our Lord. We are His people. The Bible says we are His stewards. A steward is a manager. He is not the owner. The manager in a business must listen to the orders of the owner and then obey the orders and wishes. He must be faithful to the owner. If he is not faithful, the owner will fire him and hire another manager for his business or store. (Use illustration of Twins baseball team.)

Also in our text Jesus reminds His disciples and us that we are managers for God and that we must be faithful managers. So today I want to preach to you about:

What do we manage for God? Do we manage a baseball team? No! Do we manage a store? No! What do we manage for God? Our whole life we should manage and use for God. He gives our life, our body, mind and health. We are a wonderful creature of God, more wonderful than the fish or the horse. The fish and horse serve God by instinct. The fish and the horse and the bees never rebel against God. By instinct they serve God and do their duty and purpose in life.

But God made man with a free will, with the power to reason. Man can rebel against God. Adam and Eve did. Now all people are born that way. Without love for God and enmity against Him and His will. Also now we do not really love one another. The race riots prove that again and again. Instead of loving God and one another we are selfish, and greedy. And by nature we do not manage our life faithfully for God.

A true manager must learn the wishes of the owner or Lord and then obey the Lord's wishes. God our Lord has given His wishes to us in the Ten Commandments and in all His Word in the Bible. (Review these briefly) Besides that we Christians have extra duties which Jesus our Lord and Savior has given to us. Evangelism and Missions.

Time, money and skills to use in Church work. Now Jesus says we are to be faithful stewards. True and dependable stewards like the one in our text.

How can we be true and dependable? As we have heard by nature we are not. We sin much. By faith in Jesus. That is why God sent Jesus here on earth to save us from our sins. In Jesus we have forgiveness. God by the knowledge of Jesus who loved us and died for us gives us new hearts and changes us and improves us so that we now wish to love God and one another.

Now we want to manage our life to obey God's Commandments. We are happy in Jesus and wish others to hear of Jesus our wonderful Lord.

True we are not perfect stewards yet. We still have our old, sinful nature. The devil still tries to tempt us to serve him and not God. Often we fail, but God's Word calls us to awake and be sorry and improve.

If we are not ashamed and sorry; if we do not try to change and improve with Jesus' help it shows that we do not really believe in Him. (Tell of one patient in group therapy at Rockland State Hospital in N.Y.)

Don't use God's Word to hide your sin or excuse it. Use God's Word daily to help you confess your sins and then with Jesus' love and help to improve. By that you will be a faithful steward.

Amen.