An All Around Ministry - C. H. Spurgeon
The second part of my address will be occupied with OUR OBLIGATIONS AS STEWARDS. "It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." It is not required that a man be found brilliant, or that he be found pleasing to his associates, or even that he be found successful. All that is required is, that he be found faithful, and, truly, this is no small matter. It will need the Lord
Himself to be both our wisdom and our strength, or we shall surely fail. Many are the ways by which we may come short of this requirement, however simple it may seem to be.
1. We may fail to be faithful through acting as if we were chiefs instead of servants. A difficulty arises in the church, which might readily be settled by loving forbearance, but we "stand upon our dignity;" and then the servant grows out of his livery. We can be very high and mighty, if we please; and the smaller we are, the more easily do we swell out. No rooster is greater in fight than a bantam; and no minister is more ready to contend for his "dignity" than the man who has no dignity. How foolish we look when we play the grandee! The steward thinks he has not been treated with proper respect, and he will "let the servants know who he is." The other day, his master was roughly used by an angry tenant, and he took no notice, for he had too much sense to be put out by so small a matter; but his steward passes by nothing, and fires up at everything: is this as it should be? I think I see the gentle master lay his hand upon his furious servant's shoulder, and I hear him say, "Can you not bear it? I have borne far more than this."
Brethren, our Master "endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself," and shall we be weary and faint in our minds? How can we be stewards of the gentle Jesus if we behave ourselves haughtily? Let us never ride the high horse, nor attempt to be lords over God's heritage; for He will not have it so, and we cannot be faithful if we give way to pride.
We shall also fail in our duty as stewards if we begin speculating with our Master's money. We may play "ducks and drakes" with our own, but not with our Lord's money. We are not bidden to speculate, but to" occupy" until He comes. Honest trading with His goods, is one thing; but to play a high game, and run unlawful risks, is quite another. I do not intend to speculate with my Master's gospel, by dreaming that I can improve it by my own deep thinking, or by soaring aloft with the philosophers. We will not, even with the idea of saving souls, speak other than the gospel. If I could create a great excitement by delivering novel doctrine, I would abhor the thought.
To raise a revival by suppressing truth, is dealing deceitfully; it is a pious fraud, and our Lord wants no profit which might be supposed to come by such a transaction. It is ours simply and honestly to trade with our Master's pounds, and to bring to Him such increase as they gain in fair dealing.