FAITHFULNESS: GOD’S ONE REQUIREMENT

Dr. W. A. Criswell

I Corinthians 4:2

06-12-55

 

Now, we are going to start tonight where we left off the last time I was preaching here in the third chapter of the Book of 1 Corinthians.  And our last message was closing that chapter and tonight we begin in the fourth chapter.  And the text is the first two verses of the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians: “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and steward of the mysteries of God.  And it is required in stewards, just one thing.  That a man be found faithful” [1 Corinthians 4:1, 2]. 

If I could translate a little more—a little better—“this is how men should think of us.”  “This is what you should think about us.  We are ministers of Christ.  We are stewards of the mysteries of God.”  Now, that is an interesting word that he uses there: “this is what we are and this is what you are to think about us.”  You see, the trouble was some of them were saying, “Now, we like Apollos and we are Apollosites.”  Another: “We like Paul and we are Paulites.”  And another one: “We like Cephas.  We are Cephasites.”  And they had all kinds of frictions in the church.  And so as Paul writes about that; he says: “this is what you ought to think about us.”  Paul, Apollos, Cephas, all of us; this is what we are we are huperetes of Christ.  And that word huperetes , that word literally means we are “under-rowers.”  Haven’t you ever seen pictures of those ancient Roman ships—“galleys” as they called them.  And on those lower decks down there, they used slaves to row.  Haven’t you seen those pictures?  And they would have a rower and a rower; a whole deck of rowers.  And those rowers were called huperetes.  Now, he says we are “under-rowers” of Christ.  We are not Lords.  We are not masters.  We are not anything in ourselves.  We are just slaves, rowers, obedient to the Lord Jesus. 

And he says: “we are oikonomous of the mysteries of God”—we are “stewards” of the mysteries of God.  Back yonder in that ancient day, the man to whom a householder would give all of his goods and care was called a “steward.”  Do you remember reading back there in the Book of Genesis, Eleazar, was the steward of Abraham?  All of Abraham’s goods [were] in the hands of Eleazar.  Do you remember in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Luke when the Lord tells the story of the pounds?  He speaks of this nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom.  And he gave his goods in the hands of his servants and said: “Occupy until I come” [Luke 19:13].  They were stewards of the goods; the possessions, the belongings of the master.  Now, Paul says that we are under-rowers of the Lord Jesus, that is all.  And we are stewards, not owners, not proprietors.  We have nothing in ourselves.  We are stewards of the mysteries of God.  Now a mystery doesn’t mean an incomprehensible thing.  A mystery means something that a man’s natural intelligence could never discover—never figure it out.  But it has to come to us by revelation of God.  And we are stewards of the great revelations of God. 

Then he adds my text: and it is required in stewards—the man who possesses in his hands things that are given him by somebody else.  “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful” [1 Corinthians 4:2].  That is the only requirement.  That is the only requirement.  Stewardship implies responsibility.  And responsibility implies—demands faithfulness.  And there is only one requirement and that is it.   That a steward be found faithful.  That he is honest.  That he is true.  That he is doing his best to give a good account of what God has placed in his hands, his stewardship. 

Now, that is an unfailing presentation of the word of God.  This requirement of stewardship, of faithfulness.  In the parable of the [talents] in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Matthew, the Lord says that there was a man given five [talents] and another one two [talents] and another one, one [talent].  And when the lord came back, of course, the one—I’m talking about the talents—he gave five talents to one man and two talents to another man and one talent to another man.  And when the lord came back the one talent man, of course, had dissipated his opportunity.  But the five talent man gained five other talents.  And the two talent man gained two other talents.  And when the lord commended those, the five and the two talent men, he commended them both alike.  Do you remember what he said?  He said: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.  Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things.  Enter thou into the joy of thy lord” [Matthew 25:21]. 

And he said the same thing to the two talent man, who had gained two other talents.  God does not make a distinction between men in the great rewards that are yet to be made.  God does not make a distinction between men—that this man is a ten talent man or a five talent man or a two talent man—and being faithful in that, well, he is given, in God’s sight, a greater reward that a man of a lesser talent who also is faithful in his degree.  But God commends them all alike.  For the great and one principle upon which God judges us is not according to our gifts, but according to our faithfulness in what God entrusts us with.  The tremendously important thing in the life of God—in the sight of God is not what you have, but how you use what you have—to be faithful—to be true—to be honest—to be dedicated—to give to God the highest best of what God has given to you. 

In the Talmud I ran across a wonderful sentence about David.  That ancient Jewish book says this: that of David, “God entrusted to him a few sheep out in the wilderness.  And because he was faithful and brave and caring for them, the Lord took David and gave to him in his care the flock of Israel. 

Now, that’s—that characteristic of being faithful—a worthy steward is one of the most prized of all of the characteristics.  [It is prized by men in this world where we live—in this city and among the people with whom we do daily business.  Our bank down there—and most of us have a bank—our bank down there—we take what little we have and we put it in the bank.  And there is just one tremendously important thing that we would like to know about those men to whom we give the little sums that we have.  And that is, that they will be honest with us.  That they will be faithful with us.  And that they will be true to the trust that we deposit in them.  That is all we ask—faithfulness.  If they are dishonest, if they are untrue, if they don’t take their charge in earnestness, if they don’t keep what we have, then all of the faith and confidence whereby we might look upon a bank as a friend and as a favor is shattered.  It is nothing.  The ingredient, the priceless ingredient that makes a bank possible is just that one thing.  They are true stewards.  They are faithful in their stewardship. 

[It is the] same way with an insurance company.  Year by year, most of us pay into an insurance company a premium.  There is just a little something that we put in their care and against the day when we grow old and retire, we will have a little something.  Or if we die, the family will be cared for.  We ask just one thing of that insurance company and that is that they be true to the charge that we have deposited in their hands—that they be faithful stewards of our confidence and what little we are giving them year by year. 

That thing I say is prized in every department of life.  It is my hope that when we make this trip to Italy that we can go to Pompeii which is just this side of Vesuvius.  It is between the Vesuvius and Naples.  I have flown over Vesuvius twice.  I have flown over the Bay of Naples.  I have flown over Capri.  But I have never been there personally.  I want to go to Pompeii.  I want to look at those ruins when the great volcano Vesuvius exploded.  The top of it blew off and the city of Pompeii was buried under ashes.  While life is there, exhumed and displayed just as it was when the volcano and the lava and the ash came down upon it. 

One of the things that I read about in Pompeii is this: a Roman soldier was never to leave his post until he was relieved.  And those Roman soldiers, in the wake of that terrible explosion and the burying of the city underneath the ash that fell—those Roman soldiers died at their posts because nobody came to relieve them.  That makes possible a great army—stewardship, faithfulness.  This man stays at his post unto death. 

Now that prize characteristic which is out in the business world, which is out in the army, which is in all of life, that prize characteristic makes possible the exaltation of the church of Jesus Christ—the kingdom of God.  Not many of us are really gifted.  I certainly am not.  There are not many of us that can sing, ah, just marvelously.  There are not many of us that are gifted in all of these ways by which we see some people marvelously talented of the Lord.  But that is not what makes a great church and a great people.  If just great singing would make a marvelous church, I’ve got enough money in the budget here to go to New York City and to hire the finest singers in the land and bring them here and let them sing.  But great singing doesn’t make a church.  I know some marvelously gifted preachers.  And they are eloquent.  And some of them could be brought here.  I’m thinking of some now, and they are gloriously gifted.  But just preaching doesn’t make a church.  Eloquence, peroration, oratory, that doesn’t make a church.  Marvelous gifts of dramatic power, of presentation, of oratory, that doesn’t make a church. 

We could think of all of the marvelous things that we have here in this administration.  We could hire teachers who are marvelously gifted in teaching.  And players who are marvelously gifted in those most unusual instruments.  But those things, in the talent themselves, that doesn’t make the kingdom of God.  There is a quality in the song, in the sermon, in the message, in the player, in the preacher, among the people, there is a quality in it that if it isn’t there, it is dust and ashes in our hands.  And it is almost an affront to God.  The thing that makes a marvelous spirit and a glorious church is this thing of a great dedication, a marvelous commitment, a profound faithfulness in the thing that God is it committed to us. 

Corts Redford  is the head of our Home Mission Board.  And he has a favorite story and he calls it that.  A thing that happened to him up there in Missouri where he came from.  Up there in a little place, he was visiting upon a time, in his native state.  And it was way out in a little village and a little church.  It was in the day of the week—not Sunday and not Wednesday night—and he was leaving; having to go.  And they persuaded Dr. Redford to stay there.  And to preach to the people.  So he did.  And that night, they had a houseful of people.  It was on a Tuesday night or a Thursday night, something like that. 

But when he went into the church and got in the pulpit and looked out in the congregation, there was a boy, a young fella.  And he had a long ribbon on him—pinned up here, and a long ribbon, and on it were two big initials: “B. R.”—B. R; on that long ribbon attached there to his coat.  Well, it was unusual, so he whispered over to the pastor and said, “Do you see that young fella out there with that long ribbon with B. R., on it.  What does B. R. stand for?”

And the pastor whispered to him and said, “Well, Dr. Redford , that stands for bell ringer.  That boy is the bell ringer of the church and he is not bright, and he wears that sign.  He is very proud of the fact that he’s the bell ringer of the church.  And so he wears that ribbon with B. R., on it.” 

Well, that would be interesting to anybody, I submit to you.  So it was to Dr. Redford.  So after the service was over, why, he got a hold of that boy and visited with him.  And he said, he said, “Son, you’re the bell ringer?  That B. R., stands for bell ringer?” 

“Oh, yes” said that half-witted boy, “Yes, sir, I’m a bell ringer of the church.”  Well, he said, “That’s just fine.  That’s just fine.” 

And the half-witted boy said, “I ring the bell for you tonight so our people would come to church.” 

And Dr. Redford said, “That’s just wonderful, son, that’s just fine.” 

And the boy said, “But that’s not all I did.  And that’s not all I did,” He said, “Not only did I ring the bell, but I came down here to the church and I swept it out so it would be clean for the people.” 

And Dr. Redford said, “That’s just wonderful, son.  That’s just wonderful.” 

“But that’s not all I did,” said the bell ringer, he said, “That’s not all I did.  I came down here to the church and I built a fire in the stove that it would be warm for the people when they came.” 

And Dr. Redford said to that half-witted boy, he said, “That’s wonderful, son, that’s wonderful.” 

And the half-witted boy said, “But that’s not all I did.  That’s not all I did.” 

He said, “You know, I went out and up and down the streets of our little town and out into all of our neighborhood, and I knocked at the doors of all of the people, and I told them that you were going to be here tonight to preach and for all of the people to come to church.” 

And Dr. Redford said when he left, well he just decided in his mind and his heart that if he were pastor of a church, he’d like to have a church full of boys just like that half-witted boy whose got B. R., on his lapel, the bell ringer. 

And I’m the same way.  Ah, I’d like to have a church that didn’t have anymore sense than just to be faithful to the Lord and do what they could for Christ.  Wouldn’t that be great?  Wouldn’t that be great?  Whether they’d shined or not, I wouldn’t give the turn of my hat.  Whether they all were ten talents or not, I wouldn’t give the lifting of my little finger.  But if they were all faithful, wouldn’t that be great?  And each one in his place, doing what he could for God, what a blessing.  It is required in stewards, just one thing that a man be found faithful.  That is all.  Just where you are, doing what you can. 

Now, in just a moment, may I speak of some things of this ministry?  It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.  I think, I think that God’s Word says that we’re not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.  When the Lord’s Day comes, we ought to be here in God’s house.  And when the evening hours come at 7:30 we ought to again to be here in God’s house.  There is not anything that makes such an impression upon people who visit our congregation like the congregation we have here on a Sunday night.  For most churches, the people don’t bother to attend.  They’re looking at the television.  They’re entertaining in their homes.  They’re in the picture show, at the ballpark or they’re riding up and down the countryside in the automobile.  They’re doing other things, but they’re not at church.  And the church is weak and anemic.  One of the churches in our city has discontinued its services on Sunday night.  They have a little vesper service at 5:00.  The people are not faithful to support the ministry of the preaching of the gospel of the Son of God. 

Ah, that’s part of making a great church.  On the Lord’s Day when the door is opened, I’ll be there, Preacher.  I may not be able to do a whole lot.  But as long as I can walk and as long as I can come, I’ll be right there in that pew, praying with you—listening to the preaching of the Word and asking God to save the lost.  Ah, what a faithful congregation will do toward the building up of a great lighthouse for Jesus.  And any of us, most of us can do that.  And we’re to be faithful stewards in all of these ministries whereby we seek to care for our children and for our young people. 

Our children are a heritage of the Lord.  If we have any church tomorrow, it is they today.  And in every way that we can and in every way possible, we ought to do our utmost to minister to our children and to our young people.  However it may cost and whatever program it may involve and whatever it may take, we ought to sit down and purposely, volitionally, prayerfully, in the wisdom of God do our best to care wonderfully for our children.  If we have any preachers of tomorrow, any deacons for tomorrow, any church members for tomorrow, any missionaries for tomorrow, it lies in their little hands and in their precious souls.  Faithful in the care and in the training of our children. 

And we are to be faithful unto God in our responsibility to the lost of our city.  And in that may I say something of which I am wonderfully proud and something in which I think we can do much better.  I am so grateful to God for the mission program of this church.  It won’t be long until our sixth mission will start rising out of the ground and taking shape and form on Singleton Boulevard in that large housing project just this side of the Edison School.  I have never shared in any service that ever moved my heart more than about Friday, a week ago, when we had the leadership of our missions here at a banquet in our church.  And Brother O. C. Robinson , who heads our mission program, did a thing that I hadn’t seen before.  He had two people from each one of those missions to stand up and to say what God had done for them.  Here would be a man who was a drunkard.  And beat his wife and beat his children.  And he’d stand up and say, “But six months ago, I found the Lord in the…

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