The spartans were famous for their strict code of honour and honesty. It is repoted by herotodus that a certain man from miletus came to glaucus of sparta and said that he had heard such good reports of their honesty that he had sold half his possessions, turned them into cash and brought the money to glaucus for safe-keeping until he or his heirs could claim it again. To make the deal certain, symbols were given and received which would one day identify the reightful claimant. Some years latter, the man died and his sons came to glaucus and produced the identifying symbols so that they might claim their inheritance. But glaucus denied that such a deal had ever been made. Feeling guilty, glaucus went to an oracle to ask what he should do. The answer given was that if he wished momentary financial wealth, then he should keep the money and deny the trust or "paratheke." yet to do so would mean eternal loss. Even having questioned the God s about it was as bad as having done the deed. Glaucus returned the entire trust to the sons of the man. But, herotodus goes on to say that " glaucus to this day has not a single descendant; nor is there any family known as his; root and branch have been removed from sparta. It is a good thing therefore when a pledge has been left with one, not even in thought, to doubt about restoring it."
To the greeks, trust was sacred. My sermon today is about keeping a trust; of being a good steward of something God has entrusted - namely faith.
If you went to the bank and asked to close your account and receive all the money you had left in trust or on deposit there but the teller said that they had no record of any such deposits, you would be more than upset. You would really be angry. You see, we value trust as well. We want people to be stewards of that which we entrust to them.
Paul writes to timothy and tells him that as a follower of Jesus Christ there is a trust involved. Interestingly enough it is a double or two way trust.
Listen to the words of the scripture: II timothy 1:8-14
The first section of this passage speaks about that which paul had entrusted to God.
Here he was nearing the end of his life. As a roman citizen, perhaps the most humiliating, shameful way to die would have been in a roman prison.
Nonetheless, he says, I am not ashamed. He knew that the very thing he had given over to God - his life - was in safe keeping of the faithful God.
I know who I have believed and am convincd that he is able to keep that which I've entrusted to him for that day.
This was not the undoing of all his work, the humiliation of the gospel and the defeat of Christ ianity's spread. Paul says, I have put my trust in God. All that I am and all that I have is his. I have sewed the seed, I have preached the gospel, I have been faithful in what he has asked me to do and most importantly I have learned to trust God for the results
How could he be so sure of this? Notice that he does not say I know what I have believed. His certainty did not come from credal formulas or from orhtodox theology. It came from personal knoweldge of the one to whom he had entrusted all.
The man from miletus had only heard about the honor of the spartans and glaucus but he did not know glaucus.
Paul didn't just know about God , he knew God in love and in power and in faithfulness. It was inconceivable to him that God should ever fail him for he had made a sacred trust. He had put his faith, his work, his very life into the trust of one he knew and trusted and indeed God did not fail him
Charles haddon spurgeon, a great prince of the pulpit tells of an old country farmer with whoom he used to cisit. Though he was uneducated and sometimes uncouth, he often said some very profound and precious things to this great preacher. "the other day sir, the devil was temptimg me and I tried to answer him but I found that he was an old lawyer and understood the law a lot better than I did, so I gave over and did not argue with him and more. I said to him, what do you trouble me for? "why," he said, "about yourr soul." "oh," said i, "that is no business of mine. I have given my soul over to the hand of Christ ; I hae transeferred everything over to him. If you want an answer to your doubts and queries, you must apply to my advocate."
Indeed, what a profound observation. When you place your life in the trust and deposit of God , it is no longer your business, but his. And God is more than able to keep that which you commit to him until that day. He will never deny that trust.
The flip side of this trust is the trust paul says God deposited with timothy. He tells timothy to guard that good deposit.
What does it mean to guard a deposit? To guard or phulasso means to alertly keep watch over. It does not have the implication of burying a treasure and hoping no one else will find it and dig it up and defraud you. Instead it means that you carefully watch over. It is a very active verb.
An example of that was the time when paul and silas were in prison in phillipi. During the night when they were praying and singing hymns, there was a terrible shaking of the ground and all the cells were thrown open and the guard awakened. He was ready to kill hiimself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. He had been sleeping instead of guarding. A good guard would not fall asleep on the job, or bring a book to read or play solitaire. He would actively watch over the prisoner to make sure nothing happened. It was a sacred trust. And if it were violated the guard could lose his life.
Paul felt confident that he had guarded the God 's trust well. Notice what he says in 4:7ff. I have finished the race. I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith and now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord , the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not just to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing.
He tells timothy to guard or keep that which has been entrusted to him as well.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel or of those who testify to it.
One of the greatest fears people have in sharing their faith is the fear of rejection or shame. I find comfort in knowing that timothy and for that matter paul could identify with that. That is a reality. But being a guarrd of tha deposit means that we should not be ashamed of it but even flaunt it. Get it out there for all to see.
Imagine a museum given an estate of great expensive jewelry and art only to lock it up where no one could ever appreciate its beauty. That would not be guarding it. Don't be afraid to show that you have something special
Jesus said it a little differently in the sermon on the mount when he said "don't let your light be hidden under a bushel. After all, what good is light if no one sees it.
Jesus' parable of the talents is another prime example. The man who was given five talents was criticized because he was afraid of losing it and therefore buried it for safekeeping. Those who invested the talents, risked
Losing them, but carefully guarded their progress were commended and in fact given more
How do we guard the trust.
First, give it away, don't be ashamed to testify about the Lord.
Carefully follow the sound teaching of the word. Some of you may sew clothes. Unless you are acreative genius, you [probably go down to the fabric store and buy a pattern which you lay out on the fabric so that all your pieces are cut exactly according to the righit specifications.
Pauls says, what you have heard from me, keep or guard as a pattern of sound or life giving teaching. That is part of our sacred trust before God. We are to guard the gospel to keep it pure from any false teachings; any thing that denies the diety and Lord ship of Jesus Christ.
We are to be stewards or guardians of orthodoxy. So much of the church today has lost its keen sense of truth and thus lost what it really sought to keep - its relevance in the world.
It is not to say that the church must be locked in thought that is 2000 years old and is notsuubject to newer deeper understanding. But on this there can be no compromise; that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised hiim from the dead. That is the gospel. That is the good deposit which has been entrusted to us.
This deposit is not a hammer with which we have license to clobber people into belief. It is a gracious gospel which came to us in love when Jesus laid down his life for us. We betray that trust if as stewards we seek to apply it in any other way.
The even sadder truth is that we betray it by not applying it at all. We betray it because if we truly have faith and love for our master and our friend Jesus we will cause it to grow by investing it into the lives of others.
Is there any part of your life that you fear trusting to God 's faithful hands? Your life, your wealth, your reputation, your career? Your marraige, your children, your ministry? It might be any number of things.
But God is able to keep that which you've entrusted to him so that it will not only be kept safe, it will grow with interest daily as you make regular deposits on that account.
Too many people today think that God is like a big atm machine that disopenses whatever it is we need but doesn't keep a record of what we have entrusted to him. Yuo can only withdraw up to the amount that you have entrusted to God. God will not permit you to overdraw the account.
God has an inexhaustible suply of riches, but does not dole them out unles we have deposited our trust in him.
If you are a Christ ian, God has given you a sacred trust. Paul calls it a treasure in an earthen vessel. But that trust is to be invested in faith into the lives of others as you testify what God has done in your life.
I talk to a good many people who wonder why they never seem to grow in the amount of faith that they have. Somehow they go through life and it is always a constant struggle to believe God , to share their faith and to follow Christ obediently.
Hte most likely reason is that they have buried the treasure thinking they will keep it safe. But in so doing, five, ten , fifteen years later, they complain that they are still struggling with the same issues
Some people think billy graham simply leapt into the limelight as a great evangelist. However, he was not given that great trust until throughout his college years he had wisely invested the trust given him by God through personal witness and preaching to small groups.
You may never be a great evangelist, or preacher, or Christ ian business leader, or famous sports spokesman for Christ. But you will never be unless you begin by placing your life into the sacred trust of God and by faithfully guarding the trust of the gospel he has given to you.