#9 We Believe In Being Good Stewards Series

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As Christians, we all have been given special gifts (gifts of the Spirit) for us to serve one another:

1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

We have been entrusted with a great number of things to be used for the glory of God. We have been blessed with time, resources, talents, abilities and opportunities to bring glory to God. We are caretakers of these thing. As a caretaker, we are responsible for the use of these talents, resources, abilities and opportunities. Biblically speaking, we are stewards. As stewards, we are answerable to God for the use and miss-use of these things.

1 Corinthians 4:1–2 Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

As Christians we are servants of Christ. We were saved from sin, but we are saved and given purpose. We are called to serve and are stewards with all He has entrusted to us.

Quoting from Warren Wiersbe: “Christians are stewards of the gifts and abilities God has given them, and we must use those gifts and abilities to serve others. The thief says, “What’s yours is mine—I’ll take it!” The selfish man says, “What’s mine is mine—I’ll keep it!” But the Christian must say, “What’s mine is a gift from God—I’ll share it!” We are stewards and we must use our abilities to win the lost, encourage the saints, and meet the needs of hurting people.[1]

Jesus talked about this very thing. He often spoke in parables and in Luke 16:1-9 Jesus speaks about a dishonest and unfaithful servant whom He commends for being savvy and dealing shrewdly in the end to insure his future. It is a difficult parable to properly understand and I will not go into details of that parable, but I will go directly to the teaching Jesus has for us at the conclusion of that parable.

Luke 16:10–13  

Today, at the end of this service we are voting on our budget for the next year. I have in years past taken this day as Stewardship Sunday, time for us to consider and evaluate what we do with the resources entrusted to us by God. But we tend to be proud people. “I’ve worked hard for all I have.” “I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps” (That’s the American way!)

The people of Israel was warned by God through Moses about that kind of prideful thinking. They were about to enter the promise land and they will take over cities and gain houses and have herds that they did not work for.

Deuteronomy 8:12–14 … when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

And

Deuteronomy 8:17–18 Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18 But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

All we have, including our ability to work, to learn, to advance, to make money, to have cars, houses, to have a job, the opportunities we have, are all gifts from God. And as much as I would hate to say, we must realize that much of what we do not have may also be a gift from God. He gives only as much a we can deal with. Few people possess the ability to truly handle great earthly riches properly.

Statistically, about 70% of those who win the Lotto and some great windfall actually end up broke or even bankrupt in just a few years.[2] This include many professional athletes. But we are called to be faithful stewards, that is faithful to God, and the first step in that process is to realize in our hearts and in our heads that God owns it all. All we have, every bit of it, comes from Him.

James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Not only that, a small fact overlooked by the world and by us: