Christian Stewardship

Christian Stewardship

Text: Matt. 25:14-30

I. We belong to God

Verse 14 says the man called “his own servants”

(1 Corinthians 6:19-20) What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

(Romans 14:8) For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

A. He Created us

B. He redeemed us through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of a story of a little boy who lived along the shore of a large body of water. He enjoyed making little boats and sailing them in the water. One day he decided to make a very special boat. This would be the very best one he ever built. It would be bigger and stronger than any of his previous creations. He spent many hours and several days working on this boat. Finally he completed it and it was perfect! As soon as the paint was dry he took it out to the dock and began to float it in the water. It was a beauty! After a short time he heard his mother calling him to supper. He tied the boat to the dock with a piece of string and left it floating in the water. While he was eating his supper the string came untied and the boat floated away. The boy was heartbroken when he discovered the loss. Day after day he would look along the shore hoping that it had been washed onto the bank.

One day he was walking down the street in his little town when he noticed a boat in the window of one of the stores. It looked very much like the one he had made. He went into the store and took a closer look. It was his boat! It had his initials on the bottom! He told the storeowner that it was his boat. The owner said, “Sorry, but you will have to buy that boat. Someone brought it to me this morning and sold it to me at a good price.” The boy went home sadly and emptied out every penny he had saved and went and bought the boat. He had made it, and now he had bought it.

God has made us and bought us through the blood of Jesus. We belong to Him.

II. God Has a right to whatever possessions he has placed under my management.

When God is the owner and I am the manager then He has the freedom to do what he wants with what I have. My responsibility is to wisely manage all that God has given me. In other words I am God’s steward.

This applies to

A. My Time

Each of us is given 1440 seconds per day that we are responsible to manage. God will hold each of us responsible for how we spend those seconds. The second is the building block of the rest of time. Every second is to be managed and used in ways that please God. This does not mean that every second of the day will be spent reading the Bible and praying and singing Amazing Grace. We have lives to live, but we must live them moment by moment for Jesus.

B. My finances

Every dollar is made up of 100 pennies. The money we spend tells the story of our lives. Someone said that it is easy to tell the character of a person by looking at the checkbook register.

God needs to have ownership of all of our finances. You may be thinking that he only wants 10%. God only asks for 10% to be given back to his storehouse to help further his kingdom on earth. However the other 90% is his as well. We are to be stewards of it. We are to use it in ways that will glorify His name. God desires that we bless others less fortunate that ourselves with the gifts that he has given us. All of our finances belong to him and we need to use them in ways that are biblical. There is nothing wrong with having money and using it. We just need to keep God first.

C. My Abilities

If God has given you an ability or talent of some kind, he wants to use it. Many times we think of

talents strictly in relation to music. There are many talents that people have that can be used to glorify God. Baking. Sewing. Hunting. Fishing. Building. Etc.

D. My Possessions

E. My Relationships

Like the men in our parable, we will one day give account to God for what kind of stewards we have been.