Entrusted With The Gospel Series

Audio is at

http://www.adrian.warnock.info/2006/02/stewardship-entrusted-with-gospel.htm

Bible verses

1 Cor 4:1-5; 2 Cor 5:9 6:4; Ro 1:15-17;1 Peter 3:15-16; 1Th 2:4; Col 1:25; 1 tim 1:11-12; Luke 12:48

Now that we have been entrusted with the gospel what should we do?

LOVE IT!

LIVE IT!

GIVE IT!

There are few depictions of stewards in our modern culture an expception is the film the Lord of the Rings in some ways it is all about stewardship every character is entrusted with a task to do some of them do it well, some of them don t! I intend to watch the trilogy (extended edition!) again as part of my sermon prep you can join me if you like!

There is a scene in The Return of the King . The Hobbit who is aware of the debt he owes, and gives himself to serve an unreliable master as a result. Compare and contrast the Steward of Gondor who imagines himself to be the king and has set himself on the throne of Gondor instead of guarding it for its rightful owner.

Too often we forget that as Tope said last week we have been entrusted with everything and owe God our very existence not to mention our salvation. How can we do anything else but offer him our service such as it is ..

A Steward sounds like a strange word these days but the concept permeates throughout our culture we just call it different things ..

A steward is someone who has been given a task to do by someone else or who has been given something by someone else to use for the purposes of the owner. A steward acts an agent of the owner they are not the owner! They are not free to do whatever they like with what is given to them!

Or as one dictionary puts it

someone who manages property or other affairs for someone else

The key is that when something is entrusted to you, it isnt yours, but belongs to another. The one who entrusted it to you has the right to dictate what you do with it whilst it is on loan to you You may well be expected to use the entrusted thing for his purposes rather than yours.

The person who has been entrusted -eg an employee cannot merely do whatever he likes, but instead has a job to do, with accountability. If the work is not done, then the trust has been violated. If a big task has been entrusted, then we sure better be intentional about how we live our lives in order to get to the end and hear God say "well done, you have acheived the task entrusted to you" This line of thought has been very convicting to me. I pray it will be convicting to you also!

I think there is a wealth of beneficial meditation to be done on that one word entrusted

Start where Tope finished last week

1 Cor 4:1-5 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Judgement day really is coming. It is coming for all of us for the non Christian can you really expect to hear the commendation from God. For the Christian, the question will not be will God commend me but instead how much? will I have made the most of what he has done for me?

A steward is required to be found trustworthy

What does this mean for us who have been made stewards of the gospel (not gospel music but Gods message for the world?). Lets look at some examples of stewardship at work in our culture-

An employee acts as an agent for his employer in return for pay he gives himself as a temporary slave to his employer to do their bidding. Imagine if the employer said Clean that table or Answer that email and the employee said Well, lets not get too overzealous about this shall we I mean I don t want to be over-committed here I need to be free to make my own decisions . The answer sure you are free to make decisions : my way or the highway! is the answer!!