Stewardship
September 23, 2018
When I’m done with my career as a coach, and someone mentions the name of a kid I coached, I do not believe I will remember if they made a game winning shot, scored the winning touchdown, or missed the shot or tackle and we lost. When someone mentions their name, I will remember their character. I will picture them and remember if they were a good, a hard worker, a person I trusted - - - OR a not so good person. I will remember their attitude and their impact upon others.
It will be the same with each of you, and it will be the same with me. Our first thoughts won’t be our deeds, but they we will remember the spirit, the heart, the passion, the grace, the mercy, the power, the hope, ultimately . . . we will remember the power of love - - - or the lack of love and these other virtues.
When people talk about you, and they will . . . what will they say? My mother in law gave me a shirt a long time ago that I love wearing.
The front says . . . NO REGRETS
The back says . . .LIVE YOUR LIFE SO THE PREACHER WON’T HAVE TO LIFE AT YOUR FUNERAL. - 2 TIMOTHY 4:7
Don’t you love that shirt. What’s great is that it’s true! That’s how we should live our lives.
Stephen Covey, is the author of the popular book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He believes that thinking about what people will say at your funeral can help you to have purpose in your life. He believes asking questions such as ~
How would they describe your character?
What accomplishments would you want them to mention?
How would you like them to describe you as a fellow worker, or spouse, or sibling?
How would you want them to describe your generosity?
Would they mention how you made a difference in the world?
How would you want them to describe your relationship with Christ?
Those are tough questions to ask and to think about.
He believes asking these will help you make plans for the future so that you don't find yourself looking back on your life and having too many regrets.
We’re in week 2 of looking at STEWARDSHIP and what that means in our lives. As a reminder, stewardship is an overly Christian word which simply means - being a manager of something.
For our purposes, good stewardship means - we are good at managing our lives. If we can’t manage our own lives, it becomes pretty evident to the rest of the world and the power of our witness, our testimony to the world is diminished.
It seems each week I receive emails about time and stress. This week I received an email from Michael Hyatt, stating ~
Before you finalize your busy schedule for this week, listen up ...
This week I’m hosting a FREE webinar called, The Busy Person’s Guide to Achieving More Without Feeling Overwhelmed, where I’m going to teach you 5 methods to get ahead while not sacrificing your free time.
So, there you go. Another method to try and get ahead and not feel overwhelmed.
Too often we find people who go about life
Focusing solely on the future, that they miss out on today. OR
they are so focused on today, that they don’t plan for the future.
The Bible warns against both. But there is a happy medium, a balance can be achieved. We can live today as if it matters for eternity. Every day of your life has eternal significance. We don’t often recognize it, we often miss out on it, but what you do today will make a difference. We don’t always recognize or believe that we can make a difference in the world which is impactful. It happens, but we might not be around to see it.
In Proverbs 14:8, we read ~
8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving. – Proverbs 14:8
The point is that if we are to be prudent, which means we are being careful and taking care of our business, then we can determine the proper course we should take. Now, that’s not just our working things out, but using God’s wisdom to help us.
We can’t change what happened yesterday. But we can certainly learn from our yesterday’s, from our successes and defeats. You see, today is yours. We have the ability to take charge of this day and begin to do things which will help us be good stewards of what God has given us.
One of the first things we can do is pretty simple, but we really don’t do it. Decide what type of person you want to be - - - who is God calling you to be - - - then, make it happen.
Most of the time we let life come at us, then we make constant course corrections, so we can stay afloat. That’s not the way we’re supposed to live. We should be proactive, seeking to determine God’s plan for our lives and then going to make it happen.
Again, what would people say about you - if they had to be totally honest? Nobody is allowed to soften the truth. What would they say about your character and your virtues and values?
One of my favorite scriptures from Paul is what he said near the end of his life. As he was writing to Timothy, he wrote ~
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7
That was so true for Paul. It speaks volumes of his character, of his commitment to follow Christ no matter the situation. Paul fought the good fight. He fought through the difficulties of life, he didn’t give up. He believed life was good and worth fighting for.
He never quit. He finished what he started. Even if he couldn’t get to the finish line the way he wanted, he never gave up the fight . . . and he finished the race. We’ll see more of that in a moment.
Finally, Paul wrote what is so important - - I have kept the faith. Once Paul turned his life over to Christ, it was a crazy roller coaster ride for him. He had great successes and many, difficult experiences and imprisonments, many times he was beaten and ridiculed. But Paul never, never, never gave up on his faith. That’s a huge life lesson for us to learn.
No matter how bad it gets. No matter how persecuted we are. No matter the sickness, the job loss, the grief, Christ has promised to be with us all the way to the finish line. And He is Faithful and True. He will not break His promises to you. Instead when He gives you His word, He will see that it is accomplished. Paul kept the faith.
That’s the call for our lives as well. As we seek to be good stewards with our faith and with our resources, we too are to fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the faith. I’ve used this scripture at many funerals for people who did just that!
In Acts 20:24, Paul added ~
24 I do not consider my life precious to me; if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. – Acts 20:24
That’s Paul’s mission. His life objective, his mission was to finish the race, to finish the job Christ had given to him - - and that task was to tell the world about the good news of God’s grace. While Paul would say life is precious, he would add that God’s plan always supersedes his plan. And God’s plan is not always easier than our plan.
It’s the same for us as we try to manage our lives. If we don’t know the Lord’s plan for our lives, if we’re not even in the process of trying to discover what the Lord wants for us, then we’ll be chasing after the wind, and never catch what God has for us. Ultimately, that will leave us frustrated and depressed about our unique mission in life. Because we never understood what God wanted from us.
Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 ~
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Now, I have to admit there is not a version of this passage that I like. Not that I’m a Greek scholar, but the translations are really weak. They take away what I believe is the deeper and more significant meaning. As we seek to live lives that make a difference, understand that Paul has figured out his purpose in life.
He wants each of us to run the race of life so that we will win the race. In order to do that, we need to exhibit self-control. That means when things get testy in life, when things seem to turn against you, you can’t freak out. You have to be patient, you can’t fly off the handle and lose self control. It means you can’t yell and scream and kick and hit; and look like a fool.
Paul reminds us he does not run the race of life aimlessly, there’s a purpose in all that he does. He changes the metaphor from running to boxing - - - explaining he just doesn’t punch the air. He’s not all about shadowboxing.
Now we get to the key part of this passage in verse 27, I’m going to give you my version of who I would like this verse to look. This would be my translation ~
27 But I pummel and bruise my body in order to keep it under control so that having preached to others,
I might not be rejected, failing the test and not receiving the prize.
Paul is not just disciplining his body, he’s not just eating right and doing some exercises. NO!! He’s literally giving himself a metaphorical black eye. Why in the world would he do that? Because he wants to win the race. He wants to preach the word of God so that others will have their lives changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It’s so powerful what he did for the kingdom of God. Now, he didn’t literally give himself a black eye and beat his body. But in essence that’s what he was trying to do so that he could show the world who Christ was in his life. He was willing to subject himself to hardships and loss in order to raise up Jesus Christ.
In the end, Paul didn’t want God to look at him and say you’re out of the race because you never did what you were called to do. He didn’t want God to say to him, ‘hey Paul, you never served me. You never ministered to those people who were all around you.’ Paul didn’t want to be disqualified.
He knew what kind of person he wanted to be, and every day he did something to make it true. Paul was living everyday as if it had eternal significance. He never knew whose life was going to be changed because he had an encounter with them.
It’s not easy to do. It takes spiritual effort and energy. Yes, sometimes we mess up. Paul admitted that in Romans 7. But the goal is at the end of the day - - we can trust in the fact that we sought to bring glory and honor to Christ in the way which He wanted us to do.
Do you want to live a life of significance? Do something significant today. Do you want to be generous? Give today. Do you want to be known as a kind person? Be kind today.
Whatever you want to be true about you, begin to make that a reality.
If you want to live a life which has eternal significance, and we should, then we need to better understand what it means to manage our lives. That’s what Paul was doing. Whether he was free or in prison, he wanted to honor God with his life. This didn’t happen by accident. It takes work, it sometimes takes beating your body, disciplining your body, but more than your body, it’s disciplining your heart, spirit and mind, along with your body. You can do all you want to have the perfect body, but we need to work on the other aspects of our character too.
Proverbs 14:15 tells us ~
15 the prudent person gives thought to his steps. – Proverbs 14:15
If we don’t consider what we are about to do, then we will never get there. Then we end up beating the air aimlessly, and not becoming the person we believe God is calling us to be.
If there is something you are wanting to change . . . why wait. Why not make it a priority this week. Start to make a plan of how you will change who you are. It doesn’t matter if anyone notices. God will! That’s the One you are ultimately serving. Everything we do ultimately has that eternal significance.
So, make a plan. What can you do which will have eternal importance that you can accomplish. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It can be small. In fact, don’t start with something huge. Seek to take a small step as you manage your life better.
Maybe it’s to start reading the Bible, maybe it’s to say I want to start praying. Maybe it’s about serving, whatever it is, will you start and will you not give up when times get tough?
Will you consider what needs to be managed in your life so you can honor God, and not get disqualified or rejected from the race?
How will you live your life so that it has eternal significance?
Decide what you want to change about yourself.
