Christian Stewardship - Part 1
Romans 12:1-8 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
- I have come upon something in the last few months that I find distressing.
- Do you know that we have a budget?
- There is a budget planned by the finance committee and the treasurer and the pastor every year.
- We sit down and we plan out how much money it’s going to take to run the church for the next year.
- Anybody do that at home?
- Do you have a budget?
- We have one.
- It’s not quite as formal as the one we write up for the church but we do have a plan.
- Here’s what I find distressing.
- You see, when I make up my plan for my family, it’s based on our income.
- We look at how much we make and then we look at how much it’s going to cost us to live.
- If we expect to earn more than we spend, GOOD!
- If our expenses are going to exceed our income, BAD!
- That’s the way that anyone would make a budget, right?
- Well, not exactly.
- You see, when we did the budget for the church we didn’t know how much we could expect to take in.
- We have last year’s totals, that’s good.
- But we have no way to predict what next year’s income will be.
- Now you need to understand that the finance committee and the treasurer and the pastor are trying to be good stewards of the church’s assets.
- But just like you in your personal finances, if we spend more than we take in, BAD!
- This is the point where you start groaning because you’re expecting me to hand out pledge cards.
- Sorry to disappoint you folks, there’ll be no pledge cards.
- But I do have a point in all this.
- I believe that you all would like the finance committee and the treasurer and the pastor to continue to be good stewards of your church’s assets.
- In order for us to do that, we need your help.
- We need you to jump on board and be good stewards of the church’s assets too.
- Firs things first though.
- We need to all be on the same page as to why this is a problem.
- Why, you say?
- Be cause the sentiment that I’ve heard is, “We’ve always done it this way.”
- “Our budget has always balanced without having to be concerned about money?
- “God will take care of us and our church.”
- Folks, the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
- Take a look around you.
- Are those pews as full as they were last year?
- What about two years ago?
- Three? Four?
- This congregation is shrinking and it’s aging too.
- Neither one of those is going to allow you to continue to do things the way that you’ve always done them.
- I know that change is a bad word, but things have got to change or you can kiss your church goodbye.
- You’re insane if you really think that we can just keep doing what we’ve always done and things will get better.
- They won’t.
- Sure, God will take care of you.
- But that might mean finding yourself someplace else to worship.
- So then let’s get into it.
- There are some things that we need to define first.
- What are the assets of the church?
- What is a steward?
- What is stewardship?
- Well, I’m going to take some time to look at stewardship so let’s get the other two out of the way first.
- Let’s look at assets.
- What are the assets of the church?
- Yes, that is money.
- Yes, it’s also the property.
- But it’s a whole lot more than that.
- Right now, pick up your hymnal and turn to page 43.
- Look under the heading that says “Commendation and Welcome.”
- This is the congregational response when we baptize someone or welcome them to membership in the church.
- As a congregation, whether you’re a member on the rolls or not,
- you pledge to uphold this congregation of the United Methodist Church with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service.
- There is where the real assets of the church are!
- You’re the assets of the church!
- You all hold all the assets in yourselves and your actions.
- Prayers, presence, gifts and service.
- Those are the things that this church will thrive on.
- Those are the things that will keep this church alive, healthy and growing.
- And those are the things that I’m going to focus on in the next few weeks.
- This week we’re going to talk about being good stewards of the church assets by your prayers.
- But let’s first define steward and stewardship.
- Dictionary.com defines steward as “one who manages another’s property, finances, or other affairs.”
- That’s a good point to remember because it’s not our property or affairs to begin with.
- The church and the ministries of the church belong to God.
- We’re only here to take care of them.
- So then what’s stewardship?
- Again, dictionary.com says “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something;
- especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care
- for instance, stewardship of our natural resources”
- So it’s not ours, and we’re charged with careful and responsible management of it.
- With me so far?
- (Elicit responses)
- Good.
- Now get out the insert in this week’s bulletin.
- On that insert you’ll see the word “Prayer” and today’s date.
- Beneath that you’ll find three attributes of a Christian Steward.
- There are twelve of these attributes in all and four assets that we pledge to the church,
- so we’ll be talking about three of these attributes a week for the next four weeks.
- You’ll also notice that each attribute is followed by several scripture references.
- These are the places where you’ll find God speaking to that attribute and it’s effect on stewardship.
- I won’t be covering every Scripture reference every week so you’ll have something to chew on during the week.
PRAYERFUL
- So as we consider our gift of prayer to the church, point one is:
- A Christian steward is prayerful.
- Now that was fairly obvious, wasn’t it?
- I mean, if we’re going to talk about prayer, then of course we’re supposed to be prayerful!
- Yes, but it’s more than that.
- Listen to the words of Jeremiah the prophet.
- Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
- Christian stewards acknowledge the greatness and the goodness of God through prayer.
- You’ve heard me speak on prayer before and there’s little about the subject that doesn’t bear repeating,
- but I don’t want to repeat myself.
- I want you to understand how prayers work for your church.
- Prayer is your fellowship with God.
- It is the time that you express your concerns to God.
- Are you concerned for your church?
- Does it bother you that you’ve got more room in the pews than you used to or is that OK?
- Are you praying for the ministries of the church?
- Are you praying for the pastor?
- A Christian steward is prayerful.
- How is your prayer stewardship?
CONTENT
- I read a story the other day that goes something like this.
- Leaning on his fence one day, a devout Quaker was watching a new neighbor move in next door.
- After all kinds of modern appliances, electronic gadgets, plush furniture, and costly wall hangings had been carried in, the onlooker called over,
- "If you find you’re lacking anything, neighbor, let me know and I’ll show you how to live without it."
- Which brings me to my second point:
- A Christian steward is content.
- Whoa, wait a minute.
- That doesn’t belong here, does it?
- I was just trying to convince you not to be content with the way things are, right?
- Well, follow me here.
- Christian stewards acknowledge that their strength comes from God through whom they can do all things,
- regardless of how many or how few material possessions they have.
- Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
- With God, nothing is impossible.
- Without God, little is rewarding.
- Our contentment is not dependent on our accomplishments or our wealth or our possessions.
- Contentment isn’t about us or our church or our ministries.
- Contentment comes with knowing that we are on God’s side,
- And with God, anything can happen.
- We can accomplish anything that is in his will for us!
TRUSTWORTHY
- Finally, a Christian Steward is trustworthy.
- Haddon Robinson tells the following story about Monroe Parker.
- Years ago, Parker was traveling through South Alabama on one of those hot, sultry Alabama days.
- He stopped at a watermelon stand, picked out a watermelon, and asked the proprietor how much it cost.
- "It’s $1.10," he replied.
- Parker dug into his pocket, found only a bill and said, "All I have is a dollar."
- "That’s ok," the proprietor said, "I’ll trust you for it."
- "Well, that’s mighty nice of you," Parker responded, and picking up the watermelon, started to leave.
- "Hey, where are you going?" the man behind the counter demanded.
- "I’m going outside to eat my watermelon."
- "But you forgot to give me the dollar!"
- "You said you would trust me for it," Parker called back.
- "Yeah, but I meant I would trust you for the dime!"
- "Mack," Parker replied, "You weren’t going to trust me at all.
- You were just going to take a ten-cent gamble on my integrity!"
- God has placed a sacred trust in our hands.
- We have been given the mission of furthering the Kingdom of God in the world.
- We have been entrusted with houses of worship and ministries and Christian relationships.
- In 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, our scripture for this morning, Paul says,
- “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”
- We are Christian Stewards of God’s mission, God’s ministries, and God’s house.
- Christian stewards can be trusted to make wise decisions concerning the resources placed in their care.
- We have a lot to be thankful for in our resources.
- We have wonderful people in our church.
- We have a beautiful building and an attractive sanctuary to worship in.
- But it’s not really ours.
- We’ve been entrusted by God to take care of it all.
- And, we’ve been entrusted by God to prosper it as well.
- We’ve got to honor our own commitments to God in the ministries and the church that He’s given us.
- We must be trustworthy.
CHALLENGE
- Each week of this series I’m going to offer you a challenge.
- The following week I’m going to ask you how you did with that challenge.
- That’s right folks, the pastor’s giving homework!
- My challenge to you this week is this:
- Think about your stewardship of prayer for the gifts that God has blessed you with.
- Are you prayerful?
- Are you content in God’s strength to accomplish great things?
- Are you proving yourself to be trustworthy of the charge that God has placed on you?
- Pray hard this week.
- Pray for your church.
- Pray for your pastor.
- Pray for the ministries of this church.
- And pray for yourself, that you may be found prayerful, content, and trustworthy.
- AMEN
