Stewardship

Stewardship June 12, 2005

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Who do you belong to?

Those of you who are Simpson’s fans might remember the episode called “tree house of horror” when Homer sells his soul to the devil for a donut. “Mmm... forbidden donut.”

Homer is out of donuts at work, so he sells his soul to the Devil, who turns out to be Ned Flanders. Homer saves the last bite of the donut so that Flanders does not get his soul, however, he eats it the next night during a sleepwalk.

Lisa argues that her father has the right to a fair trial - where Marge shows the jury a photo, signed by Homer, promising Marge his soul forever. Flanders loses, but converts Homer’s head into a donut. (from www.simpsoncrazy.com

The bible teaches us that, like Homer, we do not belong to ourselves, we have given ourselves to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

In our understanding that we are no our own, there is great hope and great responsibility

Hope:

Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 1

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

We belong!

We also have a greater surety of the safety of our souls than even Homer did!

For no one of us lives, and equally no one of us dies, for himself alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Whether therefore we live or die we belong to the Lord. – Romans 14:7-8

Because we belong to Jesus, the devil has no say over our lives or our soul.

Romans 8:38

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Responsibility.

If we do not belong to ourselves, but belong to God, all that we are and have belong to Him. He has left us in charge of ourselves and our belongings, but they are not ours, the are his. This is what we call “stewardship” A steward was put in charge of a household or a kingdom or domain. They are able to make all the decisions for the running of the household, but it doesn’t belong to them.

You may remember from the movie or book, “The Return of the King” in The Lord of the Rings, the Steward of Gondor – he had been put in charge of the Kingdom of Gondor until the king returned from exile.

Jesus actually has many stories of a master going away and placing a servant or servants in charge of his affairs until he comes back.

The Idea of Stewardship applies to every area of our life where we have influence.

The verse in 1 Corinthians 6 is actually in the context of Paul teaching on sexual purity.

This is what he says:

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sins sexually sin against their own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Our body has been placed in our possession for God’s purpose

Our family has been placed in our possession for God’s purpose

Our possessions & land has been placed in our possession for God’s purpose

Our Money has been placed in our possession for God’s purpose

We can easily forget this, there is one point in the Lord of the Rings when Denethor, the Steward of Gondor realizes that the true king is returning and he would lose his power. He rebels and tries to hold onto the disintegrating kingdom for himself.

We too can get used to the power we have in our lives and think that we can live just for ourselves and do what we like, but we cannot. You are not your own; you were bought at a price

Today I want to concentrate on stewardship of money.

“How do we use the money that God has put in our care?”

Use it for our own well being

Just because it is God’s money, doesn’t mean that you don’t use it to pay the bills, put food on the table, a roof over your head etc.

A faithful steward in the Bible was expected to take a portion of the proceeds of the estate to care for himself and his family.