Stewardship Of God's Things Series

LESSON FOUR: STEWARDSHIP OF GOD’S THINGS

TEXT: 1Co 4:1-2; Matt 25:14-30

Introduction:

Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,

neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall

be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Deu 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be

put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12

AV)

God has given all men some things for which he is accountable. These things are common to

man; rich or poor, sick or strong, married or single. But the man of God knows the truth about these

things. The man of God calls them by their proper name: gifts of God. These three things are Time,

Property, and Money. God has given us all three. Each of us has some of them in varying degrees.

We, as stewards are going to be held accountable for how we manage them. Today, we will look at our

stewardship of each of them.

But for just a moment, before we do, I want to focus on another point that is of eternal

significance for each of us. That is that each soul is accountable to God first for what he or she has

done with Jesus Christ. We read the verses that each person shall be put do death for his own sin.

Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. God did not say that we would be put to death if

our sin-level was high enough. He said we would be put to death for our own sin -- in any level. So how

do we remove that sin? By believing that the death your sin requires was paid by the very Son of God

for you, and that after paying that price, He rose again that you might have eternal life. It means living

for Him, under His authority, and letting Him lead you through the rest of this life as you put your faith in

Him. It means calling your sin Sin, and repenting of it, doing it no more. It means becoming His servant,

a servant of righteousness instead of the old self, the servant of wickedness. Have you done that? Have

you committed your life to Jesus Christ? Have you begun to change your ways to honor and glorify Him?

Is He the Lord of your life? If not, then eternity will be hell for you. Make this the day you commit to Him.

Turn around and trust Him. If you need to recommit your life to Him today, make this the day you do so.

Make it known to everyone that you are trusting Him. He died publicly for you, and demands that you

publicly stand for Him. For genuine Christians, as they follow Him, will be evident by the way they do

things. Their stewardship will be different than that of the World, and so will be evident. So Christ will

publicly stand before the Father and declare that you are His only if you have stood before the world and

declared Christ to be YOUR owner and master. Those that hide their Christianity will be hidden away

from the Father. Don’t let that be you.

London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The

building had been empty for months and needed repairs.

Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace

the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I’m going to build something

completely different. I don’t want this building; I want the site."

Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial

as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God’s, the old life is over (2

Cor. 5:17).

He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and permission to build.

Anyway, back to stewardship, that all-important part of the life of the Believer. The good steward

is faithful. He not merely to care for the things put in his charge. He is careful to gain for the master from

the things put in his charge; whether it be Property (property may not be added, but it can be productive