Stewardship (February 5, 2023)

STEWARDSHIP

What a word that so many don’t really know what it means. So what does it mean? Webster says that STEWARDSHIP means “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something, the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” In other words, STEWARDSHIP is the process of being responsible with someone else’s property while it is in your care.

So, we start off to find that STEWARDSHIP has nothing to do with MY own possessions, but the care and concern and responsibility I have for the possessions that belong to someone else.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ~ “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

So, first, let’s look at the calling that is upon each of our lives.

1 Corinthians 9:16-17 ~ “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.”

Paul said that if he preached the gospel willingly, he had a reward. But if he preached unwillingly, “a dispensation of the gospel was still committed to him.” This simply means he was still responsible to preach the gospel, even if he did it unwillingly or if he refused to do it. If God has placed a call on our lives, and all of us do have a calling on our lives, then we have the responsibility to have good STEWARDSHIP of that calling that GOD HIMSELF placed on our lives. Whether Paul followed through and preached did not matter; Paul was still responsible for preaching. There is no release from the call or duty placed on our lives by God. We will stand accountable for preaching, ministering, singing, cleaning the church, cutting the grass, whatever the call that has been placed on our lives, we will stand accountable for not only NOT doing the call on our lives, but HOW we did the call or work that God has placed on our lives.

The Bible never says anything like that!!! Well ….

1 Corinthians 4:2 ~ “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”

So, anything God has placed into our lives, we have a responsibility to be a good and faithful STEWARD. Why? Because everything we have is not our own, ALL BELONGS TO GOD!!! That car, that house, that bank account, that boat, that job, those clothes, the food you are going to eat at lunch – it all belongs to God!!!

Something else that belongs to God and He has placed into our care – TIME. We must have good STEWARDSHIP of our time. The STEWARDSHIP of time is to be measured not in length but in depth, not in quantity, but in quality. I promise you that God knows we all have jobs, families, kids; and those kids have activities as well – ballgames, dance, karate, and so on. But God is interested in the quality of time you spend with HIM, you spend doing HIS work, you spend in HIS word, you spend in time of prayer with HIM. It is not necessarily about the quantity of time, but the quality of time you spend doing what God has called you to do. If we are good stewards with the time God has given to us, everything else will fall right into place.

Matthew 6:33 ~ “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

This applies to our TALENTS as well. We don’t all have the talent of playing the piano, singing, or whatever you may think great talent is like, but we all have talents. Our greatest talent, no matter who we are, is not any particular gift, but our unique and extraordinary life. Our human experience is what we can offer to God and those around us. Each of us have something in our lives that we can use to spread the gospel of Christ. Whatever your talent is, you need to use that for the glory of God!

Finally, not saying this is all there is on STEWARDSHIP, but just for this morning, the final look at STEWARDSHIP is the fact that Tithing is an Essential Act of STEWARDSHIP.

Now we could look at tithing and go all the way back to Abram and Melchizedek in Genesis 14:17-20 when Abram gave a tribute or a tithe (which does mean 10%) to the priest.

We could look at Jacob in Genesis 28, when he vowed to give a tithe or a tenth of all his goods to the Lord, when he was about to embark upon a precarious journey.

When you arrive to the time of Jesus upon earth, the religious leaders had reduced the practice of tithing to an absurdity. The legalism of the Pharisees and religious leaders got a sharp rebuke from Jesus …

Luke 11:42 ~ “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Jesus we trying to bring the New Testament church, that is what we are, out of the legalism that the religious leaders had brought to the church. Those leaders wanted more and more of the money from the church people, because the leaders were not being good stewards of the church money, therefore, the leaders wanted more!

What Jesus and the later Paul was telling the WHOLE church, if you are good stewards then God has got this!!! I realize that in the time we are living today, with inflation, with prices higher and higher every time we go to the store, it seems like we got to “rob Peter to pay Paul”, but what we must realize is that none of this caught God by surprise. If we put our faith and trust in Him and we practice good STEWARDSHIP of what God has placed into our care, God will take care of the rest.

Two more verses …

1 Corinthians 16:2 ~ “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”

Romans 8:28 ~ “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

We must remember that we have been called by God to do a work for HIM. We must have SEPARATION from the world we live in, however, me must spread the news of SALVATION to this world by doing the SERVICE God has called us into and we must practice good STEWARDSHIP to what God has placed into our care. And when we do these things, God has got this!!!