WHAT WE BELIEVE – STEWARDSHIP

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WHAT WE BELIEVE – STEWARDSHIP

In the time of the New Testament, almost every wealthy household had a steward. The steward managed the house for his employer. He would supervise the servants, make sure the children were fed, supervised, and schooled, make sure the bills were paid, make sure the house was taken care of, and make sure everything ran the way it was supposed to run. The steward owned nothing, it all belonged to his employer. However, he was trusted with everything, for the benefit of everyone else in the house. A steward is someone who has been entrusted with something that does not belong to them so they can use it for the benefit of others.

In Christ, we are stewards. We have been entrusted by God with everything that we have: our time, our callings, our unique circumstances, our relationships, and our wealth. We are given what we have to live for his glory and the good of others. We are blessed to be a blessing.

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states this concerning our understanding of stewardship: “God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.”

In calling us to be stewards, to generously give of ourselves and what God has given us for the benefit of others, God calls us to love like Christ loves us. When Paul calls upon the Corinthian church to give an offering for the poor and hungry in Jerusalem, this is how he makes his appeal: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

Jesus, the God-Man, had infinite wealth, because he is God, and has always been God, but if he held onto his wealth and stayed in heaven, we would die in our sins, in our spiritual poverty. This was Jesus’ choice: if he stayed rich, we would die poor, if he died poor, we could become rich; our sins would be forgiven and we would become part of the family of God, receiving an inheritance in eternity beyond our wildest imaginings.

Jesus gave up all his treasure in heaven in order to make you his treasure (1 Pet 2:9-10). When you believe that he died to make you his treasure, that will make him your treasure. And when Jesus is our treasure, he will be the source of our significance, power, comfort, and security. Therefore, with Jesus’ help, we can live as the stewards he has called us to be, and we can give. The more we grasp the gospel, the less money or any other counterfeit god will have any sway over us. His costly grace changes us into generous people.

As 1 Timothy 6:17-19 reminds us, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

Praise the Lord he entrusts us with our lives, with his gospel, and richly gives us all things to enjoy. May we be faithful stewards, rich in good works, generous and ready to share and give, storing up our treasures in heaven.

God bless,

Pastor Gary's Signature