Stewardship: Taking care of God’s things
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been considering how we can have a “Disciplined Delight in the Trinity” through various spiritual disciplines or practices. We’ve discussed slowing down a bit in how we take in and meditate on scripture so that we can relish in God and His revelation. We pondered some methods and formats to help us pray and commune with God in order to more fully enjoy our walks with Him. We’ve considered delighting God as we deny ourselves things that we may need or want for a season - as a reminder of how much we really need Him.
Today, we come to a discipline that is in many ways more of a mindset or perspective. That is what some would call the discipline of stewardship.
As I mentioned in the midweek email, a lot of people think about stewardship as a fancy or theological way of a church talking about money. While I think that is a part of it, limiting stewardship to money reduces the expansiveness of what I think stewardship truly entails.
As we think about this today, I want us to think about two truths and then a few implications of those truths. With those implications, we are really only going to scratch the surface of what we can consider.
First of all, Scripture teaches us that everything belongs to God.
Everything belongs to God
Everything belongs to God
Some of this is implicit in God’s act of creation.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Because God is the creator, the maker, the originator, everything belongs to Him. As the originator, God defines what is, establishes its purposes, and sets its objective.
Just as an inventor or engineer or author or composer defines the purposes for which he or she creates something, so too God, on a much bigger scale defines the purposes for all that He created - broadly for His glory.
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
In another passage we read:
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
For God’s people in the Old Testament and their non-believing contemporaries, words like this would have been radical. For many at that time were poly-theists - people who worshiped a variety of deities.
Even in the Plagues that took place during the Exodus, God proved his supremacy over the Egyptian gods. Each of those contests demonstrated Yahweh’s greatness over and above the rule of these so-called gods, whose compartmentalized reigns were limited in scope.
Beyond that, the New Testament discusses how all things are continually held together in by God - or really in this case - by Christ.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
When we look at the natural or physical world much of this makes sense. We can understand how the plants and animals, tress and mountains, sea and sky, planets, stars, and moons are all His. But what about the things that you and I have made or the things that we have purchased? Are those his too?
In many ways yes. God is the one who provided the means by which we make or acquire those things. He provided the initial skill and I think planted in each of us a desire for certain things. Scripture even tells us that God supplies seed to the sower (2 Cor. 9:10) - essentially giving us what we need to produce things that we create.
So, all things that exist are God’s. But there is a second truth that we need to understand.
God entrusted His creation to humans
God entrusted His creation to humans
On the sixth day of creation, God created animals and humans. Upon the completion of creating the first humans, God gave the, a mandate, sometimes referred to as the “creation mandate”.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
By entrusting all that is His to us, God essentially places humans in the role of steward or manager or overseer. We have been endowed with stewardship responsibilities. We’ve been given permission to use, cultivate, rule, and care for all that is His.
Let’s think about a couple of these words that we see in the creation mandate:
Be fruitful and multiply
It’s not difficult to glean that God essentially told Adam and Eve to have children and to have their children have children. To some degree - they/we have been quite successful in this regard. To date there are about 8 billion people on the planet. We have filled it and have been fruitful in that way - though there are pockets of the world where we are experiencing a negative birth rate.
But what does it take to really be fruitful and multiply - it’s far more than pro-creation or having babies. It’s cultivating an environment where life can flourish. It’s caring for things in a way that promotes life in so many different ways.
Policies
laws
environment
speech
and more.
Another set of words that we should consider in his mandate are…
Subdue it and have dominion
There are some who might say that this subjugation and dominion means that we can do whatever we want with the planet. To be fair, these are strong words. In the wrong hands they have oppressive outcomes.
Think about this environmentally for a moment. If we make the planet uninhabitable, then there is nothing over which we would have stewardship. On the other hand, some would have humans diminished to a point where the only life on earth is plant and animal life - or at least reducing the population to a size they determine is acceptable, but that denies the first element of this mandate - to be fruitful and multiply.
Politically - the Role of government is ideally to “protect its people and keep the society safe” (study.com).
So on a grand scale, if we act environmentally or politically in ways that harm, we are not demonstrating dominion or subjugation as stewards but as destroyers.
With those two truths in mind - all things are God’s and he has entrusted what is his to us, it seems like there are numerous...
Implications of stewardship
Implications of stewardship
With a topic like this, it’s easy or tempting to focus on certain hot-button issues - environmental matters, resource management, work, money, bodies, social justice, etc. The challenge is that if God has everything and has entrusted what is his to us, then it has implications in ALL parts of life.
Let’s think about this in a few different ways - or in light of some of the resources that God has given us.
Time Resources
time is fleeting - it is one resource that we can never get back. We are encouraged to redeem or make the most of our time.
We don’t know how much time we will have. Maybe many decades more, maybe only days.
Gospel - Hebrews 9:27 reminds us that it’s appointed once to die and then the judgment. We only get this life to respond to the grace and love of God. today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2 “… Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
since time is fleeting we need to…
Use it wisely - Ephesians 5:15–16 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
work
work well, doing your best for Gods glory.
home
with God
Serving others
Rest intentionally - make time to be refreshed - in His wisdom, God created a sabbath or day of rest for us.
Financial Resources
Managing well
Proverbs 27:23 “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,”
Ecclesiastes 11:6 “In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”
Living within our means - Dave Ramsey has referred to the fact that we talk about money as currency because like a current of water or electricity, it has movement. It comes in and then must go somewhere.
Giving
tithing in the Old Testament
First fruits offering given to the Lord for the maintenance of the temple and provision of the Levites and priests.
NT practice giving generously
Our family’s practice - give first 10% to the church, support missionaries and other ministries over and above.
church practice - offering box in the back or online giving - allows the offering to be between you and God.
Saving
retirement is not a concept that Scripture discusses - but we do need to save for future things
Spending
Spiritual Resources
Each have been gifted with spiritual gifts - abilities to teach, serve, minister, administrate, lead, gifts of hospitality, mercy, and so much more.
1 Peter 4:10–11 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Notice, that when we use the gifts we receive from God, we do so as stewards of God’s grace. God has given us those gifts for a reason.
Closing thoughts
as you think through and reflect on this idea of stewardship - consider discussing this afternoon or in your community group this week what other implications or areas of life would be affected by this way of thinking?
There is a part of this too, that might cause us to feel overwhelmed where the delight in the trinity and in God’s good gift to us becomes obsessively stressful - maybe that’s just my own short coming, but I do think it’s important for us to remember - God has given us these things. They are ours to use and enjoy. We get to make the most of all that God has given us. We get to do so, for His glory. As we try to balance between work and rest, as we delight in God’s good gifts, but also care for all that God has made and endowed to us, we get to realize our own shortcomings, and rest in God’s grace. We get to worship.
We get to look forward to the day when God will say, “well done my good and faithful servant.” (Mt. 25:21)
Let’s pray.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
What is stewardship?
How does having a perspective of delight help us steward God’s things well?
What are some areas where we should think/act differently regarding our stewarding responsibilities?
Memory Verse: 1 Peter 4:10-11
Benediction
Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Sources:
Clark, Ron, and Dougald McLaurin III. “Stewardship.” Edited by Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, and Rebekah Hurst. Lexham Theological Wordbook. Lexham Bible Reference Series. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.
Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology, 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998.
Meeks, Charles. “Tithe.” Edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.
Piper, John. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. Sisters, OR. Multnomah, 2003.
Piper, John. Providence. Wheaton, IL. Crossway, 2020.
Reeves, Michael. Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith. Downers Grove, IL. InterVarsity Press, 2012.
Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. NavPress, 2014.
Whitney, Donald S. TEN Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. NavPress, 2001.