Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 4:1, 2

A Trustworthy Steward

 

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.[1]

Each month, I preach a stewardship message.

This has been my practise for a number of years.

This practise grows out of a conviction that the people of God can only benefit from instruction detailing the will of God for us, and especially instructing us in the way we are to handle what God has entrusted to us.

When I speak of stewardship, I suppose the uninitiated think that I am pleading for money.

They imagine that the church needs money, and therefore the preacher must plead for their money.

I want to disabuse any who hear this message of such thinking.

Though stewardship does extend to our moneys, the concept is far broader than that.

In fact, the concept of stewardship has its genesis in the salvation Christ freely gives.

You cannot give what you do not have, and we believe that all that we have we received from a gracious and loving God.

Though we confess that the advance of the Kingdom of God does require finances, we do not believe that we should request donations from the unsaved.

We do not finance the work of God through appeals to the community for funds; neither do we hold bake sales or yard sales to underwrite the ministry of Christ.

We carefully stress that those who have never believed the Risen Son of God should not give during the time of worship as we receive gifts from God’s people.

Similarly, we believe that all giving must be voluntary without any coercion.

Those who are deeply wounded by life and who cannot rejoice in the act of giving, as well as those fellow believers who do not share our desire to extend the Kingdom of God through the ministry of this congregation, should not give as we worship through giving.

These practises grow out of a conviction that stewardship lies at the heart of the Christian life.

We receive life from the Master, and therefore, we are responsible to offer the life we have received to Christ’s glory.

The things that mark this life—the material goods that we possess—are certainly under His reign, but for us, even more foundational to our life is the thought that as Christians, stewardship begins with the mysteries of God.

Perhaps the use of the phrase */mysteries of God/* creates a problem.

That phrase tends to make some people positively theological; they imagine that we are speaking of some esoteric or ethereal concept that is capable of being understood but vaguely at best.

However, the concept of a mystery is easily understood through even a cursory review of its use in the New Testament.

Except for four occurrences in the *Book of Revelation*, the presentation of mystery in the New Testament is confined to Paul’s writings.

According to the revelation of God, we are appointed to be stewards of life.

Christians bear responsibility before God to administer wisely all that He entrusts to us.

Your earthly holdings—the houses you live in, the vehicles you drive, the conveniences that fill your houses, your bank accounts—have all been entrusted to you so they can be used to the glory of God.

In the same way, the talents you have received were given by the Lord.

The abilities—the voice that sings so sweetly and the mind that works so quickly—and the strength of your hands have been lent to you for a very brief time so that you may serve the Lord.

Unquestionably, however, the greatest treasure you have received is the knowledge that Christ Jesus is Lord.

You are responsible to employ with wisdom the knowledge of His mercy and of His grace to the praise of His glory.

Stewardship is the Essence of Christian Faith — A Methodist minister once informed me that he entered the ministry because he considered the ministry to be an easy job.

However, it is not easy to be a servant of Jesus Christ—not if you are a true minister.

The world did not love the Master, and those identified as belonging to the world are not likely to love His servants.

As one entrusted with the mysteries of God, the servant of Christ must be faithful to the Master, regardless of what others may say or do.

The servant of God will many times be treated as rubbish and refuse by those belonging to the world; his own spiritual children may break his heart and resist discipline.

The servant of God must not, however, cease to be a steward of the mysteries of God.

The steward of God recognises that he is responsible to guard the treasure that is the message of hope, even as he makes every effort to give away that precious treasure.

What is true for the minister of Christ holds equally true for each child of God.

As you mature in the Faith, you will assume greater responsibility to tell others of Christ the Lord and to instruct them in the mysteries of Christ.

It is possible to summarise the Christian life by the singular concept of stewardship.

The child of God recognises that all that he or she has received is from God, and especially does the believer rejoice in the knowledge of life in the Son of God.

Therefore, the Christian sees that God is ruler of life, and that all that is held is held as one appointed to be an administrator of God.

When one becomes a Christian, that one is called to identify immediately with the Saviour in baptism.

Paul recounted his conversion to Christ, concluding with the statement that when Ananias had given instruction in the will of God, he then commanded the new believer, now, why do you wait?  Rise and be baptised [*Acts 22:16*].

Having received baptism, believers are joined to the Body administering the ordinance [see *Acts 2:41*].

Whether the Body to which they are joined has a written covenant or not, they enter into covenant with their fellow members of the church.

It is anticipated that each believer will assume responsibility within the congregation to which he or she is appointed by the Spirit of God.

Above all else, each believer is responsible to build up the fellow members of the church.

Paul makes this quite clear when he instructs the Corinthian Christians, Let all things be done for building up [*1 Corinthians 14:26*].

Believers in the Risen Son of God fulfil their responsibility to strengthen the church through ministering to one another, through exercising the gifts God has given each one, and through supporting the ministry of the congregation with prayer and with their possessions over which they have oversight.

I repeat—stewardship is the essence of the Christian Faith.

Salvation is the gift of God, but we are saved to serve.

The Christian Faith is not an issue of “either~/or,” but rather it is an instance of “both~/and.”

We are to determine to minister to one another and we are to administer what God has entrusted to us.

All this is to be done so that He will be glorified and honoured through our service.

I have often cited the great verses Paul penned in the Ephesian encyclical.

Almost all believers have heard* Ephesians 2:8, 9*, if they have not memorised the verses.

By grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

However, I fail to understand why we fail to memorise the *tenth verse*: We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them [*Ephesians 2:10*].

Paul’s constant prayer for the Colossian Christians, and I do not doubt his prayer for each believer in each city where he had ministered the Word of God, was a prayer for godly service.

The Apostle testified, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God [*Colossians 1:9, 10*].

The expectation of willing servanthood permeates the New Testament.

Paul commands the Galatians to master the freedom in Christ they have received when he writes; you were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another [*Galatians 5:13*].

Freedom in Christ, the heritage of each Christian, is to be revealed through willing service to others.

Peter commands Christians: as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace [*1 Peter 4:10*].

His words are not restricted to those who are set apart to formal ecclesiastical service, but rather Peter is addressing each Christian.

The context demands this understanding since in light of the imminence of the return of the Lord all are to keep loving one another earnestly [*1 Peter 4:8*], and since each one is to show hospitality to one another without grumbling [*1 Peter 4:9*].

In other words, if we accept that each Christian is responsible to love others earnestly, and if we accept that each Christian is to show hospitality to one another without grumbling, then we must accept that each Christian is responsible to serve one another, understanding that the gift received is not for his or her benefit solely, but rather for the benefit of the whole Body.

To be sure, an overseer is God’s steward [*Titus 1:7*], but it should be obvious by this point in the message that a life of service—a life of stewardship—is expected of each individual who is called a Christian.

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve [*Matthew 20:28*].

When He had washed the disciples’ feet, a task that none of them had assumed, the Lord Jesus instructed them.

That passage is instructive.

Please turn in your Bible to *John 13:12-16 *and follow as I read the passage.

When He had washed their feet and put on His outer garments and resumed His place, [Jesus] said to [His disciples], “Do you understand what I have done to you?

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

These words are but an iteration of Jesus’ instructions at the Last Supper.

[Jesus] said to the [disciples], “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

But not so with you.

Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.

For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves?

Is it not the one who reclines at table?

But I am among you as the one who serves” [*Luke 22:25-27*].

If you will be a Christian in deed and not in name only, you will cultivate a life reflecting a servant’s heart.

You will become a steward of the gifts you have received, investing them in others for the glory of the Father.

You will accept the responsibility to build others, you will embrace the responsibility to wisely distribute the financial gifts over which you have oversight in order to ensure God’s glory, and you will employ the Gospel of Christ as a precious gift to turn many others to faith in the Son of God.

Stewardship Begins with the Way we Handle the Mysteries of God — Stewardship is the essence of the Christian walk.

I trust I have established this truth firmly in your mind.

Since this is true, it should not be surprising that the manner in which we handle the mysteries of God determines the manner in which we conduct our administrative responsibilities as citizens of the Kingdom.

Each Christian should ask himself or herself, “Am I building the Kingdom of God; or am I just present in the Kingdom?

Am I building a church; or am I merely attending services?”

The mysteries of God appear to revolve in particular around the unveiling of the Christ and the creation of His church.

The term mystery occurs twenty-four times in the New Testament, and, as already mentioned, except for four of those occurrences, all occur in the writings of the Apostle Paul.

In New Testament theology, a mystery is an event that could not have been anticipated with the limited knowledge available under the Old Covenant, but which God has fully revealed under the New Covenant.