The Steward's Secret
Seeing Spiritually • Sermon • Submitted
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· 15 viewsThe discipline of stewardship is living in the tension of knowing your authority in Christ and yet surrendering yourself completely to Christ.
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Our Theme for 2020 is “Seeing Spiritually.”
We began the year with a series on Spiritual Disciplines to help us “tune-up” our spiritual vision.
Next week we
We have talked about prayer, fasting, worship, celebration and service.
We are going to wrap-up with a message on stewardship.
What is stewardship?
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Stewardship
STEWARDSHIP Responsibility to manage all the resources of life for the glory of God, acknowledging God as provider.
This is not just a message on tithing!
This is not a message on tithing!
Though tithing is a basic part of stewardship.
Giving ten percent is an acknowledgement that everything belongs to God.
What else belongs to God? Is it just your money?
Our lives belong to God - the strength and ability to do our jobs.
Our gifts and talents belong to God.
Our time belongs to God - how about tithing your time back to God?
Our kids belong to God. We dedicate them to God, but do we release them back to God for His use?
When I preached on Ephesians we talked about being stewards of God’s grace.
God is bringing everything under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Having received favor from God and the empowering of His Spirit, now it is our part to multiply what we have received.
We are bringing everything in us and everything under our influence under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Peter sums it up this way:
1 pet
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 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.
The mindset of a steward
The mindset of a steward
“Steward” is a word that we don’t see much these days outside of the Bible, unless it’s that guy serving cocktails to the first class passengers in a airplane.
The steward was a household servant who managed the household affairs for the head of the family. Managing the family involved delegation, discipline, encouragement, and, most important, accountability to the head of the household.
- Lexham Theological Wordbook
- Lexham Theological Wordbook
The Bible refers to believers as stewards because there is a particular mindset that we should have as people who walk in the authority of Christ, but who are submitted to Christ.
Lexham Theological Wordbook. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
A steward is a manager.
A steward is like the executive vice-president of a company.
Greco-Roman households were like feudal estates, they encompassed farms, businesses and international trade.
A steward was more that a butler, he ran the whole show.
In today’s economy, most businesses are run by executive managers. Top level execs decide the What? and Why? questions. Middle managers are left to figure out the Who? When? and How?
As an Associate Pastor for over 17 years it was easy to understand the role of a steward. Pastor Curt would tell me something that he wanted to see happen. We would brainstorm together about what that might look like, but it was often up to me to get the people together and assign tasks. I had to break goals down into manageable steps and find people who could do the various parts of what needed to be accomplished.
When God calls us stewards, it is because He has given us a purpose and a calling.
He has already answered the What? and the Why?
We are left to figure out Who, When and How?
Scripture tells us to be self-controlled and sober-minded - in other words - focus!
Focus on what God has given you to do.
Why? Because of your prayers.
You don’t know how to pray unless you know what your job is.
When an employee talks to the boss he’s either whining about something or just making small talk (kissing up).
God is delighted to give us what we need to do what He has asked us us to do.
When a manager talks to the boss, he’s there because he needs something to do his job and he’s determined to get it.
A steward cares about morale.
The scripture tells us to make love a priority. Why? Because love covers sin.
We are not just stewards of material resources, we are stewards of God’s grace.
The love and the favor that we have received from God should be multiplied through our influence.
As a manager, a steward not only represents the boss to the workers, but he also represents the worker’s needs to the boss.
Managers often make the mistake of being too task oriented and forgetting the needs of the people who work for them.
Especially the need for affirmation. “People don’t care what you know until they know you care.”
As stewards of God’s grace, love is not just a “best practice,” love is the goal!
We want people to know that they are made in the image of God and that they are dearly loved by God even in their brokenness.
We ant people to know that Jesus gave His own life for their healing and forgiveness.
How do we communicate the sacrificial love of God unless it is by our own demonstration of sacrificial love?
A steward is focused on the mission.
As the manager of a household in ancient times, hospitality is how business gets done.
We think of hospitality as a side-thing or a social thing.
Sales executives know that being a good host is how you close the deal.
Hospitality in ancient times often meant taking in travelers that are passing through the area.
You never know what significance these contacts may have in terms of trade or influence.
God commanded Israel to be hospitable to foreigners. They were to be a light to the nations.
The Amplified Bible shows us that Peter’s instruction in verse 9 has a lot of implications.
English Standard Version Chapter 4
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
9 Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith). [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers, with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all others who come your way who are of Christ’s body.] And [in each instance] do it ungrudgingly (cordially and graciously, without complaining but as representing Him).
The point is not just to practice hospitality, but to do it cheerfully without grumbling.
Why? Because if we fail to convey the grace (favor, love, generosity) of God then we miss the point of hospitality.
If a manager is not pleasant to do business with, you will take your business elsewhere.
A steward who grumbles has forgotten his position and is acting like a mere servant.
If the charge that we are entrusted with as Christians is to reach the world for Christ, then how we do it is just at important as that we do it.
The mystery of a steward
The mystery of a steward
If you saw a steward on the street in Bible times you might think he was a wealthy man. You might mistake him for the owner of the house. He’s dress well, has a gold ring, used to seal official documents. People would recognize him as a person of importance. But none of that is really about him. All of the prestige, wealth and respect is because of the one he represents - the true master of the house who is probably rarely seen in public.
The secret of a steward is that nothing that he has is actually his.
A steward has free run of the house. Like Joseph in the house of Potiphar, everything in the house is available to him (except the wife).
8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
What Joseph is saying to Potiphar’s wife is that he has no need of anything because everything that is his masters is already available to him. Why should he desire the one thing that is not his?
I think the reason that people might find Biblical stewardship to be difficult is because we don’t know what we already have.
We act like slaves, feeling like the best things are being withheld from us.
In fact, God has given us every good thing.
If anything is forbidden, it is for our good that we might live according to God’s design.
As stewards, we have everything that we need to carry out the Lord’s business.
The steward utilizes the resources of the master.
We all have gifts, not just for our enjoyment but for to be used to serve.
Maybe you don’t feel like you have every good thing that God has to offer, but together we do.
We are blessed in different ways, but together we are blessed in every way.
The secret of a steward is recognizing that when you are functioning in your God-given gift, you can do beyond what you would be able to to in your own ability.
We sometimes call that “the anointing.”
When you are in “the anointing” you are tapping into heaven’s resources.
You can expect supernatural ability, supernatural provision, supernatural strength.
It’s like discovering that you have a super-power. You immediately realize that this can be used for good or for evil. If you’re a hero, you recognize that you are given that gift for a reason and you become a steward of the gift. Villains use their gift to accomplish their own ends.
This is why it is important to understand what a steward is, when you use your gift to serve your own interest, you are no longer a hero, but a villain.
Heroes serve a purpose greater than themselves.
Everything that the steward earns is for the master.
Everything you have is from God and everything you do is for God.
Heroes serve a purpose greater than themselves.
God is both the source of everything and the one to whom everything is due.
The purpose of a steward is to produce increase for the master.
As you produce increase with what you are given, God will give you more.
The majesty of a steward
The majesty of a steward
A steward rejoices when God is glorified.
In modern language we would call him a “company man.”
His loyalty is to the One that he serves.
His goal is to succeed in promoting the success of others.
He rejoices in the success of the team more than in his own accomplishments.
Why is this a spiritual discipline?
Because this world in it’s fallen state, has chosen self over God.
We have forgotten the One who made us for His glory.
Our human nature is self-preservation, self-protection and self promotion.
In order to live godly lives we have to learn to resist the selfish human nature, not only to serve, but to be stewards of the Divine nature.
A steward realizes that dominion belongs to God.
The discipline of stewardship is living in the tension of knowing your authority in Christ and yet surrendering yourself completely to Christ.
If we don’t take up our authority in Christ with confidence, then we are living like slaves.
We don’t utilize the resources that are ours because we only see them as belonging to someone else.
We live defeated lives that fail to bring God the glory that He deserves.
On the other hand, we can enjoy the good things that God has given us.
We can serve God and others and grow in influence.
We can even function in the anointing of the Holy Spirit
and somehow miss the point of all that we have worked to achieve,
if we do not bring ourselves completely under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The secret of a steward is that he /she has everything, but nothing is about them.
God can bless you and it doesn’t go to your head because you only see yourself as a channel of blessing to others.
God can use you because you’re not relying on your own strength, you are a conduit for His Spirit.
God is glorified in your life because your life reflects Him.
Communion
Communion
Communion
Communion
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Questions for Reflection:
Questions for Reflection:
Do you see yourself as a steward? Is there anything you have that you can claim as entirely yours? Are you living as if it all belongs to God?
Where has God given you authority? Is there a blessing that God wants you to share? Do you have a gift that ought to be used to glorify God? What does God want you to do with what He has given to you?
How does your life glorify God? What has God given you that you can give back to Him with increase? When people look at you, do they see your Master?
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
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