Sermon Tone Analysis

Built Upon the Rock

E.H. ‘Jack’ Sequeira

Fundamental Belief 21

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; 1 Chronicles 29:14; Haggai 1:3-11; Malachi 3:8-12; 1 Corinthians 9:9-14; Matthew 23:23; 2 Corinthians 8:1-15; Romans 15:26-27

Stewardship has to do with responsibility for all our God-given gifts, time, possessions, abilities, and lifestyle.

But even the doctrine of stewardship, if not understood in context of the gospel, can become legalistic in its application.

The formula of the gospel when experienced by faith is always, “Not I, but Christ,” and the apostle Paul applied this formula to his own life with these words:

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

1 Corinthians 15:10

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.

No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

To appreciate Christian stewardship in the light of this formula, let’s consider an incident in the life of Jesus, as recorded in Mark’s Gospel.

Jesus and His disciples once stood near the temple treasury, watching as the people placed their offerings in the treasury box (this is how tithes and offerings were collected in those days):

Mark 12:41-44

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.

Many rich people threw in large amounts.

But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.”

These words must have surprised Jesus’ disciples, and they may even have questioned if He really knew what He was talking about.

Even after He explained that she had put in everything she had, they may have wondered how two mites could become more than all that the rich had given.

But God apparently evaluates things differently, and Jesus was saying that the offerings of the rich came from their surplus, but the widow had given away her very livelihood.

Widowhood today is not easy, but nothing compared to what widows experienced in Christ’s day.

There was no welfare, no food stamps, no social security, no community services back then.

Reputable employment for women simply did not exist, so widows often turned to prostitution to survive.

Even so, widows in Jesus’ day had very few resources, even for basic needs such as food and clothing.

The issue was crucial, and the apostle James counseled early believers:

James 1:27 [Emphasis Added]

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Clearly, the widow at the treasury who dropped in her two mites was not giving of her surplus; she was giving her livelihood, revealing how completely she depended on God for her survival.

She was putting into practice what Jesus taught His disciples in His Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [food, clothing, shelter, etc.] will be given to you as well.

Stewardship and Righteousness by Faith

As we studied last chapter on the Sabbath, Adam lost his dominion at the Fall, and Satan claimed ownership of his domain, claiming right of ownership while tempting Jesus in the wilderness.

In his second temptation, the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said:

Luke 4:6 [Emphasis Added]

And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.”

While Jesus resisted Satan’s temptation, He did not dispute Satan’s claim and, on more than one later occasion, Jesus referred to Satan as the prince of this world:

John 14:30

I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming.

He has no hold over me....

The apostle John expressed this same idea to the believers of his day, when he wrote:

1 John 5:19

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

For Jesus to be able to save men and women who lived in Satan’s domain, He had to buy them back.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus did exactly that, at the cross.

All believers acknowledge that:

1 Peter 1:18-19

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed [repurchased] from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Salvation cannot be bought with silver or gold — that is, with tithes and offerings.

The cross of Christ is the only means of redemption from sin and Satan, and a Christian’s lifestyle must be based on this reality.

This brings us, now, to the true meaning of Christian stewardship.

Tithes and offerings, time and abilities given to God do nothing to buy His favor, nor do they add insurance to one’s salvation in Christ.

Stewardship is simply a confession of faith that one belongs to Christ, along with everything one possesses.

Paul expressed this principle to the Corinthian believers this way:

1 Corinthians 6:20 7:23

...You were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your bodies.

...You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.

This is the essence of true stewardship.

Everything a believer is and has now belongs to Christ — possessions, time, abilities, body, and one’s life itself.

Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

This is the fruit of genuine righteousness by faith, and the apostle Paul says of his own life:

Philippians 1:20-21

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Acts 4 records an example of how this genuine stewardship exhibited itself in the lives of the New Testament Christians:

Acts 4:32-35

All the believers were one in heart and mind.

No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.

For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

The cross of Christ and the saving grace of God will produce similar fruits in the lives of all true believers.

The cross of Christ compels the believer to live and die for Him who lived and died for them:

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Such Christian stewardship makes no sense to the natural, human mind, something the apostle Paul readily admits:

1 Corinthians 1:23-24

...But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The cross of Christ delivers the believer from his or her original, mortal, self-centered bios-life.

In exchange, God bestows the divine zoe-life of His Son, given to mankind at the resurrection.

Not only is this life eternal, it is dominated by agape-love that “does not seek its own:”

1 Corinthians 13:5

It [Love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Christian stewardship is a manifestation of this power of the gospel in the life of the believer.

This brings us to Malachi 3:8-10, a text commonly used to promote stewardship in the matter of tithes and offerings:

Malachi 3:8-10

“Will a mere mortal rob God?

Yet you rob me.

But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

In tithes and offerings.

You are under a curse — your whole nation — because you are robbing me.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.