Stewards for God’s Glory
Stewardship • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Turn to Genesis 2 as this morning I launch a new 3 to 4 week series to start off year 2024. Stewards for God’s Glory
As you are finding Genesis 2 I want to remind you to join our reading plan on the Bible app. You can find this on the Bible app by friending me or go through the churchcenter app.
This is our verse for this series and I invite you to memorize this verse.
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
Work it (עָבַד) (ʿā·ḇǎḏ)
Cultivate; till; toil, work; serve; accomplish, do; let work, urge to work; make serve, take into service. (Make it better)
Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
The garden is the place of the human vocation, and of the human enjoyment in its undivided unity. This enjoyment has two sides, to eat and to refrain. In like manner the vocation has two sides, to dress(work it) and to keep. The first thing is to dress it; for nature, which grows wild or rank without the care of man, becomes ennobled under the human hand (Delitzsch)
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Genesis Exegetical and Critical
According to Delitzsch, the whole earth, from Paradise out, was to become a Paradise: “The garden is the most holy (or the holy of holies), Eden is the holy place, whilst the whole earth around is its porch and court.”
John Peter Lange et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Genesis (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 206.
Watch over it (שָׁמַר) (šāmar)
to keep, preserve; to watch, guard; to obey; to manage. Primarily means “to watch,” but can denote obeying in the sense of keeping or observing a command.
Timothy A. Gabrielson, “Obedience,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Genesis Exegetical and Critical
The garden, as such, is uninclosed and unwalled; still must Adam watch and protect it. This is, in fact, a very significant addition, and seems to give a strong indication of danger as threatening man and Paradise from the side of an already existing power of evil (Delitzsch and others),
Stewardship
The careful use, control and management of the possessions of another that have been entrusted to one. The term is also used to refer to the responsible use of wealth and possessions by Christians[1]
[1]Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.
This weeks Bible reading had a video from the Bible Project on the book of Genesis. It reminded us that
God’s plan is to rescue and bless His rebellious world
God’s plan is to rescue and bless His rebellious world
His world is rebellious and we must work it and keep it. That we must make it better/cultivate it and manage/guard it.
First area of focus this morning is
Our Body
Our Body
Stewardship of the body begins by understanding that You are not your own.
It is the careful use, control and management of the possession of another have been entrusted to one.
19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
The price
18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
We Must Be Stewards of ur Bodies
We Must Be Stewards of ur Bodies
Athletic contests were common in the Greek world, and the Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympic Games, were held every two years at Corinth. Paul often uses imagery from the Games.
24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.
25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we a crown that will never fade away.
26 Therefore I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.
27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 4. Paul’s Self-Control (9:24–27)
After all this, his reward if he won was a crown that will not last (in the Isthmian Games it was a pine wreath at first, later celery was used, and towards the end of the first century, pine again; SPC, p. 101).
My box of wrestling medals are gone.
v.4 Self Control
As an athlete, I didn’t drink or party in high school one because I was a Christ follower but also because I was an athlete and did not want that in my body.
the Christian must similarly avoid not only definite sin, but anything that hinders spiritual progress.
v.26
Paul’s life has purpose. His Christianity is not meaningless.
v.27
The NIV is a more literal translation here.
27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Strike a blow is literally I give a black eye to and make it my slave.
He leaves no doubt to how he subdues his body.
He is not saying the body is evil because we know we have been created in the image of God but expresses strict control over the body.
Paul refuses to be bound by bodily desires. His desire is to rule over the body and not the body rule him.
Bodies are a temple that is to be managed by us not by anything else
Bodies are a temple that is to be managed by us not by anything else
12 “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything.
13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them. The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
Look at the detail of the building of the Temple in the Old Testament
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple to put the ark of the Lord’s covenant there.
20 The interior of the sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.
21 Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold.
22 So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar that belongs to the inner sanctuary.
Think about the body and how intricate it is. Each one is unique. No two people have ever been found to have the same fingerprints including identical twins.
Where is the sanctuary of the Lord? He dwells inside our bodies.