The Sacredness of Material Things

The Sacredness of Creation

“God saw everything he had made: it was supremely good.” (Genesis 1:31, CEB)

When we read these words in Genesis, we are reminded that creation is not simply functional—it is sacred. From the smallest blade of grass to the most expansive oceans, everything God made was, and remains, “supremely good.” But what does it mean to see creation as sacred?

Too often, we view the material world as separate from the spiritual. We label spiritual things as “holy” and material things as “ordinary,” or even disposable. Yet Genesis 1 challenges us to see the world through God’s eyes. Every tree, every mountain, every creature is infused with divine purpose and relationally.

And so are we. As beings made in God’s image, we are called to live in harmony with this sacred creation. This is not just about appreciating beauty but also about recognizing the goodness in material things—the food we eat, the homes we live in, and the resources we share. These material blessings are gifts from God, entrusted to us for care and stewardship.

The Call to Stewardship

With the goodness of creation in mind, let’s turn to our role as stewards. Genesis 2:15 tells us that God placed humanity in the garden “to till it and keep it.” From the very beginning, the storied call of humanity has been called to care for creation—not to exploit it, but to nurture it.

Here’s where Walter Brueggemann’s idea of “materiality as resistance” gives us fresh insight. Brueggemann challenges us to resist the consumer-driven culture that treats material things as disposable or purely self-serving. Instead, he calls us to engage with the material aspects of faith—our resources, our physical actions, and our relationship to all of creation.

What does this look like in practice? It looks like resisting greed by choosing generosity. It looks like valuing quality over quantity, relationships over possessions. It means rejecting the narrative that says, “You are what you own,” and embracing the truth that “You are what you share.”

To care for creation is to resist the exploitation of it. Stewardship becomes a form of holy resistance—a way of saying, “God’s world is good, and we will honor it and must do everything in our power to care for it.”

The Early Church’s Communal Living

The early church understood this call to stewardship. Acts 4:32-35 gives us a beautiful picture of a community living out the sacredness of material things:

“The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, ‘This is mine!’ about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. … There were no needy persons among them because everyone looked out for their neighbor.”

Imagine the courage it took for those early believers to live this way. In a world that valued personal wealth and social status, they chose radical generosity. They saw their possessions not as private property but as communal blessings.

This wasn’t just charity—it was stewardship. They understood that their material resources were sacred, meant to be shared so that no one would go without.

What would it look like if we lived like this today? What if we, as a church, committed to ensuring that no one in our community was in need? Let’s start with our immediate community, our fellow siblings in Christ within our very church walls. If there is knowledge of someone in our church family hurting, having financial problems, struggling with food insecurity, lacking resources to maintain their health and we don’t do anything about it, then we will be no earthly good for our neighbors outside of our church family. The early church wasn’t perfect, but their example reminds us that stewardship is not just an individual calling—it’s a communal one.

When we take stock in our individual blessings and understand that they can disappear in the snap of a finger, we will be more open to sharing what we have and transition from a hoarding mindset into an extravagant generosity mindset.

Embracing Stewardship Today

So how do we embrace stewardship in our daily lives? How do we honor the sacredness of material things in a world that often treats them as disposable?

1) See your resources as sacred trusts

Your time, your talents, and your possessions are not yours alone—they are gifts from God. Ask yourself: How can I use what I have to bless others? Understand that you can be extremely wealthy without material possessions. What is in your storehouse of wealth? Your blessings can be knowledge of finances. Your blessing can be proficiency in a skilled trade. Your blessing can be taking care of property behind the scenes. You blessing can be hospitality. Your blessing can also be monetary donations. Everything we have through our lifetime of experience, study, natural talent, or a windfall of financial blessing we hold in sacred trust, in order to, hopefully, multiply it for the benefit of our neighbors.

2) Support local initiatives

Whether it’s volunteering at a food pantry, donating to a community project, or shopping locally, these actions show that we value our community and the people in it. We may not have the highest end shopping centers, name brand retailers, our a ubiquitous choice of dining establishments but what we do have should be supported, nurtured, and celebrated. Supporting local initiatives can also create a sense of pride in our community and demonstrate that we are a community that will honor new investment opportunities from those who would desire to make this community their home.

3) Reduce waste.

Every time we reuse, recycle, or repair, we are practicing stewardship. It’s a small way of honoring creation and resisting the culture of disposability. How many times have you purchased an item within the last 5, 10, 15 years and it only have a one time use function? Oh you possibly could refill, repair, find replacement part but it can be easier, and possible cheaper, to throw out the old and buy a new item. We’ve entered a mindset of disposability and created an entirely new culture that doesn’t desire or can’t fix anything. We want to keep up with the new technology that our neighbor parades around the block, buy the new clothing because sewing the hole takes too much time, trade in the vehicle because the lease ran out or the interior no longer pleases you.

What ever happened to being thankful for what we have and then maintaining it year after year? Why are our landfills multiplying in size while our stewardship of material items continue to look anemic and anorexic? Being thankful for what we have, properly reusing what we have, and sharing what we have will only benefit us in the long run and also benefit creation as a whole for the foreseeable future. God made us the stewards of all of creation to care, to be fruitful, and to multiply, not to destroy and throw away.

4) Share generously.

Like the early church, we are called to share so that no one is in need. This could mean helping a neighbor, giving to missions, or simply being available when someone needs a listening ear. Stewardship is not about grand gestures; it’s about small, intentional acts that honor God and care for others.

In Acts 5 we have the story of Ananias and Sapphira who sold their property but deceitfully held back from the new community and hoarded a portion for themselves. The story instructs us to look at how their stinginess or deceitful practices ended up taking their lives. I choose to look at this story more symbolically than I do literally because it makes more sense to us today. If you know anyone who has means but pinches pennies trying to get a quarter out of it, you know exactly the hardness of their heart and how it stifles their generosity towards others.

The story and acts five explains beautifully how one can die inwardly because no one wants to be around someone who only looks out for themselves. Now there's nothing wrong with having means to live yet as the story reminds us. Everything we have is a gift from God, not demanded of us, but we're given an opportunity to be extravagantly, generous by utilizing our blessings to benefit others along the way. This extravagant generosity proudly displays the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Living Out the Sacredness of Material Things

Genesis 1 reminds us that God’s creation is good. Acts 4 shows us what happens when we live out that goodness through stewardship. Acts 5 gives a a prophetic alarm to not go down the road of stinginess, instead walk generously in the love that transforms us through the life and teaching of Jesus. Together, these scriptures call us to a life of resistance—a life that values creation as sacred, resists exploitation, resists the trap of our selfish desires, and seeks the well-being of the community.

As I close my sermon today, let us commit to seeing the world as God sees it: “supremely good.” Let us honor the sacredness of material things, not just in what we believe but in how we live.

May our stewardship be a testimony to the goodness of God, a blessing to our neighbors, and a witness to the sacredness of creation. May Jesus be lifted up by our acts of generosity towards others. Amen.