Stewardship

Welcome

So glad y’all are here tonight. We’re in week 4 of our disciple focuses series. Let’s read 1 Peter 4:7-11 and pray together before diving in.

READ

PRAY

Introduction

I have definitely wasted some money on some dumb things in my life. Clothes, sports obsessions, and maybe the most embarrassing one of all: clash of clans. Y’all remember Rocco? It’s kind of his fault…he got me into it and I got too locked in. Don’t bring it up to my wife, that’s still a sensitive subject…

Peter gives us the charge tonight of stewardship. Not of money (which is important), but of the gifts God has given us.

Philip Holmes defines stewardship this way: “…the careful use and management of the possessions of another that have been entrusted to someone else. Stewards don’t own anything. Everything a steward does is in service to the ultimate owner.”

The call from Peter tonight is for Christians to be self-controlled and sober-minded stewards of what God has given you, since we are in the last days. And we do this not to prop up ourselves but to glorify the God who has given us His grace to steward.

This sermon is titled simply Stewardship. We’ll look at it in two sections: Make the Most of the Time…For the Glory of God.

Make the Most of the Time

Verse 7 brings us to our first section….Peter right away brings to our attention that we are in the last days. What does that mean? Sounds kind of spooky…it means Jesus Christ has died and resurrected and we’re now awaiting His return.

You need to be thinking about this! Christ could come back at any moment, and what a glorious day that will be! All that homework, all the stressing over relationships or friendships, all the comparisons you’re making on instagram, all of that stuff will be done away with.

You need to have this reality always at the forefront of your mind. Christ is coming back, so we need to seek to glorify Him on earth in preparation!

Peter says that since we’re in the last days, we need to be self-controlled and sober-minded..for the sake of our prayers! If you’re not disciplined in your walk with Christ, letting every want and craving take hold of you, you won’t pray right.

If you’re filling yourself with mind altering substances, you won’t be able to pray right. If you’re not self-controlled you’ll never have time to pray because you’ll be too preoccupied with everything else happening around you. If you’re not sober-minded, you won’t be able to pray because you can’t even focus long enough.

First things first student…do you pray? Like, actually? Or do you just send a quick one up before you eat? Is the only time you bow your head to pour out your heart to God when you come to student group? If you relate, there is grace for you…but, this is like breathing in without breathing out. You need prayer to survive!

An old dead guy, Jonathan Edwards (super smart and loved Jesus), once said this about prayer and the Christian life:  “Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life;”. Meaning, just like you literally breath to survive, that’s what prayer is for the Christian. It’s natural and needed. So…pray to the Lord!

Secondly here, there are many things that tempt your self-control and sober-mindedness. Food, relationships, video games, laziness, scrolling on tik-tok. You have no idea all the things you’ve probably looked at today that are begging for your unending attention…for you to toss out your self-control so that it can consume and intoxicate you.

Students, this following Jesus thing is a fight. And Peter says we have to fight so that we may be able to do thing that allows us to grow and live!

Do you wanna know the glorious thing here? We are called to fight a WINNING BATTLE! Because Christ has already overcome our sin and death! So, stand up and fight to be self-controlled and sober-minded!

That’s all so important, yet Peter goes on to say that above everything, we are to love on another earnestly…since love covers a multitude of sins. We should be looking to eagerly love each other.