022807 Biblical Stewardship Principles I

BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP PRINCIPLES

There are eight principles basic to all biblical stewardship. These are summed by two statements.

Ø   “Christian stewardship is the free and joyous activity of the child of God—God’s family, the church—in managing all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes.”

Ø   “Maturing stewards do the right things for the right reasons and strive for excellence in all they do!”

I.                  GOD'S STEWARDS ARE GOD'S STEWARDS

What does this mean?

God's stewards are stewards by virtue of creation and their recreation in Holy Baptism; therefore, they belong to the Lord.

What does God's Word say about this?

CREATED

Gen. 1:1     In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Meaning: Everything belongs to God.

CALLED

Is. 43:1      But now, this is what the Lord says--he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:  fear not, for I have redeemed you.  I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  (cf. 43:1-3a)

Meaning: God has formed a peculiar (odd-irregular) people of His own making.

TOUCHED

Rom. 6:4   We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  (cf. 6:1-11)

Meaning: Through an act of Divine grace he forgives sin and bestows His Holy Spirit thereby making a change in our status before God.

RE-CREATED

2 Cor. 5:16-17    So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  (cf. 5:14-17)

Meaning: The new occurs when God takes up residence in us by His Spirit—though He will force Himself on no one. Nevertheless, it is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us and with us that makes us children born of water and Spirit—new creations of God.

TO DO GOOD

Eph. 2:8-10        For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Meaning: Being God’s peculiar people, our reason for being is to honor God with our lives—all aspects of our life.

How is this done?

As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit's help, we will:

·       Recognize that we are made stewards by God's activity;

·       Respect Christian stewards for Whose they are; and,

·       Remind stewards that they are God's new creation each day.

As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit's help, we will not:

·       Use short-cut methods that consider stewards to be merely "donors," "clients" or "customers" or means to an end;

·       Neglect to name the name of the Lord who is the Source of all stewardship; or,

·       Present stewardship as limited to a single area of life, such as money.