Everything we have belongs to God. We are His Stewareds.
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14 “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.
This verse is found at the end of 1 Chronicles as part of a prayer from King David. He was praising God for all that had been given the people to begin the building of the Temple for God. He was acknowledging that God owns all things and that what was given for the construction of the Temple was simply the people giving back to God what He had given to them. This illustrates an attitude of the heart that King David had towards his riches - the riches weren’t his - they were God’s.
Stewardship for us is also a matter of the heart. We have to believe we are a Steward in order to act like one. But first you need to know what a Steward is and how this idea began. So what is a Steward?
A Steward is: one employed in a large household or estate to manage domestic concerns (such as the supervision of servants, collection of rents, and keeping of accounts)
The idea of stewardship began in the beginning with God.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
This verse says it all. God created it so it belongs to Him. It’s just like if I bought a piece of land and built a house on it. Since I created the house and built it then the house would belong to me. It’s mine. The same idea here follows with the earth and all that is in it - God created it - God owns it. King David said it this way in psalm 24:
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the rivers.
This is the way we need to think about everything. Nothing really belongs to us. Not even our bodies. Especially those of us who believe. We have the Holy Spirit and are Temples of God. He has given us these things to be in charge of while we are here on this earth, but nothing goes with us when we die.
But where did the idea of Stewardship begin? The idea of Stewardship began right there in the beginning with God and man.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God hasn’t even created man yet and He has a purpose for us. He is creating mankind to rule over His creation. He will give mankind authority over His creation to care for it. This is the idea of Stewardship. He is going to put mankind in charge of His creation. Our definition for Steward says that a Steward is in charge of the another’s household or estate. He is giving us charge over His estate so that we may make it a wonderful place - a place where mankind can be fruitful and multiply and continue living in peace with God. However, that didn’t work out so well. Mankind mucked it up.
Even though mankind mucked things up overall, we still have the opportunity to be a good Steward over the things that God has given to each of us personally. So what are these things that God has given us to Steward over? Well, we have Time, Possessions, Our bodies (health) and our environment.
Time
Possessions
Bodies/Health
Environment
So let’s take a look at each of these opportunities for Stewardship.
The first opportunity is Time
How can we possible Steward over - or take charge of time?
Time is finite, we each have a life time of it, but none of us knows how long we have. It is so finite that we measure it by seconds in our day - ticks of a hand on the clock. Each day is made up of 24 hours, or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. So in a life span of 90 years, if you live that long, you would get 2,838,240,000 ticks of the clock.
The Stewardship of these ticks comes into play when we decide how to use each tick of the clock. We have to spend some of them sleeping, so the question is what do we do with the rest. We can spend it building our own kingdom or we can spend it building God’s kingdom. Now I know we all need to spend time earning our keep - and sometimes that can be building God’s kingdom as we build our own. But have you ever stopped to think about the ticks of the clock and how you spend yours? How much time do we each spend pursuing something that doesn’t build God’s kingdom or even helps our own. The problem is trying to determine how many of these ticks of the clock pass us by without any real value. I know there are times when I put almost no value at all on the ticks of the clock. I’m so worn out or depressed that I just turn into a vegetable. I know I’m not the only one here that has done it. Those are the ticks of the clock that we never get back.
So think about these ticks of the clock - how can we use them for God’s glory. How can we squeeze more of them into God’s kingdom making disciples and preaching the truth of Christ Jesus.
The Second opportunity is our Possessions.
The best way to start of this portion is a Proverb.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
The first line of this proverb tells us to honor the Lord from our wealth. Our wealth includes everything God has given us. The money we receive, the things we have, even our homes. How we steward over these things will determine how we use them. Whether we use them for our kingdom or God’s kingdom. We all have responsibilities to take care of in this life and a specific amount produce with which to draw from for those responsibilities. How do we steward over this produce is the question.
The second line of verse 9 tells us to honor the Lord from the first of all our produce. This is the idea of tithing from the first fruits. One of the great debates that most people will have when beginning to tithe is how much and from what. What I mean by that is, do I tithe a percentage from my pay before taxes, after taxes, or after I pay all my bills and make sure I take care of my needs. These are legitimate questions. But if you look closely at this proverb it says from the first of the produce. Not what is left over, not what is left after the government takes their cut.
Verse 10 is the blessing that follows: your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. The idea of tithing from the first fruits is one of trust. If you give your first fruits to the Lord you are trusting that He will supply you with what you need. The trust is the hard part. When we first started to tithe we went through these same steps. Give from what is left over. Then we started giving before we used it all up. Then we really started trusting and tithed before we took care of ourselves. And then we went all out and started going over the Biblical recommendation of ten percent. That is when the Lord started giving so much back to us that we started giving even more.
Steward over your wealth well. Will you hold onto what you have tightly so you don’t loose it or will you let it go and let the Lord pour out His blessings on you because choose to trust.
Malachi 3:10 says it this way:
10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
This is the only place in the Bible where we are told to Test the Lord. Do it. Test Him - you will find Him faithful.
The third opportunity is our Bodies/Health.
How is our body and health and opportunity to steward over what God has given us?
Well, with our bodies we are able to do the work that God has given us to do, that work produces the fruit that we use to honor Him. If our bodies are broken it is harder for us to do the work. Now I know this is a big stereotype because there are a lot of people who do wonderful work in bodies that are broken. The Lord shows His strength through our weakness. So, if the Lord gives us bodies that aren’t perfect we need to learn how to use it for His glory, but if we have a properly functioning body we should care for it and keep ourselves healthy.
Through healthy living we can glorify God by maintaining the Temple which houses the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 6:19 says:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
So the care and maintenance of the Temple of God is Stewardship. With the original Temple of Solomon the Jews would have never thought of desecrating the Temple by bringing in foreign gods or unclean things. Shouldn’t we have the same attitude? Shouldn’t we be careful about what we put into the Temple of God - our bodies. I’m not talking about getting caught up in some health trend that causes us to worship our bodies or become so strict about what we do that we make some legalistic rules about our bodies. But care for it and worship the one who made it and dwells in it.
There is another aspect of our bodies to think about, that is the idea of the gifts and talents that we have been given. How do we use these gifts, serving God and others or ourselves. Sometimes we can serve ourselves by giving our gifts away. 1 Peter 4:10-11 says:
10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Employ it in serving one another as good stewards. We all have some kind of gift. Maybe its something you haven’t even tried yet - but you have it. Some possible gifts might be as an Apostle, a prophet, a teacher, a gift of miracles, healings, or helps and administration who knows you may even have the gift of tongues. There are a lot of other gifts from the Spirit to use for God’s glory. But there are also talents - fixing things, or writing, maybe art or music, no matter what it is how do you use it. For God’s glory or yours. Whatever it is don’t bury it - use it - and when you do give glory to God for having it. I’m sure you can probably figure out other things that you do or know to use for God’s glory. Think about, pray about and then do it.
The fourth opportunity is our Environment.
Yes that is correct - our environment. Think about it - where did God originally place mankind? In a garden right. God’s command for us was to rule over it - not with a whip but with care. God created all things good. It was beautiful and then death and sin began to destroy it. Look around your environment today. When we don’t care for the environment decay begins to take hold. Things begin to break, rust and get dingy with time. If we care for the things around us we can glorify God by keeping them up. Our homes and the ground around them. Our places of business and places set aside for use by the public. We can glorify God by keeping our environment clean and in good order.
The parts of our environment that are dedicated to the Glory of God and used to worship Him and lead others to Him should definitely be well cared for. The problem with not caring for God’s house is one of perception. If we, God’s children fail to steward well over the things that are obviously God’s then that reflects upon us. When a non-believer or someone who is looking for a place to worship and they see a run down building used to worship God what will they think about the people who are worshipping there? The congregation will not be viewed in a good light.
We have a beautiful facility here which has been cared for very well. But it is showing its age. Some things have been over looked over time. Things that are hard to take care of and hard to replace. Let’s continue stewarding well over what the Lord has provided for us as a means to reach the lost is this community.
In closing remember there is more to stewardship than just giving a little money to the support of the ministry of the church.
We steward over our time. Each one of those ticks of the clock that God gives us we must choose what we do with them. Whether we use them for God’s glory or we simply let them tick on by while we do nothing.
We also steward over all of our possessions not just the money. We can choose what we keep and how we use it. We choose each time we buy something how we are using the money God has given us. Does it glorify God or does it make us feel good for a short period of time?
And then we have our bodies - the Temples of God. Do we care for them well or abuse them? Do we choose wisely what we put into them or just put anything into it that we want? Choose wisely, glorify God.
Last but not least we have our environment. Do you care for the home you have or do you simply live in it hoping it won’t fall down while you are still living there? Do you care for the area around it and the public spaces you frequent. Most of all do you help care for the facility God has giving us as a place to worship Him.
The question is always how much? How much time, how much money or stuff, how much of ourselves do we give? The answer is simple, it’s up to you. The apostle Paul told the Church in Corinth:
7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
You choose with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but whatever you decide do it cheerfully.
I know this is tough. Using as much as we can for God’s glory takes a lot of trust that we will have what we need at the end of the day. This is tough enough for those of us who believe in Christ Jesus and have His Spirit dwelling in us. And if you do have His Spirit I dare you to test Him. Bring in the full tithe and see if he doesn’t open the flood gates of heaven and pour out blessings upon you. Try it for a couple months and see what happens.
But for those of you who do not have the Spirit living in you this must be foolishness. Giving as much of what you have away as possible. That’s Crazy. All I can say is that until you accept Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior you won’t understand. So for those of you who do not have Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior I dare you to accept Him now. Call upon Christ Jesus to forgive you of your sins and free you from sin and death. He will give you His Spirit and then you will understand. The alter is open if anyone would like to come forward and pray to receive Him as Lord and Savior. The Elders and I are here to pray with you if you like. Become a part of the family of God, reconciled to Him and adopted into His family.
Let’s pray.