Are You a Good Steward?

(This is a sermon I preached on January 30th, 2022.)

There was once a pastor who stood before the congregation and said "I have bad news, I have good news, and I have some more bad news."

The congregation got quiet. "The bad news is: the church needs a new roof!"

The congregation groaned. "The good news is: we have enough money for the new roof." A sigh of relief was heard through the group.

"The other bad news is: the money is still in your pockets, so let’s pass the plates."

Sometimes I have talked to those who don’t go to church and one of the things that I always hear as a complaint is that all a church wants is your money. They feel they earned their money. It’s theirs and they see the church as a greedy organization trying to take it from them.

What they lack is an understanding of who really owns what. They think if something is in their possession, it is theirs, but that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that –

A. All things belong to God

Just look at these three verses.

Psalms 24:1

The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.

Deuteronomy 10:14

"Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.

And God said to Job in -

Job 41:11

Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

There are many more verses we could point to that say the same thing. Everything belongs to God.

The famous Christian writer and theologian C. S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity, “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.”

For some it takes a while for them to grasp just what it means to say that everything belongs to God, even for Christians.

We think in terms of my house or my car or my things. We even think in terms of my wife and my kids. In reality that house and that car belong to God. In reality your wife and your kids also belong to God. What ultimately happens to your things and your family is in God’s hands, not yours.

So the things we have in our possession aren’t really ours, instead they belong to God. But as believers we realize that God has given the things we thought were ours to take care of them and we are responsible for them.

That is what is called stewardship.

We see the responsibility God has given us all the way back in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 1:26-28 says,

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

When God said in this passage that mankind was to have dominion over all the animals of the earth, what He was saying is that man’s responsibility to be in charge of everything. God didn’t give man everything, He made man responsible for everything.

That brings me to the main thing that I want to speak to you today.

How are you doing with the responsibilities that God has given you to care for?

Maybe you’re thinking, I don’t know what God has given me. I’m not a pastor. I don’t have a ministry. What does God expect me to be responsible for?

Well there is some basic responsibilities we all have been given that we will look at and since everything belongs to God, He wants to you take care of these things.

By the way, someone who has been entrusted to take care of the things of their master was called a steward in the Bible.

So my question to you is – “are you a good steward?” Let’s find out. The first thing we will look at is -

B. What is a Steward?

We will start with the Definition of a steward.

Stewardship is what we do to manage something that has been placed under our responsibility. The Bible teaches that a steward must be someone that can be trusted to care for the things that are important or dear to their master.

In ancient times a steward was a person, usually a slave or servant, who was put in charge of the running of the home.

A perfect example of a steward in the Bible was Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended as a slave in Potiphar’s house.

In Genesis 39 it describes Joseph as a steward or as an overseer as this translation calls him,

Genesis 39:4-6 says,

4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.

5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

6 Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.

Joseph had found such favor by Potiphar that he made him responsible for everything. Potiphar had so much confidence and trust in Joseph that he didn’t know anything that was going on in his house because Joseph was taking care of it.

Unfortunately, Potiphar also trusted his wife, someone who later was found to be untrustworthy.

Joseph becomes our example to us of how we should be with the things that God has entrusted into our hands. We demonstrate to the world our faithfulness and obedience to the Lord by how we deal with what God has put in our care.

While preparing this sermon, I came across something I had never heard of before. There are writings of early church fathers, some who were disciples of some of the Apostles. For example, I just finished reading a letter from Clement of Rome who was a disciple of Paul. He wrote a letter to the Corinthians, who 30 years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, were having similar problems again.

Also history teaches us that men named Papias and Polycarp were both disciples of the Apostle John.

All these people wrote their own works and though they aren’t equal to the Bible, they do have their value, just as a good Christian book written today has.

What I learned recently was that in the writings of the early Christian fathers, 69 times they claimed that Jesus said a certain phrase that is not recorded in the Bible. According to them Jesus had said, 'Show yourselves to be approved bankers'.

Why would Jesus have said something like that? Well think of what the job of a banker is. Their primary job is to guard the deposit entrusted into their hands and to invest it so it will make a profit.

What I want us to do now is look at 5 things that has been entrusted into our hands that we are to not only care for, but also invest in so that it grows and multiplies.

The question is -

C. What are our responsibilities as a Steward?

The first thing that we are responsible for is something that has become important to me in recent years. Not only because I’m getting older, but because since I have focused on it, I have learned how much it really affects your life.

The one thing that God has given all of us to take care of since birth is -

1. Our Body

I know that talking about our bodies and physical health is not something you normally hear preached from the pulpit, but that doesn’t mean being healthy isn’t spiritual.

First, look at Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

This verse talks about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. We are to use our bodies in such a way that it is holy and acceptable to God.

No behavior should be used that would defile our bodies in any way. That can include substance abuse, gluttony or sexual immorality.

When talking about sexual immorality, Paul wrote in –

1Corinthians 6:19 - 20

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Your body belongs to God and as a believer it has the Holy Spirit indwelling in it. How can you use your body then in any way that displeases God is what Paul is saying.

We talk in the church about the Daniel fast, what it could also be called is the Daniel lifestyle. It’s based upon Daniel chapter one.

Daniel and his friends were taken to Babylon in captivity to become servants of the king.

As part of their training they were given the food from the king’s table. The finest meat and dessert dishes. Maybe some pork belly, or sirloin steak. Some deep fried chicken or roasted duck.

Maybe desserts like my Mom use to make. She was known for donuts she made every year. They were called kinklings and were a German donut. In fact, when I grew up in Frederick, they had a certain day called kinkling day which was to day you were to make these donuts. What made them so good was they were not fried in oil, but in lard, that is 100% pork fat. Not so healthy for you, but tasted great.

Daniel didn’t want to defile himself with what most people would have called good food. He asked for a healthy diet. He said in –

Daniel 1: 12

Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

The Hebrew for vegetables specifically meant food grown from seeds such as beans, lentils, peas, wheat, barley and the like.

He showed them that they were better off eating right rather than eating the king’s food.

I don’t think that was a one-time thing for Daniel. I believe that is how he ate his whole long life.

Shouldn’t we be the same and take care of the body that God gave us?

Secondly, God has given us -

2. Our family

Do you look at your spouse and children as a gift from God? Do you look at your parents as a gift from God?

I’m sure sometimes, when things are stressful with your spouse or your child you might say to God, ‘why did you give me such a gift God?’

One thing I know, nothing happens by chance. God has put into your life exactly who He wants at the time.

After my second boy was born, my wife and I decided that was probably the right amount of children, so my wife decided to have her tubes tied. Low and behold, almost a year to the day later, my third son was born.

God decided we were to have 3 sons. I’m so glad that God is the one in control.

Since our spouse and children have been placed in our care, God has given us special instructions on how to take care of them. I won’t spell it out here, but a few good passages to read is Ephesians 5:22-6:4, Colossians 3:18-21 and 1 Peter 3:1-7.

I do want to mention one passage though because it shows how important taking care of your family is in God’s eyes. The passage is 1 Timothy 3:4-5 which talks about the qualifications of a bishop. It says a bishop should be -

One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);

In other words, if you don’t know how to be a good parent or spouse, properly taking of them, then you have no business being a leader in a church.

As a leader, in many ways you are the parent of an entire congregation. If you can’t take care of a small group, which is your family, then there is no way you can take care of a much larger group!

The third thing God had given us to be a good stewards of is

3. Our job

For some of us like my wife and myself it can be jobs, plural, because we both have two. But every job we have is also a gift from the Lord.

Some maybe easy jobs. Some may be difficult jobs. Maybe you like the people you are working with. Other times you may have difficulty with someone at your job, who always seems to be criticize your work.

No matter what your job is, there is one thing that you need to remember and that is you are a representative of Christ when you are at that job.

You may be the only Christian working there and you may be the only person they know who believes in Jesus, so you have an obligation to serve them as you would serve Jesus.

Ephesians 6:5-7 makes this perfectly clear.

Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,

I always like to replace bondservant here with ‘employees’ and masters with ‘employers’, because that is the way things are today.

In this verse we see, when we do our job, we are not to do it in a way where we are lazy until our boss sees us and then we try to look busy when he walks by. That is what is meant by eyeservice, only working when the eyes are on us.

Instead, we as a witness to the Lord should treat our job as though we were directly working for Jesus and do our job, even when nobody is watching. People will notice, by your productivity that you have been busy. That is being a good steward.

The fourth thing that God has given us, which we need to take care of as good stewards is -

4. Our church family

Now you may think, wait a minute, how am I responsible for the church family. I don’t even lead a life group.

What I have learned in my almost 60 years of going to church is that many Christians come to church for the wrong reasons. I’ve asked a lot of Christians who have left a church to go to another why they made the change.

Almost always, the reason they left their previous church was because either they didn’t like the music, or they didn’t feel inspired by the preaching of the pastor or they just didn’t enjoy the atmosphere of the church.

They were looking for a church that will give them something. They were looking for a church that will entertain them and inspire them. That is a mistake.

Going to church is not about what you get out of it. Going to church is about what you put into it.

That needs to be repeated,

Going to church is not about what you get out of it. Going to church is about what you put into it.

If you get nothing else out of this sermon, remember this.

Going to church is not about being served, it is about serving.

We are to be just like Jesus.

Mark 10:45 says,

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Peter writing about what we are to do with our brothers and sisters in Christ said in -

1 Peter 4:10

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Each one of us who believe in Jesus has been given a gift. A gift to help or encourage or strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ and it doesn’t mean you have to be in leadership to do it.

Instead of looking for leadership to do everything in the church, ask yourself, what does God want me to do? Who needs my help, my encouraging word, my prayer, or even – my money?

If you start thinking like that then you are going to be blessed by God and you will be a good steward.

The fifth thing that God has given us to be a good steward of is

5. Our money and possession

Sometimes our money and things have a way of getting between us and God.

Do you remember the Parable of the rich young man in Matthew 19.

The parable talks about how this respectful young man who came to Jesus and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"

Jesus started by telling the young man to keep the 10 Commandments, Jesus said, "‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’"

The young man said, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?"

It’s interesting that the young man realized that just doing the right things wasn’t enough.

Jesus, being God, knew exactly what the young man’s weakness was and confronted him with it.

In verse 21, Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Unfortunately, when this young man heard this it says in verse 22, But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

His money was his weakness.

People find security with their things. Owning a home, having money in the bank, making a good paycheck, all help make people feel secure, thinking they don’t have any needs.

Some people if they could would take their money with them.

Once a newspaper columnist named Ann Landers had someone send her an interesting letter. It was from a girl who was writing about her uncle & aunt.

She said, "My uncle was the tightest man I’ve ever known. All his life, every time he got paid he took $20 out of his paycheck & put it under his mattress.

Then he got sick & was about to die. As he was dying, he said to his wife, "I want you to promise me one thing."

"Promise what?" she asked.

"I want you to promise me that when I’m dead you’ll take my money from under the mattress & put it in my casket so that I can take it all with me."

The girl’s letter went on with the story. "He died, & his wife kept her promise. She went in & got all that money the day he died & went to the bank & deposited it, and wrote out a check and put it in his casket."

He can have it all if he can get out of the casket and cash the check.

God wants us to be wise with our money and possession, but never forget that He is the one that gave us these things.

He also wants us to give of our things generously.

2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “God loves a cheerful giver.” I always loved that word cheerful ever since I learned what the Greek word for it was. It is the word hilarios and yes, it means the same as the English word hilarious. God loves a giver that loves to laugh as he gives.

Are you a hilarious giver? Are you a good steward of your things and acknowledge that even your things and money come from God?

God has made us a steward of many things, our body, our family, our job, our church family and our money and possessions.

In the main points I have asked, ‘what is a steward? And ‘what are our responsibilities as a steward?’

Now I have one more question to ask and that is

D. Why should we take our stewardship seriously?

The reason we should take our stewardship seriously.

Because one day we will give an account to God!

In Matthew 25:14-30 there is the parable of the talents. In verses 14 and 15 Jesus said, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.”

So what we have here is the master goes on a journey and he divides up his fortune and gives it to three men to use to make more money.

What gets lost in translation is just how much money we are talking about. I knew a talent was a lot of money, but I didn’t realize how much until I looked it up.

Do you realize that a talent in biblical times was worth about $400,000.00 in today’s money? For the one who had 5 talents, he was given $2 million. For the one who received ten talents, that was $4 million.

Jesus goes on to say that both the man with the $2 million and the one with the $4 million doubled their master’s money. When their master came back he was very pleased with them.

But the one who had the one talent decided to do nothing but bury his $400,000.00 until his master came back.

That was a big mistake. His master said he should have at least put it in the bank and collected interest.

In similar fashion, God has given us talents, - treasures we are to take care of. One day He is returning and we who believe in him and are saved will still face a judgment.

It will not be a judgment about salvation, but a judgment about what we did as a believer.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Let’s make sure that what He finds is good.

Conclusion

God has given us a life to live and things to do and people and things to take care of.

These things and people are not ours. We didn’t make them or create them. Everything is a gift from God. Even the breath we take is a gift from God.

It has been my experience that the older you get, the more you see family and friends start passing away - the more you start realizing that all things are in God’s hands.

We should be learning to trust Him more every day we live.

But at the same time He doesn’t want us to just sit back and do nothing.

We have a life to live.

The life He has given.

When that life is over may each one of us be able to hear these words from Jesus:

Matthew 25:21

‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’