Stewardship
(handout)
Why
we Believe what we Believe
(The
Baptist Faith and Message)
(Message
9)
Luke
12:15-21
Introduction: As we continue our study in the doctrinal
series entitled, why we believe what we believe, which is taking us through our
statement of confessed doctrine, the Baptist Faith and Message. The Bible
teaches us that each believer is responsible for knowing, claiming and living
God’s truth as revealed to us in Scripture. It is to this end that we are
studying through Bible doctrine, so that we will be better prepared to practice
these truths with our lips and our lives.
We come today to the topic of stewardship. When the topic of stewardship is
mentioned most people automatically think about money. In fact, many churches
have renamed their finance committee the “stewardship” committee. While money
is one of the primary ways the scripture speaks of stewardship, the truth is
that God’s concept of stewardship goes far beyond how we tithe, give offerings
and use His money. When you dig a bit deeper, you realize that it speaks to our
theology and our understanding of discipleship as a whole. The truth is
stewardship speaks about the condition of our hearts.
The Baptist Faith and Message states the following:
“God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have
and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole
world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their
possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time,
talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted
to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the
Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically,
proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemers’ cause on
the earth.”
Now, as we mentioned, stewardship involves more than merely the use of money.
Our doctrinal statement speaks to the reality of our stewardship of the gospel.
That is, as 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” As Christians, the greatest thing God has entrusted to us is the message
of the gospel. We literally have been given that which is the power of God unto
salvation, the saving message of the gospel, which tells us that all are
sinners but that God loves us so much, He sent Jesus, His only Son to die in
our place on the cross, and by placing our trust in what Jesus did on the
cross, and surrendering our lives to Him, asking Him to forgive our sins, we
can be set free from the penalty of our sins and have eternal life.
Among all of the things God has entrusted to our care, the gospel is by far the
greatest. When Jesus talks about stewardship, He almost always does so by using
money or material wealth as an example. For one reason, it is something to
which everyone can relate. Because we live in a world obsessed by money and
what it can do for us, it is something we all understand. Also, Jesus knows
that how we use money which is of no real eternal value, will demonstrate where
we place our priorities; whether we are living for this world or the world to come.
And finally, Jesus knows that because the love of money is the root of all
evils, He knows each of us will be tempted to misuse that which He had
entrusted to us, and that this is a good measure of our true devotion to Him.
So, understanding that, let’s begin with a practical understanding of what
stewardship is, then we’ll look at a few truths which come out of that
understanding and finish with some practical directions for applying those
truths to our Christian life.
I.
What is Stewardship?
Ron Blue, who wrote “Master Your Money,” defines stewardship as the “use of
God-given resources for the accomplishment of God-given goals.”
Barry Creamer says “Stewardship involves relations between an owner, a steward,
a resource and the purpose for which that resource is to be used.”
Broken down that means; when we talk about stewardship within the context of
the Christian life, we literally mean that we are talking about God, who, as
our Bible affirms, is the owner of all things; and His relationship with those
to whom He has entrusted that which is His, this would be each of us; the
resources would be anything and everything He has given us. This would be our
salvation, the gospel message, our churches, our education, our time, our
energy, our thought life, the words we speak, the house in which we live, the
cars we drive, our children, our spouse, our finances, our job….literally,
everything we have. It all belongs to Him and He has entrusted it to us for a
specific purpose. What is that purpose? Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 “But
seek ye first the
That’s what stewardship is. It is being entrusted by God with His resources to
accomplish His desires, or will.
II.
Self-Evident Truths about Stewardship
Now, none of this is rocket science, you’ve heard most of it before, but it serves
us well to be reminded of the fundamentals, or basics of our faith. First of
all….
A.
God owns it all
To put it very simply let’s just say that if you are a Christian, not one in
name only, but an authentic born again, regenerated person in whom the Holy
Spirit dwells, then everything you think is yours is really God’s. You don’t
own a thing. In the system of the world you may have legal rights to those
things which God has trusted to your care, but make no mistake about it, you
don’t own them, God owns them and can prove that ownership at any time.
Secondly, since He is the owner of all we have…
b. God will
hold us accountable for what He has entrusted to our care
When Jesus taught about stewardship in Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents,
He placed this parable right in the middle of His teaching about the second
coming. The point He was making was that when He comes back He is going to hold
us accountable for that which He has entrusted to our care. He will call us to
account to see if we have been faithful or faithless stewards.
c.
How we use His resources reveals the true nature of our hearts –
In Matthew chapter 6:24-34, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about the
Christian and riches. He starts by telling us that you cannot serve God and
riches. You cannot spend your life in love with God and in pursuit of material
things or solely for the sake of gaining material possessions. While there are
those who will tell you otherwise, Jesus says it simply is not so.
He tells us that we should not spend our lives
pursuing material things, like those who have no Father in heaven, but instead,
because we have a Father who knows what we need, and who will care for us, we
should, instead, spend our lives in pursuit of spiritual things, eternal
things, we should first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
of these other things will come our way as we need them.
He says in verse 21 that where our treasure is,
there will our heart be also. In other words, whatever is of greatest value to
us, whatever captivates us so that we spend our lives pursuing it will have the
affection and devotion of our entire being. It is here that how we view and use
financial resources demonstrates the true nature of our hearts.
This is where stewardship crosses over into the realm of discipleship. If you
are truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower of His who has taken up your cross
and are following Him, then that will be evidenced in that: a) you acknowledging that everything is
all His, b) you live in light of the
reality that he will hold you accountable and expects you to use it to
accomplish His desires, and c) you
will demonstrate your devotion to Christ by the way you use that which He has
entrusted to your care.
There is a fourth observation I would like to
make…
d. Stewardship requires
faith
Look around you and you will see people who do not know God who are prospering.
The Psalmist said this in Psalm 73:2-3, when he says, “ 2But as
for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. 3For
I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
How easy it is, especially in this area of
stewardship, to walk by sight and not by faith! But the psalmist comes
back in verse 17 and says, “17Until I went into the sanctuary of
God; then understood I their end.” You see, it is easy to be tempted by the
prosperity of the wicked, till we come into God’s presence and recognize that
eternity is reality and that this life is temporary.
Let’s look at some practical ways to practice
good stewardship in your Christian life.
III.
Practical suggestions for being a good steward –
1.
How do you use your time talents and treasures –
The best place to start is by taking an honest look at your life. Do you really
believe God owns everything you have? Is that belief supported by your actions?
What are the priorities of your life, making money for yourself or expanding
the
2.
Get your priorities straight –
Jesus is very clear and plain. He says that we are to seek first the
This evening God is calling you to analyze your
life and to get your priorities straight.
3.
Take action –
Once you realize where you are and have your priorities straight, it’s time to
take action. It’s time to stop saying, “Yea, I guess I need to do something
about that,” and to actually do something about it. It is time to take action
on what you know to be true. It’s time to start serving, to start giving and to
start living like Jesus owns it all and you are accountable as God’s steward; a
steward who, when the Master returns, wants to be found faithful.”
So what area of your life needs rearranging? Where do your priorities
need to be realigned with God’s priorities? Is it in the area of your time? How
much of your time are you really spending pursuing the