This is the manuscript of the eleventh sermon in the "Doctrines Of Our Faith Series".
The doctrines of our faith serve the same function for our spiritual lives that the skeletal systems do for our physical lives. So the doctrines of our faith support and protect our beliefs.
Today's doctrine is the doctrine of Stewardship. The mention of the word stewardship does strange things to some people. The reason for this is usually because most people associate stewardship with money. Many if not most people become quite defensive when a preacher starts to talk about money, especially if it is their money! However, stewardship is a biblical concept that far exceeds the single area of money. Often, stewardship is thought of only in terms of finances, but the Bible teaches that stewardship is a far greater concept, involving how we respond with all of our life to Him who is the giver and sustainer of life?
The New Testament concept of stewardship centers in our commitment to Jesus Christ. When He becomes our Lord, He becomes Lord of our time, talents, finances, and everything. We realize that we are not our own, but we are bought with a price. C.S. Lewis wrote: 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.
Click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript to hear the audio of the sermon.
The doctrines of our faith serve the same function for our spiritual lives that the skeletal systems do for our physical lives. So the doctrines of our faith support and protect our beliefs.
Today's doctrine is the doctrine of Stewardship. The mention of the word stewardship does strange things to some people. The reason for this is usually because most people associate stewardship with money. Many if not most people become quite defensive when a preacher starts to talk about money, especially if it is their money! However, stewardship is a biblical concept that far exceeds the single area of money. Often, stewardship is thought of only in terms of finances, but the Bible teaches that stewardship is a far greater concept, involving how we respond with all of our life to Him who is the giver and sustainer of life?
The New Testament concept of stewardship centers in our commitment to Jesus Christ. When He becomes our Lord, He becomes Lord of our time, talents, finances, and everything. We realize that we are not our own, but we are bought with a price. C.S. Lewis wrote: 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.
Click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript to hear the audio of the sermon.
Scripture Reading:
Psalms 24:1-10 NIV The earth is the Lord ’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord ? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty— he is the King of glory.
Introduction
This is the eleventh and next to last in our series “The Doctrines Of Our Faith”.
Remember the doctrines of our faith support and protect our beliefs.
The first doctrine we discussed is that the Bible is divine revelation, or the Living Word. The second is the doctrine that the One we believe in and worship does exist and He is Almighty God. The third doctrine is that God Almighty who we worship and who we know exists took on human form and came to earth and actually lived among his creation as one of us. Almighty God is also the Incomparable Christ. Our fourth doctrine is that the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Godhead, or Trinity and that He is equal with God The, Father, and God the Son. He was sent by the Father after the Son Jesus returned to heaven to complete the plan of redemption by seeing to it that every person feels a call toward God's saving grace.
The fifth is the doctrine of mankind from generation, to degeneration, ending with regeneration.
The sixth doctrine is that sin is the thing that spoiled everything in mankind’s relationship with God.
Sin resulted in a curse on mankind bringing decay, disease, disorder, and death.
Because Christ became that curse for us, when a person repents of his or her sins, asks forgiveness and asks Jesus to come into their lives as Lord and Savior God takes that cursed and broken vessel and reshapes it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
As new creatures, with new hearts God calls us us out from the world, which was our seventh doctrine that those new creatures who have been called out are the church or the body of Christ.
The eighth doctrine is that we the "called out" have been justified or acquitted by God.
Our ninth doctrine was the doctrine of repentance. No doctrine in the Bible is more important than the doctrine of repentance. Before people can be reconciled to God, justified, acquitted, through his Son, Jesus Christ, they must experience repentance.
Last week was the doctrine of missions which is the strategy of the kingdom which Jesus gave before His ascension to heaven;
Matthew 28:19-20 CEV Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.
And to execute that strategy He sent the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to execute the strategy.
Our doctrine today is Stewardship. This is not a discussion of money although it includes money which is one of the things that we as Christians are to manage, which is what a steward does. A steward is a manager.
Stewardship definition: noun - the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.
Holman Bible Dictionary
Stewardship - Utilizing and managing all the resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.
Often, stewardship is thought of only in terms of finances, but the Bible teaches that stewardship is a far greater concept, involving how we respond with all of our life to Him who is the giver and sustainer of life?
The New Testament concept of stewardship centers in our commitment to Jesus Christ. When He becomes our Lord, He becomes Lord of our time, talents, finances, and everything. We realize that we are not our own, but we are bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
The mention of the word stewardship does strange things to some people. The reason for this is usually because most people associate stewardship with money. Many if not most people become quite defensive when a preacher starts to talk about money, especially if it is their money!
However, stewardship is a biblical concept that far exceeds the single area of money. There is a natural stewardship to which everybody has to acknowledge whether they want to or not. For example, the farmer must be a good steward of his soil; the rancher must be a good steward of his cattle; the employer must be a good steward of the potential their employees. To be lackadaisical in these things, and many others, would spell disaster.
But Christian stewardship goes much deeper, it is far more inclusive.
Here is what the author C.S. Lewis wrote:
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.
There are four important principles about biblical stewardship we need to understand:
Psalms 24:1-10 NIV The earth is the Lord ’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord ? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty— he is the King of glory.
Introduction
This is the eleventh and next to last in our series “The Doctrines Of Our Faith”.
Remember the doctrines of our faith support and protect our beliefs.
The first doctrine we discussed is that the Bible is divine revelation, or the Living Word. The second is the doctrine that the One we believe in and worship does exist and He is Almighty God. The third doctrine is that God Almighty who we worship and who we know exists took on human form and came to earth and actually lived among his creation as one of us. Almighty God is also the Incomparable Christ. Our fourth doctrine is that the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Godhead, or Trinity and that He is equal with God The, Father, and God the Son. He was sent by the Father after the Son Jesus returned to heaven to complete the plan of redemption by seeing to it that every person feels a call toward God's saving grace.
The fifth is the doctrine of mankind from generation, to degeneration, ending with regeneration.
The sixth doctrine is that sin is the thing that spoiled everything in mankind’s relationship with God.
Sin resulted in a curse on mankind bringing decay, disease, disorder, and death.
Because Christ became that curse for us, when a person repents of his or her sins, asks forgiveness and asks Jesus to come into their lives as Lord and Savior God takes that cursed and broken vessel and reshapes it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
As new creatures, with new hearts God calls us us out from the world, which was our seventh doctrine that those new creatures who have been called out are the church or the body of Christ.
The eighth doctrine is that we the "called out" have been justified or acquitted by God.
Our ninth doctrine was the doctrine of repentance. No doctrine in the Bible is more important than the doctrine of repentance. Before people can be reconciled to God, justified, acquitted, through his Son, Jesus Christ, they must experience repentance.
Last week was the doctrine of missions which is the strategy of the kingdom which Jesus gave before His ascension to heaven;
Matthew 28:19-20 CEV Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.
And to execute that strategy He sent the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to execute the strategy.
Our doctrine today is Stewardship. This is not a discussion of money although it includes money which is one of the things that we as Christians are to manage, which is what a steward does. A steward is a manager.
Stewardship definition: noun - the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.
Holman Bible Dictionary
Stewardship - Utilizing and managing all the resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.
Often, stewardship is thought of only in terms of finances, but the Bible teaches that stewardship is a far greater concept, involving how we respond with all of our life to Him who is the giver and sustainer of life?
The New Testament concept of stewardship centers in our commitment to Jesus Christ. When He becomes our Lord, He becomes Lord of our time, talents, finances, and everything. We realize that we are not our own, but we are bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
The mention of the word stewardship does strange things to some people. The reason for this is usually because most people associate stewardship with money. Many if not most people become quite defensive when a preacher starts to talk about money, especially if it is their money!
However, stewardship is a biblical concept that far exceeds the single area of money. There is a natural stewardship to which everybody has to acknowledge whether they want to or not. For example, the farmer must be a good steward of his soil; the rancher must be a good steward of his cattle; the employer must be a good steward of the potential their employees. To be lackadaisical in these things, and many others, would spell disaster.
But Christian stewardship goes much deeper, it is far more inclusive.
Here is what the author C.S. Lewis wrote:
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.
There are four important principles about biblical stewardship we need to understand:
1. The principle of ownership which brings us to our text for today (we read it earlier).
Psalms 24:1-2 NIV The earth is the Lord ’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
These verses carry us all the way back to Genesis
Genesis 1:1 NIV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
As the Creator, God has absolute rights of ownership over all things, which is where we have to begin when talking about stewardship. Nothing else in the Bible, including the doctrine of stewardship, will make any sense if we miss the fact that God is the Creator and has full rights of ownership. We have to completely understand this I order to understand stewardship.
So, by right of creation, the entire earth is God's; and everything and everyone on the earth are also within his sovereignty.
Our text says that the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
In the beginning of Genesis, God creates everything and puts Adam in the Garden to work it and take care of it. It is clear that man was created to work and that work is the stewardship of all of the creation that God has given him.
This is the fundamental principle of biblical stewardship. God owns everything, we are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf.
Stewardship expresses our obedience to the administration of everything God has placed under our control, which is all encompassing. Stewardship is the commitment of ourselves and everything we possess to God’s service, and recognizing that we do not have the right of control over our property or ourselves.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 NIV You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
It starts with our bodies. Our bodies are critical to the preparation and execution of the various activities and ministry opportunities the Lord gives us.
We tend to think of ourselves as having body, soul, and spirit. Our bodies relate to other people and the world around us. Our souls relate to our personhood our personalities.
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, also made it clear that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You live in your body, but you’re more than flesh and bone. The inner self—soul and spirit—lives on after the physical body dies. While believers live on this earth as His creations, our bodies are simultaneously indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
You’re not only a vessel for your soul and spirit but also for the Spirit’s presence and power. In this way, your body is a holy entity, devoted to worship. Your body is a temple of God’s presence.
Paul also mentions that given that the Holy Spirit has made you His temple on earth, you are to “glorify Him" in your body and your spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
You should treat your physical body with the same respect you have for your eternal spirit. According to Paul, each of us has a responsibility as a Christian to make certain that behaviors associated with our physical bodies bring honor to God.
What you do with your body is an act of praise to God. Therefore, anything you do to hurt or damage your body will prevent or limit you from fully honoring the Lord, making yourself freely available for service to Him, fulfilling your purpose, and reaching your full potential
2. The first principle is that God is the ultimate owner of everything and everybody. Next is the the principle of responsibility.
1 Timothy 6:17 NIV Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Although God “ richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment,” nothing really is ours. Nothing really belongs to us. God owns everything; so we’re responsible for how we treat it and what we do with it. We complain about our rights here on earth, but with respect to God who owns everything it’s the owner that has rights, the stewards have responsibilities.
We are called as God’s stewards to manage that which belongs to God. While God has graciously entrusted us with the care, development, and enjoyment of everything he owns as his stewards, we are responsible to manage his holdings well and according to his desires and purposes.
3. That brings us to the principle of accountability.
A steward is one who manages the possessions of another. We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care, and one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed.
I'm going to read of this because it speaks to both our responsibility and accountability as stewards.
Matthew 25:14-30 NIV “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
God has entrusted authority over the creation to us and we are not allowed to rule over it as we see fit. We are called to exercise our dominion under the watchful eye of the Creator managing his creation in accord with the principles he has established.
Like the servants in the Parable I just read, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered, managed, everything we have been given, including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships, and authority.
We will all give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us.
4. The final principle of stewardship is the principle of reward.
Colossians 3:23-24 NIV Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The Bible shows us in the parables of the Kingdom that faithful stewards who do the master’s will with the master’s resources can expect to be rewarded incompletely in this life, but fully in the next.
2 Corinthians 5:6, 8-10 NIV Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
We all should long to hear the master say
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
As Christians in the 21st century, we need to embrace this larger biblical view of stewardship, which goes beyond church budgets or programs or projects, all of which are important but we need to be faithful stewards of all God has given us to glorify him, to serve the common good and further his Kingdom.
Finally, having examined the four principles let’s look briefly at how we can express our stewardship.
1 Peter 4:10 NIV Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Peter said that every person has received a gift of grace and that you should use it. These gifts differ from person to person; they are as varied as the ability to sing or play or preach, to communicate the gospel to children, to be a peacemaker, to be able to say the right word at the right time to soothe a troubled heart, to make money and use it for God’s glory—and on and on we could go.
Every believer has at least one gift. It is totally unscriptural for one to say that he or she has no gift, for God has expressly declared that he has bestowed on all of his children a gift to be used, to be given away, for his glory.
Ephesians 4:7-8 NIV But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
Next week we are going to talk about those gifts.
This, then, is how we express our stewardship—by giving ourselves away in the name and for the glory of Christ.
Peter says that we are to use our gifts because we are we are stewards of God’s grace in its various forms, or as in the NKJV
the “manifold” grace of God.
This means that God’s grace fits every possible human need. It expresses itself in an infinite number of ways. There is no need that cannot be met by the grace of God. And think of it—we are stewards of that grace!
Conclusion
The ultimate question, then, is this: Am I the lord of my life, or is Christ the Lord of my life? In essence, stewardship expresses our total obedience to God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lord, I surrender my life to you. I want to do something, to make something happen, all on my own strength, but I know without you I can do nothing. I know my life is not my own, it is yours to work through me. Lord, I am grateful for this life you’ve given me. You’ve blessed me with different gifts and talents. Help me understand how to cultivate those things to bring glory to your great name. Amen.
As Creator he owns it all; but in his sovereign purpose, he chose to give people freedom to be his stewards or his enemies. What kind of steward are you?
Colossians 3:23-24 NIV Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The Bible shows us in the parables of the Kingdom that faithful stewards who do the master’s will with the master’s resources can expect to be rewarded incompletely in this life, but fully in the next.
2 Corinthians 5:6, 8-10 NIV Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
We all should long to hear the master say
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
As Christians in the 21st century, we need to embrace this larger biblical view of stewardship, which goes beyond church budgets or programs or projects, all of which are important but we need to be faithful stewards of all God has given us to glorify him, to serve the common good and further his Kingdom.
Finally, having examined the four principles let’s look briefly at how we can express our stewardship.
1 Peter 4:10 NIV Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Peter said that every person has received a gift of grace and that you should use it. These gifts differ from person to person; they are as varied as the ability to sing or play or preach, to communicate the gospel to children, to be a peacemaker, to be able to say the right word at the right time to soothe a troubled heart, to make money and use it for God’s glory—and on and on we could go.
Every believer has at least one gift. It is totally unscriptural for one to say that he or she has no gift, for God has expressly declared that he has bestowed on all of his children a gift to be used, to be given away, for his glory.
Ephesians 4:7-8 NIV But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
Next week we are going to talk about those gifts.
This, then, is how we express our stewardship—by giving ourselves away in the name and for the glory of Christ.
Peter says that we are to use our gifts because we are we are stewards of God’s grace in its various forms, or as in the NKJV
the “manifold” grace of God.
This means that God’s grace fits every possible human need. It expresses itself in an infinite number of ways. There is no need that cannot be met by the grace of God. And think of it—we are stewards of that grace!
Conclusion
The ultimate question, then, is this: Am I the lord of my life, or is Christ the Lord of my life? In essence, stewardship expresses our total obedience to God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lord, I surrender my life to you. I want to do something, to make something happen, all on my own strength, but I know without you I can do nothing. I know my life is not my own, it is yours to work through me. Lord, I am grateful for this life you’ve given me. You’ve blessed me with different gifts and talents. Help me understand how to cultivate those things to bring glory to your great name. Amen.
As Creator he owns it all; but in his sovereign purpose, he chose to give people freedom to be his stewards or his enemies. What kind of steward are you?
Sermon Audio
RSS Feed