Before we open God’s Word this morning I want to begin our series on stewardship with a short story, application, and a brief introduction to our series as a whole:
  The story is told that many centuries ago a young Renaissance scholar named Erasmus was watching with the Pope as wagonloads of gold were brought through the gates of the Vatican. Turning to Erasmus the Pope said to him, “No longer can the church say with Peter, ‘Silver or gold have I none.’ …… To this Erasmus replied, “True. And no longer can the church say to the lame man, “Take up your bed and walk.”
  The point Erasmus was making is that with wealth comes responsibility. Wealth can indeed be a blessing, but with it also comes forth a host of challenges. Maintaining spiritual vigor in the midst of great wealth has been a huge challenge for the church of past centuries – and it still is for the church today!
  For us, as Christians, living in by far the richest country in the world, you and I have been entrusted with incredible resources. We have things in this country that most people in the world can only dream of. By the world’s standards you and I are filthy rich. 
  Yet, how do we prevent our wealth from sapping our spiritual strength? How do we keep from simply becoming a congregation of consumers? In other words, as wealthy North Americans – who also call ourselves Christians - how are we to live differently in this world?
  The answer, of course, is by seeing ourselves as stewards of God’s riches. …Friends, did you know that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible that talk about the subject of stewardship? … 2,000 verses! … Over and over again the Bible offers us a wealth of material on both money and possessions. 
  Yet, if stewardship is such an important topic in our spiritual development, why are we often so scared to talk about it? Especially in the church! …. Is it because when we talk about stewardship we are often terribly convicted in this area of our lives? I don’t know about you, but when it comes to talking about stewardship I am often very convicted!
  Or perhaps, is it because in a church setting sometimes we think that ‘stewardship’ is only a fancy word for ‘budget?’ In other words, “turn your wallets over and ‘shake!’”… Possibly. … 
  However, as your Pastor – and I hope the deacons would say the same thing – if I really believed that, I think I would have difficulty sleeping at night knowing that my sermons on stewardship were really nothing more than a masked fund-raising pitch. 
  No, friends, stewardship involves much more than money. Right stewardship in the church doesn’t just mean that we meet our budget by the end of the year. Right stewardship involves much, much, more than that. Right stewardship is about a relationship with Jesus Christ!
  Over the course of the next four weeks we’re going to be engaging in a four part series on the subject of stewardship. Beginning this morning, we’re going to see that right stewardship involves loving God first with everything we have and everything we are. We’re going to recognize and affirm God’s ownership over everything we possess. And the importance of a grateful response to what he’s given us. 
I  n the weeks ahead we’re going to take a closer look at being (1) proper stewards of God’s creation, (2) proper stewards of our own time and talents, and finally, (3) proper stewards of our treasures. … My hope, and my prayer, is that as we go through these studies each one of us here
will be challenged to become Christians who have a deep heart for stewardship.   And part of having a heart for stewardship includes striving to love God first with everything we are and everything we have. … Which leads us now to our text this morning:
(Matthew 22:34-40)



Dear Friends in Jesus Christ,
  The setting of our passage here in Matthew 22 is one in which both the Pharisees and the Sadducees are trying to trap Jesus into committing blasphemy. He was obviously not well-liked by either group, and now they’re both looking for a way to get rid of him. They couldn’t just kill him - that would be murder! Instead, they hoped to trick him into committing blasphemy, or at the very least – discrediting him before the people.
  Earlier in the day (v. 15-22) the Pharisees had asked Jesus if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. They knew that if he agreed that it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, that they could then say that he was opposed to God, the only King they recognized. However, if Jesus said the taxes should not be paid, they would then hand him over to the Roman authorities. 
  Jesus, of course, doesn’t fall for the trap. In fact, he even embarrasses the Pharisees by exposing their evil motivations and by teaching them to ‘give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” 
  Later on in that very same day (v. 23-33) the Sadducees also tried to trap Jesus. The Sadducees were what we would call the ‘theological liberals’ in that day. One of the things that they didn’t believe in was the resurrection. They didn’t believe in it because they also believed that the Pentateuch – Genesis through Deuteronomy – didn’t have any specific teaching on it.
  They likely knew that Jesus did believe in the resurrection, and so they tried to trap him by proposing a hypothetical situation. A situation in which a woman had been married to seven men, having been left a widow seven times. “Now then,” they asked, at the resurrection whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
  Jesus’ reply, and quote to them of Exodus 3:6, which was from the Penteteuch itself, proved two things: First, that the Sadducees didn’t know their Scripture. And secondly, because they didn’t know their Scripture – they failed to appreciate God’s power as they had mistakenly rejected the doctrine of the resurrection. (pause) 

  And so now we come to our text where the Pharisees come back with one more attempt to trap Jesus. Apparently after he had answered their question about paying taxes to Caesar they had gotten together and now they’re coming back for one more try.
  They bring with them an ‘expert’ in the law and then ask him a question that they themselves had probably often debated. The ‘expert’ asked Jesus the question saying “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Now we don’t know for sure what the Pharisees were trying to gain from this.   Perhaps they hoped to catch Jesus misstating something so they could condemn him for heresy. Or maybe they just thought this was an extremely difficult question. It wasn’t long after this that the Pharisees would make lists of over 613 commands. They would then go on to rank them in such a way as to distinguish which were the more important ones.
  Yet, when asked to identify the most important law Jesus again quotes from the Pentateuch. Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18 to be precise. And he then offers a simple truth that could not be challenged. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
It was a brilliant reply and in Mark’s account of it in Mark 12 we even see that the ‘expert’ who asked it was impressed and said, “You are right.”
  Jesus’ replied to him by saying, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 
And that’s true – he wasn’t far from it. But he wasn’t there yet, and neither were any of the other Pharisees who were in on this terrible attempt to try and trap Jesus. In fact, most of them were probably heading rapidly in the opposite direction!
  Friends, Jesus summarized the law by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “you neighbor as yourself.” …Yet, the truth is, - as human beings - on our own we have a natural tendency to hate God and our neighbor! The reality of this truth was never more evident than it was right now. … Jesus was both God and man – and yet the Pharisees hated Him with a passion. They were even trying to eliminate him!
  Jesus was love incarnate. He alone loved God with all his heart, soul, and mind. Furthermore, he also loved humanity itself. He loved us so much that he even gave his life for us. … And right here in our text he’s making it clear that true religion, true stewardship of all of life, involves a perfect love for God and of other human beings. On our own we can’t do this. On our own none of us can love perfectly. That’s why we need a savior. That’s why we need Jesus. That’s why we need to commit our lives to him, and to acknowledge that we are called to love him with everything we are and everything we have. 
  Friends, God alone is Lord of all the earth. Everything that we have belongs to him. Psalm 8 makes this abundantly clear, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.”
  Everything we have, including life itself, is a gift from God. … And if we are truly grateful Christians, we will also be giving Christians. We will be striving to be good stewards. Good stewards not only of God’s creation, but also of our time, talents, and treasures which we’ll be looking at in more detail in the weeks ahead. …. 
  You know, perhaps it’s possible to give without being thankful, but you cannot be a thankful Christian without giving! You can’t be a thankful Christian without also striving to be a right steward!

  Jesus calls us to love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. He also calls us to love our neighbor as our self. … In short, God is calling us to love him with our entire being. With everything that we have and everything that we are!
  “If you truly love me,” he is saying, “if you truly love God and your neighbor” then you will naturally keep my commandments. Friends, by saying this Jesus is encouraging the Pharisees, and us, to look at God’s law positively. Rather than worrying about what we shouldn’t do, he is directing us to concentrate on everything we can do to show our love for God and for others.
  By fulfilling these two commands we also keep all the others. When we love God completely and care for others as ourselves, then we’re fulfilling the intent of the Ten Commandments and all the other OT laws. … When we’re putting God first in our lives, recognizing that all we have comes from him, then we are well on our way to being a right steward and a true lover of God and His Word. 
  You see friends, at the very heart of ‘right stewardship’ is our relationship as the steward with our Master. When it comes to being a ‘steward’ we don’t own our Master’s property. No, instead we manage it by making decisions in accordance with our Master’s wishes. The faithful steward knows his master’s desires.
Through Scripture we come to know not only who our Master is, but also what he has done for us through Jesus Christ. …. Jesus Christ is the Lord of grace and love. Because of him our stewardship in life should not be seen as dreary duty, but rather an expression of love for our heavenly Father. Right stewardship is built on a relationship. We’re not just managers, but we’re people who have a rich relationship with a Master who loves us.
  So friends, as we enter into this month of stewardship emphasis, may we go forth this day contemplating what it means to be a true steward of our entire life. And in the weeks ahead as we take a look at what it means to be a steward of creation, of time and talents, and of treasures, may we be challenged not only in our hearing of these biblical truths, but also in our living of them. May we go forth being challenged to seek to love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. …. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.