"Stewardship--It's a Command"
Rev. Thomas J. Kok
Sept. 7, 1997
Text: Genesis 1:24-27, 2:15
Among the many publications which are received here at Peace Church
on a weekly and monthly and quarterly basis is a newsletter entitled "Church
secretaries communiqué". Along with supplying with helpful hints
and advise for Jan Stravers as she seeks to do that difficult job of being
church secretary, this newsletter also provides those of us in the office
with some good laughs through a feature entitled "bulletin bloopers". In
this section, secretaries from all over the country share humorous announcements
that come from actual bulletins. Some of those are simply misprints, such
as the misprints of the following song titles. "Our God resigns" and "The
longer I serve Him, the sweeter He crows". Others are simply worded funny.
Such as the announcement which declared Pastor Smit will marry his son
next Sunday morning or the note that said, 11 sick cards were sent to members
in the hospital. Some of them are just plain confusing, such as the following
item. "If you would like to unite with our church fellowship, you can do
so during the hymn of invitation, following the sermon, by baptism, Christian
experience in the front entrance of the church for $4.00". Go figure that
one out! Fortunately for us here at Peace church we have very few bulletin
announcements that might be included as bloopers or that might be somewhat
confusing. However, over the past few week, some of you may have received
an announcement in the bulletin or in your mail slot here at church that
caused a little bit of bewilderment. An announcement that was not worded
funny so that we had difficulty understanding it, but an announcement that
addressed the subject that we really don't know all that much about and
that is the subject of stewardship.
A recent survey revealed that 40% of Americans consider stewardship
to be using the talents that they have in a responsible way. 16% thought
that it meant remembering that God made everything. 12% believed in meant
taking good care of the planet. 10% understood it to mean giving a certain
percentage to the church and 20% simply admitted that they didn't know
what the word means. The simple truth about stewardship is that is a confusing
concept. Questions about stewardship abound. Questions such as, is stewardship
simply about money or does it address larger matters, like my time, my
talents and the resources of this world? Questions like, does stewardship
merely address the money I give away or does it speak about the money I
keep as well? Questions like, is stewardship merely a perspective, a way
of seeing the world or is it actions as well?
It's in an effort to answer these questions and many others that the
council of this church has designated September as stewardship month. During
the course of this month, through our worship services, but also through
our educational programs, we are going to be addressing the subject of
stewardship. We're going to be asking ourselves, what is stewardship and
how are we supposed to make that as Christians a part of our daily lives?
I want to begin this morning with some simple definitions. The word
"steward" is an old English word which literally means, house warden or
house keeper. As that last word, house keeper implies, a steward is a servant.
A steward is someone who serves someone else. A steward is someone who
receives the goods and the resources of his master and is called upon to
use those things wisely and well. A steward is in charge of somebody else's
possessions. Stewardship then is the manner in which those resources are
used. The wise and profitable manner in which those resources are taken
care of. When we speak of stewardship in a biblical sense, we speak of
God as the master and ourselves as the servants. We speak of all the gifts
that God gives us, our time and our talents, the resources of this world
as well as our financial resources. We speak of all these things as the
things that God gives to us to use on His behalf. Stewardship is a rather
broad concept. It embraces all that we have and all that we do as human
beings.
In her book, FirstFruits
, Managing the Master's Money by Lillian Grissen,
she gives a definition of biblical stewardship and I'd like to encourage
you to pick up a copy in the library. If you really want to understand
what stewardship is about, pick up one of these copies and it's a wonderful
reading. She gives a definition in here about biblical stewardship that
reads as follows: "Biblical stewardship is the productive and joyful acquiring,
managing, using, giving and sharing with others the very best of our time,
talents and possessions in the advancement of God's Kingdom". If you want
to put it even shorter than that, stewardship is using everything that
we have and everything that we are so that God might be glorified.
I believe that a part of the reason that stewardship is confusing and
an unfamiliar concept to many of us, is the fact that in our world today
the thought of taking care of something for someone else is not very attractive.
We are told in our world today that the brass ring we ought to pursue is
that of working for ourselves, being our own bosses. That our ultimate
goal ought not be for the company's good but for our own. We ought to work
to pad our own bank account and not that of the company or not that of
somebody for whom we work. So in our society today, acting as a servant
for someone else, even if that someone else is the Almighty God, is a very
passé concept. Yet, passé of not, stewardship is an essential
element of who we are as Christians, but I would also like to suggest to
you this morning that stewardship is an essential element of who we are
as human beings. It's not a matter of religion, it's a matter of being
human. That concept comes across very clearly in our text for this morning
from Genesis chapters 1 & 2. What I'd like to do with you for the next
few moments is to look at our text and consider the subject of stewardship
as a command.
One of things that's disconcerting to me as I grow older is this. The
older I get, the more that I become like my parents. I remember being a
child and having my parents say things or do things and say, "I'm never
going to say that to my children. I'm never going to do that to my children".
But you know what? I do those exact same things. Perhaps the most aggravating
thing for me when I was a child was my parents ability to say on many occasions,
"because I said so". I would ask them why I had to do a particular thing
like wash behind my ears or brush my teeth or mow the lawn or whatever
else it might be and their response would be, "because I said so". I hated
that but now I do it to my children!
I must confess that part of the reason that I say that to my children
is out of sheer laziness. I don't want to spend the time explaining to
them all of the reasons that are stacked up in order to bring me to this
point where I tell them to do something. Other times it's just simply a
way of hiding the fact that I really don't have a reason, I just want them
to get out of there and leave me alone. There are other times where I truly
believe that that statement is fitting. Simply because I am the parent
and they are my children. The fact that I had something to do with bringing
them into this world, that I physically cared for their needs, that scripture
gives me a certain amount of authority over them, brings me to the point
of understanding that they owe me, if you will, a certain amount of respect,
a certain amount of response. There should be things that they do simply
because I say so, because I'm dad. They would probably disagree and we
could have a long discussion on that subject.
But with that thought in mind, I want you to consider Genesis 1 &
2. Here we have an elaborate picture of God creating the world. We have
a picture of God, out of nothing by His might and His power and according
to His love, bringing this world into existence. An implication of that
is that God's might and His power and His love also provide for the needs
of all of this world that He has created. By the very fact that God is
creator, by the very fact that He is provider, what happens is that I am
as one of His creatures under an obligation, an obligation to obey Him
as a child ought to obey his parents. I owe something to God.
That thought is made very clear in such passages as Psalm
24:1 & 2, which declares as we read at the beginning of the service
this morning, "the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. The world
and all who live in it, for He founded it upon the seas and He established
it upon the waters". Psalm 103:3 takes that thought even further when it
says, "know that the Lord is God, it is He who made us and we are His".
We belong to God, we are His possessions, this world is His possession
and as such, He has the right to command us. What is the command He gives?
The very first command that humanity receives is care for my world. Listen
again to Genesis 1:26, "then God said, let us make
man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the
sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and
over all the creatures that move along the ground".
Before God even
brings mankind into existence, mankind has a mandate, if you will, a calling
to rule over this world. That word, rule, doesn't mean that we should dominate
in the sense that you might have communist or socialistic government that
rules the people, that dominates them, rather the idea is more of caring
for and keeping the world.
We get a bit more of a sense of that in Genesis
2:15 where we are told that God put mankind in the garden in order to work
it and take care of it. Words that mean to tend and to till and
to cultivate and to care for, to help along. God's command to us is that
we care for His world. We need to understand this morning that that is
not an invitation. God is not saying, "hey, I've made this wonderful world
and I'd like you to help me to take care of it. Won't you come along?"
NO. Nor is this call to care for the world something that only applies
to those who are nature nuts, like the guy who used to do Mutual of Omaha
commercials, Marlin Perkins or Marty Starford. It's not just a call to
people who are in charge, who have a leaning to caring for this world.
It's a call that God gives to each and every one of us. We are God's creatures
and God says care for my world. In a certain sense, we are stewards because
"God said so". God commands it. God gives us this earth, He gives us our
time, He gives us our talents, He gives us our financial resources and
He obliges us to treat it with care. It's that simple. He wants us to
use it wisely and well.
There are two important concepts that I want to point out this morning.
The first concept is this. It all belongs to God. That sounds like an over
simplified statement. You say, well I could have stayed home because you
didn't need to tell me that. But it's so important in our world today to
recognize that fact. Because our world is so focused on possessing. We've
all seen the bumper sticker that says, the one who dies with the most toys,
wins. We're told in our world that where we will find fulfillment is in
possessing, in having, in owning and what scripture tells us is this. We
don't own any of it! We do not own one thing! It all belongs to God.
In this FirstFruits
book, there's a cartoon with a picture of a hand
reaching down out of the clouds, obviously it's supposed to be the hand
of God with a pen in hand, and there's a sign sitting on this beautiful
wooded hillside that says, "for sub-lease" on it. God leases this world
to us. It's not ours. It's a concept that's very basic to the understanding
to the concept of stewardship, one that we will explore more in the course
of this series of messages.
The second concept I want to point out to you and one that we're going
to flush out a little bit more this morning, is this. We human beings make
creation complete. We human beings make creation complete. Notice that
in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, God creates a perfect garden. He creates
a paradise. He creates a world of wonder and yet it needs people. God puts
Adam and Eve in the garden to work it and care for it. Chapter 2:15 says
again words that talk about tending and cultivating and caring for that
garden. That garden needs Adam and Eve. God didn't put them there and say,
"you need something to occupy your days. This is a perfect garden, you
really don't need to do anything about it but work in it anyway". No. God
says this is creation, but it is not complete without you. You must be
involved in this creation, you must be involved in using it. You must be
involved in protecting it. You must be involved in helping it to become
all that it can be. There's a sense in which God made this world as a raw
resource, if you will. He gave us time and He gave us treasures. He gave
us the resources, He gave us talents, and now He's saying, it's up to you
people to make this world all that it can be.
The very fact of caring for this world, the very fact of helping this
world become all it can be is not just a command from the outside. It's
also a part of our very human nature. I want you to notice in Genesis
1:26 that we are told that we are made in God's image and in His likeness.
Those words "image" and "likeness" are synonymous. It's simply a
way of restating the same thing over again. What it means is that we are
here to represent God. We are here to stand in God's stead as the ruler.
As the caretaker. As the one who takes this world and makes it all that
it can be. It's part of our makeup. It's part of who we are. I may note
from this pulpit before about the proliferation of pastors in my family.
My family is lousy with pastors, if you will. I didn't say that my family
is filled of lousy pastors, so be careful what you pass on. I have two
great uncles who are pastors. I have two uncles who are pastors. My dad
is a pastor. I, myself, am a pastor and my brother this month is going
to be ordained in Randolph, Wisconsin as an evangelist and my other brother
is a chaplain in a nursing home. There are people who look at my family
and shake their heads and they say, preaching must be in your blood. It's
part of who you are. It's built into your family. That may be, but let's
apply that in a larger sense with respect to stewardship. It's built into
the human family. It's not just my family, it's not just your family, it's
not just the families who refuse to go out and to live with nature in Idaho.
It is the human family together that has it built it into it's very blood,
the caretaking of this world.
We were created to care for this world. Part of what it means to be
human, part of what it means to be complete, is to be a steward, is to
be a caretaker. Due to sin's entrance into the world, those caretaking
tendencies often run amuck and we exploit and abuse instead of caring for.
Yet the fact remains that we human beings were made to be stewards. We
were made to care for this world and when we act in an unstewardly fashion,
when we behave in exploitative manners, we damage ourselves. We end up
feeling discontent.
For example, recently we heard a lot of stories in the news about some
third world sweat shops that were run by either Nike or Reebok or maybe
both. These sweat shops were unsafe places for people to work. These sweat
shops employed under aged children to do the work and they paid just barely
subsistence wages and everybody was outraged that this could possibly take
place and it's entirely possible for us to look across the ocean or down
south here into South America and say those countries need to get their
rules in order. That's the cause of the problem, but is it really? The
cause of the problem really, I believe, comes back to those of use who
are Americans who are willing to spend more money than we need to buy tennis
shoes and jogging outfits and whatever else it might be so that we can
be fashionable. We're willing to dispose of those shoes when Michael Jordan
decides to make a new kind or wear a new kind. We're willing to dispose
of that clothes if Reebok becomes more fashionable than Nike. We want all
of these things. We want and we want to devour and we want to consume and
it's our desire for this huge flow of reasonably priced goods that causes
those sweat shops to exist. It's our inability to be proper stewards that
causes their suffering.
The same thing could be said of pollution and even the hurried pace
of life, our lack of time. The reason people drive 85 miles an hour on
the Dan Ryan is because they aren't proper stewards of the time that God
gives them. We need to recognize that when we aren't stewards, we suffer.
So the command, both from the mouth of God but also from the very nature
of our being as humans is to use the things of this world wisely and well.
How do we do that? Just a few things for you to consider as we close this
morning.
First of all, consider your time. How do you use it? There are those
who say that time is the only true resource we have. It's the most precious
resource we have. How do you use it? Do television and Nintendo and sporting
events and other pursuits chew up so much of your time that you don't have
time for family? That you don't have time to help other people who are
in need? That you don't have time to spend with God? How do you use your
time?
Consider secondly your talents. The question here is, why do you use
them? Most of us use our talents to make a living. If we are good at business,
we are in the business world. If we are good at construction, we're in
the business of construction. If we are teachers, we teach and we use these
things to make a living so that we can put clothes on our back and a roof
over our heads and so on and so forth. God does not begrudge us those things.
But do we, following the temptation of the world around us, keep raising
the bar of comfortable living to the point where all of our talents and
all of our energy is used simply so that we can live comfortably and well.
We have no time, none of our talents left available to serve people who
are in need or to advance the kingdom of God. We need to consider how we
use those talents.
Lastly, we come to money. You knew on a sermon on stewardship that sooner
or later I was going to get to your money. Well, here I am. But I'm going
to ask you a question that maybe you have asked yourself before and maybe
not and the question is this. Why do you have your financial resources?
I believe that's a question that very few people pause to ask themselves.
The money comes in and they naturally assume it's for them. Oh sure, you
worked hard for your money, you've worked hard to make your investments
grow, but the question we need to ask ourselves is what does it exist for?
Why do I have this much in my bank account? Why do I get this much a month?
Ask yourself whether God wants you to use some of that for His kingdom.
Time, talent, treasure, these are all things that God gives to use and
He calls us to use them in a way that honors His name. If you boil it all
down our text from Genesis 1 and 2, call us to be alert. Alert to the fact
that we have a purpose in our lives. A higher purpose than living and dying
as comfortably as possible. That higher purpose is to fulfill the calling
that God has given us from the time of creation on and that is to use the
things around us wisely and well. May we be such people. May we consider
who God calls us to be. May we heed His command.. AMEN!
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