Word of the Week - Stewardship - Part 2
“His master replied. Well done good and faithful servant (steward). You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness”. Matthew 25:21
Stewardship – Last week I started a “Word of the Week” on the topic of stewardship by defining what is means to be a steward, see below. This week I am going deeper into this important aspect of our walk of faith. I recently heard a teaching to a group of pastors and business leaders from Pastor Robert Morris on the topic of stewardship, which prompted me to reevaluate this area in my own life. You can hear a similar version of this teaching by clicking this link on Stewardship .
I am not the owner – “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all this is in it” Deuteronomy 10:14 Simply put, everything under heaven and on earth was created by God and thus He is the rightful owner. He entrusts us as stewards over the things He allows us to manage and oversee. Time and again scripture reminds us that He is the owner, and we are His stewards. We must take this seriously because we will be held accountable for our faithfulness in stewarding His resources. This includes our time, talent, treasure, truth and relationships, which are all gifts to be stewarded for the ultimate glory of God. Having more means more responsibility and accountability. This is a huge opportunity for us as believers to be part of God’s master plan for the world. He invites us into His plan to play a meaningful role in leveraging our gifts to build His Kingdom and have an eternal impact with eternal rewards.
I am a steward – “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” 1 Peter 4:10 When we are good stewards, God protects and expands our resources He gives us. He desires to find good stewards and when we are found to be good stewards, He increases our responsibility by entrusting us with more resources. In the beginning of Genesis, God created everything and put Adam to work in the garden to take care of it. Relating this to our lives, Adam’s purpose was to steward the Garden. In the same context, we must understand that God blesses us with abundance for a God purpose. We can enjoy the blessings, but we must understand the responsibility and purpose and ensure we are aligned with God’s plan and purpose as we stewards what He has given us. “To whom much is given, much will be required” Luke 12:48 In the end, we will all give account to the rightful owner, the Lord, to how well we managed the things He has entrusted to us.
Am I a good steward – This is a question I am often asking myself. How do I know if I am being a good steward of what God has entrusted to me? I think it starts with evaluating our lives in several areas that include:
Fruit - Is God producing good godly fruit in us and through us? He makes it clear that we will be known by our Fruit “By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit”. Matthew 7:16-17 Here are some of the questions I ask myself often: Are the things that God has entrusted with me bearing spiritual fruit and multiplying. Is my life having an impact on others for God’s glory? Are people coming to know Christ and growing in their relationship with Jesus through my life and ministry. How about your family? Is my spouse, kids and grandkids growing in their walk of faith. Business and vocation, am I using my God witness in my business or day to day vocation to share the love of God and help others grow in their walk with Jesus? Ministry, am I intentionally and freely sharing and giving away what God has given me. How am I investing my financial blessings to impact God’s Kingdom? We should be asking ourselves these questions as we evaluate our stewardship.
Accountability – “As iron sharpens iron, so does one person sharpen another” Proverbs 27:17 As we grow in our stewardship, I think it is important that we have accountability to other godly brothers and sisters and get their input. This is especially needed if we have been entrusted with much. If we want to make the most of what has given us, we must bring others into our lives to help us. We are definitely better together, and often we can be blind to our own motives. We all need the insight of outside godly and trusted counsel to help us see things from different perspectives.
Blessing and Increase – “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance” Matthew 25:29 This scripture from the parable of the talents is referring to the servant who invested what God gave him and realized a big return. If we are being good stewards of what God has entrusted to us, He will bless us, and we will see increase over time. If we are not seeing a blessing or increase over time, then we need to evaluate our stewardship. Our God is a God of blessing and increase in all things.
We serve a God of the more! I have personally witnessed this in amazing ways over the past 23 years since I gave my heart to Jesus and started walking in a mindset of stewardship. I have also seen this in a miraculous way in our church over the past 23 years. I have lived and witnessed firsthand, Ephesians 3:20 and I know God “Can and will do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine by His power at work within us” for His glory. If we are faithful Stewards, we will experience Ephesians 3:20 in our lives.
I pray we can live 1 Timothy 6:17-19 and experience the fruit of godly stewardship “the life that is truly life”. This is the abundant life we have access to through Jesus!!!
Blessings,
Duane