THEME: STEWARDSHIP “GOD OWNS IT ALL” THE MORE WE KNOW WHAT WE’ER DOING AND WHY, THE MORE
WE KNOW WHAT WE’ER DOING AND WHY, THE MORE WE CAN
TITLE; MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT GOD HAS BEEN GIVEN
TEXT; 1 Corinthians 4:2, Matthew 25:14-30, Psalm 24:1
The Theology of stewardship EVERYTHING BELONGS TO GOD
Fundamental principle of Stewardship God owns it all
We are simply managers or administrators acting on His behalf.
Psalm 24:1- THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S AND THE EVERYTHING IN IT, THE
WORLD AND ALL WHI LIVE IN IT.
Matthew 25:14-30 – THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS
MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT GAD HAS GIVEN TO US
The ability belonged to the servant but the resources belonged to the
master.
Jesus wants the disciple to radically change in 3 areas:
1. In their view of God
2. In their view of wealth
3. In the view of their stewardship.
He wants them to be challenged in all three of those areas. So, He's
addressing His disciples here. He wants to talk to them about their attitude
about God, about wealth and towards their own stewardship - their
responsibility to be stewards before God.
Let us remember in 1 Corinthians 4: 2- IT IS REQUIRED TO THE STEWARD
THAT HE BE FOUND FAITHFUL.
Stewards means a servant who manages everything for his master but who
himself owns nothing. It is someone who manages what belongs to others.
Greek word: OYKONOMOS
Oikos- house and nemo- manage.
Literally means; ONE WHO MANAGE A HOUSEHOLD
The idea of stewardship is a person who manages and administrates
what has been entrusted to him by the owner.
The idea of biblical stewardship is about something more expansive.
HOW YOU MANAGE WHAT GOD HAS BEEN GIVEN YOU TODAY WILL
DETERMINE WHAT GOD WILL GIVE YOU IN THE FUTURE.
DO ITWITH CONVICTION AND PURPOSE AND THE MORE WE CAN DO IT
WITH CONVICTION AND PURPOSE THE GREATER JOY AND SATISFACTION
WE’LL GET OUT OF BEING GOOD STEWARDS.- LIVING THEOLOGY OF GOOD
STEWARDS.
I. THE PROPOSITION OF STEWARDSHIP IS SERVICE TO THE RIGHT
PERSON.
God is the Master- owner
We are the manager- piniyalan, adminstrador dili tag-iya.
Psalm 24:1- THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S AND THE EVERYTHING IN IT, THE
WORLD AND ALL WHI LIVE IN IT.
John 1:3- Through him all things were made; without him nothing was
made that has been made
Colossians 1:17- He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Stewardship relationship:
1. The master hands out the resources and will one day ask for
accounting.
2. The steward who is entrusted with these resources and must
eventually answer for how they were invested.
Christian stewardship is all about LIFE.
Understanding that all we are and have comes from belong to the Lord.
CONNECTED TO THE LORDSHIP OF THE LORD.
“once you say”- I BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS LORD- everything that follows is
your expression of Lordship in your life.
SO STEWARDSHIP MEANS: PRACTICALLY ACKNOWLEDGING JESUS LORDSHIP
AND THAT MEANS KNOWING THAT HE IS LORD OF EVERYTHING, THE
OWNER OF EVERYTHING, THE SOURCE OF EVERYTHING.
Since it is always connected to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Stewardship EXPRESS our obedience regarding the administration,
everything god has placed under our control.
2. Stewardship EXHIBIT COMMITMENT one’s self and possession to
God’s service recognizing that we do not have the right of the
control over our property or ourselves.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18
All we have are belongs to God, we are stewards of His belongings.
Steward always remember that they are a servant of the master or the king
and does all that he or she an eye to what is best for their master’s
household.
God has placed humanity in the placed of stewardship over all creation
when He said to Adam: BE FRUITFUL AND INCREASE IN NUMBER- Gen.1:28
“STEWARDSHIP OF ALL” UNDER THE LORDHIP OF THE JESUS
LIFE – God is the first CLAIM of every part of our lives.
Acronym of CLAIM
CALENDAR- TIME- Making the most of every OPPORTUNITY- Ephesians 5:16
Love- Matthew 22:37- Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
ASSOCIATIONS- God must be the center of every relationship.
INTERESTS- Put God first in your hobbies, your career, your recreation, and
your problems. Consider God first in your every decision.
MONEY- Proverbs 3:9-10 honor God with your wealth or possession.
What Kind of manager are You?
II. THE PROGRAM OF STEWARDSHIP IS FOR THE PROMOTION OF
THE MASTR’S KINGDOM.
Stewardship is for the advancements of God’s Kingdom.
Matthew 25:14-30
This parable taught by Jesus to His disciples;
1. To accept the call to discipleship is to accept responsibility to
use whatever we have in the interests of God’s Kingdom.
2. To accept the call to discipleship is to accept the reality that it
all belongs to the Lord.
We have been given resources of money, ability and time and entrusted
with the responsibility to use these resources for the good of God’s
kingdom, for the good of our brethren and for the good of the society.
Stewardship involves 2 things
1. The submission to the master.
2. Prioritizing your work or job.-
The main business of steward is the Master and His business.
The work of steward is for the master and not for itself. (Selfish purpose)
It is the quality of the stewards that the master seeks to measure.
I place no value or anything I have or may possess, except in the relation to
the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom it
shall be given away or kept only as by giving or keeping it, I shall most
promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time or eternity.-
“David Livingstone”
1. Use the MEANS for Spiritual ends:
Use the resources with the view of the glory of God and the good of others.
2. Issue of Faithfulness
Faithfulness in the little is connected with faithfulness in much.
If you are dishonest in a very small matter, and you get by with it and
you repeat it, you will develop a habit that will enable you to one day to
steal a lot.
3. Choose God over wealth or possession.
The Christian decides that God is far more important to him than things,
than wealth.
Jesus says, “You can't serve both God and things.” Jesus says the steward
has deliberately chosen God over things. God is not a means to an end. God
is the end, everything else the means.
"Our problem is that we love the world, and we use the Lord." We've got it
completely backwards. We need to love the Lord, and use the world. In
other words, the worldly things, the temporal things, the resources that God
has given to us, those are simply means to be used. The thing that we really
love is the Lord.
Now, can we say that? Is that our priority? Have we so realized our
stewardship, have we so realized that everything we have comes from God,
have we so rightly valued worldly wealth that we can say that we love the
Lord and we use the world? It is amazing how Christians want ease and
blessing and they want the Lord to provide it, but they're not ready to
commit themselves radically in stewardship with the Lord.
The priority of stewardship:
1. Make God’s agenda, your Agenda.
2. Make God’s will, your will
3. Care about what God cares about.