True Stewardship

Yesterday’s devotional post covered the parable of the landowner, vineyard, and vine-growers found in Matthew 21. Just as the vine-growers were stewards of the landowner’s vineyard, today’s post will continue with a deeper study of the concept of stewardship.

Most of us link stewardship to finances, but scripture defines it as so much more! In addition, we tend to narrow the definition of financial stewardship to only ten percent which once again reveals a very limited understanding of the term.

According to Dictionary.com, the top definition of a steward is: “a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.”

By this definition we see the larger meaning of stewardship. Stewards are not only responsible to their master for ten percent of their finances, but for every aspect of life–all our finances for certain, but also our talents and abilities, our time, our decisions, and especially on a spiritual level.

Here are some verses about stewardship to back up this all-inclusive definition of stewardship:

Stewardship – Talents and Abilities

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: ~1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)

Peter wrote these words to encourage believers in Asia Minor during an intense time of persecution under the reign of Nero. Notice that in this context, the believers were to use their gifts and abilities to serve one another.

Stewardship – Instituted at the Beginning

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  ~Genesis 1:28 (ESV)

From the very beginning of time, God entrusted His creation to man. Stewardship in this verse applies to everything, not merely to material wealth. It is still our responsibility today to care for God’s creation.

Stewardship – We Get What We Give

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ~2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)

And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. ~Luke 12:42-46 (ESV)

God is the one we serve, not just financially, but with every aspect of our life. When it comes to the stewardship of what God has given us, we receive what we give. If we greedily hoard what God has given us, doling out our resources as we see fit, we can expect to receive what we give. In addition, if we begin to abuse those under our authority, the result will be the same as those who don’t place their trust in Jesus. How often do we stop to consider that the people God has brought into our lives are also a part of our stewardship?

Stewardship – What’s Our Motivation?

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” ~Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

This point really goes hand in hand with yesterday’s post. If we serve God for what we can gain or hold on to monetarily, we’re really not serving God, but money. Jesus said that we can’t serve both.

Stewardship – What We Do With What We Have

Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality—at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.” ~2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (NASB)

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. ~John 12:3-7 (ESV)

In addition to the two passages above, we could also add the story of the poor widow woman who gave all she had to Jesus. Honestly, our giving to the Lord as stewards of what He has giving us only starts with the tithe. We’ll see this below as well.

Stewardship – More Than Just The Tithe

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ~Matthew 23:23 (ESV)

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. ~Matthew 10:8 (ESV)

While it’s easy to judge the scribes and Pharisees for their legalistic approach, are we really any different? It’s much easier for us today to give a portion of our money than our time and abilities. And what about the more important matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Look at all that we’ve received from the hand of the Lord in these areas. Are we faithful stewards of these concepts in return?

Stewardship – It All Belongs to Him

I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are Mine.” ~Psalm 50:9-12 (ESV)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ~James 1:17 (ESV)

There is nothing that we have that doesn’t belong to God. Every dollar, every possession, the air we breathe, every beat of our heart is because of Him and His goodness to us. The idea that nine-tenths of my possessions are mine and one-tenth is God’s isn’t Biblical. It ALL belongs to Him.

Stewardship – The Requirements

Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ~1 Corinthians 4:2 (ESV)

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” ~Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (ESV)

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ~Deuteronomy 8:18 (ESV)

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ~Matthew 6:21 (ESV)

And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. ~Luke 12:47-49 (NASB)

Are we truly trustworthy with all the Lord has given us? Do we serve Him with all that we are and all that we have, or do we withhold part of our hearts, our lives, and our resources as belonging to us? Do we respond to God in full recognition that all we have is His doing?

We’ve been given so much–above and beyond material wealth and possessions. God gave His only Son for us, the ultimate gift of grace and mercy. Are we responding in kind?

Stewardship – Conclusion

While the bringing of the tithe is a Biblical concept and reveals His ownership and our stewardship, we must never forget that we are responsible to God for the use of the other nine-tenths as well. And nowhere in God’s Word does it suggest that stewardship is merely financial. Instead it involves every aspect of our lives.

Oh, Lord God, forgive us for our narrow-minded and greedy definition of stewardship. You own it all. It is not ours, but Your gift to us, not only to meet our need, but also for the benefit of others. Help us to remember all that we’ve been given. May we found as faithful stewards for You. In the precious name of Jesus, who spared nothing to buy us back, we pray. Amen.

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