Stewardship - Week 17

It is very important as Christians to have a proper view of money and possessions and manage then Biblically. Stewardship is more than just money but it does include it. What is stewardship? Stewardship is Managing, maintaining, and making the most of all God has entrusted to us for the furtherance of His interests, as we look forward to future reward. Money is neither righteous nor evil – it is morally neutral. However, it is an accurate measure of our morality. Money itself does not corrupt. It is never the essential problem. Money is simply an indicator of the real problem which is the sinful heart. How you handle money reveals much about what you love. Besides money there are many things that we have been given that we are stewards over.

Scripture passages to study: Psalm 24:1, 1 Cor. 4:2, 3:13-14, 1 Tim. 5:8, Pro. 27:23-24.

As we see from Psalm 24, God owns all things. Anything that we have has been given to us. God says that every steward should be faithful in handling of what he has been given.

We see from 1 Cor. 3 that faithfulness will be rewarded. God says that He will reward faithfulness when we reach heaven and these rewards will be determined by our level of faithfulness to His commands.

So the question becomes: What has God entrusted to YOU? Wife, Children, family, brothers and sisters in Christ, money, possessions, time, talents and abilities, physical body, spiritual gifts, ministry. God has given you these things to enjoy, but only as you use them to accomplish his purposes. All these things are God’s on loan to you. They have been given to you primarily for God’s glory and for the good of others, not self.

Name some things that can hold us back from being faithful stewards of what God has given us?
Pride – not being dependent on God’s help, not teachable, “I’m ok, I don’t need help.”
Selfishness – caring more about your own desires than about God’s desires and others’ needs. I
dolatry – Sacrificing faithfulness to get what you want at all costs.
Laziness – not working at faithfulness, only taking the easy road, procrastination, sleep too much.
Irresponsibility – not dependable, going back on your word, wasteful, being late, bad priorities.
Man pleasing – keeping the peace at all costs, not doing what God wants because someone else might not like it.

What are some steps we can take towards faithfulness? Ephesians 4:24
We must first begin to take stewardship as seriously as God does. We must not follow our selfish desires but battle them.
Repentance – Find an area that God has entrusted to you and search God’s word in this area.
Study – Study and meditate daily on Scripture that pertains to this area. Ps. 119:9-11.
Prayer – Pray daily that God will help you change in this area. Ps. 12:1-2
Renewing your mind – Determine what thinking you need to change. Rom. 12:2.
Planning – Make a specific plan as to how you are going to follow God’s principles.
Accountability – Obtain accountability from a brother or sister in Christ if you are not improving.

The key to handling all these issues is trusting God. Especially concerning money if we see a need we should pray and do all we can to provide for our families, being wise with money and trusting God for the future. We need to learn to be content, thankful and generous with what we have. Remember when giving to God and to others the question is not “How much should I give?” but “How much should I keep?”