Stewardship: What we do with what we have been given

This week begins a series of sermons focusing upon stewardship. I understand stewardship to be at the center of the Christian life and walk, simply because at its heart, stewardship is all about what we do with what we are given. In a nutshell, stewardship:

  • recognizes our full dependence upon God for our existence
  • reminds us that we are not self-made beings but are creatures of a Creator
  • readjusts our thinking and acting accordingly
  • reintegrates our lifestyles with our deepest beliefs and commitments in life.
In his article, "The Attributes of a Biblically Generous Church," Michael Reeves refers to stewardship as involving our whole life. It's not just about money, but about what we do with our time, our gifts and talents, how we direct our prayers and thoughts, how we treat our neighbors and the natural world as well.

At the core is the recognition of life - all of life - as a gift. In the Greek origins of the New Testament, one of the words for "gift" is charisma, a word related to charis, or "grace." Of course, "grace" is directly related to "gratitude," so the natural response to recognizing the giftedness of our lives is to live with gratitude and gracefulness. 

Stewardship provides us with practical ways to help us develop grateful and graceful ways of living that ground us in the spiritual realities of life.

This sermon series is going to look at a few of those practices:
  • Recognizing our dependence upon God and our interdependence with the rest of creation
  • Acknowledging and using our spiritual gifts
  • John Wesley's guide to "earn all you can" (apply yourself diligently to your work and receive due reward), "save all you can" (do not be frivolous and wasteful in what you purchase, but be modest and practical), and "give all you can" (after you have taken care of your needs, give generously to the church and those in need).
  • Tithing - the discipline of setting aside a percentage of our income for the work of God through the church 
  • Prayer - actively praying for the church, its pastors and staff, and its ministry
  • Presence - attending church regularly, helping out with its projects and mission work, renewing and reviving our faith walk through classes and small groups, being present to those who are hurting.
So, this week: "Caring for What Has Been Given."


Pastor Craig


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