What is a Steward?

In Matthew 25 we see a king going off to a far away land and leaving a very large sum of money in the possession of three stewards.  A steward is the one given the responsibility to manage a household. The Greek word translated into English literally is economy. In God’s economy he owns everything and entrusts us to manage what he gives us. No it is not biblical for our government to own everything and distribute it evenly but they think it is. ( I digress)

God gives to each of us and you are in charge of your portion, and whether it is handled wisely or poorly is strictly up to you. We see this played out in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13). First the seeds are people who either accept the gospel of Christ or deny the gospel of Christ. Those who accept the Gospel of Christ will produce either 30, 60, or 100 fold. But what ever you produce you will be held accountable for.

The Talents here are money not talents like we think of.  A talent is said to equal about 6000 denari and a denari is a days wage.  We work about 260 days per year so this would be equal to 23 years of wages.  In those days the man with 5 denari would have at least 2 1/2 life times worth of money.  But he did not use it unwisely, nor did the second man.  They both used what they were given to get more.  They multiplied their gifts for the kingdom.

I retrieved the following quote from Preaching Today.com:

In his Books & Culture article “A Lot of Lattés,” Ron Sider reviews Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money
, a book “about the pitifully small charitable donations of the richest Christians in history.” Sider offers a synopsis of some of the authors’ findings:

Twenty percent of American Christians (19 percent of Protestants; 28 percent of Catholics) give nothing to the church. Among Protestants, 10 percent of evangelicals, 28 percent of mainliners, 33 percent of fundamentalists, and 40 percent of liberal Protestants give nothing. The vast majority of American Christians give very little—the mean average is 2.9 percent. Only 12 percent of Protestants and 4 percent of Catholics tithe.

A small minority of American Christians give most of the total donated. Twenty percent of all Christians give 86.4 percent of the total. The most generous five percent give well over half (59.6 percent) of all contributions. But higher-income American Christians give less as a percentage of household income than poorer American Christians. In the course of the 20th century, as our personal disposable income quadrupled, the percentage donated by American Christians actually declined.

If just the “committed Christians” (defined as those who attend church at least a few times a month or profess to be “strong” or “very strong” Christians) would tithe, there would be an extra 46 billion dollars a year available for kingdom work. To make that figure more concrete, the authors suggest dozens of different things that $46 billion would fund each year: for example, 150,000 new indigenous missionaries; 50,000 additional theological students in the developing world; 5 million more micro loans to poor entrepreneurs; the food, clothing and shelter for all 6,500,000 current refugees in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East; all the money for a global campaign to prevent and treat malaria; resources to sponsor 20 million needy children worldwide. [The conclusion of the authors] is surely right: “Reasonably generous financial giving of ordinary American Christians would generate staggering amounts of money that could literally change the world.”

That is all total if you did not get it. Those things and more could be done if just the committed Christians would start giving.   Take care of what you have by being faithful with it.  It is not about success it is not about the big  house or car.  If you focus on those things they will end up letting you down.  It is o.k. to have money and be a Christian but you need to remember where it came from.  Every good gift is a gift from God.

If you go to a church that is not  at least tithing what they bring in.  Find a church that is and support them with all you have.

Why Give Our Talents To God?

You have different talents from mine. The body of Christ is made up of many parts. You have a function. One of my talents is not understanding complex things. I just don’t. I am not willing to put the time in to learn because I am busy building up my gifts. When we understand that building up what we can do instead of trying to work on what we can’t do will increase our contribution to the kingdom. If you work on what you can’t do you will spend hours just spinning your wheels. But if you build on your gifts you will see fruit quicker and better because that is something you are good at.

I was a copier tech for twelve years and I could never troubleshoot what was wrong with a machine. I had to call someone every time I had a major problem. I never forgot the symptom and the fix after I was told what it was but I could not just troubleshoot a problem. The KISS principle is my motto. Keep it Simple Stupid. I work on what I do best to make it better. Look at Michael Jordan. He was the greatest basketball player of all time. He was one of the worst baseball players of all time. He should have never tried to play baseball because that was not what he was gifted in.

What you bring to the table is like what no one else brings. We need each and every person here to use what God has given them and it will bring glory back to Him who has given it.