Stewardship
Natural Truths:
God’s abundance is evident in every aspect of life. The starting point for any talk about stewardship is the claim that God is the source of all that exists. The first step in our becoming stewards is to learn to rejoice in the fact that God is the creator and owner of all that is. A steward is one who cares for that which belongs to another. We can be awed at the honored place God has given us in the creation.
For those of us who live in the United States, a land of extraordinary wealth, recognizing and trusting in God’s abundance should be easy. The vast majority of us have more than enough to meet the day’s needs, certainly when compared to the lives of most people in the world. It is true that many individuals whose lives are filled with possessions live as if they have too little to take any joy in their abundance. In our lives an attitude of scarcity overshadows the abundance that is. An attitude of scarcity is characterized by a reluctance to give generously, or to take risks for the sake of the mission of the gospel. An attitude of scarcity disables the ability to respond to the opportunities God presents for fear of insufficient resources.
Written Truths:
The danger of abundance is that God showers God’s people with all God’s good gifts, then we God’s people turn right around, forget God, and claim themselves as the source for all we have. When we take credit for what we have, then we can quickly start to define ourselves by our possessions. Our stuff has become our stuffing. Rather than marveling at God’s generosity, we can start to marvel at our own accomplishments, forgetting that “it is God who gives you the power to get wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:18)
The proper attitude in the face of God’s abundance is awe and thanksgiving - awe that God would entrust so much to me; thanksgiving that God chooses to be in relationship with me, which gives me the opportunity to be a steward on God’s behalf.
I don’t believe that we have a money problem in our church''s. What we have is a faith issue and the collision of two economies (Human Economy vs Gods Economy). These economies collide with every decision we make about this world’s goods. It’s about dispossession and reception. It’s about keeping our eyes on the brothers and sisters God has given us in the process of every decision we make.
The story in Mark 10:17-31 begins with a question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds with a call: drop everything and follow me. The human economy (what must I do) is about acquisition and possession, about scarcity and insecurity. It is alienating. It is the culture of greediness. It is the image of the rich man, alone, unable to receive Jesus’ gift because his hands are full. Go. Sell. Give. Come. Follow. This is not something he must do, but something he must be able to receive from God. The gift to be received is the gift of being called to follow Jesus. The man can’t receive it because his hands are full. The gift is a life of discipleship that involves dispossession, a lightening of his load, a freeing of his hands. The economy of God is always about something received, a calling, a gift, a given community. We are all caught up in an economy of possession, goaded by fear, scarcity and individualism, with full hands and anxious hearts. Yet, God’s critique does not break out against us to judge and condemn us, but to draw us out into the community of the cross. Maybe that’s something like a church in mission, together on the road.
Story to Hide in Hearts:
The more I love, the more I want to get into the very infrastructure of it all.
Stephen Paul Bouman- Executive Director, Congregation and Synodical Mission, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said:
“When my wife and I were younger and got a birth notice from a friend, we pampered the relationship and their joy by sending a silver bracelet the size of a small rubber band that may be remembered from time to time. But now that we are grandparents of a six-month old, we are giving that child diapers! We give that child baby food, clothes, dozens of books, CD’s of all kinds of songs, and developmental toys of every size and texture! I won’t get near the ground to stop a leak in my house, but I am all over the floor around my grandchild! And what joy there is in giving time to this one and being asked to do nothing more than to hold the child so her mom can be about doing other things. The more I love, the more I desire to get connected into the very depth of the infrastructure!"
Giving goes to the infrastructure of life. It not only is of the DNA of God’s universe, it also impacts the whole world. Imagine the joyful, intentional, loving stewardship of a whole life that knows it’s giving is not in vain but is a willful, faithful desires to tap into the whole infrastructure of God’s design!
There is an excitement and a joy and a love that desires to make things happen for another. There is a rich pleasure in seeing that it is making a difference for the other, that the giving truly does edify, brings hope, builds capabilities, opens doors, launches new beginnings, taps the ability to perform, ignites confidence, sets apart, generates spirit, crafts confidence, puts grounded plans to flight. But that’s the reason that you plant a red bud tree, so you can see the beauty of what you intentionally, lovingly planted in your grounded hope. You have an ability to see its spring beauty in red to purple to lavender to pink in its blooming, its summer fullness, its autumn colors. The unseen impact, however, are the thousands of seeds blown by the wind, taken by birds to countless unseen places where forests are launched by the scores of generations to come. Stewardship is a willingness not only to connect the giving to an intended hope in love; it is the willingness to be connected to all that is and can be in God’s hands.
