Bible Studies
Stewardship
Romans 14:12-
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
I, like you,
have heard the words “steward” and “stewardship”
many times before. I have heard such words uttered from the
pulpit, employers and they have even been spoken from my own
lips. I never really took time to look at exactly what
stewardship is, and, more importantly, what it means regarding my
individual responsibility. I never really look at stewardship,
until now.
What I have learned has changed and
is continuing to change my life. It is my earnest hope and prayer
that this series of Bible studies on stewardship will be a
blessing to you, and will bring you closer to the Savior.
The word
“stewardship”, for many people (myself included), has conjured up
one resounding thought . . . Tithes! While the Bible is very
plain about how God feels about this subject, I will not be
focusing on this part of stewardship until much later in the
series. There is much more that we are stewards over besides our
personal finances.
The word “steward” in the Hebrew and
Chaldee languages translates to “a head person (of any rank or
class): captain that had rule, chief (captain), general, governor,
keeper, lord, (task) master, principal, ruler, steward.”
In the Greek
oikonomos; oy-kon-om-os – “a house-distributor (i.e. manager), or
overseer ( employee in that capacity); by extens. a fiscal agent
(treasurer); figuratively a preacher of the gospel, chamberlain,
governor, steward.
Webster’s
Dictionary defines “steward” this way: “a person entrusted with
the management of the affairs of others.” “Entrust” means “to
commit something or someone to one’s care for use or speaking.”
In the book
of Luke, chapter 16, verses 1-12, Jesus tells the parable of the
unjust steward. In the Greek, the word “unjust” is
“adikia” pronounced ad-ee-kee-ah, which means: (legal) injustice
(prop. the quality by impl. The act); mor. wrong fullness
(character, life or act); iniquity, unjust, unrighteousness,
wrong.
Luke 16:1-2
In this
passage of Scripture, Jesus is talking to His disciples. He tells
them the parable of the rich man who had a steward. The steward
was accused of wasting his lord’s goods.
When this was
told to the rich man, he called the steward to himself. All of
his privileges were taken form him, and his lord demanded to know
everything he had done. The steward had to give an
account of his stewardship.
Luke 16:3-7
In these four verses we learn that the
steward devises a plan for two reasons. 1. Because he knows that
he is in trouble. 2. Because he knows of no other way to support
himself. Verse 3 – “Then the steward said within himself, what
shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I
cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed.” Verse 4 – “I am resolved what
to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may
receive me into their houses.” In verses 5-7, the plan is
implemented. The steward contacts all of the people who owe his
lord and fixes their bills. Basically, the steward lies and tells
them to lie also. Verses 5-7- “So he called everyone of his
lord’s debtors unto him and said unto the first, How much owest
thou unto my lord? And he said an hundred measures of oil. And
he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly and write
fifty. Then said he to another, and how much owest thou? And he
said, an hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, take
thy bill, and write four-score.”
It may be
seen clearly in these verses of Scripture, that the steward does
this knowing that when he needs a favor from his lord’s debtors
that they will remember what he had done. What he did was very
deceptive and it worked. The Bible says that even the lord of
that steward commended him on what he did because it was wise
according to the world’s standards. The Lord Jesus thought so
too. Verse 9 – “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of
the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may
receive you into everlasting habitations.”
But, in
verses 10-12, Jesus says that he that is faithful in that which is
least, is faithful also in much. Verses 10-12 – “He that is
faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he
that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore
ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will
commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been
faithful in that which is another man’s who shall give you that
which is your own?”
So, on the
surface it appears that the steward came up with a good idea, but
this is not the end of the matter. Let us not forget that he
lost the stewardship. He lost his good reputation, and
no one will trust him with that type of stewardship again. What
will happen to him in a year or two when the gratefulness of the
debtors waxes short?
Having read
about the unfaithful steward, let us begin to look at what is
necessary to be a faithful one. We already know that a steward is
someone who cares for and/or maintains the belongings of another.
The first thing that we need to understand is that nothing
that we have belongs to us. What! That’s not right! I
work hard, and I have earned everything I have. No way! My
mother, husband, sister, boss (insert various names here)
________________ gave this to me. Really? I thought the same
thing . . . ,that is until I looked a little closer. What I
found out was, that everything I have, came from God, or was
allowed by God. All that we have is a gift or reward from God. I
know what you’re thinking. Let’s just say that it’s true, a gift
is something given to you with no strings attached. Am I right so
far? When I buy a birthday present for someone, I just give it to
them, no strings attached, right? Hmmm, let me think a minute.
Actually when most people buy a gift (myself included), we give
the gift hoping that the person we bought it for likes it. We
hope that they will use the gift and take care of it. We hope
that they won’t toss it, or hide it, or sell it at a garage sale.
We give gifts in anticipation of their usefulness, and enjoyment
for the person to whom it is given. So I guess that there is at
least 1 string attached, called expectation.
Just as we
look to others to take care of the gifts that we give, so our
Heavenly Father has expectations concerning us. All that we have,
whether it be our home, our talents, our wealth, or our children,
belongs to God. Everything that we have is because God has
allowed us to have it.
Take my husband and me for example. It
doesn’t matter that I went out with my husband to look for the
home we live in. Yes, we were the ones who talked about buying a
home, and we were the ones who contacted a real estate office.
And yet again, we were the ones who looked at several homes,
finally chose one, and paid for it (well, at least the down
payment!). But in reality, it was God who gave my husband
strength and the ability that he has. God gave him the job that
provides the income that allows us to pay the mortgage. God even
blessed the person with the ability to know how to build houses,
and that built our house in the first place! (You can see how you
could keep going on and on with this illustration) In other
words, everything that we have comes from God. This means that we
are stewards, and that God wants us to be GOOD stewards for Him.
Jeremiah
29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected end.”
Expect.
Tigvah, Tikvaw’
Hope, live,
thing that I long for.
The root word
is gavah kaw-vaw; a prime root; to bind together(perhaps by
twisting), i.e. collect: to expect gather (together), look,
patient, tarry, wait (for, on, upon ).
So we see
that there is one string attached, so to speak, and that is
expectation.
As wives,
mothers, keepers at home, Titus 2 women and then some,
i.e.(Grandmothers, daughters, aunts well you get the picture). It
is soooo important that we be the best stewards, of all that God
has given us. Because all these positions share one
thing in common, they allow us to have great influence over and in
the lives of others. . . . It is we who set the tone in the home.
We who are the helpmeets to our husbands. We who are to teach the
younger women.
Gen. 2:18, Titus 2:3-5, Proverbs 31.
If we truly understood the stewardship of
the many bonnets that we wear, we would not have time for gossip,
self-pity, depression, discontentment or any of the other things
that so easily knock the spiritual wind out of us. Nor would we
have time to step into positions that were never meant for us to
begin with, such as women who take on the role of being pastors.
God
has given us so many gifts, just a few of those are:
The gift of
Salvation
Luke 3:6, Luke 1:68-69, Luke 2:10-11
The gift of
Eternal Life
Romans 6:23, John 10:28
The gift of
Faith
Ephesians 2:8
The gift of
Grace
Ephesians 4:7
The gift of
the Son
John 3:16
Joshua 1:8
says, “This book of the law
shall not depart from out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate
therin day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is
written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and
then thou shalt have good success.” If we are to be good
stewards, if we want our homes to be God glorifying, if we want to
be the best examples for the children and young women who will
look to us for Godly examples . . . It is paramount that we fully
understand what great gifts we have and how we are to care for
them. Over the course of the next few weeks we will look at
some of those gifts/bonnets that we have/wear, and the stewardship
requirements of each.
Those topics
in no particular order are:
Home Entertainment Our
Testimony
Marriage Our Emotions
Soul-Winning
Parenting The Mind
Persecutions
Finding a
church Friendship Disappointments
Worship
Our Body
Tithes and
offerings by Pastor Barry Lee
The Most Common Problems and Complaints
1. My husband is not leading.
2. My husband is not saved.
3. My husband is not serving.
4. My husband does not pay the bills.
5. My husband refuses to work.
6. My husband spends all of the money.
7. My husband drinks/ or does drugs.
8. My husband looks at pornography.
9. My husband does not show affection.
10. My husband does not talk to me.
11. My husband does not care.
12. My husband is never home.
13. My husband is having or has had an affair.
14. My husband is violent. (domestic violence)
15. My husband puts me down.
16. My husband won't discipline the children.
17. My husband won't pick up after himself.
18. My husband won't help.
Remember
Order
1. God
2. Husband
3. Children
4. Church
5. Others
6. Self
- God must be first. (Ephesians 20:3)
- Remember who God is. (Ephesians 20:2, Job 21:23, Psalm 9:10,
I Peter 3:12)
- Take heed to the ministry of your marriage and home. (Colossians
4:17, Proverbs 31)
- Pray for your husband daily.
- Yield your rights to God and submit to your husband. (Ephesians
5:22-24,33)
- Trust God to supply your needs not your husband. (Phillipians
4:19)
- Your influence (Titus 2:3-6)
Marriage
- It was the first institution He (God) made.
- Marriage came before there was a church or government. God started
it, ordained it, and blessed it. (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:21-25)
- The first miracle Jesus performed He performed at a marriage
celebration (John 2:1)
- It was the Lord who said that marriage was honorable. (Hebrews
13:4)
- God meant it to be permanent. (Mark 10:6-9)
- God hates the putting away (divorce). (Matthew 19:8-9, Malachi
2:16)
- God likens the Kingdom of Heaven as unto a certain king which
made a marriage for his son (Matthew 22:2-10)
- We are invited to join Him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
(Revelation 19:9)
- The Lord calls the joining of the body of Christ to the Lamb
of God a marriage, and we are the Bride of Christ. (Revelation 19:7)
