Theology-
Stewardship- Living What We Believe
Colossians 3:1-11
by Pastor Eldon Reich
Still on the
series LIVING WHAT WE BELIEVE -A working Theology.
Today were
looking at the Theology of Stewardship.
What is
stewardship?
What is it
purpose?
How can I apply
it to my life?
What is
stewardship?
" Stewardship" - means God's people doing God’s purpose with God’s resources in God’s world.
The real question about stewardship is not:
How much are we giving? But
How do we keep our resources from controlling us?
How do we keep money from mastering us?
Today I want to share with you John Wesley’s theology of Stewardship
Because it is Biblical, and because it is practical.
Wesley is concerned about the direction of our sight.
Does money make us turn toward self or God?
Dog Theology - " You feed me, you care for me,
you give me shelter and provide for all my needs - you must be wonderful!"
Cat Theology - " You feed me, you care for me, you give me shelter
and provide for all my needs - I must be wonderful!"
Now perhaps you’re thinking
Well that’s not my problem.
I don’t have enough money!
But are you sure?
When God presents to us a need from the church,
Or we see a ministry opportunity, what is our reluctance
at giving that extra $20 or $50 that’s in our pockets?
Do a lot of images about that extra pair of shoes, or new shotgun, or
Newest electronic gadget, or having enough gas for the
weekend to cruise
suddenly give you indigestion in your decision.
Or do we suddenly stagnate because we don’t think we will have enough money to get our kids through college. Or ourselves through retirement?
Have we suddenly shifted to trust more in myself and my abilities of earning,
than in God’s ability to provide
for us and our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus? Philippians
4:19
It seems the more we have, the more fear we encounter.
The more controls we want to have .
And maybe all the CEO scandals in corporate companies
And the stock frauds haven’t helped us.
It affects us all: Donna and I have this discussion about investing in stocks or CDS.
She will say : But banks are insured and CD’s are secure.
I respond: “Its insured by a federal government that is over $2 trillion in debt.”
I never knew why banks called them " personal loans."
Until I missed three payments and boy did they get personal.
It is not money itself, but the love of money that is the root of all evil.
Apostle Paul and John Wesley saw where the love of money has
Caused people to wandered from
the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (((((“For the love
of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have
wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. )))
I Timothy 6:10
John Wesley challenged us with this Theology of
Stewardship.
Gain all you can
Save all you can
And give all you can.
I. GAIN ALL YOU CAN?
Do we even need to say this as we look at the materialistic world in which we live?
Could there be any more needless advice than this?
If there actually would be an American religion,
Then the god of today’s world would be money.
A Mother was getting swamped with calls from strangers.
The reason? A medical billing service had launched an
800 number that was identical to hers. When she called to complain, she was
told to get a new number.
"
I've had mine for twenty years," she pleaded. " Couldn't you
change yours?"
The company refused, so Mom said, " Fine. From now on, I'm going to tell
everyone who calls that the bill is paid in full. " The company got a new
number the next day.
When Wesley said: Gain all you can:
1. He did not mean to fill our piggy banks.
2. Or to sacrifice life, health, minds or homes just to
make money.
3. Nor to gain from another pain bodily, spiritually or financially, through overcharging or high interest rates, or just disinterested neglect.
When Wesley said to gain all you can.
He meant Acquire to Inspire.
To set our minds on becoming
useful in the
So if you have been raised with
Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on
earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3
Money itself is not inherently
evil.
But it is significant how we
get it and how we use it
Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possession.” Luke 12:15
So lets ask ourselves a couple of
questions:
1.
Does the way I gain money come between me and
God?
2.
Does the money I make cause other people pain
or injustice?
Is my product made in the sweat
shops of 3rd world countries that make virtual slaves of people
working for little just so I can have goods that are plentiful and cheap.
3. Do my investments in
stocks, and funds create all kind of evil in
our world? Do I make money on internet pornography, liquor establishments, astrology
sites, just because of my greed?
4. Do I protect régimes and revolutionary governments so that that I can maintain my standard of living with oil and gas, and natural resources.
Yes we are to gain all we can, but not at the expense of others.
But, so that we can become
more and more useful in the
Luke 15: 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
I. GAIN ALL YOU CAN
II.
SAVE
ALL YOU CAN
A man said “One of the significant factors in my accumulated wealth is that I have always followed John Wesley’s philosophy of saving all you can. Even in the days when I made a meager income.” He continued, “I always put a little of that money away in a savings account.”
That was not John Wesley idea to save.
He was not interested in building up a savings account or trust funds.
His challenge was to save all you can by doing away with needless
spending.
John Wesley asked: In my spending
1. Am I acting according to my
character...as a steward of my Lord's goods?
2. Am I doing this in obedience
to [God's] Word to help others?
3. Can I offer up this action,
as a sacrifice holy and pleasing to God?
Put to death, therefore, whatever
in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed
(which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those
who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were
living that life. Colossians 3:5-7
When you consider the needs of others.
It ought to make a difference in how you spend, what you buy.
We are called to reuse, recycle and restore.
Don’t’ waste and abuse God’s creation by greed, neglect, or indifference.
REUSE:
Keep that winter coat another year.
Keep that car another year.
Maybe that living room carpet, or old shop vacuum,
Or that old shotgun.
Or palm pilot. .
Wear the same clothes maybe two days a week instead of once a month.
When I grew up on the farm we wore the same pair of clothes all week long
Some days that included our underwear.
Boy, that a gruesome picture isn’t it.
We didn’t have a lot of other clothes.
And Monday was wash day.
And we had special clothes only for Sunday.
But my folks were still able to
tithe their whole income to the
RECYCLE
Recycle paper, plastic, anything that is recyclable.
Studies have shown that the average American discards
about 1.5 to 2.0 pounds of trash per person per day.
But believe it or not but we are throwing away less today.
With new stove and automobiles.
We don’t have 1200 pounds of coal ash and 20 pounds of horse manure
Because we don’t have horses or their carcass to discard.
Tin and steel cans weight 34% less then they did 25 years ago.
We are recycling them at 57%.
217 pounds of Cardboard boxes are discarded by each person every year and
37% of these are recycled.
Take a trip out to see Mike Scott at the Landfill
What do you think is the number one thing found in the landfills?
Paper: 40 percent of everything we throw away is paper.
You each throw away 99 pounds of paper a year.
13% of that waste is the newspaper.
118 news pages per pound.
And that’s not counting the weight of the trash that is often written on it.
Yet 53% of paper is being recycled.
Wesley would be proud of us in our recycling efforts,
but I don’t think he would be content with us.
Remember most of what we throw away would be considered luxury,
In the rest of the world not to say anything about across town.
Everything is a trust from God.
And stewardship means saving all we can to help build up the kingdom.
That is the theology of stewardship.
How do we practice saving all we can?
1. Buy when things are in season.
2. Grocery shop only the perimeter
of the store: most of the necessary produce, dairy and meat items are generally
found here. Stay out of the other luxury and pleasure aisles of things we don't
really need, and aren’t usually healthy.
3. Instead of going to the movie
go to the video section in the library. It’s free.
4. Car pool to high school. It
would keep the cars out of Pastor Jerry’s driveway, but you would also save all
kinds of gas money if you drive every other week and carpooled with others.
Do not
spend money to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Be content with what plan nature
requires.
Do not spend money to gratify the
desires of the eye.
Expensive apparel, needless
ornaments, expensive furniture.
The world and its desires pass
away,
but the man who does the will of
God lives forever.
I John 1:15-17 Modern translation
Do we just give God lip service?
While we have bought into this obsession with self.
Or do we love God and give in love to our neighbors as our selves.
I.
GAIN ALL YOU CAN
II.
SAVE ALL YOU CAN
III. GIVE ALL YOU CAN
In my giving:
1.
Am I giving according to my Christian
character...
as a steward of my Lord's goods?
2.
Am I giving out of obedience to [God's] Word?
3. Do I honor God for the
sacrifice of His Son to save and bless me?
When Wesley said give all you can, he meant all.
He said:
“I do not say, Be a good Jew, giving a tenth of all you possess.
I do not say be a good Pharisee giving a fifth of all your substance.
I dare not advise you to give half of what you have,
No, nor three quarters, but all.” Works VII
9-10
Do not lie to one another, seeing
that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed
yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to
the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free but Christ
is all and in all! Colossians 3:9-11
Jesus challenged the Rich young ruler to give his all.
Because his money and possession were suffocating his spirit.
But the young man couldn’t let go, and he walked away sorrowful.
God was not his all in all.
John Wesley said: Give all you can,
And he practiced what he preached.
As a student he learned that he could live on a certain amount each week.
1. His record shows that one year he received 30 pounds,
Lived on 28 pounds and gave away 2 pounds.
2. The second year he received 60 pounds,
Lived on 28 pounds and gave away 32 pounds
3. The third year he received 90 pounds,
Lived on 28 pounds and gave away 62 .
4. The forth year he received 120 pounds,
Lived on 28 pounds and gave away 92
He told his sister.
“Money never stays with me.
It would burn me if it did.
I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible.
Lest it should find its way into my heart.”
He told everyone that if at his death he had more then ten pounds in his possession, people had the privilege of calling him a robber.
Giving is essential in the life of the Christian. Why?
- Because
it honors God, and our obedience in this matter pleases Him.
- Because
it accomplishes an enormous amount of ministry. The amazing thing about
the early church, as recorded in Acts, was all that she was able to do for
people because every member was a generous giver.
- Because
it helps us escape the terrible hold that money and possessions have on
us. It keeps us from being self-centered and self-serving.
The question when you die will not be what did you have left in savings.
But what did you have left that was unused for the
Have you thought to leave part of your inheritance to
God’s work and ministry.
How much love and care for people was not accomplished.
How many lives remained enslaved and in poverty?
To live as a steward begins by abiding in Christ,
And then reaches out to feed the hungry and heal the sick.
To help build the ministry institutions for the
And it should be fun to give.
Because we become coworkers in the hand of God.
And people find dignity and worth,
medical care and spiritual direction.
When we function as Gods people with the THEOLOGY OF STEWARDSHIP.
There are two very
different types of birds in the desert.
The hummingbird
and the vulture
Both get their
nourishment there.
The Vultures seek and
eat rotting meat,
because that is what
they look for.
They thrive on that
diet.
The hummingbirds
ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals.
Instead, they look
for the colorful blossoms of desert plants.
The vultures live on
what was.
They live on the
past.
What is dead and
gone.
But hummingbirds live
on what is.
They seek new life.
The live for the
future.
God is calling you to live for the beauty of today.
God needs you and so do we here at First UMC.
Working together we can get the ministry done for the
Wesley THEOLOGY OF STEWARDSHIP IS:
GAIN ALL YOU CAN
SAVE ALL YOU CAN
GIVE ALL YOU CAN TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
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