Stewarding our Values

In last Sunday's message, we introduced the idea of "stewardship." We asked the question, "What is stewardship?" and there were several correct answers offered, all generally boiling down to the idea of being responsible with someone else's stuff. That's all well and good, but there's something important about stewardship that Jesus emphasizes repeatedly that I have ignored for years. I'm finding out since the message, I'm not alone in this. (The audio of the sermon will be available soon on our website.)

We asked three questions. The first was, "When does stewardship occur?" In all the parables about stewardship, not only does Jesus talk about being responsible with someone else's (i.e., His) stuff, but the fact that the Master is away during the time that stewardship is needed. Stewardship happens while the Master is away. Furthermore, stewardship happens because the Master is away.

The second question was, "What makes it stewardship?" What is it about stewardship that makes it "stewardship"? Again, beyond the idea of caretaking stuff responsibly, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes that the Master is returning one day (and on a day or hour that we won't know in advance). It's stewardship because the Master is returning. Because He's coming back, we have something to steward, and then be accountable for.

Thirdly, we asked, "How is stewardship a form of discipleship?" Jesus taught about stewardship in Luke 16:1-13 and ended with a series of questions to the effect of, "If you aren't faithful with small, temporal stuff that's not yours, who in his right mind would entrust you with big, eternal stuff of your own?" Stewardship is something that God uses to make us that kind of trustworthy. We're going to be given eternal time, full capacity of our abilities, fabulous wealth, and a community forever. Those are enormous responsibilities that we need to be prepared for. Stewardship is a form of discipleship in that it changes us to be able to handle the magnitude of what awaits us to our fullest.

We handed out a worksheet for each of us to prayerfully consider personal values to create the foundation of a steward's frame of mind. You can find that worksheet here: (http://doiop.com/PersonalValues, or see the QR code below). Please do take the personal time to walk through the worksheet - it will be very helpful for the rest of our series.



The discussions I've had since Sunday have been interesting and encouraging. Keep the dialog going - let's keep talking about being faithful and wise stewards, and let's encourage one another with the worksheets on stewarding our values. In the coming weeks, we'll talk about stewarding our time, our talents, our treasure, our family, our church, and our mission.