Let Go It's God's

For many in the church, stewardship is synonymous with giving, fundraising or capital campaigns. In reality, it's so much more!

Let’s begin with its definition, like the following from Webster: “1: the office, duties, and obligations of a steward. 2: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.”

Abraham Kuyper defines stewardship as: “Carefully and responsibly managing something entrusted to one’s care,” adding, “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

For me, stewardship is discipleship. It’s total surrender to God of everything I am and have been given. When we surrender fully everything we are and have, it becomes natural to be a good steward during seasons of much or little.

One of the most popular biblical passages relating to stewardship is Matthew 25:14-30, known as the “Parable of the Talents” or the “Parable of the Bags of Gold.”

The passage begins with, “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them” (NIV, 2011, emphasis added).

It’s all God’s

When we belong to God, everything we are and have belongs 100 percent to him. God is the owner; we are the manager, the steward. In Matthew 25, we are reminded that, “he entrusted his wealth to them.” Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Both seem pretty clear, wouldn’t you agree? The key to discipleship and stewardship is constantly reminding ourselves that we are his. Therefore, everything we own and will own is his; every dollar, every hour, every talent, every dream, every gift, our family, our recreation, everything.

We are stewards, managers, servants

“His servants ... entrusted his wealth to them ... ” We need to carefully and responsibly manage. We are not the owners, but need to manage as if we were. At Beacon Capital Management, the company I co-own, we have appointed several managers over various departments. The managers realize the business does not belong to them, but also recognize their call, their responsibility on behalf of the business, to “steward” and “manage” these departments well. The people, the tasks, the budget – all are entrusted to them.

We will be held accountable

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them” (v.19). The longer the master stays away, the easier it becomes to think of everything we have as being “ours” to do with as we choose. Often, that means sitting on or burying the entrusted gifts, talents, money. Most of us think of ourselves as the one “bag of gold” (the one “talent”) person anyway, so it’s almost like we think we’re somehow off the hook. “God wouldn’t expect much from me.” Well, in Matthew 25, the owner (God) was furious with the servant because he “buried the gold in the ground.” God calls him a “wicked, lazy servant (steward).”

We are to be productive

Matthew 25 makes it clear that the stewards/managers were to put that which was “entrusted” to them to work and to produce results. To invest their gold, their talents, their time – not just hold tightly to it. Not worship or bury it, but use it. Put it to work. What resources has God entrusted to you to use productively? Money, musical talents, leadership gifts, time, relationships, a career, a family?

We live in a world seemingly obsessed with money, material possessions, status, careers, entertainment. It is easy to adopt a mentality of “holding on tightly” to these things and screaming, “Mine!”

True biblical stewardship (discipleship) is “letting go.” Instead of screaming, “Mine,” faithful stewards pray, “Yours!”

In my third year of college, my wife, Ginnie, and I agreed to pastor a small country church near campus. With two kids, college expenses, etc., the $100 a week we were paid was stretched to the limit. Yet both of us had been taught that the $100 belonged to God, and in full surrender to him, we needed at least to give $10 (10 percent) to the church.

That decision was very difficult, because we could really use the money. But faithfulness was a matter of obedience and surrender and discipleship. God was, of course, faithful to stretch the remaining $90 to do much more than we could have dreamed.

When we, 20 years later, began to experience unexpected wealth, that lesson was a strong reminder. If we hadn’t learned to be faithful with a little, we wouldn’t have been faithful with much.

Stewardship is holding everything loosely, totally surrendering it to God and serving him with gladness of heart.

God’s Word encourages us to steward well what is entrusted to us until the Master’s return. The Master will return. God’s pleasure and blessing await his faithful stewards.