What Is Stewardship?

The 2024 Stewardship Teaching Series is taking place from October 6 – 20. Each Sunday during this period will focus on what the Bible says about managing our lives to the glory of God. On the first week of this year’s Stewardship Series, Trinity’s Stewardship Director, George Meinburg, shared the message below on the topic of “What Is Stewardship?”

Stewardship Minute – Week One

Good Morning Everyone,

Stewardship is an important function of not only the Church but also for our daily lives.  It is a topic that can make some people uncomfortable, avoid, or just ignore altogether. However, it is important to understand that God has given us all that we have and has made us managers of all of it. Our Church Stewardship should be the basis for our response to God’s love and Sacrifice for our salvation. The question is, how good of stewards will we be. 

As Stewardship Director, for the month of October, I will be speaking to you briefly on the key tenants of Stewardship as defined by the LCMS Bible Study – “Stewardship Basics”. I would encourage you to participate in this bible study held in the Trinity Room after the Sunday services.  

We will start with what is a steward – 

A steward is one who manages the belongings of others in accordance with the will of the owner. 

A steward is someone who manages or administers someone else’s household affairs. 

He or she is a trustee or an agent for the benefit of the owner. 

A steward is the one who does the work of stewardship 

So, what then is stewardship?

Stewardship is the act of carrying out one’s identity as a steward. This happens in daily life as the tasks of everyday life in the world are carried out.  

What is the ultimate standard for the Steward?

Faithfulness is the only godly standard for stewardship. 

If Stewards are responsible to their owners, who is the owner we are responsible too?

In Genesis, God created the earth and everything in it, in chapter 1 :26-28, “He created man to rule over his creation, to be fruitful, fill the earth and rule over it”. Psalm 24 tells us “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it”. 

Therefore, God is the owner, and we are the stewards of the gifts he has given us, this includes everything, our families, our time, our talents, our possessions and the environment we live in both local and universal. Everything we have on this earth is owned by God and we are to responsibly manage it.  But most importantly, it also includes our Christian Stewardship

The LCMS defines Christian Stewardship as “the free and joyous activity of the child of God and God’s family the Church, and in managing all of life and life’s resources for Gods purposes”. 

Does our stewardship Matter? 

The consequences of unfaithful stewardship today can take many forms, If we are unfaithful stewards of our bodies we may become ill, if we a unfaithful in the stewardship of our finances we can lose our home and other possessions, If we are unfaithful in the stewardship of our marriage we can cause a divorce, if we a unfaithful in our stewardship of our parenting, we can allow our children to adopt destructive habits, The list is endless.

Does God hold us accountable? 

Let us take a quick look at Jesus words in Luke 12 :41-48 paraphrased. “The good manager is one who does the will of the owner, and he  will be put in charge of all of the owners possessions, however the managers that do not do the will of the master will be beaten with many blows and cast among the unbelievers, From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”.

The Story of Joseph is just one of many biblical examples of stewardship and the above verse. Joseph faithfully served his masters, as a captive, as a slave, as a jailed inmate, no matter the consequences, ultimately getting more responsibility and becoming second in command to the Pharoh of Egypt, managing his food supply in time of drought.

It is clear, that God as the owner of all that we have, he wants us to practice Good Stewardship as it applies to everything in our lives.

His Love, Our Response. 

In Next week’s Stewardship message, I will address Time and Talents.