by COL Ray E. Porter III, USA (Ret.)
1
What is Stewardship?
What do you think of
when you hear someone mention stewardship? Money, talents, or ownership? For
many, money is the first thing on their minds and that often leads to
uncomfortable feelings. Many Christians wrestle with the natural conflict
between the word and the world–being in it or of it. They never come to feel
good about their decisions or practices. Should Christians be concerned with
money? Well, I am and I’m very comfortable about it. On these several pages,
I’d like to share some scripture about the practical management of money. I
think I can use some charts and a little interpretation to put a lot of issues
in perspective and maybe put some minds at ease.
There are really only
two issues: attitude and ownership. The Bible does not say “money is the root
of all evil”; 1 Timothy 6:10 says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds
of evil. . . .” This tells us that it is not money that is important, it is
your attitude about it. Attitude is tremendously important, but you would be
surprised how misunderstood this is. Recently I watched a Larry King interview
with Jesse Jackson. Rev. Jackson had just co-authored a book, It’s About The
Money. True to form, Larry challenged Jackson, a pastor, for writing a book
about money and King misquoted the Bible about money being the root of all
evil. How we feel about money—or any possession, is very important to our
Christian walk. We all need to reconcile how our hearts and minds deal with
money. It is widely misunderstood and an obstacle to many.
If we are to be
stewards, (Luke 16:1- 13), then we should be good stewards. (See Luke 16 for
the story of the unrighteous steward who was, never the less, shrewd). “Whoever
can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much . . .” (Luke
16:10). “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and Money” (Luke 16:13). Where are we taught the skills of being good
stewards? Let’s face it; we don’t do much to teach or develop those skills. We
don’t have weekly stewardship practice like our weekly choir practice. We don’t
have stewardship school every Sunday morning. We don’t have weekly neighborhood
stewardship study. Why not? Why don’t we teach this? Why do many pastors give
only the obligatory annual sermon and seem embarrassed and concerned that their
congregations will feel that protecting “their” money is more important than
their salvation (fairly common theme in contemporary church literature).
Certainly pastors are
not secure in knowing that their congregations understand how God uses money.
Why does the Bible talk more about money than any other subject? There is a
natural conflict that has to do with our concepts of ownership. Once we get rid
of our hang-ups about ownership most of our conflicts go away. Stewardship is
being responsible for the management of someone else’s property: It is being a
manager or caretaker of assets that do not belong to us, but with which we have
been entrusted. Think in terms of management, not ownership. Austin Pryor
(Sound Mind Investing) says, “Wealth comes from management responsibilities,
not ownership rights.” A Biblical Blueprint for Financial Stability and Growth
- C 1996 pg. 2. There are really only two issues: ownership and attitude
(heart). We have probably all heard a sermon discussing Malachi 3:8-10, the
scripture traditionally used to justify giving ten percent to your home church
(the “storehouse” of V10a.)
Your pastor likely
developed one or more of these themes: relationship to God, ownership, or
attitude. I’ll assume your relationship to God. That leaves ownership and
attitude (heart). I’m personally not an Old Testament legalist nor am I going
to try to convince you about what you are required to do. I have the advantage
of having studied the subject and I have “the floor” so I can throw it all at
you. I might even get you to walk away saying, “I agree, Ray has it figured
out,” but such an approach doesn’t work. Anything I convince you of now, you
can reject at any future time. No, you have to decide for yourself. I will
present an argument. The victory has to be won in your heart.
To read the full pdf book Click here!
0 Comments