Stewardship – Part 1
Speaker: V. P. Black
Date: April 11, 2004, Sunday Morning
Bible Class During a Gospel Meeting Hosted by the Strickland church
of Christ in Glen,
Mississippi
Main Scripture References: Luke
6:38
Today, we’re
talking about stewardship, a subject that we in
the church of Christ have overlooked for many,
many years. But we’re doing much
better now. We have increased the contribution, we
believe, a very conservative estimate over a
hundred million dollars a year just in the last few years. In
ten years, that’s a billion dollars, and you
think of the good that can be done. And we’ve touched
the tip of the ice berg. Many, many
congregations throughout the brotherhood have
doubled their contribution in the last few
years. We’re making great
progress. And so, let me state at the very
beginning of this lesson, I’m not here to scold
you, to whip you or to brow
beat you. I’m only here for one
purpose and that is to TEACH YOU
what the Bible teaches on this very, very vital
subject. We’ll be discussing two
words today: the word
“steward,” and the word
“stewardship.”
FIRST:
THE WORD “STEWARD”—what does this mean? The word
“steward” is one who looks
after something that belongs to someone else, which simply
means that when we tell people that we are stewards of
God, we’re simply saying we don’t
own anything. And in reality, we
don’t. As we will learn in this lesson today,
God is the sole owner of
everything.
Now, I want to use
some Scriptures where the word “steward” is found, that
you may look these verses up and then study them,
and it will give you a better
understanding of this word: In
Matthew, the 20th chapter, and
verse 8; in Luke 8, and verse 3;
Luke 12, and [verse] 42; Luke 16, [verses]
1 and 2; and 1 Corinthians 4, [verses] 1 and
2 (and underscore this one if you will—this where it
says, “Moreover, it is required in a
steward
that…a...man…
be…found…faithful.”);
and Titus 1:7; and 1 Peter
4:10.
Now, if you will
write these verses down and when you go home this week, if you will
just take your Bible, turn to these verses, read them and
study them, you’ll have a
good, sound Biblical
understanding of the word, “steward.”
And every time that word is mentioned,
you’ll know exactly what it means, and
it’ll mean so much to you and your
relationship to God, because
every…member…
of the church…IS A STEWARD!
When one hears the Gospel, believes
it, repents of his sins, and is
baptized upon a confession of his faith in Christ, he
becomes a STEWARD of GOD! So, every member of this
congregation is a steward of God. Those who have not been
here in six weeks, or those who have not been here in six
months—they’re still
stewards of God, because it’s stated when one is baptized
into Christ, he becomes a steward of
God.
There are
two kinds of stewards. There’s the
faithful steward; there’s the
unfaithful steward. So everybody in this
auditorium will be classified as one of those
“stewards.” I don’t know. But
God knows whether or not you are a
faithful steward or an unfaithful
steward. Of course, we know there are
consequences. We know that the
faithful steward will go to heaven; the
unfaithful steward will be
lost. We know that. So, that’s
one of things we’ll be talking about today.
THE OTHER
WORD THAT WE WILL BE DISCUSSING IS THE WORD
“STEWARDSHIP.” Sometimes I speak on this subject and an
individual will say, “Well, you know, there’s such a
thing as ‘stewardship of time,’
‘stewardship of responsibility,’
stewardship of talent.’”
I’m aware of that, but that’s not our
subject today. Our subject is,
Our Stewardship as it Relates to the Material Things of
this World. In other words, “What is my
duty as a Christian to the
material things of this world? What’s my
relationship to the material things of this
world?”
And let me give you
an illustration. While we live in this life, God has
entrusted into our care certain material
things. While we live, we use them, and
die. Then that trusteeship is transferred to someone
else. I no longer have control over it.
Everything…everything is transferred to
someone else, and then I go to the
judgment to give an account to
God as to how I used these things
when they were in my possession. That would be a Biblical
definition of “stewardship.” And just as surely
as we are here this morning, we’re going to have to give an
account to God as to how we handled these things
while they’re in our possession.
I want to read to
you a letter or two that are really sad, but that you may have an
idea—get a greater idea—why we need to
do more teaching on this subject. This is a letter that was
written to me several years ago from a lady in Olive Branch,
Mississippi—that’s just below Memphis. They had
been studying one of my books. Listen to the letter. It
says:
Dear Brother Black,
I am a widow who will soon be eighty-nine years
old. I’ve read my Bible through many times. E. H.
Clark and I (now, E. H. Clark—that’s her
husband)…were members of the Union Avenue church in Memphis,
Tennessee, for forty-six years, driving
twenty-five miles each way.
I’m writing to tell you, Brother Black, that I’ve never
learned so much about liberality as I’ve
learned since our Sunday School Class began studying your book on
Lord, Teach Us How To Give. It has taught me
so much that I never knew before. It has
taught me so many things I never realized the
importance of before. It has taught me to
give as God has commanded us.
Again, thank you, Brother Black, for so fully enlightening me on a
subject that I never realized the importance of before.
Eighty-nine years old!
Been a member of the church for over fifty
years! Said that she had never been taught what the
Bible teaches on this subject.
| | | | |
