"Stewardship Is Action?

Luke 10:27 & 12:13-21

Sermon-August 5, 2007

First Christian Church Des Moines

by Rev. Gerald F. Sawyer

You and I have been blessed with a talented, committed and creative Stewardship Committee.  From the time that Jane called upon me to be chair of the committee and the call of God came through her to be about this ministry,  God led us to the committee personnel, we have set to our task concerning, “our mission to educate and inspire First Christian Church to embrace Christian Stewardship with a wholistic response (Time, talent and treasure) personally and communally.”  This is our month of Stewardship Education and to provide for you a Spiritual Gifts Inventory on Sunday, August 26.  Related groups of gifts are in practical, personal, hands on, behind the scenes gifts like creativity, mercy and service.  Another group of gifts are in nurturing, caring and people oriented gifts like faith, encouragement and mentoring.  Then there are Leadership gifts like teaching, vision and organization.  Finally there are personal faith gifts like faith, giving, prayer and justice. 

But, maybe I should share with you what we believe Stewardship to be, because you might have thought, “O NO, he’s going to talk about money.” Stewardship comes from the Greek word, oikonomia which literally means the management of a household.  It is the management of the abundance of everything which God provides.  Stewardship is about the abundant life that God offers to us through Jesus Christ.  Someone has stated that Stewardship is what I do after I say, “I believe.”  Stewardship is action.  It means giving thanks for everything God has given to us.  Stewardship is watching over and caring for our lives, our church and our world.  Richard Lowery, professor of Old Testament at Philips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma calls, “Stewardship a spiritual discipline of delight.  It calls us to live with joy, generosity and delight in helping to build a world of God’s desire.” 

Dagwood of the Blondie comic strip turned away from his desk with a look of triumph and said to Blondie, “We finished the month with money left over.”  Blondie: “Then here’s some more bills I’ve been saving.”  Dagwood looked crestfallen and said, "That’s the trouble with the rat race.  There is never a finish line.”  There is never a finish line when it comes to the joy, generosity and delight in helping to build a world of God’s desire.  Stewardship is Action.

I. It is seeing beyond ourselves.

That was the trouble in the parable of the Rich Fool.  He couldn’t see beyond himself.  This parable is full of words like I will say to my soul.  Did you hear it, he was full of I, me, my?  What do I do with all my stuff?   If we are only concerned for ourselves, we are not rich toward God and other people.  Seeing beyond ourselves we love God with all our being.  Knowing our spiritual gifts we see beyond ourselves and are rich toward God.  Being rich toward God is not a once a year ritual, it is Stewardship in action, sharing joy, generosity and delight in helping to build a world of God’s desire.  How are our lives helping to contribute to our self worth and our Christian stewardship toward all of life in time, talent and treasure?  The rich man seemed to consult no one. He worried by himself. He did not take into account the needs of others or the effect of his decisions on the rest of the community.  We may have the latest technology and gadgets, but we may have forgotten what is really important, our relationships with those we care about the most, our families, our church family and our friends.  Stewardship is action for the good of all.

II. Stewardship is seeing beyond our immediate world.

All the rich man could think about was protecting and caring for his own stuff.  He did not love his neighbor as himself.  Stewardship is action to help take care of each other.  Our problems in this world are beyond being a Democrat or Republican, A Disciple of Christ or a Roman Catholic or Mormon.  Our problems are spiritual and how we use and develop our spiritual gifts for the good of all.  Our society must be built on trust, humility, listening and the Stewardship of action for the good of all.

There is a Cree Indian saying, “Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.”  Stewardship is giving thanks for all God has given to us.  It is what we do after we say I believe.   A key aspect of spiritual renewal in a congregation is the development of mission and outreach programs, based on our divine calling and the spiritual giftedness of the members.  Our support for mission and outreach needs to involve prayer and discernment, planning and development and giving and receiving.  

During the first week in July, Gladys and I sent an e-mail with a need for a mission trip to Honduras next April.  Nine people responded in one week with some affirmation toward the mission.  What a great concern this congregation has for local and world mission.  Stewardship is the management of the household of faith and the management of the abundance of God’s provisions.  We do make a difference in the lives we help through the outreach ministries we sponsor and the lives transformed may even be our own.   2 Corinthians 8:9,  “You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus was; though he was very rich, yet to help you he became so very poor, so that by being poor he could make you rich.”  Jesus was so poor he was born in a stable, he was raised in a poor carpenter’s home, he had no place to call his own home and at his death he was laid in a borrowed grave.  But, he came alive again never to be homeless and to offer the riches of a life with God to us. We need to learn to say, “Yes”, to God and to live graciously toward others.  

Stewardship is action in seeing beyond ourselves to others and to see beyond our immediate world to love all this world’s neighbors as ourselves.  Stewardship is the management of the household of faith.  Stewardship is giving thanks for all God has given to us.  Stewardship is what we do after we say we believe.  Stewardship is to live with joy, generosity and delight and in so doing to build the world of God’s desire.  Stewardship is Action the whole year through.