Stewardship

A lesson about the importance of stewarding what God has entrusted to us.

As you read this lesson, be sure to hover over the the Bible verses to read them or look them up in your own copy of the Bible. When the Bible passage is longer, you need to click on “more” in the bottom right corner of the pop-up window.

Introduction

Welcome! The Bible has much to say about this interesting topic. You may find it helpful to invite a mature Christian from your church to study this topic with you. You may have a lot of questions that are not answered here. Maybe there are ideas here that seem hard to understand. Do not get overwhelmed! You can contact us with any questions that you may have. The elders of your local church can help you as well.

Remember that learning the content about this topic is helpful, but knowing the information will not truly change you. For you to benefit fully from this topic, you must…

• Become born-again by securing a personal relationship with God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith by grace. This information cannot change you until the Holy Spirit of God gives you a new heart that is able to apply it to your life. To begin a personal relationship with God, it is imperative to understand and believe the following:

  • God is separated from you, because He is good, pure, and holy. 1 John 1:5-6

  • You are sinful, impure, and unholy because you do not measure up to God’s holiness. Romans 3:10-12 You are a descendent of Adam and Eve who rebelled against God. Romans 5:19

  • Your sinfulness provokes God’s anger and separates you from Him because He is holy. Romans 5:12 As a result, you deserve to be thrown into the Lake of Fire forever. Revelation 20:14-15

  • God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. Jesus is God in the flesh. He lived a sinless life. He was nailed to the cross, shed His blood, and died in your place for your sins. He was buried, rose again, and went to Heaven to prepare a place for all who believe. He will return one day for those who believe. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

  • Only the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is enough for you to be accepted forever by God the Father the moment you believe. John 3:16 God does not accept you on the basis that you try to be a good person and do good works. Romans 4:5 He accepts you fully and forever the moment you abandon your sins and call on Jesus to save you. John 3:36

• As you understand, meditate on, and believe the information presented here about this topic, you must also do what the Bible says. James 1:21-22 Only by trusting and obeying God’s Word regarding this topic will you experience the full benefits of this information. James 1:23-24 Trusting and obeying God’s Word will change you as you learn this. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 You will be happy as a result of your obedience. James 1:25

• Seek and heed the advice of your church leaders regarding this topic. Hebrews 13:17

• Depend upon the Holy Spirit to change you. Galatians 3:1-3 You cannot change without Him enabling you. John 15:5 He will change you in His time and way; but not apart from your faith and obedience to God’s Word. Trust Him to do His work in your heart. Philippians 2:12-13

• Allow the joy that you experience from obeying God’s Word to transform how you interact with others. James 2:12-20

We Must steward everything faithfully

• We are required to be faithful in stewarding whatever God has entrusted to our care. This includes our families, ministries, spiritual gifts, possessions, and time. 1 Corinthians 4:2

We will give an account for our stewardship

• We must be eager to take care of what Jesus has entrusted to us, even if He seems to be taking a long time to return. Matthew 24:42-51

• We must be eager to take what Christ has entrusted to us, and maximize it for His glory. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27; Proverbs 27:23-27

• We must remember that if we are faithful with the little that God has entrusted to us now, He will entrust us with more for His glory in eternity. Also, if we are not faithful with our finances now, then God will not entrust us with spiritual responsibility in eternity. Luke 12:35-48; Luke 16:1-17

Everything we have was loaned to us by god for his glory

Whatever we treasure in our hearts will determine where we invest our focus, time, money, and resources. If we want to know where our hearts are truly invested, then we must look at where we are investing our money. Only our investments for Christ and eternity will last. Matthew 6:19-24

Finances

Earning Money:

• We must esteem our knowledge of God more than we value money. Jeremiah 9:23-24

• We must be content with what we have. Proverbs 30:7-9; Philippians 4:11-13

• We must not be so preoccupied with money that it causes us to be unfruitful for Christ. Matthew 13:22

• Because we can become poor or rich through either righteous or unrighteous means, it is not sin to be poor or rich. God is sovereign over our economic circumstances. 1 Samuel 2:7-8; Proverbs 10:22; Genesis 13:2; Genesis 24:35; Genesis 26:12-14; Proverbs 13:7-8; Proverbs 29:13-14; Ecclesiastes 5:8-9

• God often uses wealth to bless those who seek after wisdom. On the other hand, when people are lazy or reject wise counsel, they end up in poverty. 1 Kings 3:10-14; 1 Chronicles 29:10-19; Psalm 112:1-3; Proverbs 3:13-18; Proverbs 8:1-21; Proverbs 10:1-5; Proverbs 10:15-16; Proverbs 15:6; Proverbs 19:6-7; Proverbs 22:4; Proverbs 24:3-7; Ecclesiastes 7:11-14

• We must be content with what we have, never taking money from anyone by force or falsely accusing anyone. We must not take advantage of our debtors. How we handle money as believers should be different than how we handled it before we became born again. Luke 3:8-14; Luke 19:1-10; Exodus 22:25-27; Exodus 23:1-9

• We will be judged by God for using all our money for selfish gain. Luke 6:24-25

  • We must not take advantage of our workers. James 5:1-6; Proverbs 13:11

  • We must earn money with wisdom and integrity and not be lazy. Proverbs 16:8; Proverbs 19:1-4; Proverbs 19:22-24; Proverbs 20:13-17; Proverbs 20:21; Proverbs 21:5-7; Proverbs 21:17; Proverbs 22:1-2; Proverbs 22:16; Proverbs 23:21; Proverbs 24:30-34; Proverbs 28:3; Proverbs 28:6-11; Proverbs 28:15-16; Proverbs 28:18-22; Proverbs 29:3; Ecclesiastes 9:14-16

• We must guard our hearts from greed. We must recognize, that our life is not valued by how much we possess. We must be rich toward God and not worry about our needs. We must keep ourselves free from the love of money and never oppressively charge people. Luke 12:13-24; Hebrews 13:5-6; Deuteronomy 23:17-25; Deuteronomy 24:10-15

• We must not use ministry to extort money. John 2:13-17

• We must monitor our hearts concerning our financial income and how it relates to our ministry. 1 Corinthians 9:15

• We must remember that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. We must be content with food and clothing. We will ruin our lives if our goal is to get rich. 1 Timothy 6:3-10; Revelation 3:16-18; Psalm 62:10; Proverbs 23:4-5; Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

• If we are wealthy, we must not be high-minded nor set our hope on the uncertainty of riches. We know it is God who supplies us all things to enjoy. We must use our wealth to be rich in good deeds.1 Timothy 6:17-19; James 1:9-11; Psalm 49:16-20; Proverbs 11:4; Proverbs 11:28; Proverbs 18:11

Saving Money:

• We must consider the temporality of our funds in that we cannot use our money after we die. Psalm 39:5-6; Ecclesiastes 4:7-10; Ecclesiastes 6:1-9; Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

• We should steward our wealth in such a way that we can leave an inheritance to our children’s children. Proverbs 13:21-23; Proverbs 19:14-15

• We must work to meet the needs of our extended family. 1 Timothy 5:8

• We should not make a habit of loaning money. Proverbs 11:15-16

Giving Money:

• We must acknowledge that all we have is from God. Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4

  • When we give to God, we must recognize that it’s all His anyway. Psalm 50:7-14

  • We must give God our best and trust Him for His provision. Proverbs 3:9-10

  • We must give our money, resources, and skills based on how God moves our heart to contribute to Him. Exodus 25:1-8; Exodus 30:14-16; Exodus 35:4-5; Exodus 35:20-29

  • We should be ready to sell what we have in order to help other believers. Acts 4:32-37

  • Before giving financial aid to other believers, we must first give ourselves to God. We must give joyfully according to our ability and even beyond it. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

  • Our church should be helping other needy churches financially. Acts 11:28-30

• We must recognize that we will always have opportunities to give to the poor, while giving God our best. Matthew 26:6-13

  • God cares for the poor and so should we. Psalm 140:12; Proverbs 17:5; Proverbs 19:17; Proverbs 22:22-23

  • We must be willing to sell everything we have to help the poor if God asks it of us. We should be inclined to invest in the Kingdom of God. Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-39

  • We must have compassion on the poor from a true heart of love for them. Luke 16:19-31; 1 Corinthians 13:3; Galatians 2:10; Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Job 31:13-25; Proverbs 14:20-24; Proverbs 18:23; Proverbs 21:13; Proverbs 22:7-9; Proverbs 28:27; Proverbs 29:7; Proverbs 31:20

  • We must want to bless those who cannot repay us, knowing that God will reward us at the resurrection. Luke 14:12-14

  • We should never give to be noticed by others, but secretly as unto the Lord. Matthew 6:1-4

  • We must not show favoritism, since God has chosen the poor believers of this world to be rich in the kingdom to come. James 2:1-9; Leviticus 19:15

  • We should do good for everyone, but especially for believers. Galatians 6:10

• We must be willing to finance those who minister the Word of God to us. We must be willing to help the poor believers that we know. Romans 15:26-27; 1 Corinthians 9:1-13

  • We should use our personal money and resources to contribute to pastors, Bible teachers, and missionaries. Luke 8:1-3

  • We should give our affection, resources, and focus to partnering with missionaries who preach the Gospel and make disciples. Philippians 1:4-7

  • We should partner financially with missionaries while recognizing that God will supply all our needs. Philippians 4:10-20

  • We should host and financially support missionaries (especially foreigners) in a way that is worthy of God. 3 John 1:5-8

  • We must plan ahead to give, purposing in our hearts how much and to whom God wants us to help. We must not give grudgingly or under compulsion, because God loves those who give with cheerful readiness. We must believe that He is able to meet all our needs while allowing us to provide enough to others for the sake of His kingdom. If we give little toward advancing the Kingdom of God. We reap benefit from our investment in the Kingdom of God in proportion to what we sow. 2 Corinthians 9:5-15

Other Ideas:

• Take a moment and write down all that you buy. List it from the greatest amount of money to the least. If this was all the evidence you had to know the state of your heart, where is it? Where is most of your treasure going?

  • How are you being faithful with what you have? God desires to use your resources to advance His Kingdom work and represent His name.

• How are you demonstrating to your children that God meets all your needs so that you can help others with what you have?

  • Would they think that God is stingy because of how you hold back money from the poor that God has entrusted to you?

  • Would they assume that God is self-serving, because they see you spending money only on family?

  • Will they know that God really can and will provide for those who serve Him in ministry?

  • Will they think that they should serve in ministry simply to get rich?

• Heart issues about funds.

  • How do your unbelieving relatives perceive that God provides for you?

  • Are you deliberately putting money aside for your family in case of emergency?

  • How does your lifestyle demonstrate that you are trusting God alone?

• Are you excited and eager or reluctant and cautious concerning your giving?

  • Are you giving to your local church in such a way that it is clear that you value its ministry?

  • Are you supporting missionaries in your local church in such a way that it is clear that you value their ministry?

  • Are you supporting pastors and missionaries in the same way that you would want someone to support you if you were them?

  • How are you demonstrating financially that pastors and missionaries are worthy of double honor?

  • How are you investing your finances for kingdom work?

  • How are you setting aside money regularly to meet the needs of the poor, widows, and orphans in the same way that you would wish them to do for you?

REPRESENTING CHRIST BY Being Good Stewards

• We do not exist simply to live for ourselves. We were created to represent God.

• When we are good stewards, our purpose is not primarily about us. It is about God being represented well in our stewardship. His reputation is on the line because we represent Him.

• Being a good steward should be a priority in our lives so we will become more like Christ and represent Him well.

• When we share the Gospel, it shines a light on our lives. If we are not being good stewards, then we will be tempted to shrink back from sharing the Gospel with others.

• When we have done everything we can to be good stewards, it gives us boldness in our faith. This boldness will enable us to be transparent with anyone. This, in turn, will enable us freely to let other believers into our lives to disciple them.

• We must let the reputation of God and His love for people motivate us to grow in our ability to be good stewards.

• The love of Christ is enough to motivate us to make stewardship a priority in our lives.

Conclusion

Now that you have studied this topic, we encourage you to...

• Ask us or any of your church leaders about any questions or concerns you still have about this topic.

• Pray for yourself to grow in maturity regarding this topic.

• Do your best to practice what you have learned.

• Tell someone else about what you have studied.

• Ask one of your church leaders to help you overcome your weaknesses regarding this topic.

• Teach this subject to others.

• Consider reviewing this topic once each year.

• Commit to growing in this area together with other members of a local church.

• Trust the Holy Spirit to change you as He uses His Word, others, and circumstances to make you more like Christ.