LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Sheet 309

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294 BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP PRINCIPLES

* recognize that we are made stewards by God's activity.
* respect Christian stewards for whose they are;
* remind stewards that they are God's new creation each day.

As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the
Holy Spirit's help, we will not

* use short-cut methods that consider stewards to be merely “donors,”
“chents,” or “customers,” or means to an end:

* neglect to name the name of the Lord who is the Soutce of all stew-
ardship:

* present stewardship as limited to a single area of life, such as money.

II. GOD’S STEWARDS ARE MANAGERS, NOT OWNERS

What does this mean?

God’s stewards have been entrusted by God with life and life’s
resources and given the privilege of responsibly and joyfully
managing them for Him.

What does God’s Word say about this?

Gen. 2:15 The Lorp God took the man and put him in the
Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Ps. 24:1 The earth is the Lorp’s, and everything in it,

the world. and all who live in it. (cf. Ps. 89:11)

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we
should be able to give as generously as this?
Everything comes from You, and we have
given You only what comes from Your hand.”
(cf. 29:1-20)

And they [Macedonian Christians] did not do
as we expected, but they gave themselves first
to the Lord and then to us in keeping with
God's will. (cf. 8:1-7)

“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.” (cf. 12:41-48)

Command those who are rich in this present
world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in
wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their
hope in God, who richly provides us with
everything for our enjoyment. Command them
to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be
generous and willing to share. In this way they
will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm
foundation for the coming age. so that they may
take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 Chron. 29:14

2 Cor. 8:5

Luke 12:48b

1 Tim. 6:17-19

How is this done?

As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. and with the
Holy Spirit's help, we will

encourage proper management of all life and life's resources for
God's purposes:

promote materials and approaches to stewards that are firmly
grounded in the Owner/manager understanding of stewardship,

encourage cheerful, firstfruit, proportionate (including but not lim-
ited to tithing) living and giving in all areas of life by Christian stew-
ards;

receive and use God's gifts with thanksgiving.

As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the
Holy Spirit's help, we will not

approach the steward as if he or she is the owner:

neglect to remind the steward of who the Owner is;

forget the Owner for the sake of the interests of the entity being rep-
resented:

fail to remind Christian stewards that greater blessings call for greater
responsibility to manage them according to God's purposes.

Scripture quotations NIV® By permission of Zondervan

IH. GOD’S STEWARDS ARE SAINTS AND SINNERS

What does this mean?

God’s stewards rejoice in and live out what God has declared
them to be through the cross. At the same time His stewards
recognize they are sinners who fight sin and its consequences
each day.

What does God’s Word say about this?

Eph. 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former
way of life, to put off your old self, which is
being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be
made new in the attitude of your minds; and to
put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness. (cf. Col.
3:5-17)

So I find this law at work: When I want to do
good, evil is right there with me. For in my
inner being I delight in God's law; but I see an-
other law at work in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work
within my members. What a wretched man |
am! Who will rescue me from this body of
death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ
our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a
slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a
slave to the law of sin.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on
us, that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are! The reason the world
does not know us is that it did not know Him.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and
what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when He appears, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that
you may declare the praises of Him who called
you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are
the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Rom. 7:21-25

1 John 3:1-2

1 Peter 2:9-10

How is this done?
As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the
Holy Spirit’s help. we will
* recognize that the potential for great good, or great evil, lies in the
way stewardship is presented and received,

evaluate carefully all communication, oral or written, according to
the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, and in keeping with
the biblical truth that each steward at the same time is saint and sin-
ner;

offer varying opportunities for Christian stewards to grow, recogniz-
ing that they are at different points of spiritual maturity.
As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and with the
Holy Spirit’s help, we will not
* assume that, because we are dealing with Christians, we can set aside
the proper application of Law and Gospel in serving God’s stewards;
* see all Christians as being at the same matuntty level;
* use any approach to stewards that appeals to the sinful nature, selfish
interest, or something other than faith active in love.

IV. GOD’S STEWARDS ARE UNIQUELY SINGULAR,
YET PROFOUNDLY PLURAL

God’s stewards recognize that their lives are not solo perfor-
mances but are personal responses to God, lived out within the
community of faith to benefit the whole world.