Stewardship Part One - Managing Life

The word “steward” is a word that isn’t used too often these days. In fact, you only hear it in certain settings.

• A fine restaurant has a wine steward.

• A cruise ship has a chief steward who is in charge of all the food and dining arrangements for the passengers.

• At a horse race, the people who manage the event are called the race stewards.

• In a factory, the union local has a shop steward who looks out for the interests of the workers in that factory.

The concept behind the word is that a steward is someone who has been given the responsibility of taking care of someone else’s property, finances, or business affairs, with the intent of managing those resources for the other person’s best interests. A steward is not the owner—a steward is the manager of resources which are owned by someone else.

Now that understanding of stewardship runs all the way through the Bible, from beginning to end. Remember when God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he gave them a stewardship. He didn’t just say: “Here’s this garden; it’s yours, I’m giving it to you as a gift. Do whatever you want with it.”

No, God said “Here’s this Garden. It’s mine. I created it. I own it. I care about it. And I am placing you in this garden to be in charge of it. I want you to manage it. I want you to bring order and organization to it. I want you to work it so that it will be fruitful and productive and beautiful.”

And in carrying out that stewardship, Adam and Eve would find fulfilment and joy and meaning because they would be doing precisely that which God had created them to do. So, you see, as human beings, God created us to be His stewards. And that theme runs all the way through the Bible.

But unfortunately, this stewardship arrangement quickly went sour. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They betrayed God’s trust in them. They began to act as their own independent agents. They began to operate as though they themselves were the masters; as though they themselves were the owners of the garden.

They said “If we want to eat this fruit, we’re going to eat it. Doesn’t matter that God said we shouldn’t. We’re going to make our own decisions without reference to His desires, without concern for His commands, without regard for His principles. We’re going to live life our way.”

And ever since then, that’s the way we’ve been living. And because of that, the human race went from being stewards to being embezzlers. You know what an embezzler is? An embezzler is someone who takes something that has been entrusted to him and uses it—without the owner’s permission—for his own ends.

You say: How have we done that in our relationship with God? We have taken the gift of life that God has given us and treated it as though it were our own possession—to spend on what we want—to squander on our own desires, our own pleasures, our own interests instead of his—to live without any thought of being accountable to him for what we do with our lives. That is the essence of sin according to Isaiah 53:6—it is going our own way.

A few weeks ago, the elders asked me if I would speak on the subject of stewardship. And the idea behind our thinking was that we wanted to help you consider the subject of stewardship in the area of finances, and giving. We felt that, as a congregation, we needed more teaching in this area.

But the more I considered what the Bible has to say about stewardship, the more I realized that stewardship covers a lot more than just money. Stewardship is not just a band-aid that you put on one area of your life—the area of finances. It is a lifestyle that covers every area of life.

Stewardship impacts

• the way we manage our time

• the way we treat our bodies

• how we use our natural talents and our spiritual gifts

• the way we manage our homes

• the way we treat our spouses

• how we deal with our children

• how we treat our environment

• how we care for our world

• how we handle the ministry that God has given us as a church, because He has made us stewards of the Gospel

So there are a whole lot of things that we need to think about when we think about this issue of stewardship. Because we are the owners of none of those things—God owns them all!

• my spouse belongs to God

• my children belong to God

• the planet on which I live belongs to God

• the money in my pocket belongs to God

• the body in which I live belongs to God

• every moment of my time belongs to God

• IT ALL BELONGS TO GOD… and he has entrusted it all to me to manage for Him.

That’s what stewardship is all about. It’s not just about money—it’s about life itself. So with that as our perspective, we want to go back to the book of Genesis today to read about a man named Abraham who learned what it meant to be a steward of life itself. He learned three important principles about managing his life for God. Turn to Genesis 12. While you are turning there, I’d like to tell you a true story.

It’s about a modern-day man and woman who also learned about stewardship of life. Bill and Helen Furnish were high school sweethearts. Soon after they graduated they got married. Their parents thought they were a little too young. But there comes a time when parents have to let their children go.

Bill and Helen worked hard to put themselves through college. It was a struggle, but they were young and they had lots of energy. After college, Bill began a promising career in sales. They decided it was finally time to begin a family. How they had longed for a baby! For several years, they tried without success.

But finally one day, with the joy that only an expectant mother can know, Helen broke the good news to Bill. “I’m pregnant.” And later that year, in 1951, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Steven. Bill and Helen were ecstatic.

But not long afterward they received a bit of bad news. The doctor told Helen that any further pregnancies would be too great a risk to her health. She had to have surgery, and that surgery made it impossible for them to have any more children.

But in spite of that, Bill and Helen thanked God daily for all the blessings He had given them, especially for their son Steve. Time passed quickly for them, as it always does when you’re raising kids, and pretty soon Steve was graduating from high school.

That’s when dark clouds began to gather over that happy family. It was the late 60’s and the Viet Nam war was raging. Steve decided, along with a few of his buddies, to join the Marines. His parents had a lot of misgivings about his decision. They tried to talk him out of it, but he was insistent. So finally, Bill and Helen stood by him and supported him in it.

To make a long story short, just five days after Steve arrived in Viet Nam, a Marine chaplain and another officer knocked on Bill and Helen’s front door. Steve had been killed by a sniper on his very first patrol.

Bill and Helen’s world shattered. They had feared the worst, and now the worst had happened.

Bill took a leave of absence from work, and for three months they withdrew and mourned the tragic loss of their only son. Finally, Bill’s company offered him a job transfer to Southern California. After a lot of prayer, they decided to take the new job, hoping that a change of scenery would help them cope with their grief.

They moved to the town of Oceanside, California and bought a lovely home there. On most days they could look to the west and see the blue Pacific Ocean.

But to their surprise, they soon discovered that their new home was only a few miles from the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. It seemed that everywhere they looked in their new community, they saw young men in uniform. And every Marine they saw was a painful reminder of Steve, the son they had lost.

The story doesn’t end there—I have more to tell you about Bill and Helen Furnish.

But first, we need to turn to the Word of God to consider three significant events in the life of Abraham in order to discover how we can become God’s stewards. Look at Genesis 12:1…

Genesis 12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

The very first challenge God gave to Abraham was a negative challenge. It was a command to LEAVE. Leave your country, leave your people, leave your father’s household. Leave the land of your birth, leave all your familiar surroundings, leave your culture, leave that familiar way of doing things, leave—not only your friends, but your family as well, and go to the land I will show you.

And verse 2 hinges on verse 1. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” cannot happen unless Abraham leaves.

One of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century was a man named Oswald Chambers. Chambers said that the most powerful word of Jesus to his disciples is the word “abandon”. Exactly what God said to Abraham: “Leave.”

Because we can never realize the purpose for which God created us, and we can never know the blessing of God in our lives unless we first LEAVE behind our claim to live life our way—on our terms. Abraham had to leave all that was secure about life, all that he knew and all that he had, in order to follow God.

Jesus says to us: “Unless you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” The negative precedes the positive. The leaving precedes the blessing. The command to leave is a stern command. It is an uncompromising command. But it is an essential command. Because we can never be stewards unless we leave behind this notion that life is mine to live as I see fit.

You ever wonder what would have happened to Abraham if he had NOT obeyed God’s command to leave? If he had just stayed there in Ur where he was safe and secure and comfortable? I’ll tell you one thing for sure: We wouldn’t be here 4,000 years later talking about him. Because his life would have had zero impact.

You want your life to count? You want your life to mean something? You want to have impact? You’ve got to leave.

Let’s take a look at another short video clip from Abraham’s life. Turn over the page to Genesis chapter 13. When Abraham left Ur, he didn’t obey God completely. (He wasn’t perfect.) He took part of his extended family along with him. He took his nephew Lot. And in Genesis 13, we read that Lot became a bit of a problem.

You see, Abraham and Lot were what we would call nomads. They were like bedouin sheep herders. They had flocks, and they had servants, and they lived off the land, moving from place to place wherever the grazing was good.

Genesis 13:2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

Genesis 13:5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot.

So here’s the problem. Abraham and Lot have to split up. But how would they decide which family would go where? Abraham comes up with a solution. Look at verse 8…

So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.

Abraham asked Lot to choose where he wanted to go. Now that’s pretty remarkable. Because in the Middle East, they put a lot of value on age, and Abraham was certainly the elder here. He was Lot’s uncle. He had the right to first choice of the land. But Abraham did not insist on his rights as the elder. He let Lot choose first. And on the basis of whatever Lot chose, Abraham was wiling to go the other way.

So which way did Lot choose to go? Look at verse 10

Genesis 13:10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar… So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

Not fair! Lot got to choose first, and he chose the best land. He left poor old Uncle Abe with the scruffy, rocky, infertile hill-country of Canaan. And who let him make that choice? Abraham did.

When Abraham let his nephew make a choice that would determine his own destiny, he was really putting his fate in God’s hands. He was willling to let God work in his own life through the choice that someone else made.

You see, by this time in his life, Abraham had walked with God long enough to know that he wouldn’t be alone whichever way this thing happened to pan out. He knew that when God promises to bless us, He Himself is our blessing. Abraham knew that since God was with him, it didn’t matter if he went to the left or to the right. It didn’t matter which way Lot chose. It didn’t matter what part of the land that left him.

The first step in stewardship is to LEAVE. The second step to LET. Let God be sovereign through His arrangement of my circumstances. God is fully capable of unfolding His will for my life through the choices that other people make—even the sinful, selfish choices that other people make.

If anybody ever got the short end of the stick, it had to have been Joseph. Joseph’s own brothers sold him into slavery—talk about a happy family! As a slave, his master’s wife framed him and he ended up in jail. What a raw deal! Where was God when all this was happening? God was right there.

God put Joseph in that jail so that he might ultimately save his brothers and his father. That jail was just one step away from the prime ministership of all Egypt. And at the end of the story, Joseph could say to his brothers “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Joseph had come to appreciate who was really in control.

Am I willing to let God be sovereign in my life through his arrangement of my circumstances? This is the second lesson of stewardship. The first is to leave, the second is to let. And there’s a third…

Turn over to Genesis 22. There’s one more lesson in managing life that Abraham had to learn.

Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

We don’t have time to get into the rich theology behind this story. It’s really remarkable what God was doing here. But let’s just look at Abraham’s response. He got up early the next morning, cut some wood for the burnt offering, saddled up his donkey, and set out for the place God had told him about.

On the third day, they arrive at Moriah. Abraham gets off his donkey, tells his two servants to wait behind, and starts up the hill, with his son Isaac carrying the firewood.

Genesis 22:9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and LAID HIM ON THE ALTAR.

The first step in becoming God’s steward is to LEAVE my claim to live my life my way. That’s tough. The second step is to LET God be sovereign in my life through his arrangement of my circumstances. That’s tougher. But the third step is toughest of all. The third step in becoming a true steward of God is to LAY my most prized possession on God’s altar.

Isaac was the son that God had promised Abraham. He was the apple of his father’s eye. Isaac was the key to everything that God intended to do through Abraham; he was the heir through whom Abraham’s descendants were supposed to come.

And now God wanted Abraham to give him up! To do away with his only son. To sacrifice him on the altar. To give up the only means through which the promises could be fulfilled.

Wouldn’t Abraham have had the right to refuse to do such a thing? What kind of terrible thing is this to ask a person to do!

Yet what was Abraham’s response? He didn’t cling to Isaac. He bound him up and LAID him on the altar, even though he knew it might mean the end of all his hopes and dreams

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead…

Are you willing to LAY your most prized possession on the altar of God this morning? That which is closest to your heart? It may be your family. It may be your reputation. Your career. Your plans. Your goals. Your dreams.

You will never become a steward unless you can do that. Because if there’s anything in your life that you cannot LAY on God’s altar, you’re holding that back. You’re saying “That’s mine God. You can’t have it. I don’t trust you with it.” Anything that you cannot sacrifice to God becomes your god.

Bill and Helen Furnish had to give up their only son Steve. God had arranged their circumstances so that Steve would be taken from them.

And for a long time they couldn’t understand why. They got in their car that first Sunday in their new home in California and they began to drive around looking for a church. As they sat through the service, they were haunted by the question “Why?” “Why did God take our Steve?” “And why has He led us here to California, only to be tormented by the sight of all these Marines who remind us of Steve?”

After church, they stopped for lunch at a little café where they could watch the ocean. They tried to make sense of their situation. As they were driving back home, they saw a young Marine at the side of the road. He was hitchhiking with a sign that said “Home”.

On impulse, Bill pulled over and offered the young soldier a ride. As they drove along, the Marine explained that he had finished his training and was going to Arizona to see his folks before shipping overseas.

Bill and Helen didn’t reveal the sadness in their own hearts; they just listened to the boy and drove him all the way into town. There, Bill bought him a bus ticket to Arizona. “You can waste a lot of valuable time hitchhiking.” Bill said. “I know your parents must be anxious to see you.”

From that day on, Bill and Helen Furnish made a silent commitment to be available to the young men and women that God might send their way as they trained at the Marine base. Their pastor encouraged them to begin a ministry to these lonely young recruits who were far from home. Before long, dozens of people in the church got involved.

Hardly a week went by when Bill and Helen did not have Marine recruits in their home. The women of the church began a “cookie ministry” for the boys who were missing their Mom’s home-baked goodies. Bill got some business cards printed up with their name and address and the phrase “a home away from home”.

Bill and Helen’s pain and sorrow over losing their son Steve slowly began to heal as they gave themselves away in ministry. The spring returned to their step, and they began to realize that God had, indeed, led them to exactly where they were.

One day in the mail, as often happened, there was a letter from a grateful Marine. It went like this:

“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Furnish,

You probably don’t remember me, but I was hitchhiking a few months ago and you picked me up. I just had to write and tell you something. When you picked me up, I was running away from Camp Pendleton. I was AWOL.

I was angry and confused. I felt that nobody in the world cared whether I lived or died. But you were so loving to me. You were so kind. Mr. Furnish, when you prayed with me and slipped me that $20 bill, I tried to be cool. But Mrs. Furnish, when you hugged me and told me you hoped to see me again, my heart practically broke.

I did not know of another person on earth who wanted to see me again. I cried when my bus pulled away.

When you stopped to give me a lift, I was a desperate man. I had decided that if a car picked me up, I would kill the people and steal the car. I had a sharpened bayonet with me, and as soon as I got into the back seat of your car, I took it out of my bag and laid it across my knees.

But as we drove along, you talked kindly to me and I you showed me so much love. Your spirit was so sweet that I just couldn’t do what I had planned. If you’ll look under the back seat of your car, you’ll find where I hid the bayonet when you weren’t looking.

Bill and Helen put down the letter and went out to the car. They looked in the back seat and sure enough there it was. A shiny silver knife, maybe something like that knife that Abraham held in his hands on Mount Moriah.

That bayonet now hangs on the wall of Bill and Helen’s den, very close to a picture of their son Steve And in that den there are hundreds of other photos of young men and women who have passed through Camp Pendleton and had their lives changed by the ministry of Bill and Helen Furnish.

They had learned to be God’s stewards.