A BIBLICAL LESSON IN CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP

Luke 16:10-15 (Amplified Bible)
"He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest, and unjust also in much.
Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [case of] unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions) , who will entrust to you the true riches?
And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another [whether God or man], who will give you that which is your own [that is, the true riches]?
No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely).
Now the Pharisees, who were covetous and lovers of money, heard all these things [taken together], and they began to sneer at and ridicule and scoff at Him.
But He said to them, "You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted and highly thought of among men is detestable and abhorrent (an abomination in the sight of God)."

Today our subject is Christian stewardship as it relates to our earthly possessions.
We are living in a materialistic world...and, unfortunately, many of us are so affected by our present culture that we have lost focus on what the Bible says about material possessions.
Interestingly God says more about how Christians are to view and use their possessions than most any other subject, the chief exception being what God says about Himself.
One of the most obvious facts that stands out in the biblical record is that, as Christians, we are to impact non-Christians with our life-styles, both personally and corporately. That kind of witness includes many things which involve our ethics, or morality, and our attitude and actions toward others. However, no aspect of our life-style is illustrated more specifically and graphically in the New Testament, than the way we view and use our material possessions. This aspect of our life-style stands out immediately in the New Testament as an important dynamic in penetrating the materialistic world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This principle is illustrated immediately and dramatically by the Christians in Jerusalem. God-fearing Jews had come from all over the New Testament world to participate in the Feast of Pentecost.
Thousands were born into the kingdom of God, including many Grecians. These new believers decided to stay in Jerusalem, no doubt waiting for the Messiah to return as He said He would. In the meantime, they began to practice in an extraordinary way the new

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commandment Jesus had given His disciples shortly before He went to the cross: "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Jesus added, "All men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).
The Christians in Jerusalem immediately began to practice what Jesus had taught them, "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need" (Acts 2:45). Listen to Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost: "And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need" (Acts 2:40-45).
Those who owned homes in Jerusalem opened their doors to those from other places in the world, and "they broke bread...and ate together with glad and sincere hearts."
THROUGH THIS GREAT DEMONSTRATION OF LOVE AND UNSELFISHNESS, THESE NEW BELIEVERS BEGAN TO PENETRATE THE MATERIALISTIC CULTURE THAT CHARACTERIZED JUDAISM. More and more Jews recognized that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47).
There is no greater demonstration of God's love in Christ than to take what belongs to us and share it with someone else. The Jerusalem believers demonstrated dramatically that Christians who are unselfish and benevolent became a unique verification to non-Christians that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God. The way they lived out their faith impacted the non-Christian world and encouraged people to respond in faith.
Listen to Paul as he congratulates the church for their generosity: "Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God" (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).
GENEROUS GIVING IS A MARK OF A PERSON WHO IS IN LOVE WITH CHRIST AND RECOGNIZES THAT HIS POSSESSIONS ARE TO BE USED TO BRING BLESSING TO OTHERS AND ASSIST IN THE GREAT TASK OF EVANGELIZING THE WORLD.
True love is always characterized by generous giving...for you cannot love without giving...but you can give without loving!
Paul had some further admonition about giving: "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bounti-

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fully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor: His righteousness endures forever." Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God" (2 Cor. 9:6—11).
THIS PASSAGE GIVES US AN OUTLINE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF GENEROUS GIVING.
Paul insists that no man was ever the loser because he was generous. The man who sows with a sparing hand cannot hope for anything but a meager harvest, but the man who sows with a generous hand will in due time reap a generous harvest. The New Testament is an extremely practical book and one of its great features is that it is never afraid of the reward motive. It never says that goodness is all to no purpose. It never forgets that something new and wonderful enters into the life of the man who accepts God's command as his law. But the rewards that the New Testament envisages are never material. It promises not the wealth of things, but the wealth of the heart and of the spirit.
Paul insists in this passage before us that God can give a person both the substance to give and spirit in which to give it. In verse 8, he speaks of the all sufficiency which God gives us. The word he uses is AUTARKEIA. This was a favorite Stoic word. It does not describe the sufficiency of the man who possesses all kinds of things in abundance. It means independence. It describes the state of the man who had directed life not to amassing possessions but to eliminating needs. IT DESCRIBES THE MAN WHO HAS TAUGHT HIMSELF TO BE CONTENT WITH VERY LITTLE. It is obvious that such a man will be able to give far more to others because he wants so little for himself! It is so often true that we want so much for ourselves that there is nothing left to give to others.
Paul has one more thought in this passage that we must observe. He holds that giving does wonderful things for three different persons.
(1) It does something for others. It relieves their need. Many a time, when a man was at his wit's end, a gift from someone else has seemed nothing less than a gift from heaven. It restores faith in their fellow-man. It often happens that, when a man is in need, he grows embittered and feels himself neglected. It is then that a gift shows him that love and kindness are not dead. It makes them thank God. A gift in a time of need is something which brings not only our love but also God's love into the lives of others.
(2) It does something for ourselves. It guarantees our Christian profession. In the case of the Corinthians, that was specially important. No doubt the Jerusalem Church, which was almost entirely Jewish, still

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regarded the Gentiles with suspicion and wondered in its heart of heart if Christianity could be for them at all. The very fact of the gift of the Gentile Churches must have guaranteed to them the reality of Gentile Christianity. If a man is generous it enables others to see that he has turned his Christianity, not only into words, but into deeds as well. Stewardship is the managing of life in responsibility with God.
Stewardship doesn't begin with obligation; stewardship doesn’t begin with legality; stewardship doesn't begin with fear; stewardship doesn't begin with desire for gain; stewardship begins with mastery--the making of Christ Lord and Master of all of our life including our possessions. And when we do, our lives bring great blessing to others!
(3) It does something for God when we give! It makes prayers of thanksgiving go up to Him. Men see our good deeds and glorify not us but God. It is a tremendous thing that something we can do can turn men's hearts to God, for that means that something we can do can bring joy to Him!
Paul reminds the Corinthians of the generous giving displayed by Christ. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). For Paul the sacrifice of Jesus did not begin on the cross. It did not even begin with His birth. It began in heaven, when He laid His glory by and consented to come to earth. Paul's challenge to the Christian is this: "With that tremendous example of generosity before you, how can you hold back."
What a great thought Paul presents to us! The Christ became poor in the act of becoming man. It was not so much in the lowly circumstances of the human birth, as in the fact that He should have been born at all, that the greatness of the condescension lay. THOUGH HE WAS RICH...though He shared His Father's glory before the world was created, nevertheless He temporarily laid aside this glory in order to 'be found in the fashion as man." The Lord was manifested in human flesh in order to take away sin; and the taking away of sin involved His taking upon Himself the role of the suffering Servant, and being the Son of man who had nowhere to lay His head, and who was to die without a single possession; even the clothes He wore were stripped off Him by the soldiers responsible for His execution. Here was poverty indeed, and all for our sakes!
The purpose of this willing submission to poverty was that believers, who accept in faith the sacrifice made by Him on the cross for their sakes at such tremendous cost, should one day share the very glory which He had laid aside precisely in order that He might die the death by which alone He could redeem them. If this love of Christ, so magnanimous in its motive and so self-sacrificing in its execution, is an active force in the believer's heart, now unnecessary, the apostle implies, any command to practice stewardship with our possessions, ought to be! What, without that love, might seem a cold

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duty has been transformed by it into a joyous privilege. Our lesson today commenced with the words of Christ on the subject of Christian stewardship as it relates to our material possessions. The verses that proceed the ones we selected tell the story of a man who was losing his position as a steward due to his mismanagement.
When he is being released, he arranges to adjust some of the billings so that he might have favor with those who benefited from his unjust action when, he himself, was without employment. We say it was dishonest...but listen to the words of Christ: "So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."
Jesus implies...if only the Christian was as eager and ingenious in his attempt to attain goodness as the man of the world is in his attempt to attain money and comfort, he would be a much better man. IF ONLY MEN WOULD GIVE AS MUCH ATTENTION TO THE THINGS WHICH CONCERN THEIR SOULS AS THEY DO TO THE THINGS WHICH CONCERN THEIR BUSINESS, THEY WOULD BE MUCH BETTER MEN.
Jesus said: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and were thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
Let's come back, for a moment, and consider the action of this unjust steward.
Jews were forbidden to take interest from fellow-Jews when they lent them money. Those who wished to make money from loans evaded this by reasoning that the law was concerned to prohibit the exploitation of the poor. It was not meant to forbid innocent transactions that were mutually beneficial and where the payment of interest amounted to the sharing of the profits. If a man had even a little of a given commodity he was not destitute and thus lending to him was not exploitation. As almost everyone had a little oil and a little wheat, the way was open for widespread use of legal fiction.
Whatever was borrowed was given a value in oil or wheat (say, eighty measure of wheat), the interest added on (say, twenty measures), was the bond or bill made out for the repayment of the total in terms of wheat or oil (in this case one hundred measures). The transaction was usurious, but the bill gave no indication of this. Commonly these transactions were carried on by stewards, ostensibly without the owner's knowledge.
Understood in this way, the parable presents us with a steward who, faced with the loss of employment, protected his future by calling in all the bonds or bills and getting the debtors to rewrite them so that they no longer carried interest. He looked to their gratitude to express itself by their taking him into their homes. His action put the owner in a difficult position. He would have the greatest difficulty in establishing his claim to the original amounts now that the first bills were destroyed. In any case he could not repudiate the steward's action without convicting him

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self of taking usury. It would be extremely difficult to obtain his legal rights and in the process he would convict himself of acting impiously. So he put the best face possible on the situation and commended the man. Thus he secured an undeserved reputation for piety.
The steward was now conforming to the law of God and the owner was seen applauding it. Both were acting decisively in a difficult situation!
Verse 9 is very interesting. It says: "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home." The lesson in this verse is that material possessions should be used to cement the friendship wherein the real and permanent value of life lies.
It was a Jewish belief that charity given to poor people would stand to a man’s credit in the world to come. A man’s true wealth would consist not in what he kept, but in what he gives away! That is what Paul meant when he quoted the passage from Psalm 112:9: "He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
Paul writes in Galatians 6:6-10:
"Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sews to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not be weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those of the household of faith."
Our text began with these words: "He who is faithful in a little thing is also faithful in much, and he who is dishonest in a little thing will be dishonest in much."
A man’s way of fulfilling a small task is the best proof of his fitness or unfitness to be entrusted with a bigger task. That is clearly true of earthly things. No man will be advanced to higher office until he has given proof of his honesty and ability in a smaller position.
BUT JESUS EXTENDS THIS PRINCIPLE INTO ETERNITY! He says: "Upon earth you are in charge of things which are not really yours. You cannot take them with you when you die. They are only lent to you. You are only a steward over them. They cannot, in the nature of things, be permanently yours. On the other hand, in heaven you will get what is really and eternally yours. And what you get in heaven depends on how you use the things on earth. What you will be given as your very own depends on how you use the things of which you are only stewards.
JESUS MAKES IT VERY CLEAR THAT OUR ETERNAL REWARDS WILL BE PREMISED UPON OUR EARTHLY FAITHFULNESS IN STEWARDSHIP. Now that is a very serious thought! If we are not faithful in the small matters pertaining to this world, if we do not use aright our property and resources and possessions and influence, we cannot expect that God will commit to us the true riches of His grace.
Now this is what is implied in Malachi 3:6-12:
"For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and

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have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
But you said, "In what way shall we return? "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, "In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this; If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that they will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts; and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts."
The tithe, when based on a spiritual interpretation of the Old Testament, is not a legalism. It cannot be reduced to a mathematical formula applied to income. The tithe of the Old Testament is a testimony to the relationship between God and His people. It incorporates, a cycle of giving, receiving, and using. The tithe, like the massage of the Old Testament, is a living witness to God. Tithing is a spiritual experience based on a living relationship rather than the observance of a legalism. A living God does not rely on rules. God asks for giving based on commitment. There is a significant difference between giving because of a legalism and giving based of being committed to God. We are stewards who by our living and giving, acknowledge that God owns us and all that we are and have is His!
"Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine." (Proverbs 3:9-10).
From the passage that we discussed in 2 Corinthians, we have observed that the New Testament church was known for its generosity and joyous giving and this resulted in a church with sufficient resources to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Macedonian churches gave from their poverty and God blessed the church in Jerusalem. We have learned that the harvest depends on the sowing and if we give in selfish dimensions, our spiritual harvest is going to be sparse and small. But if we give with a generous spirit in bountiful dimensions, we are going to enjoy a large spiritual harvest!
SO NOW WE COME TO A VERY PRACTICAL QUESTION...HOW AM I TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH I SHOULD GIVE TO THE WORK OF CHRIST, HIS CHURCH?
Please let me give some scriptural rules for giving.
(1) Give according to your income. "Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you" (Gout. 16:17). "And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand, "Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything." (Genesis 14:20). "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord, It is holy to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:30.
These verses tell us that the biblical proportion of our income which is holy unto the Lord is a tenth.

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We must never forget that all that we have belongs to the Lord, for we are just stewards, not owners. The biblical proportion is an acknowledgement of the fact when given that God truly owns all of us without reservations.
(2) We are to give without ostentation. "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." (Matt. 6:3). "Take heed that you do not your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward." (Matt. 6:1-2).
"And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites; so He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had" (Luke 21:1-4).
(3) We should give regularly. "On the first day of the week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collection will have to be made" (1 Cor. 16:1). Paul is instructing the church in Corinth to give weekly opportunity to the congregation to present their tithes and offerings so that when he arrived to receive the offering designated to go the church in Jerusalem, they would have prepared for that special gift in advance.
(4) We should give with joy! "...God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Cor. 9:7).
(5) We should give with simplicity. "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them; if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches; in teaching, he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Romans 12:6-8) The word used for liberality is some versions is 'simplicity."
(6) We should give without stinginess. "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty" (Proverbs 11:24). "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be heard (answered)" (Proverbs 21:13).
"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25).
Jesus said, "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:38).
We conclude our lesson with this observation: Giving generously of our material possessions is Christ-like and Godly. Stinginess and selfishness is un-Christian. God gave His Son, Jesus gave His life...how can we be selfish when He has been so generous with us?
REMEMBER, THE ONLY THING WE REALLY KEEP IS WHAT WE HAVE GIVEN AWAY!