Burnt Store Presbyterian Church

To belong to our congregation is to be a steward. Some may say that “stewardship” is just a polite way of referring to financial giving to the church. But it’s far more than that. One character in some of Jesus’ parables is the steward — the servant charged by the master to care for the master’s property. It is the master, not the steward, who owns the property, but the steward is responsible for it and is accountable to the master. So it is, said Jesus, between God and us. As God’s stewards we have three responsibilities:

Receiving: We receive with joyful thanksgiving the many gifts that God showers upon us — time, talent, treasure, our bodies, our friendships, natural resources, and the beauty around us.

Managing: We take good care of what we have received. We manage these resources wisely — for our own good and the good of others.

Giving: Out of our gratitude in receiving so abundantly, we want to share with others. Let’s look at four kinds of gifts that we receive, manage, and share.

We did nothing to earn the hours, the days, the weeks of our lives. Time is a gift of God. How we choose to use it is a matter of stewardship. Some people lead lives of frenetic activity, always over-extending themselves to the point of exhaustion, while others sit around in apathetic boredom. Some spend all their hours serving the needs of others at the expense of their own, while others live only for themselves. As Christians we are challenged to make time count for the kingdom by aligning our priorities with God’s purposes.

Do you remember Jesus’ parable of the three servants who received different amounts of money to manage while the master was away? We’ve each received from God distinctive gifts and talents. How we develop and use these talents is a matter of stewardship. Like two of the servants in Jesus’ story, we can invest them wisely — or like the third, out of fear we can hide them (Matthew 25:14-30). Stewarding talent means cultivating, not burying – even small gifts matter in God’s kingdom.

We give because He gave first; the cross redefines Kingship; it is marked by giving, not taking. Treasure is a matter of the heart. Where you treasure is, there will be your heart also (Matthew 6:21). Offering is worship, not a transaction; it is not about charity, but about honoring the King who gave us everything.  Giving is most effective when we commit ourselves to give a definite proportion of our income through the church. For many, this proportion is one-tenth, or a tithe. Whatever the amount, we have discovered the joy in giving to God the “first fruits,” an amount “off the top” of our income, not what’s left over at the end of the month.

Telling the story of what God has done in our lives takes courage and humility to share stories of grace. But we are called to bear witness to God’s goodness and become a powerful witness to someone in our lives who needs to hear the story of Jesus and His love. God uses our voices and our actions to prepare hearts for Jesus.

God places people in our lives for a reason. Our ties (or connections)  matter; they are the soil in which faith grows. Who we walk with shapes how we walk. We are encouraged to be patient, to encourage one another, love deeply, forgive freely and invest in one another. As we nurture our relationships we become the community that reflects Christ’s love.