Stewardship as Counterculture: Stewardship by Design

Well, good afternoon to all of you.

Every few months, Dan and I, Dan Bielman and I, sit down and we plan out the preaching for the coming months.

And when we do this, we take a couple of things into account.

On the one hand, we want a balanced diet of Scripture.

We want to make sure that people are being exposed to the whole counsel of God.

And on the other hand, we take into account current things that are happening in the world,

issues that are relevant to our lives right here and now in Washington, D.C. and around the globe.

And so we try to bring those things together and then pray and ask the Lord

where we should be focusing our time and energy in our preaching on Sundays.

And there are a lot of issues we could focus on.

There's the whole issue of environmental degradation and climate change.

There's our work, our jobs, and how we think about those.

There's the whole realm of sexual ethics.

There's the whole realm of finances.

There's stress and the busyness culture that we live in.

There's relationships and friendships and parenting.

All of these things would be worthy topics.

But as we thought about this, we realized that there's actually a theme in Scripture

that runs from Genesis to Revelation that touches on all of these issues.

It actually runs under and shapes how we think about all of those things that I just listed.

And that theme is the theme of stewardship.

Now, I know that might not strike you as a profound topic to spend several weeks thinking about

because normally when it comes up in a church, it's capital campaign season

and it's time to raise some money.

And that's really the only time most churches talk about stewardship.

But if you look at Scripture, it actually is a central theme.

It's much bigger than money.

It's a theme that encompasses everything about what it means to be a human being

and then shapes how we think about our lives and the world that we live in.

And so over the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at this in more detail.

We're going to ask, what does it mean to be stewards of creation?

Stewards of our bodies.

Stewards of time itself.

Stewards of the grace and the gifts that the Lord has given us.

Stewards over our wealth and our privilege.

All of these different ways we'll apply it.

But this evening, what I want to do is just to spend a little time on the principle itself.

What is stewardship?

How do we understand it biblically?

And normally, for those of you who aren't a regular part of our church,

our practice is to preach expository sermons.

So we'll take a text and we'll walk through it and unpack it.

Every now and then, we do something a little different.

Tonight's going to be a little different.

We're going to do more of a survey.

So we will actually draw from all four passages that we read.

And from time to time, that's helpful when you're tracing a big theme like this,

just to see how all different parts of Scripture speak into and inform such a deep theme.

So that's what we're going to do.

So we're going to draw from all of those passages,

and we're going to see three things about stewardship.

We're going to see the foundation of it.

What's the basis for the whole concept of stewardship?

And then we're going to see the calling of stewardship,

and what that tells us about what it means to be a human being.

And then lastly, the promise of stewardship.

There is a promise woven into stewardship and an end toward which we all strive.

So foundation, calling, and promise of stewardship.

Let's pray.

Our Father, we will marinate in this truth that all of this is by you and for you.

And that includes this time.

And Lord, I thank you that we can gather around your written word

and rely not on the wisdom of human beings,

but on your promise to speak to us

and ultimately to reveal to us your living word, Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that we hope and pray.

Amen.

So the foundation of stewardship,

this is the first thing we want to consider together.

The whole idea of stewardship is based on one central premise.

And that premise you see in Psalm 24, verse 1.

Psalms 24:1

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein.

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

What is that saying?

Well, it's pretty simple.

Everything that exists belongs to God.

He made it and it's all his.

Every single thing.

So just think about that for a second.

Every molecule that exists.

Every drop of water.

Right?

Every grain of sand.

Every hair on your head.

Every breath you take.

Every thought you think.

Belongs to God.

It all belongs to him.

Abraham Kuyper, the touch theologian, famously said,

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence

over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry,

Mine.

It's all his.

And of course, if everything belongs to God,

if all of this belongs to him,

then logically, that means nothing belongs to us.

Right?

There is nothing over which we can say,

Mine.

Because Jesus has already claimed it as his.

So we live in a country, thankfully, that protects your right to own property.

Right?

Some countries don't.

We live in a country, free market capitalism is built on the idea of property ownership.

We can own personal property.

We can own the means of production.

That's the basis of our economy.

Right?

John Locke, Adam Smith, they talk a lot about this.

So legally, we can own stuff.

But spiritually, on a more fundamental level,

what this is saying is that we cannot own anything.

Because it's all God's.

Now, you may feel like I'm overdoing this a bit,

but there's a reason for that.

And that's because I think that this is a very easy concept to understand, logically.

But I also think it's just as easy to forget it.

So it's impossible for us to own anything,

because it all belongs to God.

Paul takes this a step further in Acts chapter 17,

Acts 17 · chapter mention

during his speech at the Areopagus.

He says in verse 24,

What's this saying?

God can't be manipulated.

That's what it's saying.

You can't manipulate God.

People who say,

you know, well, I made a deal with God.

If God will do this for me,

and I'm going to go to church and pray

and spend the rest of my life reading the Bible.

No.

You can't make deals with God.

He can't be manipulated.

Because He made everything,

and because He owns everything,

He doesn't need anything.

And I hate to break it to you,

but He doesn't need us.

At all.

In fact, He doesn't need creation.

At all.

It's not as though God was just sitting there in eternity,

bored.

You know?

Or lonely.

You know, saying,

I need some distraction,

diversion.

You know?

Let there be light.

Something.

No.

God was perfectly whole,

self-sustaining,

complete,

lacked for nothing.

There's no reason

that He needed to create anything at all.

And so what does that mean about all of this?

In a word,

it's unnecessary.

To God.

It's unnecessary.

Now, I'm not trying to make you feel insignificant.

In fact,

if you really think about it,

it's the unnecessity of creation

that makes it so absolutely,

breathtakingly wonderful.

people.

Because God is the kind of God

who would do this.

But He doesn't need it.

Right?

So I just want to sit with this for a few minutes

and let it sink in.

Why does this matter

and why would we spend time talking about it?

Well,

here's the thing.

C.S. Lewis,

if you've ever read his book,

Mere Christianity,

he says

that unless we understand

this concept

that God doesn't

need us,

we can't really come to understand

the gospel.

He says,

you cannot come to saving faith

if you don't get this idea.

And I say,

what in the world?

What's the connection there?

Well,

in order to understand the gospel,

we have to understand

and come to terms

with this fact.

No matter what we do for God,

no matter what we give God,

no matter how much we might try to serve God,

God will never owe us anything.

He doesn't need it.

He will never be in our debt.

Lewis says,

every faculty you have,

your power of thinking

or of moving your limbs

from moment to moment

is given you by God.

If you devoted every moment

of your whole life

exclusively to his service,

you could not give him anything

that was not,

in a sense,

his own already.

Right?

So if you spend all day

helping your friend move,

God bless you if you do that.

It's amazing.

It's a common need in D.C.

as people shuffle around

from place to place.

You spend all day

helping your friend.

You're giving your time.

You're giving your energy.

They're not entitled to that.

It's yours,

but you're giving it to them.

They're in your debt.

They owe you.

I hope they admit that.

I hope they at least got you pizza

or told you thank you.

Right?

But they're in your debt.

It's not like that with God.

Because God already owns

all of your time

and all of your energy.

It's already his.

Right?

So Lewis says,

it's kind of like

a little girl

borrowing $20 from her dad

to go buy him

a birthday present.

You know?

I mean,

it's sweet and nice

and he opens the present

and I'm sure he appreciates it.

But nobody would argue

that he's just gained $20.

Right?

That's his money.

It just did a big circle.

Right?

And just came right back to him.

And he says,

all of our time,

all of our energy,

if we spent the rest of our lives

serving God,

that's like we just borrowed $20

and then gave it back.

That's all it is.

It doesn't work that way with God.

So,

here's how this connects

to our faith.

If we want to think about it.

First of all,

just kind of a side point,

this is one of the reasons

that the medieval Catholic doctrine

of indulgences

just doesn't hold up.

Because that's based on the idea

that I can do works

of super irrigation.

Right?

I can go above and beyond

what is required of me

and earn credit with God

and then I can use that

to bring about

supernatural results.

I can kind of cash it in.

Right?

It doesn't work that way.

Because you could spend

your whole life

going above and beyond

and you're just giving to God

what is already God's.

You can't accumulate credit.

Now,

to get a little more practical

for the rest of us

who are not

kind of mired

in medieval Catholicism,

how does this touch

our lives right now?

Well,

let's just think about this

for a second.

I think that most of us,

whether we admit it or not,

I think you sit in church

and we talk about the gospel

and the amazing grace

that is on offer to us

and I think most of us

just kind of say,

eh,

alright.

Yeah,

God forgives.

I know.

And preachers like me

stand up and we say,

isn't it amazing

that God forgives sin?

And we say,

yeah,

I guess.

But if I'm really honest,

you know,

I've just been hearing that

for years

and it's kind of boring.

Yeah,

God forgives.

I know.

And we just sort of

feel numb to it.

We feel apathetic

to the gospel.

And honestly,

I think one of the reasons

that we may feel that way

when we think about forgiveness

is because I think

deep down

we kind of think

we're entitled to forgiveness.

You know,

as though it's a kind of

contractual obligation.

Right?

We've set up this contract

with God.

As long as I come

and I say that I'm sorry

and I do my part

and I promise to do better,

then of course God

is going to forgive me.

In fact,

God is probably

ethically bound

to forgive me.

In fact,

you know,

if God's in the business

of forgiving people,

He probably is going to

forgive somebody like me.

I'm not nearly as bad

as a lot of people out there.

Of course He would forgive

somebody like me.

And I think what we need

to understand is

God does not owe us anything.

There's no reason

why God should forgive us.

He's not bound

by anything to forgive us.

And here's the hard thing

that we need to wrestle with.

It's not a popular thing

to talk about these days.

But if God's response

to our sin

and our rebellion

was to cast us into,

as the parable says,

the outer darkness

of hell

where there's weeping

and gnashing of teeth

and turn His back on us,

He would be perfectly justified

in doing so.

Perfectly justified.

If I fell on my face

before God

and said,

I repent of everything

and I spent the rest

of my life

outdoing Mother Teresa

in goodness

and God cast me

into the outer darkness,

He would be perfectly

justified in doing so.

He has no obligation

to forgive us.

The only reason

that God chose

to send Jesus,

chose to make a way

to be reconciled to Him,

extends the grace

of forgiveness,

is because He chooses to.

It's simply a matter

of His willingness

to suspend justice

and extend mercy.

He doesn't owe us anything.

So the Gospel says

that even though God

owed us nothing,

He gave us everything.

But until you understand

the nothing part,

the everything part

is not going to really

mean a whole lot.

So this is the first aspect

of stewardship.

The foundation of stewardship

is that everything belongs

to God,

nothing belongs to us.

God doesn't owe us anything

or need us for any reason.

Now that's what makes

the second point so amazing

because even though

we're completely

cosmically unnecessary,

God still chooses

to give us a central role

in the cosmos,

which is an amazing thing

to think about.

So this brings us

to the second point,

the calling of stewardship,

that stewardship is a calling.

And so we're going to

shift our attention

away from Psalm 24

and Acts 17.

We're going to look briefly

at Genesis 1.

Genesis 1 says this.

It shows us that human beings

are created by God

and then it essentially

shows us the mission statement

that God gives human beings.

Here's why you're here.

Verse 28.

Be fruitful and multiply

and fill the earth

and subdue it

and have dominion

over the fish of the sea

and over the birds

of the heavens

and over every living thing

that moves on the earth.

So here's humanity's purpose.

Have dominion.

Here's why you're here.

Have dominion.

Exercise lordship.

Now God is not saying,

I created this world,

here you go,

had fun with it,

I'm out of here.

God says,

no,

this is my world

but I want you

to rule over it.

I want you to have dominion

in my name.

Right?

So this is by definition

a call to stewardship.

You know,

in the Greek,

the word steward

is made up of two words.

Oikos and namos.

And oikos means house

or household.

Namos means rule or ruler.

So a steward is literally

the ruler of the house.

And in ancient times

and biblical times,

the steward had dominion

over the house.

They had dominion

over all of the family affairs.

They had dominion

over all the family finances

and investments,

the family business.

They had dominion

over all of the servants

and all of the slaves

and all the personnel

connected to the oikos.

They had total dominion,

total say.

And yet,

rarely if ever,

was that steward

the owner.

In fact,

the vast majority of the time

the steward was a slave

who belonged to

the owner,

the master of the house.

And in the same way,

when we look at Genesis,

it's as though God

is creating this great

cosmic house,

a temple.

All of creation

is like a great household.

Oikonomia, right?

Economy, right?

He's creating

the whole cosmos

and he's saying,

I want you,

my servants,

to be stewards

and have dominion

over all of this.

So this is the calling

that he gives

to human beings.

And a good steward

is marked by one

central characteristic.

What makes a good steward?

What would you think

makes a good steward?

A good steward uses

all that's been

entrusted to her

in ways

not that advance

her own self-interest,

but rather in ways

that advance

the interest

of the owner, right?

So she's not about

advancing her own

self-interest

and agendas

and pet projects.

She wants to use

everything that's been

given to her

in ways that advance

the interests

of the owner.

That's by definition

what it means

to be a steward.

And I hope you understand

that stewardship

as a mentality

is radically

counter-cultural

in our society.

Because we live

in a society

where there's

a high focus

on ownership.

And yet the

ownership mentality

and the stewardship

mentality

are radically

opposed

to one another.

I mean,

just think about

the difference.

I'll just give you

a couple of differences

between these two

ways of thinking

and living in the world.

An ownership mentality

focuses on rights,

first of all.

So when you're

thinking like an owner,

you're focused

on your rights.

This is

my time,

my home,

this is

my money,

this is

my body,

this is

these are

my resources,

right?

And I have

a legal right

to do whatever

I want

with my stuff.

And that's

how an owner

thinks.

Now by contrast,

a steward

says,

I may have

a legal right

to some of

this stuff,

but they don't

think really

in terms of

rights,

they focus

on responsibilities.

What is

my responsibility

with all

that's been

entrusted to me?

And for our

purposes,

how am I

responsible to

God for

how I use

all that's

been entrusted

to me?

And so you

have to ask,

what are

God's priorities?

What's

God's design

for this?

What was

God's intention

in creating

this and

giving it

to me?

What are

God's values?

What is the

end that God

wants to

bring about?

And then how

do I use

all that's

been entrusted

to me to

serve that

end?

It's a very

different mentality,

rights versus

responsibilities.

Another way

that owners

and stewards

are different

is people

with an

ownership

mentality

assume they

are completely

autonomous.

I can do

what I want

with my stuff,

it's my stuff,

nobody can tell

me how I

can,

what I should

or shouldn't

do with my

stuff,

nobody has a

right to do

that because

it's mine.

And there's

an assumption

there that there

will never be

an accounting.

I can do

what I want,

live how I

want,

no problem.

Nobody will

ever have a

right to speak

into that.

But stewards

recognize that

we're not

ultimately

autonomous.

We may have

a functional

autonomy here

and now,

but one day

just like in

the parable

of the talents,

the master

will come

and ask us

to give an

accounting.

So stewards

live every day

knowing that

one day we

will be called

to give an

account.

There's a

passage in the

New Testament

that speaks

specifically to

pastors and

church leaders,

not just

pastors,

church leaders

in general.

people and

says one

day you

will be

called to

give an

account for

how you

stewarded

God's

people.

That should

be chilling

if you're

in church

leadership.

One day

you'll have to

give an

account.

Were you a

good steward?

So there's a

sense of

accountability.

So rights

versus

responsibilities,

autonomy

versus

accountability,

radically

different

mentalities.

So human

beings are

called to be

stewards who

are responsible

and accountable

to God

rather than

owners who

think only

about their

rights and

their autonomy.

Now again,

let's just ask

why does this

matter?

Why are we

talking about

this?

Well, on the

one hand,

we're going to

talk a lot

more about

this in the

weeks to

come.

We're going

to focus,

as I said,

on applying

this idea

in lots of

different ways.

But I just

want to make

one brief

overarching point

that we'll

come back to

in the weeks

to come.

Here's the

overarching point.

Let's just

use logic.

If human

beings were

created,

to be

stewards,

that means

that a

stewardship

mentality

is inherently

humanizing.

In other

words,

the more

I live

and think

and act

like a

steward,

the more

truly human

I become.

And I just

want you to

think about

what that

looks like.

I mean,

just imagine

the world

if everyone

lived with

a stewardship

mentality.

If we all

assumed I'm

responsible to

God and

I'm accountable

to God

with how I

use everything

that's been

entrusted to

me.

And I want

to live in

ways that

advance his

interests over

my own.

What's a great

summary of

God's interests

and priorities?

We just said it

earlier.

Love God with

all your heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength,

and love your

neighbor as

yourself.

Right?

So imagine if

that ethic

shaped how we

used our money

and our homes

and our time

and our bodies

and our jobs

and our privilege

and our wealth

and everything

that we could

list.

Imagine that

world.

It would be a

world of

sharing.

It would be a

world of

generosity.

It would be a

world of

interdependence.

It would be a

world of

closeness and

community.

It would be a

world of

justice and

mercy.

That's the kind

of world we

want to live

in.

What an

amazing world

that would

be if that

was the

dominant ethic,

if we all

lived like

stewards.

See, it's

radically

humanizing

to live as

a steward.

Now, if

that's true,

then the

opposite is

also true.

If a

stewardship

mentality

humanizes

us, then

an ownership

mentality

dehumanizes

us.

It's

destructive

to human

life and

potential.

Now, that

may not be

an immediate

connection.

Let me just

give you a

concrete example.

Harvey

Weinstein.

Great

example.

Current

example.

But by

no means

unique.

See, the

whole Harvey

Weinstein

situation is

not just a

case of

sexual addiction

or a

failure of

sexual assault

laws or

the result of

too many people

keeping quiet.

I mean, it's

all of those

things, but it's

not just those

things.

This is a

great portrait

of what it

looks like when

a human being

lives with no

sense of

responsibility

responsibility

or accountability

to anything

outside their

own desires.

This is what

it starts to

look like

when we live

for too long

unchecked

like we own

the place,

like we can do

whatever we want,

whatever our heart

puts into our

minds to do.

This is what it

looks like.

And it

dehumanizes.

Right?

So you have a

man who has

power, and yet

he doesn't

steward that

power.

He doesn't see

it in terms of

responsibility or

accountability.

And we see what

it does.

It doesn't just

begin to dehumanize

him, it begins

to dehumanize

other people in

his perception.

Right?

So other people

become bodies

to be owned

and used

however we see

fit.

It's literally

inhuman.

Right?

So as we

think about

this mentality,

it's much more

than just an

esoteric concept.

The more we

live like stewards,

the more we're

being true to

our design as

human beings,

the more we

live like owners,

the more twisted

and distorted

we become.

So the

premise behind

stewardship is

that everything

belongs to God,

and yet humans

by design are

called to be

stewards.

What's all

this for?

As we move

to the final

point, what's

the point of

all this?

What's the

hope?

And here's

where I think

stewardship is

really fascinating.

We get a

glimmer of this

in Matthew 25.

Jesus tells the

parable of the

talents, and as

you just heard

me read, the

parable is

essentially this,

that the

master is going

to go away on

a business trip,

and he brings

his three trusty

servants to him,

and he disperses

his wealth, and

don't worry about

how much a talent

is.

Essentially,

imagine he

says, I'm going

to give you

five million

dollars, I'm

going to give

you two

million dollars,

and I'm

going to give

you one

million dollars.

A lot of

money, and

he goes away

on a business

trip, and the

first two double

their money, they

double the

investment, and

so when the

master returns and

finds out what

they've done, he

says to each of

them, well done,

good and faithful

servant.

You've been

faithful over a

little, I will set

you over much.

Enter into the

joy of your

master.

See, this is

pointing us towards

something that the

Bible teaches in a

number of places,

faithful stewardship

is rewarded, that

those who are over

little in this

life will be set

over much in the

life to come, and

even more than

that, that they

will be able to

enter fully into the

joy of their

master.

Now, what does

that mean for us as

we think about

God?

All of this that

we're stewards over

now will one day be

ours to enjoy

forever.

forever.

It will be ours.

The Bible says that

we are co-heirs with

Christ, and so we're

stewarding that which

will become our

inheritance that we

gain alongside Jesus

Christ, which is an

amazing thing to think

about.

But it's not the world

that it is now.

We're just over a

little now.

This is the world as

it will be when Jesus

Christ makes all things

new.

Imagine this world, the

healing of all

creation, justice

filling the earth, all

humanity united as

one, no more racial

division, the end of

all disease and decay

and death.

The Bible says that as

we're co-heirs with

Christ, one day we

will inherit the world

that Christ has

remade.

So then you ask,

okay, well, what's the

point then of stewardship

now?

Well, stewardship is the

way that we as

Christians offer a

preview to the rest of

the world of what new

creation will be like.

Here's what families will

look like.

Here's what relationships

will look like.

Here's how wealth will be

distributed.

Here's how time will be

spent.

Here's how all of these

things will be used.

Here's a kingdom vision, a

preview.

Right?

So Christians are called

to be a radically

countercultural community

and we're called to use

things like sex and money

and power not to advance

our own self-interest but

in ways that advance the

interests of our Lord Jesus

Christ.

That's stewardship in this

world and it's a living

preview.

Right?

And of course as we think

and we reflect on this, the

greatest example of

stewardship in history is

of course Jesus Christ.

If you want to see a good

steward, look to him.

His entire life was one

great act of stewardship.

How do we know?

Because it was defined by

this.

Not my will but thy will be

done.

That's the essence of

stewardship.

So he was willing to give

up glory and honor.

He was willing to give up

comfort.

He was willing to become

essentially homeless, to be

rejected, to ultimately be

tortured and suffer and die

to be rejected by his

father.

All for the sake of doing

his father's will.

His father had a plan, had

an end and Jesus said my

entire life, earthly life, I

will devote to the father's

end.

That's stewardship.

And he didn't withhold

anything.

And I think this is our

great hope as we consider

the calling of stewardship

in our own lives.

I mean the fact is we're

going to constantly slip

back and forth into an

ownership mentality.

I'm going to do it all the

time.

I do it, you know, I'm at

great risk.

The greatest risk in terms

of my time is Sunday

night.

I have a great day.

We have church in

Brooklyn in the morning

and I normally have lunch

and hang out with people in

midday and then I come

here and we worship

together in the evening

and then after that I go

home and I'm so prone to

say this is my time.

This is my time.

You know who needs me

then?

My kids who haven't seen

me all day.

My wife who's been taking

care of our soon to be

12 week old by herself all

day.

They need me.

Right?

But I'm so prone to go home

and say this is my time.

It's not my time.

There's no such thing as my

time.

It doesn't exist as a concept.

It's totally meaningless.

But I do it anyway.

And again and again and

again we're going to fall

back into that ownership

mentality again and again

and again.

And so our hope ultimately

is not to get it right.

Right?

One day we'll get it right.

It's to try.

But then to know that when

we fail, guess what?

Jesus, the perfect steward,

is our hope.

Because he was the steward in

his father's house.

He was the son in his

father's house.

And yet he was willing to

be cast out into the outer

darkness where there is

weeping and gnashing of

teeth.

Why?

To guarantee that we always

have a place in the father's

house.

That no matter how much we

might screw up, how unfaithful

we might be with our

investment, that we will

always have a place.

Not just as stewards, but as

sons and daughters who will

one day inherit the earth with

Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

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