Biblical Stewardship 101

The Rev. Rob Blezard, Lower Susquehanna Synod

The Bible says a lot about stewardship and related concepts, such as generosity, caring, responsibility, gluttony, sharing, love, peace and justice. Here are Five Key Ideas and some verses that support them.

Key Idea 1: God owns everything -- all we have, all we are, even our very selves.

Key Idea 2: Since God owns everything, we are only caretakers of all we have, all we are and even our very selves.

Key Idea 3:As caretakers of “God’s stuff,” we have responsibility to use our lives and everything we have not for our own purposes, but for God’s.

Key Idea 4: God’s purposes include love, care ,and justice for our neighbor; care for creation; and peace on earth.

Key Idea 5: Watch out! Wealth can exert spiritual power over us, turning us away from God and neighbor, and blinding us to the needs of others.

Three steps to using this guide:

Keeping the five key ideas in mind …

  1. Pray over these passages, asking God to open your heart and mind to what you need to learn. (If you desire more Scriptural context, look them up in your Bible.)
  2. Ponder the “Think about it” questions.
  3. Consider which of the Key Ideas above the passage supports and why.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Think about it:

  • Who created heavens and earth?
  • What was there before God created heavens and earth?
  • So all we see, touch, taste, hear and smell is a creation of whom?
  • To whom does it belong?

Genesis 2:15

Then the LORD God took the human creature and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

Think about it:

  • Who created the garden; to whom does it belong?
  • What’s the human creature’s role as one who cultivates and keeps the garden?
  • What responsibilities go along with caretaking something that belongs to another?

Deuteronomy 8:12-14, 17-18

When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God. … Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.

Think about it:

  • What is the underlying teaching of this passage?
  • How does God’s caution in this text address human nature?
  • Does this teaching challenge your own view of your wealth? Our culture’s?
  • How do we “live into” this teaching?

Job 1:21

[Job said,] “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Think about it:

  • Were you naked when you entered the world?
  • What did you “own”?
  • What will you take with you when you die?
  • What will you “own” then?

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it; the world, and those who live in it.

Think about it:

  • How does this teaching contradict worldly attitudes?
  • What does it say about us as God’s people?
  • What does it say about whatever power and possessions we have?

Isaiah 58:

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to coverthem, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Think about it:

  • What do the oppressed, the hungry, the homeless poor, the naked have in common?
  • If we have enough to share, how does God want us to respond to these people?
  • How are we to treat our needy neighbors?

Malachi 3:8-10

Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.

Think about it:

  • What is this concept of “robbing God”? Do we do it today?
  • What is the expectation about giving and offering?
  • What is the promise God makes for generous giving?

Mark 10:23-25

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Think about it:

  • What is the thought that Jesus says three times? Do you think it’s important?
  • Explain the connection between possessions and entering the Kingdom of God?
  • How does this verse make you feel? How do we live into it?

Luke 12:32-34

[Jesus taught,] “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Think about it:

  • God gives us the kingdom. What does this mean to you?
  • Why is selling possessions and giving alms a proper response?
  • What does it mean to acquire treasure in heaven?
  • Why is your heart where your treasure is, and not the other way around?

Luke 12:48

[Jesus taught,] “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”

Think about it:

  • Why does God expect more of those who have more or who have been entrusted with more?
  • What do you think God expects of God’s people with more?
  • What has God given you and entrusted to you? How are you doing with it?

1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

Think about it:

  • Is money the problem, or the love of money? Explain.
  • In the gospels, what does Jesus command us to love above all else? Second? And money?
  • What happens if we love money above God and neighbor?
  • What’s our takeaway lesson with this? How do we live into it?

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