Takin’ Care of Business Stewardship: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to ones care. I would like to add: Responsible management of the Word of God entrusted to us. Treasure: Strong Attachment to a possession or something protected Now at that, everything we have belongs to God and we ‘manage’ it for His Glory. A steward can own nothing but in this will take the greatest of all cares of His Master’s belongings. Deposit this into your brainpan; Treasure: ‘Strong attachment’ to something that is valued by us, in some cases even an ‘esteemed’ colleague can be a treasure, a relationship above all others. A good steward will also protect the Master’s treasures, and will hide them for greater protection if need be. Something very valuable to the master should also be highly valued by the steward, up to and including protecting it unto death, but I will explain that further in a minute… The Levitical Priests were stewards of the Tabernacle and the Temple, and when the Temple was rebuilt by Nehemiah and Ezra, as is spoken of in their perspective manners, Nehemiah writes, “I have appointed treasurers over the treasuries, for these men have been counted as faithful.” Nehemiah 13:13, paraphrased. Now this verse would seem appropriate, because by the time that Jesus came around the Temple was in complete shambles and in chaos, as is spoken of in the book of John chapter 2, when Jesus lit into them for desecrating the sacred grounds, 13 meaning rebellion and lawlessness. Let’s move on here, Jesus spoke to the masses and said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure that has been hid in a field, Matthew 13:44, “And when a certain man found the treasure, he sold everything he had to buy the field.” This is how we should be to be partakers of all that is of the Kingdom of Heaven, taking stewardship over the treasure and guarding it with everything we have in our being, for our wellbeing… People have died to protect their treasures, and I ask you, is this selfish? Well it depends on the treasure itself. Because if it is of the Spirit, shouldn’t we be like this? Are we to be the shepherds that leave the Master’s flock because of danger? Shouldn’t we take ownership and not abandon our bread and butter? Proverbs 15:6, “In the ‘house’ of the righteous there is much ‘treasure’.” Get it? So where is the ‘house’ of the righteous, if the Holy Spirit resides in us? Shouldn’t we take care of the ‘treasure’? Shouldn’t we be STEWARDS of what is written in our hearts? Shouldn’t we be keepers of the laws of the Kingdom, unto death? Sorry for all the questions, But I feel it appropriate to ask these things…. Luke 16 speaks of a house manager but what happens to an unworthy servant. At this, allot of so called ‘stewards’ today embezzle from the house in which they keep! So now and soon enough they will be removed from the Master’s house because they took His treasures for granted. And He will be kicked out into the wilderness to be eaten by the very same wolves that were also in his charge, because of his lack of loyalty and casting himself before the needs of the household, remember the old adage, “you cannot serve God and wealth.” Amen to that my dear friend. In all of this I say there is one thing God has given us, and that is our testimony. He gives us this to share with others, that they too may become stewards of the Word of God, and share also what God has charged us with, and to always share in the wealth of the treasure that God has given us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! He has also given us a seed to take care of, a seed to plant in fertile ground that will grow and produce enough fruit to feed an entire nation! Hallelujah!!! O.K., Back to Stewardship; We see in 1st Chronicles 28:1 David counts all the Stewards in with the Mighty men of Valor, the tribal leaders and even the captains of the armies and also with Princes! They were counted among the men that would take charge of the building of the House of the Lord! How Awesome is that?! To be counted with the mighty men of Valor. Now at this, being counted in doesn’t mean going and sticking your head out there to be cut off, saying things like, “Look at me! Look what I do! Who are you that are outside the loop?!” As Paul speaks in Philippians 2:3-4, “Don’t do anything for selfish purposes but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of watching out for your own good watch out for what is better for others first.. Adopt the attitude that is in Christ.” Read verse 6-11, it’s a pretty awesome Word and this too is how we should live until our final moments also. “Humbling ourselves by becoming obedient to the point of death.” We have to give up all we have or all that is asked of us to become a proper steward, maintaining our Master’s possessions 24-7-52. Deuteronomy 30:17, “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and ‘serving’ them, I’m telling you right now that you will definitely die.” See this? This is it, bottom line. Sure I’m sure satan is going to try to make it look like he can give you more in this world right now if you serve in his house, but this is bondage until death of the soul, not servitude unto life in eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. Take a look at Ruth, a Moabite servant, a worthy servant, maintaining a diligence that surpassed all others and then truly became rewarded for her works. She just kept her duties and kept to herself, not worried about what others thought of her performance. Can you imagine what the gossip must have been like? A Moabite woman in the town of Bethlehem catching the eye of all the other workers because she was also catching the eye of their Master? And him recognizing her work? WOW! I can almost hear the chatter of the Israelite women right now! It was probably enough to burn anyone’s ear! John 1:12, “But those who recognized Him he authorized to become His children.” Those who welcome the ‘Steward’, the carrier of the ‘Word’, that which was and is the ‘Word’ itself, He authorizes us to become ‘Stewards’ of this ‘Word’, the ‘Word’ of God. This is real here folks, I can’t make this stuff up.I don’t have the brain capacity to even attempt a story like this! My head would explode!!! And that gets pretty messy, it’s happened once before. Well, almost anyway… Remember this; One day our tombs will be empty also! Galatians 5:1, “Christ has set us free for freedom. Therefore, stand firm and do not submit to the bondage of slavery again.” 1st Corinthians 4:2, “Think about it this way, as servants of Christ we are ‘managers’ or, ‘stewards’ of God’s secrets.” In this kind of a situation what is expected of us as a manager is that we prove to be faithful.” Verse 5 speaks volumes as it says, “He will make people’s motivations public.” In that, the word that is in us will convict us and show people who we really are in Christ, and how we take care of what has been put inside our hearts & souls. As a result of our ‘Stewardship’ 1 Peter 4:2 says this, “We don’t live our lives anymore in ways determined by our human desires, but in ways that are determined by God’s Will.” In verse 10 it speaks, “As every man has received the same gift, even so minister one to another, as good ‘Stewards’ of the manifold Grace of God.” Manifold basically meaning; In the Character of… so we are ‘stewards’ of the Word, and we must minister in the character of the Grace of God.” Check out chapter 2, it speaks of us being immigrants that we still must live honorably in this place, and because when we are steadfast and righteous in our endurance while we are here and suffer among men for this, while taking care of the all the good things that are of God, God will commend us for this. Amen! Well, there is so much more to this, and it leads into another subject on being Ambassadors of the Word of God, but I’ll save that for another chapter…. Anyway… Be Blessed and Stay Blessed, God Bless and He Will!!! GLORY TO GOD FOREVER!! IN THE NAME OF JESUS… AMEN!
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 22:34:52 +0000
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