“The Steward’s Identity Shapes Giving” 1 Corinthians 16:1, Oct. 7th, ‘12

1.             Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Today’s the first week of our stewardship emphasis living each day as a steward.   Our text for is taken from 1 Corinthians 16:1 “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.”  I hope and pray that the message today titled, “The Steward’s Identity Shapes Giving” as well as those messages you’ll hear over the next two weeks will help us become people who live each day as stewards.  Dear brothers & sisters in Christ.
2.             There are many Christians who have misunderstandings about what stewardship is.  Because of this they often react negatively when it’s talked about.  One of the major misconceptions is that it deals strictly with the “M” word, you know, “money.”  Or, as some people may put it, the church’s lack of money.  It’s my prayer as your Pastor that I can help you disconnect stewardship from the idea that it’s only about “paying the bills.”  At the heart of stewardship is a personal relationship with Jesus.  I’m convinced that there’s little in life that can help us grow in our relationship with Jesus more than solid Biblical stewardship.  So, today let’s put all of our ideas about stewardship aside.  Let’s start all over with our understanding of stewardship by getting back to basics of God’s Word.
3.             First of all, God has chosen us to be His stewards.  He has given us our identity as His stewards.  It’s first being a steward before it’s doing stewardship.  Who we are determines what we do.  Everything we do and say and everywhere we go flows from our sense of identity.  Understanding whose we are and our identity as God’s stewards, we seek to please Him by faithfully doing His will.  As stewards, we manage everything that the Lord has given us, which is everything that we are and have.  Then we’re to see to it that it’s used in the most useful manner according to God’s will to help build His kingdom.  Stewardship, then, is service to God from the perspective of being a manager or steward of what He has given us.  In the words of Dr. Walton Greever: “Christian stewardship is what I do after I have once said, ‘I believe!’  It’s the response of my entire life to Christ out of gratitude for amazing love that meant death on the cross.  It is giving of everything I am and everything I have to Him, as He directs.  It’s total commitment.  It’s faith in action.”  You can see from that definition that what you give to the church monetarily speaking is only a small portion of the overall stewardship picture.
4.             Second, in our text for today we note that Paul gave instruction to the churches of Galatia concerning stewardship, specifically the stewardship of that portion of money to be used for the Lord’s work and that he’s extending those instructions to the Corinthians, and in a very real way, to us.  How do you determine how much of your time, abilities, and resources you’ll give back to the Lord for work in his kingdom?  Well, Paul gives some information in a very specific way in the verse following our text.  “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collection when I come.”  Then in chapters 8 and 9 of his second letter to the Corinthians he expands on that verse starting at the very beginning, with the reason why we give.  St. Paul spends almost the entire chapter before our text sharing what Christ’s death and resurrection means to us: the fact that all Christians will one day rise from death to new life.  This is what causes us to be concerned about the spiritual and physical well-being of others.  We love because Christ first loved us.  Responding to His love and sacrifice on the cross for our sins, we live each day as God’s stewards.  With changed hearts, our identity changes from being self-centered people to being God-centered. 
5.             The following story is an illustration of what Christ has done for us.  There was a boy who lived near the Atlantic Ocean.  Because of this he had a lot of contact with sailors and boats.  One day he decided to make his own model sailboat.  He got together all the things he needed.  It was getting near the end of summer so the boy planned to work on his boat during the cold winter months when he couldn’t go outside.  Every spare moment he had he spent working on his sailboat: after school, on Saturdays, and holidays.  Finally, spring came and after hundreds of hours of work, the sailboat was finished.  It was the most perfect model you’d ever seen of a 3 masted schooner.  The boy was so excited.  He picked up his sailboat and headed for the bay.  He put the sails in place, and there was a perfect wind blowing.  Out to sea and away sailed the boat.  Oh no!  In his excitement the boy hadn’t thought of a way to bring his boat back.  As it sailed out of sight the boy swallowed hard trying to hold back the tears.  What he’d worked so hard to make and what had given him so much joy was now making him sadder then he had ever been before.  He loved that boat.  Well, one day about mid-summer of that year the boy was walking in town when what should he see in the window of the hobby store but a boat.  From the distance it looked something like the one he had built.  He took a closer look.  There it was!  It was a little weather-beaten and needed a few repairs, but it was his boat.  The merchant had bought it from a sailor, and, in order for the boy to have it back, he would have to pay a price.  The boy worked hard all summer to earn enough money to buy his sailboat back.  Finally, he had enough.  He ran to the store, paid the merchant, picked up his boat in his arms and said, “Now you’re twice mine.  First, I made you, and now I’ve bought you back again.”
6.             Brothers and sisters, we are twice God’s.  First, He made us, and then, by the holy precious blood of his only Son, Jesus, Who shed His blood and life on the cross of Calvary, He bought us back again.  The price has been paid and He’s forgiven us all our sins.  He’s forgiven us for all the wrongs we’ve repented of and as well as those for which we haven’t repented—even when we’re unforgiving.  He’s given us a new identity: He calls us His children (John 1:12)!  That love of God which we see in that forgiveness is where Christian stewardship begins.  With God’s love is connected the first of four basic principles of Christian stewardship—that we, with God’s help, give ourselves to the Lord.  That we give Jesus the first and foremost place in our lives, that we make Him the central point of our lives.  Everything we are and do we do with eyes fixed on Him.
7.             We do that because of the second principle of Christian stewardship which is that we know the grace of Christ.  In 2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul says we know “that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.”  We know the great love our heavenly father has for us by the very fact of our salvation brought about by his Son Jesus.  So, if we give ourselves to the Lord because we know the grace of Christ, then we’ll recognize the third principle of Christian Stewardship—the needs of ministry in extending God’s Church and the needs of those around us, and we will willingly and cheerfully seek to meet those needs.              
8.             That brings us to the fourth principle of Christian stewardship—the promise, the blessing that comes with it.  The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7 writes:  “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  Did you hear that?  “God loves a cheerful giver.”  When we give cheerfully, we give joy to our Heavenly Father as we display His image and likeness.  The prophet Malachi wrote of that blessing almost as a challenge to us.  “’Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house.  And thereby put Me to the test,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need’”  (Malachi 3:10).
9.             For sure, I believe that’s a challenge to us.  How much should you give to the Lord Who has given you all things?  The Old Testament law was 10% and over a three-year period could reach as high as 23 1/3%.  But that was the law.  Christ fulfilled the requirements of that law for us, so now we give as the Lord has given to us, as we have prospered.  We’re no longer bound by the Law, for the Gospel has given us a new identity.  We live under grace.  As new creatures, we’re not limited to ten percent.  As such, we’re channels through which God sends His blessings out to those around us, to meet the needs as they exist, according to His will!  The more we give to meet those needs, the more God will bless us that we may give even more.  “Put me to the test,” says the Lord almighty.  So that He can show us His love and faithfulness, God wants us to test Him as people living each day as stewards.  What are you waiting for?  Amen.