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St. John's United Methodist
Church
515 South McDuffie
Street
Anderson, South Carolina 29624-2330
Telephone: 864-224-6563
FAX: 864-224-8330
If you were asked to explain the meaning of
"stewardship" to a group of people who had never heard
the word, how would you define it?
Here's God's definition, told in word pictures from the first
chapter of Genesis, verses 28 through 30.
"God blessed them, and God said unto them 'Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.' And God
said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed, which is
upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is
the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,
and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I have given every green herb for meat': and it was
so."
This beautiful
definition continues in Genesis 2:15, where you'll read,
"And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden
of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it."
Just as with Adam and Eve, God put you here to care for His
garden, to be the keeper of all He has put before you. This is a
picture of stewardship.
Indeed, God created the heavens and the earth and placed you in
His garden and told you to prune the bushes and pluck the fruit.
What love! And what an opportunity for you! But remember, it's
God's garden.
And it's at this point -- this idea of ownership -- that many
Christians go awry. They see themselves as owners.
God didn't intend for you to be owner of the garden, just its
caretaker. That's what He envisioned for your first parents, Adam
and Eve.
However, when tempted by Satan, they violated the trust God had
bestowed upon them. They were supposed to take care of the garden
according to the instructions and under the authority of the
owner, who was God. But they failed.
This matter of failed stewardship is believed by many theologians
to be the original sin.
If you carry this thought all the way through God's Word, you
will see that this idea of stewardship is prominent in the New
Testament as well.
You will see that your place is to take care of God's world.
That's why you must envision your- self as God's steward, as
manager of His affairs, and always, always subject to reporting
to Him.
"Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God," Paul writes in Romans 14:12. That includes being a reliable and trustworthy steward. Taking care of God's garden is a mighty responsibility, but it's what stewardship is all about.