RevWrites- November 8

Money. I always become a little concerned when we talk about it at church. My concern is because someone almost always says that “Macken’s always talking about money.”

Peter Horsfield, an Aussie minister and scholar, in the Australian Ministry Journal (May 1991) wrote: “In the Gospels ... an amazing one out of ten verses (288 in all) deal directly with the subject of money. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less then 500 on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions.”

This week we’re looking at Stewardship. Stewardship starts with the biblical concept that God owns everything. That is a very comforting biblical doctrine. Why? Because my Father owns everything. I’m sure there’ve been times when our children have wished their earthly father owned a lot more. It would give them more security.

But my heavenly Father owns everything so I am eternally secure. And he gives me things to use. He’s given me a life, a wife, a family, a church and countless other gifts. He expects me to look after them, to steward them. Steward is an old term that means to manage or look after something for the owner. Everything God has given me he expects me to manage on his behalf.

How well I manage these gifts depends on how much I value the owner. Because I want to worship the owner I will manage his things as best I can. I want to express his worth-ship by looking after his things.

To manage well I need to know what the owner’s interests are. I guess it’s a bit like a business manager. He might work really hard at looking after the staff. He might do really well in establishing new contacts and developing business opportunities. He might pour many hours into the business, even to the cost to his family.

But if the business doesn’t produce the product the owner wants, then he’s not managed well. He hasn’t pleased the owner.

God has made his interests clear. NAC is very clear about God's interests. The Makeover we started last year was very clear. God is interested in growing disciples of Jesus. That’s his interest. That’s the “output” he’s interested in.

God expects us to use everything he has given us to look out for his interests. As we grow up as followers of Jesus so we become better at stewardship, at looking after our Father’s interests.

Neil