Stewardship is one of those Christianese words I've heard in church all my life. I can remember sitting bored on those fiery-orange upholstered pews (which were significantly more comfortable than the new pews with their rather non-descript, hotel curtains-esque pattern and hard wooden backs) leaning my head on the flat, sticky headrail on the back of the pew before me and staring aimlessly down to the same color of glaring orange in the carpet. Trying to stretch my toes to snag the little wooden footstool from in front of my brother, I remember words falling all around me--words like "budget" and "good steward" and "planning for the future" and "wise, careful use of money" and "financial stability." These were usually part of a sermon bearing some form of the word "Stewardship" in its title. The parable of the good stewards and bad steward was always present to some degree, affirming the stability and godliness of western banking practices, and the Proverbs were an inexhaustible source of back-up material for denegrating wasteful spending and advancing financial investing. Of course, tithing was touched on--usually with some awkwardness because the one teaching the pew-sitters to tithe was the most direct beneficiary of the tithe. Thus was formed my understanding of "good, Christian stewardship," meaning, "Don't get into debt; if you do, pay it back; do your homework to invest your money wisely; tithe and thereby show your gratitude for God's having blessed us with so much wealth."
However, also throughout my life, I've been taught a different kind of stewardship. General life choices stewardship, stemming from the verse in I Corinthians 6 about my life not being my own but having been "bought with a price" by Someone else. Therefore, of course, it was not my prerogative what to do with my life; I had to follow the will of God. He is my Master, I merely His steward.
None of this that I've related is false teaching. It's all true, but is it complete? Are these teachings, in fact, central to an essential understanding of "stewardship," whether financial or otherwise? And why do they look different? Why is the basis for wise financial stewardship the generation of wealth and the obviation of risk (i.e. stability), while the basis for stewardship in the rest of my life is the mysterious "will of God" and avoidance of worldly influences?
I am currently living in a situation that very closely parallels these New Testament teachings about a master and a steward. I live on a piece of property adjacent to my landlord's own dwelling, and I and my wife work for our rent. I do whatever Travis tells me to do. I use his tools, spend his money, and tend to his land. None of it's mine. And so whenever he gives me a project to work on, I do it. Even if I would do nothing of the sort were it my own money and property. People have asked me: Why are you cleaning out those woods? Why are you burning that stuff? Why do you mow that entire field? Sometimes I understand Travis's thinking, other times not. The bottom line is: Travis desires it; it's his money, not mine; I'm going to do it. That's stewardship. Taking care of what is not yours in the way the owner desires. So if Travis hands me $200 and tells me to buy $200 worth of bubble-blowing soap and set up a continuously-fed bubble loop in front of the industrial-size fan in his barn, even though no one will ever see the bubbles, I do it. Wasteful? I don't worry about it. I do it, and that's good stewardship on my part.
Good stewardship, you see, is not necessarily using money in a way that merits the approval of the gurus on Wall Street. Good stewardship is doing with "your" money whatever God (whose it is) tells you to do with that money--even if it looks absolutely foolish to the world at large. Of course, I do not ignore the financial principles given in the Proverbs and other passages. I have bank accounts; I budget; I work to feed my family.
But that is not all that Jesus tells us to do with money. His money. Read the New Testament looking for a theme in its treatment of money. There is one. It goes like this: Give, even to the point of hazarding your livelihood. Then, when you've found yourself in a hazardous place financially--"do not be anxious, for your Father knows what you need. Seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost, thrive on His righteousness, and everything you need will be added to you." If this were not so, Christ would have disparaged the widow who gave her last two pennies of livelihood. He would have denounced (as Judas Iscariot did) the woman that annointed him with a year's wages worth of perfume a week before his death. He would have stopped his disciples from leaving their nets. He would never have told many to sell all they have and give to the poor. And the church in Acts and II Corinthians 9-10 would not have held all things in common or given "liberally out of their extreme poverty."
Let's admit it, if some of Christ's teachings seem like poor stewardship to us, it's because we're so saturated with Wall Street's view of money. Christ's value system prizes love above money, and so money subserves to make much of love. Good stewardship doesn't have to make sense to the other stewards. It's the Master's mission anyways.
Speaking of the Master's mission . . .
However, also throughout my life, I've been taught a different kind of stewardship. General life choices stewardship, stemming from the verse in I Corinthians 6 about my life not being my own but having been "bought with a price" by Someone else. Therefore, of course, it was not my prerogative what to do with my life; I had to follow the will of God. He is my Master, I merely His steward.
None of this that I've related is false teaching. It's all true, but is it complete? Are these teachings, in fact, central to an essential understanding of "stewardship," whether financial or otherwise? And why do they look different? Why is the basis for wise financial stewardship the generation of wealth and the obviation of risk (i.e. stability), while the basis for stewardship in the rest of my life is the mysterious "will of God" and avoidance of worldly influences?
I am currently living in a situation that very closely parallels these New Testament teachings about a master and a steward. I live on a piece of property adjacent to my landlord's own dwelling, and I and my wife work for our rent. I do whatever Travis tells me to do. I use his tools, spend his money, and tend to his land. None of it's mine. And so whenever he gives me a project to work on, I do it. Even if I would do nothing of the sort were it my own money and property. People have asked me: Why are you cleaning out those woods? Why are you burning that stuff? Why do you mow that entire field? Sometimes I understand Travis's thinking, other times not. The bottom line is: Travis desires it; it's his money, not mine; I'm going to do it. That's stewardship. Taking care of what is not yours in the way the owner desires. So if Travis hands me $200 and tells me to buy $200 worth of bubble-blowing soap and set up a continuously-fed bubble loop in front of the industrial-size fan in his barn, even though no one will ever see the bubbles, I do it. Wasteful? I don't worry about it. I do it, and that's good stewardship on my part.
Good stewardship, you see, is not necessarily using money in a way that merits the approval of the gurus on Wall Street. Good stewardship is doing with "your" money whatever God (whose it is) tells you to do with that money--even if it looks absolutely foolish to the world at large. Of course, I do not ignore the financial principles given in the Proverbs and other passages. I have bank accounts; I budget; I work to feed my family.
But that is not all that Jesus tells us to do with money. His money. Read the New Testament looking for a theme in its treatment of money. There is one. It goes like this: Give, even to the point of hazarding your livelihood. Then, when you've found yourself in a hazardous place financially--"do not be anxious, for your Father knows what you need. Seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost, thrive on His righteousness, and everything you need will be added to you." If this were not so, Christ would have disparaged the widow who gave her last two pennies of livelihood. He would have denounced (as Judas Iscariot did) the woman that annointed him with a year's wages worth of perfume a week before his death. He would have stopped his disciples from leaving their nets. He would never have told many to sell all they have and give to the poor. And the church in Acts and II Corinthians 9-10 would not have held all things in common or given "liberally out of their extreme poverty."
Let's admit it, if some of Christ's teachings seem like poor stewardship to us, it's because we're so saturated with Wall Street's view of money. Christ's value system prizes love above money, and so money subserves to make much of love. Good stewardship doesn't have to make sense to the other stewards. It's the Master's mission anyways.
Speaking of the Master's mission . . .
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