STEWARDSHIP

The word “steward” is used in the Old Testament and New Testament it remained consistent throughout the recorded timeframe of God. This means we can stay with the original meaning from God which is “one who manages the estate of another (such as the owner), it is also known as the chief servant of the owner. In context with the New Testament the words used today would be “an employee, a person who manages another’s property or finances, a person who serves others on the behalf of the owner, ex. On a plane the person who directly serves the passengers is the stewardess.

Being a steward is who you are while the stewardship is what you do it is your job representing the owner (boss) or your ministry unto people representing the Lord Jesus.

Stewardship in the Old Testament

Genesis 15:1-4 KJV
2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Notice that a steward is a title given to a person who has faithful served the owner.
A steward may inherit the possessions of the owner but typically the owner would rather pass them unto the heir. The heir is natural offspring whereas the steward is not.
In this example the steward managed the house (estate) of Abram which included all the assets inside of the house and outside of the house including his servants.
The word “eldest servant” is used for “steward” in Genesis 24:2 when Abraham trusted him to find the right wife for his son, so a great amount of trust will be established between the owner and a good steward that governs his estate.

To be a good steward you must be faithful (this word includes loyalty) to do exactly what is expected by the owner.

1 Corinthians 4:2 KJV
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Genesis 43:18,19 KJV
19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,

In the story of the Governor of Egypt, Joseph, the instructions given to Joseph’s steward from Joseph were followed to the tee. Therefore is it easy to see the faithfulness of the steward and the blessing of God upon the stewardship (the ministry of excellence) of Joseph’s chief servant. - Refer to Genesis 42:6-28 and 43:11-26 and 44:1-14

Genesis 44:1-2 KJV
1 And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.
2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

Notice that a steward can (and should) be commanded at times. This means it is a stronger assertion than “asking”. Asking implies a choice where one has to make a conscious decision to do it or not to do it, whereas commanding is telling the steward what must be done. Generally speaking, people (and the nature of the flesh) despise the thought of being told what to do but a good steward is not offended when given instructions or commandments.

The first stewards – Adam and Eve

Genesis 2:8-9 and 16-17 KJV
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Notice that the garden in Eden was God’s and God placed the man there as a “steward” in verse 8
Since God told the man His specific instructions about the garden in verses 16 and 17 man became accountable for his decisions and actions.
We notice in the next chapter that man and his wife both lost the stewardship. This teaches us that your actions will generally affect others whether good or bad.
This also shows us that God would rather take away your stewardship for being an unfaithful steward even if you are the last person on earth who can do it.

Genesis 3:22-24 KJV
22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

We notice that God set-up a security system to keep the unfaithful steward out of garden in the future.
So don’t get mad if your company fires you and takes away your badge with all access to the company facilities.
This also sets the pattern that stewardship must be taken seriously because it involves others and it impacts the Plan of God being executed (done) in the earth.

Stewardship in the New Testament

Matthew 20:8 KJV
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

In this example the steward is an accountant who pays the wages agreed upon by the owner (boss, lord) and the workers (employees).
Notice the instructions to the steward were very specific and trust had to be established because the steward was handling the money. Since most business do not throw away money we can conclude that being a thief in a stewardship would be a conflict an interest.-Remember Judas and Jesus in John 12:4-6

Luke 12:22-48 KJV
42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.

48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

We see in verses 22-32 that a faithful (godly) steward needs to think a certain way which is God first in everything over outward possessions. We seek God’s Way (which is His Wisdom) first then we will learn how the natural blessings from God should be used and received.
Notice “steward” and “servant” are used synonymously in verses 42,43,45,46,47
The Lord explains His Will in detail in verses 22-34
We also see that the Lord expects His Will to be followed in verses 42,43
In verse 47 we notice there are real consequences to not obeying God’s Will (or we could say the will of the owner). Whether it is a beating, some type of punishment or expulsion (firing) the owner decides the consequences not the steward
We also see that ignorance of the owner’s will does not take away to consequences of disobedience it only lessens the intensity
The day of reckoning came when the steward was not expecting it according to verses 45,46
Notice in this example the Christian can receive the same punishment as the unbeliever according to verse 46 when disobedience is involved.
This teaching suggests that it is impossible to be a good steward who is gratefully rewarded by the owner (the Lord) without knowing the owners will. Therefore communication up front about the expectations of the owner is crucial for a healthy good stewardship.

Luke 16:1-13 KJV
1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

Notice that others are watching your stewardship so be diligent, someone accused this steward to the owner of the business. This makes the owner look bad and the owner had no idea how long this had been going on
The owner had to look into the situation so the steward needed to give an account of his stewardship.
Giving an account of your stewardship should be done on a regular basis (annually – taxes, quarterly – profit sharing, monthly – spending and receiving, weekly – paying employees and/or daily for certain activities – attendance, insurance, etc..)
We notice from verses 3,4 the accusation was correct because he (the steward) was starting to plan for his future after being removed from the stewardship. He is also referred to as unjust in verse 8
This steward appears to be an account manager of various commodities (oil, wheat, etc..).
One problem according to verses 5,7 was that the account manager did not know how much each debtor owed the owner, if you don’t know how much each person owed how would you ever know how much to collect? This shows a lack of good record keeping by the steward. It also shows a certain amount of laziness because the account manager was not doing his job. This displays a bad attitude by the steward because the only reason he thought to do his job was under the motivation of possibly losing his job (the stewardship). It is biblical to remove an unfaithful steward from his stewardship.
These verses show us very clearly that the steward knew his bosses will but he was being slothful.
Verse 10 teaches that all those who are not faithful in little things are not faithful in the larger things. This means you are either faithful in everything or you are not faithful at all.
We also notice that unfaithful is used in connection with unjustness and likewise faithful is used in connection with justness.
It is biblically scripture for God to withhold blessing from you until you know how to properly take care of someone else’s goods. The principle here is that you should care for the possessions of another at least as much as you care for your own goods (assets) and probably more if you understand stewardship.
We also see in verse 12 that a wise owner should not give an unfaithful steward their own possession until they demonstrate a visible responsibility of being a good (godly) steward.
If a person is a good steward it will show in their stewardship and that may be rewarded by God and by man.
Verse 13 reiterates that a good steward should not be motivated by money (or gain) but purely (wholly) by God’s Word and His Love for people.

Titus 1:4-9 KJV
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

This shows us that all ministers are considered by God as stewards of God which means they handle the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, and the love of God faithfully to all people. That is exactly (precisely) why they must display the fruit of the spirit according to Galatians 5:22,23

Being blameless according to verse 7 removes all accusation from others
Being self-willed will generally conflict with being love filled because love seeks the will of others (the owner) first, whereas self-will seeks doing exactly what it wants to do at that time.
If you are a person given to anger you hurt your stewardship from God because the Lord is longsuffering and loving He is not given to anger, so neither should His steward yield to anger either.
A good steward should not indulge in alcoholic beverages because it clouds good judgment.-Pro. 31:5
A good steward will not be someone who likes to fight, striking a customer would never be heard of by the owner of the business, so it is out of the question for one of his stewards.
Here again because typically being a steward over someone else goods or services will involve money the good steward must not let money (their own profit) influence the decisions they make on the job.
Remember the steward should only carry out the will of the owner, just like each Christian should carry-out the Will of Christ Jesus our Lord.
There are many other qualities to being a good steward but we only mentioned the ones in verse 7

Examples of things we are stewards over

Finances that come into our hands (especially the portion that belongs to God) – Luke 16:9-13
The physical body because we are bought with a price so we are not our own – 1 Corinthians 6:20 Words – Matthew 12:36
Time on the earth – Ephesians 5:16 and Colossians 4:5
Things that you use which you don’t own – Luke 16:12

It is always best to remember as a steward over someone else’s goods the will of the owner is more important that your will. If you cannot obey /submit to the will of the owner ethically you should return the asset you are using and wait until you can be the owner, then you only have to submit unto your own will. However, the more mature you become in Christ Jesus the more you realize that all men are only stewards over the resources God placed in the earth. Ultimate, every man will give an account of the actions and words (their stewardship) to God on the day of reckoning.- Matthew 18:23 and Romans 14:11,12

This thought implies that all gifts given unto you from God both spiritually and physically should be esteemed highly by taking the attitude of being a good steward, not because you don’t own it but because you desire to honor the one who gave you the gift. Example, a married woman will cherish her wedding ring because generally speaking it is a precious gift from her husband. A good man will work hard at his job because being able to have a good job is a gift to be esteemed highly so that he can provide for his family. A older daughter will nourish a younger sibling because they understand to have a brother or sister is a gift from God. If we consider our life here on earth as a precious gift from God we will honor the Lord by dedicating a good portion of our time and efforts unto Him in ministering to others or simply ministering to Him in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in-line with Colossians 3:16,17

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