How To Be a Good Steward For God

Success in the world is based on numbers. In my nearly forty-year career at AT&T we were always rated on how the numbers came up. How fast did I complete my repairs, how often did the customer call back within thirty days, and at what level were they satisfied with the experience? Most of you who work in the business world can relate. But those numbers didn’t always tell the whole story. I was in customer service and I was on the front line. I went into the homes of our customers and was face to face with them. Sometimes, in order to give them the right service, I had to take more time than I was allotted. Sometimes, the things I did not only fixed that customer’s trouble, I prevented others from losing their service as well. That never showed up on a report.

Jeremiah was one of God’s chosen prophets. Look at Jeremiah’s numbers and you will find a failure. He preached to the same people for over forty years and very few believed him and obeyed. How many friends did Jeremiah have that encouraged him? Imagine his Facebook feed. Though he spoke as God’s prophet, the nation he was sent to, continued to ignore God’s message and ended up in a disastrous mess. Would any church today even consider hiring a man whose preaching was like his?

Jeremiah, to the world, is a failure. But he didn’t work for them; he worked for God. Listen to the Word of God as it instructs us as to how we are to serve.

1 Corinthians 4:2
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

Faithfulness is more important to God then numbers on a spread sheet. The church is not a corporation and the church is not a factory. Quotas and numbers are not our work; they are God’s. Our work in all ministry is to simply be faithful to what God has called us to do. If we gain nothing else from studying the life of Jeremiah and the prophets, we ought to see this fact.

Paul explains how ministry works in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Only God gives the growth. God assigns a task to each of us and we are called to be faithful to that task. If one plants a seed and that is his only task, then he goes on to the next field to do his work, he may never see the growth, much less the final plant at harvest.

Jeremiah was faithful to God’s calling. His ministry wasn’t about making him feel good. His ministry was so hard that he is even known as the “weeping prophet.” Who wants a ministry that brings so much sorrow? A faithful servant of God.

The end desire of each and every Christian in this life ought to be to become like Jesus. That is the reward. Jesus suffered greatly on this earth. Jeremiah was like Jesus for he was willing to suffer for his calling. Jeremiah was faithful just as Paul was. Hear the truth of what the Christian is about.

Philippians 3:7-11
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Jeremiah shared in the sufferings of Christ. Paul shared in the sufferings of Christ. Why? So that they could know Him, so that they could know the power of His resurrection, and so that they could become like Him.

Our call is to be faithful. For some, their ministry might be filled with joy every day. For others, not so much.

Church, we must stop trying to do God’s work and simply be faithful to what God calls us to do. We must simply be faithful. Faithful to serve God, not the world and its methods.

Do you want to be a good steward of God?

1 Corinthians 4:1-2
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 89

The faithfulness of God is the theme of Psalm 89. The psalmist begins in praise of God and His faithfulness.

Psalm 89:1-4

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.  For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”  You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:  ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

The promises God made to David were fulfilled in Jesus.

Psalm 89:5-8
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!  For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,  a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?  O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?

The answer to these questions are that God and God alone is to be feared and to be trusted.

Psalm 89:9-13
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.  You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.  The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.  You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.

God is sovereign. That is a simple truth, that even Christians seem to have trouble believing. God rules the seas, He can still the waves. When a nation has victory over its enemies, it is because God has crushed or scattered them. Everything is God’s and He is sovereign over them, and His mighty arm has the power to rule the creation.

Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Preachers and Christians alike, will preach of God’s love, but they fail to explain how His love operates. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. This means that God’s love is expressed through His just nature. God’s holiness demands He not tolerate sin. God is always faithful to His throne. It is us, who fail. We are the unfaithful ones.

The psalmist goes on to speak of the relationship and the promises God made to His anointed king, David.

Psalm 89:35-37
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.  His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.  Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

But then the psalmist asks God why it seems that God has rejected David’s offspring.

Psalm 89:38-45
But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.  You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.  All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.  You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.  You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle.  You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.  You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah

He asks God some very poignant questions. Maybe you are asking God the same questions today.

Psalm 89:46-49
How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?  Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!  What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah  Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

Psalm 89 does not answer the questions raised. But the answers are found in the scriptures. The answers are found in Jesus.

I encourage you to read the entire counsel of God’s Word, for in it you will see that God is faithful, it is us who are not. Our sinful, and evil hearts lead us to violate the commandments of God. Jesus died on the cross so that sinners, who place their faith in Him, can be covered by His blood. This act justifies the Christian in the eyes of God and through Jesus, we are saved.

Yet our disobedience does not go unchecked.

Hebrews 12:3-11
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

My friends, God is faithful. If you are in the place of the writer of Psalm 89, then do as the writer did; Praise God for His faithfulness.

Psalm 89:1

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

Do as we are told to in Hebrews 12:12-14:

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Psalm 89:52
Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.