STEWARDSHIP AND DISCIPLESHIP TOGETHER #2 -

                            God Owns Everything and Needs Nothing

 

            Continuing my discussion on stewardship and discipleship together, I want to focus on one of the statements that I shared last week:

            God owns everything and needs nothing.[1]

            I’ve often (jokingly?) stated that the first stewardship scripture is Genesis 1:1-2 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

            After all, if we are stewards (the basis of the word stewardship), then we are made to manage or look after another's property. So as stewards, none of what we “have” is our property. We are looking after it for another. And the “other” is God who created when everything was formless and empty.

            There are other scriptures that the article by Christian Stewardship Network cites about the ownership by God:

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

Psalm 50:10-12 “for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

Deuteronomy 8:18 “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”

            Each of these scriptures talk about ownership by God. Genesis 1 talks about the creation, which is only part of the story (now that I think about it). But the other two from Psalms, and the ones from Deuteronomy and Acts talk about actual ownership. Any of us who have made anything know that the ownership of the made item doesn’t always stay with the maker. But what God made, God still owns:

·         The earth, the world

·         Animals, birds, insects, the world itself

·         The ability to produce wealth

·         The world, the earth, actual everyone because God gave life and breath to all

 

God owns everything, and as it says in the Acts scripture: he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.

            So God created, God owns, and God doesn’t NEED anything.

            As we continue to discuss stewardship and discipleship in the upcoming summer weeks, to help us prepare for our stewardship and discipleship often done in the fall, remember, stewardship and discipleship have to work together. One cannot exist without the other. We aren’t effective stewards if we aren’t disciples, and we aren’t disciples if we aren’t using the resources give to us to further God’s kingdom.

            Stay tuned for this ongoing stewardship conversation.

            If you wish more information on this, or would like to discuss stewardship and its relationship with discipleship, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com. I’d be happy to help.

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[1] Stewardship Education that Builds Disciples, Furlong, Jessica and Dick, Don (Christian Stewardship Network), https://www.christianstewardshipnetwork.com.