What is biblical stewardship?

It is not so much in this connection, however, that our danger lies. It is rather in the tendency of our hearts to seek a portion here, to hold present things as though they belonged to us. Whereas in truth nothing here belongs to us. Our portion is in the eternal things. What we hold here is only entrusted to us as unto stewards. We must give account for all - not only for the deeds done in the body, as regards outward conduct, but for the use we have made of everything pertaining to this life which has been committed to us - the motives, too, and intents of the heart, will all be made manifest.

The next chapter (Luke 16) opens out distinct and weighty instruction for the disciples, and this in reference to earthly things. First of all, our Lord explains here that the tenure of earthly things is now gone. It was no longer a question of holding a stewardship, but of giving it up. The steward was judged. Such was the truth manifest in Israel. Continuance in his old earthly position was now closed for the unjust steward; and for him it was simply a question of his prudence in present opportunities, with a view to the future. The unjust steward is made the vehicle of divine teaching to us how to make the future our aim. He, being a prudent man, thinks of what is to become of him when he loses his stewardship; he looks before him; he thinks of the future; he is not engrossed in the present; he weighs and considers how he is to get on when he is no longer steward. So he makes a wise use of his master's goods. With people indebted to his master, he strikes off a great deal from this bill and a great deal from that, in order to make friends for himself. The Lord says this is the way we are to treat earthly things. Instead of tenaciously clutching at what you have not yet got, and keeping what you have not yet got, and keeping what you have, on the contrary, regard them as your master's goods, and treat them as the unjust steward in the parable. Rise above the unbelief which looks at money, or other present possessions, as if they were your own things. It is not so. What you have after an earthly sort now belongs to God. Show that you are above a Jewish, earthly, or human feeling about it. Act on the ground that all belongs to God, and thus secure the future.

(1 Peter 4:10,) "As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." When the apostle talks of a gift, it is not only a man being able to preach or teach. He says, "As every man has received the gift." Then you see that you have a gift, and you are responsible to use it, and the sphere in which you are to use this gift is the Church first of all. Whatever you have it is not yours; you are only a steward. It all belongs to Christ — and you must be a good steward, because you will have to give an account of your stewardship by-and-bye.

When He speaks of the unfaithful man, He drops the title "steward" and refers to him merely as "that servant."

A steward, then, is essentially a faithful man, whom the Lord has put into a position of trust, and to whom something has been committed for administration. He is expected to be wise, as well as faithful.

Paul and his co-workers were "stewards of the mysteries of God." A mystery, in the Scripture meaning of the word, is not something mysterious, but a secret, once hidden, but at length revealed. There were mysteries connected with both the Kingdom of Heaven and the Church (Matt. 13:11; Eph. 3:3-6, 9). They had now been made known by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and prophets (Eph. 3:5), that they might faithfully and wisely administer them by sharing their knowledge with others. This administration, this stewardship, had nothing to do with material matters.

"If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who shall entrust to you the true?" The true riches cannot be entrusted where the heart has been false in that which is so trifling in the Lord's eyes as "the unrighteous mammon."406 Nor is it only that present honour and riches are not "the true," but the mere counters of the hour. There is the further consideration: "If ye have not been faithful in that which is another's, who shall give unto you your407 own?" Present property is not strictly one's own. The whole course of the Christian here is really that of one acting for another, even Christ. We are servants in trust for the Lord. The Christian ought to regard his time, his money, his abilities, his property, as the goods of his Master; and his business is to serve his Master, faithfully carrying out His will. This is of immense importance; because covetousness consists in endeavouring to make earthly things which God has not given your own. The wisdom of the disciple is to count what appears to belong to him as really his Master's. "Your own": so Blass, with ℵAD, etc., all cursives, the Latt. Syrrpesch hcl hier Memph. Goth. Arm. Aeth. Hort, followed by Weiss, favours "our own," the reading of B and L. See, further, note 407 in Appendix.

Our natural selfishness in considering that what we have is strictly our own has been through the years a terrible detriment to our own happiness. For nothing really belongs to us, as Israel will learn in a very practical way in the millennium. Let believers now remember that we are only stewards, put in charge of what belongs to our Lord, and responsible to give Him some return for all the goodness He shows to us. Only this attitude will give true happiness.

Basically there are two parties: the one whose authority it is to delegate duties, and the one whose responsibility it is to carry out these charges. The rich man and the steward (or manager) play these roles in the parable of Luke 16 (v. 1). There are specific responsibilities. In the parable the steward failed in his known duties when he wasted the goods of his lord (v 1). Accountability, as well as responsibility, is part of the arrangement. A steward may be called to account for the discharge of his stewardship at any time, for it is the owner's or master's prerogative to expect faithful obedience to the duties entrusted to the steward (v 2). A change may be made at any time unfaithfulness is found in the existing administration ("can no longer be steward").

If any wish to call those servants of God who are endowed with wealth His stewards, we shall not object. Wealth is a trust from God, just as other things, material and spiritual, are. The wealthy Christian may acknowledge the money that he possesses as a solemn trust, and may show the fidelity of his stewardship in his administration of it as the servant of Christ. If he is one entrusted by his fellow-Christians with funds to administer on their behalf, he is, of course, responsible to them. But his primary responsibility even in this is to the One whose servant and steward he is.

In Christianity all we possess is sometimes viewed as belonging to God, and we are but stewards of what God has given us (Luke 16:11-12): but our present possessions are also viewed as our own (Acts 5:4), with the responsibility of using them aright. Those who are rich are not exhorted to give a tenth, but are to "be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate" (1 Tim. 6:18). All who give are to do it with simplicity (Rom. 12:8). even if we are not able, like the poor widow, to give all our living (Mark 12:41-44), or like the disciples of the Lord who left all to follow Him (Luke 18:28).

Very few and simple are the directions as to all this. "On the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him" (1 Cor. 16:2). At the time when Christ and His love appeal to his heart, each one was to set apart an amount proportionate to his earnings: this was to be used for the Lord, as He might direct, — for the poor (as in that immediate case) , for the Lord's servants laboring at home or abroad, or for whatever might call for such help. It was to be given "not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7) — as Himself is doing. We are all stewards of God's things, and are to minister them under His eye and for Him.