The Words Nobody Wants to Talk About, Part 5

Asbury Woods and the Boy Scouts at work

Sermon Continued...

Here comes another word that nobody likes to talk about – the purpose of being a disciple is to move to becoming a Christian steward. We are called to stewardship.  

It’s too bad that we have corrupted that term. We hear it, and we want to stop listening. Have you stopped listening? It’s so much more than fundraising – it’s so much more than turning off the lights, and recycling water bottles. It isn’t about funding a budget or paying for church programs. Stewardship is trusting God enough to give God control of the blessings we have received. It’s the doing – it’s how disciples transform the world.

A few years ago, Jeff and Mary Taylor, Steve and I were youth counselors. We decided to take the youth on a trip to Asbury Woods one evening for a cookout. We planned to cook hotdogs and roast marshmallows over an open fire. You have to picture this. At Asbury Woods, the campfire site is down in the woods, surrounded by beautiful trees. Beautiful, flammable trees. I know I didn’t know anything about building a campfire, and I’m not sure the other three of us did either, but in the youth group, we had boy scouts. Boy scouts are disciples of outdoor survival. Matt Shideler and Lee Chirpas were good stewards of what they knew. They built the fire, controlled the fire, kept us from setting the forest on fire, and then, when the time was right, they put the fire out. Matt and Lee could have just stopped at learning outdoor skills, but they didn’t. Stewardship is taking the gifts you have been given, and the knowledge and faith you have gained as a disciple, and putting them to work for God.  

Jesus was calling the rich young man to move from discipleship to stewardship. The young man knew about God, he had been given many gifts, and Jesus called him to put the gifts and faith to work for God by selling what he had and giving the money to the poor. Jesus was telling him, and he tells us, to allow our behavior to follow our belief.