You Will Be My Stewards

“You will be my witnesses…”. These familiar words from Jesus to the disciples in Acts 1:8 constituted the final version of the Great Commission.

Today, we use the word “witness” as a verb, but that’s not the way it was used in Scripture. Jesus’ final words to the disciples indicated what they were to be more than what they were to do. Of course, being witnesses implied that they would in fact testify to the truth of the Gospel, and we see that happening throughout the book of Acts. But Jesus’ final emphasis was more on who they would be than on what they would do.

Similarly, stewardship can be thought of as a series of disciplines and habits, a decision-making framework, or a pattern of behavior. But most importantly, stewardship is about who we are becoming as disciples more than what we’re doing. Of course, the two should be congruent, but it’s possible to “fake it” without experiencing the character transformation that God desires for us. After all, the Pharisees tithed meticulously – but never understood or developed God’s heart for the “weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23-24). Jesus described them as whitewashed tombs, whose beautiful outsides belied their contents.

Stewardship disciplines and habits are important – we can’t become faithful stewards without them! But God’s heart for us as stewards is that these external indicators would reflect the internal changes he is making in us. We’ve discussed several times what faithful stewardship looks like – the big ideas, the indicators, the practices and rhythms. These are all important elements of stewardship. In this article, we’ll look behind these elements to focus on who a faithful steward is becoming.

Characteristics of a Faithful Steward

First and foremost, a faithful steward is a disciple; it’s impossible to be a faithful steward without following Jesus steadily. At the same time, stewardship is in many ways at the heart of overall discipleship, as money sets itself up as a chief rival god, forcing us to choose whom we will serve (Matthew 6:19-24).

Some character qualities of a disciple are particularly important to the faithful steward. These traits underlie our habits and practices of stewardship.

Trustworthiness

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2

Faithful stewards are trustworthy. That means that they can be counted on to carry out the Master’s wishes with the resources placed in their care. God expects us to be faithful with the resources he entrusts to us. And the more resources he provides, the more he expects in return (Luke 12:48). This takes many forms – multiplying the resources he has blessed us with, providing for our families and for those in need, managing finances wisely with the goal of generosity.

Our trustworthiness with money is a reflection of how faithful we are to God overall.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

Luke 16:10-12

Jesus points out that the one who is faithful with a little will be faithful with more. In Luke’s version of the Parable of the Talents (Luke 19:12-27), the master on his return rewards the servants who have handled his money well with positions of influence and power over multiple cities. He refers to trustworthiness with money as relatively “a very small matter” (verse 17), indicating their dependability to handle larger responsibility. The conclusion? Our faithfulness with worldly wealth qualifies us to be entrusted with “true riches”.

God can trust us with his resources when he knows that we’ll use them in the way he wants. Trustworthiness as a steward tends to lead to greater and greater responsibility – whether for material resources, for ministry opportunities, or for other assignments.

Trustworthy stewards don’t care who’s watching. They handle resources with care and concern for their Master’s wishes. They know that their dependability will be reflected when the Master returns to hold them accountable for their stewardship.

Accountability

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Romans 14:12

Everyone is ultimately accountable to God. But faithful stewards understand their accountability and manage resources accordingly. Jesus repeatedly emphasized this accountability through multiple parables; here are a few examples:

• In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27), the servants returned the Master’s resources upon his arrival, along with whatever gains they had made. Whether they had been faithful or not, they were accountable for their handling of the master’s money.
• In the very next parable in Matthew 25, Jesus emphasized accountability for our relationships with those in need, again expressing consequences both for those who were faithful (the sheep) and for those who were not (the goats).
• In the Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19), the tenants of the vineyard were accountable to the owner for returning the produce of the vines. They rejected that responsibility to their own ruin.
• In the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21), the rich man was held accountable for his wealth, in particular for the fact that he had set it all aside for himself and had not been rich toward God. This accountability is also implied in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

We’ll account for our entire lives to God. Part of that will be explaining how we have used God’s resources. Have we honored God through our earning, giving, saving, spending, and debt? Has faithfulness to God been a driving factor in our major financial decisions?

This doesn’t mean that everything given to church or charity counts “for” us and everything spent on ourselves counts “against” us. God provides resources for our enjoyment as well as our generosity (1 Timothy 6:17-19). When we enjoy what God has provided with a sense of gratitude (rather than entitlement), God is honored. When we share what we have with those in need, God is honored. Funding kingdom causes, taking care of our families – all of these honor God with the resources he has provided.

Intentionality

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

Luke 14:28-30

Knowing that they’re accountable for God’s resources, faithful stewards are intentional about how they use those resources. They’re not driven by marketing, by impulse buying, or by the latest trends. Instead, they plan both their earning and their spending and then they execute those plans systematically. This doesn’t mean that they never act spontaneously; rather, it means that their pattern is deliberate and purposeful.

Faithful stewards don’t operate their finances solely on hope (“let’s go ahead and buy it and hope we’ll be able to cover the payments”). Instead, they base their financial decisions on Scriptural principles and prayerful planning. Without presuming on the future, they allocate their resources both to present spending and giving and also to saving. They pay attention to the results of their decisions and grow in understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Discipline

The wise store up choice food and olive oil,

but fools gulp theirs down.

Proverbs 21:20

Intentions are important, but without disciplined action, they become mere wishes. As one example, the wise don’t just think about saving and they don’t stop at planning to save; they actually do it.

Achievements like saving and debt retirement don’t typically happen as a result of one-time decisions followed by single acts; they take discipline over time. Proverbs twice uses the example of ants to illustrate the importance of discipline and diligence (Proverbs 6:6-8; 30:25).  Diligence in both earning and saving leads to wealth (Proverbs 10:4).

Paul urges the same kind of discipline in the Corinthian church when he instructs them regarding the collection for the believers in Jerusalem:

Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2

A major facet of successful stewardship is discipline over time. There’s a place for single acts of earning, giving, saving, spending, and debt retirement. But these single acts won’t change our financial posture over the long run unless they’re bolstered by regular, disciplined stewardship practices.

Patience

The plans of the diligent lead to profit

as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Proverbs 21:5

Supporting discipline is the crucial characteristic of patience. “Haste makes waste” isn’t just a human proverb – it’s based on the Scriptural truth that patience brings reward while decisions made or actions taken rashly often lead to failure. Multiplying God’s resources brings honor to him, but the desire for “quick riches” is motivated more often by greed and self-interest than by God’s glory. When our primary motivation is honoring God, patience comes more easily, as we submit ourselves to God’s timetable.

A faithful person will be richly blessed,

but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 28:20

Faithfulness over the long run brings honor to God and blessing to us. Eagerness for riches leads to prayerless decisions and hasty actions.

All of this said, patience is not the same as passivity! It’s not an excuse for inaction or procrastination. Note the reference to “the diligent” in Proverbs 21:5. Diligence – faithful, consistent work – is a requirement of good stewardship. Patience refers to our ability to wait on the Lord to bring about results from that diligence in his timing.

We’ve all heard the oft-repeated stories of lottery winners who only a short time later are worse off financially than they were before they won the lottery. This happens because they were not prepared mentally, spiritually, or emotionally for the sudden influx of riches. We know that wealth is deceitful; we must allow God time to work in us in preparation for what he will do for us.

Contentment & Gratitude

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:11-13

Paul had lived both ends of the financial spectrum. As a Pharisee, he undoubtedly had had plenty of resources at his disposal. As a shipwrecked prisoner, he had had nothing. Through all that, God had taught him the secret of contentment regardless of circumstances. Note that it wasn’t his own strength that kept him content! God strengthened Paul to endure all circumstances (verse 13).

Contentment and gratitude go together. We can’t be grateful to God if we’re not content with his provision. At the same time, gratitude toward God for all he has provided strengthens our contentment. When we’re focused on what God has done, rather than what we don’t have, we’re much more likely to be both content and grateful.

The opposite of contentment is greed, which Paul refers to as idolatry (Colossians 3:5). This should come as no surprise; Jesus tells us that we must choose between serving God and serving money (Matthew 6:24). Greed is choosing to serve money; and anything we choose to serve other than God becomes an idol.

The opposite of gratitude is entitlement. Faithful stewards know that they don’t “deserve” the blessings they have – God gives them out of his grace. But those who live with a sense of entitlement can’t be grateful, because they feel that they’ve earned everything they have. They see themselves as their own providers, rather than recognizing God’s provision. This outlook characterizes the ownership mentality, rather than the stewardship framework.

Trust

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Matthew 6:31-33

Immediately after challenging his hearers to choose between serving God and serving money, Jesus reassured them that God would take care of them. The implication is clear – serving money leads to worry, because we’re relying on ourselves to provide. Serving God leads to trust and contentment, because we see him as our Provider.

Trust in God forms the foundation of all the other characteristics we’ve discussed. Trust enables us to be content, to act with diligence and patience over a long period of time, to receive with gratitude all that God provides.

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The Faithful Steward: Head, Heart, and Hands

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19-21

Stewardship, like discipleship in general, is more about who we are and who we are becoming than it is about specific practices and habits. But here’s the thing – we can’t become faithful stewards without actually practicing stewardship! Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that our hearts follow our treasure, so developing more of a heart for God begins in many ways with storing our treasures in heaven.

And this means much more than just giving. The Pharisees tithed down to the smallest detail, but their hearts didn’t belong to God – and this showed in their lack of concern for matters important to God. So while stewardship most often starts with action, true stewardship goes deeper. It involves the head, the heart, and the hands.

The Head: What We Know

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it;

for he founded it on the seas

and established it on the waters.

Psalms 24:1-2

Like being a disciple generally, being a steward starts with the head – with what we know. For the faithful steward, this means beginning with Scripture. It means understanding, first of all, that God created and owns all things. Like the master in the Parable of the Talents, he entrusts resources to us for a time to manage for his glory. When he returns, he expects an accounting for those resources (as well as for all of our lives).

And, like the servants in the parable, our role is that of steward or trustee – one entrusted to manage possessions that don’t belong to us. Multiple parables teach these same twin truths, such as the Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46) and the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21).

All that Scripture teaches about earning, giving, saving, spending, and debt flows from this twin foundation of God’s ownership and our stewardship. Our entire relationship to money – our attitudes toward it, the decisions we make with it – flow from this understanding.

The Heart: What We Love

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

So, once we know that God owns everything and entrusts us with responsibility to manage a portion of it, how do we make decisions about carrying out that trust? Faithful stewards make those decisions based on love – love for God, and love for people. We allocate resources in such a way as to reflect these two great loves.

These two loves are tied closely together. In fact, John asks how we could possibly love God if we don’t love people (1 John 3:16-18). James fashions the same question in terms of faith – true faith in God, based on an understanding of his love, leads us to care for others (James 2:14-26). Paul tells us that love is the greatest of the things that will remain (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Whoever loves money never has enough;

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

This too is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Jesus tells us that we must choose whom we will love and serve – God or money. One leads to a life full of meaning and purpose, and the other to a life of meaninglessness. We need to choose wisely! And that choice will be reflected in what we do.

The Hands: What We Do

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Matthew 7:16-20

People, like trees, are recognized by their fruit (see also Luke 6:44). A disciple is recognized by the fruit of love for God and love for others. All of the “one another” comments in the New Testament are actions, not just feelings (see, for example, 1 Peter 4:8-11; Philippians 2:2-4; the instructions for Christian households in Ephesians 5:21-6:9 and Colossians 3:18-4:1). Jesus commanded the disciples to love one another as he had loved them immediately after demonstrating his love for them by washing their feet (John 13).

So also, faithful stewards are recognized by the fruit of their lives. Through their words, faithful stewards express trust in God’s provision rather than worry over whether they will have enough. Through their actions, faithful stewards multiply God’s resources and then disburse them and enjoy them out of love for God and for others.

In the Parable of the Talents, all three servants knew the same things: the Master owned the resources he entrusted to their care; he expected a return on his investment; and he would eventually come back to hold them accountable. Two of the servants loved their master; one did not. And this showed in the fruit of their actions: The first two servants multiplied their master’s resources and returned a profit; the third servant did nothing. The master recognized their actions for what they were: reflections of their hearts.

So what do faithful stewards actually do with God’s resources? At the most basic level, they do two things: Multiply them, and distribute them.

Multiply God’s Resources

As stewards of God’s resources, one key responsibility is to multiply them through diligent earning, wise saving, cautious debt, and prudent spending. The Parable of the Talents gives us a picture of this. We’re not given details of how the first two servants multiplied their master’s money; Scripture doesn’t dictate our strategies. Obviously, important discipleship characteristics like integrity, wisdom, and perseverance should guide our actions.

The attitude with which we multiply God’s provision is foundational to this priority. We increase these resources not primarily for our own benefit (though God does allow us to enjoy his provision) but mainly for God’s glory.

Of course, sometimes despite our best efforts, resources don’t multiply the way we would like. The stock market dips, investments underperform, unforeseen circumstances intervene (can anyone say, global pandemic?). Part of being a steward rather than being an owner is that we don’t need to worry over these situations we can’t control. God rewards our efforts and our heart; he sees our diligence and knows our desire to manage his resources responsibly. Jesus didn’t upbraid the widow who gave only two small copper coins for failing to multiply resources; instead, he praised her for her generosity (Mark 12:41-44).

Distribute God’s Resources

But if multiplying resources was the only priority for stewards, then the rich fool of Luke 12 would have been praised rather than condemned (in fact, he wouldn’t have been called a fool!). We increase these resources in order to distribute them. Generosity is the goal of our stewardship, motivated by the two Great Commandments – love God and love people.

Of course, generosity is not the only way that stewards distribute God’s resources. We also spend, pay off debt, etc. Much writing on stewardship focuses strictly on giving as a God-honoring use of resources, but God also expects us to use some of these resources to provide for our needs and for our enjoyment (Matthew 6:33; 1 Timothy 6:17; James 1:17). We use money to take care of our families (1 Timothy 5:8). All of these uses can honor God if they’re done with gratitude for his provision.

The Life of a Steward

Faithful stewards are always considering how they can best utilize the resources entrusted to them by the Master. Their handling of those resources – multiplying them and distributing them – facilitates development of their hearts for loving and serving God. Their lives bear the fruit of this growth in their hearts. Their stewardship honors God in what they know, what they love, and what they do with his resources. They recognize that stewardship is not a goal to be accomplished; it’s a lifestyle to be lived.

Stewardship is not an option; the fact is that we’re all stewards of possessions we can’t hold on to permanently. We can act like owners, like the rich fool in the parable of Luke 12, but in reality we don’t own the possessions entrusted to us. Just like in the Parable of the Talents, everything goes back to the Master. It’s not about whether we will be stewards or not; it’s about what kind of stewards we’ll be. May we live out our stewardship in such a way as to hear the words of the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

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