Date:   01/29/06

Text:   1 Corinthians 4:1-2

Title:   A Faithful Steward

Theme: Since God has given us the responsibility of caring for his possession, therefore

  by His grace, we are to strive to be faithful in all we do.

Introduction:

  When I hear your say, “My church, our church…..”; it makes me or the church leaders feel good because it shows that you have a sense of belonging; this is your church. But when the pastors say, “My church this…and my church that….”, it carries a different nuance, right? As if we own the church and can do whatever we want.

  In today's text, Paul in self defense brings out two aspects of his identity. First, he is a servant, meaning a slave, the lowest in the then society's stratum. He is a slave of Christ. Secondly, he is a steward. This refers to a slave who is given the authority to rule, to manage his master's possession. Even though in this context, it is a reference to Paul, yet it is applicable to all believers.

  The teaching theme for HCC this year is: A Faithful Steward. Throughout the month of January, we have explored some specific areas of stewardship. This morning I want to take another look at this stewardship issue. I will follow a similar approach as I did last week. To walk you through the scripture to discover the biblical basis for stewardship and how it applies to us.

I.   We are created to manage God's creation.

  In Genesis 1:26 we read, “ 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Man was created to rule over the creation. The creation does not belong to man; it belongs to the creator. Man is given the responsibility to rule, to manage. One of the first task Adam performed was to name all the animals.

  Exodus 3:7, 10, “ 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters…… 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” God called and sent Moses to lead God's people out of Egypt . The Israelites were God's, not Moses' people.

  Later in the wilderness, the Israelites complained about the hardships. God was not happy about it. Moses was also furious over the Israelites' attitude. This is what he said to God, Numbers 11:11, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth,……” In his complaint, Moses recognized that they were not his people. They did not belong to him. They belonged to God and he was given the unpleasant job of leading them.

  When Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel , Samuel said in, 1 Sam 10:1, “ Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel ? And you shall reign over the people of the …….” Saul is to be the king, the prince, the leader over God's people. Not Saul's people, but God's people.

  After Saul and David, Solomon became the king of Israel . He was overwhelmed by the task before him that he prayed, 1 Kings 3:8-9, “ 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” Solomon clearly recognized this is God's people. This is very different from the Chinese culture. There is the saying, “ ??????? , ??????? ”. The land and the people belonged to the king, the person in authority. In Psalm 50:10-11, “ 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.” Unlike the Chinese tradition, the entire creation belongs to God.

  Then we come to Jesus. He is the lord of all, yet in his relationship with God the father, he said in John 10:29, “ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." John 12:4,6-7, “"I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. …….. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word." 7 "Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you." Jesus is talking about God's children. Even though he is the Lord of all, yet in his humility, he recognized that these people belonged to God and was given to him to keep and to care for. Moreover, in many of his parables, Jesus taught about how God has given us different resources for us to manage.

  Here, Apostle Paul clearly states that, 1 Corinth 4:1, “ This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” Everything we have is from God and we are His stewards.

  What do we do as stewards? We are given the responsibility to be rulers and managers of God's creation. This applies to all human beings. Human are meant to take care of the created world. Moreover, Christians are to be active in protecting the environment, to take good care of the natural resources we have in this and other countries.

  During the last several Sundays, we have learned how to be stewards of the Life God has given us. We are to be stewards of the spiritual gifts he has given us. We are to know and exercise our spiritual gifts to build up this and other churches, both locally and globally. We learned that God has given us financial resources. As stewards we are to set priority in how we use money. We give 1/10 to God to recognize his ownership over all of what he has given us. Later this year, we will learn to be stewards of this church family, and our families. Here in vs 2, we learned that we are to be stewards of the ‘mysteries of God.'

  Mysteries of God means God's redemption, salvation plan. It was hidden, not clear in the OT. But with the coming of Jesus, his death and resurrection, this salvation plan becomes plain to all. All of this is found in the inspired word of God. Here is a special instruction to the ministers and those whom God has called into full time ministry. Peter in Acts 6:2,4, “ 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ….. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word…” The apostles knew their top priority of their ministry is the Word and Prayer. And the result of this commitment? “…..And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem ,…” This truth is equally true for all of us. To be stewards of the mysteries of God is to be steward of the scriptures. We are to study the word, to understand the word and to teach and share the word with others.

  These passages clearly instruct us that we are God's stewards. This and other churches do not belong to the ministers. We ministers do not own the church. This is God's church. You are God's people. God has given ministers and leaders the responsibility of taking care of the Christian community. By God's grace, we are to help and lead this community to grow in her understanding of God's word, to be obedient to what the scripture teaches and to love him with all her heart, soul, mind and strength.

II.   We are to be trustworthy over what God has entrusted us.

  Yes, we are God's stewards. What is expected of stewards? If you are in the position of hiring employees in your company, what do you look for in those applicants? Besides the skills, you would also look for faithfulness, or trustworthiness in this person. We ask if this person can be trusted with the company's resources. When we look for additional staffs, we want to know if they can be trusted with this congregation and her resources. Let's look at some examples in the Bible.

  How was Moses described in the Bible? Hebrews 3:5, “ 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant,……” Moses was not perfect, for several times he had lost his temper. But he was described as a faithful servant.

  Jesus in his teachings, especially in the parables, emphasized the importance of trustworthiness. Paul, too, placed emphasis on this character. 1 Corinthians 4:2, “ 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” 4:17, “this is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, …” Why did he send Timothy to Corinth ? Because Timothy was faithful, trustworthy. Colossians 1:7; 4:7, “ 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf….. 7 Tychicus …. is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.” They are faithful, trustworthy servants and ministers.

  Above all, the writer of Hebrew tells us in 3:6, “ …but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son…” Christ himself is faithful, trustworthy.

  Therefore as God's servants, as stewards of all that he has given us, we are to be like Christ, be faithful, trustworthy.

  A trustworthy person consistently and often quietly carries out the responsibilities given to him/her. He would not be seeking self promotion, putting himself in the spotlight. He would make sure the responsibility is being carried out from the beginning to the end. This past week I saw a HK program featuring the winner of 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics, Tsui Chi. While he was a graduate student at UC and later a scientist at the Bell Lab, he was always quietly and persistently pursuing the research topic before him. He did not seek fame nor advancements, but was just very faithful in his research.

  I think of many pastors serving in small cities with small congregations. They know that their church will never become a mega church. Yet they faithfully teach God's word and care for God's people week after week. As a matter of fact, over 80% of churches in NA have a congregation size of 150 and under.

  I also think of many fellowship advisors in this church. Your work is not glamorous and you don't get a lot of recognition. And sometimes, the congregation hardly knows what you are doing. You have seen your fellowship gone through times with high attendance and times with disappointing attendance. Yet you have continued to care and love the people under your care.

  Then there are the children Sunday school teachers, youth workers among us. Because of your faithfulness, we trust you to teach and direct our children. Or the office staff who faithfully carry out the work entrusted to them. Many of you are also faithfully taking care of the family God has given you. Others are faithful stewards of your profession.

  The list can go on and on. As stewards, our primary objective is to be faithful, trustworthy.

Conclusion:

  17 years ago, my family gave me a small art work with these words: Faithfulness-Not Success. This is not a well liked concept, right? If I am to make this into a bumper sticker, I don't think too many people would buy it. Or the only people who may be interested in it may be those who can't make it in the society; using this as an excuse for one's failure.

  This past week I heard a commercial about the Trump University . I don't know if this is physical or on-line school. Its stated purpose is to make you successful, to make plenty of money. This struck a cord within us. Who among us doesn't want to be successful? We want to be well known pastors. Sometimes people ask me, “do you get invited to preach at other places a lot?” How I wish I could say, “Yes, many times and it is very difficult to decide which one to accept and which one to turn down!!” We want to be successful in our studies, careers and in whatever we do. Success is often glamorous and noticed by many. It makes one feel good and satisfied. On the other hand Faithfulness is quiet and behind the scene. Yet this is the character God desires from his children, his followers.

  The Enron trial will start again this week. What do we learn from this sad story? Here you have a group of top notch competent managers, trained in the top business schools in this country. Yet in their pursuit of success, they failed to carry out the responsibilities entrusted to them. When success becomes the goal and objective, all too often trustworthiness and faithfulness will be sacrificed. You probably still remember Dr. Huang of the stem cell research. In his pursuit of success and fame, he sacrificed trustworthiness. There is nothing wrong with being successful in what we do. This can bring glory to God. What we need to remember is this: the goal in life is not success, but to be faithful and trustworthy.

  Whether we like it or not, we are stewards. The question is what kind of stewards are we? God wants us to be faithful and trustworthy. We look forward to the day when the Lord will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant….”