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Two Questions

At a national stewardship conference I attended several years ago, Rick Warren said there are two questions we’ll get asked when we die and are standing before a sovereign and Holy God. Interestingly, one question has to
do with discipleship and the other with stewardship.

The first question is:
“What did you do with my son Jesus Christ?”

The second question is:
“What did you do with what I gave you?”

I find these questions profound, convicting and at the same time somewhat comforting, because I’m hopefully on the right track. But I still recognize it’s a journey and I have much work to do.

The first question is key to our salvation and our eternity! It is a piercingly critical question up to each of us to answer. As a Christ-follower, I respond, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior, my counselor, my friend, the reason I’m a new creation and have hope for eternity with Him in Heaven!” You may answer it a little differently, but if you’ve crossed the line of faith, you should have a ready response if someone asks you. From a discipleship perspective, it’s a great question to ask people who may be searching or have just said “yes” to Jesus. And, as disciples of Jesus, it’s good to ask each other from time to time. It may even be a great exercise for your small group, if your group is ready for a deep and personally probing question like that!

The second question, “What did you do with what I gave you?”, can be uncomfortable, irritating or maybe even haunting. Since God owns everything, that means we are managers of His stuff and we’ll be called to account for what we did with what He’s given us. We have no rights, only responsibilities. An example might be if we were appointed executor of a family member’s estate. There would be legal documentation outlining how the money, possessions and other items are to be handled. If we were to do anything differently with the estate, we could be called into court and prosecuted! From a Biblical perspective it’s no different, as God has given clear direction in the Bible as to how to handle the resources He’s blessed us with.

When I first heard the question, I was irritated, but then a friend reminded me what we all want to hear God say to us, “well done good and faithful servant.”
(or good and faithful trustee…or manager). And that’s a noble and attainable goal to work for, with: knowledge of Biblical financial principles, prayer, grace, and the help of the Holy Spirit of course!

As I meet with people here at Grace, I ask about their understanding of stewardship and just love the responses. Honest, from-the-heart, and reflective of the fact we’re all at a different place on our journey of “stuff management”.

People have said things like:
“All I’ve learned is the 10%, not much beyond that...It’s like discipleship—-Handling the resources God’s given us...Putting time, talent and financial resources in play for God’s purposes...Using all of God’s resources wisely; time, talent, treasure...It’s about responsibility, we’re not just consumers...Serving God, doing what I can to help Grace...Being an effective and efficient manager of all God’s given me...It’s not about me!...Understanding that everything comes from God, every blessing we get is to advance the kingdom...Spiritual development is mirrored by generosity to God.”

Many responses are about giving, which is understandable, as that is primarily what the church has communicated about stewardship. However, it’s about so much more. As Howard Dayton, president of Crown Ministries said, “The church in the past has talked much about the 10%, but very little about the other 90%. As a result, God’s people have managed their money according to the culture, with disastrous consequences.”

In November, we’ll do a ‘pre-launch’ of the Good $ense Money Management Course, on Friday-Saturday, November 2-3. We’re particularly focused on having staff, church leadership, and anyone interested in helping with stewardship, attend the course. Others are also welcome! Another course offering will take place early next year.

Here’s an interesting point: there are six sessions in the course and only 1/3 of one session deals with giving. God is interested in how we manage His resources and that’s something we all need help with!

In His Grip,

Pastor Chris