The Link Between Stewardship and Generosity
Recently at Christ Fellowship, we had a guest pastor, Robert Morris, preach the sermons. I ’ve continually enjoyed when he has shared his wisdom with our congregation and these 2 weeks were no different. The messages were fantastic and I’ll share a few things about them today.
For the second message (Being a Good Steward), here is what some people said:
Some of the others found this message to be incredibly convicting (beware).
Some of the others found this message to be profound (be alert).
Some of the others found this message to be amazing (be ready).
This message was great and will certainly challenge many of the things we consider to be “normal” especially as Americans.
My takeaways below (I don’t want to bias any reactions so I strongly recommend that both messages are watched (20 mins each) before continuing on.
Message 1 “Living Beyond Blessed” :
There were a few questions and differentiations that Pastor Morris needed to make before diving too deep into his message for the day. The most important thing to do in the begin is to think about some hard truths for some of us to accept. The main thing is that being blessed is not about you but is rather about God.
If you are a good steward but not generous, why would God bless you?
If you are generous but not a good steward, why would God bless you?
Generosity is about the blessed LIFE not about the blessed pocketbook
The question is, which are you? One has motion and one is a holding place. I believe the you can guess or determine for yourself which God desires for you to be. One message is, “God might you bless me so that I may then bless others.”
Are you a river OR a reservoir?
Jesus taught 38 parables… 16 were about money and possessions
Your heart FOLLOWS your treasure
This was the most personally impactful piece of the message. I knew this, I believed this. But to hear it, to hear that God does NOT need what I have to offer… wow. It’s His anyways, none of it is mine, it ALL belongs to God and it is ALL from God.
The church doesn’t need your money, it needs GOD’s money. We didn’t support the church and we don’t support the church by tithing GOD does.
And Pastor Morris closed out the first message with this final thought:
May you experience a blessed life so you can be a blessing unto others. May your cup overflow unto others.
Message 2 “Being a Good Steward”:
The beginning of this message was a defining of stewardship to ensure that all people listening were aligned with what was to come. It’s important that we are viewing the message with the right lens — stewardship does not mean we own anything.
Stewardship is the management of the property of another.
WOW. Remember what happened when Jesus encountered the young wealthy man? He asked Jesus, “Lord, what must I do to be saved?” And Jesus replied, “Take everything you have and give it to the poor and then follow me.” And the young man went away SAD. He was a fairly good steward; he attained great wealth. But what else? He was NOT generous with it (Matthew 19).
The difference between an immature believer and a mature believer is stewardship.
This is looked at as a constant reminder for myself. I must remember that it does not belong to me. This earth is not mine nor is anything within the earth mine — it’s all God’s, it always has been — and always will be — all God’s.
3 things to know:
- I am not the owner
- I am a steward
- Am I a good steward?
This next part is something very core to me and especially so as I am within the age of dating and ultimately marriage. I will not entertain someone in an intimate relationship unless they are tithing. I know my giving goals and what I am called to do financially, my wife NEEDS to be on board. And… she needs to be on board BEFORE we get married. Otherwise, she more likely than not, will not have the right heart behind her giving; it cannot be motivated by anything other than God.
Robert Morris ensured that each person who wanted to date his daughter needed to tithe before he could date her.
Love this. See this. It’s so so important.
Finally, the same way that God blesses us supernaturally when we are generous, He blesses us supernaturally when we are good stewards.
Luke 12:16–21 NIV (linked here)
Matthew 25:14–30 NIV (linked here)
Pay close attention to the PRONOUNS used in the book of Luke. Robert Morris did a fantastic job of clarifying that for the audience, that man said MY harvest, MY barns, MY soul. It’s NOT ours it’s GOD’s.
This life is not ours and it never has been.
We don’t live for ourselves, we live because God has given us life.
I hope that the messages are great and enjoyable for all of you. I initially shared these two sermons and the corresponding notes I had with a few members of my family. Since then, I knew that I could expand further and write more. I could go deeper and make the messages my own — that is what this piece does today.
“Giving is an action. Generosity is a matter of heart.” — Chip Ingram
