True Stewardship
Stewardship is how we take care of another's property entrusted to us and the idea is to manage it well to make it profitable. But God has a different idea about stewardship. It's how we give up what's entrusted to us, how we lose valuable things he blessed us with, so we may gain Him. Stewardship to God is losing material things dear to us to make the right spiritual investment. But church has it the other way around. It sees stewardship the way the world does---storing up treasures on earth. Or, if they talk about stewardship of time, it's making "smart" use of time by being busy accomplishing things.
Stewardship of money is often seen like what corporate companies do with their finances. Church would fuss a lot about accounting and auditing, records and ledgers, the works. Spending only according to agreed budgets and apportionments. Not a cent would be used for anything unless the church board approves. Lots of discussions, debates, pros and cons, majority votes, etc. They do that to be good stewards of God.
The pastor cannot just decide where the church money goes. It strictly follows some budget allocation program decided by the powers-that-be. Everything should be agreed upon in a church board meeting. To denominations, this is proper and godly stewardship of money and possessions. Imagine Jesus doing the same. He has to get a majority vote from his church board before his plans can be approved and get some money.
But genuine godly stewardship of money, or any possession for that matter, is really something else altogether. Spending does not follow budget allocations or anything like that. No matter if we spend all the money to zero balance with no accounting. Churches are not banks---keeping and growing money and getting so strictly frugal with its use. Many churches fear getting zero balance because that is bad stewardship. They relax when there's big money saved in their bank accounts. That's being good and faithful servants. But when money dwindles, that's wasteful like the prodigal son.
Hates to Part Ways With It
There's no sin that gets in the way between you and God like the love of money. Money easily turns into an idol in the hands of those who mistake good stewardship for big bank savings---with church treasurers acting like bank managers and the pastor as a borrowing client. The pastor has to produce all the necessary documents before money could be released to fund his ministry. Each board member has to approve it. This is especially so if the pastor is poor (to prevent him from embezzling funds) or if he is controlled by the church board.
I've seen board members (led by the treasurer) reject the idea of increasing the pastor's salary (even if funds available allow it) because they want to save more money for the church. And that's good stewardship to them. I've seen moneyed churches pay their pastors low (poverty-line) salaries. They believe that low salaries made pastors more spiritual and churches that paid low salaries good stewards. And to the board members responsible for this (often the treasurer), it's an achievement. A holy sacrifice pleasing to God. They're proud to have saved money and funded "projects" at the expense of their pastor and his family. And silly people agree and respect the board for it.
If the Pastor is Rich
It's quite different if the pastor is rich. Sometimes, rich pastors connive with the treasurer so both act like bank managers (the treasurer being the assistant manager, or the other way around, if the treasurer is richer than the rich pastor). Together, they act like authoritarian landlords to poor church workers they look down on (rich churches have church workers doing the real ministry, the dirty works on ground zero), while the senior pastor acts as symbolic head of state.
The pastor and his board approve who gets more support (this is the one that pleases the pastor and the board, agreeing to everything they say) and who gets less. The pastor has lots of leverage to make things happen in church and make people agree with him. He is rich and powerful. Nothing bad about being rich and powerful if he is a genuine man of God who hears HIS voice and obeys HIM with all of his heart. But often, this isn't the case. Pastors with too much power (especially pampered with huge finances) usually cannot handle it well and get overwhelmed. They begin to manipulate people or think they are God. Worse, they make things happen in their own efforts, defying God's ways and standards in the bible and do things their way to get what they want. But then deny doing so.
Often, church people see all these scenarios as good and godly stewardship of money. You see the church income handled in either way---controlling the poor pastor or sharing control with a rich pastor. And the common denominator is being strict with money. Manipulation. Control that is tantamount to witchcraft.
It's quite different if the pastor is rich. Sometimes, rich pastors connive with the treasurer so both act like bank managers (the treasurer being the assistant manager, or the other way around, if the treasurer is richer than the rich pastor). Together, they act like authoritarian landlords to poor church workers they look down on (rich churches have church workers doing the real ministry, the dirty works on ground zero), while the senior pastor acts as symbolic head of state.
The pastor and his board approve who gets more support (this is the one that pleases the pastor and the board, agreeing to everything they say) and who gets less. The pastor has lots of leverage to make things happen in church and make people agree with him. He is rich and powerful. Nothing bad about being rich and powerful if he is a genuine man of God who hears HIS voice and obeys HIM with all of his heart. But often, this isn't the case. Pastors with too much power (especially pampered with huge finances) usually cannot handle it well and get overwhelmed. They begin to manipulate people or think they are God. Worse, they make things happen in their own efforts, defying God's ways and standards in the bible and do things their way to get what they want. But then deny doing so.
Often, church people see all these scenarios as good and godly stewardship of money. You see the church income handled in either way---controlling the poor pastor or sharing control with a rich pastor. And the common denominator is being strict with money. Manipulation. Control that is tantamount to witchcraft.
Real Kingdom Stewardship is "Wasteful"
But it was quite different with Jesus. Good stewardship is when you lose all. He loved seeing those who dared give up everything they had for God's glory---like the poor widow who gave up her last penny during the temple offering. Jesus was not impressed with those who gave something but not everything, giving huge amounts but keeping a much bigger amount in their pockets and bank accounts. To Jesus, keeping more than enough money for yourself was BAD STEWARDSHIP---even money saved and kept for the church (but with poor pastors or church workers underpaid). Jesus favored giving all-out and having nothing left but zero balance. Like the feeding of the 5,000.
It was their last readily available resource----5 loaves and 2 fish which were donated by a boy who thought of taking packed lunch with him to the Jesus Crusade. Jesus used up all that. In Luke, the disciples suggested sending the crowds away while they could still buy food and find lodging in the nearby villages, which sounded reasonable. If they did this, the 5 loaves and fish could be saved for Jesus, and probably for them, too. But no. Jesus gave them all up for the crowd. It's like the church spending all its money for the poor. Seen any church like this today?
One time he told his disciples--give up everything you have and give to the poor. He said EVERYTHING. This is genuine godly stewardship that churches should be doing today. Churches should give up all they have---church money in the bank, their huge properties, bible college campuses, church buildings and facilities. They should sell everything and give to the poor. To God, that is Kingdom stewardship---not keeping money in the bank or using money to buy properties, vehicles and facilities. It's not about good accounting and auditing and making sure the big figures tally. It's about losing possessions after keeping just enough for what we need---and even the little that is left is surrendered to God. That's Godly stewardship. In Christ, we return 100 % back to God, not just 10. We secure just enough money for our needs and give the rest away---to the pastor, to the poor and needy around us, and to other people.
✅Jesus' teaching about providing for your family: Mark 7.9-13: "For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother."
It's clear above that Jesus follows the principle of providing for your family. We keep what we need for family expenses and perhaps some savings for future family needs. That's good stewardship in God's eyes. The rest of our money must be given away, particularly to your pastor, the poor and needy.
✅Giving to your pastor. Matthew 10. 41-42: Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
✅Giving to your pastor. Galatians 6.6: The one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their teacher.
Combine what Jesus said with what Paul said and you easily get the principle of giving to your pastor, not just tithes and offering, but "sharing ALL GOOD THINGS," says Paul.
✅Keeping just enough for what you need and the rest should be given away: 2 Corinthians 9.8 and 11: And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work...You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.
The principle of giving 100 percent is clear enough and should be practiced in all true churches of Jesus Christ. True stewardship is losing (or giving up) all, and yet possessing everything.
Kingdom stewardship (is) not keeping money in the bank or using money to own large properties and facilities. It's not about good accounting and auditing and making sure the big figures tally.
If Jesus were a pastor today, he'd probably be accused of church money mismanagement, abuse, and bad, bad stewardship. We've been taught that if the church is losing income it's dying. If you let poor folks use your church facilities freely and things get broken because of that (or some valuable things get stolen), you're a foolish steward. I heard how one church bought a new carpet and how poor folks were kept off it because their shoes were dirty. To them that's good stewardship.
But Paul said this is the right mindset on material possessions:
"...those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." [1 Corinthians 7]Buy something and act as if it's not yours to keep? For the modern church, this is BAD stewardship. Imagine your new church vehicle is not yours to keep so you let folks from another denomination use it until it's worn out. That's a big no-no to churches today. But in the Kingdom of God, it's godly stewardship.
A repentant woman once came running in and wept at Jesus' feet. She poured very expensive perfume oil on his head and feet. While some disciples vehemently disagreed (especially Judas), Jesus just let her. He wanted radical "waste" of precious resources to be used in something "trifling" like God's glory (to many, God's glory is not worth spending for because you get no money in return. No ROI).
But don't get this wrong. This is NOT about spending all your money to improve your church building or renovate your altar or buy expensive flowers for church decor or buy expensive sound system and musical instruments for "the glory of God." They think this is how you spend God's money wisely. These are all nothing but garbage! God wants us to sell everything and give to the poor, not make our church buildings and altars look good.
Jesus wants human lives glorified with the power of the Jesus LIFE. And this often involves real money expense. BIG expense. What temple God wants beautified is the temple of the Holy Spirit---our lives, our bodies. Church income should be spent for this--building people's lives to be fit for God's glory. Money should go to fully support pastors and their families who do real church ministries, for instance, church workers who do the tough works on ground zero, and those who preach the Word in poor communities or countries (not those who go to rich countries ostensibly to "do ministry" or work as "missionaries" but doing no grassroots works. These people get highly paid with perks and bonuses and get billeted in posh condo units or mansions or hotels and ride nice cars---like missionaries who go to the Philippines and receive big pays in dollars, living like the rich).
Jesus wants to build lives---lives as simple and meek as his but as powerful and holy, "attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ," [Ephesians 4.13]. Lives that enjoy God's abundance, not to keep it for themselves, but to share the same with the poor and marginalized, the lowly and rejected. God's only design for blessings---especially material and financial blessings---is to be shared with the less fortunate. After you keep what's just enough for you, God wants you to share everything else and keep zero excess. This is true Kingdom stewardship for individual believers and the church as a whole.
The church should release these funds without expecting anything in return or ROI. I'm so pissed off by churches that support pastors and workers in exchange for some "spoils" or "loots" or "booty" they can get for the denomination, like some added potential members or new potential bible study groups, or preaching points. So pastors and workers run after people to achieve this, nearly begging people to join their church. Jesus NEVER did this to his disciples. The instruction was just "make disciples." No time or quantity constraints or quotas.
Good Stewardship and Evangelism
Remember when he sent out the 12 and later the 72? When they came back, Jesus never asked them for new members or lists of people for follow up. But he did marvel seeing Satan fall like lightning to the ground. This means, the supernatural effect of what the disciples did, conquering the territory for God and kicking out the demonic stronghold, was what mattered to Jesus. The ground was prepared, paths where made straight for the reapers. The demonic empire was demolished. These are what counts in the Kingdom and to genuinely spiritual men.
In man's empire, what counts are local membership and the accompanying income. If anything does not translate to money, they see it as useless. In the bible, real evangelism has two parts--the action of the sowers and the action of the reapers. Sowers go in to prepare the ground and plant seeds. They need not harvest at once. In fact, they do nothing but that---sow seeds. They do not collect names and addresses for follow up. They have no concern about ROI or how many were converted or invited to church.
Sowers may not harvest anything but what they do results to a powerful spiritual victory, if they do it with the right heart. Satan falls to the ground. Meaning, the evil stronghold in that place is arrested. This is God's formula, evangelism and supernatural signs and wonders going together. They must go together. Then the sowers go out praising God because they know that later God will send in the reapers. They may not have a visible church membership increase or church planting result, but they definitely have a share in what the harvesters will accomplish later. Only the genuinely spiritual see and know this. The carnal will see nothing but wasted time and effort because they do not see any tangible result. They're blind spiritually.
What the sowers have prepared, the reapers gather for harvest. In this way, Jesus said both the sower and reaper are happy. They both get rewards in the spirit realms. A lot of "church workers" and "church planters" are ignorant of this. They stress themselves with getting tangible results RIGHT NOW because they need to be ahead in the rat race against other denominational churches. They want to make sure the benefits go to their denomination alone. They need to make a name for themselves.
See the connection between stewardship and evangelism at this point? Because some people do evangelism for the money. The more members in church, the bigger the church income grows. Well, if this is how you see church growth, you need to read on.
Some sowers sometimes get to reap some harvests, too. This is because earlier, other sowers had come in before them, sowing seeds which grew and produced fruit and which you, the second batch of sowers, have "chanced upon" (though it's all in God's timing) while sowing new seeds. Some sowers also become reapers. And they're all happy working for the same Lord.
Other churches have done some evangelism in the area and now you reap the result of their works, although you do not belong to the same church or denomination. Don't covet the fruit of your seeds when they grow and produce fruits. Just sow seeds with disinterest. God decides who reaps them, not us. We don't decide the results of evangelism. We simply obey. It may be that you sow and other denominations reap. And it's perfectly okay. Both should be happy together. Question is, are they, if another denomination reaps what they sowed?
Now, it is God who causes the growth. You cannot project or aim that this year you'd hit 20 new church members. This is silly boasting and bad stewardship. You can only obey what the instruction says. It merely says, make disciples. How many and when is NOT your business.
Getting more people (and church income) than is allotted to you at a time is BAD STEWARDSHIP, and will result to worse scenarios in stewardship (eventually manifesting greed and self-centeredness)---like an Ananias-and-Sapphira type of church. Yeah you get a lot of money and build your own empire, but it will be so far from looking like Jesus' glorious church which is without spot or wrinkle.
Remember the greedy Israelites who got more than their share of manna in the desert? The next day their manna turned into maggots. Getting more members than is allotted to you (doing evangelism your own smart way) will just get you maggot members in the end. I often see it in churches. Lots of people and big church incomes, lots of activities and ministries---but everything is just maggots.
5 Talents Grown to 10 Talents
Remember the talents? Three servants where given talents to grow, and the first two good and faithful servants had different results, according to the grace given them. The one given two talents grew them to four. The one given 5 talents grew them to 10. It didn't matter to the master how much the increase was. What mattered was the obedience. They did what they were told "according to his ability." The ability God apportions you sets the limit. It's not your desire or effort. If the one given a single talent was able to grow it to one-half more (1/2), he would have received the same appraisal from the Master. Problem was, he didn't believe in doing anything with it.
The lesson here is, so what if you discipled only one or two or 5 or 10 people in your whole lifetime, unlike those who have grown mega churches? Are you going to get less recognition than them? God doesn't measure stewardship like that. Whether discipling one soul or a thousand and one is not the issue. It's all the same to our Master. We're all equally "good and faithful servants."
And mind you, the servants didn't decide beforehand how many they planned to have or make. In the Parable of the 10 Minas, the king told his servants to "put the money to work." In other words, make the money work, not them. The idea is investment and we know that while we make money work for us when investing, we do not have control of the ups and downs of stocks, of the market forces affecting profits, of how much profit we'd definitely make. We can only forecast or hope to make some amount. Some say it's the skill of the money managers handling your money, but if you know God's truth, you know it's all God, not the money managers. God decides everything, even in mundane investments.
Your job is to invest the money. Period. That's what the servants did. Put the money to work. And in the spirit realms, "investing" means giving them all up and then following Jesus by faith, not really keeping what money you can and making it grow yourself. Whatever riches you have finds meaning in the Kingdom only if you give them all up. All church denominations and the independent churches should do this---give up all their riches and properties, sell them and give to the poor, and follow Jesus by faith.
Zacchaeus didn't give up all he had but at least his was a great start---he gave up half of his riches right there and then to the poor and Jesus approved of it. Churches, especially big and rich ones, should at least do this as a start---give up half of their riches to the poor. Imagine what would've happened if they all really did this. Imagine the evangelism impact worldwide. It's going to turn the world upside down.
Good stewardship of money or any possessions is when you "waste" them by spending them all for God's glory (not the denomination's glory). It is something that NO CHURCH today is doing. What they do is go with the world, operating like commercial banks, investing in real estate as corporations do, engaging in franchising (church planting is like franchising), and make more money in the process to put in their banks.
Auditing
Jesus NEVER audited Judas. The Lord knew he was robbing his treasury, yet he never audited him or even stopped or replaced him. Today, denominations call that bad stewardship. In the Kingdom, that is called wisdom. Thus, denominations will find it hard to operate in the Kingdom because they are too engrossed with their riches and income, hanging on to them. It is impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.
The church should release these funds without expecting anything in return or ROI. I'm so pissed off by churches that support pastors and workers in exchange for some "spoils" or "loots" or "booty" they can get for the denomination, like some added potential members or new potential bible study groups, or preaching points. So pastors and workers run after people to achieve this, nearly begging people to join their church. Jesus NEVER did this to his disciples. The instruction was just "make disciples." No time or quantity constraints or quotas.
Good Stewardship and Evangelism
Remember when he sent out the 12 and later the 72? When they came back, Jesus never asked them for new members or lists of people for follow up. But he did marvel seeing Satan fall like lightning to the ground. This means, the supernatural effect of what the disciples did, conquering the territory for God and kicking out the demonic stronghold, was what mattered to Jesus. The ground was prepared, paths where made straight for the reapers. The demonic empire was demolished. These are what counts in the Kingdom and to genuinely spiritual men.
In man's empire, what counts are local membership and the accompanying income. If anything does not translate to money, they see it as useless. In the bible, real evangelism has two parts--the action of the sowers and the action of the reapers. Sowers go in to prepare the ground and plant seeds. They need not harvest at once. In fact, they do nothing but that---sow seeds. They do not collect names and addresses for follow up. They have no concern about ROI or how many were converted or invited to church.
Sowers may not harvest anything but what they do results to a powerful spiritual victory, if they do it with the right heart. Satan falls to the ground. Meaning, the evil stronghold in that place is arrested. This is God's formula, evangelism and supernatural signs and wonders going together. They must go together. Then the sowers go out praising God because they know that later God will send in the reapers. They may not have a visible church membership increase or church planting result, but they definitely have a share in what the harvesters will accomplish later. Only the genuinely spiritual see and know this. The carnal will see nothing but wasted time and effort because they do not see any tangible result. They're blind spiritually.
What the sowers have prepared, the reapers gather for harvest. In this way, Jesus said both the sower and reaper are happy. They both get rewards in the spirit realms. A lot of "church workers" and "church planters" are ignorant of this. They stress themselves with getting tangible results RIGHT NOW because they need to be ahead in the rat race against other denominational churches. They want to make sure the benefits go to their denomination alone. They need to make a name for themselves.
See the connection between stewardship and evangelism at this point? Because some people do evangelism for the money. The more members in church, the bigger the church income grows. Well, if this is how you see church growth, you need to read on.
Some sowers sometimes get to reap some harvests, too. This is because earlier, other sowers had come in before them, sowing seeds which grew and produced fruit and which you, the second batch of sowers, have "chanced upon" (though it's all in God's timing) while sowing new seeds. Some sowers also become reapers. And they're all happy working for the same Lord.
Other churches have done some evangelism in the area and now you reap the result of their works, although you do not belong to the same church or denomination. Don't covet the fruit of your seeds when they grow and produce fruits. Just sow seeds with disinterest. God decides who reaps them, not us. We don't decide the results of evangelism. We simply obey. It may be that you sow and other denominations reap. And it's perfectly okay. Both should be happy together. Question is, are they, if another denomination reaps what they sowed?
Now, it is God who causes the growth. You cannot project or aim that this year you'd hit 20 new church members. This is silly boasting and bad stewardship. You can only obey what the instruction says. It merely says, make disciples. How many and when is NOT your business.
Getting more people (and church income) than is allotted to you at a time is BAD STEWARDSHIP, and will result to worse scenarios in stewardship (eventually manifesting greed and self-centeredness)---like an Ananias-and-Sapphira type of church. Yeah you get a lot of money and build your own empire, but it will be so far from looking like Jesus' glorious church which is without spot or wrinkle.
Remember the greedy Israelites who got more than their share of manna in the desert? The next day their manna turned into maggots. Getting more members than is allotted to you (doing evangelism your own smart way) will just get you maggot members in the end. I often see it in churches. Lots of people and big church incomes, lots of activities and ministries---but everything is just maggots.
5 Talents Grown to 10 Talents
Remember the talents? Three servants where given talents to grow, and the first two good and faithful servants had different results, according to the grace given them. The one given two talents grew them to four. The one given 5 talents grew them to 10. It didn't matter to the master how much the increase was. What mattered was the obedience. They did what they were told "according to his ability." The ability God apportions you sets the limit. It's not your desire or effort. If the one given a single talent was able to grow it to one-half more (1/2), he would have received the same appraisal from the Master. Problem was, he didn't believe in doing anything with it.
The lesson here is, so what if you discipled only one or two or 5 or 10 people in your whole lifetime, unlike those who have grown mega churches? Are you going to get less recognition than them? God doesn't measure stewardship like that. Whether discipling one soul or a thousand and one is not the issue. It's all the same to our Master. We're all equally "good and faithful servants."
And mind you, the servants didn't decide beforehand how many they planned to have or make. In the Parable of the 10 Minas, the king told his servants to "put the money to work." In other words, make the money work, not them. The idea is investment and we know that while we make money work for us when investing, we do not have control of the ups and downs of stocks, of the market forces affecting profits, of how much profit we'd definitely make. We can only forecast or hope to make some amount. Some say it's the skill of the money managers handling your money, but if you know God's truth, you know it's all God, not the money managers. God decides everything, even in mundane investments.
Your job is to invest the money. Period. That's what the servants did. Put the money to work. And in the spirit realms, "investing" means giving them all up and then following Jesus by faith, not really keeping what money you can and making it grow yourself. Whatever riches you have finds meaning in the Kingdom only if you give them all up. All church denominations and the independent churches should do this---give up all their riches and properties, sell them and give to the poor, and follow Jesus by faith.
Zacchaeus didn't give up all he had but at least his was a great start---he gave up half of his riches right there and then to the poor and Jesus approved of it. Churches, especially big and rich ones, should at least do this as a start---give up half of their riches to the poor. Imagine what would've happened if they all really did this. Imagine the evangelism impact worldwide. It's going to turn the world upside down.
Good stewardship of money or any possessions is when you "waste" them by spending them all for God's glory (not the denomination's glory). It is something that NO CHURCH today is doing. What they do is go with the world, operating like commercial banks, investing in real estate as corporations do, engaging in franchising (church planting is like franchising), and make more money in the process to put in their banks.
Auditing
Jesus NEVER audited Judas. The Lord knew he was robbing his treasury, yet he never audited him or even stopped or replaced him. Today, denominations call that bad stewardship. In the Kingdom, that is called wisdom. Thus, denominations will find it hard to operate in the Kingdom because they are too engrossed with their riches and income, hanging on to them. It is impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.
What then is good stewardship? Is it giving away all your money? Is it feeding every poor and hungry you see around? Is it refusing to correct a thief like Judas even if you know he's been stealing money? Good stewardship is what Jesus did with everything God gave him. He waited for the Father's instructions on what to do with them, and Jesus merely obeyed the Father. That is good stewardship---obeying God with whatever HE's given us. Part of good stewardship is hearing God's voice and obeying. And God told us in HIs Word to give up and sell everything and give to the poor.
Whatever riches you have finds meaning in the Kingdom only if you give them all up to Jesus.
