Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards
of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of
stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small
thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I
am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore
do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will
bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes
of the heart. Then each one will receive
commendation from God. 1 Corinthians 4:1 - 5
(NRSVA)
As
soon as the word “stewardship” rolls out of the pastor’s mouth the muffled
groans tell you the sermon will be about money.
At least that’s what the misers among us imagine – people like the
world’s stingiest man who went Christmas shopping and found a vase on sale for
$2. It originally cost $400, but the
delicate pottery piece was broken. He
bought it and had the salesman ship it by mail so that his friend would think
he paid $400, and it had been manhandled by the post office; cheapskate!
A
week after Christmas he received a thank you note from his friend; it read,
“Thank you for the lovely vase; it was so very nice of you to wrap each piece
separately!”
This
passage is certainly about stewardship; that includes money,
but there is much more than just money involved.
The Servant
Paul
calls himself a servant (minister). The
word he was using described the slave in the rowing galley of a ship, pulling
on an oar. He was an under-oarsman,
a servant who belonged to God; he was faithfully doing that to which God had
called him.
The Steward
Paul
also called himself a steward. That speaks of someone who is also a slave,
but a trusted one – a slave that the owner of the house would put in charge of
managing the affairs of the estate.
The Faithful Under-Oarsman
So
we have this picture of Paul the Apostle as a galley-slave, doing his assigned
task of helping the ship of God’s church move forward. The one requirement Paul pointed out was that
a steward, or minister, was to be “found faithful”. What did he mean by that? His point was that God has
entrusted everything to us, life, family, health, material possessions,
opportunities and the promise of God’s power to be His Kingdom people.
A
faithful under-oarsman is one who understands this truth from the larger
view. The idea of requirement is one
of attitude, not accomplishment. God requires that we be found faithful
in our earnestness, an attitude of willingness to serve – to grab
on to the oar assigned to us and pull with all our strength!
The Faith-LESS Under-Oarsman
If
you take the analogy Paul gives and make a few comparisons to the church as a
ship, you can see just how important it is for God’s people to be faithful in
their service. Under-oarsmen are important:
§
think how much less power to move ahead the
ship has when only half the crew shows-up for work
§
think how much harder the remaining crew
has to work with just half a team
§
and imagine how silly it all looks when
only the oars on the left side of the boat are pulling and the ship is going
round and round in circles!
§
Think of the missed opportunities for
ministry; missed victories to celebrate!
Stewardship of the Faithful Oarsman
Paul
gave us much of the New Testament, letters of instruction for the Christian
life. One of the greatest statements on
faithfully serving God is found in Romans:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and
sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1
(NRSVA)
That’s the key to being a faithful
“under-oarsman” for Christ. It is a
matter of giving oneself over to God every day…a sacrifice of this day in your
worship of Him. It’s showing-up at the
altar every day to take your place on the Kingdom team of God’s people doing
God’s work. You wake up and take up your
oar and follow Him!
I love waterwheels. There
are overshot waterwheels and undershot wheels.
The names come from how they get their power. The overshot is one where the water falls
from above on the teeth of the wheel; the undershot is turned by the moving stream
below pushing the wheel.
In nature
the overshot wheel is many times more powerful and productive than the
undershot.
It is the
same way with men and women. Human lives
are also over and under-shot. Faithful
oarsmen, kingdom people, trust their lives and servant-hood to the power from
above, while undershot lives are driven from the undercurrent below. That undercurrent is what Paul mentioned in
his letter to the Romans – he advised them to not be conformed to this world’s
ways, but to be transformed, changed by the renewing of our minds.
Living as a
Christian is more than not cheating on your taxes and being a good
husband. Being a faithful under-oarsman
is all about faith, obeying just because you’re His.
Jonathan
Edwards was one of those. God used him
in the 18th century to revive the American continent. Listen to what he said about presenting
yourself as a living sacrifice:
I have this
day been before God and have given myself – all that I have and am – to God;
so that I am
in no respect my own.
I have given
myself clean away.[1]
Can we
honestly do less?
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