Stewardship
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Stewardship is one way of expressing the appropriate response Christians owe God for His spiritual and temporal blessings. The term stewardship brings to mind the role played by trusted servants in a household when masters of the house entrust to them the oversight and management of the household. We refer to such a servant as a steward. Hence, stewards in biblical times were managers for the affairs or interests of their master. A well-known Old Testament steward was Joseph who became in Egypt the overseer of Potiphar’s household (Gen. 39:4–5).
Jesus made reference to such household managers in several of His parables, such as the one about an unjust steward who squandered his master’s goods (Luke 16:1–8). On another occasion Jesus commended the faithful and wise steward as an illustration of the kind of faithfulness God expects of His children while awaiting Christ’s return (Luke 12:42–48).
The requirements of good stewards furnished a down-to-earth way by which to emphasize God’s expectations of His children. The Bible identifies various qualities of good stewards. For example, faithfulness is a prime requirement for a good steward. At the conclusion of His question “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household,” Jesus pronounced a benediction upon a faithful steward, saying, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Luke 12:42–43).
The Lord made faithfulness a prime requirement of stewards in His parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30. The servant in the parable that received five talents and the one given two talents were both commended in the same words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (vv. 21, 23).
Later, the expectation of faithfulness is expressed in the straightforward statement of 1 Corinthians 4:2, “It is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”
It is not by chance that Christians often associate stewardship with financial faithfulness. In Jesus’ parable the talents were not as we would think today of some special ability, but the talents Jesus referred to were sums of money. Hence, it is only a short step to take in connecting faithful stewardship with faithfulness in the management and use of money.
Managers of what God entrusts to us
In our better moments we remember that all we have is due to God’s generosity and providence. We are not the ultimate owners of anything, only the managers of what God entrusts to us. The observation of 1 Timothy 6:7 is true all the time in all places for all people: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
If then, our possessions are a matter of God’s graciousness and generosity, as they are, our role is that of stewards of “the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). And it is required of such stewards that we be faithful in handling possessions in ways that glorify God, advance His good news and build up the body of Christ.
While the age-old practice of tithing is commendable, faithful stewardship of possessions does not end with what we do with the 10 percent. Christians are still stewards who must manage faithfully the other 90 percent in ways that honor God and bless others.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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