September 25, 2010

Jesus--The Perfect Steward!

18th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/26/10
1 Timothy 2:1-8


Jesus—the Perfect Steward!
I. He gave himself as a ransom.
II. He empowers godly living.


There’s an old saying, “That’s putting the cart before the horse.” You’ve probably used that phrase yourself. In situations where someone tries to do something out of order, you tell them that they’re trying to put the cart before the horse. There’s no way that’s going to work. The horse won’t push the cart but it will pull it.

But that familiar phrase means more than just doing things out of order. It’s also about power and motivation. For instance, if you want someone to do something for you and you want them to know how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate them, you’ll want to tell them how much you appreciate them and then ask them to do something for you. Doing it the other way around is putting the cart before the horse. It would be asking them to do something before you motivate them properly.

And we have to keep that in mind if we’re going to understand this morning’s worship focus properly. We’ve gathered today to hear what God’s word says about stewardship—the proper use of God’s gifts. Proper stewardship must have proper motivation first. We can’t put the cart before the horse. And there is only one proper motivation and that’s love for Christ.

At first you might wonder what this morning’s text from 1 Timothy has to do with stewardship, the proper use of God’s gifts. But notice what’s at the very heart and center of our text. It’s Jesus Christ, who gave his life as a ransom for all people. And in doing so, Jesus made the best possible use of his life. That makes Jesus the perfect steward. As we consider our own stewardship of the all the blessings our God has given us, let’s focus our attention on Jesus, the perfect steward.

Part I.

Maybe you don’t think in these terms, but there’s a very close connection between what you want each day and what you do. In fact, it’s wise to prioritize your wants each day as you strive to accomplish them. If some of the less important things don’t get done, that’s not so bad. But if you fail to accomplish what you really want and need, the consequences are often dire.

There’s also a very close connection between what our God wants and what he does. But as we consider what our God wants, we often get diverted from his highest will or his highest want. We vex ourselves unnecessarily as we keep asking ourselves, “Does God want me to do this or that?” and he doesn’t answer. It leaves us wondering, “Just what does God want?”

Have you ever asked that question? If so, God answers it in black and white right here in this morning’s text. He says, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” There you have it. That’s what God wants. In fact, that the most important thing that God wants. He wants all people to come to faith in Jesus as their Savior and thus be saved eternally.

And God acted on that want in a perfect way. Paul tells us, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.” After the fall of the human race into sin God didn’t sit for years on end wondering how he was going to get what he wanted—the salvation of all sinners. He didn’t face paralysis by analysis. No, the all-wise and perfectly loving God immediately announced his plan. He would send the Seed of the women to crush Satan’s head. And then over the millennia and centuries he unfolded that plan. Finally he put that plan into action when he sent his Son into the world as the Savior of the world. That Savior lived and died as the payment for all sins for all people. In doing so, Jesus bought us back from Satan. He ransomed us. And not just us, but each and every sinner.

So, before we consider our own stewardship of the blessings our God has given us, let’s put the horse where he belongs—in front of the cart. Let’s consider what Jesus did for you and me and every sinner. When Jesus paid the ransom price for us, it didn’t just cost him some spare change. The price he paid wasn’t some stash of cash that he had squirreled away over the years. It wasn’t 10% of his yearly income or even 50%. It was everything he had. It was his life. Every minute of every day of his life here was spent making the payment for your sins and mine as he lived every day in perfect obedience to his Father’s holy will. And then he died. He sacrificed himself for the sins of the world. He gave his all.

And he gave it for you. That’s how much he thinks of you. You’re so important to him that he gave everything he had so that you could spend eternity with him. He couldn’t stand the thought of you being separated from him forever, so he gave his all for you. No one else has ever done anything even close to that for you. Jesus did it willingly because he loves you so much. He gave himself for you.

Jesus—the perfect steward. He gave himself as a ransom.

Part II.

How do you look at your stewardship? In other words, what’s your starting point? The following are not good starting points; in fact, the holy God despises them: “This is all mine. I worked hard for it. I’ll do what I want with it.” “I’ll give God what I think he expects of me or what I think I owe him.” “I’m too busy even to think about stewardship.” Notice that all of those statements are all about me. There’s not even a hint about Christ in any of them. But too often, that’s where we start.

Instead, go back to the center of our text which is the heart, the foundation, the end all and be all, of our stewardship—Christ. It’s Jesus Christ and the ransom he paid for you and me. Realize what you’d be without Christ—an eternally lost soul, condemned to eternal hell. But Jesus gave his all for you. He died to make you his own forever. He forgives us daily even for our failures to respond to his love properly. He renews us daily. And now that we understand that, we can begin to decide the best way for us to respond to that love.

Paul talks about living peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. He doesn’t say some godliness and holiness. He says all. Are you up for that? How can we possibly live that way? Paul himself talked about his wretched record of wanting to do what is right, but doing what was sinful instead. But Paul also wrote, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13). That power comes through Christ. There’s our power for being good stewards of the blessings God has given us.

Paul mentions only a few of those blessings. One of them is prayer. He writes, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority.” All of us would agree that we should pray for everybody. But then Paul makes a point of emphasizing government officials. I read an interesting comment on this verse. It said that the worst government officials are the one who need our prayers the most. And Paul tells us why—so that we can lead Christian lives. We want our government to protect our right to worship and live as Christians. So Paul urges us to make proper use of the blessing that prayer is.

Next, he hints at making the best use of the gospel—the good news that Jesus is our Savior. He speaks about living godly lives; in other words, being the salt and the light of the earth. He goes on to mention the fact that he was appointed to be an apostle by Jesus himself in order to carry this gospel to the Gentiles. By way of example, then, Paul is urging us to do the same. Our God has entrusted us with the saving news of Jesus. What are we doing with that good news? That’s a question of stewardship.

Paul doesn’t mention the rest of our blessings, but the rest of Scripture certainly does. All our time, all our talents, all of our earthly blessings including home and family and education and employment and clothing and food and vehicles, are gifts from God. As the ancient believer Job declared, we came into the world with nothing and we’ll depart from it with nothing. It all belongs to God. We’re just using it for a time.

And as we use all those blessings we’re to do so to the glory of God, not ourselves. But just what does that mean? Well, one way of answering that question is to ask yourself this question: How would God want me to use this opportunity, this possession, this moment in my life? Obviously that excludes anything sinful. It includes using it faithfully, to the best of our ability, and not to advance our glory but his. That’s proper, Christ-like stewardship.

But don’t forget the horse! Remember to put the horse before the cart. The horse that draws proper stewardship is love for Christ. The holy God is pleased when we do things out of love for Christ. And that isn’t restricted only to what you do here at church for your church. It includes every aspect of your life—at home, at work, at school, at leisure, with family and friends. In another of his letters Paul wrote, “For Christ’s love compels us” (2 Cor. 5:14). Jesus empowers godly living in us. It’s another thing he does as our perfect steward.

When we talk about stewardship we don’t talk about rules. You don’t hear me say, “Here’s the minimum God expects out of you.” That’s because we can’t keep rules perfectly and rules have nothing to do with love. Instead, your gracious God simply asks you to consider how much he loves you and what that love moved him to do for you. And then he asks you to respond to that love in an appropriate way. So ask yourself today, “Is my response to God’s love to me in Jesus appropriate?” If not, know for certain that you are forgiven through Christ. And then focus on his love for you which powers godly living, the proper stewardship of all that God has given you. That’s putting the horse before the cart where it belongs. Amen.