Introduction: The Heart of the Matter
Following our sermon on Sunday on biblical stewardship, I thought I’d share a few additional thoughts. I hope they stir our hearts as we continue through this week.
Our struggle with stewardship arises not just from poor budgeting or planning—it is rooted in our hearts being set on the wrong things. It is, at its core, idolatry. We find our hearts not only failing to take “dominion” and care for what God has entrusted to us, but we turn those very things into our security, our assurance, our ultimate end. We look to them to give us joy, identity, satisfaction—to complete us.
We abuse these things not only when we misuse them outwardly but also when we ask them to be what they were never intended to be. Money was never meant to be your saviour. Your career was never designed to give you ultimate significance. Your possessions cannot deliver the peace your soul craves.
But here is the glorious news: Christ, in his work of redemption, redeems not just our souls but our bodies, our relationships, and our very view of things. The gospel doesn’t merely save us from sin—it transforms how we see and use everything around us.
How Christ Redeems Our Stewardship
1. He Redeems Our Identity
We are not defined by what we have, the skills we possess, or the status we’ve achieved. Our identity is not measured by the size of our bank account, the car we drive, the neighbourhood we live in, or the title on our business card. Whether you steward one talent, two, or twenty—your worth remains unchanged.
Why? Because our real value lies in whose image and likeness we bear, and in the One who redeemed us. He bought us with his precious blood. Our worth is not in what we own but in the One to whom we belong—the One who not only created us but has also redeemed us.
Our worth is not in what we own but in the One to whom we belong.
Because of this settled identity, we are freed to have a radical view of things around us. We don’t trash them—they have their rightful place as good gifts from a generous Father. But neither do we cling to them as if our lives depended on them. Christ alone is our highest goal and pursuit.
This is why Paul could declare, “I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). And the Thessalonians demonstrated this transformed perspective when they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
When Christ is our treasure, we are ready to lose everything else for the highest good—and equally ready to use everything we have for the pleasure of our Master.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”— Jim Elliot
2. He Redeems Our Use of Things
Christ’s redemption doesn’t just change how we see ourselves—it transforms how we handle everything entrusted to us. We no longer use our money, time, skills, and resources to gain status, build a name, secure our future, or construct an identity. Instead, we use them as caretakers—for the good of His kingdom, the flourishing of others, and the glory of His name.
We abuse things not only when we misuse them, but when we ask them to be what they were never intended to be.
Take money, for example. When we view money as a tool, a talent in our care, we will find both joy and soberness at the same time: joy in that God has entrusted us—through job or business—to be stewards of it, and soberness in that we want to use it in a way that pleases God and cares for those entrusted to us—family, friends, the work of the gospel. This will lead to intentional, sacrificial generosity; accountable spending; and the flourishing of those under our care—all while guarding us against greed, gluttony, pride, control, and idolatry.
Or consider our use of time. We can live as wise people, “redeeming the time” (Ephesians 5:16), wanting to be accountable for every minute we spend—whether talking, working, or browsing. We will ask, “How can my use of time this weekend honour God, serve those the Lord has entrusted to me, and be used maximally and diligently to gain much for his kingdom?”
Here is the beautiful paradox: we are truly free not when we have spare change to do whatever we want, but when those things are no longer our master. Freedom is not found in abundance but in surrender. The one who holds possessions loosely—ready to give, ready to go, ready to serve—is the one who is truly free.
The Call: Faithful Stewards Awaiting the Master
With such a vision, it becomes possible to truly bless the Lord—both when walking in a land of plenty where streams of abundance flow, and equally when travelling a road marked by suffering and lack, pain and emptiness. For he is the One who gives and takes away. Blessed be his name.
Stewardship declares: you and all that is with you belong to another.
The bottom line is this: stewardship declares to us that you—and all that is with you (time, money, resources, knowledge, skills)—belong to another and are to be used for the glory of God and the flourishing of others. We are caretakers who tend to what has been entrusted to us.
And the ultimate question is this: Will we be found faithful? Will you hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant”, from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ?
May we live as those who have been bought with a price, stewarding all things for his glory.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Peter K
GracePoint Church Waiyaki Way