LEADERSHIP CAPSULE
Committed to raising and equipping leaders to ultimately fulfill the Great Commission....

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

TITLE : LEADERSHIP IS STEWARDSHIP 2

1 Peter 4:10 " As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God"

Luke 16:2 "And he called him, and said to him, what is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward" RSV

UNDERSTANDING STEWARDSHIP

The subject of stewardship is one of the most important in the scriptures, hence the need to have a good understanding of it. Our opening scripture calls the believer a steward of the manifold grace of God. This isn't referring to a few people in the church, but to everybody. This means every believer is a steward of divine gifts.

To understand what the Bible says about stewardship. We must start with the beginning. The understanding of the beginning is the beginning of understanding. Genesis 1:1 says God created the heavens and the earth. This means God has absolute rights of ownership over all things,(your giftings,ministry, possession,life, money,assets, time, job e.t.c) and to miss starting here is misaligning the top button on our shirt or blouse - nothing else will ever line up. Nothing else in the Bible, including the doctrine of stewardship, will make any sense or have any true relevance if we miss the fact that God is the author of stewardship and has full rights of ownership. A good understanding of stewardship ministers humility and caution. It stirs us toward living intentionally and a productive life. People who brag because of what they have or can do have no understanding of stewardship. It is through our ability to grasp this truth and imbed it in our hearts that the doctrine of stewardship is understood.

The doctrine of stewardship defines man's relationship to God. It identifies God as a owner and man as a steward. God makes man His co- worker in administering all aspects of our life. The great leader, Apostle Paul explains it better in 1Cor 3:9. I started with this concept, so that you can fully understand stewardship. It is then we are able to accurately view and correctly value what we have, not only our possessions, but, more importantly, human life itself.

In essence, stewardship defines our purpose in this world as assigned to us by God Himself.  God created man to have dominion (see Genesis 1:26). If we were created for the purpose of rule or dominion, then we were designed to fulfill this purpose and will not be personally satisfied until we do. Hence the need to have a clear understanding of what it means to have dominion in relation to stewardship.

The idea of dominion has different shades of meaning, which include ruling, controlling, influencing, leading, mastering, commanding, having power over. We should never forget that Adam's (humanity's) rulership over the earth also includes the concepts of cultivating, keeping, tending, guarding and protecting the garden of Eden as it's steward. You are a steward!!!

This principle is seen in God's assignment to the first man in the garden of Eden. His first instruction to the man was to "work" or cultivate or manage or care, govern or administrate or keep the garden of Eden as a steward. See Genesis 2:15. God is the owner of the garden, He entrusted the garden to Adam to manage it. This is the doctrine of Biblical stewardship.

What then is stewardship???
To be continued...........

Thanks for reading. If you share our passion by equipping leaders please share with others.

David Oyeleye