Since I was
a kid I have had a love affair with baseball. I couldn’t play it that well, but
I loved the game. I only played one season in Little League. My manager used to
say to us, “No excuses, just results.”
Professional
baseball, as in other professional sports, gives us an accurate picture of
biblical stewardship. Every team has a manager and an owner. The manager is the
“hands-on-guy.” He runs the team; he’s the one in the dugout; he juggles the daily
lineups; and he’s responsible for the overall strategy of the game. Ultimately,
the team does not belong to the manager. The team belongs to the owner, and the
manager is accountable to the owner.
The basic
premise of biblical stewardship is the same idea of owner and manager. A
steward is simply a manager. A good/godly steward understands this, for their
attitude is “God is the owner and I am the manager/steward.” God is the Owner
of what? In keeping with the analogy of baseball, He not only owns the team, He
owns each player. We know who God is and we understand who we are in relation
to Him—we live, move, and have our being in Him. Therefore, we live to please
the Owner. Again, the proper attitude to maintain is “God is the Owner and I am
the manager.”
In the Old
Testament we see many illustrations/examples of this idea of
stewardship/steward. Right from the beginning Adam and Eve were placed in the
Garden of Eden and given the responsibility to tend to it. They were to be
accountable to the Creator-Owner. In Genesis 15:2 the head servant of Abraham,
Eliezer, is called a steward. The term there is mesheq, which is difficult to translate. It literally means “the
son or heir of acquisition.” Eliezer was not Abraham’s natural son or heir, yet
the idea of being the chief servant meant he was the steward/manager of all
that Abraham owned.
Joseph is a
classic example of what it means to be a steward. The English term used is
“overseer, the Hebrew word paqad, and
it means “to put in charge, to commit to, or to deliver to someone so as to
keep.” Joseph was the steward/manager of the household and business affairs of
Potiphar. When he was cast into prison, God continued to give him favor, and he
was made a steward/manager/overseer of the prison. Joseph was then placed over
the entire administration and economy of Egypt under Pharaoh.
In the New
Testament there are a number of related terms in the Greek that relate to
stewardship/steward. The primary word is oikos,
which means “house, home, or household.” The most common word for steward
is oikonomos, which means a steward,
manager, or even treasurer. Oikonomia
is the management of a household, its tasks, responsibilities, work, and
planning. In fact, this term is where we get our English word “economy.”
Another word
that is used in the New Testament, but not as common, is epitropos, which basically means the same—steward/manager, foreman,
or guardian. Another related term is diakonos,
which means “minister-servant.” Paul used this term in Ephesians 3:7 to
project the idea that he was entrusted with a gift of ministry from the Lord.
This embraces an important aspect of biblical stewardship—the gifts are for the
Lord, and we are stewards of those gifts. Jesus, in His parables, spoke often
of the idea of stewardship—laborers in the vineyard, the paymaster and the
talents, etc.
Christians
understand the principle of divine ownership. God owns us, for we have been
purchased by Him. Our bodies are the temple of God; therefore, we have a
responsibility over our personal health. It’s His ministry, His Church, His
kingdom, His giftings, His money (not just the 10 percent), and we are
privileged to be His stewards.
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