We Are Stewards of God's Creation
- Recall that God, speaking through the Psalmist, reminds us that the earth belongs to God-not to us. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those that dwell therein." (Psalms 24:1, RSV.)
- Also recall that in Genesis, shortly after the creation of the world and its inhabitants, God entrusted us with the keeping and caring of God's creation. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it." (Genesis 2:15, RSV, emphasis added.)
- Essentially, God entrusted us to be the trustees and stewards of the creation. Would you agree?
- Recall again, according to Genesis, when God finished creating the earth, God deemed God's creation to be very good: "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31, RSV, emphasis added.)
- Would you agree that as God's stewards, we should do all in our power to ensure that the goodness of God's creation is preserved?
Supremacy of Jesus' Teachings
- As Christians we acknowledge Jesus as Lord-would you agree?
- Because Jesus is our Lord, we believe his life and teachings must be our supreme moral guide-would you agree?
- Because Jesus is our Lord, when confronting a complex moral issue, we should ask ourselves: What would Jesus do based on his teachings? Would you agree?
Jesus' Teachings about Faithful Stewardship
- Let's examine what Jesus says about being faithful stewards.
- Recall Jesus' parable of the three talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). A master goes away on a long trip and entrusts his three servants with the stewardship of his property. Upon returning from the trip, the master rewards two of his servants who made his property flourish, but as to his third servant, who did not make his property flourish, the master "cast[s] the worthless servant into the outer darkness." (Matthew 25:30, RSV.)
- We normally associate Jesus' teachings with love, compassion, and forgiveness. Would you agree that these are unusually harsh words for the "worthless servant"?
- Jesus is emphasizing in this parable that we must be faithful in the stewardship of what God has entrusted to us. Would you agree?
