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Servants and Stewards I Haein in
| Corinthians 3:18-4:5 4
November 15, 1964 y- 13/46

Motivayion is a very important word today.\ Educators tell us that children learn and

comprehend onlyyw when they are properly motivated. \ when we attempt to discover why we
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act as we do, Psychologists di direct us to our inner motivations. \I drama, the method

schoo! teaches its students that acting is authentic only when the actos” is motivated

to project himself completely into his rote.\ tn advertising and politics, millions

upon millions of dollars are spent every year to penetrate the inner sanctum of our
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motivation: to discover why we vote and buy as we do: and to change our behavior by
changing our motivations.

In our Scripture Lessen this morning we hear the Apostle Paul telling about his

notivat on.\ In a short and cogent sentence we hear him tell his readers why he did the
the things he did.\We are fortunate to have this bit of se]f-revelation: it tells us a

lot about the Apostle and about Christian motivatian.\ It affords us the opportuni ty

of seeing Baul as he saw himsel f.\ 1 gives us the opportunI ty of comparing our motivations:
our analysis of ourselves with his own.

Pleer
The simeren was Corinth, a wealthy, worldly, spphisticated Metropol is.| The fledgling

Christian Church in Corinth nad been established by Paul. \That if was Important to him
rlis teller S aA) ke. ee eM Clty cl ad © i minis

is clear: a major block of the New . lestenent, 1o-bis-tetterg-wei-ttento-tnet-church. “The

immediate problem was¥ the criticism Paul was receiving from the secular Corinthians.
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His integrity had been called into question: he had been maligned as an opportunist and

a greedy self seeker. | Apparently the criticism had taken iys toll: some of the Corinthian

Christians gad begun to falter and waiver in loyalty to the Church.

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It is to this situation that Paul is responding. | is In response to this criticism

and these question that he replies by way of stating clearly how he sees himself: how

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he is motivated: and how he wishes others te think of him.

"This is hew one should _— us, 8S servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
erpr soav09
of God. *|on the surface its rather shemutaterg — this awesome man should see himself

in such humble terms. He very well might have called himslef a memachazx a great preacher

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in the prophetic~hiwes of Isaiah & Jeremfah: He might have pointed out his sobolarly

Status as a Pharisee, or his honored title-citizen of Rome. \ He very well might have sald,
"This is how you ought to regard me, -—as a maker and molder of history." ] In retrospect,

we can give Paul all these titles, certainly the whole evolution of Western civilization

was radically influenced by his efforts. | But the point is that Paul saw himself in

menial terms, servant and steward. \ He saw himself clearly as an instrument, a tool in

the hands of God.\ He-would be satisfied to call himsetf-a welt marked road-sign;- “Petating

the way te-his Lord-Jesus”ChrTst. \ Pau would have his readers remember him as a trust—

worthy steward,

Like many words, steward or stewardship has lost much of its original intent.| |

Suppese the Church is as quilty as anyone here, for to us, stewardship means budgets,

and giving and pledging, money netters.\ But originally, a Steward was a business manager.
A wealthy man would choese one of his servants to manage his affairs, buying and selling,
hiring and firing, all the transactions invelved in running an affluent househo!d.\ 11

was a responsible position, and yet the good Steward could never forget that It was

another man's affairs he was handling; there was no room for capriciousness or care-

lessness. | A °femerd had to be absolutely trustworthy and absolutel loyal to his
mester. \ and-eo de was a responsibility, but it was also a type of servitude, | To be

effective as steward had to forget himself and act always on behalf of someone else.
tH ———

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mysel fS teward—of—a Fraternity. __In_this-e was ny it-to-nanage the kitchen,
oversee.—Mie walters ¢-dishwashers, -plead-wi. F—threaten re cook,” “and above af]
—_—— ia sciatic —
ts “eney pent—fhari—deme in n_shori, the-Ste ard acted

spending raterntty*s money Ti a way-most

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This. how Pauw wished to be known—as a servant of Christ, and a Steward of the

mysteries of of God. at-the-finat-enetysie, It wauld be Ged;net_men,_whejudged_whetter

Cz It's_a far cry from eur loose employment of the "stewardship" concept.

We use It

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when it is _convenient-whenever we have a budget to subscribe,-or a building program to
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support.\ But for the early Christians,-te be a Christian meant being a Steward. | Steward-

ship was not one aspect of the Gospel te be dragged out and drummed to death every fall.

Rather, it was a practical, down to earth way, a man could understand what it meant to

be a Christian.

The early Church realized, as we do not, that to i+ had been entrusted a precious

gem—the geod news. | Earty christians knew more about being Stewards of the Gospel

because they were the only ones that had it It was their possession, and they could

experience the stenardahlp-ofhandblng, Spreading, and cultivating if throughout the worid.
The early Christians told their story simply.\ God, they testified, loves us with

a Jove that will not let us go. \He has come te us in Jesus of Nazareth. | This Jesus,

born of a virgin, raised in a Jewish home, ate and drank, worked and selpt, taught and

listened, healed and helped; |then one day was crucified by-lawless-men, \ He was mocked

and jeered-his friends deserted him, he was buried in a borrrowed grave.

An then, they testified, he was raised from the dead by the power of Almighty God.
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Suffering, death and the grave had no deminion over hin. | They went_on to tell that

he was seen again _among men: many witnesses could be found who saw him and

touched hin. | And then, he disappeard: some said he ascended bodily into the heavens.

The story was not complete however, unti | they had told how if was wifh them after-

ward. \ They couldn't return to their resprctive Lives. |Senenon, in a strange and mysterious

way they were drawn together in a new relationship. strange power came over them, and

gradually they realized that they were a beloved fellowship, entousted with the knowledge of

the mighty act God had done im their midst. \ Gradual ty they realized that Ged had revealed

himself to them — and then made them stewards of this revelation.\ On behalf of God, they, the
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beloved community, were to bring this incredibly good news to the whole world.\ God had

made them stewards of the Gospel .\They would have to be absolutley trustworthy, absolutely
kanesx loyal: they would have to reorient their lives around their appointed task: nothing

less would be acceptable.

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| doubt that the contemporary church ever sees itself as the manager of God's business

on earth doubt that we ever think oftnrtettanhty as a precious gift, given to us by God:
a gift we have been given to” share and to manage. \ Thé-reasons we do not see ourselves
primarily as Stewards are several. Firstly, the Gospel, simply stated, startles no one any

vy —
more. |he earl fy Christians could feel like Stewards because they had something no one else

had. \ But today everyone has it: everyone knows# who Jesus is, and nearly everyone thinks

of himeslef as a Christian.\ A christian today does not appear to be any different from anyz

everyone else:\In fact, Christians generally emphasize how very much a part of the crowd they

really ere.| In short, Christianity has been effectively enveloped by American culture to the

point that everyone thinks he's a Christian just because he's ap Anerican,\ Sant Healy, in

this context if is difficult to feel that we have in our pessession soemthing that everyone

else needs:

Secondly, we don't know much about being Stewards of the Gospel because we have compro—

mised the essentiall¥ exclusive nature of that Gospel..| The whole population thinks of itself

as Christian, and the Chruch, the Steward of the mysteries of God, has found if very profitab!

— oe ———

to be acconodating.\ instead of the specific proclaimations of the New Testament, the Chruch

dispenses generalities. \ instead of pointing to the man_Jesus Christ In everything it does—

the Church advocates clean living, Instead of speaking God's word, the church refi ects

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its members' worés,\ instead o f discovering new ways to tell tne world that Jesus C,rist

was God Incarnate the Chrch hides this bit of eternally good news under a blanket of

sentimentalism and positive thinking.\ Martin Marty descirbes it as "reli ton in general"

all inclusive, offensive to no one, very respectable and highly profitable.) |his is why we
don't know much about Stewardship of the Gospel, - we have forgotten the Gospel itself.

So invioved in our programs and activities have we become, that daily we fail to speak a firm

and definite word about jesus Christ.

God incarnate, that he lived, died and rose again that we might find new life is as relevant

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and cogent today today as it was in the firs$ contury,\ ut soemone must say It: someone must

meet the world head-on and in new and precise terms tell the worid that nothing in creation
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willbe able to spearate us from the love of God, In Christ Jesus our Lord.\ That someone id

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the Church: and the Church is you and me — individuals who are called to be servants and

Stewards of the Gospel.

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Speaking now of the narrow definition of Stewardship, budgets, mon

nd pladges, no one
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could possibly be staisfied with the performance of American C ristianity. The average church

member spends more for cigarettes than he gpves to the cnreh)| Each year we wail and put on

the hair shirt when its ézen time for the Every Member Canvas.\We beg beg and plead — and corparat

look forward to that blesssdd day when the average yearly pledge will equal the national

)

average per capit a spending for Hiquor.| Perhaps the reason, for this study in irony is

precisejy that we have extracted Stewardship from Christianity, made It into a program, an

area of emphasis, and confined it to the month of November \\ Perhaps we have so isolated
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Stewardhsip that it no longer has anything to do with our peronsal commitment to Jesus Christ.

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And so we need very badly te hear Paul's words to the Corinthians,\ We need fo recapture

the early Christians understanding of themselves as Stewards ~ God's men, men whosee entire

lives were focussed on their task of being loyal and trustworthy stewards.
Arhtur McCay, President of McCormick Seminary has said:("All Stewardship teaching and
practice im the Churches ought to begin with the recognition that the rightful core of

of every Christians' entire response to God's mighty acts among men in Jesus acl ia the

Stewardship of the geone! Everything the Christian is called te be and to do must be seen

as the working out of his acknowledgement of the gift of the Gospel."

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In the past several weeks you have heard a great deal about the new church we are
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planning to build. | This week you received a brochure telling you about a percentage goal
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established by a group of representative laymen.| In the coming weeks there will be alot

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of figuréing doaa, a lot of mental arithmeti c: and if every member meets that percentage

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goal we will have no difficulty beblding a new and beautifull Presbyterian Church.\ And yet if

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/ all we do is meet a percentage goal, it will be a hollow ge eature. |i all this program

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\ accomplishes is the construction of a new building it will be a shallow victory.

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