Were you ever taught that when you borrow something, you should return it back to the owner in better condition? So if a friend lends you their car with a half tank of gas, return it with a full tank, a wash, and preferably no dents (rental cars are a different story). That’s how I tend to think of stewardship: taking care of someone else’s things. But that’s not really stewardship; that’s courtesy.
Jesus once told a parable in which the bad steward was the one who merely returned what had been entrusted to him (See Matthew 25:14-30). If you entrust a financial advisor with managing your retirement fund, you want the advisor to grow the fund, not just preserve your contributions. Good stewardship isn’t just taking care of something; good stewardship is about maximizing it for the owner’s benefit.
A good steward always keeps two things in mind about what he or she has been given: who it is from and who it is for. The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:25, “…I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known.” Paul saw himself as a steward of the Gospel (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1). He received the Gospel from God for others.
I do pretty good remembering who the Gospel is from. But sometimes I forget who it is for. Yes, salvation is a gift I have received by grace through faith in Christ, but it is not for me alone. The Gospel is a gift I have received from God for others. As stewards of the Gospel, we maximize the Gospel by spreading it to more and more people.
A great opportunity for you at Mercy Hill to help spread the Gospel is through Go Teams. Go Teams are short-term trips that aim to serve long-term missionaries and church planters across the world. There are still five open trips that you can join this year, and many opportunities to help fund the cost for others already signed up to go!
-Bryan Miller, Pastor of Care
Watch the full sermon from week 3 of our Colossians series here:
Additional Resources to dive deeper into Colossians:
Jesus is All You Need: A Study in Colossians
This family devotional from The Seeds Project is a great tool to help your children learn how to study this book of Colossians.
Colossians & Philemon for You: Rooting You in Christian Confidence
This expository guide helps you unpack Colossians and Philemon verse by verse.
Go Team with Mercy Hill Church
Go Teams are short-term trips that aim to serve our missionaries and church planters.
