Called to Be a Steward

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.
Psalm 67.35,26

God is wonderful among his saints.
Verse: Bless God in the congregations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:33-40; 12:1-2

Brethren, all the saints through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering over deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

The Gospel Reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38, 19:27-30

The Lord said to his disciples, "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Then Peter said in reply, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Think of all the crowds who follow Jesus.  The men and women and children who leave their homes and fields and their work and go to listen to Jesus teach and preach.  Hundreds, thousands eager to see Jesus heal someone, eager to see Jesus work a miracle, eager to see Jesus do something.

Probably everybody who could walk, and even more who had the fortune of being carried – everybody in Galilee had come out to see and hear Jesus.  The same in Judea – they heard what he had done elsewhere, and they wanted to see what he would do here.

Is not the same true here today.  Hundreds, thousands of people thronging to churches all over this city, all over this country.  We have heard that Jesus has power.  We have heard that Jesus can heal, we have heard that Jesus forgives for free.  So everybody is ‘saved’.  Everybody has a ‘testimony’.  Even the politicians pretend to be religious.  They make sure they are seen with the right preachers or religious leaders.  Everybody is out to get something.  Everybody is out to use Jesus and religion for something they want, something they need.

Even we Orthodox, too many of us go to Church not because of what we can give but what we can get.  Too many of us look for handouts.  We learned from past experience that the bishop will do this for us, the bishop will give that to us.  That’s what bishops do, isn’t it.  And if the bishop isn’t around, we’ll go for the priest.  I saw this especially when I lived in Kisumu.  For too many of us our religion is all about what we can get.  It’s all about ME, meeting my needs, about me getting what I think I need or want.

But have you ever noticed what happens when things get hard?  All of these dancing, shouting, worshiping people disappear.  If there is no money?  If it became costly to be a Christian, do you think anybody would hang around?  Nope.  If people don’t think they are going to get anything more from here, then they will just go find and drink from another fountain.  All those thousands of people around Jesus as he went around, when things began to look bad that last week, when he was arrested, when he was tried, when he was scourged, when he was crucified, where were all those people then?  Everybody ran away.  Even his disciples.  Everybody missed the entire point of what Jesus had been saying.  All that teaching.  Everybody missed the point of what Jesus kept telling everybody what he was about.  Nobody understood.

I think the same thing is happening today.  Just about everybody is a Christian because of what they can get. Even we Orthodox Christians.  Getting ‘blessed’ is what it is about, which in Kenya is code for getting access to money.

Jesus didn’t invite people to come get handouts.  He didn’t start a single clinic, nor establish a single school, nor set up a single feeding program. Jesus didn’t build a single church building.  Jesus didn’t invite people to come to this nice church and then say this nice bishop will give you everything you need.  No, Jesus has invited us to come and die.  To pick up our cross and follow him to the place of crucifixion, to the place where he chose the way of love rather than selfishness, to the place where he chose to give himself rather than receive.  And Jesus says, ‘Follow Me.’  Being a Christian is not about coming to Church, not about receiving sacraments, not about saying prayers.  Being a Christian is about knowing and following Jesus.  All these sacraments and icons and all that other stuff is just meant to help you and me to be disciples, to follow Jesus.  To give ourselves completely to him.  To be willing to do what He tells me to do, to go where He tells me to go.  According to Jesus, if I am not a disciple, then I am not a Christian.  Sure I may belong to a Church, I may claim to be ‘saved’, I may even be on the Church board.  I may even be a sub-deacon or a priest or a bishop. But if I am not a disciple, if I am not step by step following Jesus, I have haven’t given myself and all that I have to Him for Him to use for His glory, if I haven’t responded to His call to follow me and I will make you fishers of men, then I may be many things, but I am not a Christian.

Let me get very practical and see if I can explain what all this means in one area, at least, an area that touches every single one of us. Hold onto your seats, because I’m about to meddle.  I want to help us understand what being a disciple, what being a real Christian, means with respect to our money. 

But first let me ask you a couple of questions.  Who gave you life?  Who brought you into this world?  God did.  Who gave you your abilities, and a mind to think, and a voice to talk and sing?  God did.  And this day called today, and this hour, and this moment – where did they come from?  God has given you every second, every day, every year.  And everything you have, the stuff in your house, in your bank account, in your wallet or pocketbook?  It all comes from God.  Even the ability to think, to walk, to work, to make a salary – all of it comes from God.  So my question is this – why has God given you all of this?  Why are you here? 

Jesus uses a word to describe what we are, what he is calling us to be, and that word is ‘steward’.  In Jesus’ day, a steward was a slave.  He was brought on to manage the landowner’s estate, or to manage everything in the landowner’s house.  Did the steward own the land?  No, the owner did.  Did the steward own the machines or the other workers or the crops?  No, the owner did.  The steward’s job was to manage all those things that the owner put under his responsibility.  You and I are stewards.  We don’t own our time, our money, our stuff, our abilities, our jobs – it all belongs to the Lord.  The Lord is asking us to manage all of these things, and to manage them in such a way that we glorify God and we advance his kingdom in this place.

So what are you doing with what God has given you?  Are you finding ways to use the things and time and abilities and money to live for Christ, to be His man or His woman where you are?  Or are you not even thinking about it?  Maybe you’re just thinking all this stuff, this time, these abilities is simply yours to use or misuse however you want to.  But your life and everything you have is not yours.  It’s been given to you by the Lord, to manage for his glory.  The Lord is coming back, and He is going to have a conversation with you and with me, and He is going to ask you, ‘So what have you done with all the good things I gave you?’  He’s the owner and he’s going to hold us all accountable for what we have done or not done with all of his incredible gifts.  Don’t be like the steward who told his master, I took what you gave me and I dug a hole and buried it.

So let me give one point of application for this.  There’s lots I could say, but I thnk this is one thing among many that we really need to grow in.  Did you know that if all of us sitting here who claim to be Christians started living as if we were good stewards of all God’s good gifts, we as a parish would never need to ask anybody for anything.  That’s because all of us would be looking for ways to give our money to help the parish in it’s ministries, all of us would be volunteering our time to assist with the parishes ministries, like with teaching the children, or with helping our youth, or with reaching out to the poor, or with singing with the choir, or with starting a Christian bookstore or other outreaches.  If we members of this parish were being good stewards of what God has given us, we could pay the priest a living wage, we could cover all of our bills and repairs and supplies.  We could even start new ministries with spiritual gifts that we have here that aren’t being used right now.  

I think it’s fair to say that throughout our history, we haven’t done very well as a parish when it comes to being a good steward with our resources.  We have gotten into a very bad habit of waiting for someone else to pay for things that really are our responsibility as a parish.  But we are not doomed to take our past and make it our future.  We can decide to wake up and get serious about discipleship, about stewardship.  We can make a decision to put Jesus’ priorities first.  And if we don’t know what Jesus’ priorities are, we can come together and study, say, the Sermon on the Mount and discover what it is that Jesus wants us to do and be as a church.

Right now, our Church has some serious needs, and the Father has scheduled a time in two weeks for us to come together and address those needs.  And I understand that this is sort of an emergency, one-off effort to help us take care of some pressing issues we are facing as a church.  Notice I said help US, take care of issues WE are facing.  This is not the priest’s church. This is not the Bishop’s church.  This is not the Patriarch’s church.  This is not one particular ethnic group’s church and the rest of us are sort of here for the ride.  No this is OUR Church.  And when all of US TOGETHER are looking to JESUS to lead us, and guide us and bless us, we will be able to take steps together that make OUR Church a Church that Christ can actually use to bring glory to his name and to advance the kingdom of God in this place.

So in two weeks, all of you come, every member of this community, and lets all do our fair share.  But that’s not really what this sermon is about.  The point I am making is that following Jesus, being his disciple also means being a steward of all his good things.  We don’t just put a few shillings in the offering – God is calling me to put everything on his altar, because everything that I am and everything that I have is his already.

So what are you doing with who you are and what you have?  What are we doing as a church with who we are and what we have?  We have two choices.  We can take it all and put it on the altar for God to use for his glory.  Or we can did a hole and bury it.  And if you are realizing, My God I have taken everything you have given me and used it selfishly for myself.  I have dug a big hole and buried every good thing you have given me – it’s not too late to dig it back up and pull it all back out and bring it all and yourself back to God.  Confessing, changing directions, changing your mind, doing the right things – it’s what the Bible calls repentance, and real Christians have gotten real good at it over their lives.  Because repentance is what Christians do.  Repentance is at the very heart of what it means to be a disciple and a good steward of all He has given and is giving you.  It’s how we change.   So what will you do?  Dig a hole and bury your life and your talents and your time and your money, or put it all on the altar and live the resurrection life Christ is calling you to?  Because as Jesus himself says, ‘Where your treasure is, there is your heart.’

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

 

A sermon preached at Sts. Anargyroi Orthodox Church in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday, June 27, 2021.