“Steward” is a word that doesn’t get used very often in our current vernacular. Perhaps you understand “steward” by its related word “stewardship,” which unfortunately often gets used as a code word for “church fundraising effort”. And sure, we are indeed called to be stewards of our money – but I think we fail to see how to be stewards of our money because we don’t see what being a “steward” is in its larger context.
Last night at our Wednesday night student gathering, we were talking about what it meant to be “slaves” in the way that Paul is using that term in Romans 6 (it’s a great read if you have time). Unfortunately, when we hear the word “slave,” we think of the great evil that was British and American slavery of the 18th century. That was a great evil and a specific evil. When Paul uses the word “slave,” he is not talking about a necessarily desirable existence, but he is also not necessarily talking about the traumatic and abusive situations of the Antibellum South. He’s referring to something more like the dependency that we see in “wage-slaves” of retail/food-service/factory jobs. These people generally have their needs taken care of. They are not necessarily taking the risks that entrepreneurs are. They know and rely upon the check that is coming at the end of the month – a check that is more or less guaranteed in direct correlation to their hours worked.
In some ways, we can see ourselves as “slaves” of God. We were purchased with the price of Christ, meaning that we do not “own” ourselves but that we are owned by the One who paid our price. Like the Walmart employee, we can rely on our “company” (the Kingdom of God) for our check (our daily bread). We aren’t taking the risk that the Board of Walmart is taking, we don’t have to worry about the big picture – we simply show up and do our job, which most of the time is a humble and insignificant part of the greater whole that is owned by God.
But we are not just told that we are “slaves”. We are also told that we are “stewards”. The difference here I think is something that I have seen in every person I have ever managed. Some people are slaves – they are just there for the paycheck. They’ll do the job to make sure that they don’t lose the job. But stewards are different, the difference between a steward and a slave is that the steward is given and takes ownership. They’re the kind of employee who works like they own the company. They realize that their job has been given to them as something that they can own. Even if it is a small part of a bigger whole, they still understand their ownership of the specific thing they have been given.
In October, we are going to examine this reality in a new sermon series called “Stewards of Jesus,” where we will look at our existence as stewards of the Kingdom that we have been given by Christ’s purchase of us, finally celebrating our stewardship of the Gospel together on Reformation day. Please consider joining us for this exploration of our stewardship.