John Bevere - How to Embrace Biblical Stewardship for a Fulfilling Life
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Hey everyone, welcome to lesson five of our gifted course, and we’re going to talk about stewardship. I want to read 1 Corinthians 4:1. Paul said, «Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards.» Stewards of what? We’re going to find out in a moment what he is a steward of, but let’s talk about this word. This is not a term we use very much in our society today, so let’s look at the dictionary and the Greek definition. The dictionary defines the word «steward» as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. The Greek dictionary—I’m not even going to attempt to pronounce this Greek word, but you’ll see it on your screen—defines it as one who has the authority and responsibility for something, one who is in charge, and one who is responsible. Administrator or manager is a good word.
There are three clear aspects of a steward: Number one, oversees what belongs to another, so I am responsible for what someone else owns. Number two, carries authority to manage what he has been entrusted with. And number three, is responsible; he or she will give an account to the owner. So, obviously, there’s not direct supervision from the owner, no micromanagement, so to speak, but you are entrusted and expected to carry it out the way the owner desires.
All right, what would be an example? A financial planner. In our ministry, we have a small fund for which we are taking care of our employees' retirement. We have a financial manager who manages the investments for these funds that we provide to our full-time employees. As an employee of Messenger International, I hardly ever go to that financial manager and ask which stock account he is investing in, or what annuity, or what government fund. I really don’t care about it; I know he has 40 years of experience and I trust him with it. If you look at the Bible, you’ve got Joseph. Joseph started out as a household slave, but Potiphar saw that he was a very wise man; the wisdom of God was on his life. Potiphar made him manager over his entire household, and the Bible says Potiphar didn’t know anything that was going on in his house, other than what he would eat and his time to sleep. Potiphar trusted Joseph, and he made him a steward who handled what belonged to Potiphar in a way that he knew would benefit Potiphar.
Now, let’s talk about what Paul is specifically saying when he says, «Let a man consider us as servants of Christ and stewards.» Let’s finish the verse: «Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards, now watch this, of the mysteries of God.» He said, «I steward the mysteries of God.» What was this? Paul was given a gift of revelation—the revealing of the grace of God, the revealing of Jesus as the Messiah—and he stewarded it to bring to the Gentiles. He was responsible. So I want you to think about him stewarding this gift like Joseph stewarded Potiphar’s belongings, like a financial planner would steward the finances of someone without micromanaging it.
This is the thing: God has given you a gift, and he says you’re a steward of my ability. That’s basically what Paul is saying: «I am a steward of God’s gifts.» So how does this apply to us? I’m going to make it clear. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:10: «As each one has received a gift"—that’s the Greek word «charisma"—"minister it to one another.» So administrate it, give it out as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Here’s the thing: I know that we can choose to use that gift to benefit only ourselves, or we can use that gift to benefit others and build the Kingdom. We’re stewards; we choose. We’re going to give an account of how we did it.
So here’s the key point: You have a gift or gifts, and these gifts are specific endowments of grace that empower you with special abilities. Just as the Apostle Paul, we are stewards of those gifts. To show the importance of your gifts and stewarding them well, let’s use Paul’s attitude as a template. Let’s look at how he viewed his stewardship specifically. He says in 1 Corinthians 9:16–17: «If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.» There’s a lot here.
First of all, he says necessity is laid upon me. When God gives you one of his gifts—two of his gifts—three of his gifts, whatever it is, it’s his ability, and there is a necessity laid upon us to steward that gift well to build the Kingdom. We’re actually going to give an account for how we handled that, but notice Paul says, «Woe is me if I don’t use that gift correctly; if I don’t preach the gospel.» This word «woe» is interesting; it is a Greek word that means disaster or horror. Another Greek dictionary defines it as an interjection of grief and indignation. Each occurrence of this word in the New Testament implies very serious, terrifying judgment.
I know I might be scaring you right now; I’m not trying to, but I am saying I would like to see a healthy fear of God. Today, we so emphasize that we are children of God; sometimes we overemphasize it to the neglect of what we’re called to do. See, remember Ephesians 2:8-10: you are saved by grace to be a child of God, but you are equally empowered by that same grace to do something. You must get it in your psyche and your paradigm: just as much as you are called to be a child of God, you are equally called to do something, and you are responsible for the obedience to it.
In other words, if you neglect… let me give you an example. I believe Whitney Houston was called to lead millions into the presence of God. She had a voice that was ethereal. I mean, I shivered when that woman sang—there was a supernatural ability on her to lead people. But the question is, did she use it to build the Kingdom or for other purposes? I’m not here to judge Whitney; I’m not her judge, but I am saying, what will be the story of how she used her gift at the Judgment Seat? Maybe I’ll talk more about that in the next lesson.
This is the thing: we’ve got to understand God doesn’t micromanage us. He gives us this gift and says, «Now it’s up to you to find out my heart’s desire and how to use this gift.» There is seeking involved, and this is something we’re going to talk about in a future lesson. With my own personal example, I remember when God spoke to me. I will never forget; I can close my eyes and see where I was. It was around 6:00 in the morning, and Lisa and I had a pretty old car at the time. I can close my eyes and picture that car; I was walking around it in a circle in a remote place, and God said to me, «Son, I want you to write.»
I think about just taking that so lightly and thinking, «God, you’ve got the wrong person. I can’t write.» I remember what those women said to me 10 months later. They said, «John, if you don’t write what God is giving you to write, he’ll give the messages to somebody else, and one day you’ll give an account for it.» Now I think, what if I hadn’t written? What if I had left that gift dormant? Would «Bait of Satan» have been given to somebody else? «Bait of Satan» is in over a hundred languages now and approaching two million copies. I have had so many people write to our ministry saying that it literally freed them from offense, unforgiveness, bitterness, and resentment.
What if I hadn’t written? I mean, if you had looked at me when I was 25 years old and said, «The way God is going to send you to the nations of the world is through writing,» I would have laughed you out of the room. But yet, when God spoke to me, he released and imparted a gift. What if I hadn’t done that? This is why it’s so important, and I will talk more about this in lessons seven and eight. This is why it’s so crucial that we seek God diligently in faith because when we seek Him, He reveals these things to us.
Now, let’s revert back to Paul for a moment. Paul was well aware that God entrusted something of great value to him. If he didn’t administer it properly, then others would not experience the benefit and might even suffer the loss of what God intended those to receive. He knew the gift wasn’t given for him; it was given for others through him. The same is true for you and me. God did not place the gifts on your life for you. My ability to speak and write isn’t for me; it’s for you.
When you really understand that, it puts a holy fear in you. Instead of thinking, «Oh, I can speak really well; look how good I can handle this,» you’re not going down that path. You realize, «Whoa, this is really important that I steward this gift well because this gift isn’t for me; it’s for others. Others will either benefit or experience a deficit if I’m not faithful to it.» This is why Paul said, «If I do this willingly, I’ve got a reward,» but he also said, «If against my will"—in other words, if I have a bad attitude—I better still do it because I’ve been entrusted with this stewardship.
I look at writing. For me, it was a labor before I was gifted, but now I start writing in the morning, and by the afternoon, I think, «Oh my gosh, I’ve got to do other things!» It’s a joy for me to do. I do it willingly because when I’m writing, I think about you. I’m not writing because I want an international bestseller; I want this book to spread far and wide. That’s not my thought. My thought is, «Lord, you’re going to change people’s lives through this.»
This is what you’ve put on my life for all these people—for the people in Iran, for those in China, for those in Korea, for those in Eastern Europe, and I could go on and on. I’m thinking in my heart, «Now, let me tell you something: when I first started writing, it wasn’t that way.» I remember the first book I wrote took me a whole year. We sent it to two publishers, and both rejected it. I felt like, «I’m a failure! No publisher wants my book; nobody’s interested!» But I thought to myself, «Did I obey God? Yes. Is it a gift He put on my life? Yes. Is it helping people? Yes.» So I just kept going.
I remember when I got to the third book, a friend of mine asked me to lunch one day. I’ll never forget it. I went to lunch, and there was a man I’d never met sitting at the table. He was the publisher of one of the publishing houses that had rejected my first manuscript. This was three years later, and he asked, «Hey John, what have you been speaking about when you’re out in churches?» I shared about offenses, and he looked at me and said, «You know we could never publish your book, right?» I said, «Well, yeah.» He said, «I want to publish this.» I thought, «You just said you couldn’t publish it!»
He said, «No, this has to get into the earth.» I remember he published the book, and it hardly sold at all, but then I went on one international talk show on January 18th, 1995. I remember I was only supposed to talk for 20 minutes. The publisher had arranged the appointment, and they said I could mention the book. I said, «Great,» so I went on the program. The interviewers held up «Bait of Satan» and asked, «What is this?» I opened my mouth, and for the next 40 minutes, I spoke on the subject. The anointing of God filled the whole studio. The floor director never said, «You’re out of time!» I went on for 40 minutes nonstop.
The next day, every bookstore in America was sold out, and a couple of days later, there were 20,000 backordered. The publisher exploded! That was four years after God told me to write. I viewed my role as being faithful in doing what God called me to do, writing that message—even with the criticism. I thought, «God, I’m just going to obey you.»
There is obviously a gift you’ve put on my life to write, and now the books are in the tens of millions in over 100 languages around the world. It’s so important that we are faithful stewards of our gifts, and if we are faithful, then God will cause it to grow as He sees fit. Remember, God doesn’t reward as men reward. You may reach one person with the gift of God on your life who draws that person into the Kingdom or benefits somebody else’s life; that person may affect millions of people. One day, when you stand before Jesus, you will be rewarded greatly as He shows you all the souls you have impacted. You may say, «I never saw all those people!» Oh yes, you affected that one with the gift I gave you, and that one person affected millions. You have no idea what the grand plan is, the grand scheme of things that God has orchestrated. But I will guarantee you, He has called you to affect people with your gift, and if you are faithful to it, you will be rewarded.
Administering the gift is not only a responsibility of a godly steward, but motivation is so important, and we’re going to talk about motives and intentions in our very next lesson.