Consumer to Steward

So first,

a little context:

Our church is in the midst of a teaching series entitled, “SoulShift.  And yesterday my message was entitled, “Consumer to Steward.”  The series is about the various shifts that take place in our soul when we decide to give and surrender our hearts to Christ.  “Consumer to Steward” is one of those shifts.  

Click here for that message:  Consumer to Steward

People need to learn to use their money/possessions/talents/time for God’s purposes.  And sadly, far too many Christians continually stay in consumer mode.  

Toward the end of my message, I spoke about some very practical ways people can become stewards.  I think messages should always include this sort of thing; something that helps guide people toward action.  An example of this from Sunday was my encouragement to our church to tithe.  Tithing is a Biblical and spiritual discipline that postures people to receive and experience more from God.  This seems counter-intuitive, but it’s amazing what happens when you’re able to detach yourself from the control you think you have over money.  Another example from Sunday was serving - finding ways to volunteer your time/energy/talents during a Sunday morning gathering.  And I actually laid out several opportunities for people to respond.  We tithed after the message, which was intended to give people an opportunity to give.  And after the gathering was over, we even had some of our ministry leaders available to help people get signed up to serve.  I believe in calling people to action.  To respond.  

But,

THIS IS THE THING…

After the church gathering was over, someone approached me and (basically) told me I missed a huge opportunity.  I’ll be honest, I was bewildered because I didn't exactly know what was going to be said next.  You never know the kinds of critiques people will have.  I felt a slight defensive impulse begin to surge under my skin.  And over the years, I’ve learned to control that, but I could feel it was there.

In hearing this person state their case, once I got over my own defensiveness I actually came to agree with him.  100%.  

Ok, so that’s the context.  

This blog is an extension of my “Consumer to Steward” message.

The practice of stewardship needs to start at home.  Although we need to learn how to become better stewards with our church, It’s not JUST something we do at church on Sunday.  We need to become better stewards at home, too.  With our spouse.  With our kids.  With the overall culture and expectations we set for our family.    As parents, we need to teach and model this to our children.  And as spouses, we need to teach and model this to one another.  

Don’t get me wrong.  I believe we need to continually learn how we can be better stewards in our local church.  As Christians, this is one of the things we’re called to do.  Over and over and over and over, the Apostle Paul wrote letters to the church; letters that taught them to use what they have to serve one another.  This builds and matures the body of Christ - helping us experience and attain the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13).  Stewardship in the church is essential.  So I’m a huge advocate on giving of your finances, serving and being actively involved in various ministries.

But it goes the other way around as well.  

Let’s not JUST teach people to be stewards in the church,

let’s encourage people to teach and model stewardship in their homes.

If we teach stewardship to our families, our families will be better equipped to be stewards in the church.  This is what I’m suggesting: if we encourage one another to teach and model stewardship in our homes home, then their households will be better equipped to be stewards in the local church.  

We need to teach people how to be stewards in their local church AND we need to encourage parents to teach/model stewardship at home.

So here’s the question:

Are we teaching and modeling stewardship to our families?  

Or

Are we teaching and modeling consumerism to our families?

Two indicators that you might be teaching and modeling consumerism:

1.  You wait for someone to serve you.  You expect everyone else to contribute, but you don’t hold yourself to that same standard.  You judge, assess and critique someone’s service, but you don’t serve (or you serve minimally).  You just show up and wait for someone to feed you.  You leave and expect that while you’re gone, someone will clean up.  

2.  You take someone’s generosity for granted.  You don’t encourage.  You don’t say thank you.  And you don’t appreciate or acknowledge how someone has been generous to you.  You just expect people to be more generous than they already are.  And you expect their generosity to qualitatively and quantitatively increase.  

What happens in your household?

What happens in your church?

This is a shift that we need to make:

From being a 

Consumer to Steward.