Stewardship Scripture Quotes

Too often we assume that God has increased our income to increase our standard of living, when his stated purpose is to increase our standard of giving. (Look again at 2 Corinthians 8:14 and 9:11).

Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of ten verses in the New Testament deals with that subject. Scripture offers about five hundred verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith, and over two thousand on money. The believer's attitude toward money and possessions is determinative.

Whenever we have excess, giving should be our natural response. It should be the automatic decision, the obvious thing to do in light of Scripture and human need.

...if I try to make only enough money for my family' immediate needs, it may violate Scripture. ...Even though earning just enough to meet the needs of my family may seem nonmaterialistic, it's actually selfish when I could earn enough to care for others as well.

A steward in the above scripture is a servant who serves.

When God provides more money we often think, This is a blessing. Yes, but it would be just as scriptural to say, “This is a test.” Abundance isn’t God’s provision for me to live in luxury. It’s his provision for me to help others live.

I know that many of the things I have said from the Scriptures have offended some, but I cannot afford to tone down the message. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:17, “I have a stewardship entrusted to me” (nasb), and that is to preach the pure and simple Gospel in whatever culture I am in.

In verse 9 of Genesis 2 the Scripture says that, “the Lord God made to grow.” Man is not toiling, sweating, and striving; that is the curse (Genesis 3:19). Man’s only job was to enjoy. This may upset people, but the means of stewardship is simply, enjoyment. The way to guard our delight in God is delighting in God. A dear friend called me one day and asked, “What is one major evidence that a man is maturing in God?” I blurted out without even thinking, “Daily enjoying sweet fellowship with God.

Hoarding is both unnecessary and an affront to God, who is perfectly capable of providing abundantly for those who trust in him.

• In spending this money, am I acting as if I owned it, or am I acting as the Lord’s trustee? • What Scripture requires me to spend this money in this way? • Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice to the Lord? • Will God reward me for this expenditure at the resurrection of the just?

Avoid participating in any religious community where the clear truth-claims of Scripture are ignored while contemplative and mystical practices are favored simply for their spiritual experience. Be careful of any church or ministry wherein acts of mercy and environmental stewardship are devoid of a theology of the cross and wind up being little more than the worship of created people and things. And be careful not to worship a good thing as a god thing for that is a bad thing.

If you do not get anything else, get this—all of us are facing our “then.” It is inevitable. Every one of us has a last moment. We are going to stand face to face with God and review our lives, every one of us. The Lord is placing that emphasis in this passage of Scripture in Luke 12.

The Bible is not a free-floating book of ageless wisdom, an interesting historical document, or a weapon that can be put in the service of any political goal. The Bible is a gift from God to the church, given for a particular purpose: to shape that community into the kind of people who can fulfill their commission to make disciples of all nations and steward God’s good creation, anticipating its final redemption.

Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other single thing because, when it comes to a man’s real nature, money is of first importance. Money is an exact index to a man’s true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man’s character and how he handles his money. RICHARD HALVERSON

If Genesis 1 is a welcome to transcendence, then Genesis 3 is about the tragedy of the shrinking of transcendence. Adam and Eve were created so that their lives would reach as wide as the kingdom and glory of God. In that one disastrous moment they did not expand their boundaries; they dramatically narrowed them. The vertical “more” for which transcendent human beings were created was replaced by a horizontal “more” that was never to be a human being’s life motivation. In that one tragic moment, Adam and Eve migrated to the center of their world, the one place where glory-wired human beings must never live. They did not just opt for independence; they opted for God’s position, and in doing so they forsook any chance of a personal participation in the transcendent glory of a relationship with God. This is why God sent his Redeemer Son to earth. He came to rescue us from ourselves and return to us participation in his transcendence. In his adoption we are restored to the God glory which is to be central to everything we do. In his church we are restored to the community glory in which we were built to participate. In freeing us from idolatry, rather than being ruled by the creation, we are restored to the stewardship glory over creation to which we were called. In the ministry of his indwelling Spirit, through Scripture, we are restored to the truth glory that was meant to be the interpretive lens of every human being since Adam took his first breath. His is a gorgeous work of rescue!