Stewardship, Generosity and Giving

Tom Shrader examines five gifts every Christian has received: salvation, eternal life, the Holy Spirit's presence, spiritual gifts, and the ability to enjoy life. He teaches that giving is our response to God's generosity, emphasizing that true stewardship means recognizing God owns everything while we manage what He has entrusted to us. Rather than asking 'How much should I give?' stewards ask 'How much of God's resources should I keep?'

“God has transferred possession of resources to you, but not ownership - therefore, you're a steward, not a manager.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Standalone Teachings

Recorded: 2018

Duration: 43 min

Themes: stewardship, generosity, giving, gratitude, ownership, responsibility, thanksgiving, blessing, financial decisions, new believer, struggling with money, young adult, church member, questioning giving, seeking purpose, learning stewardship

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:23, Luke 2:14, Romans 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5, Romans 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 12:7, Ecclesiastes 3, 2 Corinthians 9:15, Job 41:11, Psalm 24:1, Psalm 50:10, Haggai 2:8

Theological Themes: stewardship theology, biblical generosity, spiritual gifts, holy spirit, eternal life, salvation, god's sovereignty, christian living

Full Transcript

Good morning. Great to see you this morning. Glad that you're here. I'm going to try to teach out of this chair, which is against every fundamental principle I have, but I think it will help me be able to finish the three services, which is the goal. So I apologize. I either look really lame or it looks very authoritative. I'm going with authoritative, but I don't know that that's the case.

So it's great to see you. Hope you had a good holiday, though the holiday is not over until Alabama is defeated. Thoroughly. Yeah, that's exactly right. How much of that SEC stuff do I need?

How I Got Here Today

So I am here today and let me explain to you how I got here. I can do that through a text message exchange I had with Tim. So my phone dings and I have a text message from Tim and it said, "What are you doing Sunday the 31st of December?" And I answered, "Watching football. What else? What would any normal person be doing that day?"

So he said, "Do you have any interest in teaching at Gilbert?" And then he added a topic. It's a one-off and that term means we're not in the middle of a series. So it's not teaching a series, but it's one message. Usually in that, they give you freedom to teach something you've been... Look at the Wisconsin t-shirt. Good for you, babe. I like that. I see things differently from the chair. Good for you. Share that proudly.

A one-off and an assigned topic: Stewardship, generosity, and giving. So I said, "Sure. Always a privilege." And he responded, "Okay. Then you're booked for the 31st of December." And I said, "Thank you." So that's how I got here.

The Topic and My Approach

Beyond getting here, I got the topic. So the topic of the day is stewardship and generosity and giving. I didn't get from Tim or Neil or anyone else any limits or guidelines or direction beyond stewardship, generosity, and giving. And so I approached it. I sat and my mind did probably what you would do at that point. Well, I focused on giving. And that raises all sorts of questions. How much should I give? Where should I give? Who should I give to? How generous should I be? All those questions. And I decided not to go down that line.

Now, I have a ministry that I've had for about 30 years called Priority Living of Arizona. If you go on the website, the website is PriorityLivingAZ.org. And I did not see one person write that down. I assume it's etched up here. So you're already saying, I don't care about this. Get to whatever it is you got to say. So Priority Living of Arizona. And in there, you'll see a series on financial foundations. And within that, there's a session or two on giving, where to give, how to give, why. I mean, it's a big deal.

What I did was break this into two parts, the stewardship part and the giving part, this presentation today. And that was how I broke it down.

Why Do We Give?

When I looked at giving, rather than ask how much to give, I asked, why do we give? And I came up with answers. I assume there are many of the same answers you would have. Out of duty, which never sounds very flattering. Out of desire—I want to give—that seems better. To give back. You hear people all the time: "I want to give back, I've been given so much."

A cause that's meaningful to you. The American Cancer Society is running an incredible series of ads right now with men and women who have had cancer. And the basic theme of the ad is, "I heard of the Cancer Society, but I never experienced it. Now I've experienced it, and I want to give." So I may give to support a friend, you're involved in a cause. There's a whole list of those.

But when I ask people, "Why do you give?" one of the things that I kept hearing was, "I'm giving in response to somebody who's given to me. I want to reciprocate." It's a delicate balance. Because somebody gives you something, you want to give back, not more than they gave you. Not less than they gave you. You try to find that sweet spot.

The Christmas Card Example

My mom was like that with Christmas cards. I love Christmas cards. Christmas cards, Christmas letters. Even if you don't know me, you should send me a Christmas card. Just because I love Christmas. I love Christmas cards. I'm the one guy on the planet that loves Christmas letters. I maybe got it from my mom.

We would get Christmas cards, and she would tape them on the mantle of the fireplace, or around the doors. I don't know if your mom did that. I don't know anybody does it anymore. Around the door frames. Well, my mom would collect these cards, and then about the middle of January, she'd take a day when we're all at school, and she'd have the stack of Christmas cards, and the list of people we sent Christmas cards to, and the Christmas cards we get. She would check off that list. If she sent you a Christmas card, and you didn't send her one, you're never going to hear from me. She would take you off at the knees. She was only about this tall, but man, she could just take you off at the knees.

Well, gifts are kind of like that. All of a sudden, you give me a gift. I'm obligated, or positively, I just want to enthusiastically respond to that.

Our Gifts as Christians

So, I wanted to go back, and I thought this was fairly clever, and ask the question, what gifts have you received as a Christian? And then respond to those gifts. And also, having been around this for years, I understand that there's many of you in the room who are new to this. Maybe in the last month, through Advent, and just that kind of time of year, you're in church. So, you've been hearing about some of these things, and maybe today we can fill in some of the blanks for you.

So, I have five gifts that, as Christians, we've been given. Here's the number one. It's the big one. Salvation. "For by grace you've been saved through faith, that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." I think, for me, there's an ever-growing list of significant verses, but this might be the most significant to me.

launches everything else. I'm saved, delivered from what? Rescued from what? The bondage of sin, the love of sin. I'm born naturally separated from God. That's how I come into the world and I need to be saved from what? Well here's something that kind of spoils the peace and serenity of Christmas. I need to be saved from the wrath of God because He's going to judge sin and sinners and I've been saved by grace, unmerited favor, not a result of works.

I was born and raised Catholic grade school, high school, college and I heard over and over and over again, you need to be good, do good. It's kind of like I got into Christmas music big time this year. I haven't been able to hear for a while, so I have and some of you can see it, the implant now. I look like I fell in a tackle box. I got stuff hanging off everywhere. I had ear stuff here and stuff.

But when I had the surgery in August, you know, they want you to have goals. I'm learning this, I'm with a lot of doctors. What's your goal? I said my goal, Lindsey. Lindsey, by the way, is the greatest listening doctor of all time, Lindsey Schreier. If you need somebody to help you, Dr. Lindsey Schreier. And I said, Lindsey, I want to hear Christmas music.

Well, I heard this year Christmas music, which I haven't heard for maybe two years, and it was great. So on my satellite radio, I found traditional Christmas music. There's maybe 25 songs and they played the same 25. You know, they played Silent Night and it would be Andy Williams and then Frank Sinatra. Well, they're playing Santa Claus is Coming to Town. You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is Coming to Town. And then maybe one of the creepiest lines in all of music. He sees you when you're sleeping and he knows when you're awake. This is not comforting to me. This guy could be a movie director or a congressman or something. This is, I just figured I'd get a shot in for the new year. I don't have much strength, but I'm going to go down and fight.

Well, I mean, that's a freaky thought, but the implication is God's like that. Sees you when you're sleeping, knows when you're awake, knows if you've been bad or good, and you better be more good than bad. Well, this verse says, no, I'm not saved by being good. I'm saved by grace. I've received the gift of salvation.

The Gift of Salvation

Jesus was His name, and Joseph was told to name Him that because He would save His people from their sin. That's the whole point of Christmas. Christmas launches this whole rescue mission for you and me. And it's a beautiful picture of love. Maybe the strongest picture of love that you have in all of the history of mankind.

Max Lucado writes about Christmas, and he writes this simple sentence. The story of Christmas is the story of God's relentless love for us. For God so loved the world that He sent Jesus so that you could be saved. The simple sentence that we use all the time around here, God saves sinners. The triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together. The Father chooses, the Son redeems, the Spirit regenerates, saves, does everything from rescuing us from sin all the way to glory, and He rescues people like you and me.

Now, if you're thinking about, I'm going to respond to a gift I've been given. Don't know what you got for Christmas, but it's unlikely you got a bigger gift than that one. That's a big one.

The Gift of Eternal Life

Here's the second one. With it comes eternal life. The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. If you're one of those hardcore Americans, I just want what I've earned, I want what I deserve, there's no free lunch. Well, here's what you deserve, death. And it's what you've received.

When the Bible talks about death, it talks about three types of death. One is spiritual death, the other is physical death, and the third is eternal death. Spiritual death, separation from God. I taught at the beginning of the Christmas season at Scottsdale Bible Church, and the first song they sang to launch the Christmas season was Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Glory to the newborn King, peace on earth and mercy mild. What's the next line? I think it's a sweet song. God and sinner reconciled.

Now, if I say to you, my daughter Sarah is right here. Today's her birthday, by the way, so that's a cool thing. I remember it vaguely. It was New Year's Eve, and it was the old days. But if I say to you, Sarah and I have been reconciled, so this is fictitious. Don't start Facebooking that there's trouble. If I say Sarah and I are reconciled, from that phrase, if you know nothing else about us, you know there must have been a pre-existing hostile condition. God and sinner reconciled implies that there's a pre-existing hostile condition. That's how I'm born into the world, spiritually dead.

Peace on Earth Reconsidered

I mentioned Christmas cards. The Christmas card that seems iconic to me, I have no idea why, is a blue card with silver speckles on it and stars, and it says, peace on earth. We probably got a half a dozen of those cards this year. Well, in that card and attached with it, we typically think, peace on earth, good will toward men. But that verse that's derived from is Luke chapter 2, verse 14, and it says, glory to God on the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom He's pleased. It's not peace to everybody. God's not at peace with everybody. In fact, I would argue that the majority, and then we add words like vast, that the vast majority of this world is at war with God, because they're spiritually dead.

And there's physical death. It's appointed to man once to die and then judgment, and we know that. I don't know if it was the last time or time before last that I was home to see my mom. Sarah, her sister Haley, and I were sitting with my mom, and my mom had her watch on, and she took her watch off, and she wound it. This blew Haley's mind. She didn't know what to think, and she said, what are you doing? She said, I'm winding my watch. Why? Because

She'd only seen battery watches apparently in her life. And my mom said, "Well, that's how you wind it. That's how you give it energy. You give it strength." And she pulled the stem out, and she moved the hands around and said, "This is how you set the time." And Haley's just stunned by this. She's never seen anything like it.

So Haley said to my mom, "When you're done with that, can I have it?" Well, there's only one way my mom's going to be done with this watch—she's not giving her watch away. And my mom started laughing, and Haley figured out what she said. But it wasn't like it never occurred to her that grandma would die.

The Gift of Peace

We see the universality of death, which is a picture of the fact that we've all sinned, and we are at risk for eternal death—eternal separation and torment from God. But you've been given the gift of eternal life. Not everybody. John MacArthur writes this: "This should not be taken, this peace toward men, as a universal declaration of peace. It's better rendered peace toward men on whom God's sovereign pleasure rests. God's peace is not a reward for those who have goodwill, but a gift to those who are objects of His grace."

I have that peace. I have peace because I've been reconciled with God. I have peace with God. Romans chapter 5, verse 1: "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And I have the peace of God. I have a peace that passes all understanding.

Here's my definition of peace—I don't think it's the dictionary definition. It's not the absence of turmoil. It's the presence of God. It's not the absence of turmoil in your life. That's not going to happen until you die. I'm going to have turmoil. I'm going to have circumstances like this. But in the midst of this, I know God is there. That's why you can go through some horrific things, and people say to you, "I don't know how you did that." And you say, "I don't know how I did it either, except God did it."

The Ministry of Reconciliation

And that's not the end. He's giving you the ministry of reconciliation. GCU is running a billboard now. It's one of those flip billboards, which means you have eight seconds to read it, which is not enough time. If God's invented anything to drive me nuts, it's these flip billboards. And I know they're moneymakers, but they drive me crazy. GCU's running one that says, "Discover your purpose."

And I don't know if you've been out to GCU. It's absolutely amazing. You ought to think about it for higher education. But you don't need to go to GCU to discover your purpose. I'll help you out here. You've got a ministry of reconciliation. Paul writes about it in 2 Corinthians 5. God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and given you the ministry of reconciliation. So you go into the world as a peacemaker.

Now, there'll be turmoil around us, but it's turmoil that's limited to our defense and explanation and apologetic of the faith. Paul says in Romans 12, "As far as it depends on you, live at peace with one another." We live in a world, and I don't know if it's because I'm getting old. I don't know if it's because I'm tired and weak and frail and just pooped. I don't know if it's that. But I'm sick of fighting.

Everybody's fighting about everything. You turn on sports—I want sports, but it's two guys arguing. Indisputable. First Take. You turn on news. There was a news show on the other day with four people on it, and all four were talking at the same time. If I turn on the cooking channel, we got cupcake wars. We are fighting about everything. You and I are to be instruments of the peace in the middle of that. Disengage from that. But you bring reconciliation. That's the part of Jesus in this.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

I've got 17 minutes. Here's the third gift: it's the presence of God. You see it highlighted—the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's the one Jesus had promised. "My peace I leave you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives. I'll give you another. I'll give you a helper. I'll give you the Holy Spirit." God coming, living, indwelling you. You have God with you.

God is in this room right now. And I don't mean that in some weird, strange way. I'm saying you're here as a child of God, and the Spirit is indwelling you.

The Gift of Spiritual Gifts

Here's the fourth gift you've received. These gifts are staggering, by the way. We said after the first one, it was impossible to reciprocate. Here's the fourth one: you have a special gift. Each one is given a gift. It's a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is a God-given ability that you receive, each believer does, at the moment of conversion. And the purpose of it is to use it in the body of Christ, that we're a body, that God has allocated to this body, this Redemption Gilbert body, all of the pieces we need to function as a body. And if you don't use your gift, we as a body hurt.

Ray Steadman says it's a capacity for service. It's something that you have that allows you to move with efficiency and effectiveness. It's something God gives you to do. It's an ability.

Recognizing Your Gift

I'm teaching one Wednesday night, and there's a guy there, and he comes up after the lesson, and he said, "I'd like to meet." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "I'd like you to help me figure out my spiritual gift." Well, this guy was the first guy there every week. He set up all the chairs. He made sure there was water. He turned the air conditioning on, heating in the winter. "Do you need anything? Do you need anything?" This guy is perfect. He's got the gift of service. It's so obvious.

So I said, "Sure." So we meet. We sit down for lunch. I said, "Well, let's order first." We order. And I said, "Well, I've been really thinking about this, praying about this. I think you have the gift of service." And he said, "No, I don't." I said, "Well, you do. You've got the gift of service." And he said, "I don't." And I said, "Well, you do. You get here early. You set up the chairs, the air conditioning, the water." He said, "I don't have the gift of service." And I said, "Why do you say that?"

The Gift of Service: Working in Your Sweet Spot

And He said, "It can't be service because I like it so much." See, we have in our head, "Oh, if God's giving me a gift, I'm going to have to get a passport and a visa and shots and this will be just terrible. It'll never be something I want to do." No, the gift is you—to use the sports term, it's when you're in the zone. It's when you're in your sweet spot. It's when you're working and people are looking around and saying, "Man, you do that really well." And you go, "It's nothing."

Well, it's nothing to you because God's giving you this special enablement. It's this capacity for service. Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 12:7, "But each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." It's the idea of working in that sweet spot. You need to find it, get in it, and camp out there.

The Gift of Contentment

And here's the last gift. We find it in Ecclesiastes 3: "I know of nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives. And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. This is a gift from God"—the ability to enjoy life.

And if I say "have fun," that feels like it trivializes it. It's to find satisfaction. I may not have every need that I perceive I have met, but I find the word I wrote on my sheet of paper is contentment. I'm not just striving and clawing.

This is a delicate balance, and I acknowledge that. I spend enough time doing stuff with athletes—probably athletes, coaches—that when you start talking about contentment, here's the fear: "I'm going to lose my edge." I'm going to practice just as hard, but I practice for a different reason. I'm not looking for that Lombardi trophy, the World Series trophy, or the Master's Green Jacket to provide me meaning in life. My meaning in even winning that trophy is I glorify God in the process. I'm the sales lady of the year, and that's the opportunity to glorify God in the process, not to see how much I can get. Well, that's a gift from God.

The Response to God's Gifts

So these five gifts, now we tie back into generosity and giving. How do you respond to them? I'll give you something really simple. If you're a parent or grandparent, and you've been with your grandkids, you've said to them in the last week, "What do you say? What do you say when somebody gives you something? What do you say when somebody gives you a gift?" Well, you say thank you.

2 Corinthians 9:15: "Thanks be to God for His incredible gifts." Freely you receive, freely you give. So all those questions about how much and where and all that, you figure it out.

How much should you give? Here's what I would guess: more than you think. That would be my guess. Where should you give? Well, we're sitting in a place that should be a recipient of your gifts. But it's not the only place where you're taught, where you're nurtured, where you see God working.

Giving Is More Than Money

But this is it: giving is far more than money, way more than that. God doesn't want—and I've rewritten this sentence a dozen times—God doesn't want just your money. God wants you, your heart. It's a picture, not of this organ that's beating. God wants you.

Romans 12:1-2: "I urge you, brethren, by the mercy of God, present your bodies." Encompassed in that is all that you do: your time, your energy, your effort, your money. Your money's part of it. And shame on me and us for every time we talk about giving, you grab your wallet because you think it's money. It's way more than that. I'd rather have your service and involvement because in a crass way, your money will follow.

"Don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." In the Message paraphrase, here's how Eugene Peterson deals with this: "So here's what I want you to do. God helping you, take your everyday ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around, and place it before God as an offering." Verse 2: "Here's some great advice for 2018. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God, and you will be changed from the inside out."

See, here's the little mantra that we've used here for decades: We want a transformed heart and an informed mind, which will lead to a radical life. The giving life, the generous life, is a radical life. But go back to that point: giving is way more than your money. You see that? It's everything.

A Life-Changing Truth About Stewardship

Now, I want to give you something that's a life-changer. And I use the term life-changer because I'm sick of the term game-changer. But I think we give you stuff from here every week, and because they're God's principles, they can really change things. This is something that will radically change your thinking and, therefore, your life beginning today.

God has transferred possession of resources to you, but not ownership. Therefore, you're a steward, not a manager. So the stuff that you have—I was going to reach into my pocket and grab some money, but I didn't bring my wallet. I have my car key. It's the same thing. I have this car. It's a nice car. I like the car. My seats are heated. My mirrors move. I like it. But what God says is, this is not my car. It's His car that He has entrusted to me. Transferred possession, but not ownership.

Makes sense, sort of. So what I'm saying to you is all of your life—your time, your energy, your effort, your money—they're not yours. They're God's.

Understanding True Ownership

So as I think about Sarah's birthday, I say "my daughter." And we're not going to spend a bunch of time parsing out the language, but she's not mine. It might come as a shock to her mother. She's not my kid. This drove parenting. She's God's kid who was entrusted to me to help her become independent of me and dependent upon God. And I don't make her a better person by her having to go, "Daddy, daddy, daddy." She's—

God Claims Ownership of Everything

Far better off going, Father, Father, Father. God, in any general principles, and I'll give you four of them, God claims ownership over the entire universe. Job 41:11, everything under the heaven belonged to me. And ownership over the entire earth. The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, all who live in it, and every living thing, every animal in the forest is mine. The cattle on 1,000 hills are mine, and every asset, the silver's mine, the gold's mine. God retains ownership of everything.

So if I have an asset, and I say, "Sarah, here's $100, and it's yours." I'm done with it. I have no further relationship with it. You can do whatever you want. I've transferred possession and ownership. But if I say, "Sarah, here's $100, but in about three years, I'm going to want it back, plus anything you've done to increase that through interest, investment, whatever it might be." I'm a manager. You get that?

We Are Stewards, Not Owners

If today's the day you're going to get a tattoo, let me help you out with it. Steward, right? Get that little steward on your wrist or on your thumbs, I guess, you know, fingers. Get a steward, not owner. Because God's the owner. We're responsible to Him as trustees.

He's determined. God's determined the breadth of your portfolio, the time, the energy, the effort, the money. Some of you, God has given great amount of cash. Others of you are wearing your net worth. It's not the size of that pot. It's what you're doing with it. And I'll just tell you this, because I know how people think, and He's not going to judge you by how somebody else managed their pot.

The Stewardship of Time

And this is really special. I've spent a lot of time in the last year talking about studying and living aging. And I've spent a lot of time with really old people. And let me tell you what they got: they got time. And you will waste, without a plan, without a strategy, you will waste time. And that's just as sinful as wasting money. He will judge you for that, and someday there'll be a full accounting.

So here's the summary. God's transferred possession of these resources to you. And that's a game changer. That's a life changer.

The Question Changes Everything

And let me show you how simple this is. If I'm an owner, and we're talking about, and this could be really interesting, if I fall, Mercy Gilbert, pick Mercy Gilbert as a hospital. If I'm an owner, and it's time for giving, I'm typically going to ask the question, how much money should I give? If I'm a steward, look how this question changes. It's how much of God's money should I keep? I'll bet you get two very different answers to those questions.

And so, in my time, energy, effort, all of those things, it's how much of God's time should I keep? How much is mine? How do I steward this?

The Point of This Lesson

This is the end of the year, and so here's what we know: at the church at the end of the year, Neil will be sitting in that office, all by himself, all afternoon, waiting for people to come in, and it happens to bring gifts in for year end. And maybe, as you're driving home, you're going to think about this and say, "You know what? It's time to give." That was not the purpose of the lesson. That's just to let you know he's there.

The purpose of the lesson is to have you rethink your relationship with your time, energy, effort, and money.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for this amazing truth. It is a life changer. Father, all of a sudden, we look at the gift of salvation and eternal life and the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts and just the ability to have satisfaction. God, we respond, and we respond not by presenting You 10% of our time or 10% of our energy or 10% of our money, but by presenting our whole life to You is what Paul calls a living sacrifice. God, accept that. We offer it to You in Jesus' name, amen.