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| Front view of Dios Es Mi Paz church, after the service |
Erudina is an elder at Dios Es Mi Paz (“God is my peace”)
church. She has a Master’s Degree in
Education and serves as the principal of a public high school in Santo
Domingo. She is a widow with three children;
she has experience with community development and youth work. Erudina prepared and delivered this message on
January 26, 2014 in Spanish. This post is based on notes I took from Pastor
Mario’s phrase-by-phrase translation into English.
Stewardship is a
universal principle, but it is even more relevant for believers. The Greek word for stewardship is oikos,
which means “household” or “disposition to care for a household,” and “one who
is in charge.” Christian stewardship is
watching over God’s belongings. We are
heirs in Christ of all God’s belongings.
In our lives we are stewards of the following:
- money
- physical and mental health
- work
- entertainment
- time
- skills
- spiritual gifts
Stewardship is a very wide
topic, but we will focus on one aspect—skills and abilities. There is a variation in the amount of skills
people have. Some think it has to do
with our IQ, but skills go beyond that.
God gives us each talent that we have.
The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14 –30 teaches that the quality
of our service is how we use our skills and abilities. According to Scripture, everyone has some
skills. We are born with natural skills
through our genes, but our upbringing affects the development of our
skills. As we grow up we may barely
notice our skills due to our external conditions. When we develop our skills (through education and experience), we
expect to be compensated for that, but whether paid or not we are to use these
skills for service.
Some special
skills are given to do special work that God want us to do. In Exodus 4:10-17 Moses protests his
inabilities, while God emphasizes His own power. Sometimes, like Moses, we think we don’t fill the shoes or fit
the requirements. But God will give us
what we need.
I Corinthians 12
mentions gifts of the Holy Spirit. They
are supernatural gifts to expand the church and spread the gospel. Some people do not have much formal
education, like Peter and John, but they can do wonderful things through the
Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we are
tempted to bury our talents, but we should not give in to these temptations. We
need to use these gifts in the church.
We can discern God’s will through the Holy Spirit, reading His word,
seeking advice from brothers and sisters in Christ, pastors and leaders.
We need to avoid
selfish desires and any sins so that we can use our gifts. Open your eyes to the opportunities. How can we help those who are in need of
healing, encouragement and care? We are
called to shine in our community as true representatives of Christ:
·
Being faithful in daily life, getting rid of pride and
selfishness
·
Do what’s right without being conscious of it
Don’t waste your talents and gifts by getting involved in
sinful activities. This can happen when
we use our skills to accumulate wealth.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33
NIV). We need to follow God’s
lead. When we waste our skills we lose
out.
Our work will be
revealed by fire, as it says in I Corinthians 3:10-15. Let’s use our skills to build things that
will last and are worthwhile. Some
problems in the church are the result of wasting gifts. Some examples are:
- seeking
compensation and advancement in careers rather than service
- seeking
spectacular gifts without having victory over sin in our lives
- false
worship that is actually religious entertainment
The parable of the
talents shows that the one who had five talents multiplied them to become ten
talents. When we develop stewardship in
our lives, it will help us grow in Christ.
Then we will hear these words at the end, “Well done, good and faithful
servant. Enter the joy of your Lord.”
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