Stewardship is . . . God moves us to respond.

God gives, we are given to (we receive). God gives spiritual gifts and respond by being given (receiving) those spiritual gifts. We are given (receive) His spiritual gifts in the way in which He gives them, through the means of grace, through the Word and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

God gives physical gifts and respond by using them, as He motivates us, to help others and to His glory.

God gives us His example, He fulfills His example and He works His example in us. All of this comes to us through His Son, Jesus. Dr. Martin Luther summarized it best when, in explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed he wrote:

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

Jesus is our perfect example, but He is not just an example. He fulfilled His example by giving His life on the cross for us. He shed His blood for us. And now He moves in us to respond by our following, though imperfectly, the example He set for us.

God gives, God gives, God gives. We are given to (we receive) and respond according to God’s giving. To God be the glory!

4 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs