{"id":3575,"date":"2023-10-09T13:32:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T13:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstpresvaldosta.org\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2023-10-09T13:32:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T13:32:26","slug":"live-like-god-can-use-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstpresvaldosta.org\/index.php\/2023\/10\/09\/live-like-god-can-use-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Like God Can Use Me"},"content":{"rendered":"
Live Like God Can Use Me
\nLuke 7:1-10 and Luke 8:16-18
\nOctober 8, 2023
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Last week in giving examples of Lectio Divina, and how we look at scripture on First Fridays during our Contemplative service, we read and considered a portion of the Philippians scripture, and I chose a couple phrases that might have stood out to you.\u00a0 Later, someone stated to me that I had not mentioned the phrase, \u201cin humility regard others as better than yourselves,\u201d which was something that spoke to her in reading the scripture.\u00a0 I too, had noticed this phrase when reading the scripture, and thought what a new take on saying, \u201cdon\u2019t think you are better than someone else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In today\u2019s scripture of the centurion, he shows just this humility.\u00a0\u00a0 More on that in a moment.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n First, with today being our stewardship kickoff Sunday, let\u2019s pause a moment to explore what Stewardship means.\u00a0 While we hear it all the time, it may be that we associate it only with being asked to give more money.\u00a0 While this is a part of stewardship in order to maintain church building and church staff, it is not the whole of how we are to live into the action of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n One science definition is noted as saying \u2018the concept of stewardship is a form of collaborative planning and responsible management of the environment through sustainable natural resource management practices that respect the ecosystem functions.\u2019\u00a0 Two take-aways from this definition are \u201ccollaborative planning,\u201d and \u201cresponsible management.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Now when we look at Christian stewardship, one definition refers to it as the responsibility that Christians have in maintaining and using wisely the gifts that God has bestowed upon us.\u00a0 God wishes human beings to be his collaborators in the work of creation, redemption and sanctification (declaring something holy).<\/span><\/p>\n R.C. Sproul describes Biblical stewardship as the following:<\/span><\/p>\n The concept in the New Testament that describes and defines what it means to be a servant before Christ.\u00a0 It refers to economics and the managing of resources, while a steward in the ancient world was a person who was given the responsibility and authority to rule over the affairs of the household.\u00a0 For example, Joseph became a steward over Potiphar\u2019s household:\u00a0 he managed everything in the household and was given the authority to rule over the house (Gen 39:1-6).\u00a0 In that role, he was responsible to manage the household well; he was not to waste the resources of the family but to make wise decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n Foundations for stewardship, however, are found in the early chapters of Genesis.\u00a0 In Genesis 1:26-28, we read:\u00a0\u00a0 Then God said, \u201cLet us make man in our image, after our likeness.\u00a0 And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u00a0 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.\u00a0 And God blessed them.\u00a0 And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over every living thing that moves on earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Human beings were commanded to be fruitful and multiply.\u00a0 This was a command of productivity, which has stewardship implications rooted in creation.<\/span><\/p>\n