Practical ways to be good stewards for God

Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.

Stewardship in Action

Being Accountable, Responsible, and Answerable Before the Lord

Good morning. Thank you for praying for me as I embark on the second message. I know we are slightly behind; I promise I’ll try to claw back some time for all of you.

Last week we started our discussion on stewardship, and we said that stewardship is a deliberate design by God—that He put Adam and Eve in the garden to work it and to take care of it. Now, we were meant to be good and faithful servants for all of the Lord’s things. As such, a good steward is also by definition a good and faithful believer.

Now this was a key takeaway point for us last week: good stewards are those that:

1. Acknowledge and align themselves to the Lord
2. Are clear on their role as the worker, and do not confuse it with that of the Master
3. Are active workers seeking to glorify the Lord

The hallmark of a good steward is one that is trustworthy, whose actions delight the Lord, and whose work brings glory to God.

With this as our understanding, our attempt today is to look at practical ways that we can be good stewards. So if you missed the message last week, I have gotten you up to speed.

A Short Anecdote on Stewardship

Let me begin as usual with a short and mundane anecdote. Now I promise my children—none of them will be offered as tributes today.

When I was an officer cadet in 1995, we were on an overseas training frame. During one of the summary exercises, we were tasked to carry a huge amount of weight and to navigate our way through to seven different checkpoints where we were meant to do several professional tasks at each checkpoint. The total distance was about 50 to 70 kilometres, depending on how good your navigation was, and it spread across about three days.

Now because the weight was everyone’s concern—and each person carried about 20 to 30 kilograms—quite early in the exercise, as team leader, I proposed that we could lighten our load by throwing away all our combat rations and then somehow survive by whatever we could eat at all the checkpoints. The rest gladly agreed. So once we were out of sight of the instructors, we happily emptied all the food from the combat ration cans.

Then reality hit us.

There was no food at the checkpoint. But the worse part was—we also didn’t feel any difference in weight, because sardines and pork cubes are only so heavy. So now we have no weight difference and have nothing to eat.

A day in, we were very grateful that some villagers gave us some watermelon to eat when we stopped outside their house to rest. Now before we set off, seeing how we enjoyed the watermelon so much, they gave us each one whole watermelon to take away. To avoid being rude, we carried the watermelon—but it was heavier than even some of the radio sets that we were carrying. We had to dump it once the coast was clear because it was really very heavy.

Now I share this anecdote because while I did not know it then, this incident made me realize many things about stewardship. Stewardship is more than just dealing with the things at that moment. It is about looking ahead at outcomes, about managing the things that we have. It is about making right decisions—even if it meant being unpopular at that time.

In this case, I was accountable to my team for the mission. I was responsible for the resources we had, like food. And I was answerable for the decisions we took as a team.

Accountability. Responsibility. Answerability.
These are also what any good steward must abide by—and these will form the three segments we will cover today:

1. Being accountable for our spiritual lives as a testimony to God
2. Being responsible for the gifts and talents that God has given us
3. Being answerable for the decisions and choices that we all make as believers

Last week I used a set of study tools such as reading bookmarks, takeaway points, and personal stewardship challenges. I hope they have been useful. I hope that some of you have managed to do some of the homework.

Today I’ll add in one more tool, which I call Stewardship in Action (SIA) for short—simple ways to hopefully help us make incremental differences in our lives as stewards. Now I caveat here: they’re not meant to be prescriptive. I also hope you had a chance to do some of the reflections from last week, and I will refer to them as I go through the message.

Segment 1: Accountability

Stewardship of Our Personal Testimony

Now we often relate stewardship to things that we can manage like money or resources. Yet one of the most important things that we can be steward of is the way in which we lead our Christian lives. This is the stewardship of our personal testimony.

We encourage people to share their testimonies in things like the gospel rally and such because each personal story is a powerful message. Each personal testimony comprises the life experience that is immensely relatable to many. There are stories that people can identify with—and most importantly, these testimonies always converge on the love of the Lord.

A personal testimony is often how we come to accept the Lord as our Saviour, how we trusted the Lord through tough times, and how we are thankful to the Lord for everything. Through these testimonies, believers come to know the gospel, and fellow believers continue to be encouraged.

Being good stewards of our testimony is about:

1. Being willing to share
2. Being unafraid of how it would be received—or if it might be politically incorrect to do so
3. Being unashamed about talking about God openly

Good stewards must have the gumption to do all three with his or her testimony. It will be futile if someone is willing and unashamed, but eventually afraid of the consequence of sharing God’s Word. Likewise, it will not work if someone is unafraid and unashamed, but unwilling.

Takeaway Point 1

Be willing, unafraid, and unashamed of your testimony.

The Bible talks about the importance of our testimony many times, but allow me to share two verses.

In Hebrews 13:15–16, it tells us:
Through Him then let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God—that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

And in 1 Peter 2:9, it reminds us that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own possession—that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Both verses converge on the need for us to talk about the Lord—to praise Him—and in doing so, we share with others about the goodness of our Lord and let them see that we worship a living God.

Now in the verse from Hebrews, it is called the fruit of our lips, because just as the fruit reveals the nature of the tree, our praise from our lips reveals the excellencies of its source—which is our Lord.

Stewardship in Action 1

Know your testimony and talk about it often.

It means to be deliberate and to always seize opportunity to do so. Now it can be a lunch with your colleagues or classmates when an appropriate conversation arises, or simply sharing your thanksgiving on your social media post.

Let me elaborate on the latter. I’ve always found social media an effective way to get started because you set the agenda, you establish the narrative, and you determine the timing of when you want to share these things. It allows people to follow your story and be immersed in your testimony of faith.

Now to caveat: I am not advocating that you do all these things for the likes, or throwing out content for affirmation just like how influencers do it. I am suggesting that it can be a good step to gain confidence in sharing your testimony in a regular cadence.

And when properly viewed, Facebook and things like Instagram are filled with everyday Christians talking about real things that they are experiencing—and the impact of God in their lives. Many times out of these posts, it has led to others praying for them, or people reaching out to offer help.

So if SIA number one is something you can do, here is my suggestion: at the end of today, after your quiet time, post a reflection on any of your socials. I mean if you want to dance on TikTok you can—give thanks to the Lord for something that you are grateful for. It can be a good fellowship lunch later, you might have an enlightened Bible study during CP later, or simply, like I often see people doing, seeing an awesome sunset and marvelling at the beauty of the Lord’s creation. This is a post of thanksgiving. This can form the basis of your testimony, and then you can progress to other more complex things like evangelism, edifying one another, etc.

Now of course, the traditionalists among us will say it’s better to do this in person, with someone actually physically listening to you. I don’t disagree. I’m only suggesting that we don’t shy away from exhausting all means. It would be remiss of us to ignore the potential of what social media can offer. I’m a firm believer that any opportunity should be grabbed with both hands.

So this is SIA number one: one post—just one post of thanksgiving. Very simple, very achievable. But don’t do it now.

Standing Firm in a Hostile World

Now what is probably our challenge today as stewards is that our testimonies, when we share it, will be in a world that is likely to be very unaccepting—and even unfriendly—about all the things related to God. This means that sometimes Christians will receive push backs, and many people are not amicable to being told things about God. The world describes this as being cancelled.

John 15:19 warns us that this will happen when He says: if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Now in such a backdrop, good stewardship is about knowing that despite these challenges, we must be willing, unafraid, and unashamed of the Lord and the gospel.

Allow me to use Daniel to illustrate what good stewardship looks like in a hostile world.

Daniel and the World’s Indoctrination

In the interest of time I won’t read it, but I have bookmarked it for you to read the context. This is about when the Babylonians conquered Israel and brought many of the Jews back to Babylon.

Now we know Babylon was known to be extremely paganistic. They worshipped many gods and indulged heavily in pleasures and debauchery. This is also why the Bible often refers to Babylon as an imagery of sin and corruption. This is where Daniel and hundreds of Jews were brought to after the Babylonian conquest.

I want to draw a few interesting observations from these verses.

Unlike the Assyrians, the Babylonians did not really harshly enslave the people they conquered. Rather, they chose a method of progressive indoctrination.

What do I mean?

1. They took their captives young and separated them from their moral support base.
   That is why Daniel and the others were brought to Babylon instead of being kept in Israel.
2. In verse three and four, they focused on those with talent and taught them the language and culture of Babylon.
   We all know culture moves everything.
3. In verse five, they used pleasure and luxuries to indoctrinate and seduce.
   They didn’t put them in cages and whip them—they gave them wine and food from the king’s table.
4. In verse seven, they changed the names of the Jewish boys and gave them Babylonian names.

In many ways, the method of Babylon mirrors the way in which the world works today. Many movements today attempt to separate you from the people you trust—like your parents or the church—and ask you to join communities of similar-minded people. Through popular culture such as film and music, they seed ideas that go against the teachings of the Lord. And a name change is to figuratively change your identity and origins to something else—so that your previous life no longer exists.

Let me touch on the importance of changing the name.

Daniel, meaning “God is my judge,” was changed to Belteshazzar—associated with a pagan god. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah likewise had names that pointed to the Lord, changed to names in service of pagan gods. All of their original names were changed. Their Babylonian names were meant to force them to disassociate from God.

But despite all of this, Daniel and his friends remained faithful.

In Daniel 6:10, it tells us that even after many years in Babylon, Daniel would kneel down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God—and it says, as was his custom since early days. That means he did it for many, many years.

To ensure that our testimony endures a hostile world, we have to be accountable for the integrity of the Lord’s Word—because the real difference between us and the world is the Lord’s Word and our obedience to it.

Stewards will not allow God’s Word to be defiled or ridiculed. They would defend it. In the same vein, good stewardship is about ensuring that we grow strong in the Word so that we will always defend it.

Takeaway Point 2

Be strong in the Word to be strong in the world.

This is a familiar verse in 2 Timothy 3:16–17:
All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If God’s Word is the best defence and shield in the world, then our role as good stewards must be to defend it. When we are strong in the Word, we can defend its integrity—and when its integrity is maintained, it shelters us from what Scripture calls the wickedness of the world.

Stewardship in Action 2

Adopt a regular regime of reading the Bible.

Some of you use daily devotions. Others use phone apps to try to cover the Bible in one year. Regardless of the method, the idea is to inculcate a habit to read the Bible consistently so that we are familiar with the character of the Lord, His teachings, and the position Scripture takes on the whole gamut of issues today.

This SIA number two is less about setting targets, and more about creating a sustainable regime of Bible reading to grow in the Word.

Now CP is a good place to start. Challenge yourself this year to not just read the CP notes or the selected verses that are given, but go beyond it. Use the weekly lessons as a base to read all the contextual chapters and books. Usually they give a lot of verses to read—we often just read the notes. I’m confident that if we do so, it will make a big difference.

Accountability Through Prayer

A third aspect of being accountable for our lives is the need for all of us to have a robust prayer life.

Remember how we saw Daniel praying frequently as was his custom. Prayer is important because it talks about our desire to have a relationship with God. It talks about our reliance on the Lord and our acknowledgement that God is the Lord of our lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 tells us: rejoice always… pray without ceasing.
And Philippians 4:6–7 says: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to the Lord.

The Bible also tells us that when the Lord Jesus was busy preaching and teaching, He Himself would withdraw to a quiet place to pray.

Prayer is a privilege given to all of us as a priesthood of believers, where we can bring everything to God personally. That is why we must be good stewards of our prayer life—because it represents our direct relationship with God, the quality of relationship with the Lord.

Takeaway Point 3

Prayer is about a relationship with God. The stronger our prayer life, the stronger the relationship.

The intention is to ensure that prayer is neither neglected nor done in what we often call “go through motion.” Overlaying a stewardship lens shows us that we must be accountable for our prayer life. If we see prayer as just something to do, then we are less likely to be accountable for it.

Stewardship in Action 3

Have a deliberate prayer life—a prayer plan.

The plan is very simple: identify five people or five ministries—or a combination of both—and pray for them for a period of time. My suggestion is to pray for them for a month, because then it allows you to use the assembly’s monthly assembly prayer diary.

Praying for someone or a ministry means we must take an interest and find out about them so that we can pray intelligently. It gets us involved in their needs and challenges. Even if each of us just prayed for one ministry in one year, I am confident we will have covered all ministries for the whole year—since we have more than 500 members in our assembly.

So this is SIA number three: have a deliberate prayer life—a prayer plan.

Now I’ve chosen to spend more time on the first area—the accountability of our spiritual life—because it forms the basis of stewardship.

Segment 2: Responsibility

Stewardship of Gifts and Provisions

We now move on to the second segment: being responsible for our gifts and provisions.

Last week we considered the parable of the talents, and we saw how the faithfulness of the first two servants were rewarded, and the inactions of the third was rebuked by the Master. Last week I posed to you a stewardship challenge—PSC number one—asking us to consider what our reservations are and what we might have done for the Lord. I hope you had time to reflect on this.

I want to address this area by using the example we have just seen from Daniel and couple it with Joseph in Egypt—a reading bookmark I also listed last week. I’ll extract some verses from Genesis 41, where Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and warned him about the impending seven years of famine following seven years of bountiful harvest.

Let me draw some parallels between Daniel and Joseph and connect the dots:

1. Both were captives in a foreign land, there against their will—yet both continued to trust and be obedient to God.
2. Both were blessed by God with gifts, such as interpretation of dreams—and then found favour with foreign kings and were given positions to serve.
3. Both did their roles faithfully, serving their respective masters well while remaining faithful to God.

Both Daniel and Joseph could have taken a civil service view of life and said they were merely hostages and had no obligation to serve. They could have made the excuse that they could not serve a king who prayed to pagan gods. They probably had compelling reasons not to use their gifts. Yet both of them knew God put them there for a reason—and that was to achieve God’s outcomes, not theirs.

Both were good stewards because they not only used their gifts, but their eventual testimony and faithfulness to God was acknowledged by Nebuchadnezzar, by Darius, and by Pharaoh. They showed responsibility in the gifts they were given.

Takeaway Point 4

A good steward perseveres for the Lord’s work regardless of the challenges.

In the parable of the talents, we were told that the Master gave each servant a different amount of talents according to his ability. Even the servant with one talent— I said last week—in economic terms had gotten about 20 years’ worth of wages.

Now I was recently given a 25-year long service award medal in the SCF, so one talent is just short of my whole career. That is sizable.

Last week I also posed two questions: to reflect and identify what our gifts are, and to consider the practical things that we can do for the Lord.

There will be many of us who are unsure exactly what our gifts are, and we will cite this as a reason for inaction: “I don’t know what my gifts are yet.”

But the parable of the talents suggests that this should not and cannot be our showstopper.

The Master acknowledged that the third servant had less gifts than the first two—that’s why he had only one talent. But in verse 27 the Master said: then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received what was my own with interest.

If we consider it from a different lens, the Master is simply saying: if you cannot do anything complex like your colleagues, then at least just bother to deposit the money in the bank and earn interest over a long time—the compound interest will have been sizable.

The Master made two points:

1. The servant wasted the time given to him.
2. Doing something is better than doing nothing.

In my line of work in the Army, we are often deployed into national emergencies. We were not trained for managing things like COVID operations, but we were always told just before we are deployed: go make yourself useful.

So in essence, as a faithful steward, if you are unsure about your gifts—or you have not determined what those are yet—it doesn’t matter. You can still make yourself useful.

Stewardship in Action 4

The “How can I help?” rule.

The challenge is to look at the various ministries in the assembly and ask: How can I help?

It can be the refreshment committee arranging breakfast. It can be the April Easter Conference. It can simply be within your C Group. Whatever it is, go and ask the person in charge: “How can I help?”

We don’t need to take a long-term commitment or a complex task. It’s about seeing how we can be useful—even if it is a one-off action.

For refreshments: if on that morning you have some time, help with the washing.
In CP: if you feel confident, just say: “How can I help?” Help with taking notes for prayer requests or other things.

On many occasions, small things done well and done frequently are a lot better than one rare big thing that you will choose to do in 30 years.

So that’s SIA number four: make yourself useful—and ask, “How can I help?”

How Much Must We Do?

The example of Joseph should be our aspiration. Genesis 41:46 tells us that after he was appointed, he went throughout Egypt to oversee the storing of grain, and it is alluded that he spent seven years doing this.

Joseph went above and beyond.

So the question you will inevitably ask is: How much must we do? Because it’s perfectly Singaporean.

If I use Scripture as a guide, there are probably two kinds of yardstick.

The first is the tithe model in the Old Testament—10%. In Genesis 28:20 Jacob vowed to God and said, “All that You have given me I will give You a tenth.” In Leviticus 27 it says a tithe of everything from the land—whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees—belongs to the Lord.

In the Old Testament, the Jews were asked to give the first 10% of everything to God to give thanks to the Lord. This gives us a quantifiable model. The challenge is that sometimes it’s quite difficult to identify 10%—is it before or after CPF? How do I have 10% of my time, etc.?

The yardstick of the New Testament, on the other hand, focuses less on the calculation and more on our attitude.

2 Corinthians 9 tells us: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

Now while I note that these examples are not specifically about stewardship of resources, the principle remains relevant. Both Old and New Testament yardsticks talk about the need to honour the Lord in our actions, and both acknowledge it is our duty as stewards to be good givers—since all things belong to the Lord anyway.

I’m always very amazed by this verse in Proverbs 15:12 when the Lord says: if I were hungry I will not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all that is in it is Mine. God has no need for us to give Him anything since He owns everything—but our giving shows our obedience to His Word.

The verse in 2 Corinthians talks about reaping what we sow, and God rewards those who sow willingly and generously.

Takeaway Point 5

Be responsible for God’s provisions and gifts, and use them willingly—and importantly, frequently.

Segment 3: Answerability

Stewardship of Choices and Priorities

Now the last segment of discussion is about being answerable for choices and decisions. It can be seen in two-fold: either as an aspect of good stewardship, or what I will also try to say—an amalgamation of what we have discussed in the last two weeks.

Drawing on the parable of the talents again, last week we saw how the Master came back to settle accounts. I chose the subtle difference in words of being answerable because the Master focused on actions rather than outcomes. He did not query why the first two could not produce more. Rather, He was satisfied that they put their talents to good use and multiplied it.

Likewise, the issue with the third servant was not about outcome, but the decision he took. He chose to do nothing with the talent, and as a result he was told he was wicked and slothful.

Like the servants in the parable, we are also answerable for the choices and decisions we make concerning our priorities.

Last week I asked us to reflect what our priorities were—that was PSC number two. This is not an easy question. Often we struggle to find a balance between our work, our studies, and the Lord’s things.

The story of Eliezer was what we concluded with last week, and it provides a good lesson in this regard. We shall consider some excerpts from Genesis 24.

In the interest of time I won’t read it, but from the three sets of verses I extracted, what was the common theme throughout the whole story of Eliezer? It was this: a sense of urgency and mission-mindedness in the way Eliezer went about his task.

When Abraham assigned him, Eliezer went immediately.
When he got to the town, his first instinct was not to check in, relax, unwind, freshen up. He immediately went to the well—because he knew in the evening that was when the most people would come.
When he got to Laban’s house and was served food and drink, he did not eat until the task was completed.
And when the task was finally completed, he immediately wanted to go back the next day to report to Abraham. He didn’t say, “Job completed—let’s go for R&R.” In verse 56 he told Laban: do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey; send me on my way so that I may go to my master.

We could say our circumstances are different, and our Google calendars are much busier than Eliezer’s. But the real lesson is this: loyalty and priority. He was loyal to Abraham despite being a servant, and he undertook that task as if it was the most important thing to him. He made it his priority, forsaking food and rest—where he could have been forgiven for at least taking care of his own well-being.

Takeaway Point 6

A good steward’s loyalty to God is seen through his priorities for the Lord’s things.

Prioritising is always challenging. It involves opportunity cost—dropping something that you hold dear. But good stewards must inevitably prioritise.

Stewardship in Action 5

“Pushing the agenda.”

Here’s the plan: make a list of all the important things that you need to do—work, study, anything secular. Make a list and don’t be shy about it. Prioritise and list everything you need to do. It can be a week, it can be a month.

Once you have done so, just insert one area of work for the Lord right at the top—and then close the file. Insert one area of service to the Lord, and close the file again.

It can be anything—work in the ministry that you’re serving, or just preparing next week’s CP lesson. The intention is to push the agenda without letting logic or rationale set in. The moment you think about it, you will not do it. So start small, start simple—but the intention is really just to start.

Conclusion

Now I hope the last two weeks have been useful for all of us.

For those who prefer the takeaway points format—here is the mother of all takeaway point slides. This is also to test eyesight. But I shall make these slides available to all of you.

I have tried to challenge us to reflect on ourselves as stewards, and today I have also suggested some simple “Stewardship in Action” ideas. Again, I caveat: they are simple, hopefully bite-sized enough to be manageable. No need to start from a high level. Start something small and manageable. They’re not meant to be complicated, not meant to be complex and then eventually discouraging.

I pray that we will all have a good year ahead, considering how we can be good and faithful stewards for the Lord.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

Our gracious God and heavenly Father, over the last two weeks we have seen about Your love for each and every one of us. We have seen also about how You have created all of us, and it’s God, but importantly You have also asked us to be Your stewards on this earth.

Lord, we pray that as we consider this whole topic concerning stewardship, You will continue to show us how to be good stewards of Your things. Continue to provide the opportunities for us to be good stewards. Continue to provide us the strengthening as well as the training for us to be able to be good testimonies to You—for us to be strong in Your Word, and for us to continually have an eye on the things that are around us, so that we can be good stewards for You in Your things.

As we conclude this two weeks of ministry, we pray, O Lord, that all of us here will be encouraged, and all of us here will be challenged to want to be good stewards for You.

We continue to pray to thank You for everything and commit everything into Your hands. All this we pray in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

Thank you very much.