Stewardship

(January, February, March 2018)

Want to learn more about Stewardship? Use these Bible Studies for personal devotion, group Bible studies, or teaching a church class. Below are links to the lessons in this 14-part series.

Introduction: It may seem jarring to go from studying righteousness by faith in Galatians and Romans to studying stewardship! Stewardship is not my favorite topic, but I cannot recall ever teaching the subject in any detail. It is, however, an important issue...

Introduction: Our study of Luke 12 last week taught us some important lessons. First, Luke 12:30 tells us that our Father in heaven knows that "we need" the material things that the "pagan world runs after." Second, Luke 12:31 tells us that if we seek God'...

Introduction: In our first lesson of this series we learned that if we seek the Kingdom of God, He will give us all of the material things that the pagans run after ( Luke 12:30-31). If that is true, then is the title to this lesson misleading? Is being a serv...

Introduction: Have you heard the claim that the rich are greedy? Does that seem right to you? If the rich are already rich, why would they be greedy for more? Or, is this a reference to a time when the rich were not rich? If it is a reference to the time when...

Introduction: "Steward" is not a term used very much today. "Agent," "representative," "employee" or "manager" are more common terms. But, do those words capture the full meaning of being a steward? More important for our purposes, do they capture the Biblical...

Introduction: Assume you decide to hire a steward because you have considerable assets. What traits would you look for in someone to trust with your money or your other possessions? What characteristics could be ignored? You would want the person to be smart,...

Introduction: Many years ago, I met with a group of public school teachers who wanted to explore what was involved in obtaining a job-related religious accommodation. They had religious objections to supporting a labor union. The short answer was that they need...

Introduction: While many debate what tithing means today, what cannot reasonably be disputed is that God consistently teaches that those who advance His gospel are entitled to support from those who benefit. To better understand what God has in mind for us tod...

Introduction: What does it mean to make an "offering" to God? In the Old Testament, it was often bringing an animal. To me, the phrase "tithes and offerings," brings to mind giving money. I recall fondly the many times when I was up in front of our church with...

Introduction: This week I listened to a TED talk about capitalism. The speaker said capitalism was not a political theory or merely a philosophy of economics, it was an "operating system." Just like your cell phone (or computer) has an operating system, the sp...

Introduction: Forbes says that foolishly spending money is the number one cause for divorce. While others dispute the extent of the relationship between money and divorce, a common view is that financial problems tend to seep into other areas of family life and c...

Introduction: For a very long time I have attended a weekly Bible study group. Those groups change over the years. Sometimes I am in charge, and sometimes I am not. (I prefer it when I'm not in charge.) Recently, I told the friend hosting our current Bible study t...

Introduction: How then should we live? After studying all of these lessons on stewardship, now that we come to the last lesson, have you changed your attitudes and your actions? We learned that God is much more generous to us than He is demanding. We learned that...