The following illustration of the time for the Response of Obedience was employed the Sunday morning my purpose sentence stated, “Christians need to understand that they are stewards of God.” I suggested the use of applause as the response of obedience.
If you feel uncomfortable as you read, it may help to know that the staff was divided down the middle when I presented the possibility of using applause as response in a Tuesday meeting. Half were vehemently opposed to using it and the other half were adamantly certain of its validity.
We employed the method with exciting results. Many relate to that morning as one of the most moving of their experience, and the staff members who had been against the idea have since reversed their positions.
The sermon developed the historic master-steward relationship in some detail.
Fundamentally, that a steward is a slave, elevated to a position of responsibility in his or her master’s kingdom. Still a slave, but now with great responsibility, the steward thinks nothing of himself or herself. Rather, he or she seeks only what is in the very best interest of his or her master.
Then, this New Testament analogy was applied to two basic areas of life—money and vocation. What follows is taken directly from my notes of that morning.
Everyone serves some master, and the correct question to pose is, “What is your Master like?” That was always the great question in the mind of the literal slave. We are stewards, but the whole purpose sentence exclaims, “As Christians, we are stewards of God!”
This week I sought to discover a way to take this scriptural analogy of the master/steward and impose it upon our situation…I want to blot out all the normal ideas people hold of God the Father and the person of Christ and reduce everything to this simple symbol of the master/steward as used in the Bible…
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