Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

From the Old Testament of the Day: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, 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 think that creeps on the earth. [Genesis 1.26]

From the Epistle: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [Ephesians 6.11]

From the Holy Gospel: Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.  [John 4.50]

It isn’t often that we have a stewardship sermon, otherwise known as a money sermon, around here. This is not because the pastors are lazy, nor are they afraid of such a sermon. It is because the idea of stewardship is a concept designed to raise money for the church. It becomes among Lutherans the substitute for bingo. And the topic is loaded with the potential to send the hearers out of this house of God under the Law rather than under the Gospel. That’s why it isn’t often that we have a stewardship sermon around here.

But this year, it is necessary. It is not necessary because we are having trouble meeting our budget. It is not necessary because your pastors have had some reduced checks or no checks at all this year. A stewardship message, from the pulpit, from the mouthpiece of God, speaking the Words of God, is necessary because these troubles have already put the congregation under the Law, and there is talk and there are thoughts of leaving the congregation or even of closing the congregation in some near future. THAT thinking and these fears about the place in which God has planted every member of this congregation according to His good pleasure – call for a stewardship sermon today. And the texts for this Sunday serve very well the topic from the perspective of God’s Word.

I.

The Old Testament of the Day is the longest such lesson of the Church Year. It covers the expansive overview of creation. It covers the first seven days of this world’s existence and the first two days of humanity’s existence. Imagine how long it would take to cover this period if God had spoken of seven eons instead of seven days!

The pinnacle of God’s good creation is the creation of mankind. And the place of mankind is set forth in the first of the sermon texts today: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing the creeps on the earth.” The Lord God has given mankind the privilege of sitting on God’s right hand – the place of power and governance over all the things and all the affairs of the earth.

It is not a position of lowliness but of authority. It is not a position of poverty but of wealth – God’s wealth, all of it, to be sure – but in the hands and for the management of mankind. That is God’s design. And from God’s design there should be – and in fact, from His perspective, there will be – no lack in all of God’s creation. That is our created nature.

But, of course, there is a terrible and tragic change in the circumstances, though not the nature, of mankind. We call it the Fall into sin. And by the Fall into sin, the seat at the right hand of the Father becomes vacant. The seat of power and authority over the things and the affairs of earth no longer is the hand of mankind. The Fall is deep and pervasive, and it breeds sin and rebellion – especially rebellion against God and His holiness and His goodness – and as a result of this Fall, all mankind is under the judgment of God and under the Law of God.

II.

And as if that weren’t enough, along with the Fall on earth there is the reaching of sin into the heavens, resulting in the defeat of Lucifer – a chief angel – and his followers among the angel host, causing them to be ousted from heaven and ensconced, for a time, on earth. So, in considering what constitutes life under the Law, the temptations of the devil must also be included, as you hear in the Epistle of the Day: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

When St. Paul goes on here to engage in a rich use of metaphor, he is dong so to remind you of the need for humbleness before God and faith that abandons self to the grace and mercy of God. So he speaks of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes that represent “the readiness given by the Gospel of peace.” Then, St. Paul adds yet more metaphors: the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” These many word-pictures point to one reality, which St. Paul calls, “the whole armor of God.” And that whole armor consists of the things God gives us to know Him as our Redeemer and our dear Lord. The whole armor of God invites and encourages you to stand before God, wrapped in Christ’s righteousness and the Father’s love and forgiveness.

There begins the renewing of fallen creation: Standing before God the Father, in Christ’s righteousness, and under Divine love and forgiveness that supports you through the work of the Holy Spirit. In this standing, there is no want, even if you are in earthly poverty according to God’s good intention. For you are united to Christ, and He now occupies, for you in Him, the right hand of God, as St. Paul sets it forth in the beginning of this Epistle to the Ephesians, praying for you in this way, “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”

And it is in that context that St. Paul therefore urges at the end of this letter: “Put on the whole armor of God,” which means: stay close to the things God gives you, for all your living and for all your understanding, Stay in the faith that God gives you and keeps in you.

III.

Such faith is what St. John exhibits for you in the event in the Holy Gospel, the narrative concerning the faithful official. This man of faith has the mistaken idea that the Savior and God in which he did believe would heal his son, who is at the point of death, if only he could get Jesus to come to the bedside of his son. But Jesus declines to do in this way. He simply says, “Go on home! Your son will live.” Now, here is where faith comes clashing against what believers think to be “enlightened reason.” And you can have one or you can have the other.

Though we are not told, one can rightly suspect that the boy is healed either way. For that is God’s business. The issue here is the peace of the boy’s father, who proves himself the FAITHFUL official not because he comes to Jesus, but because he take what Jesus say on faith. He departs for his home, and he meets his joyful servants, who have marked a sudden recovery in the boy, and so they rushed to find their master, to tell him that Jesus doesn’t need to be bothered – the lad is getting well. And as you know, it was at the moment when Jesus declares that the son will live, that the sudden recovery is noted.

IV.

Now, how does all this relate to so-called stewardship? Stewardship of thing of man for the good purposes of God is the way we are created. It’s not some odd additional thing that plagues or at least inconveniences Christians from their otherwise important matters of life.

Moreover, after the Fall, stewardship becomes a burden, like every other responsibility, to people living under the Law. Stewardship becomes distorted, either trying to buy God’s favor, or to give the Big Guy what he is demanding. Either way – that’s wickedness before God, and as the prophet declares: “There is no peace for the wicked.”

But the Redeemer has comes. And He now sits on the right hand – the power position – of God, on your account and for your benefit. So, buy the whole armor of God, by the Word of God in the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, you are taken out from under the condemning Law and placed under the saving Gospel. Stewardship simply acknowledges that this is the case for you – living under the Gospel, where all the worries and fretting of daily life and daily possessions is replaced by peace with God and assurance of His grace toward you.

Now, the only other point is this: the peace experienced in daily life is trust in God and doing by faith what He ordains. “Go on home! Your son will live!” He’s going to live whether the official is faithful or frivolous, whether he goes home or continues to hound the Lord. But peace in this life means “go on home!” Because that is what the Savior says. It is a matter of trust.

Stewardship, properly understood, is a matter of trust. The Lord God, in His Holy Word, sets forth a standard for giving for the things of God. Christians do it and find peace, not because of the doing but because of the promise. Christians avoid such giving, justifying their behavior in any manner of excuses, all of which amount to a lack of trusting God. Godly stewardship is a matter of trust and it’s fruit is peace in the midst of earthly turmoil.

You know God’s standard for so-called stewardship. It is the tithe. It precedes the Old Testament ceremonial and civil law, for it is seen already in our Father Abraham with the visit of Melchezidech, and this same standard is explained and endorsed in the New Testament book of Hebrews. It’s now just a matter of trust, and with the trust, it is a matter of peace and joy in believing, all given you in the blessed calling that made you Christians and placed you in Christ at the right hand of the Father, forever.