Good and faithful stewards
Really, for all practical purposes, we own nothing. None of us can truly say or think that such and such is his own. We are only given, or more accurately loaned, what we seem to have. We know this because when we die, nothing goes with us. None of our possessions, none of our children, not even our own bodies go with us. They are all left behind as we climb into that next world (see the Study, Something Worse than Death).
When we say that these are my children, or this is my home, or that this is my job, we are of course speaking only figuratively, because none of it is truly ours. We are only temporary custodians, managing and caring for them while in this present life. Our Creator has loaned them to us that we might learn, and then demonstrate how wisely we will tend and steward them.
If we show ourselves to be good and wise and faithful stewards, then we may be given more to look after; and then if we prove faithful and responsible in those new and broader capacities, then we may eventually be given even greater things to steward in the next life.
- LUKE 16:11-12 NEB If, then, you have not proved trustworthy with the wealth of this world, who will trust you with the wealth that is real? And if you have proved untrustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
Howbeit, there is one thing that is our own. That which is truly ours, that which we can indeed proclaim as forever possessing, is our character. Those Christian virtues (2 PETER 1:5-8) which we have faithfully nurtured and developed over the course of our lives are the only things which we can honestly call our own. This is the only thing that we will indeed take with us into the next life. This is the single possession which is not on loan, but is genuinely our own (see the Study, Nurturing and Harvesting the Fruit of the Spirit).
These Christian virtues are the ultimate goals and purposes of our learning to become good and faithful stewards. As such, just becoming a good steward isn't all that important in its own right, but rather it is an absolute necessity if we are to nurture and mature the fruit of the spirit in our lives. It is in the developing of the habits and tendencies to rightly steward the things of GOD that makes us able to learn to become righteous.
A steward is simply an over-seer, over seeing that which is another's. He is a servant or a custodian in his master's house. If he proves himself to be faithful, and honest, and trustworthy, then his master may very well set him over other and more substantial things. But, if he demonstrates himself to be weak, and lazy, and dishonest, then he may very well be stripped of even that which had first been entrusted to him (LUKE 8:18). Yeshua (Jesus) explicitly instructed His followers as to this reality on a number of occasions.
- LUKE 12:42-44 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward [oikonomos], whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
The word rendered steward here is translated from the Greek word oikonomos, which means, "the manager of a household or of household affairs" (The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon); and "one who had authority over the servants of a family, assigning their tasks, etc., and generally managing all the affairs and accounts" (E. W. Bullinger's Critical Lexicon and Concordance).
As we work our way through this present life, we are from time to time given certain responsibilities. How well we perform and are faithful to those tasks will determine what other and further tasks and talents we are then given, not only in this present life but also in that which is to come.
How we take care of our physical bodies is probably one of the first tests of our stewardship. How well do we prize and nurture and protect them? Do we poison ourselves with unhealthy foodstuffs and sedentary lifestyles, or have we learned to take especially good care of these earthly vessels? Are we wild and reckless and habitually throw caution to the wind, or have we learned to be more measured in our steps?
As such, our mind is also a crucial aspect of that stewardship of our bodies. What do we feed our minds? Are we making sure that it is nourished from wholesome and healthy sources, or are we still wallowing in a diet of filth, of envy and lusts? (see the Study, Keep Thy Heart).
After properly caring for our own bodies, we may then be handed the responsibility of that which is another's. How well do we care for the life of our spouse, our children, our employees and other associates? How frugal are we in stewarding that which another has entrusted to us? How wise and faithful are we with those things?
Perhaps no other episode in Yeshua's life and ministry represented this truth more than did the two feedings of the multitudes with just a few fish and loaves of bread. The records state that after those miracles the disciples gathered up baskets full of leftovers. Even in this miraculous occasion, with an astounding abundance being supernaturally provided by GOD, nothing was wasted (MATTHEW 14:17-21; 15:34-38). Yeshua was evidently teaching His disciples to always be good stewards of that which would be given them.
We all know the proverbial sayings, a penny saved is a penny earned, and waste not want not.
This premise, that nothing except our character is truly ours, and that everything we seem to possess is only on loan from our Creator, must also be applied to the unborn. If our bodies are not really our own, but are only temporarily on loan from GOD, then when it comes to something like aborting a fetus, how can the mother honestly proclaim that, "it's my body" and then think that she can do with it as she pleases?
Generally speaking, what happens to the unborn is indeed the sole responsibility of the mother. She is the steward. Though it is not her fetus, to do with as she pleases, it is also not the government's. Only the mother is ultimately responsible to GOD for that unborn which has been entrusted to her care, and we should thus expect that there will be consequences for whatever choice she decides upon.
But on the other hand, we should also consider what exactly will those consequences be? If she decides to have an abortion, has she really murdered an innocent, or has she just terminated an unwanted pregnancy? These are critical but also very divisive questions, and because of the importance of this subject we should take some time to consider it.
When does a person's life begin? This is the ultimate question. Does life begin at conception? Does it begin with a beating heart? Or does it begin at birth? We are safest if we can find the answers these questions from the Creator of that life. Only HE can plainly tell us what the truth is regarding this most important controversy.
The so-called pro-lifers believe that an abortion is killing an unborn child, surely then an act of the most brutal and horrible imagined. But the pro-choicers contend that their bodies are their own and no government has the right to tell them or interfere with their own choices concerning the fetus. So let's venture out into this dangerous arena and see if we can glean some truth, not from our preconceived notions, or society's rational, but rather from a Biblical perspective.
We are no doubt offered an important clue into the truth of this matter in the early chapters of the Bible.
- GENESIS 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Thus, at almost the very beginning of the scriptures we are given the most important facts concerning this issue. Clearly we are told here that man became alive when he breathed. Can we then apply this truth to a pregnancy? Can we then conclude that a newborn is only considered alive when it breathes?
We have this same idea repeated on a number of other occasions, that breath is the evidence of life. Even just a few chapters on we read, ". . . . in whose nostrils was the breath of life" (GENESIS 7:22). These early writers always associated breath with life.
Then in the psalms we read,
- . . . . Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust (104:29).
- His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish (146:4).
Breath seems to routinely be the evidence of life. But did this fact apply also to the unborn? There is strong evidence that this is exactly how those of the Bible thought, that one was considered alive only when he took his first breath. We read in JOB, ". . . . the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (33:4). Apparently, Job recognized that his life began when he was given breath.
Nevertheless, some have tried to make the presumptuous claim that an unborn child should also be considered a living person. As such, many of them suppose that the evidence that a person is alive is a beating heart. Howbeit, that conjecture is not supported by scripture. Rather, breath is always the evidence of life.
To substantiate their claim that the unborn is a living person, they quote passages where GOD is said to have known someone before they were born, while they were still in their mother's womb. But let's take an unbiased look at these passages whereupon these assertions are based.
- JEREMIAH 1:4-5 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Surely any fair minded person can see that GOD was simply encouraging Jeremiah by assuring him that he was chosen to be HIS spokesman long before he was ever born, or even conceived. The purpose of the passage was not to suggest that a fetus was a living person, but rather to instruct Jeremiah that in HIS foreknowledge GOD had called him to be a prophet, even before he was conceived.
This is intimated by H. Wheeler Robinson in his book, The Christian Doctrine of Man, page 14.
- The only stages preparatory to life are the three named in Hos. ix. 11, namely, conception, pregnancy, and delivery. When Yahweh says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee" (Jer. i. 5), the reference is to predestination, not pre-existence.
Thus, it would have been far removed from Jeremiah's thoughts to understand that GOD was in any way referring here to when he became a living person. The passage has only to do with the prophet's predestination. This all flows right along with what Paul wrote of himself in his letter to the Galatians.
- GALATIANS 1:15-16 But when it pleased God, who separated me from [ek] my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me . . . .
That the apostle Paul was separated by GOD from his mother's womb, only tells us that his life and ministry was in GOD's foreknowledge. The Creator chose him, endowed him with holy spirit, and separated him to HIS purposes even before Paul took his first breath. Nothing is meant or suggested here about an unborn being considered an alive person who needed to have all of the rights and privileges of a member of society.
It has also been suggested that when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and the babe "leaped in her womb" (LUKE 1:41), that this was somehow proof that an unborn child was considered to be an alive person. We should consider and ponder this passage thoughtfully.
Why did the babe leap in his mother's womb? Are we to suppose that the fetus actually heard and comprehended the salutation of Mary? Are we to understand that Mary's greeting somehow inspired the babe inside Elizabeth's belly, causing it to leap for joy? Surely not.
In his great work entitled The Commentary of the New Testament, John Lightfoot has this interesting comment on this passage.
- Questionless, Elizabeth had learned from her husband that the child she went with was designed as a forerunner of the Messiah, but she did not yet know of what sort of woman the Messiah must be born till this leaping of the infant in her womb became some token to her.
Most likely, the child leaping in her womb was simply a sign or symbol from GOD revealing to Elizabeth that her cousin Mary was indeed to be the mother of the Messiah. We can be confident that this is the case because she immediately said so.
- LUKE 1:42-45 And she [Elizabeth] spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou [Mary] among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
The unborn child, "leaped in her womb for joy"? A six month old fetus could not possibly have the capacity to hear and understand what was spoken outside of the womb. But this is not at all an uncommon manner of speech for the oriental. They often spoke hyperbolically.
There also may have been other details which Luke had either not known or not thought pertinent to include in his record. Perhaps because of her old age Elizabeth had been concerned and worried for the unborn's wellbeing. Maybe she had not felt any movement from the child for some time and when Mary announced herself and the babe leaped in her womb, that gave comfort and encouragement to Elizabeth that all was well. That would have heartened her a great deal. But before we imagine that this unborn child was doing a song and dance inside of Elizabeth's belly, we should require more proof than the record provides.
We are also told in this same chapter of another supposed proof that an unborn must be considered an alive person, because it was written that John was to be "filled with the holy spirit from [ek] his mother's womb" (LUKE 1:15).
The word in the above passage, rendered from by the KJV, does not in any way mean that the unborn child was filled with holy spirit within the womb of his mother. This word from is translated from the Greek word ek, which according to Vine's Biblical Dictionary signifies out of (MATTHEW 3:17 RSV). The New English Bible even renders the passage as such.
- LUKE 1:15 . . . . From his very birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Alfred Plummer in his comprehensive work entitled The Gospel According to St. Luke corroborates this, noting on page 14 concerning this passage; "The expression does not imply that John was filled with the Spirit before he was born (ver. 41)."
It of course goes without saying that a fetus, an unborn child is indeed alive and growing within his mother's womb. Ever since its conception it is alive. But is aborting that pregnancy equivalent to murdering an infant? None of these passages suggest that. In fact, in the Mosaic Law under which all of these Jews lived, just the opposite is stipulated.
- EXODUS 21:22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
As such, the penalty for causing an unborn to miscarriage was not death, as was the penalty for murder (verse 12), but was rather a monetary fine evidently determined later. Clearly then, though the death of an unborn was not a casual thing, and it was not in any way to be encouraged, it was nevertheless not murder, at least not from a Biblical perspective.
So, in returning to the subject of our Study, and to our consideration of good stewardship, each of us have the responsibility to do with that which has been entrusted to us, including a pregnant mother. We all are to be held accountable to our Creator for how well we steward those things which have been put under our care.
In his epistle to the Corinthians, Paul revealed that the believers are not only responsible to properly steward earthly things, but also the mysteries of GOD. And further that these stewards must be faithful.
- 1 CORINTHIANS 4:1-2 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards [oikonomos] of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
As such, the believer is instructed to be a good and faithful steward of the mysteries of GOD. What are these mysteries? Well, the great mystery is the resurrection (see the Study, The Great Mystery is........). We are first and foremost to be aware of and treat as most significant the reality of the resurrection. We are not to live solely for this life, but we are only to use this life so as to nurture and develop within us the fruit of the spirit. We are expected to rise and walk each day in such a manner that demonstrates our seriousness to that which has been entrusted to us.
Oftentimes Yeshua endeavored to drive this point home to His disciples.
- MARK 4:11-12 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Those who were without, were those who couldn't care less for the things of GOD. These are the ones who had closed their eyes and ears to the truth of the gospel. They were the ones who were unfaithful to that which they had seen and heard. As such, Yeshua immediately then proclaimed the familiar parable of the four seeds sown; some into the wayside, others upon stoney ground, others among the thorns, and finally those seeds sown upon the good ground. In deed, only the seeds sown upon the good ground thrived and produced an abundant crop (MARK 4:13-20). The faithful stewards were like those seeds sown upon the good ground. Only they were the ones who produced the everlasting fruit.
If we have been fortunate enough to be entrusted with the true knowledge concerning the actual purpose of this present existence, and how it is effecting and determining our future life, then we will need to be good and faithful stewards of that knowledge. We will necessarily do our utmost to live day to day with this reality in our minds. We won't become so easily sidetracked with the frivolous and trivial pursuits this life would have us chase after and devote ourselves to.
That is no doubt why Paul then encouraged and implored his readers in Corinth to " . . . . be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 CORINTHIANS 15:58). The steward's good and faithful labor will be well rewarded in that resurrection, of which Paul had so precisely explained throughout this same fifteenth chapter.
But the steward's work must be with joy. He must not feel or think that his responsibilities are a burden or encumbrance upon himself, for stewardship was the very purpose for which he was made. Learning to be a good and faithful steward is for the most part what his life is all about.
- HEBREWS 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Each steward must some day render up an account to his LORD for how well he has managed the affairs, the people, the possessions and the knowledge which had been entrusted to him. There will evidently be no profit, no rewards or crowns for that steward who does his business with grief.
1 PETER 4.10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
2 TIMOTHY 2.2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.