I served for two years on the staff of a church that held an annual “Stewardship Month” in February. Many churches do such a thing, I know. Some will call the emphasis by different names—“Capital Campaign”—for example. But the emphasis is pretty much the same.
Money.
Your “Treasure.”
Typically, in the church where I served anyway, the pastor preaches a month-long series of messages on the need to steward your finances. The adult Sunday School classes also teach a series of lessons on the subject. Of course, there’s always a push to increase giving to the church, and usually the pastor announces some kind of project that needs to be funded.
Now, I won’t discount the need for financial stewardship. Not at all! We do need to be good stewards of our “Treasure,” to be sure. And indeed, if those who make up a local church don’t contribute to that ministry, well…it’ll close the doors. And certainly, there are times in church life when special projects call for funding beyond the usual week-to-week stuff.
But a full month? Every year?
I got weary of the subject after the second week!
The same church also overemphasized (in my mind, at least) the need to steward our “Talents”—that is, those gifts and abilities that God has given to be used in service of Him and for the benefit of others. Seemed like every Sunday there was some kind of application—legitimate or not—challenging us to do more for, or be more involved in, the church’s extensive ministry endeavors—choir, children’s ministry, nursery work, visitation….
For example, every Spring and Fall the church conducted what was called “Canvass Days”—once again, another month-long emphasis. Staff members were required, and church members were exhorted, to give up 2-3 hours every Saturday morning in April/May and September/October, grab handfuls of fliers, and go door-to-door inviting people to church.
Typically, these were timed to climax with a week-long “revival meeting” at the end of the Canvass Days. So, for staff members anyway, that meant for five weeks straight, two times a year, we were involved at the church in some capacity every single day.
Just good stewardship of our “Talents,” the pastor contended.
“Talents” and “Time,” he claimed.
Time?
Frankly, I’m a fan of time-stewardship. I didn’t say I was good at it. But I do like reading on the subject and trying to incorporate principles in my life that will help to make good use of my days and hours—my life!
Life is busy for most of us, with many responsibilities in several areas: work/career…home…family…church…community…personal care. Trying to juggle it all can be quite the challenge! So yes, we need to be good stewards of our time.
But when challenged that all the church demands put undue pressure on already very busy people—especially staff—the pastor brushed it off. People just need to get their priorities straight, he insisted. They do that, everything else will get take care of itself.
Hmmm.
I’ve been involved in church life for over six decades now and have heard stewardship emphases countless times. And they’ve always focused on one or more of these three areas: Time, Talents, Treasure.
But there’s a fourth area I’ve never heard talked about during “Stewardship Emphasis Month.”
The “Temple.”
What I’m getting at is based on Paul’s question posed to the Christians in Corinth:
…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
Your body, Paul asserts, is a “temple” of the Holy Spirit!
Stewardship, I believe, must extend to the “Temple” just as it does to my time, talents, and treasure.
The church I’ve been referencing was big on stewardship of treasure and talents, very weak on stewarding time, but silent about stewardship of the temple! Even dismissive of the subject.
On one of the rare occasions I was able to preach to the entire church, I tied Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul….
With Mark 6:31
And [Jesus] said to [the apostles], “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”
And Jesus’s invitation in Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The impetus for the message was the almost-daily experience of asking a fellow staff member how they were doing and hearing the reply, “I’m exhausted” or “Tired” or “Busy!” followed by “Tired!”
The idea of rest seemed to be an alien concept!
So in an effort to encourage a tired, weary congregation, I tried to show them that rest is needful for not only physical but also spiritual and emotional health.
In a sermon not long after, the pastor countered, “Working hard and being tired is good for you! You’ll have an eternity to rest after you die!”
And I thought, “That’ll be sooner than necessary with that kind of thinking.”
Are you getting the sense I didn’t fit in there?
Nevertheless, I’m convinced we do need to be concerned about all four areas of stewardship, and probably need to be much better stewards of our bodies—our physical health—than most of us are.
I was reminded of my own need in this area after getting the results of a cholesterol and glucose screening this morning.
Every year for Clergy Appreciation Month, our local hospital freely offers the screening to all clergy in the area. They began the program in 2004, and I haven’t missed a year.
This morning’s results were a pleasant surprise.
Last year’s outcome wasn’t great. My total cholesterol was north of 200, driven mostly by the bad stuff (144 – borderline high). I fully expected things to be worse.
I haven’t been as good a steward of the “temple” in the last several months as I should be. Been feeling a little less energetic, haven’t gotten as much exercise as I would like, sense muscle weakness, and have even added a few pounds (but still almost 20 lbs less than I weighed in the “no rest” church!).
But a pleasant surprise.
Total cholesterol dropped to 192, the good stuff improved slightly, and the bad stuff dropped 19 points. Oh, and my triglycerides are great!
I suppose it’d be easy for good results to lead to a sort of apathy, but to me, it’s actually motivating.
At my age, I’m staring down the Medicare deadline. The reality of aging is smacking me in the face. I’m not 30 anymore, and I feel it.
In an effort to better steward this aging temple, a few weeks ago, my wife and I decided to invest in a personal trainer to help us get back on track with a physical exercise routine. The first session was an eye-opener for me! I had no idea how weak some of my core muscles had become! I went away quite discouraged at how poorly I had done at those exercises. But we’ve stayed with it and fully intend to for at least the 16-session commitment before continuing on our own.
Perhaps the increased exercise in the past three weeks impacted this morning’s results? Don’t know for sure, but I’m motivated to keep at it.
We’re also careful with our diet, spending more than we like for good stuff.
This morning’s results motivate me to maintain the investment.…
…to be a much better steward of the forgotten “T,” right along with the other three!
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