Editor’s note: Monthly articles from LCMS Stewardship Ministry are hosted here on The Lutheran Witness site. Visit the “Ministry Features” page each month for additional stewardship content.
Several years ago, a young man was going through the process of adult instruction at an LCMS congregation. He got increasingly excited as he learned about everything that God had done for him in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
He became a voracious reader of the Holy Scriptures. He became impatient for the time when he would be able to kneel at the Lord’s Table and receive the fullness of the Lord’s blessings in the eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood that he trusted would grant him the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Everything about the process was going so well, until …
The topic of stewardship came up. This topic rightly followed all the treasures of the Gospel that were presented in the course, because stewardship is a response that flows from the treasures of the Gospel. It never starts with the steward. It always starts with the One who created and sustains everything. God gives. The steward responds in faith and gratitude. It all seems so simple.
But the young man was struggling. As someone new to the congregation, what he saw as stewardship was directly connected to the offering plate. From his previous experiences with church, he knew that you put something into the plate that passed by.
‘Pastor, how much should I give?’
His struggle came in the form of a question; “Pastor, how much should I give?” This question seems simple enough. Generations of stewardship programs could produce slide-rule like charts for an answer. One axis of the chart shows your income. The other axis of the chart shows percentages. Find the point on the graph, and you will get a number! Point and click. Pretty simple.
But that was not the answer the pastor chose. To do so would feed the beast that is the Law, right as this young man was so jazzed by his new-found connection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Charts work in the realm of the Law. Percentages work in the realm of the Law. The baptized child of God is called to be a steward of the Gospel!
Everything we have historically called stewardship — time, talents and treasure — are not really the heart of stewardship. They are how the child of God and God’s family, the church, freely and joyously manage all of life’s resources for God’s purposes. God’s purpose is that all come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. Stewardship doesn’t save. Jesus does.
The true heart of stewardship
But being a steward of the Gospel is at the very heart of the life of a Christian. For this reason, this young man was pointed to two questions, rather than a chart, to answer his initial question of “how much should I give?”
The two questions were these:
1. How has God blessed you?
2. How is God calling you to respond?
These are questions of description and not prescription. They call for patience and faithful reflection.
When faced with the first question, the young man’s face lit up. He started to list all the ways that the Lord had blessed him, with his soon-to-be wife, family, job and so much more. But the second question is not as easily quantified. He still struggled. He noted that he should give God everything since God had given him everything.
Then the light went on for him. When he was caring for his future bride, supporting his family, working his job, serving in the congregation, and so much more, this was “all of life and life’s resources.”
Our stewardship, while it does include the offering plate, goes far beyond it as well. His time and effort in service was part of his response. This started to give him some comfort. But there was still the question of “how much?” For that the pastor simply said, “Pick a number. Start there. Then start adding to it. When you start to miss it, you can stop adding.” After a few minutes, the young man had a number in his head and the class moved on.
A joyful response
Eventually he confessed the faith, received the Lord’s Supper, and became active on the usher and fellowship teams in the congregation. He was a mainstay. There was a joy in this man that can only come from being in regular connection with Jesus.
The topic of financial stewardship was not broached again until a couple of years later, when the pastor had accepted another call. On the pastor’s last Sunday, while the people were filing out of the church, shaking hands and wishing him well, this young man took his turn in line. With a grin he extended his hand to the pastor and pulled him in close so that he could whisper in his ear, “I still don’t miss it!”
The pastor could have immediately and firmly demanded a tithe of this young man, and he would have received it. His teaching could be defended from the text of Scripture and human logic. But it would not have produced the joy that working in the Gospel was able to produce in this young man.
This is the call of the steward leader. It takes work. It takes wisdom. None of this originates with us. It only comes from a regular connection to Jesus. This is true of the individual steward. It is true of a steward leader like you. Answering a question with a question is sometimes frustrating for people, but in the case of stewardship it is essential. When leading a new steward, or even a lifelong steward, these questions are a wonderful place to start.
LCMS Stewardship ministry features may be reprinted with acknowledgment given to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
RE: “the beast that is the Law”
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
— Ps. 19:7-8 ESV
Likewise in Ps. 119:14-16, 48, 52 and 54, God tells us that there is much in his Law to delight in. Perhaps, then, the Law that we understand to be a curb, a mirror, and a guide is also a window that reveals something about the what God wants for his children in terms of our safety, harmony, integrity, prosperity, good order, familial bonds, and the blessings that result from continuously revering him above all. God is love (1 John 4:8).
“All who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (Gal. 3:10). Let’s not rely on works of the law, then.
We raise the specter of “beasts” of our own making by distorting and abusing God’s Law, becoming legalistic or inventing rules, “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9; Mark 7:7). Unfounded guilt can indeed be a beast.
So “each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7).”