LAMPLIGHTER
Fall 2015
The Privilege of Participation by Pastor Joel Leyrer
Because God continues to bless our church and school with internal and external growth, last spring we held an open forum to discuss the possibility of expanding our facilities. Preliminary renderings and cost estimates were shared based on plans developed through a long range planning committee. In the end we concluded that we could make no further decisions without further feedback and conversation. In a separate e-mail with a link to a survey or online through the church web site, we will communicate how we intend to solicit this feedback and have these conversations. Regardless of what we ultimately choose to do as a congregation, discussions of this nature provide us with a renewed opportunity to consider what God’s Word has to say on the subject of stewardship and the blessed privilege of our participation in supporting Kingdom work. To this end, the following thoughts were shared in the sermon preached on the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal,” as part of this past summer’s sermon series on the Ten Commandments. Perhaps the place to start our discussion on this commandment is by stating two basic Bible principles about the things we have (and which we often refer to as “our own”).
Biblical principle #1: God is the owner of all things. Everything we have comes from him. This means that we are but stewards or managers of the many possessions God in his grace has entrusted to us. While none of us disputes that, if we are honest we’d all agree it is quite easy to slip into the belief that what we have is the result of our own hard work or careful planning or wise investment. And it must be said that to some degree this is true. We are to use the talents and opportunities the Lord has given us. We could certainly cite Scriptural references that encourage hard work and wise planning and condemn laziness or the expectation that God should simply drop things into our laps. Nevertheless, the bottom line remains: God is the owner of all things. Everything we have comes from him. Or, as the inspired author James tells us: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights . . .” In whatever way the Lord chooses to bless us—whether it is with the ability to work or the reception of gifts or inheritance— the common denominator for all that we have is God. Why is it important to remind ourselves of this truth? Because when we do, we are less inclined to get all wrapped up in our personal possessions, more grateful to God for what we have, more confident that God will always provide for us the things we need, and more generous in the way in which we use the possessions God has given us.
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