Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Let a man so account of Christ's ministers as servants of Christ and stewards entrusted with God's revealed mysteries, truths and grace. That trust is lent not to ministers alone but to every person, family and institution, with all means, time, talents and opportunities remaining God's property to be managed, improved and returned with fruit. What is required of such a steward is faithfulness, measured by true living faithfulness to God and not by human judgment or self-commendation. Therefore nothing in their work is to be judged before the time, for at His coming the Lord will bring hidden things to light, reveal the counsels of the heart, and give each faithful one praise and reward from God. Faithfulness means declaring the whole counsel of God without altering, lessening, softening or concealing any part, speaking God's word in Christ's stead and warning of spiritual danger even at sacrifice, while serving the Master's interests rather than personal advantage.
Ministers as God's Stewards
Let a man so account of Christ's ministers, as servants of Christ and stewards entrusted with God's revealed mysteries, truths, and grace. Their place is a position of trust in which they are to serve faithfully, minister to and educate church members, labor to please Him who entrusted the work to them, and act in their Master's interests rather than using the trust for personal advantage or selfish gain. Their calling is spiritual, aimed at bringing people to the truths of God's Word through a true, living experience that makes their representation of this stewardship faithful, and not at seeking leadership in political parties. No ground exists for elevating one minister over another or for pride in preferences and boasting, since every gift and distinction is received from God. The verses that follow explain that stewards must be faithful, while judgment of their work belongs to the Lord, who will reveal what is hidden and give each person praise and reward.
This stewardship is not lent to ministers alone but to every person, family, and institution, however large or small their income or possessions, including physicians and all who work for God, making all laborers together with God in trading with what is entrusted until the Lord comes to reckon with His servants. Servants of Christ are made rulers over His household to give spiritual food in due season, with great responsibility resting on them to be found faithful, even as the trust was lent to the exalted angel in heaven. Ministers of Christ, including physicians, are keepers of the mysteries of God and of the Master's goods in means and property placed in human hands to keep in order, a position of great accountability requiring faithfulness with a conscience void of offense toward God and fellow men and the constant recognition that the property handled belongs to the Master. All profit, all pay, time, talents, opportunities, skill, and trust belong to Him who gives them and must be accounted for to Him and managed with care and devotion, putting the Master's interests ahead of personal advantage. God proves people to see if their works are free from all selfishness and pride, allowing no thread of selfishness woven into His work, and using entrusted goods for selfish gain or devotion to wealth shows unworthiness, while the richest reward goes to the one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself. God's people are stewards entrusted with His grace and truth and responsible for sharing these gifts with others, and a Christian physician is to serve Christ faithfully as such a steward, caring for the soul as well as the body through close communion with Christ and offering the spiritual help the sick need. Tarnishing the position by mean actions in dealing with fellow stewards and by trying to make one's own course appear as possessing great wisdom is forbidden.
A steward is one employed to manage his master's property put virtually into his hands and under his control, but it is not his own property; it is his master's, to be kept in order, improved, traded with, and returned with fruit, and he identifies himself with the owner, for all are the Lord's. Those entrusted with God's truth are stewards, not owners, of what they have received, to use their gifts and resources in trust to advance Christ's cause, following Christ's example by engaging with people where they are and sharing heavenly benefits with them. Men in responsible positions and institutions must unselfishly do the work entrusted to them, return fruit in due season to the Owner of the vineyard, cultivate neglected parts of the vineyard and barren wastes, sow the seeds of truth, and plant the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the warning message, cooperating intelligently with God who continually opens the way and sends forth messengers to receive means from stewards for carrying forward His work. If stewards refuse, fail to respond, and by selfishness close the doors He has opened for His blessings to flow forth, God will give the trust to those who will honor it, find another way to accomplish His purpose, leave the unfaithful barren of resources, and remove His gifts from them.
Those who minister in word and doctrine hold a high, holy commission and divine credentials that no man or body of men can confer, performed before heavenly witnesses as ambassadors acting in Christ's stead. Their stewardship carries dignity and sacredness and is performed before a great cloud of witnesses, with heavenly intelligences looking on them as ambassadors of the King of kings and Lord of lords, placed under obligation by solemn vows to God to declare faithfully the whole counsel of God, because heaven is to be gained and hell to be shunned. As stewards of the mysteries of heaven laboring in Christ's stead they must speak not their own words but God's word, pleading with people to be reconciled to God and preaching Christ and Him crucified, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all long-suffering, encouraging the obedient and warning the disobedient. They must not speak from human impulse, but from Christ's Spirit working in them to do God's will, revealing Christ's character and exercising their freedom in obedience to God's law, showing calm, holy trust in God, and if they lack that spirit they should stop rather than speak rashly. God marks the work of His servants, and they have no authority to stir up evil spirits seeking an opportunity to accuse God's people or to give anyone speech or conduct that affords excuse to disparage the truth. Every gospel minister called by the Holy Spirit bears divine credentials shown by character that is not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, and not given to filthy lucre, keeping the soul in the love of God, staying joyful in God, talking faith and courage without failing or discouragement, encouraging young men to go forth preaching everywhere, and speaking the Word of God with boldness and clear, intelligent, straightforward truth. Worldly policy is to have no weight with them and they are never to swerve from the plain path Jesus bids them walk, but to go forward in faith remembering they are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, bearing God's message with faithfulness regardless of consequences even to the sacrifice of all they have, like Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist, having a right to lift the standard high and declare the message with unshrinking heart. They must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, or He will humble them, but if they walk modestly and humbly before the Lord He will accept them.
Faithfulness Required of Stewards
The one thing demanded of a steward is faithfulness, and a steward's standing is measured by faithfulness to God expressed in a true, living experience. That connection of every soul with God is essential, and neither human judgment nor self-commendation is the measure, not even a person's own judgment of himself. The estimate that brethren or the church may place upon a person, whether good or evil, does not change position in God's sight, so nothing is to be judged before the time. Judgment waits until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart, and then every one found true and faithful will have praise of God rather than praise of men. Faithfulness in handling God's revealed truth and serving His cause includes using entrusted means, including money, for God's work rather than for selfish purposes.
Faithfulness means serving the Master's interests rather than using the trust for personal advantage. It is a position of trust in which stewards minister to and educate church members and labor to please Him who entrusted the work to them. Their calling is spiritual, aimed at bringing people to the truths of God's Word, not at seeking leadership in political parties. To manage the Lord's goods faithfully with care and devotion is to put the Master's interests ahead of personal advantage, while using entrusted goods for selfish gain shows unworthiness and devotion to wealth. A steward must be faithful in carrying out the responsibility given, for every Christian as well as every pastor is entrusted with God's gifts and has work to perform.
The position is one of great accountability, for stewards are keepers of the mysteries of God and of the Master's goods in means and property placed in human hands to keep in order. They are made rulers over His household to give spiritual food in due season, and great responsibility rests on them to be found faithful. This stewardship of talents is lent not to ministers alone but to every person, family, and institution, however large or small their income or possessions, just as to the exalted angel in heaven, making all laborers together with God in trading with what is entrusted until the Lord comes to reckon with His servants. All profit, all pay, time, talents, opportunities, mental powers and spiritual strength belong to Him who gives them, are only held in trust, must be accounted for to Him, and must be kept free from all selfishness and pride with no thread of selfishness woven into His work. This requires faithfulness with a conscience void of offense toward God and fellow men and the constant recognition that the property handled belongs to the Master, forbidding tarnishing the position by mean actions in dealing with fellow stewards and by trying to make one's own course appear as possessing great wisdom. God proves people to see if their works are free from selfishness, allows withholding of means even from one's own son when giving would increase distrust, grasping and acquisitiveness, fasten the heart to the world and draw affections away from God, and gives the richest reward to the one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself. Each person is accountable before God and the heavenly universe for faithfully administering that trust, having a deep sense of what He desires them to be and to do, not slighting or abusing talents but making it the life work to be uncommonly good and letting all see by practice that they belong to the Lord, for in the great day right upon them God will call stewards to give an account of the way the talents were used. Even the humblest person can use gifts for God's glory, putting talents to best use and returning them to God as a consecrated offering.
Those who work for God do good only because God is behind them doing the work, for all that is ever done toward restoring the moral image of God in man is done because God is the efficiency of the worker. Therefore men are not to be praised and thanked while God is neglected, and no steward is an independent source of wisdom or power, since all human work depends on God and must be joined with divine help. If man is put first and God second God will not cooperate with them, and putting self first shows loss of wisdom and righteousness. Every steward who strives to advance the glory of God, whether before unbelievers or princes, is to make God first and last and best in everything and give Him the honor due Him rather than accepting praise for heaven-given abilities. Faithfulness in making God known brings spiritual and intellectual growth, while Christ alone gives success to human workers, and a Christian has right to his name only as he uplifts Christ with steady, persevering, ever-increasing force, drawing energy from the inexhaustible Light of life with no ambitious motive chilling it. The trust given to the church has passed from generation to generation, adding responsibility to those who serve in the present, who are to put self aside and direct even the humblest service toward doing the Master's will and promoting His glory, since their service depends on Christ's grace and righteousness, not their own.
Safety is found only in working out of self into perfect conformity to the mind and will of God by full surrender of self. The Lord's servants are merely stewards entrusted with His work, not owners or controlling powers free to direct it by their own ambition, judgment, devising and brain power for planning. They must put aside their own will, judgment and planning, crucify self day by day, humble themselves and not exalt their judgment as all-controlling, get out of the Lord's way and make room for the Lord to plan and work. They are to yield themselves to be worked by the Holy Spirit like clay in the hands of the potter to be kneaded, torn apart, pressed together, left to rest, formed, trimmed, polished, dried and baked into a vessel unto honor, and not try to do the work of the Potter. When by faith they place themselves in the Lord's hands and keep Christ as Pattern ever before them, the Lord undertakes the work entrusted to Him and never fails, enlightens and trains every worker by His Spirit, purifies from selfishness, trims superfluous plans, prunes the vine to produce fruit, shapes His providences to carry it forward according to His mind and judgment, and by conforming them day by day to the image of Christ and making them partakers of the divine nature causes them to bear fruit abundantly as true, solid, trustworthy, experimental missionaries. Without that surrender he cannot bear the likeness of Christ and stands in great danger, so all self-glorification must be cut away.
Leaving Judgment to God
Christ's ministers are to be regarded as stewards entrusted with God's revealed truths and mysteries, and what is required in such stewards is that they be found faithful. Their standing is therefore measured by faithfulness to God shown in a true, living connection with Him, not by human judgment or by self-commendation. Nothing in a steward's work is to be judged before the time, for judgment belongs to the Lord and not to other people. No one is to rank or condemn God's servants, elevating one minister over another.
Judgment is to wait until the Lord comes. At His coming He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart and the motives within. Then every person found true and faithful will have praise from God rather than the praise of men, and each will receive a just reward.
There is no ground for pride in preferences for one minister over another, and no ground for boasting, since every gift and distinction is received from God. The estimate that brethren or the church may place upon a person, whether good or evil, does not change that person's position in God's sight. Even a person's own judgment of himself is not the measure of faithfulness.
Proclaiming Truth Without Compromise
Stewards are bound to declare the whole counsel of God openly, without concealing any part of the message or making the special truths entrusted to them less prominent. That faithfulness forbids altering, lessening, or softening any part of Scripture to suit preference, but requires its teaching to be given as it stands, including the truths that distinguish God's people and the message for the last days. Their words bear fruit only through Christ's life in the soul and the love imparted by the Holy Spirit.
They speak in Christ's stead, not their own words but God's word, Thus saith the Lord, pleading with sinners to be reconciled to God and preaching Christ and Him crucified. In that office they reprove, rebuke, and exhort with long-suffering, encouraging the obedient and warning the disobedient. They must not speak from human impulse but from Christ's Spirit working in them, showing calm holy trust and stopping rather than speaking rashly, revealing Christ's character in obedience to God's law and giving no cause to disparage the truth or stir up accusers.
As watchmen and guardians of the church they must live near to God, hear His word, receive His Spirit, discern spiritual danger, and faithfully warn of it. If they fail to warn and people perish, God holds them accountable for those lost, but if they faithfully warn they deliver themselves from that guilt. Faithfulness also requires not failing to correct evils threatening the prosperity of the church, but doing something to counteract them. When those who have its interests at heart report contentions and disorder, as the house of Chloe reported to Paul, the minister is to give directions accordingly and reprove impurity, lack of devotion, and disorder according to the light given about order and purity to be maintained.
Worldly policy is to have no weight with them, and they are never to swerve from the plain path for fear of consequences, but to go forward in faith remembering the cloud of witnesses, even to the sacrifice of all. Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist exemplify that fearless bearing of God's message regardless of cost. The same trust calls them to aggressive work in new and destitute fields and distant countries from love for Christ and fellow people rather than for financial reward, preaching in season and out of season, doing house-to-house work where truth has not been heard, and raising up companies of believers here and there. They are not merely to hover over churches already raised up or keep resources concentrated in one place, but to cultivate neglected parts of the vineyard, plant the standard of truth in cities and countries without the warning, heed appeals for needy fields such as the Southern field, and act for fields in need rather than only speak about them. If stewards in responsible positions refuse and close the doors God has opened, He will give the trust to those who will honor it and find another way to accomplish His purpose.
The sacred trust must not be betrayed by disclosing the counsels of God's people to opposers or by joining their opposition, for such compromise emboldens enemies of truth and can silence faithful warning and exhortation. Nor must stewards enter business agreements that compromise the gospel or conflict with God's Word, for their responsibility gives no freedom to enter arrangements God cannot approve. They must serve under God's authority, seek His direction, and advance His work without selfishness or entanglement.
Stewards of Means and Property
All money and means belong to God, and those who hold them are only stewards holding the Lord's money in trust who must render an account to Him for all entrusted to their care. Every person, family, and institution, however large or small the income or possessions, stands in this trust, for all profit, all pay, time, talents, opportunities, mental powers, and spiritual strength are lent by Him who gives them all. Each is entrusted with what he has and with work suited to his abilities, and every part of man being the Lord's purchased possession, time, talents, influence, and money are to be used according to God's direction for the good of self and others and for His honor and glory, with the whole heart and undivided affections and nothing withheld. God proves workers to see if their works are free from all selfishness and pride, allowing no thread of selfishness woven into His work, and the richest reward goes to the one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself. This stewardship can require withholding means even from one's own son when giving would increase distrust, grasping and acquisitiveness, fasten the heart to the world, and draw affections away from God.
Entrusted goods are lent to advance Christ's cause, and stewards are to show Christ's generous spirit, especially toward the poor, and seek the company of others so they can share the heavenly benefits God has given them. God places means in human hands not to be hoarded but to support gospel workers and spread the truth, benefiting others and helping in the work of salvation, and this is His way of cultivating benevolence and unselfishness. Using gifts for self-interest or neglecting those in need is unfaithfulness, and withholding the means of spiritual help from people in need betrays the trust and brings accountability to God. Money is to be put to work in missionary fields while there is opportunity rather than tied up in banks, and when needs languish for want of help it is robbery toward God.
Those who have means are stewards of God and not stewards of men, entrusted directly by God and accountable to God alone. Each man is made individually a steward of sacred trusts and gifts to discharge his trust according to the direction of the Giver, with no other man given the work to order the one God has in hand, and the steward must look to God and remain free for Him to teach and direct and guide by the operation of the Spirit upon the heart when to sell and how much, and when to give and how much. God knows just how much means will be wanted, when and where, while men do not know, for God's ways and thoughts are not man's. The steward must fasten his soul to Jesus Christ rather than look to brethren or messengers or men for light, teaching, counsel, judgment, and control.
When messengers take direction of means upon themselves without authority and through false teaching cause brethren to dispose of means in haste, Satan works to turn means away from its true object and waste what will be needed later. That lack is felt when the work becomes more extensive and publications, tracts, and papers must come out more frequently. Those with means are then made to feel they are stewards of men and to look to men for light and teaching instead of God, and dependence on men turns minds away from God and makes men slaves of men. Such dependence opens the way for selfishness, hatred, and strife, while association with the divine transforms man into the divine likeness so that love and goodness become part of his nature.
Men in responsible positions and institutions are ministers of Christ and stewards entrusted by God with work and means, and conference officers are responsible before God for funds given by the people and must guard them faithfully and use them for their rightful purposes without endangering the spread of truth, with an account to settle with God if they mishandle them. They must unselfishly do the work entrusted to them, return fruit in due season to the Owner of the vineyard, keep the eye single to the glory of God, work without partiality and without hypocrisy, do the Lord's work intelligently carrying with them all the people possible, and give warnings to guard the people from deception when anyone leaves an incorrect impression. They must promptly decide how to respond to appeals and carry out those decisions, especially when the Lord's institutions are in peril, and give their interest and help to enterprises that demand it. They are to cultivate neglected parts of the vineyard and barren wastes, sow the seeds of truth, plant the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the warning message, heed appeals for destitute fields such as the Southern Field, and make special effort to prepare the way for workers, cooperating intelligently with God who continually opens the way and sends forth messengers to receive means from stewards for carrying forward His work. If stewards refuse, fail to respond, neglect this responsibility, close their senses and by selfishness close the doors He has opened for His blessings to flow forth, God will give the trust to those who will honor it, find another way to accomplish His purpose, leave the unfaithful barren of resources, and remove His gifts from them, while the workers who understand the necessities of the field have a perfect right to go anywhere in the field, bring their case directly before the people, and solicit help without means passing through any office or society, devising and planning to prepare their own way so the Lord's work is done. Faithful stewardship also means working with God and supporting His workers, especially in discouraging times, through prayer, influence, and mutual encouragement.
Knowledge for developing special health foods is a trust, and the one who by much time, experiment, outlay of means, expensive facilities, and the blessing of God has produced special foods has the right to reap the fruit of his labor and control a reasonable income from them to advance the cause of God and help suffering humanity. Those given this knowledge hold a God-given trust and must keep their own counsel and not disclose secrets in their possession to worldly businessmen for personal gain, not borrow or steal the business from those who labored to build it up, not manufacture special products for selfish profit, not make the methods public or misrepresent their connection to the work, for betrayal brings injury and reproach. No one is to be decoyed from his special appointed task into costly enterprises requiring much money and many workers, and thousands of dollars must not be placed in men's hands for special expensive speculative foods not essential to sustain life that contain no more nutrition than less costly ones. Faithful stewardship keeps money and dealing in much less costly foods prepared in nutritious form, uses every dollar to produce the best kind of food from grains and fruits freely given by God to supply necessities, and returns to Him a tenth of all received blessings so ministers can be prepared and supported.
Means received from book royalties and writers' God-given abilities belong to the Lord, and those entrusted with them must use ability and income wisely to advance His cause, supporting different branches of the work and responding to needs as they arise. This includes dedicating foreign-book royalties to foreign missions, and the responsibility being God-given must not be handed over to others merely because they judge differently. Those responsible for the Lord's goods, as at the Review and Herald office, are accountable to Him and dishonor Him by handling them as worldlings do.
Servants of Christ as stewards of their Lord's goods must remember this charge and not forget it and become rusty from inaction in the easy chair of self-satisfaction. They must rise and take up the work God in His providence gives, going forth to give fellow men the light of truth and the special truths for this time and help them become acquainted with the truth, which brings a great and grand result and teaches an excellent lesson. Selling Christ's Object Lessons fulfills this in a twofold way, helping to lift debt from schools while giving most precious light to those who really need it. The trust in God's money requires consecrated, united action without delay to lift His institutions out of difficulty and sustain the places where truth has been magnified, keeping them from falling into decay for want of means or passing into the hands of worldlings to be used for common, worldly purposes, for allowing them to fail dishonors God and causes men to say He was not able to prevent it, while supplying the need keeps brethren from depression and discouragement when their facilities are imperiled.
Character and Daily Faithfulness
Stewardship carries a deep sense of accountability to God for what He desires His stewards to be and do in this life, as those set as a spectacle before the world, angels, and men. It means connecting with heaven to receive wisdom and power instead of trusting in self, working thoroughly and never carelessly in everything undertaken, and staying humble so God can teach and bless the undertaking. Only those who walk circumspectly before Him are qualified, giving a correct representation of His character, for stewardship is of great consequence to Him and He works with those who properly represent Him so His will is done on earth as in heaven. Being a steward means not slighting or abusing talents but making it the life work to be uncommonly good, letting all see by practice that they belong to the Lord, with the highest desire to magnify His truth by their lives because in the great day right upon them God will call them to give an account of how talents were used.
Every gospel minister called by the Holy Spirit bears divine credentials shown by character, holding a high commission that no man or body of men can confer. Those credentials are not being self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine and not given to filthy lucre, but keeping the soul in the love of God and staying joyful in God. They are talking faith and courage without failing or discouragement, encouraging young men to go forth preaching everywhere, and speaking the Word with boldness and clear, intelligent, straightforward truth.
Faithfulness in the rich treasure entrusted, the glory and knowledge of the Lord, means walking and working as Jesus worked. It means copying His pattern of exact principle and upright conduct, staying wide-awake to discern and resist temptation, and being strict and honest in all dealings with believers and unbelievers. By learning of Him stewards become tender, charitable, meek and lowly of heart, so they reflect His glory more brightly instead of dimly.
Stewards are messengers acting in Christ's stead with a divine commission to urge people to be reconciled to God and to preach Christ crucified, a weighty message to be given in the Lord's name under solemn vows carrying dignity and sacredness. They must reveal Christ's character and exercise their freedom in obedience to God's law, speaking not from human impulse but from Christ's Spirit working in them to do God's will. They are to show calm, holy trust in God, and if they lack that spirit they should stop rather than speak rashly. They have no authority to stir up evil spirits seeking opportunity to accuse God's people nor to give anyone excuse to disparage the truth by speech or conduct, for God marks the work of His servants. Accountable before heavenly witnesses, they should hold the standard high while humbling themselves under God's hand, since men-pleasing and accusing those God uses are unworthy of that calling.
To every man God has appointed his work, and every member of Christ's body pledges himself to act faithfully his part. Talents are given to all to use and improve in proportion to the capabilities of the receiver, to some five, to others two, and to others one, to every man according to his ability to use them, and the amount entrusted depends on what can be carried faithfully and wholeheartedly. The steward is to work for his Master with the same prudence and wisdom he would use if he himself were enriched by all that is gained. God confers special honor by committing the treasure of His Word, which is to be understood, appropriated, and in every circumstance of life employed to the glory of God, using every spiritual gift and talent without selfishness to advance His work.
Servants of Christ are stewards of their Lord's goods and must remember this charge instead of forgetting it. They cannot remain rusty from inaction in the easy chair of self-satisfaction, for stewardship leaves no place for inaction. They must rise and take up the work God in His providence gives them, going forth to give fellow men the light of truth and the special truths for this time and help them become acquainted with the truth. Doing it brings a great and grand result and teaches an excellent lesson, accomplishing a twofold good by helping lift debt from schools while carrying most precious light to those who really need it.
Stewards placed in positions of trust have an appointed work to be done in a calm, considerate manner, never leaving one given duty marred or incomplete to seize another. They are to use not another man's brain but the talents God has given them personally, thinking and acting on individual responsibility while blending mind with mind, and speaking and differing when they see necessity for a change of course. They are to do justice and judgment in all wisdom, letting God's holiness, justice, and truth guide every action, especially in temporal affairs and dealings with fellow believers, and so doing their appointed work makes them laborers together with God. They must faithfully use entrusted means and talents, putting aside selfish interests and sectional feelings to work together for the best interests of the cause as one in Christ. With the eye single to God's glory they work without partiality and without hypocrisy, making no person's case a specialty to be favored when against the interest of the cause and its appointed center, doing the Lord's work intelligently while carrying with them all the people possible, and when anyone leaves an incorrect impression warnings must be given to guard the people from deception.
God's servants are stewards of what He entrusts and not owners free to bargain away responsibility, each accountable before God and the heavenly universe for faithfully administering the trust. Even the humblest person can use gifts for God's glory, putting talents to their best use and returning them to God as a consecrated offering. Being the Lord's steward means managing means faithfully, honoring pledges to support God's work, and seeking wisdom from God rather than relying only on personal judgment.
Those by God's appointment connected with His cause are Christ's ministers and stewards and must cherish no low estimate of the work He expects them to do. Their calling requires faithfulness as stewards, dying to self and living to Christ. They serve under Christ rather than attaching themselves to human leaders.
Wrestling work fits young men for stewardship, for ministers of Christ are stewards of the grace of Christ and must be wise and trustworthy. When a steward makes a mistake by advocating extreme ideas, yet accepts the Lord's correction pointing out the right way and walks in the light, the Lord blesses him and gives him valuable experience.
One charged with communicating God's messages to His people is a servant of Christ as a steward entrusted with what belongs to God. That person is to serve faithfully without taking glory for the work. The entrusted work is to be continued as long as God gives strength, whether people accept the messages or not.
Let a man so account of Christ's ministers as servants of Christ and stewards entrusted with God's revealed mysteries, truths and grace. That trust is lent not to ministers alone but to every person, family and institution, with all means, time, talents and opportunities remaining God's property to be managed, improved and returned with fruit. What is required of such a steward is faithfulness, measured by true living faithfulness to God and not by human judgment or self-commendation. Therefore nothing in their work is to be judged before the time, for at His coming the Lord will bring hidden things to light, reveal the counsels of the heart, and give each faithful one praise and reward from God. Faithfulness means declaring the whole counsel of God without altering, lessening, softening or concealing any part, speaking God's word in Christ's stead and warning of spiritual danger even at sacrifice, while serving the Master's interests rather than personal advantage.
Ministers as God's Stewards
Let a man so account of Christ's ministers, as servants of Christ and stewards entrusted with God's revealed mysteries, truths, and grace. Their place is a position of trust in which they are to serve faithfully, minister to and educate church members, labor to please Him who entrusted the work to them, and act in their Master's interests rather than using the trust for personal advantage or selfish gain. Their calling is spiritual, aimed at bringing people to the truths of God's Word through a true, living experience that makes their representation of this stewardship faithful, and not at seeking leadership in political parties. No ground exists for elevating one minister over another or for pride in preferences and boasting, since every gift and distinction is received from God. The verses that follow explain that stewards must be faithful, while judgment of their work belongs to the Lord, who will reveal what is hidden and give each person praise and reward.
This stewardship is not lent to ministers alone but to every person, family, and institution, however large or small their income or possessions, including physicians and all who work for God, making all laborers together with God in trading with what is entrusted until the Lord comes to reckon with His servants. Servants of Christ are made rulers over His household to give spiritual food in due season, with great responsibility resting on them to be found faithful, even as the trust was lent to the exalted angel in heaven. Ministers of Christ, including physicians, are keepers of the mysteries of God and of the Master's goods in means and property placed in human hands to keep in order, a position of great accountability requiring faithfulness with a conscience void of offense toward God and fellow men and the constant recognition that the property handled belongs to the Master. All profit, all pay, time, talents, opportunities, skill, and trust belong to Him who gives them and must be accounted for to Him and managed with care and devotion, putting the Master's interests ahead of personal advantage. God proves people to see if their works are free from all selfishness and pride, allowing no thread of selfishness woven into His work, and using entrusted goods for selfish gain or devotion to wealth shows unworthiness, while the richest reward goes to the one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself. God's people are stewards entrusted with His grace and truth and responsible for sharing these gifts with others, and a Christian physician is to serve Christ faithfully as such a steward, caring for the soul as well as the body through close communion with Christ and offering the spiritual help the sick need. Tarnishing the position by mean actions in dealing with fellow stewards and by trying to make one's own course appear as possessing great wisdom is forbidden.
A steward is one employed to manage his master's property put virtually into his hands and under his control, but it is not his own property; it is his master's, to be kept in order, improved, traded with, and returned with fruit, and he identifies himself with the owner, for all are the Lord's. Those entrusted with God's truth are stewards, not owners, of what they have received, to use their gifts and resources in trust to advance Christ's cause, following Christ's example by engaging with people where they are and sharing heavenly benefits with them. Men in responsible positions and institutions must unselfishly do the work entrusted to them, return fruit in due season to the Owner of the vineyard, cultivate neglected parts of the vineyard and barren wastes, sow the seeds of truth, and plant the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the warning message, cooperating intelligently with God who continually opens the way and sends forth messengers to receive means from stewards for carrying forward His work. If stewards refuse, fail to respond, and by selfishness close the doors He has opened for His blessings to flow forth, God will give the trust to those who will honor it, find another way to accomplish His purpose, leave the unfaithful barren of resources, and remove His gifts from them.
Those who minister in word and doctrine hold a high, holy commission and divine credentials that no man or body of men can confer, performed before heavenly witnesses as ambassadors acting in Christ's stead. Their stewardship carries dignity and sacredness and is performed before a great cloud of witnesses, with heavenly intelligences looking on them as ambassadors of the King of kings and Lord of lords, placed under obligation by solemn vows to God to declare faithfully the whole counsel of God, because heaven is to be gained and hell to be shunned. As stewards of the mysteries of heaven laboring in Christ's stead they must speak not their own words but God's word, pleading with people to be reconciled to God and preaching Christ and Him crucified, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all long-suffering, encouraging the obedient and warning the disobedient. They must not speak from human impulse, but from Christ's Spirit working in them to do God's will, revealing Christ's character and exercising their freedom in obedience to God's law, showing calm, holy trust in God, and if they lack that spirit they should stop rather than speak rashly. God marks the work of His servants, and they have no authority to stir up evil spirits seeking an opportunity to accuse God's people or to give anyone speech or conduct that affords excuse to disparage the truth. Every gospel minister called by the Holy Spirit bears divine credentials shown by character that is not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, and not given to filthy lucre, keeping the soul in the love of God, staying joyful in God, talking faith and courage without failing or discouragement, encouraging young men to go forth preaching everywhere, and speaking the Word of God with boldness and clear, intelligent, straightforward truth. Worldly policy is to have no weight with them and they are never to swerve from the plain path Jesus bids them walk, but to go forward in faith remembering they are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, bearing God's message with faithfulness regardless of consequences even to the sacrifice of all they have, like Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist, having a right to lift the standard high and declare the message with unshrinking heart. They must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, or He will humble them, but if they walk modestly and humbly before the Lord He will accept them.
Faithfulness Required of Stewards
The one thing demanded of a steward is faithfulness, and a steward's standing is measured by faithfulness to God expressed in a true, living experience. That connection of every soul with God is essential, and neither human judgment nor self-commendation is the measure, not even a person's own judgment of himself. The estimate that brethren or the church may place upon a person, whether good or evil, does not change position in God's sight, so nothing is to be judged before the time. Judgment waits until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart, and then every one found true and faithful will have praise of God rather than praise of men. Faithfulness in handling God's revealed truth and serving His cause includes using entrusted means, including money, for God's work rather than for selfish purposes.
Faithfulness means serving the Master's interests rather than using the trust for personal advantage. It is a position of trust in which stewards minister to and educate church members and labor to please Him who entrusted the work to them. Their calling is spiritual, aimed at bringing people to the truths of God's Word, not at seeking leadership in political parties. To manage the Lord's goods faithfully with care and devotion is to put the Master's interests ahead of personal advantage, while using entrusted goods for selfish gain shows unworthiness and devotion to wealth. A steward must be faithful in carrying out the responsibility given, for every Christian as well as every pastor is entrusted with God's gifts and has work to perform.
The position is one of great accountability, for stewards are keepers of the mysteries of God and of the Master's goods in means and property placed in human hands to keep in order. They are made rulers over His household to give spiritual food in due season, and great responsibility rests on them to be found faithful. This stewardship of talents is lent not to ministers alone but to every person, family, and institution, however large or small their income or possessions, just as to the exalted angel in heaven, making all laborers together with God in trading with what is entrusted until the Lord comes to reckon with His servants. All profit, all pay, time, talents, opportunities, mental powers and spiritual strength belong to Him who gives them, are only held in trust, must be accounted for to Him, and must be kept free from all selfishness and pride with no thread of selfishness woven into His work. This requires faithfulness with a conscience void of offense toward God and fellow men and the constant recognition that the property handled belongs to the Master, forbidding tarnishing the position by mean actions in dealing with fellow stewards and by trying to make one's own course appear as possessing great wisdom. God proves people to see if their works are free from selfishness, allows withholding of means even from one's own son when giving would increase distrust, grasping and acquisitiveness, fasten the heart to the world and draw affections away from God, and gives the richest reward to the one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself. Each person is accountable before God and the heavenly universe for faithfully administering that trust, having a deep sense of what He desires them to be and to do, not slighting or abusing talents but making it the life work to be uncommonly good and letting all see by practice that they belong to the Lord, for in the great day right upon them God will call stewards to give an account of the way the talents were used. Even the humblest person can use gifts for God's glory, putting talents to best use and returning them to God as a consecrated offering.
Those who work for God do good only because God is behind them doing the work, for all that is ever done toward restoring the moral image of God in man is done because God is the efficiency of the worker. Therefore men are not to be praised and thanked while God is neglected, and no steward is an independent source of wisdom or power, since all human work depends on God and must be joined with divine help. If man is put first and God second God will not cooperate with them, and putting self first shows loss of wisdom and righteousness. Every steward who strives to advance the glory of God, whether before unbelievers or princes, is to make God first and last and best in everything and give Him the honor due Him rather than accepting praise for heaven-given abilities. Faithfulness in making God known brings spiritual and intellectual growth, while Christ alone gives success to human workers, and a Christian has right to his name only as he uplifts Christ with steady, persevering, ever-increasing force, drawing energy from the inexhaustible Light of life with no ambitious motive chilling it. The trust given to the church has passed from generation to generation, adding responsibility to those who serve in the present, who are to put self aside and direct even the humblest service toward doing the Master's will and promoting His glory, since their service depends on Christ's grace and righteousness, not their own.
Safety is found only in working out of self into perfect conformity to the mind and will of God by full surrender of self. The Lord's servants are merely stewards entrusted with His work, not owners or controlling powers free to direct it by their own ambition, judgment, devising and brain power for planning. They must put aside their own will, judgment and planning, crucify self day by day, humble themselves and not exalt their judgment as all-controlling, get out of the Lord's way and make room for the Lord to plan and work. They are to yield themselves to be worked by the Holy Spirit like clay in the hands of the potter to be kneaded, torn apart, pressed together, left to rest, formed, trimmed, polished, dried and baked into a vessel unto honor, and not try to do the work of the Potter. When by faith they place themselves in the Lord's hands and keep Christ as Pattern ever before them, the Lord undertakes the work entrusted to Him and never fails, enlightens and trains every worker by His Spirit, purifies from selfishness, trims superfluous plans, prunes the vine to produce fruit, shapes His providences to carry it forward according to His mind and judgment, and by conforming them day by day to the image of Christ and making them partakers of the divine nature causes them to bear fruit abundantly as true, solid, trustworthy, experimental missionaries. Without that surrender he cannot bear the likeness of Christ and stands in great danger, so all self-glorification must be cut away.
Leaving Judgment to God
Christ's ministers are to be regarded as stewards entrusted with God's revealed truths and mysteries, and what is required in such stewards is that they be found faithful. Their standing is therefore measured by faithfulness to God shown in a true, living connection with Him, not by human judgment or by self-commendation. Nothing in a steward's work is to be judged before the time, for judgment belongs to the Lord and not to other people. No one is to rank or condemn God's servants, elevating one minister over another.
Judgment is to wait until the Lord comes. At His coming He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart and the motives within. Then every person found true and faithful will have praise from God rather than the praise of men, and each will receive a just reward.
There is no ground for pride in preferences for one minister over another, and no ground for boasting, since every gift and distinction is received from God. The estimate that brethren or the church may place upon a person, whether good or evil, does not change that person's position in God's sight. Even a person's own judgment of himself is not the measure of faithfulness.
Proclaiming Truth Without Compromise
Stewards are bound to declare the whole counsel of God openly, without concealing any part of the message or making the special truths entrusted to them less prominent. That faithfulness forbids altering, lessening, or softening any part of Scripture to suit preference, but requires its teaching to be given as it stands, including the truths that distinguish God's people and the message for the last days. Their words bear fruit only through Christ's life in the soul and the love imparted by the Holy Spirit.
They speak in Christ's stead, not their own words but God's word, Thus saith the Lord, pleading with sinners to be reconciled to God and preaching Christ and Him crucified. In that office they reprove, rebuke, and exhort with long-suffering, encouraging the obedient and warning the disobedient. They must not speak from human impulse but from Christ's Spirit working in them, showing calm holy trust and stopping rather than speaking rashly, revealing Christ's character in obedience to God's law and giving no cause to disparage the truth or stir up accusers.
As watchmen and guardians of the church they must live near to God, hear His word, receive His Spirit, discern spiritual danger, and faithfully warn of it. If they fail to warn and people perish, God holds them accountable for those lost, but if they faithfully warn they deliver themselves from that guilt. Faithfulness also requires not failing to correct evils threatening the prosperity of the church, but doing something to counteract them. When those who have its interests at heart report contentions and disorder, as the house of Chloe reported to Paul, the minister is to give directions accordingly and reprove impurity, lack of devotion, and disorder according to the light given about order and purity to be maintained.
Worldly policy is to have no weight with them, and they are never to swerve from the plain path for fear of consequences, but to go forward in faith remembering the cloud of witnesses, even to the sacrifice of all. Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist exemplify that fearless bearing of God's message regardless of cost. The same trust calls them to aggressive work in new and destitute fields and distant countries from love for Christ and fellow people rather than for financial reward, preaching in season and out of season, doing house-to-house work where truth has not been heard, and raising up companies of believers here and there. They are not merely to hover over churches already raised up or keep resources concentrated in one place, but to cultivate neglected parts of the vineyard, plant the standard of truth in cities and countries without the warning, heed appeals for needy fields such as the Southern field, and act for fields in need rather than only speak about them. If stewards in responsible positions refuse and close the doors God has opened, He will give the trust to those who will honor it and find another way to accomplish His purpose.
The sacred trust must not be betrayed by disclosing the counsels of God's people to opposers or by joining their opposition, for such compromise emboldens enemies of truth and can silence faithful warning and exhortation. Nor must stewards enter business agreements that compromise the gospel or conflict with God's Word, for their responsibility gives no freedom to enter arrangements God cannot approve. They must serve under God's authority, seek His direction, and advance His work without selfishness or entanglement.
Stewards of Means and Property
All money and means belong to God, and those who hold them are only stewards holding the Lord's money in trust who must render an account to Him for all entrusted to their care. Every person, family, and institution, however large or small the income or possessions, stands in this trust, for all profit, all pay, time, talents, opportunities, mental powers, and spiritual strength are lent by Him who gives them all. Each is entrusted with what he has and with work suited to his abilities, and every part of man being the Lord's purchased possession, time, talents, influence, and money are to be used according to God's direction for the good of self and others and for His honor and glory, with the whole heart and undivided affections and nothing withheld. God proves workers to see if their works are free from all selfishness and pride, allowing no thread of selfishness woven into His work, and the richest reward goes to the one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself. This stewardship can require withholding means even from one's own son when giving would increase distrust, grasping and acquisitiveness, fasten the heart to the world, and draw affections away from God.
Entrusted goods are lent to advance Christ's cause, and stewards are to show Christ's generous spirit, especially toward the poor, and seek the company of others so they can share the heavenly benefits God has given them. God places means in human hands not to be hoarded but to support gospel workers and spread the truth, benefiting others and helping in the work of salvation, and this is His way of cultivating benevolence and unselfishness. Using gifts for self-interest or neglecting those in need is unfaithfulness, and withholding the means of spiritual help from people in need betrays the trust and brings accountability to God. Money is to be put to work in missionary fields while there is opportunity rather than tied up in banks, and when needs languish for want of help it is robbery toward God.
Those who have means are stewards of God and not stewards of men, entrusted directly by God and accountable to God alone. Each man is made individually a steward of sacred trusts and gifts to discharge his trust according to the direction of the Giver, with no other man given the work to order the one God has in hand, and the steward must look to God and remain free for Him to teach and direct and guide by the operation of the Spirit upon the heart when to sell and how much, and when to give and how much. God knows just how much means will be wanted, when and where, while men do not know, for God's ways and thoughts are not man's. The steward must fasten his soul to Jesus Christ rather than look to brethren or messengers or men for light, teaching, counsel, judgment, and control.
When messengers take direction of means upon themselves without authority and through false teaching cause brethren to dispose of means in haste, Satan works to turn means away from its true object and waste what will be needed later. That lack is felt when the work becomes more extensive and publications, tracts, and papers must come out more frequently. Those with means are then made to feel they are stewards of men and to look to men for light and teaching instead of God, and dependence on men turns minds away from God and makes men slaves of men. Such dependence opens the way for selfishness, hatred, and strife, while association with the divine transforms man into the divine likeness so that love and goodness become part of his nature.
Men in responsible positions and institutions are ministers of Christ and stewards entrusted by God with work and means, and conference officers are responsible before God for funds given by the people and must guard them faithfully and use them for their rightful purposes without endangering the spread of truth, with an account to settle with God if they mishandle them. They must unselfishly do the work entrusted to them, return fruit in due season to the Owner of the vineyard, keep the eye single to the glory of God, work without partiality and without hypocrisy, do the Lord's work intelligently carrying with them all the people possible, and give warnings to guard the people from deception when anyone leaves an incorrect impression. They must promptly decide how to respond to appeals and carry out those decisions, especially when the Lord's institutions are in peril, and give their interest and help to enterprises that demand it. They are to cultivate neglected parts of the vineyard and barren wastes, sow the seeds of truth, plant the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the warning message, heed appeals for destitute fields such as the Southern Field, and make special effort to prepare the way for workers, cooperating intelligently with God who continually opens the way and sends forth messengers to receive means from stewards for carrying forward His work. If stewards refuse, fail to respond, neglect this responsibility, close their senses and by selfishness close the doors He has opened for His blessings to flow forth, God will give the trust to those who will honor it, find another way to accomplish His purpose, leave the unfaithful barren of resources, and remove His gifts from them, while the workers who understand the necessities of the field have a perfect right to go anywhere in the field, bring their case directly before the people, and solicit help without means passing through any office or society, devising and planning to prepare their own way so the Lord's work is done. Faithful stewardship also means working with God and supporting His workers, especially in discouraging times, through prayer, influence, and mutual encouragement.
Knowledge for developing special health foods is a trust, and the one who by much time, experiment, outlay of means, expensive facilities, and the blessing of God has produced special foods has the right to reap the fruit of his labor and control a reasonable income from them to advance the cause of God and help suffering humanity. Those given this knowledge hold a God-given trust and must keep their own counsel and not disclose secrets in their possession to worldly businessmen for personal gain, not borrow or steal the business from those who labored to build it up, not manufacture special products for selfish profit, not make the methods public or misrepresent their connection to the work, for betrayal brings injury and reproach. No one is to be decoyed from his special appointed task into costly enterprises requiring much money and many workers, and thousands of dollars must not be placed in men's hands for special expensive speculative foods not essential to sustain life that contain no more nutrition than less costly ones. Faithful stewardship keeps money and dealing in much less costly foods prepared in nutritious form, uses every dollar to produce the best kind of food from grains and fruits freely given by God to supply necessities, and returns to Him a tenth of all received blessings so ministers can be prepared and supported.
Means received from book royalties and writers' God-given abilities belong to the Lord, and those entrusted with them must use ability and income wisely to advance His cause, supporting different branches of the work and responding to needs as they arise. This includes dedicating foreign-book royalties to foreign missions, and the responsibility being God-given must not be handed over to others merely because they judge differently. Those responsible for the Lord's goods, as at the Review and Herald office, are accountable to Him and dishonor Him by handling them as worldlings do.
Servants of Christ as stewards of their Lord's goods must remember this charge and not forget it and become rusty from inaction in the easy chair of self-satisfaction. They must rise and take up the work God in His providence gives, going forth to give fellow men the light of truth and the special truths for this time and help them become acquainted with the truth, which brings a great and grand result and teaches an excellent lesson. Selling Christ's Object Lessons fulfills this in a twofold way, helping to lift debt from schools while giving most precious light to those who really need it. The trust in God's money requires consecrated, united action without delay to lift His institutions out of difficulty and sustain the places where truth has been magnified, keeping them from falling into decay for want of means or passing into the hands of worldlings to be used for common, worldly purposes, for allowing them to fail dishonors God and causes men to say He was not able to prevent it, while supplying the need keeps brethren from depression and discouragement when their facilities are imperiled.
Character and Daily Faithfulness
Stewardship carries a deep sense of accountability to God for what He desires His stewards to be and do in this life, as those set as a spectacle before the world, angels, and men. It means connecting with heaven to receive wisdom and power instead of trusting in self, working thoroughly and never carelessly in everything undertaken, and staying humble so God can teach and bless the undertaking. Only those who walk circumspectly before Him are qualified, giving a correct representation of His character, for stewardship is of great consequence to Him and He works with those who properly represent Him so His will is done on earth as in heaven. Being a steward means not slighting or abusing talents but making it the life work to be uncommonly good, letting all see by practice that they belong to the Lord, with the highest desire to magnify His truth by their lives because in the great day right upon them God will call them to give an account of how talents were used.
Every gospel minister called by the Holy Spirit bears divine credentials shown by character, holding a high commission that no man or body of men can confer. Those credentials are not being self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine and not given to filthy lucre, but keeping the soul in the love of God and staying joyful in God. They are talking faith and courage without failing or discouragement, encouraging young men to go forth preaching everywhere, and speaking the Word with boldness and clear, intelligent, straightforward truth.
Faithfulness in the rich treasure entrusted, the glory and knowledge of the Lord, means walking and working as Jesus worked. It means copying His pattern of exact principle and upright conduct, staying wide-awake to discern and resist temptation, and being strict and honest in all dealings with believers and unbelievers. By learning of Him stewards become tender, charitable, meek and lowly of heart, so they reflect His glory more brightly instead of dimly.
Stewards are messengers acting in Christ's stead with a divine commission to urge people to be reconciled to God and to preach Christ crucified, a weighty message to be given in the Lord's name under solemn vows carrying dignity and sacredness. They must reveal Christ's character and exercise their freedom in obedience to God's law, speaking not from human impulse but from Christ's Spirit working in them to do God's will. They are to show calm, holy trust in God, and if they lack that spirit they should stop rather than speak rashly. They have no authority to stir up evil spirits seeking opportunity to accuse God's people nor to give anyone excuse to disparage the truth by speech or conduct, for God marks the work of His servants. Accountable before heavenly witnesses, they should hold the standard high while humbling themselves under God's hand, since men-pleasing and accusing those God uses are unworthy of that calling.
To every man God has appointed his work, and every member of Christ's body pledges himself to act faithfully his part. Talents are given to all to use and improve in proportion to the capabilities of the receiver, to some five, to others two, and to others one, to every man according to his ability to use them, and the amount entrusted depends on what can be carried faithfully and wholeheartedly. The steward is to work for his Master with the same prudence and wisdom he would use if he himself were enriched by all that is gained. God confers special honor by committing the treasure of His Word, which is to be understood, appropriated, and in every circumstance of life employed to the glory of God, using every spiritual gift and talent without selfishness to advance His work.
Servants of Christ are stewards of their Lord's goods and must remember this charge instead of forgetting it. They cannot remain rusty from inaction in the easy chair of self-satisfaction, for stewardship leaves no place for inaction. They must rise and take up the work God in His providence gives them, going forth to give fellow men the light of truth and the special truths for this time and help them become acquainted with the truth. Doing it brings a great and grand result and teaches an excellent lesson, accomplishing a twofold good by helping lift debt from schools while carrying most precious light to those who really need it.
Stewards placed in positions of trust have an appointed work to be done in a calm, considerate manner, never leaving one given duty marred or incomplete to seize another. They are to use not another man's brain but the talents God has given them personally, thinking and acting on individual responsibility while blending mind with mind, and speaking and differing when they see necessity for a change of course. They are to do justice and judgment in all wisdom, letting God's holiness, justice, and truth guide every action, especially in temporal affairs and dealings with fellow believers, and so doing their appointed work makes them laborers together with God. They must faithfully use entrusted means and talents, putting aside selfish interests and sectional feelings to work together for the best interests of the cause as one in Christ. With the eye single to God's glory they work without partiality and without hypocrisy, making no person's case a specialty to be favored when against the interest of the cause and its appointed center, doing the Lord's work intelligently while carrying with them all the people possible, and when anyone leaves an incorrect impression warnings must be given to guard the people from deception.
God's servants are stewards of what He entrusts and not owners free to bargain away responsibility, each accountable before God and the heavenly universe for faithfully administering the trust. Even the humblest person can use gifts for God's glory, putting talents to their best use and returning them to God as a consecrated offering. Being the Lord's steward means managing means faithfully, honoring pledges to support God's work, and seeking wisdom from God rather than relying only on personal judgment.
Those by God's appointment connected with His cause are Christ's ministers and stewards and must cherish no low estimate of the work He expects them to do. Their calling requires faithfulness as stewards, dying to self and living to Christ. They serve under Christ rather than attaching themselves to human leaders.
Wrestling work fits young men for stewardship, for ministers of Christ are stewards of the grace of Christ and must be wise and trustworthy. When a steward makes a mistake by advocating extreme ideas, yet accepts the Lord's correction pointing out the right way and walks in the light, the Lord blesses him and gives him valuable experience.
One charged with communicating God's messages to His people is a servant of Christ as a steward entrusted with what belongs to God. That person is to serve faithfully without taking glory for the work. The entrusted work is to be continued as long as God gives strength, whether people accept the messages or not.