Sermon Cloud

key theme: God entrusts to us the responsibility of careful and responsible management of his creation and resources.

1)      Pride is a direct assault on God and Godly living because it confuses stewardship with ownership.

2)      Stewardship implies Relationship + Trust

1. Potiphar knew that he could put things into Joseph’s hands and he would not abuse the relationship or trust.
2. You cannot understand stewardship without realizing that you have custody, not ownership, of another’s possessions and that we are expected to have integrity in the level of care given to something belonging to another.

3)      Relationship + Trust are built on a shared understanding of purpose

1. We entrust things to the care of others in order to fulfill a purpose. Some purposes have greater consequences than others, but there is always a purpose.
2. We can’t assume that our purpose for something matches the purpose of the Creator.  But, if we are unsure, just ask!

4)      Temptation comes to test our understanding of God’s purposes, but we must remain faithful TO HIM

1. Joseph endured under temptation because he understood the purpose of his responsibility.  Adam + Eve knew the boundaries but didn’t understand the purpose for those boundaries.
2. Many of us recognize that we must give an account for our actions but we operate on a flawed assumption that God must accept anything that we give to Him.
3. Stewardship is not simply faithfulness to ourselves or others alone, but it is first and foremost – faithfulness to God since he is the true owner of everything and holds the full purpose behind all that he has entrusted to us.