4 Keys to Stewardship in the Natural and Supernatural
A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or day-dawn with light. —Charles Spurgeon
There is a principle found throughout the Scriptures, that actually has a greater effect on the subject of revival, than most any of us would have thought. It is first the natural, then the spiritual.
Our stewardship of natural things prepares us for the stewardship of the spiritual. The apostle Paul coined this phrase in his instruction to the church at Corinth. He was teaching them about the mystery and necessity of the resurrection.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46).
To illustrate the concept as it appears through Scripture, a natural lamb was sacrificed for the atonement of sin. Jesus, the eternal lamb of God came upon the scene to fulfill all requirements of the law on our behalf by giving Himself as an offering. In doing so, He did away with animal sacrifices. First the natural lamb, then the spiritual lamb.
And again, Adam was the father of humanity. Had he lived in righteousness, it would have been our inheritance to this day. But instead, he sinned, and we inherit the sad consequences of that wrong. Jesus came as the sinless last Adam, becoming the “everlasting father” of a whole new kind of people called a “chosen race” in 1 Pet. 2:9. And in the same way as we all inherited a fallen world through the first Adam, so we can inherit by the righteousness of Christ in our last Adam a redeemed revival of His Kingdom through our own surrender to Him. First the natural Adam, then the spiritual Adam.
This concept runs through the whole of Scripture. But Jesus taught this principle in a most unusual—and in today’s climate— highly offensive way. He used the concept as it pertains to money.
Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? (Luke 16:11-12).
“True riches” does not mean more money. He was not teaching how to increase your income or better yourself as it pertains to your financial security. The lesson isn’t if you handle money well, you will get more of it. There are other places in the Bible that give us insight about bringing increase into our lives in general, whether it’s finances, use of the gifts, friendships, etc. But here, He states quite plainly that the level of our faithfulness in the use of unrighteous money determines the measure of the true riches we will enjoy. True riches are not of this world. It is the realm of the Kingdom of God, manifested upon our lives, that is the crowning touch to our faithful stewardship of money. For me, “true riches” easily addresses the subject of revival, for the manifest presence of God, His revealed glory and the absolute downpour of the Holy Spirit is the ultimate example of true riches.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is Heaven’s greatest wealth, called presence, being poured out upon a most needy people. I don’t know that we could possibly imagine a greater example of true riches than the Holy Spirit Himself.
“It would be a grave error to teach that we give unholy money to obtain heavenly riches.”
Can’t Be Bought
It would be a grave error to teach that we give unholy money to obtain heavenly riches. There were times in history believers were taught that they could buy salvation for another by their donations to the Church. I hear some leaders teach that if we give them money, God will reward us by healing our sick relative or give us increased anointing in our lives. It is nauseating to read of such things in Church history, let alone to see it happening today. It is an unfortunate reality, both past and present.
We cannot buy healing, revival, or a spiritual refreshing or outpouring of any kind. That is a sick interpretation of this very wonderful truth. And yet what Jesus taught would get Him slandered in today’s media with our present political climate. It’s important to see the two things Jesus wanted us to experience as results of following His teaching. One is that we would increase in true riches, which is not money. Real wealth is the reality of the unseen world, functioning in our lives in a way that glorifies God and further establishes us in identity and purpose. The unseen world is superior in every way to what we see in the natural. And yet it’s our care and stewardship over the natural that readies us for the unseen. The second part of this passage has another target, that which is your own. Jesus never said money was the root of all evil. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Jesus never taught that material things are evil or owning them is wrong. In fact, He promised to bring increase to those areas if we’re faithful. (See Mark 10:29-31.) But the target unmistakably is the reality of Heaven on earth. True riches.
The Realms of Financial Testing
There are so many aspects of our lives that are in some way connected to money. Money is probably one of the most misunderstood areas of life, and therefore is prone to erroneous teaching on the subject. The two extremes I see are your spirituality is measured by your income, wealth, possessions, or title. The second is that your spirituality is measured by lack, or poverty. In some ways it’s a lot easier to give everything away, then let others face the challenge of proper management of resources, and not us. Such management brings us to the subject of stewardship, which is one of the most vital in all of Scripture. But let me make something very clear here at the onset: Managing money well is seldom about money. Stewardship of money reveals in the natural how well we are managing our thoughts, ambitions, and dreams. It has everything to do with a key verse for my life found in Proverbs 4:23:
Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
All the issues of our lives flow from our hearts. The picture is much like a spring in the ground that bubbles up continually, creating various streams that fill the landscape. Managing the heart, the source of that spring, insures the purity of the streams that go out from there to define the life for that individual. On one hand the heart can be known for impurity. Jesus spoke of that reality in this way:
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man (Matt. 15:19-20).
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, He said:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
“Stewardship of money reveals in the natural how well we are managing our thoughts, ambitions, and dreams.”
So then, the heart is capable of revealing two completely different realities, two different worlds: the world of spiritual darkness and death or the world of life and true Christlikeness. The choice of the latter is rewarded by seeing the most wonderful and beautiful thing in existence: God Himself. The heart set on seeking the face of God will be rewarded. It is a mockery of God to think we can sow a life of pursuing God and not be rewarded. (See Gal. 6:7.)
Perhaps this one statement helps to clarify this issue for all of us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). Hearts reveal what we treasure or value most.
Stewardship
There are four areas of stewardship that stand out to me. I don’t intend to make this about money. And even if I reference our financial lives, it is always unto something else, something much more significant and important.
Giving
Generosity is a significant part of our life of godly stewardship. I personally still hold to the concept of the tithe as the beginning place of our financial lives, as it is demonstration of our yielding to His Lordship. Many make the mistake of assuming that the Old Testament Law brought about the concept of the tithe. It didn’t. It merely ratified what Abraham, the father of faith, first introduced, four hundred years before the Law. Regardless of your convictions, generosity remains a critical part of our lives. But generosity goes far beyond money. It is the ability and desire to express kindness to a waitress, the patience shown in getting our car repaired, or the heart of compassion for the single mom who has fallen on even harder times. It’s not a switch that we turn on and off. It is a way of life.
Contentment
The more we think our success in life is measured by possessions or income, the more we will slowly sell our soul for increase. And while I seriously mean the phrase, sell your soul, it’s not a one-time decision to sell out. It is usually a slow burn, in that the passion for wealth begins to rob our soul of its desire for heavenly things. This is very significant in the overall subject of revival, as all significant revivals usher in a time of financial prosperity. It is a reward for seeking first the Kingdom of God. The inability to make that distinction between what we are to pursue, versus the reward for the right pursuit, has cost previous generations the impact on the nations that the momentum of their revival had created. “Put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite” (Prov. 23:2). Do whatever you need to do to allow God to bring His intended increase into your life. It is for the purpose of revealing His glory upon His children. But make sure, if you have a bent to lust after things, take measures to enforce self-imposed restrictions. Such restrictions could save your life.
Investing
Here’s an apparent contradiction: Not to want more, for the purposes of revealing the glory of God and serving humanity, is to live a self-centered life. How can I hear the cry of the single mom, or the man out of work, or the homeless man by the freeway, and not instinctively want to meet their need? I can’t fix every problem around me. But with more resources, I can do more than I am now.
The Bible addresses how to have a healthy family because God wants us to have healthy families. In the same way, the Bible addresses how to bring increase into our lives financially, because He wants us to have increase.
God gave seed for sowing because He created the concept of increase. One kernel of corn planted into the ground does not bring a return of one kernel of corn. It wouldn’t be worth the effort. It brings a return with significant increase. Two of Jesus’ parables deal with God’s perspective on increase in profound ways: the parable of the talents and the parable of the minas. Both talents and minas are currency, specific sums of money. In both stories, the persons that were rewarded brought increase. And the only one that was judged in the story was the one who had no increase. Perhaps the strangest part of the story, that is the most offensive to many, is that Jesus took the one talent away from the one unfaithful servant and gave it to the one who had the most. In doing so, Jesus disqualified Himself as a socialist. Of course, these parables speak to areas of life that are not financial in nature. But as I stated earlier, the money part of our lives is the tip of the iceberg, representing much more significant areas that reveal our heart. First the natural, then the spiritual. Our stewardship of money should include the study of bringing about biblical increase in a way that glorifies God and enables us to have greater impact on the world around us.
Wise Purchases
We live in a material world that in itself is not evil. While it has certainly been marked by sin and has become the pursuit of those who fall into horrible idolatry/materialism, it is not inherently dark or worldly. Those who laid down what they owned for the purposes of Christ are rewarded with more of what they laid down. (See Mark 10:30.) Jesus included in a concept in the Luke 16 passage mentioned above something I don’t think I’ve ever heard taught: “Who will give you that which is your own?” The concept He deals with here is our willingness to manage, in a responsible way, something that belongs to someone else. It could be a rented car, or the good news of the promotion of a friend or perhaps the tools that your neighbor loaned you; these are all possessions that belong to another. Caring for the rented car like it was my own is my responsibility. It reveals how much more of my own I can handle. Rejoicing for my friend who received a promotion at work, sometimes the very promotion I was hoping for, is the test to see if I’m capable of stewarding well that which is my own. Returning the borrowed tools, cleaner and better than they were when they were borrowed, often becomes the measure in which I can manage tools of my own. The inescapable point is that God set us up, through godly stewardship, to have something to call our own—increase. He’s a good Father, who longs to reward the faithfulness of His children. I believe it is possible to illustrate God’s values for excellence and beauty through what we buy, manage, and give oversight to. It was certainly a part of the witness that Solomon had with the Queen of Sheba. (See 1 Ki. 10:1-10.) And it has to be more than just expensive; if not, only the rich could participate. For me it is thoughtful living, with purpose and intentionality, with the goal of always living with excellence. My parents modeled this for me, even when we had very little finances or possessions. For them it was always about being excellent. It’s a part of our faith that gets overlooked, as it is a very practical way of illustrating our love for God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord (Col. 3:23).
Materialism
When I said yes to following Jesus, I gave Him everything. I didn’t care if I ever owned anything more than the clothes on my back and my Bible. Everything else was a bonus. And while giving all is the normal Christian life, attitudes can be formed that are not Christlike at all. I started to look down on anyone who owned much. My concern about materialism in the Church was legitimate. It has robbed so many of their destiny, causing them to settle for the inferior. Materialism is related to greed, which is called idolatry. (See Eph. 5:5.) It’s no small matter. But I soon learned that if the enemy can’t get me to fall in the issue of greed and idolatry, he’ll try to get me to fall to a critical spirit towards anyone who owns much. To do so I must assume that they are materialistic and idolatrous, when it could be that they are the ones the Bible talks about, who gave in secret, and God decided to reward them openly. (See Matt. 6:3-4.)
“If the enemy can’t get me to fall in the issue of greed and idolatry, he’ll try to get me to fall to a critical spirit towards anyone who owns much.”
I had a view, that is all too common in the Church: despising the natural world. And while I know that creation has been marked by sin, it is still beautiful. According to Paul, we have been given the world, and we have responsibility to care for it.
When I become critical and judgmental of others, I mirror the sin I’ve accused them of, only worse. It’s a trap whenever we think we know the heart of another. We must see this as forbidden territory and simply not go there.
The point is, material things matter in the they are often the canvas upon which we display our commitment to excellence and beauty. It is really possible to reveal the nature of the wisdom of God by stewardship. The material world is also where our standards of stewardship are revealed.
Excellence, creativity, and integrity make up the three-fold cord of wisdom. God’s nature and goodness can be revealed in what we own and how we steward our possessions. I hold to what I have been entrusted with lightly. The Father will sometimes test our hearts by directing us to give away what is important to us. My priorities of spiritual things are to be revealed by the fact that while I may own things, things don’t own me.
We had a season in our married life when almost everything we owned came to us in a very significant way. God provided for us in unusual ways, almost always connected to a moment of challenging obedience that God honored. What is beautiful about that season is the fact my home is filled with what the Bible would call monuments: things that testify of God’s goodness. When life is lived that way, even the material world speaks of God, stirring our affections for Him, not the inferior.
Stewarding natural blessings reminds me a lot of the challenge Moses had when the Lord told him to throw down his rod. It turned into a snake. And then God told him to pick up the snake by the tail. Doing it the way God said is what kept him from being bitten by that snake. Holding onto God’s provision, His way, is what keeps us from being bitten by that snake.
“Our stewardship of the simple, the natural, is the test for what we can be trusted with in the supernatural.”
Then the Spiritual
When I settle for possessions and positions, in the place of the increase of the unseen realm in my life, I settle for the inferior. The enemy wants me to live in continual distraction so that my affections are misplaced and diluted. Even in my best stewardship of natural things, it is unto something. It is unto spiritual riches, blessings, experiences, insights, and breakthroughs. This is what we were born for. Despising natural things does nothing to prepare me for Heaven.
I know that the way I steward what God has given me is a test for true riches of Kingdom realities. This is an endless list to me: spiritual gifts, promises, favor, insights and revelation, promotion, greater anointing, chances to partner in the impossible, and on and on it goes. The point is, our stewardship of the simple, the natural, is the test for what we can be trusted with in the supernatural. And it is for the supernatural lifestyle that I was born.
