The objective of this lesson: to increase your student's awareness that stewardship is the result of relationship with God, not the result of favorable circumstances or situations. The Christian steward is the man or woman who allows God to work in him or her and through him or her in all of life. The Christian is a steward regardless of circumstances, situations, or conditions.
When you die, what is the greatest tribute that could be paid to your life? If you could choose the one thing to be said honestly about the impact and significance of your life, what would you choose? If [after you die] you could choose what was to be said at your funeral, what one truth would you select to highlight the significance of your life?
The impact and significance of the way we live and use life often is more evident after we die than while we are alive. While we are living, it is possible for the impact and significance of life to be more a matter of appearance than a matter of substance. For example, appearances may suggest, "I am a nice person who deeply cares about other people." The reality may be, "I am a greed-filled, pleasure-driven, self-centered individual who is 'discreet' about my evil acts and selfishness in order to maintain a good appearance." Often death has a way of revealing what we really were and what we were really about. After death, a person cannot "keep up appearances."
Would you select one of the following statements? "He or she knew how to have fun." "He or she was the best ball player I ever knew." "He or she knew how to make money!" "He or she knew how to invest." "He or she knew how to save." "He or she was the most accomplished person in his or her organization [or area, or region, or field]." "He or she was the best administrator in that successful organization." "He or she succeeded in everything he or she attempted." "He or she was incredibly generous." "He or she was loyal, dependable, trustworthy, and knew how to keep confidences." "He or she was a person of character and integrity." "He or she was truthful even in life's most awkward moments." "He or she was the most knowledgeable person I ever knew." "He or she was the best teacher I ever knew." "He or she was genuinely spiritual." "He or she was the most considerate person I ever knew."
In real ways, we do determine what will be said about us when we die. In time, the comments of those who knew appearances only cannot compete with the revelations of those who truly knew us. Often when preparing for funerals, preachers are forced to make a conscious choice between focusing on the deceased's life and comforting the family. Funerals are an agonizing challenge when the preacher cannot comfort the family by focusing on the deceased's life.
Several of those statements are an excellent tribute to a person's life [if made in honesty]. A number of those statements would honor any person's life. Most people would regard many of them as a worthy tribute to a well lived life.
When we die, the private comments made about our lives [by those who truly knew us] reflect the real standards and values of our lives. God's steward wants such private comments to [truthfully] acknowledge the bond and relationship he or she maintained with God.
For the man or woman who is God's person, the greatest sincere, honest tribute must in some way acknowledge he or she was God's servant and steward. To the person who belongs to God, the highest tribute acknowledges his or her life was useful to God's purposes.
Consider this statement: "God so obviously worked in him or her that he or she blessed every life he or she touched." We understand what it means for a successful athlete to have devoted followers. We understand what it means for an entertainment superstar to be an idol to his or her fans. We understand what it means for a charismatic politician to have a loyal constituency. We understand what it means for an influential authority figure to have unquestioning admirers.
Do you understand the meaning of this privilege? Have you known a man or woman who was a source of blessing to every person he or she was around? It was not that he or she was perfect. It was not what he or she materially "gave" others. It was not what he or she declared about his or her own importance and significance. It was not the respect or awe he or she "demanded." It was the person he or she was. The blessings came from his or her quiet kindness and consideration, not from powerful bravado. This person touched lives because of who and what he or she was. This person touched lives because he or she walked with God.
God's steward aspires to be a person through whom God can bless others. Among the desires of God's steward are these: the ability to comfort the distressed; the ability to bring hope to those in despair; the ability to give guidance to those who are without purpose; the ability to encourage the discouraged; the ability to renew the energy of the weary; the ability to appreciate the unappreciated; and the ability to lift up the fallen. The greatest desire of God's steward: to reach the point in relationship with God that such efforts are as natural as breathing air. God's steward wants helping and encouraging others to be a natural expression of existing.
In good times, he or she was a blessing to others. In personal tragedy, or times of hardship, or times of distress, or times of success, he or she was a blessing to others. He or she did not have to try to be a blessing. He or she was a blessing. He or she was a blessing because he or she praised God, was guided by Christ, and did not resist the Holy Spirit. This person was a blessing just by living. Being a blessing to others did not depend on conditions, situations, or circumstances. This person drew life from God. Just living life made him or her a blessing to others. He or she blessed others because he or she was God's steward. Because of stewardship, blessings flowed from the person.
Read Genesis 37. The "before"
Joseph was seventeen years old.
Jacob [Israel] loved Joseph more than his other sons. He showed his favoritism in the clothing he provided Joseph and in what he required of Joseph. Jacob had those feelings because Joseph was born to Jacob late in life as Rachel's first child. Rachel was the wife Jacob loved and married by choice.
The other brothers resented Joseph. They hated him, and their hatred was evident in the way they spoke to him.
The basic message of the dreams was this: the entire family, including parents, would some day acknowledge his superiority.
His father rebuked him. The idea of parents bowing before their child was more than inappropriate in a patriarchal society that honored age for its wisdom and experience.
His brothers were jealous. Remember that dreams sent by God figured prominently in this family's history. A primary way that God communicated His promise of blessings had been through dreams. Divine dreams were a part of the family's living history. Consider the significance of Abraham's dreams, Isaac's dreams, and Jacob's dreams. Dreams promised this family that the extraordinary would happen, and it did! For Joseph to receive such dreams had enormous significance in that family. Those dreams promised high position for Joseph and servitude for the brothers. Worse, the brothers would serve the brother they despised.
When Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers' well-being, the brothers captured him, imprisoned him in a pit, and sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelites [descendants of Isaac's half-brother, Ishmael] as a slave. They then used his clothing soaked in goat blood to convince Jacob that a wild animal killed Joseph. Note (Genesis 37:19,20) that Joseph's dreams were a primary motivation in their actions.
Read Genesis 39:1-6. The "after"
When Joseph arrived in Egypt, he was sold as a slave to Potiphar who was an officer to Pharaoh. ["Pharaoh" was the Egyptian designation for "king."]
The Lord was with Joseph. That fact was the reason that Joseph became a successful man.
Potiphar saw (1) that the Lord was with Joseph and (2) that the Lord caused everything Joseph did to prosper.
Joseph received Potiphar's approval and trust. He became Potiphar's personal servant. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything he owned. Under Joseph's oversight, everything was so prosperous that Potiphar did not even ask Joseph for an accounting of his decisions.
Potiphar clearly understood that God blessed everything Joseph did. He used that awareness to benefit himself.
Fix your focus firmly on what happened. Joseph was a spoiled brat who lived a privileged life made possible by the favoritism of his father. He made his grown brothers' lives miserable. He used his dreams and his position to irritate them. In jealousy, they finally captured him and sold him as a slave. The spoiled brat abruptly lost every privilege and became a slave who had no rights. What a transition!
Incredibly, the transition matured the teenager. He went from an arrogant, self-centered teenager to an industrious steward. He quickly became an honorable person of integrity. As a privileged teenager, he made his brothers' lives miserable. As a slave, he became a hard working, dependable, loyal servant. As the favorite son, he was useless. As a slave, he was trustworthy and dependable. As the privileged son, he took advantage of his father's favoritism. As a slave he used God's kindness to benefit others. That transition can be understood only if we see the distinction between a self-centered existence and an existence based on stewardship.
After his father's death, Joseph [the successful official in Egypt] said to his fear filled brothers: "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? ...You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about this present result..." (Genesis 50:19,20). The Joseph principle of stewardship: in every situation and circumstance, let God work through you to bless others.
Help your students understand that a Christian wants to maintain a real relationship with God. Help them understand when a Christian does, God can and does work through that man or woman to bless others. Just as God used Jesus to bless us, we want God to use us to bless others.
Link to Student Guide Quarter 4, Lesson 11