LCMS Stewardship Ministry Thoughts

LCMS Stewardship Ministry Thoughts 

1 Peter 2:11 – “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” Passions of the flesh — that means the things our flesh desires. One way to sum up all the “passions of the flesh” is to call them greed: the desire to have more things to bring us comfort and peace of mind. But that shows us the real problem with greed. It wages war against our soul, and it urges us to place our trust in the things of this world and not in God. But St. Peter reminds us that we are sojourners and exiles. We belong to the kingdom of God. We have been purchased by the blood of Christ and belong to Him. That knowledge frees us from greed, and it frees us for generosity. 

James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” The thought James captures here is repeated over and over again in the Bible. Everything good we have is from God. He loves to give. He loves to bless. He loves to show us generosity time and again. And He desires that we grow into His image and reflect His love. That is why God wants us to give to the ministry of His church. God can do anything He wants to without our help. But He commands us to give so that we will grow in our imitation of His own generosity. 

James 1:22 – “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Martin Luther said this about our faith: “Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. And so it is impossible for it not to do good works incessantly.” The Word of God is not merely to be heard, but to be received and believed, and implemented. James reminds us of this, and he encourages us to examine our lives and come to repentance, where we can see that we are not living out our faith in sincerity. 

Acts 16:9 – “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” God does all the saving of the Macedonians, but He does it through the ministry of St. Paul who was called to go and help them out. How is the Lord calling you to use your gifts for His work? 

From your Stewardship Committee
(please contact Mike Kroeger at michael.k.kroeger@gmail.com
if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions)