STEWARD TO THE WORD OF GOD
Pastor G Khankham
What is the Word of God?
Hebrew 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Isaiah 55:11 So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Psalm 12:6 And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.
We should not add or remove any word from the Bible. We would be rebuked and treated as a cheater by God if we do so. Therefore, we should be FAITHFUL STEWARDS to the Word of God.
There are FAITHFUL STEWARDS to the word of God in the Bible- Noah, Abraham, Paul. How do they keep the word of God?
- NOAH: Genesis 6:8-14 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
How the world must have been during Noah’s time! The world had already been corrupted and destroyed. Is it the same as today?
Have sins and abominations filled the world? Have sins of the people destroyed the world? Are those people during that time the same as people in today’s world? Noah received Grace from the Lord. He is a righteous man and faithful to God and to his fellow man and society.
Do we often blame the sinfulness of the world to justify our sins?
Noah walked with the Lord through obedience and submission.
How did Noah managed to keep God’s word?
Build an ark for your salvation was God’s word to Noah. What have we been asked by God in our life?
Noah obediently and faithfully build the ark for many days despite the criticism and mocking from society. He and his family entered the ark after completion. Noah obeyed God and they were saved along with the animals. What is our responsibility that God has given to us? Have our family members ever been hurt because of our failure in obeying God’s word?
- ABRAHAM : Genesis 12:1-4 The Lordhad said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great,and you will be a blessing.[a] 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
The Lord asked Abraham to leave his place and go to the place that he would show. He had to give up the comfort of his home, family and relatives. He clearly knew who is in control and not be anxious about how far or hard the journey would be. He obeyed God because he feared the Lord. And what is his reward? He would be made father of many nation. But God said this after Abraham had taken a decision to go the place that the Lord would send him. He is also blessed with his name being glorified and a source of blessings for every nation from him.
Hebrew 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
- PAUL I Corinthians 9:16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
The conviction of Paul towards spreading the Gospel knew no bounds and it signifies the burden of word of God if not being obeyed and put it into action
There are also some who failed to be FAITHFUL STEWARDS to WORD OF GOD
JUDAS ISCARIOT is not a keeper of God’s word. Although he followed Jesus for 3 years, believed and witnessed his miracles, Greed overpowered him and his fall came. We should be careful in keeping God’s word in our own life and not let it be defined by our position in Church. How does the Lord want us to keep his word to his satisfaction? Let us first think about it before anything else.
Judas repented after selling Jesus. But, do we find him at peace? No, he hanged himself and his stomach burst when he fell on the ground. It was a horrifying death. If he had repented and went to Jesus for his forgiveness, he might have not died. But his regret was misguided. Like-wise have we sold the Gospel because of our love for money? Have we sold our Lord Jesus because of our love for money? If we did, we can still learn from the life of Judas Iscariot.
Of course, we need money but it has to be in accordance with the Lord’s satisfaction. Otherwise it can be the root of broken families and society.
What do we do with the word of God? We have been reading the Bible, listening to sermons and hearing the word of God through various channels. The story of PROPHET JONAH, son of Amittai tells us good example of not being a faithful steward of the word of God. Jonah was asked by God to preach to the people of Nineveh about their sins. Have we ever bowed down in prayer before God for our people and nation?
Jonah wake up and left for Tarshish away from God. He slept there peacefully in the innermost section of the boat. We may be sleeping peacefully in the comforts of our home, eating and doing whatever we want. But this does not last. The lord sent raging storms on the boat of Jonah. Even then Jonah continued in his slumber only to be woken by his fellow travellers. How many times have we neglect and remain oblivious of God’s word sent to us by Elders and church members? Jonah’s fellow travellers panicked and call on their own gods as the boat was about to be destroyed. Don’t you think our world is very much same as that of Jonah’s boat? Why should we remain still? When the storms of life hit us, should we still remain at peace?
To save themselves they started throwing their things on to the sea. All because of Jonah. It could be that society is degrading and immoral because of us. Families started breaking and we lose our wealth that we store up for ourselves.
Finally, they found out Jonah was the reason for all the storms. He confessed how he was planning on running away from God. But the storm continued raging on. So, Jonah asked to be thrown into the sea for the storm to subside. Is it because of us that the Church is unhealthy and fruitless? Or the society is sick because of us? We should be able to throw away the things that bogged us down. The storm calmed finally.
REFLECTIONS
Today, what have we done to the word of God? Our family and church continue to bore the brunt of our inaction.
At last Jonah was swallowed by a whale in the deepest part of the Ocean. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us work for the word of God before we are swallowed.
Are we loyal and obedient to the word of God like Noah? Are we trusting the Lord in the path he would guide us like Abraham? Are we willing to suffer for the Gospel like Paul? Or Are we like Judas Iscariot running after riches and power of this world?
Let us ponder these questions. It’s been a century since the Gospel was brought to us on May 7, 1910. Do we produce fruit of the Gospel?
Matthew 21:43 Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Let us pray and work so that the Lord doesn’t take away his word and give it to people who will produce its fruit.
