Day 5- Stewards of the Gospel

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 9: 16-27

Have you ever hired someone to occupy a role and carry out a main task in your company, business or your house but found out that this person doesn’t carry out his main task- rather he prefers to attend to other duties? Or perhaps you have once been disappointed by an artisan? Probably you asked an engineer to fix a problem with your generator but instead of doing that, he simply compounded the problem? Maybe it is even the mechanic that is supposed to help you fix your car AC but messed things up? Now, it’s not only the AC that isn’t working, some other things have been added unto it.

Come to think of it, why were you disappointed though? Would you have been disappointed if your friend who is not skilled offered to just help check out the generator or the car? I feel that we get disappointed when we entrust certain responsibility to people we believe can handle it and they fail to carry it out effectively.

Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. Whatever we have is entrusted to us by God and He expects us to be diligent stewards of those things He has given to us. One of the most valuable things God commits into our hands is the business of winning souls. God has entrusted this huge enterprise into our care and He expects us to be faithful with it. A man’s soul is so precious to God that He gave his only begotten son to die for us. No doubt, God is extremely interested in men’s souls. Hence, His biggest desire is to turn the hearts of men to Him and this is what He has called us to.

God wants everyone to be saved and fully understand the truth 1 Tim 2: 4 (ERV)

God wants everyone to be saved but what’s more? He wants to do it through us. He has called us to be co-labourers with Him in saving souls and turning hearts into His Kingdom and this is definitely not a responsibility to be taken lightly. It is a trust and commandment that we must be diligent with.

It’s not my work of telling the Good News that gives me any reason to boast. That is my duty – something I must do. If I don’t tell people the Good News, I am in real trouble – I Corinthians 9:16 (ERV)

Apostle Paul says in our reading today that it is his duty to preach the gospel. In another version, he said that necessity is laid upon Him to preach Christ. Can you say the same too? Is the Father’s business that He has called you to important to you or are you busy with other duties? Do you see winning souls as a necessity? Do you really see it as a trust that God has committed into your hands as a steward? Are you deliberately living a missional life at your workplace, community and even in your home? Or do you think that preaching the gospel is for some special Christians and you are not one of them? Can we remind ourselves that preaching the gospel is not for some Christians? It is a clear commandment from Jesus to all believers.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28: 19-20)

The icing on the cake, however, is that we have an assurance that God is with us always as we diligently obey His commandments to preach the gospel. God does not only call us to be stewards in His vineyard, He empowers us and equips us with everything that we need. Unlike that mechanic or engineer who is entrusted with certain responsibility based on skills or recommendation, we are entrusted with God’s responsibility by grace and He doesn’t stop there. He empowers and equips us for the work by the power of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the grace and boldness that we need. He even goes with us as we carry out His agenda on the earth! By the help of the Holy Spirit, we have all it takes to be successful stewards of the gospel.

In Prayer Today
Pray for audacity to be able to declare God’s truth and to be a faithful steward of the gospel in a generation that is constantly trying to drown truth.

Mercy Aluko
Mrs. Aluko volunteers with the Bible Engagement team at Sycamore

PS: Today is our Online Day of Prayer! It will be great to have you join in as we build a prayer chain all over the world. All you need to do is to tag someone and pray for them, and have others pray for you too on any of our social media platforms.