The Biblical Meaning Of SuccessSample

Stewardship in Community

Biblical stewardship takes place in community, an idea that has been lost on many of our current churches catering to Christians heavily influenced by our current individualistic culture.

God created us to be in relationship with him, and he also created us to be in relationship with one another. Andy Crouch writes in his book, Culture Making, that God created a world,

…designed for the flourishing of exquisitely relational creatures, male and female, who themselves are very good because they bear the image of a relational God.

Independence is not taught in the Bible. Rather, the Bible emphasizes community. In the first chapter of Genesis, God says, “Let us make mankind in our image.” Scripture calls us to connectedness from the very beginning. To be sure, we as individuals are called to play a part in the biblical narrative, but for the most part we do our work in the context of community.

In Romans 12:4-7 the Apostle Paul provides us with some insight about how our different skills and talents are actually the gifts God gives us and the mechanisms bringing us into community with one another. He writes,

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach.

God intentionally made his creation diverse. Here Paul is confirming something economists call comparative advantage.

Comparative advantage is using the gifts and talents God has given you to do the things you are best at doing. Comparative advantage is the glue that holds communities together.

As we each do what we are best at doing, we all add to the common good. We are to fulfill our call to be good stewards in community with one another. This is what God intended. This is also why the great reformer Martin Luther can say the first way we love our neighbor is to do our jobs well.

It is through Christ’s redemption that we are restored to a right relationship with our heavenly father. That in turn allows Christians to seek the fullness and wholeness of living and being good stewards in community.

When we do this, we bring a level of flourishing to our families and our communities, reflecting the glory of God to a world that is in desperate need of finding something greater than itself.

Grab a pen and make a quick list of your gifts in one column and how you might use those gifts to serve others in the second column. Pray through what you have written and look for ways to serve others around you starting right now.

Additional Elements

Catch a glimpse of the vision for how God intends us to flourish with this video from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics.