In Christian circles, we often use the word “stewardship” with reference to money.  Most church-goers expect that a sermon with the word stewardship in the title will be about giving more money.  But today, I want us to consider stewardship of another commodity.  Let’s consider the stewardship of our words.

The English alphabet has twenty-six letters that can be arranged to form many words.  Most English-speaking adults have a vocabulary of 25,000-30,000 words.^[1]  God created us with an amazing capacity to form ideas in our brain and then to communicate those ideas with words.  He created an elaborate “sound system” in our bodies to produce those words in audible form.

The Bible and Our Words

James 3:1-12 reminds is that our words have the capacity to both help and harm. It all depends on how we choose to use them. 

In Matthew 12:33-37, Jesus teaches that our words provide a very clear diagnostic of our heart condition.  He reminds us that we speak from the overflow of what is already in our heart.  Jesus was the first to communicate the concept that “what you say can and will be used against (or for) you.”

In Ephesians 4:25-32, Paul challenges us to use words that build up instead of tear down.  He calls us to forsake words that are untrue, corrupt, bitter, and angry.  And to replace them with words that are true, forgiving, and kind.

Stewardship and Words

My challenge to you today is to see yourself as a STEWARD of words.  That begins with surrendering the rights to our words.  We live in a culture that believes in the individual right to speak one’s mind, or to speak from the heart.  That would be fine if our minds and hearts were not fallen and tainted by sin.  How different would our speech be if we forfeited our speech rights?  Would the content of our words and the way we speak them be different? I believe it would. I remember my grandmother saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  If we followed her advice, our world would be a lot quieter.

I hope that you have a plan to help you read the Bible through in 2024. If not, I invite you to read along with my family and me. We will be using a chronological reading plan from The Bible Recap (see links below).

The Bible Recap offers not only a reading plan, but also a short summary (hence “recap”) of that day’s reading. The recap helps to keep each day’s reading grounded in the story arch of what comes before and after.

The Bible Recap offers several helpful tools, all of which you can learn about on the web page linked below:

— a podcast featuring each day’s recap,
— a book with each day’s recap for those who would rather read it,
— you can also find The Bible Recap reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app under their reading plans.

If you need help with any of these let me know. For those of you who watch my weekly REFRESH videos, I will be using some of the daily readings for our study.

Why You Need to Read the Bible

In his book The Lord Bless You and Keep You: The Promise of the Gospel in the Aaronic Blessing, Michael Glodo states

“We behold the glory of God in the face of Christ with the help of the Spirit through the testimony of God’s word. The Spirit, which inspired the word and now indwells us, testifies through the word of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We ‘see’ by ‘hearing.'”

There is no greater way we can grow in our knowledge of and love for Jesus than by seeing His glory in the Bible. I hope you will select a reading plan and read through your Bible this year and see the face of Jesus in every passage.

The Bible Recap Website	The Bible Recap Book	The Lord Bless You and Keep You	YouVersion Bible App

In my last blog, I wrote about the thoughts I have been having after my 59^th birthday.  (You can go back and read it by clicking here.)  As I mentioned in that blog, my dad died at 73.  If I life the same life span as he, I have about 14 years left. I hope I live a lot more years than that, but in reality, I’m not even promised that many. To put it in baseball terms, this is the seventh inning stretch.  It’s time to get serious about some things.

God has been very good to me in all my life. I was raised by loving parents in a good Christian home.  I attended a solid Bible-teaching church and received a good education at a Christian school.  By God’s grace, I married a wonderful and beautiful (and incredibly patient) wife and have an awesome daughter.  I’ve been blessed to spend my life serving God by leading and teaching His people. Even if my life ended today, I would have no complaints. God has given me more than I deserve.

However, though thankful for all God has done, my passion is to live the rest of my life finishing strong.

Cruel acts of terror.  Local crime.  Political corruption. People are hurting.  I have friends who are battling terminal diseases.  I know newborn babies who are only a few days old and dealing with serious health issues.  Through it all, God is reminding us to live in faith not fear.  

The night before I wrote this article, a mass shooter killed 18 people and injured dozens more in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine.  I thought about those 18 poor souls who lost their lives, and I thought about their families.  They all woke up that morning without any idea how their day would end.

I also thought about several in our church family who are battling cancer and other terminal illnesses.  One day, you are feeling OK; the next, you receive shocking news.  Many in our church family have faced the loss of loved ones over this past year.  All this serves as a stark reminder that life is fragile. 

We cannot let the uncertainties of life paralyze us with fear, dread, and doubt.  What we can do is follow the advice of Corrie ten Boom and trust an unknown future to a known God.

Keeping a Faith Focus

Here are a few suggestions to keep your mind faithfully focused on our faithful God.

In the Bible, manna was an amazing provision of God for His people as they wandered in the wilderness.  On their way to the Promised Land, He fulfilled a daily promise to provide for them along the way.  His Promise was not just a future destination.  He also promised His daily presence, guidance, and protection.

You can read about the manna experience in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11.  Each day, God would miraculously provide a day’s worth of manna on the ground.  All anyone had to do was pick it up and use it.  But only enough for that day.  Any leftovers would get worms.  God wanted them to have fresh manna each day.  

After a while, the people grew weary of eating the same thing every day.  So God gave them quail to eat instead. Very soon the birds made them sick (Numbers 11:31-34), and they realized God’s manna was better.  I can’t imagine why they grew weary of the manna.  According to the description in Numbers 11:8, manna tasted like a doughnut!  Imagine that!  Quail is tasty, but doughnuts from God every morning!  Who gets tired of that?

“Love my music
Ain’t no one gonna change my tune
Don’t ya know that I love my music
Ain’t never gonna change my tune.

“My Music” by Jim Messina and Kenny Loggins

I grew up singing and as a child I learned to play the guitar.  Sadly, I have let my skills lapse into near oblivion.  For a brief time in my late teens and early twenties, I served as a music minister.  I still remember one dear saint’s comment when I told her I was leaving to pursue preaching instead of music.  “That’s a good idea,” she said.  I think I got her point.

Music touches most of us in the deepest places of our hearts.  If you want to start a war in church, propose a change in music.  That’s like kicking an ant bed or knocking down a hornets’ nest.  Unfortunately, I have observed that many people are more particular about their “church music” than their “out of church” music.  I’ll just leave that statement right there.

The older I get, the more sleep I need.  Conversely, the older I get the less sleep I seem to get.  I experience the usual middle of the morning awakenings that accompany most men my age.  Those older than me assure me it will only get worse.  Don’t you just love people who speak encouragement into your life!  But once I am awakened, there a certain Bible verse often pops into my shattered unconsciousness. While the usual “natural causes” may awaken me, this verse keeps me awake many nights.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Hebrews 13:17

Responsibility Keeps Me Awake at Night

The gravity of the mission is spelled out in the phrase “keeping watch over your souls.” The phrase refers to the act of staying awake and vigilant to one’s surroundings so others could peacefully rest.  In the Bible, shepherds are great examples of those who would “keep watch.”

 The New Testament translates word “pastor” from the same word it translates “shepherd.” While Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18), He has given men the responsibility to be under-shepherds of His flock.

A shepherd’s responsibility may be summed up in three words: feeding, leading, protecting.  Often in New Testament times, a shepherd did not own the flock he kept.  Usually a rich herdsman owned the flocks, and they hired shepherds to take care of them.  But the shepherd was ultimately responsible to the owner for what happened to his sheep.

I believe the world is in such a mess because the Church is in such a mess.  And the church is such a mess because we have abandoned teaching theology.  A 2022 study by LifeWay and Ligonier Ministries revealed some shocking misbelief among those who identify themselves as Christians.  A recent article from LifeWay Research written by Jen Wilkin and J.T. English highlights four very troubling findings concerning some dangerous misbeliefs. (You can read the entire article by clicking here.)

• God learns and adapts to different circumstances: 48% of evangelicals agree.
• Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God: 65%of evangelicals agree.
• God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: 56% of evangelicals agree.
• Jesus was a great teacher, but He was not God: 43% of evangelicals agree (up from 30% in 2020).

The high agreement cited in the above statements are from evangelicals.  One of the major tenets of evangelicalism is the belief that the Bible is God’s Word and authoritative.  Yet, high percentages believe truth contradictory to the teaching of the Bible.

The Why of Theology