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Christian Stewardship.
“Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou
mayest be no longer steward.” Luke 2: 16.
Before attempting to present any thoughts upon
the subject of Christian stewardship, it is well
enough for us to get fixed in our minds something of
what stewardship involves. A steward is one who
is in charge of the affairs of another. The word
steward is not very commonly used with us in this
country; but in England it is of very common use.
They call men who act in the capacity of head
waiters at hotels stewards. Rarely are they called
waiters or waitresses. Over there I almost got out
of the habit of asking a waiter to do anything; it
■was steward and stewardess.
Now the word used in the scriptures is used to
convey exactly the same idea. It means one who is
in charge of the affairs of another. Generally Chris
tian stewardship applies to finance. And hence when
we speak of Christian stewardship we speak only of
the stewardship of money. But this is a mistake.
One is just as responsible to his Lord for the
stewardship of his time, his talent, his home, his in
fluence and his faith, as he is for his money.
Unfaithfulness in the stewardship of any of these
is just as significant in God’s sight as is unfaithful
ness in the stewardship of money; and so I want us
to look at Christian stewardship in this broad sense,
in the sense of representing Jesus Christ as Lord
and Master.
I feel quite sure that one of the things that the
church needs to realize is that this relation exists;
that Jesus is our Lord and Master.
Sacred, and Secular.
With too many their lives are divided into sacred
and secular parts. They think they belong to their
Lord and Master for “sacred” life, and are at
liberty to use the “secular” life as they please.
There was never a bigger mistake. To Christian
men there can be but one life, and that is sacred.
Every thing we have is His; the little things are just
as important as the big things; it is all one and the
same. If we are the children of God, Jesus Christ
owns our income and everything we possess is under
his direction. I would to God that we could see this
to-day.
With too many of us in the church, it is, as it was
with Lazarus; you remember that after Lazarus was
raised from the dead, after he had life, he was as
helpless as if he had no life. He was altogether
unable to use any of his faculties, for he had a
napkin around his mouth, and his hands and feet
were tied. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.”
He was a live man, but he could not show it, be
cause he was bound hand and foot. ‘ ‘ Loose him and
let him go.”
Now my brethren, this is the one thing that the
church needs to realize. I am persuaded that most
of us have life; we have accepted Jesus Christ and
we believe in Him, and we have given ourselves to
Him, but we are so tied down with the grave clothes
of this world that the world does not see in us
evidences of our resurrection life. What we need is
to hear Jesus Christ just as though He were here.
n tasEl Mair
What we need is to have the grave clothes taken off
of us, so that we can talk like live men and walk
like live men. And, when we have done that, we
will have come into the full realization of what it
means to be an out and out steward for Jesus Christ.
We shall then see from our experiences without
having a teacher, that a faithful steward for Jesus
Christ is one who is handed over to him in every
thing and is to give an account to him of everything.
Peter had this idea where he speaks of “stewards
of the manifold grace of God.”
Stewardship of Home.
Are we such stewards'? Are we rendering good
accounts ? First, are we rendering good accounts for
the stewardship of our homes? Most of us have
homes; whether they belong to us or not, it makes
no difference. Now, if Jesus were present this
morning and should call every one of us and say,
‘ ‘ Render account of the stewardship of your home, ’ ’
what kind of an account would we render? It is a
very significant question, and if we are unfaithful
we need not be surprised to hear Him say, “No
longer shalt thou be steward.”
The other day I was invited into a magnificent
home to take dinner with some friends. I looked
about and I could not help thinking, “For what
purpose was this home built? For what purpose
was this home so magnificently furnished? Is all
this simply to gratify self? Or was there in the
conception of the owners the idea of using it in
some w T ay to make homeless ones happy? Was there
any idea that this home might be so managed and
so used as to help somebody by coming in touch
with it?” If there was not any such idea as this
in the minds of the promoters of this and every
other home, I want to tell you Jesus Christ is dis
pleased wdth it.
But I was greatly pleased before I left. It was
requested that -we have prayer, and kneeling down
by my side was the head of the house. When the
one leading the prayer said, “Lord let this home
be a home that shall stand for Christ and may many
an unsaved one right here in this home be led to
accept Jesus Christ,” I heard a sob come from the
head of the house and then a responsive “amen”
that came right out of his heart.
My brethren and sisters, what are you doing with
your home? Has the thought ever come to you that
you are the steward of that home, and that some
day God is going to ask you to render an account of
the stewardship of that home?
Stewardship of Time.
Again, what of the stewardship of time? Every
one of us has time. Alas! alas! we are disposed to
divide it into “our time” and “God’s time.” We
feel that if we can give Jesus Christ one-seventh of
the time we have done wonders; when He is requir
ing of us all of our time. Not that we shall give
up our business and go out on the street, but that
we should in the exercise of our business impress
the world with the fact that we are doing business
for the King. How the business men of the church
need to have this thought grip them.
An old blacksmith was hammering on a red-hot
piece of iron one day and a traveler passing bv
asked him this question, “What are you doing?”
He replied, “I am preaching the Gospel in China.”
“You are doing no such thing. You are hammering
on that piece of iron.” “I am preaching the gospel
in China; I am supporting a missionary in China by
the money I make.” Sure enough, he was preaching
the gospel in China. He had the right conception of
stewardship.
When this thought gets hold of us fully it is
going to revolutionize our lives. I tell you mothers,
The Golden Age for May 31, 1906.
Le n G . Broughton
you will find that it will tremendously affect your
life. You will perhaps go to fewer meetings and
raise better babies.
It is a tremendous mistake that we make to imag
ine that we are to be eternally on the go to serve
Jesus Christ. I used to preach a little differently
when I first began. My message was all centered
around one word, GO. I believe in it yet, but I tell
you it is a mistaken idea to imagine that we have got
to be on the go all the time, in order to serve Jesus
Christ.
A woman came to me one time and said, “Brother
Broughton, I feel impressed of the Lord that I ought
to go out and become a street preacher, but what
will I do with my children?” I said, “Have you
any children?” “I have seven,” she said. Then,
said I, “Rest assured the Lord didn’t impress you
to do any such thing. The Lord never told you to
leave seven children in the home by themselves,
while you go out in the street to rescue other folks’
children.” There is too much of that thing in
Atlanta.
I feel quite sure, too, that when this thought once
grips us there will be less social calling and gadding
about on the streets. Why you can go down on
most any of our streets and see mothers by the
hundred parading the streets and looking in the show
windows, who ought to be at home raising their
children. - -
We need to get a proper conception of Christian
stewardship—that we are the Lord’s wherever we
are. He is our King, and to Him we shall have to
account for everything.
The Stewardship of Influence.
Then there is the stewardship of influence. Every
man has an influence over some one else. In one of
my first meetings I saw this, and was greatly im
pressed with it. The meeting was at a standstill. I
prayed nearly all night one night; the next morn
ing I felt impressed to go and talk with a young
lady I knew very well. I knew that she was im
mensely popular. I said, “May I see you, Miss H.,
in the parlor?” and she laughed and said, “Yes.”
I said, ‘ ‘ My heart is nearly broken this morning over
the condition of our meeting.” “Why, what is the
matter with the meeting?” said she. “I do not
know what is the matter with the meeting, but I
have been led to tell you that you are responsible
for the lost condition of many souls in this town?”
I pointed out the unsaved ones in that town and told
her how they hung on her influence, and before I
left she was down on her knees praying. That night
she confessed Jesus Christ, and at once twenty other
young people of her set confessed Christ.
I remember in a meeting I was holding in New
York a woman became very much exercised with
respect to this matter, and decided that she would
write a letter to a friend to take supper with her.
It was a bit of guile; she did not want to tell her
all, lest she would not come. She simply said,
“Come over and spend the night with me,” and she
accepted the invitation. That night she was con
verted. The same method was repeated for seven
consecutive nights, and that woman led seven souls
to Christ. In most cases they were girls that were
not of her social position. She found it very easy
to lead them to take a meal and spend the night
with her in her home. They had no such home as she
had, and they thought it was a great thing to be
invited by her.
Now folks, I know what I am talking about. It
is a great thing for a poor boy or girl to be invited
to a rich man’s house. One time I was invited to
one of the i ichest homes in the South. I was scared
almost to death when I got the invitation. I bor
rowed all the clothes I could get. I talked with