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4 » J <oKKi ' ® aBB - Mi; t ill KW Aroi •te s I 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