He owns it all | Genesis 1.26-31
1. If I like it, it’s MINE 2. If it’s in my hand, it’s MINE 3. If I can take it from you, it’s MINE 4. If I had it a while ago, it’s MINE 5. If it’s MINE, it must never appear to be yours in any way 6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are MINE 7. If it looks like mine, it’s MINE 8. If I saw it first, it’s MINE 9. If you are playing with something, and you put it down, it automatically becomes MINE 10. If it’s broken, it’s your
God is the creator of everything • In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1.1 • And God said – v. 3 • And God said – v. 6 • And God said – v. 9 • Then God said – v. 11 • And God said – v. 14 • And God said – v. 20 • And God said – v. 24 • Then God said – v. 26
God is the creator of everything • Since God is creator, then everything owes its existence to God and is owned by God. • Nothing exists apart from His decree or His sustaining power; everything is dependent upon God. • As creator, God has the right to establish the boundaries, limitations, and morality of life. • God has embedded creation – even after the presence of sin – with a goodness that says something about Him. Mark Vroegop
God is the creator of everything • God “made us alive together with Christ… For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” Eph. 2:5, 10 • “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” 1 Cor. 6:19-20 • Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12.2 • “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11.36
God is the creator of everything Yours, O L ORD , is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours . Yours is the kingdom, O L ORD , and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You , and You reign over all . In Your hand is power and might. In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You , and of Your own we have given You . 1 Chronicles 29.10-14
God is the creator of everything The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers” Psalm 24:1–2
Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.
God gave us a mission • Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”… God blessed them and said to them, “ Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it . Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1.26-28 • The LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it . Genesis 2:15
God gave us a mission
God gave us a mission Management: A business manager oversees the use of a company’s resources including money, machinery and personnel in order to profitably provide a product or service in harmony with the company’s purpose and values – and that’s stewardship. • Adam gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals ( 2.20 ) • Adam and Eve’s first children were involved in occupations related to the animals and the ground. Abel was a keeper of the sheep, and Cain was a farmer ( 4.2 ) • The descendants of Adam and Eve were already making musical instruments ( 4.21 ) and learning how to forge metal ( 4.22 ).
God gave us a mission God owns everything. He just asked me to manage it. God owns it, I manage it. He gives me things of which He requires of me, and this is where my responsibility comes in to do the best job of managing that I possibly can. The steward understands that everything we have, we just manage. God owns it all. John Maxwell
God gave us His image • And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful… rule over …” Genesis 1.25-28
The Bible clearly indicates that we have been created in the very image of God and are given the task of managing God’s wonderful property – all of it. Whatever else “created in God’s image” indicates, at least it implies that we have the prospect and privilege to be full partners with God in maintaining His vast creation, not as slaves of menial tasks, but as gifted managers commissioned to creatively oversee the resources around us in order to produce what God values most. Christians need to understand that opportunities to achieve God’s agenda in building His kingdom involves not only our material possessions, but also our abilities, knowledge, skills and relationships. To make it really simple, everything from your backyard and bank account to your mind and body, is a resource that you must manage for God. No false humility required here, you are an important member of God’s management team. Harvey Nowland
God gave us His image We’re all His stewards A revolutionary concept in the Protestant Reformation. ANY normal task and occupation are embedded with meaning. Instead of thinking that only priests did spiritual work, Luther identified that every Christian worker offers his or her work as a steward to God.
God gave us His image You will resemble whoever masters over you: We’re prone to behave as though we own what we can get our hands on and then set our own rules for how we use those things and they will look like us. Christians are to acknowledge Jesus as the rightful owner of the resources we manage. That means we’re to manage His property according to God’s values and to accomplish His will according to His Word so that they will look like Him.
We must take what belongs to God and we use it to image and glorify Him. I will place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything will advance the interests of that kingdom, it shall be given away or kept only in reference to whether giving or keeping will most promote the glory of him to whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity . David Livingstone
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