Tony Evans - Kingdom Stewardship

Kingdom Stewardship: Managing All of Life under Gods Rule

2020 Tony Evans. All rights reserved.

A Focus on the Family book published by Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188

Focus on the Family and the accompanying logo and design are federally registered trademarks of Focus on the Family, 8605 Explorer Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

TYNDALE and Tyndales quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of Focus on the Family.

Portions of chapter 3 have been adapted from EXPERIENCING GOD TOGETHER, copyright 2015 Tony Evans. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, 97408. www.harvesthousepublishers.com.

Portions of chapter 11 have been adapted from Living in Financial Victory by Tony Evans (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2013). Used by permission.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org).

Scripture quotations marked ( ESV ) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by CrosswayBibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. (www.zondervan.com) The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Cover design by Sally Dunn

Cover image: iStockphoto//PeopleImages

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at , or call 1-800-323-9400.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019949732

ISBN 978-1-58997-953-6

Build: 2019-12-20 15:35:13 EPUB 3.0

This work is gratefully dedicated to my good friends Mark and Marty Schupbach for their personal friendship, ministry support, and passion for biblical stewardship that have encouraged me both personally and professionally.

Many years ago, during the days of the Wild West, a man robbed a bank in Texas and then fled across the border to Mexico. Chased by a sheriff from Texas, he was finally cornered in an old bar where he thought hed escape notice. The problem for the sheriff, though, was that the bank robber spoke only Spanish and the sheriff spoke only English. So they had to locate a translator.

Once a translator was found, the sheriff interrogated the bank robber about his stash. For starters, the sheriff asked him where he hid the money. The bank robber replied that he wouldnt tell. The sheriff began to push harder and demanded that the robber tell him where he hid the money. But the bank robber held his ground and told him nothing. Then the sheriff instructed the translator to tell the robber, If you dont tell me where you stashed the money, Im going to shoot you right here and right now.

The bank robber saw the seriousness in the sheriffs eyes. He knew he was out of the jurisdiction of American law and that the sheriff could make good on his threat. So the thief told the translator exactly where he hid the money. It was buried beneath an oak tree outside of a nearby barn about two feet under the ground.

When the sheriff pushed the translator to tell him what the bank robber just said, though, the translator changed the story. He said he aint tellin you nothin!

Of course that wasnt the truth. But the translator now knew where the stash was hidden!

Communication can be a rough thing. You dont always know when someone is telling you the truth or whether you are getting the full story. When it comes to the area of kingdom stewardship, there is a lot spoken and written on the subject. But a lot of that information is plain wrong or incomplete. Many people simply focus on stewarding money and assume thats all there is to living as a kingdom steward. But money is only one part of your role of managing all you have under God. Biblical stewardship involves more than money. How you choose to spend your time, where you choose to let your thoughts linger, what you choose to say, and how you leverage your position and maximize your talents all have a far greater impact on the outcomes of your life. Yes, stewardship includes money, but the true treasures of this topic also include so much more.

It is my goal in this book to communicate a practical theology of stewardship that connects it to the broader theme and worldview of the kingdom agenda. The kingdom agenda is the visible manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life. Only when stewardship is seen against the backdrop of this broader kingdom worldview where all of life is lived under Gods rule can we fully understand, appreciate, and benefit from the managerial responsibility God has entrusted to us as His kingdom stewards.

M EANING

During my years in seminary, money came to us as a family fairly infrequently. My wife, Lois, stayed home with the children, and I worked what jobs I could while also going to school full-time. To describe that season as one of near financial destitution would not be an exaggeration. Anyone who has attended seminary or graduate school with a spouse and children to care for will understand. Surviving became the goal. Eating became the goal. Keeping the car running and the electricity on became the goal. We aimed to reach these goals each week through as many strategies as we could.

One of the ways we sought a source of income came through house-sitting for families who traveled on vacations or business trips. The seminary I attended had developed strong relationships with many wealthy families in Dallas, nurturing a trust that would open the door for such work. These families assumed (and rightly so) that the seminary students who house-sat for them would not steal from them. They also assumed that their children would be properly looked after, their animals cared for, and their valuables protected. And what valuables they were! Some of these families had cars that cost more than most houses!

Now, you can imagine how excited Lois and I were each time we were chosen to house-sit for a family. Not only were we assured that we would be eating well all week long, but we also got to live it up in palaces while driving fancy cars. To top it off, we got paid to do this. Moving on up from our tiny apartment to an enormous home, finely decorated inside and with a well-manicured lawn outside, brought us great joy. One time I even got to drive a Bentley to school. Yes, I took the longest route possible.

However, despite our enthusiasm for our increase in living standards, we needed to stay realistic in our thinking. Lois would often remind me by saying, Tony, this is not your house. She would say this because, at times, I would get a little too comfortable with my surroundings rather than remember that the family had merely left us in charge during their absence.