In my congregational experience, stewardship is either preached on too particularly or not nearly enough. Some congregations have several weeks of sermons and Bible studies dedicated to the topic. Other congregations never so much as mention the concept.

Some congregations attempt to move past stewardship as merely a fiscal term by brandishing the alliterative tagline “Time, Talent, and Treasures.” The idea behind this is that being a steward is about more than giving money, which is true and admirable. I wonder, however, if this threefold definition of stewardship is still far too restrictive.

What I hope I can provide in this brief piece is twofold: first, a more complete understanding of stewardship; second, a way for pastors to use upcoming lectionary readings to highlight holistic stewardship.

The Gospel reading of Matthew 15:21–28 shares how God's salvation plan is unlimited. Although the Gospel is primarily for the Jews, it is also for the Gentiles. Through the confession of sins and belief in the saving work of God’s son, Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles receive His gift of salvation. 

Baptism is a wonderful gift from our good and gracious God. It is the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit by which we are made the children of God, given the gift of faith, forgiven our sins, and claimed for all eternity. Read Luther’s insights on Baptism from Commentary on Luther’s Catechisms: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper below.

For the first time in English, a truly scholarly translation of Luther’s most famous disputation, referred to as The Antinomian Disputations, is available as part of the newest volume in the ongoing Luther’s Works, Volume 73. Read an excerpt from the introduction below about the doctrines of Law and Gospel.

The blame game is a consequence of living in a sinful, broken world. Through Confession and Absolution, we walk in God’s light as His forgiven children.

Every Sunday, as a community of believers, congregations say the Lord’s Prayer out loud. Luther goes into detail about what each petition of this prayer means, giving believers an in-depth understanding of exactly what it is they’re praying for.

The Fourth Petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” thanks God for everything that He gives His creation, including food, drink, house, money, and so on. Read an excerpt from Albrecht Peters’s Commentary on Luther’s Catechisms: Lord’s Prayer to see how God gives humanity goodness through Christ daily.

This weekend’s passage from Romans amplifies Jesus’ parable of the weeds. In the same way that the servants in the field desire to pull weeds, Christians on earth wish either for unbelievers to be subdued or for Christ’s return to take the faithful to heaven. Paul sympathizes with our “sufferings of this present time” (Romans 8:18) that Christians have “eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God,” and says that we are “groaning together.”

Martin Luther was a phenomenal theologian. He wrote many theses during his lifetime, and he also presided over and responded to many of the academic disputations of others in order to discuss their points and validity. A new edition of Luther’s Works, Volume 73 on disputations, dives more deeply into Luther’s arguments from December 1537 to July 1545. Read an excerpt below from the newest volume concerning arguments on Law and sin.

Luther distinguishes himself from all interpretations of the Second Petition before him, in that in the catechism he bases the kingdom of God in the Gospel of Christ, which in the First Petition he had foreshadowed under the topic of pure doctrine. The ‘Kingdom of Grace’ of the heavenly Father is here on earth only there to be found where the Gospel of our salvation through Christ’s sacrificial death is “genuinely preached throughout the world.” This is and remains Luther’s fundamental insight: How the Church is ‘creatur verbi,’ thus also God’s Kingship is governance through the Word from the cross.

The Lord Almighty is a gracious, loving Father. This is exemplified throughout the Bible, both in His compassion for the Israelites and in His Son, Jesus Christ. Just as God daily shows grace to each and every one of His children, we too must also strive to share this grace with others.