Whether the oil of ordination as ministers of the gospel has come upon your head or not, as long as we are Christians and a worker in the vineyard of God, we are called stewards of God.
As God’s stewards, Apostle Paul in his writing to the Corinthians in the book of 1 Corinthians 4:2 said something that is paramount important, “Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful”.
In other words, it is a privilege if you are among the people that God had called to be stewards in His Vineyards. Being a privilege, it is most important that we strive to fulfill the condition of our stewardship by being faithful.
For purposes of asking, are you a true and faithful steward or are you playing to the gallery? This is a question we all need to ponder and answer for ourselves.
Please it is not the issue of how popular we are or the number of our congregation, we have or the number of social media followers, we command, but what is important thing is,” what did God say about us and what the witness is our conscience bearing”.
In other words, being a steward, the question that comes to mind is, “are you a true and faithful steward of God”? The Bible pointed out Moses in Hebrew 3:2 and 5 as it puts it, “Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in his entire house.
And Moses verily was faithful in his entire house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. In other words, can you say boldly that you are a true and faithful steward of the Almighty God?
As a minister and a worker in the vineyard of God, remember our anchor scripture of I Corinthians 4:2, “it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful”. Can God testify of you that you are a true and faithful steward of God?
One of the reasons, as a minister and workers in the vineyard of God, this question calls for our sober reflection and answer is because we are living in an era that many ministers of God and Christians, in general, had thrown caution to the wind and are living lifestyles that are unbecoming of a minister of God or Christians.
In other words, there are many ministers of God and Church workers that would be disappointed on the last day because when they expected to hear what God told the just steward that Jesus told the story in Mathew 25:21?
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”
Instead, the Lord will tell them what was told by the steward in Luke 13:27 “But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
To prove that we are truly faithful stewards of God, there are certain requirements God expects from us. As Apostle Paul puts it in 1Peter1:15 “But as he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation”.
The book of Titus 3:8 equally says, this is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable for men
The book of 1 Timothy 3:2 gave us an insight into one of such requirements. “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Also in Titus 1:7 the Apostle Paul said of a Christian leader or a bishop as Paul called it, which say, “For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Being a steward in the vineyard of the Lord, especially pastors, you should be careful to be among the Pastors God spoke about in Jeremiah12:10. Here God so lamented about some Pastors, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
Also in Jeremiah 23:1, God declared woe on some pastors, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
If you are a true and faithful steward of God, strive to be among the Pastors being referred to in Jeremiah 3:15 “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding”
Also, as ministers and workers in the vineyard of God, equally be careful that you will not be among those that Luke 13:27 referred to as workers of iniquity “But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity”?
True and faithful stewards of God of old some are chronicled in Hebrew 11:32 to 40. Please consciously read and digest it. What will be written of me and you after our time on earth is over?
These heroes of faith as they are called, there list will not be complete without mentioning persons like Kathryn Kuhlman, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles G. Finny, A.A Allen, Watchman Nee, E.W. Kenyon, A.W. Tozar, Kenneth Hagin, Lester Sumrall, John G. Lake, T. L. Osborn, and a host of other great men and women.
These men and women of God, their names are still ringing bell in Christendom, even after their death many years and centuries ago. This is because they were true and faithful stewards that God used to shake the nations of the world.
Presently and still alive are men like Kenneth Copland, Bishop David Oyedepo, David Yongi Chow, Pastor E. A. Adeboye and a great host of men and women who are still alive and shaking nations for God.
For me and you, what are the things that are going to be written about us, our impacts, or otherwise in the little corners we found ourselves? Can it be said of us that in that church or ministries we are, our impacts are felt and that we were really true and faithful stewards in the vineyards of God?
OF all these men and women of faith, of old, it was recorded that they having obtained a good testimony through faith, they did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Hebrew 11:39-40.
There was a story of faithful stewards as is seen in Mathew 25:21 His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
If we are true and faithful stewards of God, He has promised to confirm us. 1 Corinthians 1:8 “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Also, as a true and faithful steward of God, the book of 2 Peter 3:14 encouraged us, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Are we sure that if the roll calls of faithful stewards of God are called today that our names will be there? Are you a true and faithful steward of God? Shalom!.