This is part of the worship series
"The Joy of Generosity"
Series Introduction
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
Week One
Trees, Time, Talents, Treasures
In place of one sermon, this service calls for four separate sections in the center of the service. Each section follows the structure of Scripture, meditation, confession, and song (perhaps only one or two stanzas). The confessions are taken from Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony.
We Gather as Stewards…
Call to Worship
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the waters.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty,
he is the King of glory.
—Psalm 24:1–2, 7–8, 10 NIV
To Affirm Our Stewardship of Trees
Refrain
Sing “O Lord, Our Lord (How Majestic Is Your Name)” Smith before and after the responsive reading of Psalm 8.
Scripture
Psalm 8—Read responsively
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
—Psalm 8 NRSVUE
Meditation
Picking up the message of the creation story told in Genesis 1, Psalm 8 introduces us to the grand themes of biblical stewardship. Stewardship is rooted in who God is (the Creator) and who we are (God’s creatures ruling over God’s creation).
Psalm 8 recognizes the sense of insignificance that the cosmos creates within human hearts. “What are human beings?” asks the psalmist. In the face of the immensity of the universe, the answer seems obvious: Nothing! But we discover our place in this world not from the pages of creation but through the special revelation of divine truth. “What are human beings?” In a sense, masters of the universe! We are created stewards, rulers over the works of God’s hands. Psalm 8 reaffirms the cultural mandate given in Genesis 1:28.
Stewards of trees? It’s simply a catchy phrase for our stewardship of all of creation. As we exercise that stewardship, we exalt God’s name and give honor to the divine excellence.
Confession
Made in God’s image
to live in loving communion with our Maker,
we are appointed earthkeepers and caretakers
to tend the earth, enjoy it,
and love our neighbors.
God uses our skills
for the unfolding and well-being of his world
so that creation and all who live in it may flourish.
—Our World Belongs to God, para. 10 © 2008, Christian Reformed Church in North America.
Song
“Come, All Christians, Be Committed” Lloyd
“For the Fruit of All Creation” Green and Jackson
“Forest Trees” Walker, Polman
“Glorious Is Thy Name Most Holy” Elliott
“God Whose Giving Knows No Ending” Edwards
“O Lord, Our Lord, How Majestic” Bash
“Take My Life That It May Be” Havergal
“The Wise May Bring Their Learning” Adapted from the Book of Praise for Children, 1881
“This Is My Father’s World” Babcock
To Affirm Our Stewardship of Time
Scripture
Ecclesiastes 3:1–11
Meditation
Although we don’t often think of it, we are stewards of time. Sometimes we feel imprisoned in time, at the mercy of events over which we have no control. Yet Ecclesiastes tells us, “For everything there is a time.”
But the writer of Ecclesiastes isn’t announcing a pessimistic fatalism. Implicit in the first eight verses of the chapter is a sense of God’s control over the times of our lives. Time is God’s gift. That gift needs to be employed with a sense of the eternity that God has placed in human hearts. And while in ourselves we cannot understand things from beginning to end, yet in humility we can use the gift of time to find joy and fulfillment in our daily activities. Because God is the Lord of time, we, as stewards, can make the most of every opportunity God entrusts to our care.
Confession
Even now,
as history unfolds
in ways we know only in part,
we are assured
that God is with us in our world,
holding all things in tender embrace
and bending them to his purpose.
The confidence that the Lord is faithful
gives meaning to our days
and hope to our years.
The future is secure,
for our world belongs to God.
—Our World Belongs to God, para. 13 © 2008, Christian Reformed Church in North America.
To Affirm our Stewardship of Talents
Scripture
1 Peter 4:7–11
Meditation
In this passage, Peter reminds us of the nature of the times in which we live. “The end of all things is near” in our place in the flow of redemptive history (v. 7). For Peter, this was not a chronological but an eschatological nearness, growing out of the coming of the kingdom of God in the person and work of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Because we live in the time when the end of all things is near, some activities are critical—including the exercise of our spiritual gifts. The Greek word for gift is charis or grace. Thus, Peter links our stewardship of gifts with the nature of God’s gracious and Spirit-directed kingdom.
Spiritual gifts are actually the ways in which God graces our lives with the ability to serve others. Gifts, then, are more than mere talents. Spiritual gifts refract God’s grace into a rainbow of ministries that center around two poles: word gifts and service gifts (v. 11). As we exercise stewardship over our gifts, we become stewards of one another.
Confession
The Spirit renews our hearts
and moves us to faith,
leads us into truth,
and helps us to pray,
stands by us in our need,
and makes our obedience fresh and vibrant.
God the Spirit lavishes gifts on the church
in astonishing variety—
prophecy, encouragement, healing,
teaching, service, tongues, discernment—
equipping each member
to build up the body of Christ
and to serve our neighbors.
—Our World Belongs to God, para. 29 © 2008, Christian Reformed Church in North America.
Song
To Affirm our Stewardship of Treasures
Scripture
Deuteronomy 8:10–18
Meditation
Among the talents God entrusts to us is the ability to make money. But that phrase contributes to the misconception that we have somehow made our money ourselves. Deuteronomy warns the Israelites against making the claim “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me” (v. 17). This same danger threatens any established and prosperous society—including our own!
What is the antidote? Again, it’s a vision of ourselves as stewards—this time of treasures. Since God gives us the ability to produce wealth, it follows that what we have is a trust from our Lord and Maker. Deuteronomy connects forgetting our stewardship of treasures with forgetting God. Where the one happens, the other is sure to follow. But the reverse is also true. When we remember who we are as God’s stewards, we remember that our wealth is a trust—on loan—from the Lord.
Confession
Our world belongs to God—
not to us or earthly powers,
not to demons, fate, or chance.
The earth is the Lord’s.
Our work is a calling from God.
We work for more than wages
and manage for more than profit
so that mutual respect
and the just use of goods and skills
may shape the workplace.
While we earn or profit,
we love our neighbors by providing
useful products and services.
In our global economy
we advocate meaningful work
and fair wages for all.
Out of the Lord’s generosity to us,
we give freely and gladly
of our money and time.
—Our World Belongs to God, para. 7, 48 © 2008, Christian Reformed Church in North America.
Song
To Give Back to God
Offering Invitation
Christ has taught us that we cannot love both God and wealth.
Our hearts will always be focused first on our riches.
Let us be faithful stewards
of our time, our talents, and our money
so that our treasure is in heaven
and our giving pleases God.
—Words for Worship, Arlene Mark, ed. © 1996, Harald Press. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Revised Common Lectionary
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Canadian Thanksgiving Day
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Thanksgiving Day
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Trinity Sunday
Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 22 (27)
Year C: Season after Pentecost—Trinity Sunday
