2026-09-27 Sermon “His Love, Our Response of Treasures”

Devotional

Day 1: Stewardship Beyond the Offering Plate

Stewardship isn’t about church donations but managing God’s gifts in daily life. Your family, work, school, and neighborhood are primary arenas for faithful stewardship. The cattle on a thousand hills already belong to God—you’re a temporary manager of relationships, skills, and resources. Even grocery shopping or homework becomes sacred when done as a response to God’s generosity. The goal isn’t perfection but faithfulness in the ordinary. Where does your stewardship feel most alive outside these church walls? [00:40]

“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”
(Psalm 24:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you most struggle to see your daily work or relationships as sacred stewardship? How might viewing them as God’s entrusted gifts change your approach?

Day 2: The Weight We Carry: Sin, Transgression, and Wickedness

Three words haunt every steward: sin (missing the mark), transgression (crossing boundaries), and wickedness (inventing new evils). These aren’t abstract concepts—they’re the reasons we mismanage time, damage relationships, and hoard resources. Like a farmer blaming broken tools, we often excuse our failures. Yet Jesus took this triple weight to the cross. What specific failure have you been reluctant to name before God? [10:21]

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:23, ESV)

Reflection: Which of the three—sin (imperfection), transgression (defiance), or wickedness (corruption)—do you most need to surrender today? What would it look like to place it in Christ’s scarred hands?

Day 3: Redeemed for Rich Living

God doesn’t barter—He exchanges our filth for Christ’s righteousness. Titus 3 reveals the trade: our malice for His mercy, our slavery for His Spirit, our hopelessness for His inheritance. Being “made rich” through Jesus’ poverty means every act of stewardship now flows from abundance, not scarcity. What poverty mindset still limits your generosity? [12:54]

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
(Titus 3:4-5, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you still operate from spiritual scarcity rather than Christ’s abundance? How might His completed work free you to steward boldly?

Day 4: When a Penny is a Second: Trusting God’s Economy

Time and money terrify us because we measure them poorly. To God, a million years are a second; a million dollars, a penny. Yet He still cares about your clock and wallet. The joke about asking God for a penny exposes our transactional view of grace. True stewardship begins when we stop keeping score. What “penny” have you been too afraid to request? [15:29]

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
(2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you resent God’s timing or provision? How might His eternal perspective transform your daily stewardship of time and resources?

Day 5: 100% Covered, 100% Offered

Romans 12’s “living sacrifice” isn’t a partial offering—it’s your job, commute, laundry, and laughter. If Christ already covers 100% of your failures, why offer Him less than 100% of your life? Stewardship becomes worship when we stop calculating percentages. What area have you walled off from His claim of “all things”? [20:52]

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
(Romans 12:1, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your life still feels “off limits” to God’s stewardship? How might surrendering it deepen your trust in His complete coverage?

Sermon Summary

God’s love calls forth a response, but stewardship is much bigger than money. The ministry of vocation reaches into family and friends, school and work, retirement, neighborhood, community, and the shared life of Christ Lutheran Church. God places people in homes, workplaces, classrooms, and communities as gifts to those around them. The church family matters deeply, but it is only one part of the places where God gives people to serve.

Psalm 24 puts the whole question in its right place: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” God owns everything in the home, on the property, in the bank account, in the body, and in the heart. God showers blessings on the righteous and the wicked alike, even when those gifts are misused, mistreated, or wasted. People are managers, stewards, of what already belongs to Him.

Sin, wickedness, and transgression mess with every area of stewardship. Sin misses the mark. Transgression sees God’s boundary and steps across it anyway. Wickedness reaches into the dark things that rise from human hearts. The one thing no person can blame on somebody else is personal sin, personal wickedness, and personal transgression.

Jesus answers that terrible truth by becoming the offering. Titus 3 declares that God saved sinners not because of righteous things they had done, but because of His mercy, through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Christ paid it all. The debt is settled. His people stand in God’s favor for the sake of Jesus Christ, covered one hundred percent before Almighty God.

Christ also turns failed stewardship into a place for faith. Romans 8:28 does not make painful things easy to understand, but God calls His people to lean into His promise and say, “Lord, I know You’ve got this.” The first offering placed before God is not money but sin, failures, struggles, and memories of where life was really blown. Jesus takes those burdens so they no longer hold His people hostage, and His power is made perfect in weakness.

Financial giving belongs within that larger response. Tithing may be a place to start, but Christ fulfilled the law so that His people might live freely. Romans 12 names the New Testament offering: bodies presented as living sacrifices. Worship therefore happens not only in a church service, but across every place where renewed minds discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect before God.

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Key Takeaways

1. God owns every treasure entrusted God’s ownership changes the whole question of giving. Possessions, abilities, relationships, bodies, and time are not private kingdoms but entrusted gifts. Stewardship begins not with fear of losing something, but with gratitude for what already belongs to the Lord. [05:38]
2. Sin reaches into every vocation Sin is more than an occasional mistake because it distorts every place where people are called to serve. Transgression knowingly crosses God’s boundary, while wickedness exposes the troubling depths of the fallen heart. Honest stewardship therefore starts by owning what cannot be blamed on anyone else. [10:21]
3. Jesus receives the first offering Jesus came to receive sin, failure, regret, and the memories that keep people hostage. His once-for-all offering means that the debt has been settled completely. Weakness does not disqualify a person from God’s service when that weakness is handed over to Christ. [18:27]
4. Christ covers His people completely Jesus does not cover only part of a life before Almighty God. His righteousness stands over the whole person, including every failed act of stewardship. That complete grace frees people to respond without trying to purchase God’s favor. [16:56]
5. Life becomes a living offering Romans 12 moves the offering beyond a percentage in a plate. Family life, work, school, retirement, neighbors, and church service become places of spiritual worship. Renewed minds learn to discern God’s will in the ordinary places of every day.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:23] - Stewardship Is More Than Money
[01:01] - Vocation in Family, Work, and Community
[02:08] - Questions About Ownership and Sin
[04:04] - Receiving Christ Before Responding
[05:38] - The Earth Is the Lord’s
[07:13] - God Showers Blessings on All
[10:21] - Sin, Transgression, and Wickedness
[11:51] - Jesus the Once-for-All Offering
[12:20] - Redeemed for Doing Good
[15:29] - Christ Became Poor to Make Rich
[16:25] - Giving God Every Part of Life
[17:34] - Trusting God With Failed Stewardship
[18:27] - The First Offering Is Failure
[19:21] - Financial Giving and Living Sacrifices

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Romans 12:1-2
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [20:30]

Psalm 24:1
“The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” [05:52]

Titus 3:3-8
“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.” [12:20]

Observation questions

According to Psalm 24:1, who owns the earth and everything in it, including the people who live in it? [05:52]
What areas of life are named as places where Christians live out stewardship besides their involvement in the church?
In Titus 3:3–8, what descriptions are given of people before God’s saving kindness appeared, and what actions of God bring renewal and hope?
In Romans 12:1–2, what does Paul call believers to offer to God, and what change helps them discern God’s will? [20:30]

Interpretation questions

If everything belongs to the Lord, how does that change the difference between being an owner and being a steward of possessions, time, abilities, and relationships? [06:32]
Titus 3 says that salvation comes from God’s mercy rather than righteous things people have done. Why is this important for understanding good works and generosity as a response to grace rather than an attempt to earn God’s favor? [12:34]
How do the distinctions between sin, transgression, and wickedness help explain why stewardship problems are not only about poor planning or limited resources? [10:21]
Romans 12 describes believers as living sacrifices. What might it mean for ordinary responsibilities in family life, work, school, retirement, and the neighborhood to become spiritual worship? [20:45]

Application questions

What is one part of life that is easy to think of as “mine”—such as money, schedule, home, body, reputation, or abilities? How might remembering that it belongs to the Lord reshape the way it is used this week? [16:25]
Where has stewardship become too narrowly connected with money? What gifts of time, attention, skill, encouragement, prayer, or presence might God be calling a person to offer in daily life?
Is there a place of failed stewardship—a relationship, financial decision, missed responsibility, harmful habit, or lingering regret—that still feels controlling? What would it look like to bring that failure honestly to Jesus rather than letting it hold someone hostage? [18:27]
In a difficult situation that does not yet make sense, what might it sound like to pray, “Lord, I know You’ve got this”? What makes that kind of trust hard, and what helps strengthen it? [17:43]
Where might church service, work demands, or other commitments be crowding out care for family, friends, or neighbors? What could a healthier and more faithful balance look like? [08:23]
What is one specific place this week where a renewed mind could help discern what is good, acceptable, and pleasing to God—in a conversation, a purchase, a work decision, or a use of time? [21:05]

Sermon Clips

47s

“When we're thinking about the offering plate and the offering, what's the first offering that we can give to god? All of our struggles, all of our failures. Who actually wants those offerings? I mean, the first offering we can give is our sin, our failures, our struggles, our memories of where we really blew it so that they don't hold us hostage any longer. Give those things to god because that's what Jesus came to do. And that's where Jesus, in our weakness, his power is made perfect.”

37s

“But here's the good news. After all that law, who came to save us from all that? Who came to pour out his life to rescue us? And the answer is Jesus. Who came to be the offering? The once for all offering that would change our lives in time, throughout time. Across each day and then forever, our savior Jesus. Look at that, Titus three reading in the middle of page two.”

29s

“We thought about the most important thing in terms of our time is to simply receive. Certainly, we wanna be Martha's doing all kinds of things in our lives for all kinds of people, but we need to receive from Jesus to simply be fed so that we can then respond in the strength of the Lord and not just in our own strength where we end up getting really mad at the people that we're supposed to love and care about.”

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