Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28, NKJV)
Every good thing of earth was placed here by the bountiful hand of God as an expression of His love to man. (Ellen White, “Counsels on Stewardship” p. 15)
Dominion Planned and Bestowed
Stewardship was given by God as a gift to the human race before there was sin on our planet. In the beginning, God planned to give stewardship to His created beings who were made in His image. Genesis 1:26 tells about this plan of giving dominion to Adam and Eve. Then after God created the two humans, He blessed them and gave them stewardship or dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28).
God’s original plan was an expression of His love for all creation. Adam and Eve lived as perfect stewards of the earth for some time, exercising dominion. They were God’s representatives for planet earth. All their needs were provided for, and their lives were always happy and their work enjoyable. They experienced daily communication with their Creator. Adam and Eve clearly understood that God owned everything, and they were the stewards of God’s possessions.
Dominion Lost
Then an evil force entered Adam and Eve’s perfect world and tricked them into believing they should be owners and not merely stewards managing for God. Because they chose to believe this lie, things became very difficult for them. They immediately noticed they had lost the blessing God had originally given them which, until then, had clothed them. They also soon learned they had lost the dominion God had given them as it had been taken from them by the serpent, Satan.
Lucifer, Serpent, Satan, Devil, or Dragon (whatever name you want to call him) now claimed he represented all creatures on earth. He now claimed dominion, and this planet was now aligned with the rebellion against God. Satan and all the world’s inhabitants now thought themselves owners of the earth.
Stewardship Restored
After the dominion was lost, God immediately promised Adam and Eve that the dominion of the earth would be regained by sending a future seed of the woman to crush the head of the deceiving, usurping serpent. This promised inheritance gave immediate hope to Adam and Eve.
This promise to restore dominion is the connection between Stewardship and Planned Giving. God had a plan for the redemption of humans in place from eternity past. Jesus had volunteered to be the one to come and become a human to restore the dominion of the earth to the human race. Since this plan had been in place for all time in the past, it could be immediately presented to Adam and Eve when they needed it most. By faith, Adam and Eve received the power to choose whether to accept this planned gift immediately. They could now again choose to be an owner seeking to usurp the blessings of God or a steward who chooses by faith to manage faithfully the possessions of God. The choice to be a steward, which they surrendered to Satan by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, was now restored to them by faith.
As descendants of Adam and Eve, we each have the same choice to be a faithful steward of God’s possessions or to seek to be an owner in place of God. God states very clearly that He owns everything (Exodus 19:5, Job 41:11, Psalm 24:1, Haggai 2:8). As professed believers in, and followers of Jesus, we are called to be faithful stewards for God.
God First
From the time we are old enough to reason and make decisions, every human chooses whether to recognize God as the owner of all things. Those who accept God as the owner of themselves, their family, their friends, and their possessions also take the responsibility seriously to be stewards of all things God entrusts them to manage. God will be first in all things in their life on earth.
Job is one of the best examples of a human who always put God first (see Job 1, 2). In prosperity, Job put God first. God noticed Job as a person who always put God first. During the terrible trials that Satan brought, where everything was removed from Job, Job still put God first. Job would not allow anything to tempt him to not put God first. As a result of Job steadfastly keeping God first in his life, God blessed him more in the latter part of his life than in the first part of his life (See Job 42).
Stewardship Faithfulness
Choosing to be faithful or not is a part of the life of every human. This choice cannot be avoided. Stewardship and Planned Giving & Trust Services (PGTS) are both lifelong commitments. As followers of Christ, part of our commitment is always to put God first. We do this with our time, talents, and treasures, as evidenced by Job’s story. The faithful steward puts God first by returning an honest tithe to God’s storehouse (Malachi 10:8) and a regular proportional offering to support the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 6:20).
In the chapter SATAN’S WILES in the book “Counsels on Stewardship,” Ellen White describes a vision where she observed Satan instructing his angels to specifically attack Seventh-day Adventist Christians living in the last days of earth’s history. All five of these temptations in Satan’s instruction involve stewardship and faithfulness. [the following numbers in parentheses added for clarity]
Go, make the possessors of (1) lands and (2) money drunk with the (3) cares of this life. Present the world before them in its most attractive light, that they may (4) lay up their treasure here, and (5) fix their affections upon earthly things. (White, p. 154, 155).
Satan will use any way possible to allure the human race to not put God first, but these five temptations seem to be where he is focusing the efforts of his angels. Satan’s angels are instructed to attack Seventh-day Adventists in the stewardship arena with a focus on lands, money, cares, treasures, and affections.
God Always
When does the stewardship responsibility end for humanity? Being a faithful steward is always keeping God in first place in your life. God first and God always. A plan to always provide for your family is one of the essential things a faithful steward can do. Paul stated it this way.
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8, NKJV)
God blessing His followers with possessions allows them to provide for their families and support God’s mission on earth. Satan will do all he can to keep the faithful steward from supporting the mission to reach people for God. Satan stated it this way to his angels.
We must do our utmost to prevent those who labor in God’s cause from obtaining means to use against us. Keep the money in our own ranks. The more means they obtain, the more they will injure our kingdom by taking from us our subjects. (White, 155).
Having a plan that honors God even after sleeping and waiting for Jesus to come is the way a faithful steward always puts God first. The faithful plan keeps possessions that are God’s, working for the purposes of God on earth. The stewardship responsibility ends when the follower of Jesus, through their faithful plan, transfers their managed possessions in a way that keeps them safe for God’s purposes on earth. The faithful stewardship of our possessions is what I call GOD ALWAYS.
DOMINION RESTORED
The faithful steward chooses to recognize that God owns everything and wants to keep God first and always because of what Jesus did for the human race during His 34 years on earth and what Jesus continues to do for all people as the representative of planet earth in Heaven. At the resurrection of Jesus, the dominion that the serpent deceived Adam and Eve to obtain was restored to Jesus as the rightful representative of our planet, and now Jesus has dominion over our earth. It is grateful love for Jesus that motivates the faithful steward. That is why faithful stewards want to keep God first and God always.