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J.R.R. Tolkien, in his epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings, explores antithetical relationship between stewardship and kingship. On one hand, there is a character named Denethor, who is in the position of steward of Gondor. He is the temporary ruler of Gondor in the absence of the proper king, but he has grown corrupt and weak-minded. On the other hand, the character Aragorn is the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor, but at the beginning of the trilogy, he hides this identity and pretends to be a ranger named Strider.
When Aragorn rises to power and is ready to take his proper place as king, Denethor is reluctant to give up his ownership of the kingdom. He confused the role of steward and king and it eventually led to his downfall. The inhabitants of Gondor learned that there is a major difference between a stewardship and kingship. A king has ultimate power and authority over his kingdom; a steward is a temporary manager of someone else’s resources. When a steward tries to assume the role of the king, it always spells disaster.
I believe there are many people in our world today who confuse the roles of steward and king with their lives. Many of us have been taught that we are kings of our individual lives. We believe that we have ultimate power and authority over our lives. We believe that what we have and have worked for is ours. Many of us have forgotten that God is the rightful king of our lives and we are merely stewards of his resources. Psalm 24 counteracts this mentality by reminding us that God is the only and rightful king of the universe!
The unifying theme throughout the psalm is the worship of God the king. The opening verses (1-2) establish the foundation of God’s kingship in his creation of the world. The second part of the psalm specifies the conditions that must be met by those who would worship the king of creation. The third part celebrates the kingship of God in military language, having associations with the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized God’s sovereign presence in battle. Thus, this psalm was most likely composed as a hymn of praise to God for a great military victory—celebrating the fact that God is the king of the whole earth.
As we consider the difference between stewardship and kingship today, I want to focus on just the first two verses. The two opening lines of the hymn praise the Lord for his establishment of the world and his ownership of everything in it. These two verses provide a powerful corrective to the way so many people today undervalue God and overvalue themselves. Let’s examine these verses more closely!
God Owns Everything (1a)
The dramatic declaration at the beginning of this hymn of praise sets us straight as to who is the king and who is the steward. Make no mistake about it—God is the sovereign king over the whole universe and everything in it belongs to him.
In verse 1 David uses a common feature of Hebrew poetry called synonymous parallelism to describe the breadth of God’s ownership. He uses the term “earth” in the first line and “world” in the second line. They both refer to the vastness of God’s creation. The phrase “everything in it” distinguishes God’s ownership of every inanimate and impersonal material object in the universe. This includes everything from the sun, moon, and planets that illumine the sky to every mountain, hill, tree, and river, on earth. This includes everything from the largest star to the smallest quark!
The largest known star is VY Canis Majoris; a red hypergiant star in the constellation Canis Major, located about 5,000 light-years from Earth. University of Minnesota professor Roberta Humphreys recently calculated its upper size at more than 2,100 times the size of the Sun. Placed in our Solar System, its surface would extend out past the orbit of Saturn. Light takes more than 8 hours to cross its circumference!
You chemistry majors know that a quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. This means that quarks are even smaller than atoms!
When the text says “everything” it means everything! God owns absolutely everything in the universe!
God Owns Everyone (1b)
In the second line, David employs the phrase “all who dwell in it” to deepen his description of God’s sovereignty and ownership over his creation. This phrase refers to every living creature and person in existence. This includes everyone from the richest to the poorest person in the world. This includes the child who was just conceived in the mother’s womb to the oldest person in the world. By the way, the world’s current oldest person is Kama Chinen. This Japanese woman is who will turn 115 on May 10, 2010 if she can just hang in there for another week or so! It also includes everyone from Adam, the first human being to ever walk on the face of the earth to last person who will live here.
God Created Everything (2)
Once David declares that everything and everyone in the world belongs to God, he goes on to explain why. God owns everything and everyone because he created everything and everyone! Verse 2 says that he founded the earth upon the seas and established it upon the waters. This is not saying that the earth actually floats on some sort of terrestrial ocean. Rather, using poetic language, this verse refers back to Genesis 1 where we have a picture of how God created, established, and ordered everything in the world. This language recalls the act of creation in which God summoned the dry land to rise from the watery surface. The earth is portrayed as having a foundation like a large cathedral built to the glory of God. He is Lord over all the works of his hands, putting everything in its rightful place, including human beings!
Do you remember where God originally placed Adam and Eve? That’s right, the Garden of Eden? Do you remember whose garden Eden was? That’s right, it was God’s! Eden was God’s garden because he created it, but he gave Adam and Eve the responsibility of being stewards of the garden. They were to tend, work, and rule over the garden, and in return, God blessed them with everything they needed for a fulfilling physical and spiritual life.
The problem came when they confused the roles of stewardship and kingship. They were merely stewards of the garden, but the serpent deceived them into believing that they were kings of the garden. They usurped God’s authority and assumed the role of king when they took ownership of what did not belong to them. When they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they lost the blessings of the Garden of Eden. God reminded them that he is the only king of the universe!
This is exactly what happens to us today when we, the stewards of the earth, usurp God’s authority and set ourselves up as kings of the earth. When we act like everything and everyone is ours, we play the part of king rather than steward. As God did with Adam and Eve in the garden, God has ways of reminding us that we are not kings and that we don’t own the earth. Every time there is an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado, God reminds us of how little power we have over nature. Every time there is an economic collapse, God reminds us of how little control we actually have over our money. Every time we lose a loved one, God reminds us that he is the giver and taker of life, not us!
So, let me ask you: When do you tend to forget that we are merely stewards instead of kings? What areas of your life do you tend to act like a king instead of a steward? Where you need to be reminded that God is the owner of everything and that we are simply temporary stewards of his resources?
1.) The Environment
One area where many people confuse roles of stewardship and kingship is the environment. On one hand, God is the only king of the earth. He alone can change the weather and manipulate the wind and waves. On the other hand, he has charged us to be good stewards of his creation, and it is amazing how many people minimalize this responsibility. It is particularly sad when Christians are more interested in disputing the science behind global warming than they are about reducing the amount of trash that destroys our planet. I don’t understand all the details about global warming, but I do know that the amount of trash we put in the land, water, and air cannot be good for God’s creation.
I believe this mentality stems from an attitude of ownership and entitlement toward the earth. I have heard people say, “It’s my land, I can do whatever I want with it.” “It’s my property, and it’s nobody else’s business what I do with it!” “The environment isn’t my problem, it’s someone else’s problem.” Do you think these attitudes are glorifying to God or his creation?
The earth in which we live is a gift from God’s from God’s own hand, and it is our responsibility to take care of it. God has called us to be stewards of his creation! Are you taking care of your responsibility? What steps are you taking to conserve energy? What changes are you making to reduce waste, trash, and pollution? The earth is the Lord’s; what is your attitude toward God’s creation?
2.) Church
Another area where people tend to play the role of king rather than steward is church. It is natural that the longer we are members of a particular local church, the more we tend to take ownership of it. This is true of both pastors and parishioners. It certainly isn’t wrong to care deeply about your local church, but we must always remember that every church belongs to God. It never belongs to any individual or group!
I have seen people in some churches who take so much ownership that they become hostile toward new people and they never let anyone else do anything. Some people take so much ownership that they balk anyone who would even suggest changing something. Likewise, I have seen some pastors who believe the church belongs to them and they shepherd their people like tyrannical dictators. Regardless of who we are, how long we have been here, or what we like or dislike, we must always remember that the church belongs to God! We are just stewards of his church!
3.) Family
Family is probably the most delicate issue of all when it comes to stewardship. Many people develop a belief that their family belongs to them. We tend to go through life thinking that our spouse and our children belong to us, but they don’t! They belong to God!
I think parents especially struggle with this when their children finish high school. God entrusts them to us to raise for eighteen years, and then the day comes when they leave for college, get married, or simply move away for some other reason! This is the real test of whether we see ourselves as stewards or kings. Parents who act as kings refuse to let their children go! They try to manipulate their children into doing what they want them to do, even if God is leading them somewhere else. Parents who act as stewards thank God for the wonderful opportunity he has given them, but they are willing to trust God enough to turn them back over to him.
Think about your children for a minute! Do you parent like a king or a steward? Do you act like your kids belong to you or to God? Remember, everyone who dwells in the world belongs to God!
I suppose the greatest test of whether we believe we are a king or steward of our family is how we respond when they die. If your spouse or one of your children passes away and you respond with anger or bitterness toward God, you probably see yourself as a king. I know many people who shake their fists at God and say, “How could you do this to me? How could you take him away from me? Why would you let her go like that?” When we say things like this, we deny that they really belonged to God in the first place and assert that we are wiser or more compassionate than God.
Contrarily, when you lose a loved one and respond by saying, “The Lord gives and takes away! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” you probably see yourself as a steward. When you simply thank God for the years you were able to enjoy with that person, you probably understand the difference between stewardship and kingship.
One of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard was preached by Dr. E.V. Hill, the late pastor of the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The sermon was preached in 1987 and is titled “My Wife’s Death in Biblical Perspective.” His text was Job 1:21, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Throughout the sermon he refers to his wife with the name he called her, “Baby.” He explains at the beginning of the sermon that he did not choose to preach her funeral to display special strength; rather, he said, “I stand fulfilling a task my member asked of me.” His wife, one of his church members, asked him to preach her funeral so he did so. Toward the end, he takes up “the Lord taketh away” making the important point that a sign of Christian maturity is being able to say “Blessed be the name of the Lord” not only when the Lord gives but also when He takes away.
The reality is that none of us really own anything. Everything that we ever had, have now, or will have sometime in the future belongs to God. Whether it is his land, his church, his family, or something else, let us never forget that we are mere stewards who are temporarily managing God’s resources. If you really believed that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, how would it change your view of life? Do you see yourself as a king or as a steward? Do you know your rightful place in the world?