Convenant and Success (10)

Chapter 9

Covenant

There is a lot in the Bible concerning the covenant, but I want to focus on the positive or blessings side of the covenant, with the understanding there is a cursing side as well, targeting those that don't obey the laws and commands of God. Blessings come the same way, based upon learning and putting into practice the the laws of God.

Before we get into the blessings for obedience to the terms of the covenant, bear in mind with these blessings come responsibility, which a major part of this book was written to help identify and understand. In other words, we must learn how to manage ourselves in the midst of blessings, which can easily take us off course if we don't.

That has been the challenge for God concerning His people for thousands of years. He wants to bless us extraordinarily. Not only to share good things with us, but as mentioned throughout the book, in order to confirm His kingdom; it allows us the privilege of giving to the advancement of God's kingdom on the earth.

Here's the promises of God if we obey Him:

Deuteronomy 28

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

8 The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

9 The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.

11 And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.

It's worth reading over these blessings listed in order to get a feel for the great things God wants to give and do to and for us. All He wants us to do is show our love for Him through obedience. Love for God is defined as obedience, as Jesus mentioned when He said if we really love Him, we'll obey His commandments. No obedience means no love. It doesn't matter what type of sentimental feelings you say you have for the Lord Jesus Christ if the result isn't to obey His laws and commands.

At first glance you may wonder what this has to do with success in this life, but when we operate under the implications of faith and obedience to God, it has everything to do with it. We can't separate obedience from success and retain any eternal value. Our works will follow us into eternity, and how we live in obedience to God will decide the type of rewards given us by the Lord when we stand before Him.

God reveals to us the curses associated with disobedience, but He first lists the blessings. Interestingly, there are far more cursings than there are blessings. I believe that's because the Lord is our exceeding great reward, and the blessings are a reflection of the abundance we find in Christ.

Here's the importance of these blessings and cursings: they are all part of our time here on earth. Some are looking for escape from this world and reject taking responsibility for their lives now, but throughout the Scriptures we are continually told about reaping what we sow. There are positive and negative consequences, and they include the time we live on this planet.

They are a shadow of the realities of heaven and hell, but they are still temporarily real.

What I'm trying to communicate here is the blessings are to be included as part of our lives on the earth too. I mention this because so many teach we are all about to be taken away, even though after decades of this assertion, we remain on the earth, and we have no idea when Jesus Christ will return and resurrect our bodies. For that reason we need to occupy till He comes, which means we are to work to be successful within our specific callings, and engage in the pursuit of success and assets in order to help expand God's kingdom in history.

All of this comes from the grace of God in connection with His promise to bless us in the many ways listed above.  Keep in mind this is a promise to His people, not only an individual. There are individuals that are part of these blessings, and the entirety of the people couldn't be blessed in these ways if numerous individuals weren't part of the blessings. That's important because not all individuals are called to receive all these blessings, but together all of the followers of Jesus Christ will. It's a corporate blessing coming upon a people who obey Christ, which is fulfilled by many individuals within the household of God.

The two go together, but it doesn't guarantee some great wealth for everyone, as not everyone can handle the temptations and responsibility that accompanies it. When you look through the Scriptures, the basic promise for most of us is we'll have enough for ourselves and our families, and enough left over to help others and give in order to establish God's covenant. That means to help spread the kingdom of God across the earth in our own lifetime.

All of this as a result of obedience to God. I want to mention once more the scripture where it tells us that man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God. All that we receive from God comes by His grace, and even though we are to do our part by becoming experts at what we do, we are limited to planting and watering, understanding it's God that gives the increase. That's important so we give glory to God and not look to ourselves as the source for success and wealth.

Our lives are more than the activities centered around bread, meaning the pursuit of assets in order to provide our needs and some wants. Our lives exist for the pleasure of God, and that pleasure comes from having faith in Him and obeying that which He has revealed to us to obey. That's success no matter what they level of assets He puts under our control and management.

For that reason we can't measure our success and blessings only by what we have, as some do. Instead, we measure it by knowing what God has asked of us and obeying what He requires.

Chapter 10 Stewardship

1 Corinthians 4:2

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Titus 1:7

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

1 Peter 4:10

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

The general definition of a steward is one that is in charge of someone else's estate, property, business affairs, or anything we take care of on behalf of others.

The foundational scripture involving stewardship is in 1 Cor. 4:2, where it says what is required of a steward is that they are found faithful. We are to be faithful in taking care of what we are put in charge of.

Don't be confused here in regard to pursuing success and a business that we consider our own because we have responsibility for it and make the final decisions. All that means is we have that authority. Since we must consider anything we have as belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ and being on loan from Him, it means we are to be faithful in the discharge of our duties, even though we are the one making final decisions.

Another extremely important thing to consider and remember is our customers, as far as it relates to people, are really those making decisions. If we do our job correctly and faithfully within a market that has growth potential, we should be successful if we remember we're in it to serve those people or businesses we do business with.

Whether or not we are the "owners" of the business or not won't matter if we aren't faithful stewards, which is another way of saying engaging in quality service. The point is everything belongs to God, and even in our businesses we need to acknowledge that He is Lord there as He should be in all areas of our lives. So we serve under God as faithful stewards, going our best to meet all the promises we have made to our customers.

As stewards of a business, there will be an accounting by God after the resurrection. Much sooner we receive an accounting from our customers by their feedback, which in most cases is whether or not they're willing to do business with us.

Blameless

One thing I'd like to mention about how we study the Bible is that even though there may be something specific it's talking about, we can learn from and apply those truths to other areas of life. For that reason when Titus 1:7 talks about a bishop being blameless as a steward, it can be taken and applied to our own lives in various areas. After all, do we think elders and church leaders are the only people required to be blameless in our service to God and other people? Of course not.

As a blameless steward of God, we are to take on the qualities associated with Titus 1:7, which means we aren't to be self willed, which would be detrimental to achieving success. Not only would it work against us in making it harder to accomplish, but even if we get results, the fruit of it will be tainted by being driving by our own will and not that of God's.

Other attributes include being able to control our temper, senses (not drunk or taking drugs), cheating people, or being overly aggressive in response to their interactions with us.

When we're stewards of the Lord's in our pursuits, we must walk in self control, which is really what blameless means. Our behavior must be excellent, and we must treat people with respect. That doesn't mean we are to be pushovers for those that take advantage of us or verbally or physically abuse us. It simply means under normal circumstances of service we are to be patient and kind with people as they give us feedback on our products or services, which can at times be aggressive towards us because of the frustration of having to deal with it in the first place.

This is why those people and businesses that are able to successfully and satisfactorily handle problems that arise, are those that are able to reach their goals. It's not that we are able to eliminate problems (we should do our best to reduce them), it's that we do everything we can with our best attitude to solve it for the customer. That can produce some of the most loyal customers we have if it's done right. Being a blameless steward is the major quality in performing in that manner.

To the best of our abilities and within reason, we have to remove the idea from customers we're trying to cheat them or fail to live up to our promises and their expectations coming from those promises. This is what being faithful, blameless stewards accomplishes, and the major thing there is to be sure to clearly and effectively communicate what it is we're offering and at what price. Failure to do that in a way that is easily understood is a big part of bad customer relations or product and service failures beyond what should be experienced.

Minister according to our gifts

We are to minister to one another according to our gifts, as good stewards of the grace of God. The ability to minister to others comes from the grace of God, as do our gift or gifts. For that reason we need to understand what it is our gift is, in order to be a good steward.

I've seen many people attempt to serve in gifting or areas they're simply not qualified for. The eventual result is frustration and underperformance. It's one of the reasons we have to accurately identify our gifting in God and the area we're to serve in. If we don't, we can have a good heart and do everything as unto the Lord and not unto men, but we won't reach the potential we would otherwise have reached.

I'm not saying this is something that can happen all at once; it could take time. But those that know what their calling is early in life will be able to produce much more over their lives than those that are slow to do so.

There are of course caveats to this. For example, we may be involved in different areas of service at different stages of our lives. We may have a part time job when we're younger for the purpose of learning to be faithful in someone else's business. After all, if we can't serve successfully under another's authority, how will be have the self-discipline when we have only ourselves to answer to, as far as human beings goes? We can't.

So we have to identify our gifts, understanding we're on a journey for this part of our lives specifically, and an overall journey for the rest of our lives. We should do those things that lead to our ultimate goal in this world, as far as it remains to success, business and assets, knowing it relates to our destination.

Gifting are also important in understanding our limitations. There are some things we're very good at, and those are services we need to perform ourselves. It doesn't mean in the early stage of a business we won't have to wear many hats, as we learn all aspects of the business in order to understand it and help to train others in different jobs once we are no longer to do perform the requirements to fulfill our promises. Many business owners fail in this way, as they refuse to delegate authority and train people to do their jobs.

That's okay if your purpose is to serve as a one-person business. But if you have goals beyond that, knowing your area of expertise and operating within it is the best way to be a steward and minister effectively to others.

Also, if you're going to eventually hire employees, you need to know how and where they can best serve as well. It's one reason why we need to do the same with ourselves, as it'll provide us a map we can follow when we start to expand the business.

The key there is to place employees in positions where they aren't set up for failure. That is done by identifying their gifts and giving them responsibilities they have a significant chance at accomplishing.

Conclusion

Since we are to minister according to our gifting, it implies the excellence mentioned earlier in the book, where we develop to the best of our ability. That means being stewards of our time, money and assets.

The greater gift we're given, the greater will be our responsibility, and the greater will be our accountability.

We know how well we're doing by legitimate feedback from customers. I say legitimate because there are those types of customers that really have no interest in having their problems solved, they only want to complain because it's part of their nature. We can be patient and kind with them, but eventually we have to decide whether they're real customers or not. Real customers, after doing some venting, will respond to various solutions. They won't refuse your attempts to make it right.

Feedback is the great mechanism and metric in business that tells us how we're doing. If we have a lot of negative feedback concerning specific products or services, we need to take a very close look at where things are going wrong and what can be done to solve the issue. That's a big part of being stewards, and why we must faithful in the discharging of our responsibilities and duty to our customers.

Stewardship is being faithful, and that means we are to provide quality products and services to those we do business with. Anything less will result in failure. In this life customers and God hold us accountable, in the next life we'll stand before God to give an accounting for what we've done in service with our gifts.