Introduction
Open by asking: What is yours? Most people work hard to accumulate: money, possessions, time, reputation. But 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 challenges this fundamental assumption: "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. [Read passage.] "You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Here's the main point: Christian stewardship begins with the recognition that we are not our own — we were bought with a price.
I. We Were Bought With a Price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
The image is shocking: you are purchased. Owned. Not by a human master, but by God through Christ's blood. This is not slavery—it is liberation.
Psalm 24:1 establishes the foundation: "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." We do not own creation—we steward it. We do not own ourselves—we belong to the one who made and redeemed us.
When Jesus died, He paid a price that made us His. That price was His blood. His life. His entire self.
This changes stewardship. We are not managing our own resources. We are administering what God has entrusted to us.
Application: Do you truly understand that your life, your body, your time, your talents are not yours? What would change if you treated them as a sacred trust from God?
Stewardship begins when we stop thinking of ourselves as owners and start thinking of ourselves as caretakers.
II. Present Yourselves as a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2)
Romans 12:1 calls this: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."
This is not a one-time transaction. It is daily. Living sacrifice. Every morning, you choose again to render yourself to God.
Verse 2 continues: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Stewardship requires resistance. The world constantly tells you: your body is yours, your time is yours, your money is yours, spend it on pleasure and comfort. But as God's purchased possession, you render it back to Him.
Application: What does it look like to present your body, your time, your sexuality, your talents as a living sacrifice today?
This is how we honor the price that was paid for us.
III. Faithful in the Small Things (Malachi 3:8-10)
Malachi 3:8 makes stewardship personal and financial: "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' In tithes and offerings."
This is not primarily about money—it is about faithfulness with what God has entrusted. If we cannot be faithful with our finances, what does that say about our faith?
Malachi 3:9-10 shows the consequence: "You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse... and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."
Jesus affirmed this in Luke 16:11: "If you have not been trustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" Stewardship of finances is training ground for faithfulness in deeper things.
Application: Are you rendering to God the first fruits of what you earn? Not the leftovers, but the first? What would change if you genuinely saw your money as God's, held in trust by you?
Faithfulness in small things is the path to faithfulness in all things.
Conclusion & Appeal
Close with this: You are not your own. You were bought with a price. This is the truth that liberates you from the false freedom of self-ownership. When you surrender yourself to God, you find your truest self.
Challenge: This week, practice rendering one area of your life back to God—your finances, your time, your talents, your sexuality, your future. Say it out loud: "This is not mine. I render it to God." Watch how surrender brings peace.
