This is a summary of a message that the Lord gave me to preach at a partnering church a couple of months ago…

 

There are two vessels that do not travel well together two “SHIPS”, if you will, Ownership and Stewardship. More simply said, when we become owners of the property of God’s Kingdom we fail to be the best stewards of God’s Kingdom work.

 

The Kingdom of God must ride smoothly through the waters of society and culture - without compromising a bit of its God given power to shape them. We aren’t owners of the power of God, we are vessels that are used in powerful ways when we allow him to direct His power through us. Adapting the church to the culture around it has always happened, and it has always called for change, that change has always created resistance. Do you know what causes that resistance from the church? Ownership!

 

Ownership is the enemy of change. Ownership causes complacency, which is the roadblock to the Great Commission. We live in a day of church hopping for the simple reason that people are searching for “a church” that fits what they like, what they prefer – instead of where and how God has called them to serve.

 

Some in the Body of Christ have become church consumers looking for their favorite “store” with the best displays, so they walk through one church after the other. Like they’re walking through Sam’s hunting down the best free sample. They church hop around before they make a decision on where they’d like to invest, like they’re purchasing a home or piece of furniture instead of paying it forward so that someone that is without Christ can come to Him as their Lord and Savior.

 

When we become more focused on a church building and what takes place on that property than on the PEOPLE in our lives, (spouses, children, fellow church members, coworkers, class mates, neighbors, etc.) we become complacent and therefore less effective for the Kingdom of God.

 

Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist Pastor, who is credited for laying the intellectual foundations of the American Civil Rights movement and was a teacher and mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., said this, “The tragedy of life is not found in failure but complacency. Not in you doing too much, but doing too little. Not in you living above your means, but below your capacity. It’s not failure, but aiming too low, that is life’s greatest tragedy.”