The Stewardship Of The Mystery

Our difficulty always will be to comprehend, to grasp, to bring that excellent greatness of God's eternal grace, that transcendent fulness of Christ, within the compass of our everyday lives and practical experiences. Yet He is One whom we desperately need to know. Although it is so far beyond our natural comprehension, it is the good pleasure of God to reveal His Son in our lives by His Spirit. An evergrowing, inexhaustible conception of Christ is yours for the seeking and asking!

"A Stewardship of the Mysteries is an ecumenical work that explores current issues in the administration of the sacraments and the role of the word of God, in the order of the eucharist in Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Many preachers have taught on stewardship in reference to our money and our time, but both money and time are temporary commodities of this earthly life. Jesus used the parables about stewardship in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke to teach about the Kingdom of God. Parables are used to liken something people could understand to something that they may not have understood in any other teaching. Likewise, when Jesus taught about the sower and the seed, He did not intend for believers to become better farmers or gardeners. Since believers do not use the parable of the sower and the seed to learn about gardening, why is it that they use the parables of the talents and the pounds to teach that stewardship is referring to actual money or time? As Paul was writing to the Church of Corinth, he told them, "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1). There is something of much more value than both money and time that God has placed into the hands of the church to take care of until He returns! This book was written so the believer can discover what God expects in us as His STEWARDS of the Mysteries of God!

This work is a re-write of T. Austin-Sparks' book, "The Stewardship of the Mystery," which could be considered a defining book of Sparks' ministry. It seeks to put his great work into modern language, editing the original from its verbatim conference form. In simple, accurate language, this book highlights Sparks' emphases on the vision of God's persistent purpose, the greatness of Christ, the power of eternal life, the vitality of God's Word, the application of the Holy Spirit, the purpose of redemption, the inclusiveness of the church, and the experience of the cross.

ALL THINGS IN CHRIST. God's answer to everything, God's explanation of everything, God's means of realizing everything is a Man, "the man Christ Jesus". When this world has run its evil course, this inhabited earth will be judged in a Man. Men will be judged by what their inward relationship is to that Man. The question at the judgment will never be of how much good or bad, right or wrong, more or less, is in a man; it will turn upon this one point, Are you in Christ? If not, more or less makes no difference. God's intention, God's proclamation is that all things are in His Son. Are you in Him? Why not? The basis of judgment is very simple. It is all gathered up in a Man, and what is in that Man of God for us. That is the basis of judgment. It all comes back to the very simple, and yet comprehensive and blessed truth, that it is what Christ is that satisfies God, reaches God's end, and meets all our need. It is all summed up in a Man, "the man Christ Jesus". T.A-S.