Stewardship Scriptural Quotes Introduction

At the annual Lay Witness Speaker Training a training guide is provided that includes stewardship scriptural quotes for people to use in their lay witness talks. We decided to add those to this planning guide as well.

On the following pages are scripture quotes sorted by Stewardship “topics.”

Note: this is not the “exclusive” list of stewardship scripture. There are other scripture quotes that also highlight the concept of stewardship that can be used as well.

Scriptural Texts Relating to Stewardship

On Responsible Stewardship:

  • All tithes of the land, whether in grain from the fields or in fruit from the trees, belong to the Lord, as sacred to Him...The tithes of the herd and the flock shall be determined by ceding to the Lord as sacred every tenth animal as they are counted by the herdsman’s rod.  -Leviticus 27:30, 32
  • Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. But do not hesitate to give alms; you will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity.  -Tobit 4:8-9
  • Honor the Lord with your wealth, with first fruits of all your produce; then will your barns be filled with grain, with new wine your vats will overflow.  -Proverbs 3:9-10
  • The just man’s sacrifice is most pleasing, nor will it ever be forgotten. In generous spirit pay homage to the Lord, be not sparing of freewill gifts. With each contribution show a cheerful countenance and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy. Give to the Most High as he has given to you, generously according to your means. For the Lord is one who always repays, and he will give back to you seven-fold.  -Sirach 35:6-10
  • Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruits.  -Matthew 21:43
  • He said, “Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.” His master said to him, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”  -Matthew 25:20-21
  • Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.  -2 Corinthians 9:6-8
  • If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but indeed and truth.  -1 John 3:17-18
  • “He must increase; I must decrease.”  -John 3:30
  • “Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing.”  -Luke 6:38

On Gratitude:

  • No one shall appear before the Lord empty-handed, but each of you with as much as he can give, in proportion to the blessings which the Lord, your God, has bestowed on you.  -Deuteronomy 16:16-17
  • What the Lord has given us to live on is certainly enough or us.  -Tobit 5:20
  • The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it.  -Psalm 24:1
  • Know that the Lord is God, he made us, his we are; his people, the flock that he tends. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name for he is good.  -Psalm 100:3-5
  • How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? -Psalm 116:12
  • “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God."  -2 Corinthians 4:15

On Prayer:

  • Take care to keep my sabbaths, for that it is to be the token between you and me throughout the generations, to show that it is I, the Lord, who make you holy.  -Exodus 31:13
  • For six days work may be done; but the seventh day is the sabbath rest, a day for sacred assembly on which you shall do no work. The sabbath shall belong to the Lord wherever you dwell.  -Leviticus 23:3
  • For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart you will find me with you.  -Jeremiah 29:11-14
  • This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done...  -Matthew 6:9-10
  • Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  -Matthew 11:28
  • Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.  -Mark 14:37-38

On Participation:

  • The word of the Lord came to me thus: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations, I appointed you...To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.  -Jeremiah 4-5,7-8
  • “Why do you stand here idle?...You too go into my vineyard.”  -Matthew 20:6, 7
  • But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many.  -Matthew 20:26-28
  • Amen, I say to you. Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.  -Matthew 25:40
  • “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.”  -Luke 3:9-11
  • Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.  -John 14:12
  • Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  -John 20:21
  • Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does.  -James 1:22-25
  • What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  -James 2:14-17
  • So we, though many, are one Body of Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them.  -Romans 12:5-6
  • As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever.  -1 Peter 4:10-11
  • Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” -Isaiah 6:8

On Generosity:

  • This is what the Lord then said to Moses: “Tell the Israelites to take up a collection for me. From every man you shall accept the contribution that his heart prompts him to give me.”  -Exodus 25:1-2
  • From all the gifts that you receive, and from the best parts, you are to consecrate to the Lord your own full contribution.  -Numbers 18:29
  • Each year you shall tithe all the produce that grows in the field you have sown…so that the Levite who has no share in the heritage with you and also the alien, the orphan and the widow who belong to your community, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake.  -Deuteronomy 14:22 & 29
  • The measure of your own freewill offering shall be in proportion to the blessings the Lord, your God, has bestowed on you…  -Deuteronomy 16:10
  • It is the Lord’s blessing that brings wealth and no effort can substitute for it.  -Proverbs 10:22
  • One man is lavish yet grows still richer; another is too sparing, yet is the poorer. He who confers benefits will be amply enriched, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.  -Proverbs 11:24-25
  • Let not your hand be open to receive and clenched when it is time to give.  -Sirach 4:31
  • Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.  -Matthew 10:8
  • Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.  -Luke 12:48

On Trust:

  • Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house and try me in this way, says the Lord of hosts; Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven to pour down blessings upon you without measure? -Malachi 3:8-10
  • So do not worry and say “What are we to eat?” or “What are we to drink?” or “What are we to wear?” All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.  -Matthew 6:31-33
  • Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith? -Mark 4:40
  • Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.  -Luke 6:38
  • He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? -Romans 8:32

On Materialism:

  • No one can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.  -Matthew 6:24
  • Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it…This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the Word of God…As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life and they fail to produce mature fruit.  -Luke 8:7,11,14
  • What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself? -Luke 9:25
  • Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.  -Luke12:15
  • Every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.  -Luke 14:33
  • For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.  -1 Timothy 6:7-10

On True Treasure:

  • Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroy, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.  -Matthew 6:19-21
  • The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field which a person finds and hides again and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  -Matthew 13:44
  • If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  -Matthew 19:21
  • But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.  -Luke 12:20-21
  • Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.  -1 Timothy 6:17-19