2-22-26 “From Dust to Life: Stewarding What Truly Matters” (Stewards of God’s Grace #4)

Click here for worship material

“From Dust to Life: Stewarding What Truly Matters”
(Stewards of God’s Grace #4)

 I want to start with something funny I found on an internet site. I think I’ve shared this before, but it’s a good reminder as we have our Ash Sunday service:

After church, Johnny tells his parents he has to go talk to the pastor immediately. They agree, and the pastor greets the family.

“Pastor,” Johnny says, “I heard you say today that our bodies came from dust.”
“That’s right, Johnny, I did,” the pastor replies.
“And I heard you say that when we die, our bodies go back to dust.”
“Yes, I’m glad you were listening,” the pastor says. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, you better come over to our house right away and look under my bed, because there’s someone either comin’ or goin’!”

Good morning, everyone! Today we begin the season of Lent—a time to slow down, reflect, and turn our hearts toward God. On Ash Sunday, we remember that “from dust we came, and to dust we shall return.” These words are humbling; they remind us that life is not ours to control.

As we start Lent, let us rethink stewardship. This month, we have reflected on stewardship not just in terms of money, but of our lives, our time, and our relationships with God and with one another. Stewardship begins with recognizing that all we have is a gift from God.

In Today’s scripture, Joel 2:12–14 calls us to “return to the Lord with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” It’s a call to repentance and self-examination, asking us to consider what we hold too tightly in our lives.

At the beginning of Lent, I took last year’s palm leaves from Palm Sunday and made ashes from them. I remember how fresh and beautiful those palms were, and now they are dry, turned to ash. I displayed a couple of palm branches here so we can see how leaves fade and dry. While I was setting fire to the palm leaves, a scripture verse came to mind: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). Yes, everything turns to dust—including humans—but the Word of God never disappears.

We mark ashes on our forehead or the back of our hand, and the minister says, “From dust we came, and to dust we shall return.” The ashes remind us of our mortality: we are dust, and everything we have is entrusted by God.

Stewardship begins with understanding that nothing ultimately belongs to us—not our time, talents, lives, treasures, family, children, grandchildren, church, or community. Everything is entrusted to us by God, and someday we will give an account before Him (Matthew 25).

We are thankful to God for Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season, because God intentionally gives us this opportunity for repentance and self-examination. The Living Bible (Atlas Pew Bible) says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me all your hearts.” Indeed, God gives us the chance to turn back to Him. The season of Lent is a time for a spiritual reset.

Let us examine ourselves and reflect on where we have been selfish with our time, resources, or relationships. The word “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, meaning “spring.”  It is a season of preparation for celebrating Easter.

During Lent, Christians often fast or give up something as a meaningful expression of repentance and spiritual renewal. Lent lasts for forty days before Easter. Do you know why it is for forty days? Next to the number seven, forty occurs most frequently in the Bible. It represents a period of testing or preparation:

1. Rain fell for forty days and nights during Noah’s time. It is preparation of new life in a new creation (Genesis 7:12, 17).
2. Moses was on the mountain of Sini with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, without eating bread or drinking water to receive the covenant of God (Exodus 34:28).
3. Elijah got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights to fulfill his mission (1 Kings 19:8).
4. Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness to find the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33–34).
5. The spies Joshua sent searched the Promised Land for forty days (Numbers 13:25).
6. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown’ (Jonah 3:4).
7. Jesus fasted and prayed in the desert for forty days before beginning His ministry (Matthew 4:2).

These examples guide our forty-day observance of Lent, incorporating fasting, prayer, reflection, reading Scripture, good deeds, volunteering, and other spiritual disciplines. It is a time to renew spirit, body, and soul, drawing closer to God.

We face many challenges in our faith journey: snowstorms, cold or icy conditions, physical weakness, struggles in relationships, and many other pressures. It is not easy to maintain our faith, adhere to church schedules, or follow Jesus consistently. Yet, despite difficulties, we are called to continue our journey in faith.

Ashes remind us that all humans come from dust and shall return to dust. God created humans in His image, using dust: “God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Adam comes from Adama in Hebrew, meaning “dust.” Disconnected from God, we are dust; connected through the Holy Spirit, we become living beings.

After sinning in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were punished to work for life. Yet God, in His love, made garments of skin for them and said: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

Stewardship is not only about what we give financially—it’s about how we live every day.            Imagine holding a handful of sand. You can grasp it tightly, but it slips through your fingers. Or, you can open your hand, letting some fall away—what remains is easier to hold and more can be shared.

This is Lent in a nutshell. God invites us to open our hands—not to lose, but to live fully and share generously.

This Lent, I invite each of you to take one step in stewardship:

• Reflect on what you are holding too tightly.
• Identify one way to give your time, talent, or treasure.
• Commit it to God, knowing that everything we have ultimately comes from Him.

As we go through this season, let our ashes remind us daily: from dust we came, through God we live, and for God we give. Thanks be to God. Amen.