Living Each Day as a Steward: The Steward’s Identity
The Steward’s Identity Shapes Giving
1 Corinthians 16:1-6
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. Sept. 20th, 2026
Awhile back, this is going to date me, in 1997 Apple launched a new marketing campaign to revitalize their brand. Steve Jobs had just returned to the company and he was getting ready to introduce the iMac, an all-in-one personal computer with a transparent colored plastic shell. While Apple under Steve Jobs developed a reputation for innovation that’s not really what Jobs brought to the table. He was a salesman. And he knew that before they even get the product out the door he needed to spruce up the brand. So Apple began their Think Different campaign.
The first ad of the campaign was called “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” and it featured a voiceover by Richard Dreyfuss glorifying the innovators who have pushed the human race forward. As he speaks various 20th century figures are shown in black and white. Leaders, visionaries, and artists like Pablo Picasso, Amelia Earhart, Jim Henson, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, and Martin Luther King Jr. You may remember seeing posters from the campaign that were simply pictures of such figures with the text “Think Different” and the rainbow colored Apple Logo.
Notably this campaign said nothing about computers. The ad did not show a single Mac. There was no mention of the internet. There was no mention of desktop publishing or graphic design. Nothing about ease of use. The ad and the following campaign only told you what Apple as a brand means, and what you will be if you buy an Apple product. Apple is for the non-conformists, the rebels, the visionaries. And if you get this piece of plastic and silicon you can be a non-conformist too like everyone else.
Apple under Steve Jobs never really gave up that marketing ethos. I remember growing up they had the I’m a Mac/I’m a PC ads that were really about how boring and square you must be if you use Microsoft windows and how hip you’d be with a Mac.
Apple is hardly unique when it comes to marketing itself this way. Nike will not tell you their shoes are comfortable or will make you faster. They will tell you Michael Jordan wears them. Don’t you want to be like Mike? Ads for Gatorade feature athletes sweating brightly colored fluids. Don’t you want to be cool and active like them? It’s a common marketing trick. Don’t sell the product, sell how the product feels. Sell who you will be if you get this product.
Because choosing to spend your money on this product, and use this product, says something about the sort of person you are. Don’t you want to be the rebel? Don’t you want to be the athlete? People might not think you are now, but just wait until they see your shoes or see your computer.
It seems silly when I break it down this way, but this little marketing trick does point to something that is true. What we do with our money says what we value. It speaks to our identity. Whether it is an identity we strive to possess, or an identity we are confident in. If you want to know who someone is you can examine their pocketbook.
This morning we heard from Paul in the conclusion to his first letter to the Corinthians. There he is tackling some housekeeping matters before he wraps up the letter. He is engaged in a collection for the saints in Jerusalem, and he wants to make sure the Corinthians are ready for him when he arrives. He suggests that they begin collecting now, a little bit every week, so when he arrives they do not have to make a collection but he can take the money then.
The collection for the saints in Jerusalem is a through line in much of Paul’s letters. He took the collection very seriously. We may wonder why it was important for him. Or, more to the point, why he thought it was so important for the churches. I think Paul took the collection so seriously because the gift would strengthen the ties between Jerusalem and Paul’s mission. We know from Galatians that there was some strain between Paul and Jerusalem. Some men from Jerusalem had come to Galatia and muck up Paul’s ministry. Not everyone there cared for him. But if the churches raised funds for the poor of Jerusalem and if Jerusalem accepted it, that gift would show the heart Paul’s churches have for the mother church. And receiving that gift would show the love Jerusalem has for Paul’s churches. The circulation of gifts would bind them, and make them one.
By giving generously Paul’s Churches could make a claim about who they are. They are the redeemed of Christ. And the redeemed of Christ are generous. And they are one with Christians all over the Roman Empire. Including Jerusalem. And wished to care for their needs.
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ, being a steward, means we are asked to give to the needs of others and give to the work of the Church. This is unique. We give because Christ first gave to us. He who was rich became poor for our sake. That we who are poor may become rich. When we give generously we are making a statement about who we are. Disciples of Christ, bought with a price. Paying back far less than what it cost to buy us. But joining in that great heavenly work the Bible calls the Kingdom of God.
Some marketers may tell us that if we buy their product we can prove we are a certain sort of person. But I am saying this morning that if we give generously of our surplus we are also showing ourselves to be a sort of person. A disciple of Christ, part of his mission, part of his work. United with the Church around the world.