[1] Financial stewardship is not only a matter of faithful
giving but of faithful living. In response to the
gospel, we submit our lives to the rule of God, to the lordship of
Christ, and to the direction of the Holy Spirit, so that we may be
the people God wants us to be and have the lives God wants us to
have.1
[2] With regard to financial stewardship, faithful living
entails at least four things: 1) we acquire our money in
God-pleasing ways; 2) we regard our money in God-pleasing
ways; 3) we manage our money in God-pleasing ways; and, 4)
we spend our money in God-pleasing ways. If you are
one of those persons who likes nifty acronyms, the key words here
can be associated with the word arms:
A - Acquire
R - Regard
M - Manage
S - Spend
How We Acquire Money
[3] When we are faithful stewards, we acquire our money
in God-pleasing ways. The Bible often shows concern for such
matters.
[4] To start with, scripture offers no commendation for those
who don't do any work at all. Everyone should "earn their own
living," one text maintains, and "anyone unwilling to work should
not eat" (2 Thes 3:10-12). The point here is not to commend
starvation for the unemployed or to put a scriptural kibosh on
government-sponsored welfare programs. In fact, these words
may have been intended as a condemnation of the idle rich:
well-to-do persons who have no need to work for a living will not
be welcome at the church's community meals unless they start
devoting themselves to some sort of worthwhile labor. Work is
good, the Bible maintains, and even people who don't need to work
for a paycheck ought to take jobs that will allow them to
contribute to society and prevent them from turning into "mere
busybodies" (2 Thes 3:11).
[5] Assuming that people are working for a living, the
law of Moses provides details for honest business dealings (Lev
19:35-36; Deut 25:13-15), maintaining that "all who act dishonestly
are abhorrent to the Lord" (Deut 25:16). The prophet Amos
cries out against merchants who bring a caveat emptor code
to the marketplace by practicing "deceit with false balances" or by
"selling the sweepings of the wheat" (Amos 8:5-6; cf. Lev 19:35).
In the New Testament, John the Baptist tells soldiers not to
supplement their wages by extorting money or accepting bribes (Luke
3:14), and he instructs tax-collectors to gather no more than the
prescribed amount (Luke 3:13).Thus, scrupulous honesty is intended
to typify persons who are faithful stewards of God (see also Jer
17:11; Prov 10:2).
[6] The Bible further indicates that money ought not be earned
in ways that create hardships for those who can least afford them.
God forbids the Israelites from taking advantage of those who
"have fallen into difficulty," saying, "Do not take interest in
advance or otherwise make a profit from them" (Lev 25:35-37; see
also Exod 22:25-27). Amos also rails against those who gain
wealth at the expense of the poor (Amos 2:6-7; 5:11). In the
New Testament, Jesus castigates religious leaders who have become
rich by confiscating the homes of widows (Luke 20:47), and his
brother James has some choice words for wealthy landowners who fail
to pay their field hands a decent wage (James 5:1-6).
[7] Stewards of God, however, do not just seek to avoid what is
negative, resisting temptations to dishonesty, sloth, or greed.
Beyond that, we are encouraged to view our employment
positively as a vocation from God, as something that we do in order
to make a worthy contribution to life in this world. Martin
Luther encouraged every worker to view his or her job as a calling
from God. Of course, there may be some professions that
stewards of God should simply avoid, work that is intrinsically
immoral or contrary to the purposes of God. Luther himself thought
this of certain "trading companies" of his day, which he called "a
bottomless pit of avarice and wrongdoing." His only advice to
Christian employees of these hopelessly corrupt companies was "Get
out! They will not change."2 But,
generally speaking, we can all be faithful stewards of God by
pursuing occupations that involve us in useful and worthwhile
activities.
How We Regard Money
[8] When we are faithful stewards, we regard our money
in God-pleasing ways. The Bible often displays strong interest
in the attitudes and motivations that undergird human behavior, and
this is never more true than with regard to material things.
Scripture says that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of
evil" and maintains that one "cannot serve God and wealth" (Matt
6:24). Money, then, is to be something that we use, not
something that we love or serve. We should not allow money to
become a primary source of joy or meaning in our lives (that would
be loving it) nor should we allow money to exercise a controlling
influence over our decisions (that would be serving it).
[9] Beyond such caveats, however, we should note that the Bible
generally encourages us to take a positive attitude toward
our possessions. God is often identified as the ultimate
source of prosperity (Prov 28:25) and Moses tells the Israelites to
view affluence as something to celebrate (Deut 8:10). Jesus says
that the Father in heaven gives "good things" to his children (Matt
7:11) and we might conclude from other stories in the Gospels that
such good things include nice clothes and jewelry (Luke 15:22),
fatted calves (Luke 15:23), casks of wine (John 2:6-10), perfume
(Mark 14:3-6), houses and fields (Mark 10:30) and other things
associated with pleasant living in a material world.
[10] If there is a problem with affluence in the Bible, it is
not usually that there is anything wrong with prosperity itself but
that material abundance leads to spiritual amnesia.
Moses has to warn the Israelites, "Do not say to
yourself, 'My power and the might of my own hand has gotten me this
wealth,' but remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you
power to get wealth" (Deut 8:17-18). Thus, stewards are encouraged
to view their material possessions as gifts of God and to be
thankful for them. In our modern age, notions of entitlement
run rampant and have become increasingly easy to adopt. Such
notions are a surefire prescription for joyless living: we find it
difficult to appreciate what we have when we think that we are only
getting our due, and we find it easy to complain about what we lack
when we think that we are not getting our due. The
good news of biblical stewardship provides an antidote to such
notions. It inculcates genuine gratitude, a first cousin to
joy.
[11] Acknowledgment of God as the giver of all that we have also
implies trust in God's continuing benevolence. The Bible
cautions us not to be anxious (Matt 6:25-33). "Do not worry
about tomorrow," Jesus says (Matt 6:34). "Do not worry about
anything," the apostle Paul adds (Phil 4:6). When we
trust in God to provide us with what we need, we can have less
stressful and more satisfying lives. Indeed, it is trust in
God that accounts for Paul's startling claim, "I have learned to be
content with whatever I have" (Phil 4:11). Such contentment
is grounded in the confidence that we not only will have
enough to get by , but that we already do have enough. We
have enough to be the people God wants us to be and to have the
lives God wants us to have.
How We Manage Money
[12] When we are faithful stewards, we manage our money
in God-pleasing ways. The world of the Bible knew nothing of
stock markets, tax brackets, or pension plans, but the Bible does
have more to say about money management than we might
imagine.
[13] As a general principle, the Bible indicates that money is
to be used, not hoarded. The best example of this may be the
parable of the rich fool that Jesus tells in Luke 12:15-21.
This man has so many goods that his barns will not hold them.
To use a modern idiom, his biggest problem in life is what to
do with all his "stuff." So, he finally hits upon a
solution-tear down the barns and build bigger ones. Note his
reasoning: I need bigger barns, not less stuff . But he is going to
die and discover the truth of that old adage, "You can't take it
with you" (cf. Psalm 49:17; 1 Tim 6:7). Or, as they say in
Texas, "There is a reason why you never see a hearse pulling a
U-Haul."
[14] There is another problem that we also want to avoid.
The opposite of hoarding may be
squandering, and the Bible does not denounce the former so
as to recommend the latter. Indeed, just three chapters after
the parable of the rich fool, we find a story about a foolish boy
who squanders his inheritance on frivolous pursuits and then is
caught unawares when a famine comes upon the land (Luke 15:12-16).
So, saving money for some definite purpose is not the same as
storing away more than we ever intend to use.
[15] To get this right, to avoid both hoarding and
squandering, we need to think through our intentions and
prayerfully submit them to God, asking, "How much should I set
aside for this or for that? When am I storing away too much and
when am I saving too little?" Jesus told yet another parable that
might be apropos to this subject. In Matthew 25:14-30, he
speaks of a man who gives money to three of his servants and waits
to see what they will do with what they have been given. Two
of the servants are deemed "good and trustworthy" because they
successfully engage in the commerce of the day and manage to double
what was given them. The third servant is denounced because
he simply buries the money in the ground and digs it up later,
proud that nothing was lost. Like most parables, this story
has a metaphorical moral with a wide range of application, but
there is certainly something to be learned at a literal level about
financial management: doing nothing at all is seldom the
best course.
[16] Concern for money management is, in my view, one of the
most overlooked areas in contemporary stewardship education.
To take but one, obvious example, the pervasiveness of
high-interest credit-card debt in our modern society is evidence
that mismanagement of personal finances has reached epidemic
proportions. For many of us, faithful stewardship must begin
with a basic commitment to getting our finances under control.
Faithful stewardship might mean altering our spending habits,
developing a budget, or learning to invest and save our money
wisely. It might mean seeking the counsel of trained
financial advisors, and approaching all of our decisions about
money management with prayerful consideration of what God would
have us do.
How We Spend Money
[17] When we are faithful stewards, we spend our money
in God-pleasing ways. We please God when we use our money in
ways that serve others (1 Pet 4:10-11) and that demonstrate
appropriate self-care.
[18] Christian stewardship generally commends the virtue of
frugality, a way of moderation that encourages Christians
to distinguish between luxuries and necessities and to place some
limits on acquisition of the former. But there is a
difference in pursuing such a life on the basis of the gospel
rather than on the basis of the law. The latter approach may
be exemplified by a writer in Proverbs who pleads, "Give me neither
poverty nor riches . . . Or, I shall be full and deny you . . . Or,
I shall be poor and steal" (Prov 30:7-9). Such thinking is
grounded in fear and espouses a "damned if you do, damned if you
don't" attitude toward stewardship. The apostle Paul, as we
have seen, evinces exactly the opposite approach: Rich or poor,
having plenty or little . . . it doesn't matter. He knows
that he will be content and that he will be a faithful steward of
Jesus Christ regardless (Phil 4:12). Paul does not assume
that either poverty or riches would be his undoing because he knows
that God is at work in him (Phil 1:6) and that he can do all things
through Christ (Phil 4:13).
[19] Accordingly, Christians may view the commendation of
frugality and moderation not as a requirement but as an invitation
to a joy-filled life. We all know that acquisition of
possessions does not in itself bring joy. What is called for,
then, is not an arbitrary distinction between "necessities" and
"luxuries" but discernment regarding what is truly worthwhile and
what is not. Ultimately, such decisions must be matters for
personal conscience or family discussion. Christian stewards may
not always be consistent or predictable in such deliberations, but
the mere fact that they consider such matters prayerfully, seeking
the guidance of God's Spirit, will set them apart from the general
population.
[20] If we begin consciously spending our money in ways that we
believe are pleasing to God, we will not miss out on the pleasures
of life. If anything, we will begin appreciating such
pleasures all the more, knowing that God approves and applauds our
enjoyment of this good world and much that it affords.
Discerning people lack no appreciation for the wonder and
value of life but, to the contrary, appreciate what they have and
do not regret the absence of what they choose to
forego.
[21] We need make no apologies for showing such
discernment. John Westerhoff points out, for instance, that
parents often deflect the more extravagant desires of their
children by saying, "We can't afford that." The implicit
message is that the parents would buy the costly item if
they had the money, which may or may not be true. In any case, the
children are left feeling sad and, worse, believing that such
sadness could be remedied if only the family had more money.
Why not tell the children, "We don't think that getting this
would be a good use of our money" or even, "We don't believe that
God would want us to use our money in this way"? Of course,
such a response might invite arguments from the children regarding
why the purchase would be a good use of the family's money
or why God would favor the purchase, but such discussions
involve the entire family in thinking about the use of money in
broader terms than "Can we afford it?"3
Notes
1. This article is a re-worked condensation of material taken
from Mark Allan Powell, Giving To God: The Bible's Good News
About Living a Generous Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2006).
2. Martin Luther, "On Trade and Usury," anthologized among other
places in On Moral Business, ed. Max L. Stackhouse, et al.
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), pp. 174-179; quotations found on
pages 178, 179.
3. John H. Westerhoff, Grateful and Generous Hearts
(Atlanta: St. Luke's Press, 1997), p. 20.
© January 2007
Journal of Lutheran Ethics (JLE)
Volume 7, Issue 1