The other day I was leaving church when one of our members asked if he could talk with me. His question was one I had never gotten from anyone before, but I thought it important enough to address here. It was about how to steward money.
He told me he was thinking about buying a Porsche and wanted to know if that was okay because it was expensive and he could use his money to help others. This is a nice problem to have, and to ask the question is a good sign.
This is an area where there is not a one-size-fits all answer. Everyone is answerable to King Jesus as stewards of the money, possessions, people, and things we have been given, and He may make, and almost certainly does make, different demands on different people.
Still, having said that, there are principles that can bring clarity when facing such questions as whether to buy a Porsche, a second home, or a new Rolex.
The Prosperity Gospel
In the United States we have heard too much of the Prosperity Gospel, which inoculates many of us from even asking the question above. The Prosperity Gospel posits that God wants his followers to be rich, healthy, and happy, and that suffering or poverty are not God’s will. That is one extreme.
Of course, Exhibit A of the rebuttal to the Prosperity Gospel is Jesus, who suffered quite a bit. Then there is Paul, all the disciples of Jesus, and Hebrews 11, which recounts the heroes of faith who died without receiving the promises.
The Poverty Gospel
On the other extreme are those who argue Christians should not seek more than they need and that to do so is materialistic. This belief is rooted in Franciscan theology and is a common theme in Liberation Theology as well. The idea is that to have more than you need is to risk serving money instead of God. However, poverty is hardly a virtue. Poverty is often the result of injustice, laziness, and curses.
Furthermore, one can acquire more than they need without being discontent with what they have. Similarly, one can have more than they need without making money more important than God. Some of the most generous people I have known have been the wealthiest.
Still, the warning is sound: if you want more because you are not content with what you have, it’s a good indication your motive is not sound, and you are in danger of serving money rather than God.
Having rejected the extremes, where do we find the truth?
What we can expect
It’s always a good idea to start with the Bible.
The Bible says we are to be content with food and covering (clothing and shelter). I Timothy 6:8. That’s the baseline. For those of us who are blessed to live in a prosperous nation, contentment at such a baseline can be difficult, but that baseline is what Jesus promised. See Matthew 6: 33.
So, where does that leave us? If it’s okay to have more than you need, where does one draw the line?
How much is too much
One hard stop arises out of the principle of stewardship. Psalm 24:1 says that everything belongs to the Lord. That means that whatever we think we own, we only possess and manage for the Lord. Because we don’t own such things, we are not completely free to do with them what we will.
I had a neighbor ask us to keep his baby grand piano in our home while his home was being renovated. We agreed, but I was very careful to take good care of it so I could return it to him in the same condition he had lent it to us because it didn’t belong to us.
We have the same obligation toward the Lord with regard to all we possess. This is one of the lessons of the Parable of the Talents, the Parable of Money Usage, and the Parable of the Householder. We have a responsibility to the Lord to responsibly care for those things He has put in our care.
And that leads to the baseline principle that, as a general rule, we should not seek to acquire more than we can responsibly steward.
“We should not seek to acquire more than we can responsibly steward.”
I had a pastor once who very wealthy before he entered the ministry. He owned a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, along with seven other cars. He said the problem was keeping up with all of them and taking care of them. That was probably a good indication he had too many cars.
The principle of stewardship posits that we are responsible for caring for those things the Lord entrusts to us. That means properly maintaining homes and cars and then other things with which the Lord has blessed us. If we haven’t the time or the money to do so, we have probably have too much stuff.
Where we have freedom
Having defined the basement as food and covering the ceiling as what we can responsibly steward, we are left with the grey world in between. It is there that we face the form/freedom construct.
By form/freedom, I mean that God has give us structure in the form of laws and principles. We can think of them as guardrails. They delineate the hard-line boundaries of right and wrong. That is what I have described in response to the question above. But within that form, the Lord give us freedom to choose as we see fit. I’ve described the broadest of form above. Within that one should still not act out of greed or selfishness and be obedient to the Lord when He instructs in any specific situation how money should be spent.
Apart from such specific instructions, it is within the boundaries I’ve described above that we are given discretion. In the context of the question above, that discretion can be exercised to use the extra money to buy a new car or give to the Christian homeless shelter, missions, or your church. How we decide may determine what rewards we receive in heaven but they are not matters of sin or disobedience.
If you are wealthy, and this answer leaves you uncomfortable, I think that is a good place to be. It leaves me uncomfortable and constantly questioning, “Do I want to spend on me on someone else or to advance the kingdom of God?”
We should be more concerned when we no longer feel that tension. GS
