The stewardship of our money is something I was blessed to understand from the time I first had an income. In high school I did my best to follow the principles that primarily Jesus and Paul described. My personal testimony is that God is faithful. We can trust Him with the biggest thing, which is our eternity. We can also trust Him with far smaller things, like what He says about money.
God doesn’t promise to make you rich. Being rich can end up being a liability, because we have a natural inclination to treat money as a God. As such it can undermine salvation. But God does promise to provide what you need and more, provided you practice good stewardship. There are a few foundational principles to “good stewardship”. You should understand them.
The first is “first-fruit” giving. Giving to the work of the Kingdom of God should be planned, not just spontaneous. What we plan to give, we should take out of our income stream first. In other words, we don’t wait until all other obligations and desires are met and then give if we have it. In a typical American’s paycheck, we may have taxes withheld, pre-tax contributions to retirement funds (i.e. 401k, 403b), and maybe required participation in our health insurance taken out. That is fine. From our take home pay our giving to the Kingdom of God should be given or set aside first.
First fruit giving is asked for because it demonstrates trust. I trust God to provide for the rest. It also demonstrates priorities. I realize that I am alive because I am doing the work of the Kingdom of God. I want to do the financial end of my Kingdom work before other things.
What we set aside to be our first fruits takes us to the next principle–proportionality. We can see it in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 and in other places:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
Matthew 25:14-17 (ESV)
Not everybody is going to have the same amount of wealth to manage. Since stewardship covers a broad category of things (money, time, talent, knowledge of the Gospel, spiritual gifts, the Earth, and more), I think of our stewardship as being over a portfolio. Some have time, faith, spiritual gifts, but little money. Others have a different distribution. We all have responsibilities.
With money we are only responsible for what we have. We should give proportionally to that amount. But what proportion?
In the Old Testament, the Jews were required to tithe (literally 10%). That number is in the context of there being 11 tribes (10 + two half tribes) with land, and one (Levi) that did not. Levi took care of the temple and depended on the tithe for sustenance. The Jews also lived in a conditional covenant with God that was focused on worldly prosperity. We don’t have that covenant. So while 10% remains something like par in golf, a target to aspire to, it is not law.
Instead we have words like this:
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)
Jesus also uses this illustration:
38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Luke 6:38 (ESV)
So God will always out-give you, but you chose the measure used by what you and God give. If you are only comfortable with a small measure (i.e. a small percentage of your cashflow), then you have some questions to ask of yourself. The first is, “Do I have a love of money problem?”
People of any economic class can have a love of money problem. It is a dangerous one, too. Jesus says you can’t serve God and Money. In the Parable of the Sower, the plant that is choked by the thorns is a representation of those who are spiritually strangled by the concerns of this world and the “deceitfulness of wealth”. While financial stewardship is not a salvation issue, it can become a preservation of salvation issue. Paul also gives this warning:
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV)
It is a serious concern and the danger should be respected. It is not the only concern, however. You also need to ask, “Do I have a weak faith in God problem?” Giving anything, especially larger percentages, cuts into what we could have as a financial hedge against the unknown. Maybe you trust money to protect you. That is a love of money issue. Maybe you don’t trust God to protect you. That is a small, fragile faith issue. God wants to be trusted. Most of the stories in the Old Testament illustrate this. Hebrews 11 summarizes it.
The percentage that you do settle on to be your first fruit giving, needs to be given cheerfully. If it can’t be. You need to work on your issues. There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about it. First, God has placed us in an enviable position. Our eternity rests on Jesus, not us. We have a superior life awaiting us as a gift through a connection to Christ. As such, we can make this life eternally significant by our actions, words, and giving. We extend ourselves by supporting the ministry done by others. When we support “a prophet”, we receive a prophet’s reward. (Matthew 10:41)
Financial stewardship becomes a Judgment Day issue for those redeemed by Christ. Not in the sense that we judged as saved or not saved, but rather it is matter of rewarded or not rewarded. (See my Judgment Day blogs at afterdeathsite.com) The Parable of the Talents, mentioned before, is a Judgment Day illustration. The faithful stewards get this reward:
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Matthew 25:21 (ESV)
The commendation of Jesus is a great thing, but not the only thing. “I will set you over much”, is an exciting thing that those who are saved by grace in the first place don’t deserve, and yet God, who is generous, gives it. We should maintain the attitude that stewardship was our just our job. We received earthly benefits as pay. The eternal benefits are a bonus–a big bonus. They are the only way that earthly wealth can follow us past the grave.
Giving Christ 