On the Use of Money

The foundation of our discussion on stewardship can be found in Psalm 24:1-2. The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Remember that this means we are not the owners. God owns it — everything, and He has given it to us to have dominion over, to use for His Kingdom and for His glory. 

Last week we looked at the parable of the talents, where a Master gave three servants his money. He gave them responsibility over the money, and when he returned, he made them accountable for what they had done with the money. So too, God has given us abilities, opportunities, and possessions, and because they are God’s, then we have responsibility for how we use them. How we steward everything. So, what can we do in order that we, too, may hear the words of the Master: Well done, my good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” 

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, wrote a sermon called “On the Use of Money” which is one of his Standard Sermons — which help provide the backbone for United Methodist doctrine. In this sermon, John Wesley gives a blueprint for how we should deal with the money God has entrusted to us. 

He starts by telling us to “Gain all you can.” There is something in many of us that does not like to work. Sometimes we even think work is a curse. This is based on a bad understanding of scripture. Before Adam and Eve sinned, God gave Adam a job — to take dominion over the earth and to work the earth. And all of this was, by God’s account, “very good.” So we should be working.

John Wesley wrote to his early preachers: “Be diligent. Never be unemployed a moment. Never be triflingly employed.” This goes along with what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:23-24: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. God calls us to work hard. 

Sometimes we get into the mindset of just earning what I need right now. We just barely get by. Once when I was visiting at the New Life Center, they were in the midst of building their education wing, but building had stalled. I asked Delbert what was going on and he said, “The workers will work really hard, but as soon as they get paid, they disappear.” 

Instead, we should work as working for the Lord, earning all we can. If you do not have a job, then start a small business. Use all possible diligence in your calling to your work.

Having honestly and diligently gained all you can, the second rule is save all you can. I love what John Wesley said about this. He said, “Do not throw the precious talent into the sea: Leave that folly to heathen philosophers. Do not throw it away in idle expenses, which is just the same as throwing it into the sea. Expend no part of it merely to gratify the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life.” 

In other words, don’t waste your money. Save it. Here, it seems like money just disappears. We have a phrase: “the money burns a hole in your pocket.” That means whenever you get money, you spend it straight away. You see something you want, and you buy it, no matter if you need it or not. No matter if you’ll need that money later. We often waste money without even thinking about it. Jesus is clear that we will either serve God or money, not both. If we can’t control our money, then our money controls us. If your money disappears, if you can’t stop but buy something every time you have a little money left over, then your money controls you — then you’re serving money instead of God.

A great thing about saving your money is that when God gives you an opportunity, then you can jump on it. When we went to the United States to do our fundraising in 2017, we hired someone to look after our house while we were gone. We negotiated a certain amount to pay him per month, and we organized that our neighbor would give him the money. As it turned out, the man we hired asked us, since he was trying to build a house, could we give him the money all in one lump sum? Since we knew we could trust him to do the work, we went ahead and gave it to him. When we returned, we found he had done a great job looking after our house. I asked him about his house, and he told us that unfortunately shortly after we paid him, there was a funeral, then there was another, and pretty soon there was no money left.

In most cases, Americans don’t save. In fact, most Americans are in terrible debt. Most Zambians have not started doing this, but it is coming. Credit cards can be convenient, but they often lead to uncontrolled debt. Don’t fall into this trap. 

Many people think that gaining all you can and saving all you can is enough. But in Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

John Wesley puts it this way. If you merely gain and save, “You may as well throw your money into the sea, as bury it in the earth.”

So instead, we are called to add the third rule. Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly saved all you can, then “give all you can.”

Remember the foundation of our discussion, that the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. — because of this, we are not our own; we were bought at a price. As Paul puts it in Romans 12:1, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 

So again, if we give our very bodies as living sacrifices, so too will we give our gifts. Next week we continue with what it means to tithe.