The Essentials of Biblical Finance: Intro (Stewardship, Generosity and Contentment)

“We give thanks to God always for all of you…constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes. 1:2-3)

The faith of the Thessalonians is inspiring. When speaking of them, Paul explained that the “gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (5) Paul’s letter explains that their faith toward God had gone forth to every place and the power of the gospel in their lives was evident to all. A Biblical approach to finance will testify to the world of power of the gospel to change lives.

The church at Thessalonica was commended for their work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope. Faith, love, and hope: These are the workings of the mature Christian life (1 Cor. 13:13). From this point, we launch our series on the essentials of Biblical finance. Faith, love and hope have a home in the Christian budget as stewardship, generosity and contentment. Stewardship is a work of faith as we seek to live by the principles of God’s economy as instructed from His word and exchange our worldly aspirations for heavenly ones. Generosity is a labor of love when we joyfully sacrifice in the name of Christ for the benefit of others. Contentment is a steadfastness of hope in Christ alone as we learn to find contentment in our convictions not our circumstances. From this point, our finances become a testimony of our devotion to the Lord not a distraction from Him. We must seek stewardship, generosity and contentment understanding that they are not ends in themselves, but fruits of a much deeper walk with Christ. We must allow our hearts to be transformed by the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit, and our wallets will follow suit.

Part 1: Intro, Part 2: Stewardship, Part 3: Generosity, Part 4: Contentment 

God’s people are to be constantly increasing their learning.  The first and utmost lesson is the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy One.  When CS Lewis described the after life in his Chronicles of Naria series, his characters spent eternity going ”further up and further in”, conveying the notion that we cannot ever get to the bottom or end of the knowledge of God.  This principle should govern our walk with Christ: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matt. 5:6) The spiritual journey of Christianity is to be one of racing “further up and further in” to the goodness of the Father through Christ Jesus.

As we live out our faith in this manner, we will find this rule of constant increase will convert itself into our daily living.  I believe it’s God’s intention that our beings become restless without learning and growing: “Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.” 

The wise and righteous are diligent seekers of instruction and learning. 

We should have an observable thirst for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.  I have found that those willing to stagnate mentally, physically, and spiritually live lives of drudgery and decay.  But those determined to dig into the endless depths of God’s infinity find satisfaction in their quest.  It is a wholistic issue–a life-governing principle: 

I have found that those passionate and active in their pursuit of God tend to be passionate and active in all areas of life: family, work, learning, health, friends, etc. 

Where do you fit into this continuum?  Content to pass your short days on this earth entertained with office gossip, channel surfing, and endless games of solitare?  Or bound and determined to steward your mind, body, time, and strength for God’s glory and great adventure?

“And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.  Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:2-10) 

We know very little of Zaccheus’ conversion, only what is laid out here before us.  We know he sought the Lord, and then hurriedly and glady received Christ’s invitation despite the gumbling accusations of the crowd.  Beyond this, we don’t know if any more words were spoken, or if only the nearness of the encounter to Christ caused Zaccheus’ heart to ”burn within him” just as the two disciples’ describe their trip on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:32).  All we know is that his heart is transformed and his actions follow suit: he seeks to separate himself from his former selfishness and greed, allow his dishonesty and fraud to come to light, and make reparations for past mistakes.  He responds to Jesus’ presence with a radical sense of generosity and integrity.  His encounter with Christ transforms his heart and his financial life forever.  Whatever it was about our Savior that caused Zaccheus’ heart to put others before himself, I pray for all of God’s people to be similarly “transformed”.

I was once challenged by one of Oswald Chambers’ Devotions in My Utmost for His Highest , sorry I can’t quote it, but the idea was that often “our walk with Christ” can become a distraction from actually knowing Him. Chambers goes onto explain that we constantly find ourselves distracted by all the different dynamics of our relationship with the Lord that we forget to literally interact with Him. We should desire Christ, plain and simple. I find this principle to be very true. Too often I come seeking wisdom, peace, comfort, joy, hope, etc. instead of seeking Christ. Of course He offers all of these things, but we must go to Him alone and let the rest of the “chips” fall as they may. We cannot let our desires, though they may seem entirely holy, distract us from actually knowing “Him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:23)