Our perspective of the kingdom must be based on knowing the King. As I have contended that much of the biblical teachings on righteousness deal with stewardship, which is management, there is a sure biblical witness that the Lord cares deeply about this. It was this issue in the Parable of the Talents that determined which servants heard "Well done," and which heard "You wicked, lazy slave!" (see Matthew 25:21-26 NIV) That is how important being a good steward is. Whatever He has entrusted us with, we want to see it used to its maximum efficiency and fruitfulness.
This covers everything from spiritual gifts to other resources, including our money. Money is our least valuable resource, but it is an important one because the Lord said that until we learn to handle it correctly, we will not be trusted with the true riches of the kingdom. It would be great to have enough money to feed 5,000 poor people every day, but it would be even better to have the authority to multiply one hamburger to feed 5,000! That is the difference between the riches of this world and the riches of the kingdom.
Many Christians have been claiming the biblical prophecies which talk about the wealth of the wicked being given to the righteous. But we need to first consider who the "wicked" and "righteous" are (see Proverbs 13:22). As so much of the teaching on righteousness has to do with good stewardship, could the "righteousness" that enables one to be trusted with this be a devotion to and skills in good management?
Just as there are four kinds of grace in Scripture, one of which is "common grace" that the Lord gives to all whether they acknowledge Him or not, there is a righteousness which is not really related to our redemption or salvation, but simply doing things right. No amount of this could ever earn anyone the salvation of their soul, but in the area of "common grace," it does enable the Lord to trust them with more things in the natural realm.
Without question, we should esteem righteousness, which leads to salvation, far above just being good stewards of earthly things. However, we are coming to a time when those who are heirs of salvation will also learn to be good stewards in everything and be given authority commensurate with this. We should esteem cultivating and growing our faith above the material, but that does not mean we should not devote ourselves to being the best stewards possible of all that we have been entrusted with. In truth, these are linked. If we are truly growing in faith, we will become better stewards of everything, esteeming and honoring everything God entrusts to us enough to manage it well.
In this "common grace righteousness," as we have discussed, we would have to include Bill Gates and Warren Buffet as two great examples. Both made tens of billions of dollars and both determined to give away their fortunes. Warren Buffet did not have anyone else to give his to except Bill Gates, who he knew would manage it right, and would gain the maximum benefit from it. If the church were operating as it should, his first consideration of giving it to a place where it would be managed well would have been the church. Sadly, it was not, and for a good reason. However, the church will get there. When we come to maturity, we will be the best stewards of everything on the planet.
Again, this is not to imply that all of these billions given away by Gates and Buffet could buy one moment of eternal life, which the cross alone has paid for. All of the earth's riches would not measure as being worth even a penny of purchasing power in eternal matters. Money is simply a tool for our training.
In Matthew 6:24, the Lord declared, "You cannot serve God and mammon." This has been interpreted by many to think it is not spiritual to give attention to managing money, but I submit that this is not the way this should be taken. If we do not learn some basic issues of money management, we will spend our lives serving money instead of having it serve us and our purpose.
To be practical, get control over your finances or they will control you. Every Christian should be financially independent. This does not mean we should be wealthy, but that we should never have to make a major decision on whether we have enough money or not, but on whether it is the will of God or not. Financial independence must be our goal.
Those who have obeyed this will never have to worry about the mark of the beast, because they will have another Source and will not care if they have permission to buy, sell, or trade in the systems of this world or not. That can, and should be, an important goal, but our main purpose should be to be the best stewards that we can of all that the Lord entrusts to us. This is basic to truly honoring Him, which is basic to true worship.
So, before proceeding, I would like to propose a simple budget for those who do not have one. Here it is:
FIRST YEAR
| 10% | first fruits tithe to the Lord |
| 5% | to offerings and good works |
| 5% | to emergency reserves/savings for major purposes |
| 5% | to recreation/entertainment |
| 75% | for living expenses including mortgage, rent, taxes, transportation |
SECOND YEAR
| 10% | tithe |
| 6% | offerings |
| 6% | to reserves |
| 5% | recreation |
| 73% | living expenses |
THIRD YEAR
| 10% | tithe |
| 7% | offerings |
| 7% | to reserves |
| 5% | recreation |
| 71% | living expenses |
FOURTH YEAR
| 10% | tithe |
| 8% | offerings |
| 8% | to reserves |
| 5% | recreation |
| 69% | living expenses |
FIFTH YEAR
| 10% | tithe |
| 10% | offerings |
| 10% | to reserves |
| 5% | recreation |
| 65% | living expenses |
With increasing income, resist increasing your standard of living, but rather increase your standard of giving. Resist free spending and invest the money that you would normally spend on things you do not really need. Things will change if you do this.
The Lord promises to those who are faithful to give Him the "whole tithe" that He will "rebuke the devourer" from their lives. Most people do not need more income to get by—they just need the devourer rebuked from their lives. Personally, I have never met anyone who is faithful to tithe to the Lord who has chronic financial problems. There may be some, for other reasons of disobedience, but I have not met them.
Most people are thrown into financial stress because of unexpected expenses, but they will not throw us into crisis if we maintain adequate reserves. Once the emergency reserves are adequately funded, we should turn what we were setting aside for them into investments. If you do this, and learn to control your spending, your investments will provide more income for you than your job. This too should be a goal.
This is a simple draft of a budget, which may need to be adjusted some for each individual, but the goal is to decrease the percentage of our income that we are spending on living expenses, while increasing what we give and what we invest. The Lord does tend to bless the faithful and diligent so that things can happen much faster. However, if He was to give most people enough to pay off all of their debts in one lump sum, they would be right back in debt in short order because they have not learned to correct their bad management practices. Develop a plan that is right for you, be faithful to it as unto the Lord, and things will happen faster. However, we must resolve to do what is right whether He rewards us quickly or not.
This is not some theory that I am laying out for you. It is sound biblical truth, and I have personally experienced what I am teaching here. I do not want to take the time to go over the details of my personal life, but I am sharing what I know to be the truth and what works.
However, for biblical principles to work, we cannot think short-term, but long-term. Set your heart on faithfulness—forever, because it is the right thing to do, not just to get out of your mess. Remember, Satan is always in a hurry because he knows that he has but a short time. The Lord is never in a hurry because He knows that He has eternity. If we are abiding in Him, we will think long-term. DO NOT succumb to "the tyranny of the urgent," but give yourself to the eternal principles of the eternal kingdom. It takes both faith and patience to inherit the promises. Impatience is not a fruit of the Spirit, and the way of the Spirit will always reflect patience.
Last week I promised a statement about global warming, and I will cover this in more detail later. I do believe there is some truth to global warming, though I feel there is also a lot of evidence that some "evidence" for this and its source, seems to be contrived and/or exaggerated. However, no one should be more concerned about preservation and conservation than Christians.
God entrusted the world to man to take care of. It is a gift of unfathomable beauty, glory, and value, and to not take care of it as we should is an affront to the Giver. For now, I just want to say that we should do the right thing by the environment regardless of global warming, and it is a God-given mandate to us. Christians are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, which means we should have the answers to every important question. I will have more to say on this later, but we have been made stewards of the earth, and we will be accountable. The Lord even said in Revelation 11:18 that He will "destroy those who destroy the earth." We should be wondering why Christians lag so far behind in addressing the important issues that face our world when we are called to be far ahead and showing the way.
I am praying for all who read this Word for the Week to hear on that great judgment day, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (see Matthew 25:21 NIV) Those who will are those who take what they believe to be the word from the Lord and apply it to their lives. They do not just hear the words of the Lord, but they obey them. Such are the ones who are building their houses, financial and otherwise, on the Rock that will endure any flood that comes. If you think the Lord is speaking to you about any of these things, do them.