WESLEY’S TEACHING ON MONEY

Jesus said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own… Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (Luke 12:15,21 NLT)

In John Wesley’s sermon “The Use of Money,” he offered three rules for Christians: “Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”

Gaining all you can means to earn all you’re capable of, provided you aren’t hurting yourself or others. Wesley specifically stated, “We ought not to gain money at the expense of life, nor at the expense of our health” (which is in effect the same thing). He also noted, “Our employ cannot be harmful to our neighbor, lest we violate the command to love our neighbor.”

Saving all you can means to set money aside before spending frivolously or on nonessentials, and specifically not to spend just to win the admiration of others. Of indulging our desires Wesley noted, “Daily experience shows, the more they are indulged, they increase the more.” He also warned those who had accumulated a vast estate not to give all of it to one’s children, particularly if the children would use it only to gratify themselves. Instead, he suggested giving enough to the children to keep them from poverty, then giving the rest in whatever way would glorify God.

Finally, giving all you can means to provide for the essential needs of your family, then for the care of those in need within the church, and finally for those outside the church. For Wesley, giving the first tenth of his income to God was something of a floor for his giving, not a ceiling. Even when his income was very small he sought to live in moderation and to give away the rest…

Wesley was teaching and modeling that holiness and a desire to serve God can be judged in part by looking at your finances. If Wesley were here today, I think he would ask, “What does your bank account say about your spiritual life?” 

-- Adam Hamilton in “Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It” 

#6468

YOU CANNOT OUTGIVE GOD

I think it’s easy for us to operate out of a scarcity mentality: the more I give, the less I’ll have.  But it’s not true.  In the kingdom of God, it’s the opposite.  The less you give, the less you have, and the more you give, the more you have.  If you hang on to what you have, your heart will become smaller and smaller.  And you’ll lose your soul in the process.  But if you give what you’ve got your heart will grow larger and larger for the things of God.

That abundance mentality traces back to a biblical promise in Luke 6:38: “Give and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

When you give beyond your ability, God is going to bless you beyond your ability.  It’s the inviolable law of measures: you always get back more than you give away.  Don’t get me wrong.  God is not a slot machine.  If you give to get, you don’t get it.  And God won’t honor it.  But if you give for the right reasons, then you’ll discover that you cannot outgive God.  It’s not possible.  In fact, if you start giving beyond your means, you may discover that you have more left over than what you started with.  That is what happens when we add God to the equation of our finances. 

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”

#4938

VISION BEYOND YOUR RESOURCES

"[Pastor,] we want to give [the church] a gift, and there are no strings attached.  But before I tell you how much we're going to give, I want you to know why we're giving it.  We're giving this gift because you have vision beyond your resources."

I'll never forget that phrase: "vision beyond your resources."

The rationale behind the gift was just as meaningful as the gift itself.  And that rationale has inspired us to keep dreaming irrational dreams.  Those four words, vision beyond your resources, have become a mantra for the ministry of National Community Church.  We refuse to let our budget determine our vision.  That left-brained approach is a wrong-brained approach because it's based on our limited resources rather than on God's unlimited provision.  Faith is allowing your God-given vision to determine your budget.  That certainly does not mean you practice poor financial stewardship, spend beyond your means, and accumulate a huge debt load.  It does mean that you take a step of faith when God gives you a vision because you trust that the One who gave you the vision is going to make provision.  And for the record, if the vision is from God, it will most definitely be beyond your means.

Having vision beyond your resources is synonymous with dreaming big.  And it may feel like you're setting yourself up for failure, but you're actually setting God up for a miracle.  How God performs the miracle is His job.  Your job is drawing a circle around the God-given dream.

"We want to give the church $3 million dollars."

I was speechless. And I am a preacher.

-- Mark Batterson in “The Circle Maker”


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