WHEN the old-time highwayman held up victims his demand was "Your money or your life". When Heaven holds us up we are met with a demand for, "Your money and your life". Non-Christians usually refuse to acknowledge this demand. Most Christians acknowledge the demand but seldom pay up. Many profess to pay up but really give to God an absurd amount, by no means commensurate with their income and therefore far short of their privilege and responsibility.

Are Men Stewards?

      In seeking an answer to this question, the highest authority to whom we can go is Jesus Christ, admitted, even by those who deny His Deity, to be the greatest man and teacher this world has known. His teaching often contradicts the usually accepted opinions and standards of the world. Nowhere is this more clear than in His Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12).

      The world says, "Blessed is the man who can gather much gold and wealth". Jesus says, "Blessed is the man who is poor in spirit".

      The world says, "Blessed is the man who can assert himself and look after his rights, never allowing anyone to sit on him." Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek."

      The world says, "Blessed is the man who can avoid all pain and suffering." Jesus says, "Blessed are they that mourn."

      God's demand for "money and life" brings us face to face with another usually accepted opinion and standard of the world, viz., "Man is the owner of his possessions." This really means, "Possession of money, land, intelligence, skill, talents or opportunities, gives man absolute rights to use these possessions entirely for his own personal benefit and advancement."

      Scripture refutes this and declares that God is the absolute owner of everything, and that man is responsible to God for the use he makes of his possessions whether they be money, land, intelligence, skill, talents or opportunities. (See Genesis 1:1; John 1:3, Hebrews 1:3; Acts 17:25; Psalms 24:1, 50:10; Haggai 2:8; Ezekiel 18:4).

      That is the basis of stewardship. A steward is, "One entrusted with the management of estates or affairs not his own--his possessions are delegated possessions". That definition embraces all men. We simply possess what we have, for a time. If we owned it, it could not be taken from us. But God can take it from us at any time. God has never renounced His right to the ownership of all things, therefore what we have received from Him must be received on trust. We are stewards indeed.

Is There a Stewardship of Money?

      Stewardship embraces every aspect of life, but in this pamphlet we want to consider particularly, the stewardship of money.

      "Oh", says someone, "talking about money again. I'm sick of it. Why must there be this continual talk about money? Jesus didn't talk about it. The early church was not talked at about money".

      Those who speak thus never stood on more insecure ground or revealed a greater ignorance of the teaching of Jesus and the scriptures, If there is one subject about which both speak plainly, it is the subject of money. In their law the Jews were taught that they were only tenants in God's vineyard and that they were to make the payment of their rent a first claim upon their resources. They were to give God His share, the minimum contribution being the tithe--one tenth.

      "Ah", says someone triumphantly, "that was in the Old Testament days and the Jewish law is not binding upon us. We live in New Testament days and are not under law, but under grace". True! the Old Testament law is not binding upon us. But the New Testament is, and therein we have the highest authority of all, Jesus Christ. He leaves no doubt as to a Christian's duty regarding money.

Jesus and the Money Question

      It has been affirmed that Jesus said more about money, property or financial relationships than He did about Heaven and hell and any one thing amongst prayer, scripture reading, church attendance, moral living. There are some 30 parables of Jesus recorded. At least 13 of these refer to the right use of possessions. Then there is His teaching about the widow and her mite, the rich young ruler, the last judgment, and His declaration, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon". One would have thought that when God's Son, the Saviour of the world, the Great Teacher came, He would have spent His time talking about love, faith, truth, purity, immortality, eternal life and heaven, and would have left it to others to talk about material things. But no! Jesus knew the danger. He knew that money is the most perilous thing with which we have to deal. He knew that selfishness, the love of money, is basic, the root of all evil. So, it is said, nearly one half of Jesus' teaching deals with material possessions, their right use and the danger of withholding God's share, and one seventh of the New Testament verses deals with material possessions. Let us hear no more, then, about Jesus never talking about money. He did! The New Testament reveals that we have a definite obligation to give regularly and proportionately of our money to God's work.

What Paul Says

      Paul was also very definite in his teaching about giving. Practically every letter he wrote to the churches contains either a reference to money or a word of warning against the danger of the early Christians neglecting to give God His share. He makes it plain that grace demands no less than law--indeed! that grace is worthy of more than the law demanded, and that failure to give God His share is covetousness, which is idolatry. The early church was certainly talked to about money.

      (See Acts 2:44-45, 4:34-35, 5:1-11, 11:27-30; Romans 12:10-13, 13:8, 15:25-26; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8 and 9; Galatians 2:10; 6:2; Ephesians 4:28; Philippians 4:10-19; Colossians 3:2-5; 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:9.12; 2 Thessalonians 3:10, etc.)

Is There Any Need for Stewardship?

      There is a great need in the church today for faithfulness in stewardship. If every church member were faithful in this regard all the financial problems of churches would be solved. There is nothing which so much prevents the church from reaching out, in bigger enterprises and activities, toward the fulfilment of her task, as lack of finance, debts, bank overdrafts. Every local church and every Conference Department could do much more toward accomplishing victory if they were not hampered by shortage of money.

      Why is there this shortage of money? Is there no money available? There is more money about today than ever before, but, unfortunately, it goes in the wrong direction.

      Do you budget your income? Do you handle it in a commonsense, Christian way? Or do you dispose of your income in a foolish, haphazard way? Make an honest cheek! What do you spend each year on sport, pleasure, sweets, clothes your hobby, your annual holidays? By way of contrast perhaps, how much do you spend each year on your religion? You should budget so that everything receives proper and balanced attention.

      Then the question is, "What do you give the Lord, in your budget, that His work in the world may be done?" Too many give only when their emotions are stirred by some special message or appeal. But that is not Christian giving. "Upon the first day of the week let each of you lay by him in store as the Lord hath prospered him" (1 Cor.16:2). That's Christian giving! Giving according to principle and not in response to some emotional appeal. Not one isolated offering but a continual offering. If all Christians would adopt this Christian method there would be no financial problem in our Lord's work. Then the question is--

What Proportion for the Lord?

      It is recorded of a certain man that he boasted--boasted, mark you--that his religion cost him £2/12/- a year. £2/12/- a year! Is that Christian giving? It is a travesty of Christian stewardship.

      A young man in one of our country churches was noticed by a deacon to be placing a fairly large sum in the offering plate each Sunday. Knowing that the young man was not affluent the deacon one day asked if he could really afford to give so much each week. The young man replied, "I am not well off, but I know what I am doing. I have promised my Lord that I will not put in the offering plate on Sunday less than I have spent on myself for pleasure and amusement during the week." Is that Christian giving? It is certainly far in advance of £2/12/- a year, but worthy as it may be, it is not true Christian giving.

Commendable Giving, But--

      Under the law the Jews were compelled to give a tenth of everything. Many Christians say that we who are under grace and know God, through Jesus Christ, as the Jews never knew Him, should give nothing less than the Jews were obliged to give. So they set aside a tenth of their income for Christ and His work and through years maintain that standard of giving. That's splendid, but it is not true Christian giving.

      There are other Christians who say, "When we give a tenth, as did the Jew, we are only giving what it is our duty to give. We only begin to make a free-will offering to our Lord when we give beyond the tenth". They are like the little girl who had 10 pennies and was planning what she would do with them. "The first one is for Jesus", she said. "The second is for little brother," and so on, until she came to the last penny. "And this one is for Jesus", she said. "But, dear," said her mother, "you gave the first one to Jesus". "I know," she replied, "That one belonged to Him. This one is a present." That attitude shows a fine sense of responsibility and gratitude, but that is still not true Christian giving.

      In the New Testament no specific fraction or percentage is laid down as the amount to be contributed. Instead, a great principle is declared, in the light of and in accordance with which, our giving is to be determined. The principle has already been quoted. "Upon the first day of the week let each of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him."

Why No Set Fraction or Percentage?

      There are circumstances in which it would be impossible for one to give a tenth of the income to the Lord. For example, a lad away from home and beginning his first job. His pay is £5 a week. His weekly outgoings are, board £340/-; fares, 12/-, tax, 2/-; union and lodge dues, 2/-; which leaves him only 14/- a week with which to clothe himself and pay all other expenses. How could he possibly give a tenth--10/- a week--to the church?

      But what of the man who is earning £20 a week? Is it sufficient that he give a tenth to the Lord? £18 a week for himself and only £2 for the Lord? He could well give £4 a week and he'd still have £16 a week on which to live.

      That is why the New Testament does not lay down a set fraction to determine our giving, but rather, a great principle, "As the Lord hath prospered him." In some cases a tenth could well be too much. In other cases it would be a totally inadequate proportion of the income.

Giving which Conforms to New Testament Principle.

      If we are faithful stewards our giving will increase with every increase in our income. The more affluent we become the larger will be the proportion we devote to God for His work in this world, for remember, our Lord judges our giving not by what we give but by what we have left over after our giving. Recall the occasion when Jesus watched the people casting their gifts into the Temple Treasury. Many cast in large sums. A poor widow cast in two mites which make a farthing. Jesus said, "She hath given more than they all. They cast in of their abundance, but she hath cast in all that she had, even all her living." Their giving did not hurt them a bit--they hardly felt it--they had plenty left over. But her giving was sacrificial--she had nothing left over. For this she was commended. There is the evidence that our Lord judges our stewardship not so much by what we give but by what we have left over after we have given. Our giving must ever be in accordance with our prosperity--"As God hath prospered us."

      As we think of God's absolute ownership and realise that all we have and are comes from Him (James 1:17, Deuteronomy 8:18), we will surely confess that, in this matter of faithful stewardship, it is not a question of, "How much of our money are we going to give to God," but, "How much of God's money are we going to keep for ourselves?"

How to Allocate the Proportion?

      For the sake of easy reckoning, let us suppose we are in receipt of £10 a week and have decided that the proportion we can give is a tenth, i. e., £9 for ourselves and £1 for the Lord. Does that mean the £1 will be placed in the offering plate in the local church each Sunday? This scribe thinks not. He believes a good method of allocating the Lord's share is to put, say, 10/- in the local side of the duplex envelope--good stewards will regularly use the duplex envelope so that, though absent from service, the offering is still laid by--and up to 5/- in the Brotherhood side, according to the number of Departments benefiting therefrom. This leaves 5/- per week in the Lord's fund. In six weeks this amounts to 30/- There may then come an appeal for one of our Conference Departments, or the British and Foreign Bible Society, or the Victorian Local Option Alliance, or the Mission to Lepers. Any of these constitute the Lord's work, and so out of the 30/- in the Lord's fund we can take £1 or 25/- and make our offering. The 5/- per week we continue to lay by, so that always we have a reserve out of which an offering can be made for any special purpose, apart from our regular weekly giving, which can legitimately be regarded as the Lord's work.

Where Do We Stand?

      Two attitudes to stewardship, one of which will be manifest by us, are depicted in the following illustrations.

      Two brothers, Christian business men, approached their banker for money to extend their growing business. He assured them that, if all were in order, they could have as much as they needed. But first he must see the Articles of Incorporation. He read the first clause. "God is the Owner and Senior Partner in this business and has first claim upon its income." He told the brothers that he was sorry but no money could be advanced whilst that clause remained. The bank must have first claim. The brothers refused to cancel the declaration of God's ownership and their stewardship. Did they do right?

      Senator Vardaman, of Mississippi, leased a little farm to an old negro. He was to receive as rental one fourth of the corn and cotton. One day, toward the end of the season, he met the negro and said, "See here, Sam, have you gathered your corn?" "Yes, sah, long 'go, boss." "Well, wasn't I to get one fourth for the rent?" "Yes, sah, but dere weren't no fourth. Dere was just three loads and dey wuz mine," said Sam triumphantly, thinking he had thus refuted the owner's claim and vindicated his stewardship. Had he?

      There are two classes of people who see a policeman. There are those who obey the law and so can look into the policeman's face with a smile and unafraid. There are those who break the law and so hide their faces and fear the policeman. There may be two classes of people who read this pamphlet. Firstly, those who love God, who rejoice that the expression of their love, through stewardship, goes beyond the law so that they give God His full share. They rejoice to read this pamphlet and say, "Amen", to its message. Secondly, those who, in their stewardship, are withholding part of God's due share. What they are withholding will make them uncomfortable. They will not like this pamphlet or agree with its message.

      "But this I say, He that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each man do according as he hath purposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver."

W. W. SAUNDERS--

      After graduating from the Federal College of the Bible, in 1930, he served the churches at Northcote, Dawson Street, Ballarat, and Caulfield, Victoria, and Hindmarsh, South Australia. Since 1952, he has served as Associate-Secretary of the Department of Social Service of the Conference of Churches of Christ in Victoria and Tasmania.