A Biblical Worldview of Money and Wealth

Shawn (00:00): What if you could discover Biblical wisdom for your finances that most Christians have never heard taught in church? With over 2,000 scriptures about money and stewardship, God has given us a complete framework for handling wealth. Today, we’re exploring 12 essential topics that can transform your financial life from fear and selfishness to contentment and freedom. Let’s get some perspective. Welcome back to Christian Financial Perspectives. My name is Shawn Peters. This is Bob Barber, and today we’re going to be covering “A Biblical Worldview of Money and Wealth”. Now, a Biblical worldview of money and stewardship is something rarely covered in the church and Christian circles. It used to be that you at least had kind of a minimum of tithing and giving, but Bob (00:50): Yeah, you would have the offering plate go by. And that reminded you every week. Shawn (00:54): Yeah, that visual reminder. But unfortunately in today’s church, it’s become more rare to really even talk about tithing and giving. Much less, Bob, there’s a few scriptures. I don’t know if you want to take this next part. There’s a few scriptures on this subject, right? Bob (01:10): Yeah. Yeah, Shawn, there are over 2000 scriptures on the topic of stewardship in the Bible, according to many Biblical scholars of this. Wow. And they will also say, many Biblical scholars will say, that Jesus spoke on stewardship more than heaven and hell combined. Shawn (01:29): Wow. Combined. Bob (01:30): Combined. I think this is because money is such a … It’s a battle over the heart, soul and mind of man, because we use it every day for something, right? Shawn (01:45): That’s right. And Jesus said that man cannot serve both God and mammon or money. I think I said that right. Feel free to correct me the comments. But again, it wasn’t the idea that money itself was bad, but specifically he’s talking about serving. You can’t serve God and money. You have to serve one or the other. So if you’re serving God, money, it needs to be addressed. How are you using it? Are you letting it rule you? Bob (02:08): And you’ve got to be careful because you think about how much time do we spend in scripture daily versus how much time do we spend using our money? Whether it’s for going to the grocery store and buying food for our shelter, buying gas, buying a cup of coffee- Shawn (02:22): Clothing. Bob (02:22): Going out to eat. Yeah, clothing. Shawn (02:24): Vehicles, keeping the utilities on, paying medical expenses. List goes on. Just think of how did you use money? Bob (02:29): Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much on everything. Shawn (02:32): Yeah. So for today, we’re going to be covering 12 different subjects. Now, I guess you could say there are probably more subjects than this, but what we try to do is group this together into what we feel like are the 12 primary subjects that cover a Biblical worldview of money and stewardship from the Bible. And we’re going to touch on those today briefly and explore each of these individually in the next 12 episodes. Bob (02:56): Yeah. So we’re going to go deep into each one. Today, like you say, we’re just going to cover just a short bit on it. So don’t worry, you can come back in the next 12 episodes and get really in detail about what this is. Shawn (03:11): And so the first, what we feel most obvious subject that people think of for a Biblical worldview of money and wealth, is tithing and giving. Bob (03:19): It kind of stops right there. That’s where most people stop. Shawn (03:21): Yeah. Bob (03:22): That’s where they think of when they think of a Biblical view. Shawn (03:24): And it is a good one. Bob (03:24): Yeah. And it’s a good thing. A couple of scriptures that go with this that are very good scriptures. You’re my scripture reader, Shawn. Sure thing. Shawn (03:33): 2 Corinthians 9:7. “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” And also Malachi 3:10, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Bob (03:56): We have so much to cover in the following episode. This will be our next episode that we’ll be covering on tithing and giving, but it’s the most thought of scriptures, that last one, that Malachi 3:10. And remember, nowhere in scripture does it say we can test God except in this one. Shawn (04:10): That’s right. Yeah. The most thought of scripture when it comes to this topic specifically, money and stewardship. So giving is by far the most powerful tool for releasing selfishness because you’re holding the money lightly in the hand. You’re not gripping it with a death gift. Bob (04:26): Saying Lord it’s yours. Shawn (04:27): Yep. And number two, saving. Proverbs 21:20, “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” And Proverbs 6:6-8, “Go to the ant you sluggered. Consider…” I love that. “Consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” Bob (04:50): I didn’t mean to laugh at that, but it always just says you sluggard. I mean, it’s like Proverbs is just so blunt and to the point. We know that saving is wise and prudent for the inevitable, unexpected things in life that will hit us. When we get into this one in two series from now, we’re going to talk about Joseph and the Old Testament and how Pharaoh spoke to him and how to save. It’s so much about saving and God’s word and the Biblical worldview of that. Shawn (05:19): Yeah. And without savings, we then become a burden on others during tough times, whether family, government, i.e. Taxpayers, whatever. But if you can’t take care of yourself because you didn’t prepare, then someone’s going to have to step up. Bob (05:33): Yeah. Shawn (05:33): So number three, investing. Ecclesiastes 11:2. I’ve heard this one before. I think weve used this a few thousand times. Bob (05:39): We’ve mentioned just a few times. For somebody, this might be the first time to hear us. Shawn (05:44): So let’s go on Ecclesiastes 11:2, “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” And 2 Corinthians 6:17, “Therefore, come out from them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.” And finally, one Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Bob (06:08): Most people have never thought about it, Shawn, but God really cares about how we invest his resources. And it’s not all about returns at any cost. We’ve got to do what’s right and we don’t want to invest in companies that are violating Biblical principles. And we want to look for ones that are supporting good companies that support Biblical principles for finance. I like that 1 Timothy 6:10 really warns us of the love of returns and greed. Returns are not bad and we want good returns, but we don’t want to do it at the cost of violating Biblical principles or a Biblical worldview. Shawn (06:45): It’s the idea here that the ends don’t justify the means. Bob (06:49): Yeah. Shawn (06:49): So God does care about how you manage the money well, not just the dollar amount that you had at the end. Bob (06:57): This next one is the foundation, right? Shawn (06:58): There you go. Ownership. So why do we have this one as number four? Bob (07:00): I think it’s because I always start off with this one and I want to get through some of the first ones. Shawn (07:05): It’s number four, ownership. Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Bob (07:11): Without a doubt. This is the foundation for all the scriptures on stewardship. You always come back to this one that God owns it all. And yes, this means our savings, our investment accounts, all our bank accounts. If you miss the true meaning of this one, you really do miss it all. You’ve got to understand this one.This is the foundation. Without it, cracks occur. Shawn (07:30): Try building a house without a foundation. Bob (07:32): Well, you can, but the walls are sure going to fall apart. Shawn (07:36): Exactly. Number five, providing for family. 1 Timothy 5:8 tells us, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Bob (07:48): Pretty strong words. (07:49): Sounds almost like Proverbs with just kind of right in your face. (07:53): Yeah, it is. As a man, a husband of over 40 years, dad, grandfather, I take this one very, very seriously that I want to see that my family is provided for and taken care of. And it goes into a lot of different areas. It’s going to be fun to cover that week that we cover this one. We’ll get into all that. Shawn (08:12): Yeah. All right. Number six, dangers of debt. Proverbs 22:7, “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Proverbs 22:26-27. “Do not be one who shakes hands and pledge or puts up security for debts. If you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.” Bob (08:30): You know, you think about this subject of debt. I mean, this is what Dave Ramsey’s all about in his entire ministry. Before him was Larry Burkett, which he learned a lot from. And we want to emphasize, and we’ll do this that week we cover this, is debt’s not a sin, but irresponsible debt makes us a slave to the lender. And this is what a lot of scriptures talk about that. So we got to be careful with how much debt we do go into. I believe being debt free is the way to go. Shawn (09:02): Yeah. And it depends a lot on the person. I would say one thing to think about, Dave Ramsey’s approach with the debt is very much like no exceptions. Get rid of it as quickly as possible. And it’s similar to, some people can have a glass of wine or drink a beer or something like that, and it doesn’t really mean anything. The next day, they’re not craving a beer or craving wine. And for other people that struggle with alcoholism, they can’t have one drink because if they do, it just spirals and then it gets out of control. And I feel like debt is very similar to that. It’s that if you are someone that can’t handle the debt, then yeah, stay debt free no matter what. Bob (09:37): Just stay away from it. Shawn (09:38): Don’t take the chance. Bob (09:39): Don’t touch that hot fire. Shawn (09:41): Yeah. All right. Number seven, paying taxes. Matthew 22:19-21, “‘Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him (Jesus) a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesars,’ they replied. Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesars and to God, what is God’s?’” Bob (10:04): Shawn, we should never cheat on our taxes. I’ve heard even Christians say, “Well, I’ll pay you in cash or I’ll take cash.” And I go, “Why?” And they said, “Well, then I don’t have to report it. ” Shawn (10:14): Because you’re cheating. By taking cash for services, not reporting it income. And don’t do that. First of all, remember number four, ownership. God owns it all. So if God wants you to do the right thing, Jesus is telling us literally in scripture, give back to Caesar what is Caesars or government, then do the right thing. Bob (10:34): So this is going to take us right into the next one. Shawn (10:36): Yeah. Honesty and integrity is number eight. Proverbs 10:9, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.” And Exodus 20:16, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Bob (10:51): Shawn, with just one dishonest act, if you just do one, you’re going to have to do another one to cover that one. So it’s a vicious circle that has to be covered up. It’s so much easier and less stressful to live a life of total honesty and integrity. And that has to do with how you handle money as well. Always handle it entirely with honesty and integrity. Whether you steal one penny, $1 or $10,000, it’s all the same. It’s stealing. Shawn (11:24): Well, it’s just like all sin. God cannot abide sin. So there’s no scale of like we have in our legal system. It’s like, oh, well, if you steal a certain amount, then it’s like, oh, it’s a felony versus a petty crime or misdemeanor. But God doesn’t care if you stole, like you said, a penny or $1,000 or a million dollars, it’s still stealing. Bob (11:44): And so we’ll talk about the benefits of having an honest lifestyle by a Biblical worldview when we cover that. Shawn (11:51): All right. Number nine, stick with us. We’re almost there. Working. Proverbs 14:23, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” And Colossians 3:23- 24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Oh, that’s a good one. I like that one. Bob (12:16): Work is good. It provides a purpose. It’s Biblical and it was before the fall in the garden. God called for us to work it and take care of it. Again, this will be another one that we’ll go deeply into. There’s over, I think, 500 scriptures on work in the Bible. So this is definitely, there’s definitely a Biblical worldview of work. Shawn (12:38): Yeah. Yeah. Work is good, but because of the fall and creation, there are things that are introduced that make it harder than it was originally intended to be, but work itself is good. All right. Number 10, inheritance. Proverbs 20:21. “And inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end.” Proverbs 17:16, “Of what uses money in the hand of a fool since he has no intention of acquiring wisdom.” Bob (13:04): Giving inheritance to the next generation without giving them wisdom. If they don’t have wisdom, it’s truly a recipe for disaster, and money should be given to heirs slowly and methodically the same way that wealth was earned and we’ll discuss how to do that. Shawn (13:19): That’s right. This reminds me of Solomon. God gives him the choice like, “What do you want? I’ll give you whatever you ask for.” And Solomon asks for wisdom. Bob (13:28): Yeah, not for money. Shawn (13:28): Which fits obviously right here with Proverbs 17:16, “But then yet everything else was also given to him because he asked for wisdom.” So the Lord knew, well, you can handle it. Although why he still had so many wives and concubines, that’s a whole different topic. But number 11, counsel, Proverbs 15:22, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed.” Bob (13:51): I believe as Christians, we should seek counsel based on a Biblical worldview. We need to be careful who we get counsel from if they’re not using that. And we’re going to go into, in this particular one, which you can say this will be the 11th one, this will be, I guess towards June when we cover this one, but this will be all about using the third chapter from 1 Timothy, getting those qualifications for counsel, which has to do with a deacon and an elder in the church. But those are good qualifications to look for when getting counsel. Shawn (14:22): Agreed. All right. Last one. Number 12, retirement. Numbers 8:23-26, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘This applies to the Levites. Men, 25 years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, but at the age of 50, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This then is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.’” Bob (14:51): So this will be our last one that we cover on the Biblical worldview, which like I said, will be about the middle of next summer. And we’ve covered this before, but we’re going to get deep into about retirement and what is the Biblical worldview of retirement because it can either be a time of serving God and others or a time of self-indulgence. I see this because we have a home on the golf course in Rockport and the studies have shown that a life focused on self-indulgence during retirement results in depression and in many, even a shortened lifespan. And I like what you’ve got here. Shawn (15:28): As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. And key thing on there, focused on self-indulgence. It doesn’t mean you can’t go play golf occasionally. Bob (15:36): No, not at all. Golf is good. Shawn (15:39): But what is your focus? Bob (15:39): Every single day, all day, and this is all you do and you never serve any others or God. So the conclusion of this is we’re really excited about this series that we’re going to be going into for basically the next six months. Shawn (15:52): Yeah. Living outside of a Biblical worldview for money and stewardship results in selfishness, depression, fear, and the insecurity of never having enough. Bob (15:59): Isn’t that true? Shawn (16:00): However, living within a Biblical worldview of money and stewardship results in contentment, joy, freedom, and more than enough. If you want to dive deeper into today’s overall topic of a Biblical worldview, consider purchasing a copy of “Biblical Viewpoints of Money and Wealth”. It’s available on Amazon. It’s a Bible study we developed and is great on your own with your spouse or in a small group because it’s seven chapters or eight? Bob (16:24): It’s seven. It’s seven chapters. Shawn (16:26): Bob wrote it. He’s technically is one of the authors. Bob (16:29): Yeah. Shawn (16:29): So when I say we… Bob (16:30): Many years ago. That’s okay. That’s all right. Shawn (16:33): Anyways, as always, we can be reached by text or calling 830-609-6986. You can also visit our website at www.christianfinancialadvisors.com to learn more about how we help our clients and how we could help you. As always, thank you so much for joining us and God bless. [DISCLOSURES] * Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors®, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors® believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.