A Biblical Worldview of Ownership

Shawn (00:00): That’s mine. That’s my stuff. Give it back. Sound familiar? Maybe it reminds you of a selfish 2-year-old or maybe it hits a little closer to home. The truth is, we’re all born with that possessive nature. What if there’s a different way to view everything you own? Today we will explore a radical biblical principle that can transform your finances and your entire life. Let’s get some perspective. Welcome to Christian Financial Perspectives. Today we’re covering one of the most foundational concepts in biblical finance, who actually owns our cars and houses, boats, RVs, savings and banking accounts, investment and retirement accounts, cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, investment, real estate, whatever else you can think of. High value. Bob (00:54): That’s quite a list by the way. And I could, that list was real long, so I would just cut it down to et cetera. Because when you think about it, we could just go on and own about all the things that we own. Shawn (01:07): All the stuff. Bob (01:09): It’s all the stuff, exactly. Shawn (01:10): I believe the fancy term for it, Bob, in finance is assets is one way to look at it. But stuff I feel like helps because there’s a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t consider assets that the question of, well, who really owns it does come up? Bob (01:26): Sometimes I wish I didn’t own it. So we’re really going to talk about a concept like you say, it’s radical to the mindset of everyone. And let’s look at some scriptures and talk about this concept of ownership because it really is the foundation for everything. We’re talking about a biblical worldview of money and wealth. This is our fourth in the 12 part series. I did this intentionally. I didn’t do it right off the bat because it’s so radical that I didn’t know if anybody else would listen to the next 11 episodes. So I put it in the middle. Shawn (02:04): Alright, so to determine the answer to the question we just posed, let’s look at these scriptures, then we’ll talk about it a little bit. Alright, Psalms 24:1, “The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Okay, great. End of episode, right? Bob (02:17): Exactly. Shawn (02:18): We already answered the question, Bob (02:19): But I think it’s one of the most powerful scriptures in the entire Bible when it comes to stewardship. Because if you really believe in your heart, soul, and mind that God owns everything you notice, it doesn’t say God owns most things. It says God owns Shawn (02:35): Or spiritual things. Bob (02:36): Yeah, yeah, that’s true. He owns everything. And this does mean our bank accounts, our savings, our cash, our investments, our houses, our land, our oil and gas revenue. If we have it, all of it belongs to God. And if you really believe this is real, this is an all in passage. This is saying, Jesus, I am all in for you. Shawn (02:58): That’s right. And then we have Haggai 2:8, “‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Bob (03:05): It’s interesting. Back then we knew that gold and silver was a form of currency. Today it’s what we call fiat currency. I mean you can print, go out and print paper, but still God is addressing all forms of currency here that it’s his, it doesn’t belong to us. This is again, a very radical scripture that goes with Psalms 24:1. Shawn (03:33): Yeah, this is a good example of, yes, it specifically says silver and gold, but this is one of those scriptures. I think you do need to look at it within context of, well, what is it? Is the scripture actually talking about since of course when this was originally written, there was no such thing as dollars or cryptocurrency or NFT. That’s what it was. Anyway, so our next one, 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom. You are exalted as head overall. Wealth and honor come from you. You are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” Bob (04:23): It’s interesting by one of the wealthiest men that ever lived on the face of the earth, and of course his son, Solomon, King David, this is a prayer of his and you know that he’s a man after God’s own hearts. What we always say, and this is how he viewed his wealth and possessions, is that they belong to God. Shawn (04:43): And you notice that phrase, “Wealth and honor come from you.” Bob (04:46): Yeah. God gives us the ability to make that. Shawn (04:51): To earn an income, to build a business, to accumulate savings. All of that ability comes from God. So we really can’t take credit for any of it. And that question of the who owns it? Well, even if you think, oh, I built this business. Well, who gave you the ability to build that business? Who gave you the breath in your lungs? If it wasn’t for that, there would’ve been no business to be built in the first place. Bob (05:17): I think that comes back to Psalms 139 where he put us together. Shawn (05:20): So understanding the difference between owner and a manager. Bob (05:24): As I was writing this, Shawn, this is a difficult subject to write about. I was thinking that we’ve got to break this down. What is an owner? What is a manager? Because if we believe God owns it all, then we are the managers of it. And I know you came up with… Shawn (05:40): So according to Webster’s dictionary, an owner is one who has legal or rightful title to something, one to whom property belongs. The owner provides the resources, sets the vision and direction, makes the rules bears ultimate responsibility for outcomes and final authority overall decisions. The owner is operating at a high level, making strategic decisions about where things are headed. Bob (06:04): I wanted to use a real life example here. I was trying to think of something like a large owner, because we know that God owns the whole earth. So I was thinking of… Shawn (06:12): He is a very large asset. Bob (06:14): So I was thinking of an entire restaurant chain. I mean, you can think of anything. You think of Chick-fil-A as an example. It is a large chain. They’re privately owned. They’re not owned on Wall Street, thank goodness, not yet. And they have multiple restaurants across the country. And their role in this is to provide guidance and wisdom and clarity, experience, vision, marketing support. You see the cute little billboards they put up on the side of the road with the cow eating the Chick-fil-A or whatever, and they give all that support and they also give the rules to the managers and they call ’em owner managers, but they give the… Shawn (06:56): Well like they’re franchisees. So the franchise owners, but really it really should be the franchise manager. Bob (07:03): Well, I like their example too, because when you’re no longer the manager there, you give that back to Chick-fil-A. It’s just like we give it back to God. And how to run that. So the manager or steward in this case is to carry out the wishes of the owner. Shawn (07:23): Someone entrusted to oversee another person’s property. And so that first one you just mentioned, to carry out the wishes of the owner, another one of their roles to follow the rules and guidelines of the owner’s policies. Bob (07:34): And these rules and guidelines are given us to us in scripture in the form of over 1500 scriptures about stewardship. So we’re told how to operate it, how to run it. Shawn (07:51): So another role to oversee respect and take care of the owner’s property, to provide the manpower and oversee the employees. And number five, to make decisions on behalf of the owner’s expectations. Bob (08:03): When I look at my car and it starts to get dirty, I think, okay, I need to go wash that car because that belongs to God. I need to be taking care of it. I don’t want to leave my house in shambles. I want to take care of my home because that belongs to God and I want to be a good manager. Shawn (08:21): So the manager cares for the resources entrusted to them by the owner and makes the day-to-day tactical decisions in accordance to the owner’s guidelines. Importantly, the manager gives an account of how resources were used, but they don’t bear our ultimate responsibility for outcomes. Bob (08:37): I think that’s important, isn’t it? Shawn (08:39): Yeah. They’re only responsible for their faithfulness in carrying out the owner’s wishes. Bob (08:44): The outcome is up to God. These managers, many times they’re in the trenches making it happen, but the owners provide the vision and the resources. God’s word is just full of stewardship principles. The Book of Proverbs is one I’ve been reading for years and years. There’s 31 chapters, many months have 31 days or 30 days. So I always take the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month, and I read that, and I’m amazed at how much wisdom God gives in Proverbs for managing his resources. I call it mind boggling. It’s so many. This entire 12 part series that we’re doing on a biblical worldview of money and wealth covers many of these principles with the scriptural guidelines behind it. And many scholars will say this, that Jesus spoke on stewardship more than heaven and hell combined. So it’s a very important subject to God. Shawn (09:42): And depending on the biblical scholar, depends on the exact number that they’ll say. But I believe most biblical scholars will agree that there’s over 1500 scriptures. Bob (09:51): Some say 2000. Shawn (09:52): Yeah. That talk about stewardship. So the next verse we want to share with you is 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Now it is required that those who have been given trust must prove faithful.” Bob (10:03): Yeah. What does that mean, must prove faithful? Shawn (10:04): Based on the discussion we were just having on manager, I think it’s to show that you take care of it. Bob (10:13): Exactly. That’s right. Shawn (10:14): You do a good job with using the resources in a way that honors the Lord. Bob (10:19): It’s not necessarily in a way that is successful by today’s worldly standards, is it? It’s success from a biblical worldview and faithfulness? Shawn (10:32): Yeah. I guess the way you could describe that, that faithfulness not fruitfulness, is our primary responsibilities as managers of the resources. Because look at it from the world’s perspective. If you have a certain amount of assets, let’s just keep it simple, you have a certain amount of money. (10:50): And you could invest all of it for as long as possible to make as much as possible. But what if the thing that the Lord is prompting your heart and the Holy Spirit is guiding you to do is, well, maybe you’re actually going to give away half of that. So you’re not going to have all of it invested or you’re not going to have all of it invested for the whole time, but you’re actually going to be giving out of that. Okay, well, from a world’s perspective, well, you wasted a bunch of money, you just gave it away. You didn’t make a return on it. But from the Lord’s perspective, he already owns all of it anyway. And the faithfulness of our hearts and actions with him is more important than the total return that we made on it Bob (11:33): Sounds like Randy Alcorn and the book called The Treasure Principle, and he says, if you want to have a guaranteed return, send it on ahead. Shawn (11:41): Yeah, yeah. Bob (11:42): Okay. He meant that was giving is what he meant by that. And it’s really shifting that mindset focus of it’s all my stuff; I’m holding on tightly. If I take my hands right here and I really hold ’em tightly long enough, my knuckles are going to start getting white. Shawn (11:57): So the white knuckle grip. Bob (11:58): And it’s letting go and saying, God, this is yours. It belongs to you. And I think we need to go through four or five, three or four, at least three or four real life applications of what this looks like. And I think one of the first things is it really changes how you look at investments, doesn’t it? Because this is something that we do here at Christian Financial Advisors® is we manage money for people in the markets and bonds and stocks and ETFs and mutual funds. I think there’s a great scripture that goes with this and then let’s talk about it. Shawn (12:36): Sure thing. Luke 16:10-12, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever’s dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you’ve not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches. And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property who will give you property of your own?” Bob (12:57): “Someone else’s property” is God’s. Shawn (12:59): That’s right. Bob (12:59): Okay. So when you embrace this stewardship mindset to investing that it belongs to God, there’s several things that start to happen. And I know you listed some of these, you put some of this together, go for it. Shawn (13:12): So first you develop a long-term perspective that replaces short-term panic. Managers think long-term because they answer to the owner, not to their own emotions. So when it comes to investments, the day-to-day market fluctuations become less frightening because you’re managing for the owner’s timeline and not reacting to every headline. Bob (13:37): I love it when I’ve asked some of our clients that know that God owns it all, “Are you worried about this?” And you know what they always say, same thing. “God owns all this. It’s good. We’re good.” And man, that is a peace that surpasses all understanding, isn’t it? It really is. And your investment decisions, they become clearer when you realize God is the owner, you start asking questions like, “Would the owner want his resources invested in companies that opposes values?” Shawn (14:07): That’s right. Bob (14:08): Of course not. And this is where biblically responsible investing makes sense. It’s not just avoiding certain stocks, but it’s also actively managing according with the owner’s wishes and values. So we’re looking for good companies to invest in and stay away from the bad ones, the ones that violate biblical principles. Shawn (14:27): That’s right. Another thing is with this, your risk tolerance shifts as well. You’re not reckless because that would be poor stewardship of what’s been entrusted to you, but you’re also not paralyzed by fear because that shows a lack of trust in the owner, in God. So instead you become a prudent, thoughtful manager of what belongs to God. Bob (14:48): Shawn, I’ve seen in 40 years of working with Christian brothers and sisters, they make such better financial decisions because they know who owns it all. Shawn (14:56): Especially during market volatility. Bob (14:58): Market volatility. Yeah. We said that one together, in unison because we both thought that same thing. They don’t panic, they don’t sell on emotional decisions. They always say, what would God want me to do? He owns it all. And as long as we’re abiding by biblical principles, we’re abiding by Ecclesiastes 11:2 says, “Give your portions of seven or eight because you do not know what disaster may come upon you.” And we’re using those biblical principles and we realize there’s a time for everything. There’s going to be good times and bad times. Shawn (15:28): So you’ve done that planning, you’ve done the diversification, you know that you’re doing things in a way that honor the Lord. And so when the markets have a downturn, not if but when, because we know from Ecclesiastes that there’s time for everything. Well, the panic doesn’t typically set in is you’re like, okay, I’m going to trust the Lord’s word. I’m going to trust in him that I’ve done what I was supposed to do and now I need to just not panic when things aren’t going well. Bob (15:58): You ever ever heard the old saying, let go and let God? Shawn (16:01): Yeah. Bob (16:01): Yeah. Shawn (16:02): Our next area of, okay, how does this make a change? It changes our approach to giving when we understand this owner manager dynamic. Bob (16:12): It’s really not ours anyway in the first place. It belongs to God. So why would we be fearful when we’re giving? Shawn (16:19): Yeah. Yeah. I mean it, it’s the mindset of instead of I’m giving away my money, which feels like a loss. Under stewardship mindset, we are redistributing God’s resources to where he directs us to. And that feels like a privilege and an act of worship. Very different. And when you know the money is truly it’s not yours, you hold it more loosely. And so that generosity becomes more natural and easier and not something that feels forced because we’re doing this out of obedience and joy. Bob (16:59): And you’re not fearful. You’re not fearful. If I give this away, then what? Yeah. That takes away that fear. Shawn (17:06): Because think about that, Bob. If you’re worried about if I give this away, then what’s going to happen. Okay. Well that shows that reveals in our hearts that your trust or trust is in the money and not in the one who it belongs to. Bob (17:22): Right. Exactly. You have somewhere else, I think a few other things you wanted to share about this that God is not taking from us. Shawn (17:29): Yeah. Yeah. So this thing about the tithing, how we think about tithing, this isn’t God taking from us. It’s God testing our faithfulness as managers. Like I was just saying, are you trusting the money you’re trusting in God? And so here’s the thing, the 90% we keep is just as much His as the 10% we give away. Bob (17:48): That’s interesting. I’ve not heard it said that way. Say that one more time or we can get that. Shawn (17:52): So the 90% we keep is just as much God’s as the 10% we give away. So doesn’t really matter, but the giving is simply an acknowledgement of his ownership. Bob (18:06): Which I think leads us right into this third point. It reduces the financial anxiety. Shawn (18:14): That’s right. Bob (18:16): And you’ve got a great scripture here from Philippians. Shawn (18:18): Yeah. Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Bob (18:33): And the anxiety comes from the world’s way. It comes from the secular worldview. It doesn’t come from God when we have financial anxiety, God does not want us to live in a spirit of fear. And when we give it to him, we don’t have to live in that spirit of fear. We become a steward and we are managers, we’re responsible as managers for the process, but we’re not responsible for the outcome. And that process is given to us how to manage it in God’s word, it’s very clear. Like I said, I’ve been reading Proverbs for years, the chapter that goes with the day, and it will tell you how to manage money, it really will. Shawn (19:10): Think of it like this – when it comes to this financial anxiety. The piece of the steward is different. Managers, or stewards, are responsible for the process, not the outcome. The Owner, God,] is responsible for the outcome. Our job is the faithfulness. And God handles the results, which is no different than when you think about when we share our faith, we don’t save other people. Bob (19:36): That’s right. Shawn (19:37): We simply share the good news. We share our story of what God has done in our own lives. And the Holy Spirit is the one that convicts and saves. (19:48): Jesus died in the cross. He’s the one that made it possible. We’re just asked to be faithful to share. And we never know if, are we helping to plant the seed, water, the seed? We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s no different when you look at stewardship versus that ownership is that God is calling us to do well, to trust the process, if you will, and leave the results to God so that in the face of the world thinking, “Well, why would you give all that money away?” I think of Billy Graham and some of the others where they got to a point in their life of basically every additional dollar that they were bringing in, they just gave it back and the world would say, you’re crazy. Why would you do that? It’s like it’s all His anyway. And I trust Him more than the money. Bob (20:45): And they have a peace that surpasses understanding. And people that embrace this mentality level really sleep better at night. And I think the last thing is thinking different about your estate planning. When you realize God owns it, the way you give it to the next generation is extremely important. As we train that next generation to be faithful managers of what’s God’s entrusted to us, and we want to train them to be good stewards as well. If you pass money to the next generation without passing wisdom, that’s a recipe for disaster and a recipe for fear. So learn to teach that next generation the good stewardship principles that we’ve talked about and that we’re going to continue to talk about. Shawn (21:38): The question becomes in your estate planning, who will be the next faithful manager of what God has entrusted to your family? Will that son or daughter or grandchild use godly wisdom and be a good steward of the assets entrusted to them? Bob (21:53): Exactly. Shawn (21:53): And that is more important to pass on that wisdom and that trust in the Lord – that he’s the owner and we’re the steward – than the actual dollar amount. I mean, I would definitely argue that it would be better to be able to help instill that into your heirs and give them less actual assets if you gave more away to expanding God’s kingdom because that is going to be worth so much more for multiple generations than whatever money you might’ve passed. Bob (22:27): It ends up with this scripture, Matthew 25:21. It says, “Well done, good and faithful steward. You’ve been faithful with a few things. I’ll put you in charge of many things.” Estate planning, in many ways, is preparing for that final accounting. Shawn (22:42): That’s right. Bob (22:43): I hope it’s been a radical new concept maybe to a lot of people that God is the owner, but you can trust God. God’s son, Jesus Christ, He purchased you with his blood on the cross, by dying for your sins and giving you eternal life. So allow him to be the owner of not just you but all your stuff. Shawn (23:09): You can trust God. You can trust Jesus who died for our sins, who purchased us, who paved the path for eternal life for us to be redeemed and brought into God’s family. And if you can trust him with that, why would you not trust him with something as trivial as assets? If our souls already belong to God and we’ve accepted that gift of salvation, why would you not also trust him with stuff, with the things that moth and rust will destroy? Bob (23:44): Right. Shawn (23:46): John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” So thank you so much for joining us. Next time we’re going to cover biblical worldview of financially providing for family. Bob (24:01): And that is going to be a really deep one, too. I want you to join us on this process. This is a 12 part series. Today was part four. Next week be part five. So we’re really just right in the middle of it and I hope that it’s really changing your perspective on how you look at everything. Shawn (24:19): Thanks for joining us, and as always, God bless.