The Christian and Money Part 1

Is money good or bad? What is a Christian attitude to money to be? What are our needs? How are we called to radical discipleship in the area of our bank balances and possessions? The Bible teaches more frequently about money than it does about sex and yet we rarely see that reflected in preaching programmes or home groups. So what does the Bible have to say about money?

God and money
In the beginning God made the world and everything in it and it is declared seven times to be ‘good’ (Genesis 1). God then gives what he has made to his stewards –Adam and Eve. They are to care for God’s creation, though it remains God’s. It is given to them to enjoy and is a good gift from a loving father to his obedient children.

In 1 Chronicles 29:10-14 we see that King David recognises this principle(11), he is amazed at the wealth God has provided which the people have been able to bring to contribute to the building of the temple. He recognises “Everything we have comes from you, and we have only given you what comes from your hand”. There is amazement at God’s provision, joy at being able to give and recognition that they are only giving back part of what God has given to them.

This idea carries over to the New Testament in 1 Tim 4:4 Paul is arguing against the prohibitions of false teachers who “forbid people to marry, and order them to abstain from certain foods...” He then emphasizes twice that “everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving!” It seems to be an echo of what God taught Peter on the rooftop in Joppa.

But Paul adds that the believer is to give thanks to God for what they have. Again a reminder that everything we have is given to us by God – it’s his and we are given it to invest for his glory. Even what we work hard for is God’s; God has given us the talents and skills to get the job we have as well as the job itself.

We need to hear carefully what the Bible is saying here. God makes the material world and it is good, it is designed for humans to enjoy and money and possessions are part of that. But there is also in its very set up a helpful corrective God is the creator and he does not give up ownership of what he give but makes us stewards of what he has given us. It means that if everything we have is God’s given to us to invest then a lack of generosity isn’t excusable as ‘Oh so and so is just tight’, it is actually robbing God (Mal3:8).