BIBLICAL

STEWARDSHIP
Money/Biblical Stewardship

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. — Romans
10:9

Biblical Stewardship & Christian Financial

Planning

Biblical Stewardship: Preamble

B iblical stewardship affirms God's ownership and Christ-followers’

oversight of things we control. Bible truths are its essence, not the latest fads.
God’s manager or steward carries out this vital role each day. Its focus is
money, time, talent, other resources, and the environment. Christian Financial
Planning is central to biblical stewardship because it puts us at the center of
God plans. Further, it provides a formal path to set and monitor goals.

Stewardship is not a Christian term. Good stewardship controls people’s

property for them. But it failed during the boom 1990s to late 2000s and the
Great Recession resulted. Greed and negligence became rampant. Wall
Street and financial sector folks abused people’s trust; they lied, stole,
cheated. Consumers, too, used poor stewardship. They assumed too much
consumer loans and bought homes they could not afford.

By contrast, biblical stewardship admits you work for the Lord always. You
account to Him. Colossians 3:23-24 is biblical stewardship’s source. So, are
stewardship and biblical stewardship different? Only in the accounting; the
essence is the same. Christians know we manage God's property. And non-
Christians should manage property other people entrust to them for those
folks’ best interest.

Since the Great Recession, firms see the need for proper stewardship. And
several authors have written on this topic. They insist financial services firms
treat clients right. Clients deserved proper treatment before this problem. But,
it’s never too late to start. John Taft et al in their book, Stewardship: Lessons
Learned from the Lost Culture of Wall Street Stewardship (John Wiley & Sons,
2012) defined stewardship as serving others. They argue that financial
services companies must do right for their customers. Later, in 2014, Joon
Yun, M.D., writing in Forbes.com defined stewardship as the responsibility to
shepherd and safeguard the interests of others.

The need for active stewardship in business is more obvious daily. Non-
Christian leaders focus on sustainability. They agree it must permeate
products and activities. So, they must leave resources at least the same or
better than when they met and used them.

Each Christ follower must look beyond sustainability. Colossians 3:23-24

is his and her mantra—work unto the Lord always. Believers must recall
biblical stewardship’s wide coverage. It encompasses time, talents, money,
other resources—everything he and she uses. So, he and she must stay alert
to God’s presence always.
Biblical Stewardship Key to Managing God's Money

Jesus’ followers don’t use the word stewardship, often. They use biblical
stewardship even less. They say money management instead of biblical
stewardship for money matters. But, we can’t manage money. People spend,
money doesn’t. Money is the means or vehicle to get stuff. The truth is money
handling is lifestyle management. Thus, Bible tenets should guide
spending. Mull over this article titled: Does Your Spending Reflect Your
Values? Are you prepared to spend more on an item with a supplier who
believes as you do? Or, do you spend less with a firm with opposite values?
Think about this.

Biblical stewardship is central to Managing God's Money mission. We teach it

and we preach it because it shows hearts surrendered to Jesus, ready to do
as He asks. It starts in this mission when we follow Jesus and be wise
stewards of His resources. We recall biblical stewardship daily as we teach,
preach, counsel, and present God's word on money, time, and other
resources. Please pray we stay faithful to Jesus.

God's Stewards Carry Out Christian Financial Planning

Who is a steward? A steward is someone who gets responsibility and
authority from an owner to manage the owner’s property in the owner’s best
interest. He or she must account to the owner often for his or her performance
compared with the owner’s standards. God’s steward needs to know His
Word, obey Him, obey His Word, and understand he will account for his and
her use of resources. The essence of biblical stewardship is to follow God's
guidance always.

Stewards must accept their roles. They must accept they own nothing and so,
they should let Jesus guide their spending. Besides, stewards must count the
cost before spending, listen for His voice, and He will lead them to His will,
and away from their wishes. Are you ready for this? Am I? Difficult, but God is
faithful, kind, compassionate, and will not leave you or me.

Christians have the Good news. The Bible shows Jesus' messages on money,
wealth, and possessions. The Bible has answers to our stewardship
questions. It shows Christians a picture of good stewards of God's money,
time, and talent. To access this wisdom, we must spend quantity time and
quality time reading the Bible. By God's grace, we will learn and practice
biblical stewardship.

As you walk the biblical stewardship path, use our free envelope budgeting
system.

Biblical Stewardship Underpins The GAS

Principle

The GAS Principle, three key biblical money truths, is the foundation for
everything we do at Managing God's Money. The essence of our mission;
how we apply biblical stewardship of God's resources. Let’s review the GAS
Principle and its implications.

G od owns everything - (Psalm 24:1-2, Colossians 1:16)

A ccept what you have - (Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:7-8)
S eek first His Kingdom, and submit your requests to Him - (Matthew 6:33,
Proverbs 19:21)
Key Biblical Truth # 1: God Owns Everything

Since God owns 100%, we own nothing. So, tithing, giving 10% to God,
though popular does not apply; it’s not today's giving standard. Folks find
studies showing tithers have healtier finances than non tithers. So what? Do
what's right, not expedient; stop tithing, start grace giving.

Key Biblical Truth #2: Accept Who You Are

You are “fearfully and wonderfully made” in God’s image. Accept who you are.
Accept where you are. And be content with what you have. Don’t follow
others. Folks with “perfect bodies“ aren’t perfect. You are who you are. You
are where you are. If you need to change your lifestyle, God can handle that.
Ask Him to show you what to do with life, money, talents, and everything you
have.

Accepting what you have means living in your circumstances but not allowing
them to take your eyes off God. Recall the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7; she had "a
little oil” only, but Elisha helped her see she had plenty. And, so preoccupied
was Elisha’s servant with his circumstance, He could not see the victory God
prepared until Elisha prayed to open his eyes.

Each believer in Messiah should understand that God is faithful, keeps His
Word, and His divine power has granted everything the believer needs for life
and godliness. A believer can do God’s wishes because God’s Spirit lives in
him. Do you believe this?

Key Biblical Truth # 3: Seek First His Kingdom

Are you ready to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness? Are you
prepared to do His plans; they will succeed. When you seek first His kingdom
and His righteousness, you seek second, third, fourth, never, your plans. God
has not promised to shower you with money. He will grant your needs. Have
you seen a sparrow begging for food? His word says if you can't handle a
little you can't handle much.

These three key biblical truths are not subjective, evolving principles, but
eternal. Study them in context in the Bible. You will uncover lasting guidelines
for daily living. God, the creator of the universe, owns everything. Living the
GAS Principle will change your life, change your views, and change your role
as His manager. It will cancel the need to borrow, except to buy a home.
Then you will:

1. Be more alert making lifestyle choice with money implications—with

spending decisions.
2. Allow Jesus to lead you.
3. Accept you own nothing but are responsible to God as His manager or
steward of everything He allows you to have while you are here on
earth.
4. Realize accountability is a key part of stewardship. So, you will account
to the Owner, Jesus, for money and everything you control.