A Christian's Approach to the Pursuit, Accumulation, and Use of Wealth

Can one succeed in a capitalistic system while practicing stewardship, glorifying God, and serving others? Those who possess and control wealth have opportunities to accomplish good things with “their” wealth. E.G. White claims that “God also entrusts men with means. He gives them power to get wealth.”[37] There is reason to believe that God would prefer that His followers possess or control property, because if they do not, others will. Christians should search for how to pursue, accumulate, and use wealth so that they optimize the glory of God. Based on insights gleaned about business and wealth from the Bible, in this section I will outline several principles that a Christian should follow in business.

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A. Be Fair and Ethical in all Transactions

It goes without saying that Christian business people should follow basic fairness and ethical standards. Of course, the overarching guide provided by the Golden Rule should be a touchstone for all business transactions. There are also references to specific behaviors to practice or avoid. The Psalmist in Psalm 49 advises against extortion and robbery.[38] The Ten Commandments warn against stealing, lying, and coveting.[39] James has direct words for business people, those who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain.”[40] The original language suggests that this trading may be associated with cheating and deception that was common in ancient trading.[41] James warns them that they need to be aware that their business goes on only if the Lord wills it. In the final chapter, James specifically censures the rich for two crimes: (1) luxurious living and (2) oppression. He condemns them for hoarding garments, gold, and silver and for laying up treasure for the last days.[42] James considers the withholding of wages by fraud as a very serious crime, equivalent to murder.

B. Trust Not in Wealth

Job’s example and God’s commendation of it emphasizes that people should not trust in their wealth. In Job’s lament he asked why the wicked prosper in this life.[43] In his vindication of himself, he noted that trusting in gold and rejoicing because of great wealth “would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges.”[44] In the epilogue to the story, God said Job spoke accurately and He restored Job’s fortune. In fact He gave Him twice as much as he had before his trials. Ironically, Job did not place his trust in wealth, and God rewarded him with wealth as a result.

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The Psalmist calls it “foolish confidence” [45] and iniquitous to trust in wealth and boast of riches. The ultimate limitation of wealth is that no amount can secure one’s eternal life. Every Christian with wealth should apply the test that Jesus put to the rich young ruler. The test question is, in what do you place your trust for eternal life?

It is a lack of trust and misplaced trust that leads the faithless to hoard wealth as in the parable of the rich fool. He was the one in Jesus’ parable who thought that if he built larger barns to store more grain and goods, he would finally be able to say to his soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.” In the parable God called him a “fool,” because he was going to die that night and then who would get the property? Jesus concludes the parable by saying that each is a fool “who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”[46]

Jesus called this man a “fool” not for his accumulation of wealth, but because he forgot that it is God who gives people the “power to get wealth.”[47] Therefore, there is no reason to place trust in wealth. Rather trust should be placed only in God for security and for salvation.

People are able to place their trust in God or wealth, but not both. Jesus told a parable of the unrighteous steward in which the lesson was: serve only God, not mammon. In this parable, Jesus told of a rich man who decided to fire his steward, because the steward was wasting the rich man’s goods. In order to secure favor with people in the community, before departing his position the steward reduced the balance owed by his master’s debtors. Strangely, “the master commended the steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” This unusual commendation was not an endorsement of dishonesty but rather an encouragement to focus on the eternal more diligently than the earthly, so that when “unrighteous mammon” fails, a person will be received “into the eternal habitations.”[48] The words of Jesus that followed provide guidance in the holding and use of material resources:”

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“He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”[49]

C. Recognize Stewardship Role

Those who rightly recognize their position in relation to their wealth will accept stewardship responsibilities including using their wealth to the glory of God, benefitting others through its use, doing no harm to people or the earth while attaining or using resources, and returning portions of the wealth to God for His work on earth.

Stewardship in religious circles is often limited to appropriate support of church and other charitable activities. In deed, the rich fool’s folly was in not realizing that “God had made him a steward of His goods that he might help the needy.”[50] The one who worships God rather than mammon, distributes freely and gives to the poor. He deals generously and lends. He conducts his business justly. Jesus also asks those entrusted with wealth to be faithful and honest with their trust and use the means to bless others.[51] John Wesley’s formula for dealing with wealth, “get all you can, save all you can, give all you can,”[52] is a famous example of viewing stewardship as only charitable giving. Philanthropy is indeed an important part of stewardship, but it is not the only way that those with wealth are able to bless others.

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When people possess wealth they control a part of God’s property. It is not only in the gifting of the property but also in the use of the property that a steward may glorify God. In business then Christian stewards have a tremendous responsibility. In the way they do every aspect of business they are stewards. The choice of product or service will be made with the objective of making the world better. Purchasing may be done from businesses pursuing noble ends such as employing difficult-to-employ people. All aspects of human resource management will honor, respect, and protect the employees. Managements’ strategic decisions have profound affects on employees’ lives. Their role is an awesome responsibility. They must appropriately balance the tension that exists between compassionate treatment of their employees and the need to be competitive to survive. Customers will be treated honestly and fairly. A significant aspect of stewardship that businesspeople have often neglected in the past is the care for the natural environment. In summary, every transaction – with vendors, employees, and customers – will be done in such a way that it glorifies God. This is indeed a high spiritual calling.

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It is as great and as difficult a spiritual calling to run factories and the mines, the banks and the department stores, the schools and government agencies for the Kingdom of God as it is to pastor a church or serve as an evangelist.[53]

D. Recognize Yourself as Equal with Others in God’s Eyes

Much of the Psalms and the letter of James deal rather harshly with the “rich.” The Psalmist in Psalm 49 equates the “wicked” and the “rich.”[54] Overall, James views the rich of his time as “unrighteous, unscrupulous, oppressive to the poor, and arrogant.”[55] He envisions a time when “rich oppressors and exploiters will pass away ignominiously and suddenly with all their prosperity and wealth, while the poor will be exalted.”[56] In his second chapter James condemns the rich for certain behaviors: oppression, law suits, and blasphemy.[57] The main point in this section is that it is wrong to show partiality to the rich, especially to honor the rich at the expense of the poor.

These Bible writers are addressing a class struggle situation. Most often in history the rich have fared better in class struggles. The problem here has to do with the way the people see themselves. The wealthy are in no way superior or more worthy in God’s eyes, and neither are they inferior or less worthy. Rather, those who possess wealth are stewards of God’s gifts. Wealth has nothing to do with eternal life or human value. Christians recognize that the rich and the poor are equal in their need for God’s grace and love. Even though the rich may be more highly esteemed by others because of their wealth, they recognize that this esteem is inappropriate.