Embracing financial stewardship like the early church
“Financial stewardship” is a phrase that most people don't use often in their daily lives, yet Jesus often talked about being a good steward and this principle is seen throughout the Scriptures.
Yet, there is often a disconnect.
Many Christians today only associate the idea of stewardship with sermons they’ve heard about such as church budgets and building programs, or perhaps with nonprofit organizations that speak to using donors’ dollars wisely.
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While those are valid examples of financial stewardship, as Christians, we need to embrace a larger biblical view of this principle. It connects everything we do with what God is doing in the world. Stewardship is inextricably linked to discipleship. It’s our ultimate calling as followers of Christ.
One way to walk this out is to recycle Christian dollars. What does that mean? It means being intentional about Kingdom-impact where we spend, where we give, and with whom we do business or invest. Recycling Christian dollars is entrusting our finances to organizations that are aligned with our Christian values in order to advance the Kingdom of God.
How people steward their finances is a good indicator of what they believe and to what extent they’re committed to being used for God’s glory. In Acts 4:32-37, we see one of the earliest examples of this idea of recycling Christian dollars when a group of the first Christians decided that there was something that mattered more than their material possessions.
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)
These new believers were willing to give up control over something that was temporal in favor of something more meaningful. Why? Because they were fully convinced that God is sovereign.
It was following what can only be described as a miraculous event just a handful of verses earlier in this chapter of Acts. At this point, there was no doubt in the minds of the apostles that God was who He said He was. In response, they were moved by the presence of the Holy Spirit to give testimony through the generosity of their possessions.
What happened in these verses was a voluntary reaction. They weren’t being controlled, nor were they forced, and they weren’t reluctant. They were moved to ask themselves, “How can we use our material possessions (our finances) to impact the Kingdom of God?”
In more conversational, modern terms, they might have said, “How can we take what we have and turn it into something that will have a lasting or eternal significance?”
These verses remind us to hold onto our worldly goods loosely and consider God’s Kingdom. Let me be clear, though. What is being described in Acts 4:32-27 is not the denunciation of all your worldly resources for the greater good.
It’s so much more than that.
After all, if denying all material wealth is no more than a requirement, then there is no generosity or will involved. Generosity is voluntarily giving up something of personal value to help another person or group.
What does this look like today? I’ll be the first to admit that I like tangible things. We all do, right? We like the sense of security that material possessions, cash in our pockets, a regular paycheck, or growing investments seem to provide. While it’s Godly wisdom to earn, save and invest wisely, we must remember that everything we have does not belong to us. It has been entrusted to us by God.
God commands us to be stewards over everything He places in our hands. That means our time, gifts, material things, relationships, jobs, and yes, all those tangible things. It all belongs to God, and He is trusting us with it.
Radically simplified, recycling Christian dollars could mean buying your books from the local Christian bookstore instead of a secular mega-retailer. It could mean grabbing your next cup of coffee from the small business owner who is bold about their Christ-centered beliefs instead of the mighty global franchise.
Or it could be much bigger than that. It could be adopting an attitude of intention as it relates to not only where we make our purchases, but with whom we do business and where we give. We have a biblical responsibility to handle our financial decisions with and through the lens of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
While biblically-based stewardship of our finances applies to all ages, recent insights gained from an AdelFi study conducted by Lifeway Research revealed that Christian young adults share many of the same intent and actions today as did those of the early Christians in Acts chapter four. The study revealed that:
- 48% of Christian young adults agree that Christians have a responsibility to try to spend their money with companies that are owned or operated by Christians.
- 59% of Christian young adults intentionally try to purchase from companies that act in ways that honor Christ.
- Christian young adults give three times more than non-Christians.
These findings, along with other insights revealed through the study, show that young people are thinking about their God-given purpose and how they can play a role in advancing His Kingdom. This is encouraging because we know that God has entrusted every single one of us with resources that we are called to dedicate for God's glory.
We all need to be faithful stewards of what God has given us within the opportunities He presents to us to glorify him, love others, and further His Kingdom.
Abel Pomar is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AdelFi. His experience in banking technology, regulations, compliance, and process improvement combined with his long-time Christian walk brought a new God-directed vision for how AdelFi can better serve Christian individuals, families, Christ-centered ministries, and small business owners in the years to come.
