Becoming a Great Steward // Living Generously, Part 9

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

We often think of our money, our house, our car, our stuff as being ours. And yet God’s perspective is that every good gift that you and I have been given has been given to us by him. And he’s given it to us with a very specific purpose in mind.

Berni: Alex, welcome to the program.

Alex: Hi Berni, great to be with you.

Berni: Now we’ve kind of touched on this a little bit over the last week and a bit. But exactly from where you sit, what is stewardship?

Alex: Yeah. Stewardship in its very simple terms simply means managing something on behalf of somebody else.

Berni: OK.

Alex: So, from a Christian perspective, God has given us a few different things that we need to steward. And I call it the three ‘T’s: your time, your talent and your treasure. So when we think about those things that God has given us, with all of those things if you like, they have an element of - they’re limited in some way.

And so we need to ... you know, we’ve only got so much time in our life. How are we going to use that time wisely for God?

How are we going to use our talents, so we’ve got skills that God’s given us? How are you going to honour God with those skills you’ve got?

And then of course your finances. How are you going to use the money that God’s given you to manage it on His behalf with His purposes? Because often when we think of money we often think of it as this is my money. You know, I’ve worked hard for it. And therefore that can shape our behaviour in a way that’s very, you know, selfish. Whereas actually God’s saying, ‘Well actually the money is really mine. I’ve given it to you, blessed you with it, how are you going to use it to honour me, to glorify me?

Berni: I always find it interesting, and I’m not being judgemental at all, but you go to church on Sunday morning and you sing these songs God you’re first, God you’re wonderful, God you’re everything else. And then the offering comes round, right. And often people think of what you put in the offering is the loose change in your wallet or your purse.

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: What have I got? Oh yeah I’ve got this much I’ll throw that in today. Or I’m going out for lunch; I’ve got to keep some back. Now people’s finances are limited and I know some people who are not very well off who give incredibly generously.

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: But there’s often this disconnect between what we say, what we profess to believe, what we sing, and what we actually do with the resources that have been given to us, hey?

Alex: Absolutely. And as you say, people are giving their spare change. And I think it’s because we don’t know how to manage money properly. So sometimes we might have the right intention but because we don’t know how to manage properly, God gets the spare change. You know, we may have lots of debt, we may not know where our money’s going. And so we manage it poorly. And so I think there’s lots of ways you can fix that.

Berni: You gave a great quote the other day on the program from Luther about conversion.

Alex: Yeah, so Martin Luther had this famous saying that is, ‘There are three conversions: the head, the heart and the wallet.’

Berni: Can I tell you the wallet was the hardest for me. Because when I became a Christian at age 36 I was an IT consultant jetting around the world. And I was earning rather a lot of money back then.

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: And when I just looked at the concept of the tithe. And I’m the same as you, I don’t believe in some legalistic, you know, give God 10%. But tithing is a good place to start. A tenth of my income was an awful lot of money.

Alex: Money, yeah.

Berni: Right, so the more you earn, you’d think the easier it would be to give generously to God. But I found it harder.

Alex: I think it’s right because ultimately it’s a hard issue.

Berni: Yeah.

Alex: And as you say you look at it and you say, ‘Oh wow, that’s such a large amount of money. How can I give that?’ In fact, the stats show that when you look at churches’ giving, often the amount of per capita giving in a wealthy suburb versus a poor suburb is exactly the same. Despite the fact that, in that suburb, the income has much, much higher levels. And I think it’s because of this constant tug of war that money has on our hearts.

Berni: So why should we, as people who believe in Jesus, aim to be great stewards?

Alex: Well I think it comes down to our purpose here. You know, we are here ... once you become a Christian your role, if you like, is to glorify God with everything that you have, all that you are. And that of course includes your money. Now I also believe very strongly that every person on the planet has a calling, you have an assignment. God has something for you to do.

Berni: It’s interesting. I mean you’ve figured out your calling: ‘Wealth with Purpose’.

Alex: That’s right.

Berni: Right. Helping Christians to manage their money in a godly way, putting God first. I have my calling which is doing what I’m doing now. Normally I don’t have someone like you in the studio with me but ... that’s my calling and I can’t image not doing that. Some people don’t know what their calling is.

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: Right ...

Alex: That’s right.

Berni: And they strongly ... they hear of God and ... you know where God’s putting you, right?

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: What do you say to someone who doesn’t know what their calling is?

Alex: Well, I think you actually have to actively find it. And I think ... what I mean by actively, I mean you have to become radically intimate with God. You know one of the things that God wants from us is just a relationship with us. He created us for relationship. And so the way you find out your purpose is just spending time with God. And I don’t mean in any sort of ... it’s not just some sort of legalistic thing and you just tick another box.

Berni: Yeah.

Alex: It’s actually genuinely knowing God and what His purposes for you are. Because when you’re filled with the Spirit, God is going to guide you and you know, kind of gently push you along in the direction that He wants you to go. But that’s only going to happen if you’re asking for His help, His guidance and His direction.

Berni: And being willing to lay it all down including ...

Alex: Surrender.

Berni: Yeah. Including, as we’re talking about right now, our finances.

Alex: Absolutely, and look, the thing about stewardship is ultimately we’re going to have to give an account of everything that God’s given us: our time, our talent, our treasure. But we’re going to be giving an account.

Berni: So what’s a good steward look like? What should I be aspiring to, to be a good steward of the resources God’s given me?

Alex: Well it starts first with the mindset. And the mindset firstly I think is twofold. One is that you acknowledge everything you have is God’s. And that you’re going to put God first. And once again we’ve talked about this – that’s easy to say, it’s another thing to actually do it. But it does start with that mindset. If you don’t have that mindset, then it’s very hard to become an actual steward. Because the thing about money, and this is a very important point, is how you think about money shapes your behaviour with money. So you’ve got to have the thinking part right first.

Then we can look at some of the more practical things. People often say live within their means, I actually say you need to live beneath your means.

Berni: Yeah, amen.

Alex: And so when we look at the simple things like budgeting. I say the first 10% should be given to God, as a recommended minimum if you like.

Because you mentioned before how at church the plate goes round and people put in their spare change. It’s because they haven’t done a budget, they have no idea how much they’ve got, and so they just give what’s quickly available.

But your giving should actually be quite planned, quite well thought out and you should have sought God about how much you should give. Because a person who’s a good steward is sacrificially generous.

Berni: Let’s talk about that. That’s really important. Luke chapter 21, verses 1 to 4. Jesus is standing outside the temple with his disciples, the widow comes and she puts her few copper coins in. All the other wealth guys, they’ve been putting out theirs ... and Jesus gets really excited and says, ‘I truly tell you she’s given more that all the rest.’ Because they’ve given out of their abundance, she’s given all she had to live on.

Alex: It’s an amazing passage. And what particularly I find fascinating about that is she knew who her provider was.

Berni: Yes, yes.

Alex: She knew that, even though she was giving away the last amount of money she had, despite that – God was going to take care of her.

Berni: Yes.

Alex: And I think a lot of people, they don’t give generously because they’re fearful that once it’s gone it’s gone. And it’s because they don’t understand that God loves them, He’s a generous father who wants to provide and look after us. And when you live like that, you are really allowing the supernatural to occur. You’re allowing God to provide.

Berni: I remember when I made the decision to finally begin with tithing. I’ve never had wants since then. I’ve never been without since then. Because at that point I’d been through some tragedy in my life and I was really financially badly off. Despite my income. And God just led me out of that. The supernatural dynamic ...

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: Took over.

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: I’m not saying we give in order to be blessed.

Alex: Yeah.

Berni: But God is a god who blesses obedience.

Alex: Absolutely, exactly. In fact, that was the word that came to my mind as you were speaking. Obedience is critical. And I think it’s a word we don’t probably use enough these days in Christian circles.

Berni: It’s not very popular. It’s not ... that’s not trendy these days.

Alex: No and some people I think associate it with legalism. But it’s not legalism at all; it’s actually about honouring God by living by His principles and His way. And it also works.

Berni: Odd huh?

Alex: I mean that’s the funny thing. I mean ... thing about stewardship. One of the reasons I say to people why you should become a good steward, OK, yes glorifying God is first and foremost, but it works.

Berni: Yeah.

Alex: It works.

Berni: It does. Good place to finish mate. Thanks for that. We’re going to do this one more time tomorrow, huh?

Alex: Fantastic.

Berni: Powerful stuff, thanks for that Alex.