Managing Money God's Way by Benny Ho

John Wesley: Gain all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can.

3 'theology' on money: Poverty theology --- Stewardship theology --- Prosperity theology


Stewardship theology: God is the owner and controller of all things. What we possess as Christians is a privilege rather than a right. We are simply stewards entrusted with resources, which include our time, talents, treasures and territory. Our ultimate goal is to be able to give an account for all that He has given to us. In the end, true measure of godly success is not based on the amount of wealth we can accumulate but how faithfully we have been minitering with wisdom what God has given to us; be it little or much.

Materialism can never be satisfied. The more you get, the more you want.

MONEY can buy a bed, but not sleep;
MONEY can buy books, but not wisdom;
MONEY can buy food, but not appetite;
MONEY can buy companions, but not friends;
MONEY can buy medicine, but not health;
MONEY can buy finery, but not real beauty;
MONEY can buy a house, but not a home;
MONEY can buy marriage, but not love;
MONEY can buy a good life, but not eternity;

Hold every blessing that God gives with an open palm. Enjoy blessings while you have them without desiring to possess them. Then, if God should choose to take them away, He need not pull your fingers apart!

TITHE
1) A recognition of God's sovereignity
Lev 27:30-32 - A tithe is of everything from the land, whether from the soil or livestock

A tithe simple belongs to the sovereign Lord who owns everything
Therefore we don't 'give' our tithes to the Lord since it doesn't belong to us in the first place, but we 'bring' our tithes to Him.

2) An expression of worship
Prov 3:9-10: Honor the Lord with your wealth & your firstfruits
Honoring is an act of worship

3) A means of sanctification
Rom 11:6 - Unrighteous dough or mammon made holy by us offer back the tithes. When we offer the first 10%, the rest of the 90% is sanctified. 90% with God's blessing is better than 100% without.

4) It is part of God's economy
Numbers 18:24 - Like Old Testament times, tithes are for the upkeep of the Church and its' workers. (cf 1 Tim 5:17-18)

5) An act of sowing
2 Cor 9:6-7 - Each time we give in faith, we are sowing a seed.
If we sow in faith, we can expect the promise in the following verse to come to pass: 2 Cor 9:10-11
We cannot say "Lord prosper me, then I promise to tithe". God's economy does not work this way. We don't reap before we sow. Just like a bank that pays interest only after we deposit money, so we must sow first before God's blessings will flow.

Phil 4:16-18: We do not sow from a harvest, but we sow towards a harvest.

God blesses obedience and not methods. We tithe not to be prosperous. We tithe because we believe it pleases God and we simply want to obey and bring pleasure to His heart. God will bless us and we expect to be bless but we are not motivated by the blessings we will bring us. We are motivated by the pleasure we are bringing Him.

Just as the great patriarch Abraham gave a tithe to King Melkezedek (Heb 7:4, 6-8), when we tithe, we recognise the greatness of King Jesus. Tithing is not about the needs of the church. It is not to avoid a curse. It is not to keep a law. It is bringing the King a portion due to Him.

Under the Law during Old Testament times, tithing 10% was the ceiling. But now, tithing is the floor. God has given us much. So we give 10% out of obedience & gratitude and the other 90% out of love. 1 Cor 13:3: Under New Testament grace, we are compelled to give out of love.

There is nothing wrong with money. It is amoral. Bible didn't say money is root of all evils, but the LOVE of money is the root of all evils (1 Tim 6:10)

To much to reproduce or summarise, but Benny shares on:
1) Principle of Proportion
Give the Lord as He prospers you. To whom much is given, much is required. Luke 21:1-4
2) Principle of Priority
3) Principle of Purpose
Give purposefully as an act of worship. Prepare your tithes & offerings before hand.
4) Principle of privilege
2 Cor 9:7: Give cheerfully what you have decided. Giving will then no longer be a sacrifice but a joy.
5) Principle of Profit
2 cor 9:6 & Luke 6:38, Prov 11:24-25

Danger of Greed
Fable: The man with the goose that laid a golden egg every day and he became rich. Because of greed, he killed the goose and lost the source of the golden eggs.

Charateristics of Greed: Based on Story of Gehazi in 2 Kings 5
1) Greed is hidden: Gehazi "said to himself" (vs 20)
2) Greed rationalises (vs. 20)
3) Greed is compulsive: Gehazi 'ran' after Naaman. Gehazi 'hurried' after Naaman and Naaman saw Gehazi 'running' (vs 20 & 21). Gehazi was running, getting and hurrying after material pursuits.
Greed is idolatry in god's eyes (Colossians 3:5-6)
4) Greed is deceptive: Gehazi was so overcome by greed he lied to both Naaman and Elisha.
5) Greed distorts: For one talent of gold and 2 sets of branded clothes, Gehazi was prepared to betray his master, Elisha. For about $2,000, Gehazi sold himself.
6) Greed destroys: Ironically, what Naaman lost, Gehzi ended up having - leprosy! Gehazi was greedy and he schemed and his body ended up corrupted. (1 Tim 6:9)

What's the alternative? Using the story of the Golden Goose, we are all at different stages of our lives and may fit into the following categories:
1) More golden eggs: Some of us have reached the stage of being able to share some golden eggs with others. Perhaps, God is challenging us to increase the number of golden eggs we are giving away.
2) Some golden eggs: There may be some God is challenging to confront materialism and greed. The best way to dethrone greed is to be generous and go in the opposite spirit.
3) The golden goose: For some, God may be placing a greater demand and asking us to surrender our golden goose. In other words, surrender our wealth and future income through our career by serving Him full-time in ministry.
--> Whatever God is asking you to do, do not fear because you will be surrendering your resources to the ONE who gave them to you in the first place.

How Do You Want To Live?
1) Live above your means: "Buy the things they do not need with the money they do not have just to impress the people they do not know"
2) Live with your means: The life philosophy of "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die"  - spending all we have by the end of the month and always waiting for next pay cheque. Can be a very stressful way to live.
3) Live within your means
Living with some wisdom. Making sure they have something set aside for a rainy day. Have given though to things like insurance and investments.
4) Live below your means
People who are skilled in spiritual discipline of simplicity come to the point where, even though they can well afford something, they choose to do without it so that they have more to share with others. They have learnt to say "Enough is enough".They are people who have found a place of contentment in God.