MacArthur - Whose Money Is It Anyway?

Whose Money Is It, Anyway?

Whose Money Is It, Anyway?

Dr. John F. MacArthur, Jr.

WHOSE MONEY IS IT, ANYWAY?
Dr. John F. MacArthur, Jr.

Copyright 2000 by Word Publishing. All rights reserved.

Published by Word Publishing, a unit of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P. O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, and 1977 by the Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.

Scripture references identified as KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture references identified as NKJV are from the New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Scripture references identified NIV are from the New International Version, copyright 1978 by the New York International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Scripture references identified TLB are from The Living Bible, copyright 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill. Used by permission.

MacArthur, John, 1939
Whose money is it anyway? : a biblical guide to using Gods wealth / by
John F. MacArthur
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8499-5554-8
1. Christian giving. 2. Christian givingBiblical teaching. I. Title.

BV772.M258 2000
248'.6dc21 00-026813 CIP

Printed in the United States of America
00 01 02 03 04 05 QPV 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

I HAVE THOUGHT about writing another book on giving for some time now. The first one I wrote, Giving Gods Way, was published by Tyndale House in 1978. But Ive avoided doing another book because I had convinced myself no one would buy it. Why? Because most people feel bad enough about what they dont give and what they spend. So why would they buy a book thats going to make them feel worse, or show them how to give away more of their money from which they are so reluctant to be separated?

I dont want to make you feel worse, I want to make you feel better. But the path to feeling better is understanding what the Bible says about giving and spending.

So thats why I feel compelled to write a book that answers the rhetorical question Whose Money Is It, Anyway?

Let me tell you what I mean by that title. The credibility of our Christianity is at stake in the handling of our funds. Thats why we must treat money as a stewardship. If your employer gives you one hundred dollars to buy something for him, and then demands an accounting of how you spent the money, you are going to take good care of the money. But if you have one hundred dollars of your own money, then youll spend it how you please. But whose money is it really? The answer is, Gods. So, if you have to give an account to your employer, how much more of an account will you have to give to God for how you spend His money?

But you have an enemy to your stewardship of Gods money. The world wants to use all your money so that you dont have any left to give. Advertisers compete with each other to entice you to use your available money to buy their products. And if you dont have enough money, banks and loan institutions are willing to provide you credit so you can buy those products, which puts you into debt, further limiting your resources for giving. Undoubtedly we live in an indulgent, materialistic culture, and that takes a toll on our giving.

Do you realize that people spend 50 percent of their waking time thinking about moneyhow to get it, how to spend it, how to save it, how to invest it, or how to borrow it? Theres a place for saving. Theres a place for wise planning. Theres a place for meeting your needs. But first you need to understand how to give, where to give, and how much to give. You also need to know what should motivate you to give, and what will happen to you if you do give and what will happen to you if you dont. Those are the questions Im going to answer in this book.

Well begin by looking at what God has to say about money in general. In the first chapter well look at the nature of money and examine more in-depth the lure of materialism. In chapter two well survey Scripture to see the biblical guidelines and warnings about money. Chapter three will focus on the essentials of biblical stewardship, including the biblical means of acquiring money. Chapter four will conclude our general examination of money by describing what attitude you should have about money.

Chapter five begins our look at the specifics of biblical giving by providing a model for it. In that chapter well answer these questions: When should we give? Is anyone exempt from giving? How should we give? How much should we give? Chapter six is basically a survey of the biblical characteristics of giving. Chapter seven answers an important question that has generated much confusion over the years: Does the Bible teach tithing or voluntary giving as the proper method for believers today? Chapter eight defines biblical stewardship, and in the last chapter well conclude by examining the true path to prosperity.

I have included an appendix on a topic that is becoming more and more relevant as our country witnesses a proliferation of state-run lotteries. I call it The Seductive Fantasy of Gambling because it examines the get-rich-quick formulas that essentially rob people of money. And it states in a direct way why gambling is wrong and is not at all biblical, as some maintain it is.

Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Its more blessed in every way. And when you give as God has commanded, you will find it liberating, rewarding, joyous, profoundly enriching, and leading to the true path of prosperity. Enjoy the journey.

The world worries and scrambles and works often to the point of exhaustionto make sure it has enough wealth. But that is so unnecessary because our heavenly Father knows our needs and promises to provide for us every day.

HAVING A PROPER VIEW OF MONEY and possessions and managing them scripturally are serious challenges that face all Christians. By Gods providence, people are in varying financial situations, but we all have to deal with the same questions: What do we do with our resources? How should we spend our money? How much should we save and invest? Those questions constantly test the genuineness and integrity of our spiritual walk. How a believer handles the stewardship of his finances and possessions communicates much about his or her spiritual condition.

To underscore how important the subject of money and possessions is to God, sixteen of Christs thirty-eight parables speak about how people should handle earthly treasure. In fact, our Lord taught more about such stewardship (one out of every ten verses in the Gospels) than about heaven and hell combined. The entire Bible contains more than two thousand references to wealth and property, twice as many as the total references to faith and prayer. What we do with the things God has given us is very important to Him.

THE NATURE OF MONEY

Money in itself is neither righteous nor evilit is morally neutral. However, money is an accurate measure of ones morality. When we refer to money we are referring to our medium of economic exchange, something so vital that it defines how we live from day to day. In a cash-based society it might have been difficult to track ones use of money, but today a look over your checkbook ledger or credit card statement will easily reveal where your money goes. And where you spend your money determines where your heart is and what your lifes priorities are (Matt. 6:2021). Someone who sees the pattern of your spending can fairly well discern the moral direction of your life.