This is the summary of the topical discussion on Material Wealth on 13 July 2008. It is divided into 3 parts: Wealth Creation & Accumulation, Wealth Distribution and Wealth Consumption. The session was prepared in English, translated and conducted in Chinese, and the discussion notes are summarized in English (there is Chinese outline below as well)
FideQin Fellowship: 13 July 2008, 8:00-9:30 pm @ Glen Waverley
Topic: MATERIAL WEALTH
1. Wealth Creation & Accumulation
- Where does wealth come from?
- Differences in wealth creation ability
- What should be our attitude towards wealth?
- What are the right and wrong ways in creating wealth?
- Should there be a limit to the amount of wealth we create?
Scripture Passages: Deu.8:17-19; 1 Sam.2:7; Ps.39:6; Ps.62:10; Prov.10:4; Jer.9:23-24; Jas. 5:3
Summarize the Principles of Wealth Creation
In essence, wealth comes from God as He is the Creator of all things, including material wealth.
It is God who gives each man the ability to make wealth, and He gives this grace as He pleases. This explains the differences in wealth creation ability.
On attitude, we should always be guided by contentment on one hand and by diligence and a sense of stewardship on the other hand. God who gives us this ability to make wealth wants us to work hard to glorify Him.
Simply speaking, there are right and wrong ways of making money. Dishonest or unjust means are not pleasing to God. That said, applications can be quite hairy in real world where the society’s culture and system intrinsically advocates such method or else we get stepped behind. While a number have the capacity and wisdom to avoid it, majority often have no choice but to follow it. One example would be the system where bribes are necessary to get past the customs even when the goods are legitimate. On softer side, there are plenty of short-cuts people make in landing on a job which might mean unfair advantage. There are better and worse systems but every system in the society has its corruption and limitation.
We are trapped because we live in the system and are part of the system. Just as we are sinning every day because we are sinners no matter how we avoid, the whole society’s system is working in its corruption every moment. This understanding should give us the realization of how much mercy we need, and reveal to us the direction to reform. So we try to minimize corrupted means as much as we understand, as much as we can, and when we cannot, at least we should not follow it happily or even try to take maximum advantage from it. We should pray that God establishes His righteousness on earth in His time, and gives us wisdom to live pleasing to Him.
There is not an explicit limit to the amount of wealth Christians should create. In fact, Christians should not be lazy but should try their best. We can accumulate wealth but we also need to utilize it for the right purpose and give back to the society. The key issue is how to do this responsibility in the way that glorifies God.
2. Wealth Distribution (Scope: Social Justice)
- How important is to consider wealth distribution in our use of wealth?
- What is the purpose of wealth distribution?
- Generosity and responsibility in wealth distribution
- Minimizing abuses and brainstorming more effective ways to achieve the purpose of wealth distribution
Scripture Passages: Luke 16:9; 1Tim.6:16-18; Ps.112:5; Prov.21:13; Luke 12:33
Summarize the Principles of Wealth Distribution
We should never have the mindset that everything we make is for ourselves to enjoy. There are present and future needs in the society and there are always the weak and poor who need our compassion. It is God’s will that those who have plenty should share with those who lack, and in that we exercise the heart of giving and remember that we can give because we have been given first.
We need to cultivate a merciful and generous heart on one hand, and a discerning mind to practice responsible giving on the other hand. For example, poverty is caused by both exploitation and laziness. We need to discern.
The longer view of giving should be to enable people to reach the point of independence, not just meeting immediate needs. A difficult issue is abuses involved in donations. When disaster strikes, there are people who need immediate help. However, there are often organizations or agents who use this as an opportunity to abuse donation money. On a lesser extreme, there is often highly inefficient use of the donation.
This is not to say that therefore we do not give to any charity organization. But at least, we should not feel content with psychological comfort of having done our giving. We need to be aware of all such loopholes, and at the very least, strive to become more informed givers even though we can never stop the abuse of our giving fully.
This also should drive us to be more creative in finding more effective ways of achieving the desired outcome of wealth distribution. Trust Fund might be worth exploring (i.e. writing a will on how the wealth we have accumulated all our lives should be managed and distributed when we die). I personally think this topic should be revisited in greater depth to explore alternatives to practice giving.
3. Wealth Consumption (Scope: Personal Lifestyle)
- What are the minimum or basic necessities that should be fulfilled by the use of wealth?
- Relationship between wealth and freedom
- Dangers or side effects of possessing or using wealth
- Unnecessary use of wealth that can be cut down
Scripture Passages: Prov.3:9; Prov.23:5; Prov.22:16; Ecc.4:8;5:10,13,19;6:2; Luke 8:14; Luke 16:11
Summarize the Principles of Wealth Consumption
The Scripture says that if we have food and clothing, it is enough. This is the basic principle. Application in real life will be influenced by factors like the era, the kind of society, system and culture we live in, and our own subjective and personal view on what our basic needs are. Modern world views education as part of basic need to live well in a society. In less developed countries, often times having 3 meals a day is sufficient.
If we live as hermits in the jungle we can easily reach the simplicity of having just daily food, clothing and shelter. Living in a developed country, however, we are part of a very complex system where people are specialized in skills and tasks, hence to be able to have food and clothing involves a hundred other things, such as having a job, which also means having at least basic education, a place to live, electricity, etc. We are interconnected in this huge system that works in certain way, so we cannot simply disconnect and have just food and clothing and nothing else.
Freedom itself is a huge topic that has various definitions. For simplicity purpose, we define here as the ability to do the things we want, and not to do the things we do not want. Wealth is often linked to freedom, hence the term financial freedom. The idea behind this is that when money is still an issue, our time is still tied to our job. But once we have enough money to generate itself and the amount is enough to sustain our personal consumption and even to give to others, we are set free to do whatever we always dream to do.
On one hand, wealth gives us more choices and releases us from certain commitment we have to do initially in order to earn a living. On the other hand, wealth also comes with added burden and needs, such as the need for accountants and financial advisors to manage our wealth, legal advice, perhaps bodyguard, etc. We will have more people bugging us. Financial freedom might not be as free as we imagine.
Wrong utilization of wealth will have dangers and side effects. The obvious one would be indulgence in drugs and gambling. But without going to such extreme, wealth can also makes us internally weaker and more dependent on many more things than when we are less wealthy. We might grow easily impatient and there is more temptation to pride.
Quoting from Matthew Henry as a summary, "There is a burden of care in getting riches, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account at last to be given up about them."
Finally, in reflecting what our basic needs are, we can also identify what consumptions are unnecessary and can be minimized in our life. This part is more for personal application. We can think through lists like junk food and snacks, excessive shopping, drinks and entertainment, etc.
In summary, it is legitimate to utilize wealth for our basic and secondary needs, but we should avoid indulgence. When we have more wealth, we should learn to use it wisely instead of trapping ourselves with it.
Above all, we need to remember that all we have comes from God and we should always learn to view life from eternal point of view. Honoring God with the firstfruit of our wealth will help us remember this (Prov.3:9). How giving should be linked to God’s kingdom is another big topic to be discussed in the future.
Personal Applications:
1. Evaluate my attitude & practice in wealth creation & accumulation, distribution, and consumption against Scriptural principles.
2. Based on today's discussion, what directional changes should I make in the way I handle wealth?
CHINESE OUTLINE
财富
1． 财富的创造和积累
- 财富的来源
- 为什么人得到财富的能力有不同？
- 对待财富应该有的态度
- 得到财富正确和错误的途径
- 创造和积累财富的限度
经文：申命记8:17-19; 撒上 2:7; 诗62:10; 诗39:6; 箴10:4; 耶9:23-24; 5:3
2． 财富的分配
- 财富分配的重要性
- 财富分配与财富使用的关系
- 施舍的心和责任感并重
- 应用
经文：路16:9; 提前 6:16-18; 诗112:5; 箴21:13; 路12:33
3． 财富的使用
- 生活对财富最基本需求的程度
- 财富和自由的关系
- 财富会带来什么副作用
- 在生活中有哪些消费是可以省下的？
经文：箴3:9; 箴23:5; 箴22:16; 4:8; 传导5:10,13,19; 6:2; 路6:14; 路16:11
应用：
1． 评估你在财富的创造，积累，分配，和使用上的态度和实践
2． 通过今天的讨论，我对待财富的观念会有什么转变？
