Why do you own anything?

Consider what you own:

• Shirts, dresses, and pants,
• Dress coats, rain coats, and fleeces,
• Exercise shoes, casual shoes, and dress shoes
• Beds, mattresses, and sheets,
• Houses, stoves, and refrigerators,
• Gardens, patios, and pools,
• Cars, bikes, and scooters,
• Computers, cell phones, and watches,
• bank accts, 401k’s, and IRAs
• health insurance, car insurance, and life insurance:

You own a lot.

Indeed, you are rich. If you have:

• Indoor plumbing,
• Water readily available in your house that is fit for drinking
• More than 1 change of clothes,
• Enough money or food all year long to know you won’t go hungry,
• Access to medical care that can actually keep sick children from dying,

then you are richer than the vast majority of humanity in all recorded history, and far, far richer than virtually everyone in Jesus’ day.

You own a lot.

But why do you own anything?

Consider emphasizing two different words in that question:

Why do you own anything? That is: Where did what you own come from? How did you get it? Do you deserve it?

Second: Why do you own anything? That is: For what purpose – to what end – do you own anything? How are you to use what you own?

Those two aspects of the question constitute our outline.

Why Do You Own Anything?

Consider two different answers to this question:

1) The Marxist answer, also given by a number of cultures:

“You personally don’t own anything. All you have and all you earn belongs to the state (or the ethnic group or the village).” This idea is well summarized in a phrase popularized by Marx: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

2) An answer common among American citizens:

“Whatever I own, I deserve. I worked hard for it, or made smart investments to get it (or my parents and ancestors worked hard for it). Sure, I’m willing to pay a reasonable tax rate to fund necessary government services, and I choose to give some away to good causes, including my church. But I deserve what I own. It’s mine.”

Is either of these the biblical view?

Some have argued that the Marxist view is biblical, taking as strongest evidence the behavior of the early church in Acts chapters 2 and 4. Let’s look briefly at these chapters – and chapter 5 as well – to see if the actions of the early church can be described in this way.

Acts 2 and 4 tell us how the church helped the needy among them:

Acts 2:45: They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Acts 4:34-35: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Chapter 4 goes on to tell us that Barnabas was one who sold a field and gave the entire value to the apostles.

Then in chapter 5 we learn of Ananias and Saphira. This couple also sells a field. They too give a substantial amount to the church to distribute to the poor. But they tell the church a lie, saying that they gave the entire value of the sale.

Peter then speaks to Ananias:

Acts 5:4: “While [the field] remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Peter’s statement shows that the early church recognized private property. The early church did not force believers to sell all their possessions and turn them over to the collective. The sales and giving were voluntary.

Note that Peter doesn’t upbraid Ananias for withholding part of purchase price. Peter makes clear: Ananias didn’t have to sell the field, and having sold it, he didn’t have to give all the proceeds to the church. Had Ananias sold the field and given half the proceeds – and had they been honest about it – Peter’s response would have been similar to Jesus’ when Zaccheus gave half of his goods to the poor: Great joy! (Luke 19:8-10)

So Ananias and Saphira’s sin was not withholding part of the purchase price. Instead, the sin consisted of:

• The lie itself: Peter says they lied not only to the church but also to the Holy Spirit.
• The motivation for lying: Desiring the praise of men more than the praise of God. Ananias and Saphira wanted the accolades that were accruing to Barnabas and others, while not doing what Barnabas had done.
• Most importantly, they participated in an attack on the witness and purity of the church. Satan had persecuted the church externally, and the church only got stronger. At this point, Ananias effectively cooperates with Satan to attack the church internally – to take the institution that should exist to God’s glory, and make it like any other human institution, as its members strive for self-exaltation and recognition. (For more details, see this sermon).

But for our purposes today, the main point is this: Even in the context of great sharing, Peter affirms that Ananias and Saphira have the right to use the proceeds of the sale as they see fit.

So, no, the Bible does not argue that all you have belongs to the church, must less to the state.

What about the second answer to the question, “Why do you own anything?” – what I called the common American view?

Do you deserve what you have?

Think about what you have. Where did it come from?

All you have came as a gift, as inheritance, or from your work (for our purposes today, let’s consider government transfer payments as gifts, and include investment income under the gains from work).

You clearly did nothing to merit what you received through gifts or inheritance. What about your earnings from work? Do you deserve what you worked for, what you earned through investments?

Next week we’ll look more closely at the biblical view of work. We’ll see that work itself is God-ordained, that we are to work hard, as to the Lord, and that we are not to be lazy.

But no matter how hard we work, the Bible claims that even what we earn is really a gift from God:

Deuteronomy 8:17-18:  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power [NIV “ability”] to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Listen to that carefully. This common American attitude is explicitly anti-biblical. The passage warns, “Do not say in your heart, ‘my power has gotten me this wealth.’” That is, “Do not say in your heart, ‘I worked hard and earned every penny I own.’” Do not pat yourself on the back and say, “I was smart, I bought Apple in 1985 for less than $2 per share. I deserve all those capital gains.”

Instead: Remember! Remember it is the Lord your God who gives you ability to get wealth. He gives you all your ability: Your education, your health, your intuition, your people skills, your looks, your diligence. Everything you use to make money is a gift from God. Every penny you make is to be used by God to confirm His covenant.

Work itself is gift of God. So all you own is undeserved: whether earned through labor, earned through investments, inherited, or received as a gift.

As Paul says: “He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Your ability to absorb oxygen from the air and to transfer it into your red blood cells is a gift of God. Apart from that, you are dead. And then what do you earn?

Indeed, biblically the only thing we earn in this life through our actions, the only thing we merit, is death. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, and every man and woman since born in the normal way has joined them in that rebellion. Death is the wages of sin, the right, just, and fair remuneration for sin. But God graciously grants us forgiveness in Christ, adoption, inheritance, security, joy – by faith, not by works, not by merit. There is redemption for all who believe, not redemption for all who are smart, wise, and hardworking. We are saved by looking away from ourselves, by looking away from our merit, and looking solely to Christ. So Paul writes:

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Why do you own anything?

• The Marxist view is unbiblical.
• And the common American view is unbiblical.

All you have is a gift from God – even what you earned as wages, or from your business.              All is undeserved. He gives us the ability to work, to serve.

Why Do You Own Anything?

For what purpose – if any – do you own anything? How are you to use what you own?

God has given you the gift of your material resources for a purpose:

• The same purpose for which He does everything,
• The same purpose for which He created the world,
• The same purpose for which He sent Jesus into the world, to the cross,
• The same purpose for which He forgives you.

God has given you all you own – for the glory of His Name. All you have is a grant from God – to be used for His glory.

There are hundreds of text we could consider to substantiate this point. But let’s look at Romans 11:35-36.

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In  verse 35, the Apostle Paul quotes Job 41:11. God is speaking to Job:

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

This verse undercuts the foundation of most manmade religion. All of paganism – and, indeed, much unbiblical Christianity – is based on our giving something to God, putting Him in our debt. Then we draw down that debt when we need help.

We’re all tempted to think this way: “I have resources, time, energy, and abilities. If I use these in ways God wants, He then will have to pay me back. He’ll do what I want Him to do.”

Isn’t that way many, many people think? Haven’t you been tempted to think that way?

• “If I tithe . . .
• “If I attend church services . . .
• “If I pray regularly . . .
• “If I read the Bible daily . . .
• “If I fast . . .
• “If I do good deeds for others . . .

God will be in my debt, and then He’ll be obligated to give me what I want.”

But that’s ridiculous. That’s fundamentally pagan thinking.

Scripture tells us: All things are from Him. He already owns everything. Whatever goods, abilities, or skills you have are from Him. Anything you give to God belonged to Him before you gave it!

Imagine that 8-year-old Megan went to her daddy and asked, “May I have $10?”

He replies, “What will you use it for?”

She says, “I want to buy you a birthday present!”

So he gives her $10, and she buys him a lovely purple tie with pink polka dots that says “It’s My Birthday!” on it.

He opens the present and exclaims, “Oh! A tie! How lovely!”

Is he better off because he received the gift? He surely appreciates the thought, the desire to give. But you’d be hard-pressed to argue that he gained through that transaction. And receiving a gift for which he provided the money surely doesn’t put him in Megan’s debt.

That’s true of all we give to God- whether time or money or energy. All things are from Him. “Whatever is under the whole heaven” is His! So whatever you give to Him was His already.

In Romans 11, after Paul says “all things are from Him,” he goes on to say: “All things are through Him.” That is: He is the means by which all things are accomplished. Just as we said, even the work we do, we accomplish by His grace.

Then, third, Paul answers our question. He tells us the purpose of all that we have: “To Him are all things! So to Him be the glory forever!”

All creation – and thus all you are and have – exists to display His glory, to show what He is like. So He gives and gives and gives so that He might share His bounteous goodness with us, and so that we, in turn, might display to others Who He is.

That is true of all things, so that is true of all things that you own.

All you own is from Him, through Him, and to Him. All you own is a grant from God, which you are to use for His glory.

You deserve nothing; rather, You deserve condemnation. But instead, if you are in Christ, God has granted you life – and more than life: He has granted you material goods, He has granted you time, He has granted you energy. And all this grant is for the purpose of glorifying His Name.

Recognizing this truth leads to a profound change in attitude toward “your” possessions.

In the early nineties I was conducting an economic research project in Kenya and Tanzania. I received a grant of $250,000 from USAID to assist with project costs. I had to account for how I spent each dollar. Now, I had flexibility; I could move the budget among line items as needs arose, as the project turned out differently than I had planned. But I had to justify each expenditure by how it fulfilled the goals of the research project. And if I had reported that I spent $3000 for a party for my employees at the most expensive Nairobi hotel, the accountants at USAID would have said, “That’s not allowable. You can’t spend the grant that way. That violates the purpose of the grant!”

Just so, all you have is not yours to use however you decide to use it. All you have is a grant from God to be used for His glory.

So how does that change your mindset?

Think about what you own:

• My house is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My car is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My computer is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My job is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My health is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My weekend is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My vacation is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
• My savings accounts, my 401k’s, my college savings are grants from God to be used for His glory.
• My income and my assets are grants from God to be used for His glory.

Is your reaction: “God can’t take all that from me! What’s left for me?”

That’s a natural reaction.  I feel that in myself.

And there’s a word for that reaction: Sin.

Why? Why is that reaction sinful?

Consider: What attitude underlies that reaction?

When we react that way, our attitude is: “If it’s for God’s glory, it must not be for my joy! I don’t mind giving some to God – but I need to reserve some for myself to be sure I get what I need!”

Is that the attitude of someone whose identity, security, and joy are in God?

Is that the attitude of someone who is content with God?

Indeed, what underlies that attitude?

This thought underlies the attitude: “I know better than God what is in my own best interest. He won’t really look out for me. He doesn’t really have my best interests at heart. I’ve got to look out for myself.”

And that was Eve’s attitude when she chose to eat the forbidden fruit.

My friends: God loves you with an everlasting love. He gives you the greatest joy imaginable. As Paul says in Romans 8:32:

He who did not spare His Son but gave Him up for us all – how will He not along with Him freely give us all things?”

You see? Putting Jesus on the cross was the hardest gift of all for God to give. He did that – for you! Having done that: Won’t He give you what is much, much easier?

Think of it this way: Those of you who have loving parents, think of what they’ve done for you.

• They stayed up long hours at night when you were an infant.
• They stayed up long hours at night when you were a teen.
• They cooked and cleaned for you.
• They counseled and taught you.
• They drove you to practices and plays.
• They prayed for you and played with you.
• They cried with you and comforted you.
• They taught you to drive and drove you to excel.

Now: Your dad drops you off at the airport. You say goodbye, and go to check in. You get to the counter and the agent says, “Sorry, Your flight is canceled. We can’t get you out until tomorrow morning.”

Do you then think: “Oh, no! I can’t call dad back. He just drove me to the airport! He won’t come back to pick me up!”

Could you really think that? After all he’s done that’s so much harder – he won’t come and pick you up?

That’s nonsense. He’s done what is hard. He’ll do this little thing.

Just so with God. After giving us Jesus – after sending Him to the cross – won’t He provide whatever we need for our good and His glory? That is: Won’t He provide whatever we need

• to sustain us through trials,
• to conform us to the likeness of His Son,
• and to bring us safely to His heavenly kingdom?

You are rich. And all you own is from God. All you own is to God, to be used for His glory.

There’s much to explore in weeks ahead concerning how to live this out: What should be our attitude towards work? How do we live out this truth through our budgeting and spending? How do we use all we have for God’s glory? We’ll consider entertainment, saving, giving, and borrowing.

But for now: Think of what you own or have: Material goods. Skills and abilities. Interests. Blocks of time. Pray to God, acknowledging that these are His. And tell Him you want Him to use it for His glory – whatever that may mean. Pray, “We offer our bodies, ourselves, all we have as sacrifices for Your glory.”

May He bring that about – for our great joy.