How Much Should Christians Save?

In this series of teaching on stewardship, John Cole revised and taught from a published course made available without copyright by local church pastors shared for churches like ours. Read the handout notes here...

When is enough, enough?

Last week, we defined debt as getting something now by paying for it later. Well, savings is getting something later by paying for it now.

PRUDENCE IN PLANNING

Proverbs 6:6–8 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest.

Proverbs 21:5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; But of every one that is hasty only to want.

Proverbs 21:20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; But a foolish man spendeth it up.

Saving is God’s  normal means  of enabling us to provide for the future. 

1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

2 Corinthians 12:14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

The main thing is that every dollar we keep in savings is marked for the purpose of  glorifying God  and investing in His kingdom .

HAZARDS OF HOARDING

Luke 12:13–21 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? 15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Hoarding: selfishly accumulating wealth without consideration towards and trust in God.

Scripture creates a healthy tension between prudently saving for  future purposes  and faithfully laying up treasures in the kingdom of God with a  daily trust in God .

Proverbs 11:26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: But blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

Ecclesiastes 5:13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

Preparing for when we cannot make as much money is wise. Devoting our youth to enabling our future, what would be our most influential years, to be spent in only leisure is foolish.

James 5:1–5 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Proverbs 11:28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: But the righteous shall flourish as a branch.

So then the hoarder and the biblical saver can both save the same amounts of funds, but the motivations of the heart are diametrically opposed.

TREASURES IN TRUSTING

God wants us to not trust a formula, but to trust Him. 

Saving for the future doesn’t mean that you’re not trusting in God, although it could mean that.

Proverbs 16:3 Commit thy works unto the Lord, And thy thoughts shall be established.

Survival should not be the mindset of the church. 

Matthew 6:31–33 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

The goal of saving for the Christian is simple— be faithful .