Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2020

A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW ESTABLISHES STEWARDSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY Exodus 20:15 states, “You shall not steal.” In order for someone to steal something from someone else, you must have ownership of a possession. As Christians, we understand that ultimately, we are called to be good stewards because God created it all, but from a cultural perspective, certain possessions belong to us and not someone else. As Jeff Haymond, Dean of our School of Business Administration, writes in his book No Free Lunch , “To have stewardship responsibilities (which come from a vertical relationship with God) we must have ownership rights (which reflect a horizontal relationship with others in society).” As Christians, we must resist temptations to be greedy or idolize possessions. Instead, we imitate God by demonstrating generosity when we voluntarily give to others, and especially to those in need (Heb. 13:16, Prov. 3:9, Acts 20:35). We can also save our possessions to make sure that we have planned well for the future, and we can enjoy some of our possessions personally or with friends and family. How we exercise our stewardship responsibilities is one of God’s primary ways to make us look more like Jesus. You might ask, “But doesn’t the New Testament support socialism or communal ownership as the better way?” Acts 4:32, 34–35 states, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common … 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.” This passage certainly demonstrates extreme unity and generosity, but the giving here is voluntary and not compelled by governmental forces. This is not a redistribution of wealth by national leaders but a voluntary sharing of personal possessions by Christians seeking to imitate a gracious God. In order to grow more like Christ, we must have the freedom to keep or give. And in a society seemingly always concerned with having more, generosity demonstrates one way that we show counter-cultural love to our neighbors. We must, however, recognize that Christians in Acts did not give up the right to personal possessions. They met in “their homes” (Acts 2:46) and Paul goes from “house to house” in Ephesus (Acts 20:20). We also see others in the book of Acts owning homes: Mary (Acts 12:12), Jason (Acts 17:5), Jeff Haymond, Dean of the School of Business Administration, wrote an e-book, No Free Lunch: Economics for a Fallen World , which is available free online. His book emphasizes free markets as the best outlet for the creativity of mankind made in God’s image. To download No Free Lunch , go to cedarville.edu/nolunchbook . Cedarville Magazine | 5