What John Wesley Practiced and Preached about Money

John
Wesley preached a lot about money. And with probably the highest earned
income in England, he had the opportunities to put his ideas into
practice. What did he say about money? And what did he do with his own?

John
Wesley knew grinding poverty as a child. His father, Samuel Wesley, was
the Anglican priest in one of England’s lowest-paying parishes. He had
nine children to support and was rarely out of debt. Once John saw his
father being marched off to debtors’ prison. So when John followed his
father into the ministry, he had no illusions about the financial
rewards.

It
probably came as a surprise to John Wesley that while God had called
him to follow his father’s vocation, he had not also called him to be
poor like his father. Instead of being a parish priest, John felt God’s
direction to teach at Oxford University. There he was elected a fellow
of Lincoln College, and his financial status changed dramatically. His
position usually paid him at least thirty pounds a year, more than
enough money for a single man to live on. John seems to have enjoyed his
relative prosperity. He spent his money on playing cards, tobacco and
brandy.

While
at Oxford, an incident changed his perspective on money. He had just
finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the
chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed
that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. He reached
into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had
too little left. Immediately, the thought struck him that the Lord was
not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, Will
thy Master say, “Well done, good and faithful steward?” Thou hast
adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor
creature from the cold! O justice! O mercy! Are not these pictures the
blood of this poor maid?

What Wesley Did

Perhaps
as a result of this incident, in 1731, Wesley began to limit his
expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He
records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses
28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income
doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds
to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds.
Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28
pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In the fourth year, he received 120
pounds. As before, his expenses were 28 pounds, so his giving rose to 92
pounds.

Wesley
felt that the Christian should not merely tithe but give away all extra
income once the family and creditors were taken care of. He believed
that with increasing income,

what should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but the standard of giving.

This
practice, begun at Oxford, continued throughout his life. Even when his
income rose into the thousands of pounds sterling, he lived simply and
he quickly gave away his surplus money. One year his income was a little
over 1400 pounds. He lived on 30 pounds and gave away nearly 1400
pounds. Because he had no family to care for, he had no need for
savings. He was afraid of laying up treasures on earth, so the money
went out in charity as quickly as it came in. He reports that he never
had 100 pounds at any one time.

Wesley
limited his expenditures by not purchasing the kinds of things thought
essential for a man in his station of life. In 1776, the English tax
commissioners inspected his return and wrote him the following: “[We] cannot doubt but you have plate for which you have hitherto neglected to make an entry.”
They were saying a man of his prominence certainly must have some
silver plate in his house and were accusing him of failing to pay excise
tax on it. Wesley wrote back: “I
have two silver spoons at London and two at Bristol. This all the plate
I have at present, and I shall not buy any more while so many round me
want bread.”

Another
way Wesley limited expenses was by identifying with the needy. He had
preached that Christians should consider themselves members of the poor,
whom God had given them money to aid. So he lived and ate with the
poor. Under Wesley’s leadership, the London Methodists had established
two homes for widows in the city. They were supported by offerings taken
at the band meetings and the Lord’s Supper. In 1748, nine widows, one
blind woman, and two children lived there. With them lived John Wesley
and any other Methodist preacher who happened to be in town. Wesley
rejoiced to eat the same food at the the same table, looking forward to
the heavenly banquet all Christians will share.

For
almost four years, Wesley’s diet consisted mainly of potatoes, partly
to improve his health, but also to save money. He said: “What I save from my own meat will feed another that else would have none.”

In 1744, Wesley had written, “[When
I die] if I leave behind me ten pounds … you and all mankind [may] bear
witness against me, that I have lived and died a thief and a robber.”
When he died in 1791, the only money mentioned in his will was the
miscellaneous coins to be found in his pockets and dresser drawers.

What
had happened to the rest of his money, to the estimated thirty thousand
pounds he had earned over his lifetime? He had given it away. As Wesley
said, “I cannot help
leaving my books behind me whenever God calls me hence, but in every
other respect my own hands will be my executors.”

What Wesley Preached

Wesley’s teaching on money offered simple, practical guidelines for every believer.

Wesley’s first rule about money was Gain all you can. Despite its potential for misuse, money in itself is something good. There is no end to the good it can do: “In
the hands of [God’s] children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the
thirsty, raiment for the naked. it gives to the traveler and the
stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a
husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a
defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to
them that are in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the
lame: yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”

Wesley
adds that in gaining all they can, Christians must be careful not to
damage their own souls, minds, or bodies, or the souls, minds, or bodies
of anyone else. He thus prohibited gaining money through industries
that pollute the environment or endanger workers.

Wesley’s second rule for the right use of money was Save all you can.
He urged his hearers not to spend money merely to gratify the desires
of the flesh, the desires of the eye or the pride of life. he cried out
against expensive food, fancy clothes, and elegant furniture: “Cut off all this expense! Despise delicacy and variety and be content with what plain nature requires.”

Wesley
had two reason for telling Christians to buy only necessities. The
obvious one was so they would not waste money. The second was so they
would not increase their desires. The old preacher wisely pointed out
that when people spend money on things they do not really need, they
begin to want more things they do not need. Instead of satisfying their
desires, they only increase them: “Who
would depend anything in gratifying these desires, if he considered
that to gratify them is to increase them? Nothing can be more certain
than this: Daily experience shows that the more they are indulged, they
increase the more.”

Wesley
especially warned against buying too much for children. People who
would never waste money on themselves might be more indulgent with their
children. On the principle that gratifying a desire needlessly only
tends to increase it, he asked these well-intentioned parents: “Why
should you purchase for them more pride or lust, more vanity or foolish
and hurtful desires? …Why should you be at further expense to increase
their temptations and snares and to pierce them through with more
sorrows?”

John Wesley’s third rule was Give all you can. One’s giving should begin with the tithe. He told the one who does not tithe, “Thou doest undoubtedly set they heart upon thy gold” and warned, “It will ‘eat thy flesh as fire!’”
But one’s giving should not end at the tithe. All of the Christian’s
money belongs to God, not just the first tenth. Believers must use 100
percent of their incomes as God directs.

And how has God directed Christians to use their incomes? Wesley listed four scriptural priorities:

1.
Provide things needful for yourself and your family (1 Tim. 5:8). The
believer should make sure the family has the necessities and
conveniences of life, that is, “a sufficiency of plain, wholesome food to eat, and clean raiment to put on”
as well as a place to live. The believer must also insure that the
family has enough to live on if something were to happen to the
breadwinner.

2.
“Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content” (1 Tim. 6:8).
Wesley adds that the word translated raiment is literally coverings and
thus includes lodging as well as clothes. “It
plainly follows whatever is more than these is, in the sense of the
apostle, riches – whatever is above the plain necessities, or at most,
conveniences, of life. Whoever has sufficient food to eat, and raiment
to put on, with a place to lay his head, and something over, is rich.”

3. “Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom. 12:17) and “Owe no man anything” (Rom. 13:8).
Wesley said the next claim on a Christian’s money was the creditors’.
He adds that those who are in business for themselves need to have
adequate tools, stock, or capital for the carrying on of the business.

4. “As
we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially
unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).
After the Christian has provided for the family, the creditors, and the
business, the next obligation is to use any money that is left to meet
the needs of others.

In
giving these four biblical principles, Wesley recognized some
situations were not clear-cut. It isn’t always obvious how the Christian
should use the Lord’s money. Wesley accordingly offered four questions
to help his hearers decide how to spend the money:

1. In spending this money, am I acting like I owned it, or am I acting like the Lord’s trustee?

2. What Scripture requires me to spend this money in this way?

3. Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice to the Lord?

4. Will God reward me for this expenditure at the resurrection of the just?

Finally, for the believer who is still perplexed, John Wesley suggested this prayer before a purchase:

“Lord,
thou seest I am going to expend this sumer on that food, apparel,
furniture. And thou knowest I act therein with a single eye, as a
steward of thy goods, expending this portion of them thus, in pursuance
of the design thou hadst in entrusting me with them. Thou knowest I do
this in obedience to thy word, as thou commandest, and because thou
commandest it. let this, I beseech thee, be a holy sacrifice, acceptable
through Jesus Christ! And give me a witness in myself, that for this
labor of love I shall have a recompence when thou rewardest every man
according to his words.”

He was confident that any believer who has a clear conscience after praying this prayer will be using money wisely.

Adapted