John Wesley, 18th century Anglican pastor-theologian who spurred on the Methodist revival and later the beginnings of the Church of the Nazarene itself, offers some important insight into economics. In fact, holiness for Wesley had a lot to do with economics.

Many may recall Wesley’s threepart economic rule from his sermon “The Use of Money” (1760):

Earn all you can.
Save all you can.
Give all you can.

As simple as this rule sounds, it can be incredibly difficult to maintain all three and, particularly, all three in proper proportion. Toward the end of his life, Wesley reflected on his own Methodists already falling short in upholding these three. In his treatise, “Causes of the Inefficiency of Christianity” (1789), he writes, “You may find many [Christians] that observe the First rule, namely, ‘Gain all you can.’ You may find a few that observe the Second, ‘Save all you can.’ But how many have you found that observe the Third rule, ‘Give all you can?’” Wesley then goes on to reflect that the only way to prevent the corruption that comes from riches is to obey the third rule: Give all you can. Are Wesley’s reflections not still applicable to us today, some 200-plus years later? Are we known as people who truly give all they can?

So it would seem that in order for such economics to be rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ, this last impetus to give is duly important. For the Scriptures seldom mention earning or saving all we can. Rather, the gospel calls us to give—to give of ourselves just as Christ was given for us. The words of Christ instruct us in this discipline: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8).

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let us consider the first two of Wesley’s three guidelines. In several sermons, Wesley provides specific, concrete instructions about how Christians are called to earn and save. Let us reflect upon how Wesley’s words can and still do apply to how we are called to live as Christians in the 21st century.

Earn

Wesley instructed Christians to earn all they can, but only according to some specific guidelines. First, we are called to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. In this sense, we are only to earn enough to provide for the following necessities of life. In his sermon, “The Danger of Riches” (1780), Wesley gives us the following guidelines:

That we provide the necessities for those of our own household. That those in business are to lay up as much as is necessary for the carrying on of that business. That we are to leave our children what will supply them with necessities after we have left the world. That we are to provide things honest in the sight of all humankind, so as to owe no one anything.

And Wesley continues, “But to lay up any more, when this is done, is what our Lord has flatly forbidden.”

In order for a Christian to properly gain, he or she must not gain at the expense of one’s life or health. A Christian’s profits were never to be gained at the expense of another human being’s well-being and livelihood. Also, any gaining must be honest and in good conscience, without violating law or defrauding another. Additionally, any gaining must not be destructive to any human creature in mind, body, or soul. Christian gaining has everything to do with loving one’s neighbor as oneself. This includes not endeavoring to gain land or property at the expense of another. And it includes not selling anything harmful to the health of another.

Save

Second, Wesley expounds on how, after earning all one can, the Christian is also called to save all one can. Christians are to save all they can in the sense that they are called to be thrifty and live frugally, not wasting anything—not even a sheet of paper, nor a cup of water! One is to avoid luxuries, expensive clothing or décor, and even expensive foods. One is to avoid purchasing such things so as to impress another person. The drive to “keep up with the Jones’” is not a call on the life of Christians. Rather, saving incorporates the difficult call of the gospel—indeed, a difficult challenge in a consumerist world—to live simply.

Thus, saving today could be paralleled with how Christians are called to be conscious consumers. What if our purchasing today incorporated a Wesleyan-inspired motivation to earn, save, and give? Perhaps in contemporary language, we could attribute this motivation to live simply so others can simply live. Thus, saving all one can incorporates buying fairly traded goods so that the growers and producers of our coffee, bananas, and chocolate are ensured a just livelihood. Fair-trade products ensure a livable wage for farmers in developing countries whose backs are broken and lives spent planting and harvesting coffee, bananas, coco, and cotton, as well as the hundreds of colorful fruits and vegetables that we enjoy in our U.S. grocery stores.

And saving all one can includes our conscious care or concern for the earth—God’s creation. This may translate to buying recycled or second-hand products whenever we can, so as to not deplete natural resources in order to create brand new products and overload land-fills with old products that can be fixed and reused rather than discarded.

As Wesley calls Christians not to waste even a piece of paper or a cup of cold water, we are also called to care for our neighbor and care for all of creation. This is how the gospel according to Wesley calls the Christian to live.

Give

Finally, the most important of all three rules—and the one which actually guides the first two—is: Give all you can. Wesley found that the call to earn and save all one can—to work diligently and honestly and to live frugally—would naturally lead to the gain of wealth. For this reason, the most important accountability for Christians to not grow wealthy and complacent is to give. So that Christians store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth, we are called to give all we can.

Even in Wesley’s own lifetime he began to see his own Methodist societies gaining wealth and failing to live out the gospel because they did not obey the third rule—to give all one can.

Giving all one can is not simply a matter of tithing ten percent or setting up a system to give regularly. This is important, but what Wesley meant by give all one can is to lift up one’s heart in compassion and love and give out of every area of surplus in one’s life. Such is the surplus that follows the above guidelines of earning and saving—this is the gift of surplus that grows out of a commitment to live simply in this world.

To give all one can is to do good unto all humankind. It is to return to the heart of the gospel—out of the love and grace we have received in the gift of Christ, we are called to turn and give this same love to the world. We are to give out of the wealth of God’s love that we have experienced in salvation in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit who continues to work in our lives.

Concluding Thoughts

The three above guidelines make the most sense when we also take into account how Wesley himself defined what it means to be “rich.” Let us finally consider who is considered rich according to Wesley. In his sermon, “On the Danger of Riches,” Wesley offers a simple definition: “Whoever has sufficient food to eat, and raiment to put on, with a place where to lay his head, and something over, is rich.” This certainly means that I am, indeed, rich and have that much more to give out my overabundance and surplus.

Additionally, I have that much more to give out of God’s gratuitous love in Christ. In the salvation I have received in Christ, I am full of grace and love to offer to others. Wesley always maintained a healthy balance between faith and the works and deeds that faith spurs on in the Christian. Wesley was, indeed, fascinated with the importance of “faith working in love” (Gal. 5:6) in Christian lives. Wesley instructed Christians to form small communities of accountability in which they were called to earn, save, and give all they could. In a spirit of love, they were called to give freely of themselves for the good of others. Such is the motivation Wesley had for the Church of England; such is the same motivation that continues to speak to us as Wesleyan-Arminian holiness churches today.

Let us remember to give. And let us give of ourselves in the same compassionate spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I leave you with the words of Wesley in reflecting on our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount:

We charge you to ‘be rich in good works’; as you have much, to give plenteously. Freely ye have received; freely give; so as to lay up no treasure but in heaven. Be ye ‘ready to distribute’ to everyone according to his necessity. Disperse abroad, give to the poor: deal your bread to the hungry. Cover the naked with a garment, entertain the stranger, carry or send relief to them that are in prison. Heal the sick; not by miracle, but through the blessing of God upon your seasonable support. Let the blessing of him that was ready to perish through pining come upon thee. Defend the oppressed, plead the cause of the fatherless, and make the widow’s heart sing for joy (“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, VIII,” 1748).

by Nell Becker Sweeden
Compassion Education Coordinator
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries International

Editor’s Note: Wesley’s sermon, “The Use of Money” (1760), and other sermons may be read online through the courtesy of Northwest Nazarene University’s Wesley Center at http:// wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/sermons/050.htm.