The Economics of John Wesley
In my office, I have piles of donated clothes to be distributed amongst those in need. A large quantity of these clothes are brand with new designer labels and price tags still attached. So much wasted on stuff never used. Looking at those heaps of clothes reminded me of a sermon by John Wesley I read some time ago. In it, he called on his listeners to use their money wisely and with care. It became known as his trilateral sermon because it stood on the three points of his summation, “Gain all, save all, spend all”.
And Wesley was a man who practiced what he preached. He believed that when it came to making money there was no need for the Christian to take a back seat to the world. His philosophy was that Christians should be diligent in earning as much as possible and there was no reason for them to be ashamed of it. Wesley, himself, was a hard worker who spent little time at home, always on the move, spreading the Word, sleeping on hard floors, even reading and studying while traveling on horseback between towns and villages, always urging and encouraging believers wherever he went.
One year, in particular, he earned the equivalent of today's $1.4million from donations, preaching, and his writings, and that without the use of television and radio, airplanes and cars, cassettes and DVDs. He worked hard and was handsomely rewarded, gaining all he could wherever he could, yet he also insisted on saving as much as he could. Saving, not as we understand it today, by hoarding our money in bank accounts and investments, but rather by cutting out all unnecessary expenses. He avoided anything that was not needed and then he would bargain for cheaper prices.
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. (Song of Solomon 2:15)
He understood it was the little things that could mount up and undermine the bigger, more important things. Wasting money on the unnecessary could mean that the necessary went unaided and unsupported and the necessary to Wesley was the human soul. Wesley thought and preached that Christians tend to spend too much time and money satisfying their own flesh. James, in his letter, warned against much the same thing.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:3)
Wesley preached that it was not a question of being miserly, but that we as believers should avoid being extravagant with our money.
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.(Prov. 30:8–9)
As a people, we are more concerned with our own personal image rather than the quality of life we lead. We get rid of our clothes, not because they are worn out, but because they are out of fashion. Save, Wesley said, so that we can be a blessing to others. Save so that we can help improve the quality of life for others.
After “saving all”, Wesley went on to say, “spend all” and once again he did not mean spend it all on ourselves. No, he much preferred that after his listeners had spent on their own needs, they should spend the rest on God’s work.
Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not get old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.(Luke 12:33–34)
Wesley was probably the highest-paid preacher of his day, and could quite easily have lived a luxurious life, yet he chose to give away most of what he earned. One year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds. The remaining 2 pounds he gave away. The next year his income doubled to 60 pounds but he still lived on 28 pounds, the remaining 32 he gave away. The following year his income rose to 90 pounds but his expenses stayed the same and he was able to give away 62 pounds and the year after that when his income was 120 pounds he gave away 92. He never allowed his purse to grow old with disuse.
Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by being righteous, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; it may be for a lengthening of thy prosperity.(Daniel 4:27)
The more Wesley received, the more he gave away, and the more he gave away, the more he was blessed. At its peak, Wesley’s income was more than 1400 pounds in one year, today’s equivalent would be 1.4 million dollars yet he still lived on thirty pounds. The rest he gave away. When he died in 1791 aged 88, he had only a few loose coins on his person and in a drawer. He lived his sermon to the end.
His words on money are still true today: “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 traveller and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defence 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!”
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye use, it shall be measured back to you again. (Luke 6:38)
