Jesus on Money (6) - Owning Property

Many Christians respond to Jesus teaching by asking, “Can a Christian own property?” The New Testament answer is “No”. Christians cannot own property. The reason we cannot own property is that we have a king. When we commit to Jesus, all our property belongs to him. We cannot own property, because we and everything we hold belongs to him.

Many Christians ask a different question. “Do I have to sell everything they own?” This question does not make sense, because a Christian does not own anything. Everything they used we owned transferred to Jesus, when we surrendered to him. We cannot sell what we do not own.

A different question is more relevant. “Can a Christian hold property”. The answer is yes. We can manage Jesus property on his behalf. We can act as his steward. The key is a shift in attitude. We no longer own property, so we cannot “claim our possessions as our own”. They belong to Jesus, so we must use them as the Holy Spirit directs. That changes everything.

The Holy Spirit will tell some people to sell their property. He told Barnabas to sell his property (Acts 436-37. Barnabas obeyed and it opened up a wonderful ministry as an apostle to Asia Minor. I am sure he had no other regrets.

The Holy Spirit may tell other people to use their property for a particular purpose. He told some women to use their property to support Jesus.

Joanna the wife of Cuza… Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means (Luke 8:3).

These woman held onto their property as stewards, but the Holy Spirit prompted them to use it to support Jesus.

In the same way, The Holy Spirit told Joseph of Armathea to pay for Jesus to be buried (Matt 27:57-58).

The answer to every question about property is simple. Jesus owns it all. He may allow us to hold some of his property as stewards, but we cannot call our it own. Good stewards must use his property as the Holy Spirit directs. The answer to all questions about property is to obey the Holy Spirit.