Gain All You Can, Honestly

In the eighteenth century, John Wesley preached a sermon called “The Use of Money.” It became one of the most famous sermons on the subject ever preached, because it boiled the Bible’s teaching down to three rules that anyone could remember:

Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

The surprise is the first rule. Wesley was a man of deep holiness who lived very simply. You might expect him to warn people off making money altogether. Instead he started with “Gain all you can,” and he meant it. He said Christians should work hard and earn well, using “all the understanding which God has given you.” The fault, he said, “does not lie in the money, but in them that use it.”

But he attached conditions, and they matter. We are to gain all we can without hurting our own body or health, without hurting our mind or soul, and without hurting our neighbour. In other words: gain all you can, honestly.

Honest scales

The Bible has a great deal to say about how money is made, not just how it is spent. One of its most repeated commands concerns weights and measures. In the ancient world, buying and selling involved weighing out goods or silver on a balance. A dishonest trader could keep two sets of weights, a heavy one for buying and a light one for selling, and cheat every customer a little.

God hates it:

“The LORD detests dishonest scales, but an honest weight pleases Him.” (Proverbs 11:1)

The prophet Amos denounced the merchants of his day who couldn’t wait for the holy days to end so they could get back to business, “making the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier, and cheating with dishonest scales, so that we can purchase the poor with silver” (Amos 8:5-6). They went to worship, but their hearts were in their shops, and their shops were built on cheating.

Today we don’t use balances, but the principle is the same. Dishonest scales look like an inflated invoice, a hidden fee, a misleading advert, a fiddled expense claim, an unpaid tax, a “cash job” to avoid declaring income, or selling something with a fault you know about but don’t mention. They also look like an employee who takes a full wage for half the work. God sees all of it, and He cares.

Better a little honestly

Proverbs gives the honest worker a promise and a warning:

“Money that comes easily soon dwindles, but whoever gathers it bit by bit makes it grow.” (Proverbs 13:11)

There is a kind of wealth that comes fast: the lottery win, the get-rich-quick scheme, the shady deal. And there is a kind that comes slowly, a little at a time, through honest work and patient saving. The Bible is wary of the first and commends the second. “A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one who rushes to get rich will not escape punishment” (Proverbs 28:20).

Better still: “Better a little gained honestly than a fortune made by injustice” (Proverbs 16:8). Integrity is worth more than income. If you have to choose between losing money and losing your honesty, lose the money.

What honest work looks like

Here are some marks of honest work for a Christian.

Do a full day’s work. Whether you work for an employer or for yourself, give what you are paid for. Paul tells workers, “Do not work only while they are watching, to win their favor, but with an undivided heart” (Colossians 3:22).

Charge a fair price. Don’t exploit people’s ignorance or desperation. Zacchaeus the tax collector, when Jesus came to his house, promised to pay back four times anything he had taken by cheating (Luke 19:8).

Pay fairly. If you employ others, pay them promptly and fairly. James warns rich landowners, “The pay you held back from the laborers who mowed your fields is crying out, and the shouts of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Armies” (James 5:4). God hears the cry of underpaid workers.

Pay your taxes. Jesus said, “Then pay Caesar what you owe Caesar, and pay God what you owe God” (Matthew 22:21). Paul says the same: “Pay everyone what you owe them: taxes to the one who collects taxes” (Romans 13:7).

Choose your work wisely. Wesley warned against any trade that harms the body or soul of the worker or the customer. Some ways of making money are simply not open to a Christian, however profitable they are.

Be content with your pay, and still ask for what is fair. When soldiers asked John the Baptist what repentance looked like for them, he said, “Do not shake anyone down for money or make false charges, and be satisfied with your pay” (Luke 3:14). There is a godly contentment that doesn’t constantly grumble. That doesn’t mean you can never ask for a raise or look for a better job. It means you don’t use your position to grab what isn’t yours.

Why honesty is a witness

Honest dealing is one of the most powerful ways a Christian can show the world what God is like. People may never read your Bible, but they will read your invoices. When a Christian plumber refuses to overcharge, when a Christian employee owns up to a mistake that cost the company money, when a Christian business owner pays suppliers on time, people notice.

The opposite is also true. Few things damage the reputation of Jesus more than Christians who cheat in business. “A good reputation is worth choosing over great wealth” (Proverbs 22:1).

Gain all you can

Don’t miss the positive side. Wesley really did say, “Gain all you can.” There’s nothing holier about being poor through laziness or carelessness. If God has given you ability, use it. Work hard. Learn new skills. Build a business if you have the gift for it. Ask for a fair wage. A Christian who earns well and gives generously can do enormous good.

Just remember that the first rule is only the first rule. Gaining is never the goal. It is the starting point for saving and giving, as we will see. Wesley warned that people who obey the first rule and stop there are in great danger.

A voice from the past

Charles Spurgeon, reading the proverb about hastening to be rich, wrote this:

“He that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent nor sure; but steady perseverance in integrity, if it do not bring riches, will certainly bring peace.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

And Wesley, in “The Use of Money”:

“Gain all you can by honest industry.”

John Wesley, The Use of Money

Practice this week

Do an honesty check on your work and your finances. Is there anything you are doing at work that you would be ashamed for Jesus to see? Any tax you have avoided paying, any expense claim you have stretched, any customer you have overcharged? If so, put it right this week, even if it costs you. If you can, pay it back, as Zacchaeus did.

For groups

• Why do you think Wesley started his three rules with “Gain all you can” rather than “Give all you can”?
• What are some modern forms of “dishonest scales”?
• Read Proverbs 13:11 and 28:20. Why is the Bible so wary of getting rich quickly?
• How has someone’s honesty in business, or lack of it, affected your view of their faith?