his
preparation for this degree was the branch of Christian Stewardship.
And I make bold to say that no man will ever receive the degree that
Barnabas received who is not proficient in the grace of stewardship.

Here is the story. Barnabas is in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost.
The Church is in the early spring-time of its power. Many Jews, both
home-born and foreign-born, have been brought into the fold. They have
thereby broken with their kindred, and many of them are without any
means of support. Then Barnabas comes forward. He is a wealthy land
owner. He sells his land and puts every dollar of it upon the altar of
his Lord, for the saving of the church in its hour of crisis.

What does this mean? It means that when Barnabas became a Christian,
that when he gave himself to Christ, he gave his money also. Now,
stewardship for you may not mean that you, as Barnabas, sell what you
have and give it all away. God does not call upon all men to do that,
but what He does do is to call upon every man to put both himself and
his money at His disposal. He calls upon every man to recognize God,
and not himself, as the owner. That is the first step in Christian
Stewardship: that God owns all; He owns me; He owns my home; He owns my
children; He owns my property. I have called your attention before to
the fact that the modern idea of ownership is pagan. The Christian
idea is this: that God is the absolute owner of all things.

I am sure that we are as ready as was Barnabas to acknowledge this
fact. We nod our heads and agree, but a truth like this demands
something more than simply a nod of the head. If God owns everything,
then I am to acknowledge that ownership. How was God's ownership
acknowledged throughout all the Old Testament days? By the devoting of
a tenth to His service. That was required of the rich and of the poor.
No man was exempt. Christ never at any time set that law aside. I do
not see how any man dare do less than that to-day. The Jews, without
one thousandth part of our light, were cursed because of their failure
to do this very thing. Since when has it come to pass that the greater
the light the less the responsibility?

There is nothing more needed to-day than a Christian attitude toward
money. There has been a reaction from the altruism that prevailed
during the war, and the world is more money mad than ever before. And
men are making money as scarcely ever before, and the man wh