Part 3: The Great Australian Dream

Part of thinking about our money well involves understanding what we use it for: food, housing and so forth. The more we understand what we are using money for, the better equipped we are to make informed decisions. Most of us use most of our money on having a place to live. How do we think about this and is our thinking biblical? How do our attitudes need to shift to be more pleasing to God?

How did we get here?

Many Australians assume the ‘right’ to own their own home. This is the legacy of the twentieth century, where a set of cultural expectations emerged and shaped the decisions of many Australians.^[1]

In the 1940’s the Australian government set up the housing commission to encourage home ownership.^[2] This has shaped the aspirations of Australians and created a sense of home ownership being a ‘normal’ expectation for the average Australian who is willing to work. Not achieving this has been seen as the result of personal laziness or addictions, and even recently as the result of excessive spending on the/a ‘smashed avocado’ lifestyle.

Yet, the Australian expectation is at odds with the historical and current global experience. In other cultures, it is not unusual for generations to rent the same property for many years, or to save across generations for a ‘family’ home.

This expectation is also out of sync with where the current housing market is placed in Australia. Social inequity has grown across the last 30 to 40 years, with an increasingly shrinking but older population controlling much of the housing market. It is no longer ‘normal’ to be able to enter the market, even with a two-income, professional income and good habits of saving money.

There are structural issues which sit behind this, particularly to do with taxation. It is a difficult issue to correct, despite the growing frustration at the economic and social privation this creates for ordinary people. Untangling this issue will be the work of clear-thinking government, prepared to make difficult (and probably unpopular) decisions. Certainly, we can lobby the government for change, but it seems likely that it will still be some time coming. In the meantime, how should Christians approach the issue of where to live?

What if I can buy a house?

There is nothing in Scripture that forbids a person from buying a house. Wisdom encourages us to use our money carefully and with an eye to our possible future needs (Proverbs 21:20). It endorses stability as the best place from which we are able to bless others, particularly as we provide for the needs of those dependent on us (1 Timothy 5:8). Buying a house in the current economic environment may further those goals, or it may not, depending on an individual’s circumstances.

If we find that we have the financial resources to buy a house, there are several attitudes that the Bible calls on us to adopt. First, we need to realise that we are comparatively wealthy. Even if we have worked hard for all the money we have, our capacity and opportunity to earn money has come from God.^[3] This means that the warnings Scripture has for wealthy people need to be taken to heart and prayerfully considered. Wealth is dangerous for us. It is not forbidden, but it is a situation where we can easily turn away from God and cultivate love for our wealth instead (Matthew 6:24).

Second, as wealthy people, our attitude to our money is to be basically the same as that of any Christian person, regardless of wealth: generosity rather than greed and trusting in God rather than being anxious.^[4]Part of this can be seen in gratitude to God, which is incompatible with a sense of entitlement or accomplishment. If we have the capacity to buy a house, God has given us many things: not just the financial resources, but also the cultural and social context in which property law is stable and corruption is minimal.^[5]Owning a house is another context for sin. We can easily be ungrateful, stingy and anxious. There can be pressure from within us and from others with whom we have important relationships to buy at the upper limit of what we can spend. This pressure can also come from the financial institutions who are prepared to lend us money. Sometimes there may be good reason for this. Often, however, this pressure we feel might best be described as ‘greed’, despite how we might justify it (Luke 12:15). As people who want to please God, we need to carefully examine our hearts in the light of his Word and not assume that because we are able to do or afford something we must. Our new house will be a gift, not a reward or an idol.

Third, instead of covering our social media accounts with #blessed in the wake of increased financial freedom or home ownership, we need to be particularly careful to see ourselves as only and always blessed in the relationship we have with the Lord Jesus. Other ancillary blessings, like financial freedom can easily be lost, but the true blessing we have in being known and loved by the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us is eternal and defines our very selves (Galatians 2:20). All gifts to us come through him (Romans 8:32). Further to this, we need to be consciously reminding ourselves that our true home is in heaven. We might find real satisfaction in owning our own home, but it temporary and cannot be permanent. For Christians, our hope is ultimately outside of this world (Hebrews 11:13-16; Philippians 3:20). Discipling ourselves to hold these truths central to who we are, enables us to hold temporal blessings gratefully and loosely. As God has bestowed these on us, so he may in his wisdom remove them (Job 1:21). When we locate his love for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we line up more precisely with his priorities for us.

Have you seen the housing market?

The experience of renting accommodation in Australia at the time of writing varies from unrewarding through to alarming, with few positive exceptions. Not only is it difficult to find a place to rent, but there are also reports of corruption from bidding wars to secure a property, to unfair inspections and constant rent hikes as property prices increase. For many Australians, the prospect of home ownership is beyond unlikely. Yet even renting is seriously difficult.

The experience of most urban (and even non-urban) dwellers throughout history has been renting property. Similarly, most people around the world today do not own the property they live on. This does not make the Australian experience easier to cope with nor does it take away the disappointment many feel to relinquish the possibility of home ownership. Yet, as Christians there is some encouragement to be had in knowing that most Christians throughout the world and throughout history have rented their residence. God is well acquainted with all the injustices, indignities and inconveniences experienced by renters. He has and does aid his people with all that is involved. God does care for his people: he does provide housing despite the many deficiencies of the system. There is good reason to trust God with our need for a place to live. This is clear in Scripture and also shown through the experiences of Christians for centuries (Matthew 6:25-34).

How to respond?

One way to process our own housing situation is to turn to the gospels and think about the Lord Jesus and his followers. There we find our Lord, who for our sakes became poor, not having anywhere to lay his head (Luke 9:58). Jesus’ poverty was not something abstract: it meant that he didn’t even have his own bed! His trust in God his Father was unwavering and can reassure own anxious hearts. Yet, God did provide for him through the generosity of his followers, who were sometimes quite wealthy (Luke 8:2-3). The privilege of providing for the Son of God during his time on earth belonged to these early wealthy believers who generously provided for Jesus’ needs throughout his ministry. The Lord Jesus himself gives us an example of how to not be anxious about something as real and stressful as housing.

Paul’s words in Philippians are helpful as we think about our housing. He boasted that he could be rich or poor because he had Jesus, in whom he could do all things (Philippians 4:10-13). ‘All’ here means bearing the weight of wealth or the privations of poverty through the strength he had from Christ. Unlike the writer of Proverbs, who feared wealth or poverty and asked to be spared either, Paul’s has confidence that he can manage either – but only with Christ’s strength (Proverbs 30:8). Although home ownership or renting might bring us face to face with our own greed or anxiety, or any number of other temptations, we can share Paul’s confidence: we can face this because we have Jesus with us, strengthening us and keeping us in his love.

God is not alarmed by the Australian housing market; nor are his blessings to us so stingy as to be limited to the provision of housing. Instead, in Christ, we have a way of thinking and living that delivers us from the difficulties of greed and anxiety.

[1] The Gospel in Society Today committee is grateful for the time and expertise of Dr Andrew Bain. Andrew is QTC Vice Principal, Ethics lecturer, and former economist. Although any errors remain the responsibility of the writer, the wisdom he provided will be reflected throughout these articles and from time to time will be directly referenced.

[2] Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement Audit Report 17 1999-200 from the Australian National Audit Office. See page 104 of this report for a historical breakdown of the different federal and state agreements.

[3] Westminster Confession of Faith V.1

[4] This attitude sits behind all the principles in these articles, for which we are indebted to Dr Andrew Bain.

[5] Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices by Victor V. Claar and Robin J. Klay (IVP: Downers Grove, Illinois 2007), p.154-155