Lifestyles

Paul talks to the new Christian communities in his epistles and teaches them a radical attitude toward money and possessions as they lived with their families in their homes and operated businesses.

Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do. Then you will be respected by people who are not followers of the Lord, and you won’t have to depend on anyone. - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Christians needed steady employment to provide for their families.

 So, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask and beg these people to settle down and start working for a living. - 2 Thessalonians 3:12

Jesus called His first four disciples to leave their fishing business to follow Him. Abandoning their possessions was part of answering the call, because Christ's ministry was itinerant, requiring almost constant travel, mostly on foot.

  Peter replied, “Remember, we left everything to be your followers!” - Mark 10:28

 As he walked along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus. Levi was sitting at the place for paying taxes, and Jesus said to him, “Come with me!” So he got up and went with Jesus - Mark 2:14

In the following verses we see a man not only willing but eager, nearly desperate, to leave all else behind and follow Christ.  Christ called him not to leave everything behind, but instead to settle into his community - with all that implies as to shelter, possessions, and vocation - and to us his home and possessions to further the kingdom.  Was this an inferior calling?

 When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man begged to go with him.  But Jesus would not let him. Instead, he said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how good he has been to you.”
 The man went away into the region near the ten cities known as Decapolis^[a] and began telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him. Everyone who heard what had happened was amazed. - Mark 5:18-20

The disciples were to stay in houses and be fed by those who were receptive to their message.

 He told them, “You may take along a walking stick. But don’t carry food or a travelling bag or any money.  It’s all right to wear sandals, but don’t take along a change of clothes.  When you are welcomed into a home, stay there until you leave that town.  If any place won’t welcome you or listen to your message, leave and shake the dust from your feet^[a] as a warning to them. - Mark 6:8-11

Later on Jesus tells the apostles were to take a purse, bag and even a sword.

Do we have the right to money?

“Can a man be poor if he is free from want, if he does not covet the belongings of others, if he is rich in the possession of God? Rather, he is poor who possesses much but still craves for more.” — Tertullian

In the passage where the New Testament says that every one must work, it gives as a reason ‘in order that he may have something to give to those in need’. Charity—giving to the poor—is an essential part of Christian morality: in the frightening parable of the sheep and the goats it seems to be the point on which everything turns. Some people nowadays say that charity ought to be unnecessary and that instead of giving to the poor we ought to be producing a society in which there were no poor to give to. They may be quite right in saying that we ought to produce this kind of society. But if anyone thinks that, as a consequence, you can stop giving in the meantime, then he has parted company with all Christian morality. I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them. I am speaking now of charities’ in the common way. Particular cases of distress among your own relatives, friends, neighbours or employees, which God, as it were, forces upon your notice, may demand much more: even to the crippling and endangering of your own position. For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear—fear of insecurity. This must often be recognised as a temptation. Sometimes our pride also hinders our charity; we are tempted to spend more than we ought on the showy forms of generosity (tipping, hospitality) and less than we ought on those who really need our help. C.S. Lewis

How different our standard is from Christ's. We ask how much a man gives. Christ asks how much he keeps. - Andrew Murray

We have to earn it, inherit it, win it or steal it.  Work is the means for contributing to society, finding fulfilment, and meeting material needs so we can provide for our families.  

Hard working farmers have more
    than enough food;
    daydreamers are nothing more
    than stupid fools. - Proverbs 12:11 

 No matter how much you want,
    laziness won’t help a bit,
    but hard work will reward you
    with more than enough. - Proverbs 13:4

  Hard work is worthwhile, but empty talk    will make you poor. - Proverbs 14:23

Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do.  Then you will be respected by people who are not followers of the Lord, and you won’t have to depend on anyone. - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

We also gave you the rule that if you don’t work, you don’t eat.- 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Our people should learn to spend their time doing something useful and worthwhile. - Titus 3:14

We have skills we should develop in order to do our work well. As followers of Christ, we see our employer as God.

Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master.  In fact, the Lord Christ is the one you are really serving, and you know that he will reward you.- Colossians 3:23-24

Employees are to work hard and well, realising that even if their employer doesn't reward them, God will.  Employers are to pay decent wages. Christian businesses should set fair prices and use honest scales. As followers of Christ we tell the truth - the whole truth - when we sell a car, house, product or service.  We know that God is watching and will hold us accountable for how we conduct our business.