Should Christians Leave Inheritance to Unbelieving Family?

What should a Christian do with their money at the end of their life, especially when loved ones may not share their faith or values? In this episode of Q&A with Pastor Charlie, we tackle a thoughtful and often emotional question about inheritance, stewardship, and honoring God with everything we’ve been entrusted.

Looking at the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, Pastor Charlie unpacks the biblical principle that nothing we have truly belongs to us, it all belongs to God. So how should that shape our decisions about passing wealth on to others? Is it wise to leave an inheritance to someone who may not use it for God’s purposes?

This episode explores the tension between family relationships, biblical conviction, and eternal perspective. It also addresses the potential spiritual dangers of wealth and the importance of clear communication when making difficult decisions. If you’ve ever wrestled with how to honor God in your legacy, this conversation offers practical wisdom rooted in Scripture.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the QA with Pastor Charlie podcast. Before we get started today, we wanted to let you guys know that we actually are gonna begin releasing our episodes weekly just due to the amount of questions that we have to get to. So we're excited to be able to do that. And so after you finish this episode, check back in next Friday and we'll have something new for you guys. But this week we wanted to talk about a question that was brought to us by one of our senior adults, and they were asking what they should do in terms of leaving their money and planning their estate and those types of things when it comes to giving it to their family members that are living a lifestyle that isn't biblical and they don't necessarily support. Um so what would we say about that?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Well, first of all, I think I appreciate the heart that this question comes from because I think it's a heart that understands the idea of biblical stewardship. And by biblical stewardship, what we mean is that really we don't own anything. There's nothing that you and I possess in this life that truly belongs to us, but rather everything that is in our possession is something that has been entrusted to us by God with this idea of stewardship. And the idea of stewardship simply is that of a house manager, it's someone who is responsible for the affairs or the possessions of someone else and is responsible to handle them in the way that the master, the owner would. So, as for Christians, here's what we know that everything that we have belongs to God. It's all his, and simply in the time and place that we're here on this planet, he has entrusted us as his stewards to handle it in the way that he would handle it while he was here. And so there's a lot of passages in the Bible that speak to stewardship, but I think one of the most simple and clear ones was one of the parables that Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 25, and it's what we call the parable of the talents. Now, talents were denominations of money, and so I think sometimes when we first think about the parable of talents, we're thinking about some ability that we have, and we're stewards of that as well. But in the parable that Jesus told, there were three servants whose master was about to leave on a faraway journey. He was going to be gone. Back in that time and day, you know, when you left, there wasn't just an itinerary because you weren't catching flights and knew exactly when you'd be back. And so when he says, I'm going to be gone on a long journey, quite simply, uh, his servants didn't know when he was going to return. They did know that he was going to come back, however, and he, according to their ability, entrusted them with different denominations of talents. And so basically said, Your job is to be responsible with this, steward it, take care of it while I'm gone. Well, the Bible tells us that when the master came back, he then asked each of his servants to give account. And two of them had been faithful with it, and they had taken it and they had multiplied it, they had done what their master would have wanted them to do, and he looks at them and says, Well done, good and faithful servant. Well, the third servant, unfortunately, uh, for whatever reason, chooses not to handle it appropriately, and instead just goes and takes it and buries it in the ground. And upon his master's return, when it's time for him to give account, he simply said, Well, I knew you're a hard man, that you've reaped where you didn't sow, and so I didn't quite know what to do with it, so I buried it, and he looks at him and says, You, you lazy wicked servant, you could have at least put it in the bank and let it draw interest. But however, now you're gonna be judged accordingly, and what's gonna be taken, what you had is gonna be taken from you and given to the others for them to steward. And so the point of that parable, I think, is pretty clear. Jesus has entrusted you and I with this life that we've been given, which ultimately is his. And one of these days he's gonna return. And as believers, we're responsible to live our life, to handle whatever it is that he's given us in a way that would honor the Lord. And so I think the person who's asking this question, that's their heart. They're saying, you know what? I know that God has entrusted me with certain things during my life. As I get to the end of my life and think about what am I gonna do, what am I gonna hand off, who am I gonna hand it off to when I die? Should I give that to someone who is not gonna use it in a way that would honor the Lord and be about his kingdom? Now, before I give a simple answer to this, I'm gonna make some assumptions. And the first thing that I'm gonna assume is that this person has adult children who are not disabled, who are able to work, who are able to take care of themselves. And so I'm assuming, and if this isn't the case, then this might affect my answer a little bit, but I'm assuming that they have children, more loved ones maybe, who are fully able to take care of themselves, but for whatever reason, maybe because they're not a believer, or maybe because they profess to be a believer, but their life looks nothing like one who would steward this appropriately, they have a concern in their heart, I think, is why they're asking the question: should I leave this to someone who doesn't have biblical values, who doesn't want to use things for the Lord? And so I'm just gonna give a really simple answer to it that might not be popular with a lot of people, specifically maybe children who are waiting in inheritance. But the answer is I think no, you don't leave it behind. And the reason is because if our ultimate allegiance is to the Lord and our ultimate responsibility to him as his followers is to manage what he's entrusted us with for his purpose, for his kingdom, then it doesn't seem to fit what the Lord would want us to do, to leave behind assets and things that would not go to the furtherance of building his kingdom, the gospel, and be put in the hands of someone who would not use it appropriately. The other side of it, I think, is not even just about that, but it's also about the well-being of the other person. And here's why I say that. The Bible warns us about the deceitfulness of riches. It warns us about the danger of wealth, and if we don't see it properly, the Bible even says that because of the love of money, people have wandered away from the faith because of it. And the Bible puts a lot of warning about money, possessions, all of these things, how they can play a part in even leaving us further away from the Lord. And so I think it's even possible to give someone whatever assets might be who aren't already faithful and serving the Lord, that riches and wealth the Bible warns us about could even be something that would play a hindrance in their in their spirituality. And so, because of that, I think it makes sense from a biblical perspective that we would want to entrust what God's entrusted us with into the hands of other people who are gonna seem to steward it in a way that would honor the Lord. And people without biblical values, without a heart for God, I think would not do that well. And I think for me personally, if I'm to read this passage that Jesus said, because I think the picture is one of these days, he's gonna come back and I'm gonna give account to him. What did you do with what I entrusted you with? And I think that runs the list from financial possessions to everything about our life. I want to be able to say, Jesus, I did with it what I believed you would do with it, and I put it where I believe you would want me to put it. So therefore, based on the limited knowledge that I have about all of the background of this, I don't think it's wise to necessarily do that. Now, again, there could be some other circumstances that I'm unaware of that would lead me to maybe have a different opinion or feeling. At the end of the day, the person asking this question, the Spirit of God will guide them, the truth of Scripture will guide them, and so I'm by no means an authority in their life, but it is what I think, from just the limited knowledge I have, unwise to be giving away that which belongs to God to people who wouldn't see it and use it in the same way.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

So would you say that even if knowing that not giving them this money would cause a riff in the relationship and in the family, and them not receiving this money, they would know, like, oh, my so-and-so is a Christian and she doesn't want me to have he or she doesn't want me to have this.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

And I do think there is the real possibility of that. Unfortunately, I've lived long enough and seen enough families, even quote unquote Christian families, who when money gets involved, rifts happen and families get divided. But I think to be honest, that even reveals more the heart of these people that their desire for this has nothing to do with the Lord, but instead is all about them. The other thing, because I'm a believer in communication and being clear, I mean, I think I would probably lay aside in my will or whatever it might be that would be clear hey, here's the reason why I've chosen to do this. And it might not even be that you don't give them anything, it might be that you say, you know what, I the reason I'm not giving you all of this is because of what what I believe my convictions are as a Christian. And I want this to be used for the kingdom because it's not mine anyway. And so I think I would be clear to spell that out because I think they need to understand your conviction behind it. There's no malice, there's no ill intent. Uh but uh but I, you know, understand that even amongst Christian families, unfortunately, hearts get revealed when money's involved. And I've seen many close families who profess the Lord get ripped apart when money's involved. And I think there goes back to the danger thereof.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Yep, that's true. Okay, that's a really hard question.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

It is, it is.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

But we're glad that it was asked, and hopefully that was a helpful answer. And we thank you guys for asking your questions. You can send in more to questions at firstmore.com, and we'll talk to you guys next Friday.