Thus, the term stewardship has come to refer to our responsibility both for sharing the gospel and for managing time, material things, and money. Our tradition of simple living is rooted not in frugality for its own sake, but in dependence on God, the owner of everything, for our material needs. We depend on God's gracious gifts for food and clothing, for our salvation, and for life itself. We do not need to hold on tightly to money and possessions, but can share what God has given us. The practice of mutual aid is a part of sharing God's gifts so that no one in the family of faith will be without the necessities of life.
Economic justice is an integral part of the Sabbath cycle.
The Sabbath year, like the Sabbath day, brought rest and freedom for the land and for laborers. The effect of the Sabbath-Jubilee laws was a return to relative economic equality every fifty years. We are to seek first the reign of God and to cease from consumerism, unchecked competition, overburdened productivity, greed, and possessiveness. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus refers to a time when the Jews in Palestine went hungry because of a sabbatical or Jubilee year, when the land lay fallow. The Roman government exempted Judea from tribute during the seventh year.