I had a gentleman stop by the church to do some service for us recently and we were able to stop for just a moment and talk about where he went to church. Instantly, the defenses came up as he explained that he hadn’t been to church in years and every time he has gone the preacher only talks about “money”.

“I hate going to church. It’s all about the money”, he said.

He has a point. I watched a Christian television station raise money recently and I too, was embarrassed. My embarrassment was not that they needed donations to run the ministry, but really the gimmicks and sheer silliness of how they went about it. Sorry, I just don’t buy into the Holy Spirit saying to give $58.16, because of Isaiah 58:16. That seems to smack of John Tetsel (see Luther for more information).

I too, hate that every time he went into the house of God he felt like he heard an over emphasis on finances. That might turn me off as well, especially in light of the fact that in our circles there tends to be an emphasis on prosperity. I agreed with him that there is more to the Gospel than money…much more. I did my best to diffuse his obvious offense at churches and (mostly) TV preachers who may spend inordinate amounts of time on the subject and I think he left our conversation a little more open to the truth of the Gospel. Jesus is concerned more about his soul than his pocketbook at this point.

However, having said that can we also agree that in order to have a “church”, money factors into the equation somewhere? Can we also agree that if money is a major issue in most of our lives, then it should not surprise us that perhaps God would have something to say about it? I mean last time I looked people enjoyed coming to a place that had heating and air conditioning. They didn’t mind having a roof over their head as the rains fell torrentially last Sunday. They kind of enjoyed the chairs they sat on and the rooms that were used to help train their kids.

I agree, it’s not all about the money, but it takes money to provide much of what we do as ministry. Now let me also say at this point that I believe churches should be great stewards of the resources God provides through His people, but bottom line, it takes finances to run the church. We should handle our finances in church scripturally, effectively and efficiently and do everything we can to operate above reproach, but to say that we should never mention money is neither Biblical nor practical. My feeling is that if every other arenas of life can speak about the dollars…the church should as well.

The church talking about money neither surprises God nor concerns Him. In fact, much of the reason Jesus speaks about finances is because it is it has such a control on our life. Jesus said it had a spirit on it called “mammon”. And for our finances to work, that spirit must be broken through appropriate giving and use. Finances indicate where are heart loyalty’s reside and what we ultimately trust. These are eternal issues.

I hope this gentleman comes to our church someday. I told him (jokingly) that I will pray that the day he decides to come will not be the day I have to raise money for our building project. He laughed endearingly as well. The conversation ended well but it reminded me that it is very important we do things integrally and above reproach before a watching world. The world may never understand or like how we handle the finances in the Kingdom of God, but we should not be the stumbling block through silliness and gimmicks. I believe what Hudson Taylor said so many years ago when he saw financial miracles by the hundreds…

“God’s will done God’s way will never lack God’s resource; for where God guides, He provides”.

May you do just that Lord as we continue to plant a Cross!

Pastor