(Continued from last week). The Bible has a very radical angle on money and giving. It points us to God who generously supplies the needs of his people so that they in turn should have an open hand and a generous heart. As far as the church getting money, two principles apply.
1. Is it spending money on the things that God has called it to do?
2. If so, we must trust God to supply what is needed to do his work – through the generous gifts of his people.
This leads to two corollaries:
1. Only God’s generous givers should give, and they should give what God has enabled them to give (what counts is the heart not the amount: read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9) - to needs that are clearly part of his purpose.
2. If a church wants to increase its income it needs to increase the work that God is calling it to (and therefore its expenditure). If a church really wants to do what God wants it to do it may need to increase its budget.
Deeper than the method, is a battle with the power of the Big Worry God of the Modern Western World (read Matthew 6). The Big Worry God has persuaded many that lack of money is the cause of unhappiness and disaster, and the possession of wealth is what we most need to keep our lives safe and content.
Some of the non-biblical money getting methods mentioned last week have a serious impact on those less well-off who are led to feel that they have to take an equal share in meeting the costs of the ministry of the church. The Bible sets us free. It tells us to be generous and to trust God to supply our needs. It tells us that meeting needs is a fellowship matter. You are free to give a small amount generously because you trust others to be generous too.
Dale