Wednesday, November 12, 2003
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Wednesday, November 12, 2003 |
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Does the Lord have your pocketbook? By JOHN HATCHER Let me pose a question to you about your church? Is it a “law church” or a “grace church?” A “law church” would be one that majors on keeping all the laws both of the Old Testament and New Testament with a heavy judgment for not keeping the laws. Right standing with God is constantly in jeopardy on the basis of how well you are keeping the laws. To make sure what I am talking about, let me include laws related to staying current on attendance, giving, making confession, and even taking Holy Communion. The “law church” says, in effect, you must stay up-to-date on the laws of the Bible and the church or you are in jeopardy. Your eternal soul stands in limbo. “Law churches” come in all different packages. Some are new on the scene and some are as old as the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul asked some early Christians, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh”(Galatians 3:3)? It seems that even though these early Christians had become followers of Christ “by grace through faith,” they had now reverted to sustaining their faith by keeping the bare minimum of the old law. Let me differentiate between law churches and grace churches. Jesus did it in his ministry. The law church says, “You shall not commit murder.” The grace church says that you don’t even have to have hatred in your heart that would lead to such a crime as murder. The law church says you give 10 percent of your income to the church, God’s storehouse. The grace church says you can give 20, 30, and even 40 percent to the work of the Lord. The law church says you must not commit adultery. The grace church says you don’t even have to have lust in your heart that leads to adultery. Get the idea because I am setting up why I really wrote this column in keeping with my theme for the month: giving of tithes and offerings. I encouraged pastors and other church leaders to get a book only a couple years ago. It is An Unstoppable Force by Erwin Raphael McManus. McManus is a pastor of a church in Los Angeles and dares churches to become the church God had in mind. He unfolds the concept of the “radical minimum,” contending that what we consider to be the ultimate in modern day spiritual and church commitment was considered merely the entry point for followers of Jesus in the first century. You will recall Jesus saying, “If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Yet, in our watered-downed churches, by not talking about the most important thing in Fayette County — money — we have taught people that you can be deeply spiritual and not be generous. We have totally discounted the correlation between money and genuine spirituality. Jesus did not. He said, in a humorous sort of way, that it was easier for a camel to crawl through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Know why? Because most rich man idolize their money. Give you an example: I was pastor of one of the largest and richest churches in Fayetteville more than a decade ago. The church needed some beautifying of the landscape. No funds were available in the budget. So I called one of the richest men in all of south Atlanta and asked for some funds to cover the small cost. His response floored me and yet taught me, “I’ll do my part.” His part was to give $200 and expect others to do their part. So that put one to make three or four other phone calls to other rich people to ask them to do their part. And yet, we uphold these guys and gals as great spiritual giants in our communities — just as they think they are. With all the money in Fayette County, no church should lacking in funds to do whatever God put in their minds and hearts to do. Yet, we remain as “law churches” and set as a goal for every believer/member to give 10 percent to the church. We must somehow — if we are to witness to the hurting and hungry people around the world — develop a grace church mentality by which people give 20 percent and more to the cause of Christ. J. C. Penney, when he died, was giving 90 percent of his income to the cause of Christ and living on 10 percent. McManus made a point in his book. He said that if people were selfish with their money, they would never make significant contributions to the cause of Christ. Could it be that because of the money factor lacking we fail to be able to recruit enough workers with our children and youth? We struggle to cover the bases in the nursery. That every nursery director — sooner or later — burns out and quits. It all goes back to money. If the Lord does not have your pocketbook, he has not got much of the rest of you. Who’s at fault? I am,
of course. And your pastor. Your Bible teacher. We are the ones who have
allowed you to bring inferior sacrifices to God. We have allowed you to
think you have done something by dropping a $20 bill in the offering plate
when it takes $25 for your family of five to chow down at McDonalds. We
will be the ones to answer. And as for one, I plan to get my act together.
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