Trolls, I am convinced, know they are trolls. They make no pretense of making any sense. They are self-consciously jerking us around which makes them more nasty than ignorant. There are, however, some whose hostility is genuine but so powerful that it blinds them to their blindness. They make as much sense as trolls, but they mean it. They are more ignorant than nasty.
Consider, if you will, financing the kingdom of God. I have heard the argument made, when “tickets” to a Sunday morning service are on sale that the gospel should not be for sale. Well and good. Hear, hear. I’ve also heard, on the other hand, complaints about churches and ministries asking for donations. “Why are they always begging for money?” I get that there are some, especially but by no means exclusively among prosperity preachers, who live pretty high on the hog. But, isn’t how money is spent a separate issue from how it is raised? Some people even complain about the lifestyles of those who earn their wealth in the marketplace.
It seems to me that if we object to charging people when we bring the Word of God to bear on their lives and we object to raising funds through donations to finance bringing the Word of God to bear on people’s lives that our real objection is to bringing the Word of God to bear on people’s lives. It seems to me that what we really want is to be served without being reminded of the need to serve those who serve. We resent that it costs money to do the work of the ministry.
My father used to ask this question- do you know what it takes to do a million dollars worth of ministry? His answer- a million dollars. It is true that Jesus feeds thousands with a few loaves and fish. He brings forth coins from the mouth of a fish. It’s true that silver and gold Peter had none but such as he had he gave. It is also true, however, that Paul had this to say:
My defense to those who examine me is this: Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? …For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? (I Corinthians 4:4-7, 9-11).
There is nothing new under the sun. There were in Paul’s day those who were in it for the money. And there were those who accused others falsely of being in it for the money. The same is true in our own day. Support your pastor. Support the ministries that have been a help to you. And give thanks.
The church cannot run if it is not financed. But we cannot get into the habit of having big churches with all the money. And we should not be taking members from other churches. We should be splitting big churches for startups. It should not be building an empire. The church should funnel the money into missions. We need missions in all of our cities. We wont have churches if we dont attend to the problems in this country. And really the church has the life and death pronouncements in the Psalms. But most American churches do not believe they have legal authority. We hate the curses. Which strips the church of the authority of the keys. It is no longer about life and death but rehabilitation.