THE CHURCH AND THE SQUABBLE OVER MATERIAL WEALTH
There's been hot🔥 arguments and debates in the world and the Church in this end time on the subject of money and material wealth to the extent that in these days, unbelievers have now taken the seat of judgment as Rabbi's on kingdom principles to"set the records straight" as they claim; this is an aberation!
There's a lot of squabble today regarding many financial issues, concerning how to Collect offering and administration of church finances, about tithes, firstfruits and other Christian doctrines.
There's a school of thought that certain aspects of the Church are no longer practicable, or relevant, others believe the Church should be a charitable organization, caring for the needy and less privileged. There are other complaints about the size and cost of Church buildings, the supposedly many poor members and other issues relating to negligence of host communities by the Church etc
However, there's never been a forum to advocate and possibly agree according to sound doctrine on how the Church should be financed as a faith-based and charity organization.
THE BIBLICAL POSITION ON WEALTH?
Considering the argument, the word of God is unambiguous that material wealth is the legitimate property of God and the heritage and birth right of the Church for His glory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. As God, by the scriptures says:
"The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein". and The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
Money according to scripture are God given tools for the "spreading-abroad" of God's kingdom across generations for His pleasure, so that He can be glorified across the Nations.
Wealth and riches are legitimate properties of the Church, purchased and handed over to the Church by the lamb which was slain. It is not just God's by creation, but the Church's by the law of ownership through purchase.
"Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing". Revelation 5:12
But these quibblers forgot that it is the God of the Church who owns both silver and gold, even the beasts in the heavens and on the earth, solely for the benefit of who?- His children - the Church, declaring, The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. And The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Psalm 24:1
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF MATERIAL WEALTH
It's not just enough that silver and gold belongs to God. But, God, the Lord of the Church has also laid down the means by which material resources can be legitimately accessed by His kingdom on earth, i.e the Church. The process which can be generally called giving includes:
1. Free-will Offerings
One of the ancient ways by which God recieves resources from His worshippers is through Free-will Offerings. A Free-will Offering is any material resources, including money a worshipper brings to God through His Church as her/his accompanying instrument of worship.
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them". Exodus 25:1-8
It must be stressed that an Offering is a part of our instrument 🎸 of worship when we present ourselves to God at His Sanctuary. Though God will not force it out of our pockets, as He's more interested in us, yet He demands it. An offering no doubt, is a soothening show of love to God from His children. Hence, Jesus taught:
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift".
Matthew 5:23-24
In Free-will Offering, it's about individuals giving to God in Thanksgiving, yet out of God's benevolence, devoid of grudges or compulsion.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7
A Free-will Offering is given for the services of the house of God under the supervision of the presiding Priest.
Since the details are not open to everyone, (even though, not all maybe interested in it's details) yet, there's a lot of speculation and allegations of misappropriation not only within but more vigorously from outside the Christian Faith.
SPECIAL NEED-OFFERINGS:
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. Haggai 1:7-10
It should also be noted, that in the old covenant, there were offerings commanded which required presenting specific materials, or amounts of money to God, through His Church administration. There are instances of Specific Needs offering to meet specific doctrinal requirements or needs, like purification, atonement, trespass, physical projects, building or special welfare, collection for the saints in crisis etc
Unless, where God specifically command,
offerings in a certain way, Church offerings are usually of free will.
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering. And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him. And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. Leviticus 5:14-17
2. Tithes
This is a special offering of a Tenth of one's income to God. The reason for this special offering is clearly stated; Church welfare!
" Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts". Malachi 3:8,10-11
God refers to denying Him tithes and offerings as robbing His house(the Church or Tabernacle) of meat/food.
God uses such strong terms because, it's a deliberate denial of His priests bread.
His commandment was
"The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever. Deuteronomy 18:1-5
Tithes are not free offerings. It has a measure and depends on the amount of blessings God endows an individual. What ever touches tithes negatively or positively affects the welfare of kingdom and His priests in the same manner, for example when the people disregarded their commitment in Nehemiah, the priests left their service at the Altar in search of food, thereby bringing the wrath of God upon the nation. Nehemiah 13:10-12
3. First fruits
Another source of funding for the Church is through firstfruits.
"And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Exodus 23:16,19a
There are many explanation and doctrines concerning this. As the name implies, it is the first harvest from any business or financial activities of an individual in a year. The Lord commands His children to "honour the lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thy increase. So shall thine barns be filled with plenty. Proverbs 3:9-10
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Leviticus 23:9-11
There's no denying it that God commands firstfruits not only for the financing of His kingdom, but for the welfare of His Priests so He in return, can cause His blessings to rest in the house of those who obey.
"They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering: and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.
Ezekiel 44:29-30
WHY THE SQUABBLE OVER MATERIAL WEALTH?
1. IGNORANCE:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children". Hosea 4:6
Many believers and some denominations by their teachings and doctrines has projected money and wealth as belonging to the biblical classification of "the things of this world", thereby attributing it to sin and possessors of such as sinners. This teachings and idea has been instrumental to the impoverishment of the people and the Church today. Many Christians are simply not interested in wealth and material things on earth because, they can only see it as nothing but "the root of all evil, 1Tim.6:10 that must be avoided like a plague, if one is serious about living in holiness and making it to the kingdom of God.
This is an erroneous teaching and a doctrine perpetuated by great ignorance of the Bible and ways of God. That God "wished above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3John 1:2, but that "an ungodly love for money (idolating money) is the root of all evil.
Money is not a worldly or a satanic thing because, both the silver and the golds belongs to God, together with cattle upon a thousand hills.
The riches of the world are preserved for the daily benefit of His children, the Church- to enjoy according to His good pleasure. The enemy uses the noise about money to encourage ignorance in the Church and to make believers to shy away from seeking and taking strong hold of their kingdom heritage of prosperity.
2. PERSECUTION
"But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.
Nehemiah 4:7-8;11
The enemy is using the age long Squabble as a means of persecuting the Church and it's mission on earth. They rise daily, lieing and crying fowl against the biblical principles of prosperity in the kingdom, they advance unfounded theories and schemes about tithes, offerings, first fruits etc to paint the Church and the Priests of God in bad light for the purpose of creating apathy to kingdom giving and to gain public sympathy for their mission. Their sole purpose is to starve the Church of material resources and raise Christian rebels in the Church to help them fulfill their aim from within.
The enemy is aware, that without material wealth and spiritual prosperity, the Church's vision, mission and influence will be crippled.
"Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad;" Zechariah 1:17
Go through the media, all that is echoed by non members and deceived members of the Church community are unfounded tales of Church mismanagement, money laundering and purported spendings judged to be contray to the tenets of the Christian faith according to them. Does it not surprise you that among the religious organizations in the world, it's only against the Church such stories sell and allegations are peddled unabated?
3. PERCIEVED ABUSE
"Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm".
1 Timothy 1:7
One of the foremost reasons advanced by the self acclaimed scholars on the matter is that there's too much wastage of scarce resources of the Church, ranging from misappropriation and investment in elephant projects and Cathedrals as opposed to the humble disposition of the original Church they claim. If this so?
"Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great: for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house. Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD? Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly, And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.
1Chron.29:1-7
The Church is a high and hallowed place, and so, and so must be position.
BIBLICAL APPLICATION OF MATERIAL WEALTH
1. WELFARE
The greatest body of philanthropy on earth is the Church. Jesus teaches generously about alms deeds and demonstrating in it in a lavished manner in such a way that He never suspected a shortage of His ministry's purse to Judas theft. In His submission, none of His disciples is allowed to have "two coats, when their neighbor is in need of one".
"And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise"
Luke 3:10-11
The early Church who proceeded from Christ specifically Charged apostle Paul, who had the ministry to the gentiles "to remember the poor"
"And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. Galatians 2:9-10.
The reason behind every Christian prayer for wealth must thus be focused on how it would help them fulfill this part of His legitimate christian responsibility. Therefore, Apostle Paul in his admonition to the Church on welfare said,
"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life". 1 Timothy 6:17-19
2. WORLD EVANGELIZATION
It is God's good pleasure to give wealth to His children on this earth "richly to enjoy" because He has ordained it for the spreading of His kingdom on earth. When He charged the Church " Go ye and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
"Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad;" Zechariah 1:17
In the application of God given wealth, the kingdom charge is to trust the living God, to understand that riches are uncertain, temporal resources which is not the end but a means to an end and finally, never to get high-minded by the passing pleasure, satisfaction or honour it confers, but to use it as a means to communicate with others in the kingdom thereby, laying up eternal treasures for the time to come. Any individual, whose Wealth and riches are not so used is a failure of divine opportunity and investment.
3. OUR ENJOYMENT
Material Wealth is a gift of the kingdom to the Church for the purpose of her enjoyment. Wealth is a source of power the Church needs in every generation to bodly take her place, as the authentic ambassador of the king of kings and Lord of heaven and earth. Wealth is a kingdom proof that the sons of God must possess in answer to a world who treats her with skeptism because money "answer all things"Ecclesiastes 10:19
God always demonstrate His affluence by giving more than enough. It takes a great deal of money to enjoy the goods of the earth that money can buy while enjoying the blessings of heaven- money cannot buy.
"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 1 Timothy 6:17
4. ADMINISTRATION AND KINGDOM PROJECTS
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" Exodus 25:1-3,8
The Church is a self-financing entity responsible for it's bills. In as much as the Church is a growing entity, there will always be need for expansion. Such expansions include, capitally intensive acts of corporate social responsibility like bore hole projects, building of skill acquisition centres, orphanages, schools or places of worship and staff residential quarters etc and can be in a different locations, countries or regions.
"And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses" Exodus 35:22, 29.
In as much as the work of the Church administration operates in season and out of season, covering multitude of people across Nations, proper documentation and management requires modern facilities like computers, internet facilities, and heavy payment for publicity, publication and live streaming of events. There's a need for mobility, using land, sea and air and purchase of such equipment. Hence, the great need for material prosperity in the Church for effectiveness.
Shallom! Maranatha.
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