Money = Super Glue for the Church

Money = super glue for the Church

We have been talking about how God uses money in the Christian's life. He uses it to demonstrate His faithfulness, show us how much we need Him and to bring us to Himself. But yet there is a very unique way that I believe God uses money in the local church.

Last week I was at Keswick and I was talking to an individual who was unemployed for a few months. I asked him how he survived financially and he said his wife worked, he had some savings and his church also helped. I thought that was nice for his church to help him.

I then remembered a single mom in our church that I recently talked to about the daunting task of raising two children in a society that desperately needs two parents. She mentioned how the church helped her financially.

I recalled a testimony from a family that lost everything in a fire and the mother was praising God for believers that had responded to their tragedy with clothing, meals and even a place to stay until their lives could be rebuilt. And then it hit me that God uses money to unite the local body of Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 Paul challenged the church at Corinth to share their excess with fellow believers that were in need. Many churches today have benevolence offerings or deacon's funds for this express purpose. We need to be willing to help each other in a time of need.

Remember the early church? Do you remember the unity of the early church? If not, read the first few chapters in Acts and especially Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:34-35. A key ingredient to that early church unity was sharing resources with each other.

I personally believe that we as the church today have lost the vision cast by the early church for the need and responsibility of helping one another. As a result of the church not fulfilling this responsibility, the government has had to step in with welfare and other godless redistribution programs.
The result of the church not fulfilling this responsibility is a society becoming more dependent on the government and less dependent on the church. We also see a lack of unity in our churches today that was described in Acts. This unity came from sharing with each other. The next time we get upset with the government for the excessive and mismanaged welfare programs, remember whose responsibility this was under God's original plan.

In looking at our responsibility to help our fellow believer we see some pretty strong language in scriptures:

In 1 John 3:17 John asks a very direct question "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" (NIV)

1 Timothy 5:8 says "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Although I believe this indicates a first responsibility to our blood family, I believe this also includes a responsibility to help our church family as well. If we neglect that responsibility, we are no better than the lost world.

Even though we (Body of Christ) have not helped each other the way the early church modeled, we still have a huge responsibility to help one another financially. God may be blessing us today to meet a brother or sisters need. What a responsibility we have, when God bestows that blessing upon us. And how often do we misuse that blessing in a way that was not what God intended?

Yes, I believe that money is a vital tool used by God to unify the Body of Christ. This is one more way that God uses money in the Christian's life. -- George Hutchison is a member of the Keswick Board and an instructor with Crown Financial. You can follow his blog, Stewardship Insights.

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 26; Psalm 119:89-176; 1 Corinthians 8

Dig This Quote: In memory of John Geddie, D.D., born in Scotland, 1815, minister in Prince Edward Island seven years, Missionary sent from Nova Scotia to Aneiteum for twenty-four years. When he landed in 1848, there were no Christians here, and when he left in 1872 there were no heathen. John Geddie

Determined Digging: Level One: Jeremiah 29:11; Level Two: Psalm 127

Determined Praying: Because God is a loving God, he can hear; because He is a loving God, He will hear; because he is our covenant God, He has bound Himself to hear. -- C. H. Spurgeon