A Ramble about Money

Originally published as a Facebook Note April 22nd, 2009

I recently heard from another pastor friend of mine who is starting a study series about money and finances. It's not really a bad topic. Truth is, I'm horrible at keeping track of my own finances and anyone who knows me knows this is true. But for some reason, it just doesn't strike a very good chord in me to be talking about money at what is supposed to be, essentially, a meeting to learn more about what it means to follow Jesus Christ.

I got the same reaction recently from a church newsletter I got. This particular church is usually very careful about when it mentions the offering, and usually takes great pains to not even pass around the collection plate, preferring anonymous donations dropped in the box in the back. But lately, because of the economic crisis which has been hitting everyone, they've had to start mentioning it a little more often. Pastors still need to to eat, and rent still needs to be paid. I can't really criticize this. I know firsthand what it means to draw your living from a church offering, and what that living often amounts to, when all you see is five or ten dollars here or there. It's disheartening, frustrating, and difficult.

It is my observation that many good pastors really don't want to talk about money, but find themselves forced to. It becomes a necessary evil just to keep the church's lights on, and to keep gas in their car so they can make it to church. The Bible itself several times indicates that the worker is worthy of his (or her) wages, and that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. It becomes incredibly difficult to maintain one's credibility, though, as a servant of God and a follower of Jesus Christ who taught us not to worry about what we should eat, or what we should wear, to then have to go to their congregations and ask to be paid a living wage, and essentially to ask them for money. It's really not fair, because there seems to be a number of "pastors" who have no real issues with this and live lives some heads of state can only fantasize about.

Money tends to turn the Church of Jesus Christ into a business. Some denominations even go so far as to have their members sign what is effectively a legal document; a pledge to give so much money per month so that they can know what their balance sheet is going to look like. Many Seminaries now teach more business administration than pastoring for this reason.

In the gospels and in the book of Acts we see Jesus having taught a very different view and practice of money than the one we are taught almost from birth as Americans (in particular). Jesus taught His first disciples to give up everything and follow Him. From what can be seen from the scriptures, the first disciples literally left everything and traveled, homeless, with Jesus. Their income came from a group of women who provided for them out of their own pockets, and when they had nothing, there is no record that Jesus ever told them to solicit the people for anything. When He sent them out, He sent them out with the explicit instruction that they were to take only the clothes on their backs. He told them to not worry about what they would eat or wear or drink, but to put first the Kingdom of Heaven, and then all of these things would be given to them. In the scriptures Peter says very clearly that they had left everything to follow Him, and when Jesus called men to follow Him, the explicit or implict instruction was to leave everything else behind, or to sell it and give it to the poor.

In the Book of Acts, we see the Apsotles and other disciples carrying out the same manner of living and teaching in that everyone who was added to the Church, went and sold everything they had, and then brought the money to the Apostles. The Apostles then distributed money and food to everyone in the Church as they needed, and no one went without. When some prejudice or abuses began, the Apostles set Deacons over the whole process to police it. Notice also in Acts that this process was voluntary. It wasn't a requirement of membership. People gave in accordance with what faith they had that God would provide for them, and that faith as much or as little as was theirs was received and welcomed, and not belittled or asked for more. The only record where it was called into question has to do with a couple attempting to deceive God, the Apostles, the Church, and themselves. This deception, not their lack of faith, was met with grave consequences by God Himself through Peter.

We don't do this today. Why? I know for myself, I would be scared to give everything I had to a church's leadership if I didn't know I could trust them or the mechanism in place to ensure that me and mine were taken care of. I would be scared of the inevitable church politics and people who might slight me or mine or somehow make it so that we went hungry. And of course there is the attachment to things (something Jesus Christ taught not to be by the way), how am I to acquire those pleasant toys and luxuries for myself without money of my own? And then there is the fact that we call this form of economy "Communism" or "Socialism" in this day and age. Neither word sits well with most Americans, and most words stir up a patriotic backlash and promotion of capitalism and a free market economy. Jesus Christ, with what he taught, would be labeled a liberal communist by many in the conservative community, except of course that most of these profess to follow Him, and so conveniently gloss over and theologically sanitize this part of His teaching.

If we are going to profess to follow Jesus Christ, then we need to actually follow Him, and what he taught. The truth is that in the state which our economy and the world's economy find themselves in, what Jesus taught and the Apostles practiced would be more relevant for the Church today than at almost any other point in our history. If we all pooled all of our resources into a single fund and then doled out to everyone as need permitted within the Church, chances are no one would go hungry, have their bills unpaid, or have to worry about their rent. The rest of the world would crash down around their ears, but they would be unmoved economically and would be financially secured.

It would require following the principles of detachment from material things, and trust in God's provision which Jesus Christ taught. It would require a radical revamp of the Church as we know it. Are we willing to put our money where our mouth is and follow Him?