Reflections on God and Money: April 2013

Saturday 27 April 2013

Giving & Funding (18)

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 8:8-12

I once heard a preacher say that when a collection is taken during a church service, the worship will suffer if the people are ‘robbing God’. The preacher said that he was quoting another preacher, but when I contacted that preacher, trying to trace the observation to its source, he said that the idea had not originated with him. In fact, he thought that I might be a journalist wanting to cause mischief for him and accused me of recording our conversation!

But notwithstanding where the idea came from, and whether it was the result of some misunderstanding, I was fascinated by it. Ever since, I have been more alert to what happens when a church takes up a collection. Very often, the change in ambiance will be the consequence of a majority of the congregation looking for money in their wallets and purses, to all intents and purposes as if the collection had caught them completely unawares, even though they regularly attend the services.

Sometimes, however, I think that there may be something deeper going on, as the changing mood seems to transcend the embarrassment of people unprepared for an offering. I occasionally wonder if the people are indeed ‘robbing God’.

By ‘robbing God’, the two preachers I mentioned above meant giving less than 10% of their income to a church but, as I hope that I have made clear, I mean a more general form of parsimony, because giving should not be something inspired by rules and regulations. There is no legislation in the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount is not Jesus’ ‘rule book’, to replace the Torah, but his vision of how his disciples should live. The writers of the New Testament letters were not trying to replace the Old Testament ‘Law’ with new laws but flesh out what Jesus taught and apply it to difficult situations.

I think, however, that we often overlook the fundamental issues raised by the familiar passage from Malachi 3, above. What does it take to ‘rob’ God? At what point is our giving so meagre that God considers himself to have been ‘robbed’! And what is he robbed of? Is it only the denial of material wealth that concerns him?

I will pick up this thought next weekend.

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If you are in or near Richmond in South London on 8 May, 12 June or 10 July you are welcome to come to a short personal finance course called 'Sharper Living' at Duke Street Church: there's a map and travel directions at the Church website www.dukestreetchurch.com . Arrive from 7:45pm for an 8:00pm start; finish at approx. 9:00pm.

The course is an introduction to basic personal finance skills, covering essential tools and tips to help you maximise your money, like budgeting, banking and borrowing. The course, course notes and light refreshments are free; there will not be any literature or merchandise on sale.

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Friday 26 April 2013

Giving & Funding (17)

And [Jesus] said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die”. But you say, “If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God) then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Mark 7:9-13 & 1 Timothy 5:8

Tithing (giving 10% of income) is a good place for Christians to start thinking about giving. If, therefore, you are a Christian with sufficient income for a healthy lifestyle for you and your family, and you give less than 10% of your income, please think about this. If the present grace of God is not achieving more than the Torah did in the past, is something wrong with our perception of God or our experience of his grace or both? Is it likely that the Holy Spirit will lead us to be less generous than faithful Israelites obeying the Torah?

Not everyone, however, has a sufficient income to fund a healthy lifestyle. Jesus of Nazareth criticised the Pharisees for devoting to God money that should have been used to look after their families; Paul wrote that Christians who failed to take care of their families behave worse than unbelievers do! What, then, should Christians on a persistent low income do? Give 10% of their income to their church or ensure that their families have good food and warm clothing?

Throughout the Bible, there is a binding duty to pay taxes and to repay debt. So, should Christians refrain from paying what they owe in order to give to their churches?

I have some even more difficult questions. Should a self-employed person give from their entire income or only from their profit?

Should a self-employed builder give a proportion from the entire amount he is paid to build a wall or should he deduct the cost of the bricks, cement and other materials he used and the cost of transporting them to the building site? In my experience, most Christians would say that he should deduct the cost of materials and transport.
Should an employed person deduct the cost of his or her fares to and from his workplace? In my experience, again, it seems that most Christians would say that he should not make the deduction.

Do you think that is right, consistent and fair? What is fair?

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