July 02, 2008
Money Talks...but should it?
We lament when those who are considered pillars of the congregation leave to go to the church down the street. We grieve over the loss of spiritual maturity, knowledge and friendships. There is another loss we mention only amongst ourselves…or if it’s not spoken out loud, it certainly crosses our minds. Those pillars are the biggest givers and when they walk out the door so does their tithe. We look at one another and say, 'Don’t the leaders know they’re loosing the people who tithe the most?' When you think about it, it’s not only a silly question (of course they know their losing tithes and offerings), but it’s an ungodly question. We would do better to take captive the thought of lost revenue and adopt Paul’s attitude when he says, “…what I want is not your possessions but you.” (2 Cor 12:14a NIV)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----How close to the life of sacrificial love has the church come? It has certainly become a strong force for inspiring eyes to be cast upon “the Lord”, but with so much sight taken off the brothers and sisters, is it really the Lord She looks upon? One of the most fundamental themes of Jesus’ teaching about the character of the new life was that of certain servitude. How is it then that such servitude places limits and definitions upon those it serves? And when someone has become fed up with those limits and definitions enough to search out a new fellowship, will he not just find somewhat different, maybe less, limits and definitions there, too? It is what we do when we become church leaders; we limit and define. For we sincerely believe we have become leaders because of our mature relationship with the Lord. And since it is so mature, we think everyone should have a relationship like it too. That is service, right?
-----We are so doomed to bias and over assessed importance! Or minds are far more empty of all there is to know about everyone around us than they are filled. People are far deeper and more complex than even one well trained in both psychology and the Word of God can imagine. Our uniqueness requires space for its security, yet needs closeness for its strength. We are much more different from each other than our tight bonds and unified love will ever reveal.
-----So, church must be a malleable place. But its molding must not be done by leaders. That is not their function. The Holy Spirit molds the church by molding each member of it. And as new members move in and old ones move out, the church must be allowed to shift and change according to who is present at the moment. It is the leaders’ role to guard against such change carrying the church out of the boundaries drawn by the Holy Bible.
-----For the real church, being a collection of servants, will produce a mixture of some being served and some serving, never the same ones always. For neither the role of serving nor the role of being served are character traits. They are rather facets of relationship through which each of us move in and out according to what is the momentary need, who has the supply, and who has the lack. The unity and accord of the church is upset when the leaders either try to interfere with this natural flow, fail to teach of its reality, or outright deny it altogether.
-----In many churches, one of those three errors are made by the leaders. I don’t believe it is because they are evil men, quite to the contrary, I believe it is because they are very good men. They are merely so sure of what they know about the Lord that they fail to act according to their own admission of knowing far less than what is knowable. Moreover, they forget Paul’s simple admonition, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up,” (I Cor 8:1). Consequently, they insist the church God gave into their service act, move, and worship in the ways they themselves understand, rather than allowing the individuals to have their own understanding.
-----Therefore, the relevant question is: what does Paul mean by, “…what I want is not your possessions, but you?” The rest of what he said answers the question: “…for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” (II Cor 12:14b-15a). Paul’s desire was not to find support for his ministry from the Corinthians. He was there to minister to them. Often pillars leave a church because they have been used as mere pillars to support the ministry of the leaders. But will they find it greatly better elsewhere? Usually they will simply find another church in which to be a supporting pillar as well, yet of a ministry more in nature with their own soul. For we too much lack the genuine fellowships where the leaders really are the servants in the nature of Paul, to serve the people of the fellowship, edifying them and supporting them in their various ministries, being themselves pillars.
Love,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment