A belated good morning to you, the late night bugaboos of on call duty struck once again late last night and, technically, early this morning. I am getting up and moving about finally. Today we wanted to talk about giving every last cent to the church. Jesus told the rich young man, sometimes called the rich young ruler, to go and sell everything he had and give the money to the poor. The brand new church in Jerusalem gave everything they had into the community pot and shared an early experiment in communism without the state you might say. However, that didn’t work out so well for them financially; Paul had to take up a collection from the other early churches to help out the Jerusalem church. Christ lived without money during his ministry, yet once again we seem to have hit that which Jesus told us about. What is impossible for man is possible with God.
In the military, the big green provider met all of our basic needs; clothing, shelter, and food. No agency or person will do that for you in the civilian world when you are able to work and earn your own way, nor should they do so. In Christ we do not have to worry about our basic needs; God provides a job and first, the ability to work. The job you have at any given time may not be your ideal career choice, but you can provide for yourself. God also tells us many times not to be afraid, and I believe this pertains to our financial situation the same as any other situation we face in this life. So back to it, if we do not have to worry about our basic needs, should we then give every spare cent to the church, or charity, good causes etc. I can tell you from personal experience that charities and some of the national television ministries are like little baby birds, never satisfied. Their little mouths are open every time you go to the mail box, and those phone calls, yeesh! I assure you that you can give every spare cent to those organizations and they will not say “thank you” and leave you alone. Also from personal experience, some churches preach tithing often, some do not. That seems to go on a case by case or denominational basis.
I do not believe that Jesus was speaking to all Christians when he told the rich young man to sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor. That instance highlighted Jesus understanding of our deepest problems; which in that case, the young man needed to give up his wealth and follow Jesus in person. I do not believe that Jesus would have us work, buy only the bare minimum to survive while living in a tent and give every spare cent away. For one thing, we need to support our government with taxes. That is one organization that knows how to spend money in a big way, I am a complete amateur compared to that outfit! I do believe that Jesus would have us to give the first 10% in tithing as a minimum, you or I may be called at times or all of the time to give a larger percentage. I do not believe in faith organizations, of any type, calling upon their congregation to exceed Jesus’ tithe and demand more than 10%. What is the guideline then for every spare cent? I believe wholeheartedly that this is personal between you and the Lord.
I can hear it now, someone out there is jumping up from the computer, “what?! He’s gonna wimp out with an answer like that?”
That is just the point! In this I believe that the Lord would have me to tell you, go to Him for that answer, it’s PERSONAL between you or me and God. So tomorrow I promised to answer, “should you buy a speedboat?” This too will be personal between you and God, however I will put forth some things to think about that you might not have considered… stay tuned!
Love the Lord Jesus!
Bucky
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