The M Word

A lot of people in the church seem to think money is a dirty word. They are so scared that the pastor is trying to get in their wallet that they resent the sheer mention of the word. There ia preaching adage that if you want a quiet church, talk about people's money or their kids. While I'll be the first to admit that some ministries take this overboard, I would like to make a few observations before you criticize the church for talking about it too much:

• If obtaining money is so important you spend 40+ hours each week working for it, it should be important enough to be taught wisdom in how to use it.
• You don’t own your money anyway. It’s all God’s, you steward it. As such, it doesn’t matter what anyone says, you are only responsible for obeying God with your money.
• Usually the people who object the loudest about the church talking about money too much are the ones who won’t even trust God enough to tithe. I'm going to be incredibly frank here (warning): if you will rob from God (that's what scripture calls it) then frankly I don't have the slighest respect for your opion about how the church should be run or what the pastor should do. Obey scripture then we can talk.People who trust God with their money and tithe don't usually think the church talks about money too much, because they're being blessed as an outflow of their obedience.
• Ministry can’t happen without funding. Your church doesn't just happen. There are bills that have to be payed, and God designed it in such a way that the people and the church are both blessed when you obey God.
• When you look at the growing personal and government debt, it stands to reason people need to be taught about things like budgeting. We can’t expect the government to do it. God’s word is full of instruction about money, and if the church is teaching God’s word the church will be teaching about money. The Bible is not a Golden Corral buffet, you can’t just pick what you’d like.
• Scripture teaches that the laborer is worth his hire. Basically, the pastor deserves to be paid well. He/She is bringing you spiritual truth every week and you owe it to them in turn to take care of them. When people aren't tithing, the minister suffers and that is not Biblical.

So, next time you go to criticize, just ask yourself this simple question...is this genuine excess or is this simply me being convicted because I'm in sin?