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In 1987 I took a close look at my congregation and drew a conclusion: the Anaheim Vineyard was deficient in many ways. We had worldwide visibility, but we were hurting in many respects. We had lagged in our Bible teaching, in ministry to the lost and poor, in prayers, and in financial giving— especially tithing. These were but four of eight areas in which we needed to grow.
What was the problem? It turned out to be me! I simply had not done my job with the people. I had been so busy working for spiritual renewal in other countries that I hadn't provided the leadership needed at home.
In 1987 I took a close look at my congregation and drew a conclusion: the Anaheim Vineyard was deficient in many ways. We had worldwide visibility, but we were hurting in many respects. We had lagged in our Bible teaching, in ministry to the lost and poor, in prayers, and in financial giving— especially tithing. These were but four of eight areas in which we needed to grow.
What was the problem? It turned out to be me! I simply had not done my job with the people. I had been so busy working for spiritual renewal in other countries that I hadn't provided the leadership needed at home.
So I called the congregation's key leaders together and shared our new emphases and what we were going to do about them. One of them was on financial stewardship.
Why had I avoided speaking directly to so many issues about money that Jesus so frequently and pointedly talked about? Eventually I admitted to myself that I had fallen into the trap of over‑reacting to the false teachings of many "health and wealth" televangelists and Christian empire builders. In other words, I had shirked my responsibility to bring the full counsel of God's word to one of the most sensitive areas in the lives of many Christians.
I don't think I'm alone in my failing. I've talked with many other pastors who are so turned off by the self‑serving and manipulative techniques of a few highly visible Christian leaders that they are reticent to preach about money. And a few members of their congregations don't want them to teach about a subject that, they believe, is none of their pastor's business!
But are people's finances really none of our business? Jesus didn't think so. Twelve of his thirty‑eight parables had to do with money, as did one‑sixth of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is now clear to me that pastors have a responsibility to preach and teach about money, for Christians cannot grow to maturity until their hearts and minds are conformed to Scripture on their use of money.
"If a person gets his attitude toward money straight," Billy Graham once remarked, "it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life." And the only way most people will straighten out the issue is if their pastors speak biblically and boldly about money.
A JEALOUS "GOD"
Money is a critical issue—the critical issue—for many Christians, because it exerts such a powerful pull on their hearts. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke directly to the rivalry between money and heaven. First, he asserted—to use a contemporary idiom—that he who dies with the most toys doesn't win: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matt. 6:19‑20).
Woody Allen once remarked that "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." But what are those financial reasons? The world says that money buys security, power, freedom, identity, pleasure, and happiness. In effect, Jesus says, "That may be true—but only for the moment. A day is coming when you can't take it with you." Money can't make anyone rich in the things that count for eternity. Nothing of God's is obtainable by money (Acts 8:18‑24).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached to people's hearts, and he wanted his audience to understand money's corrupting effects: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21). Money promises us much, but it demands even more. "Give me your heart," it says, "and I will save you." Its promises are with out question among the greatest of Satan's lies.
Money is a jealous "god." It demands that we love it exclusively. "No one can serve two masters," Jesus concluded in this section of the Sermon on the Mount. "Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money" (Matt. 6:24). This is why the primary task of the pastor, when it comes to teaching on money, is to convert people's attitudes. Once their hearts are won, their practices will soon follow.
TWO CONVERSIONS
Martin Luther understood this all too well. He said, "Every Christian needs two conversions—one for the soul, and the other for his pocketbook." For this to happen we must preach with passion and conviction, not in any way holding back those tough portions of Scripture that may offend some members of our congregations. For example, ask yourself if you have preached recently on these hard sayings of Jesus:
“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.†(Matt. 19:21)
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.†(Luke 12:33)
“Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.†(Luke 14:33)
Jesus presents a consistently negative understanding of material wealth. Paul paints a similar picture, warning leaders that wealth has a narcotic effect on believers, capable of bringing ruin to their faith: People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.... Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (1 Tim. 6:9‑10, 17)
There's no question in Paul's mind that pastors have a responsibility to warn and instruct those they lead in the proper use of money. Paul's instruction to Timothy—the young pastor of the Ephesian church—was that he be forceful and direct, not mincing his words when talking about money. He didn't say, "Suggest to those who are rich..." or "Gently remind those who are rich." Paul said, "Command...."
OWNERSHIP
Just this week a pastor in our church met with a young man who admitted that, until two years ago, he gave little money to the Lord's work. "But I didn't know any better," he said. "I was ignorant. Then Pastor John started teaching from the Bible about money, and I learned what God expects from us."
It isn't enough merely to preach to people's hearts; we must also teach to convert their thinking. What, then, must pastors tell their congregations about money? I believe the most fundamental issue in Scripture on finances is ownership. Who owns our possessions?
On numerous occasions Jesus used parables to teach basic truths about the kingdom of God. Several of the parables describe a king or merchant entrusting his possessions to servants, leaving the country for a time, then returning home to find out how the servants have behaved. For example, in the parable of the Talents, a man left three of his servants large amounts of money ("talents') and then went on a journey (Matt. 25:1430). The first two servants invested their master's talents wisely and doubled his money. Upon his return, the master praised them and invited them to share in his happiness.
The third servant, however, hid the master's money and earned nothing in his absence. The master was angry with him: “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. ...throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.†(Matt. 25:26‑27, 30)
This parable, which reinforces Christ's exhortation that we be watchful in view of the unknown hour of his return, teaches that all we have is owned by God: eternal life, family, our next breath,, our material possessions. The idea that we possess anything is a deception. Both the rich and the poor die, and they each leave this world as they came into it: naked (Ps. 49:10; Eccl. 5:15; 1 Tim. 6:7).
But, like the servants in the parable of the Talents, we are entrusted with much.
We are stewards of God's possessions.
Stewards manage another's property. They are accountable to fulfill the wishes of the owner. We have been redeemed at the cross, and our entire lives were purchased with the precious blood of Christ. He now rightfully possesses the title deed to our souls and bodies, our aspirations, and bank accounts. The Late John Wimber was the spiritual leader of 700 Vineyard churches worldwide and the founding pastor of the Anaheim Vineyard in southern California. |
