Nehemiah and the elders decided to
meet the running cost of the temple in a prescribed manner -
each family giving a flat rate. Please note: one-third of a shekel (of silver)
is not much by any
standard. They were very modest: no private donkeys (i.e.. airplanes), no
glossy publications, no
fancy programs, etc...
So, according to the word of God, the church running costs
should be met by the believers
according to the decision of the elders (plural!) of a church, or better
still, according to the decision
of the congregation.
Should the church finances be separated into two funds:
one for the support of those in the
ministry and the help to the poor, and one for covering the running costs
of the church? According
to the Old Testament: Yes. The tithes were holy to the Lord and were not
to be profaned in any
way. When it comes to the New Testament it is not so clear, for there was
no mention of the
church running costs.
|
Ex. 25:1 "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak
to the children of Israel, that they
bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart
you shall take
My offering'." |
This is God's call to the Israelites while they were in
the wilderness on their way from Egypt. As
we know, God commanded Moses to build Him a tent (tabernacle) and He gave
detailed plans to
Moses. How were the Israelites to meet the building costs? They were on their
way from slavery -
they would not be expected to have much to give. But as we read on, we find
the Israelites, not
only met the needs, but had to be told to stop giving, for there was too
much in the offering (Ex.
36:5-7). I would like to make a couple of observations here: a) If the giving
is truly to God's
purpose, His people are willing to give even above the requirements, and
b) If the giving is for
God's purpose, leaders will acknowledge when the requirements have been met,
and ask God's
people to stop bringing more.
|
Ex. 35:21 "Then everyone came whose heart was stirred,
and everyone whose spirit was
willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for work of the tabernacle
of the meeting, for
all its service, and for the holy garments." |
Where did all these riches come from? If we read Ex. 11:2-3
we will see that God planned the
whole thing perfectly Himself. He told the Israelites, while still in Egypt,
to go to their Egyptian
neighbors and ask for gold and silver. God gave them favor in the eyes of
the Egyptians. What I
am driving at is this: It was God's idea to build, He gave the plan and He
organized the funding,
the source of funds being the people outside of His "kingdom", i.e.. the
unbelievers.
|
1Chr. 29:2-3 (king David speaking) "Now for the house
of my God I have prepared with
all my might... I have given... my own special treasure of gold and
silver..." |
We know king David's desire to build the temple, but the
Bible does not say whether this desire
was inspired by God or not. It does say though that God provided the building
plan (1Chr. 28:12,
19), thus approving the idea. And where did the funds come from? In the above
verse we see that
king David provided a large portion of the funds and we know where these
riches came from: from
the conquest of the ungodly nations in the promised land. |
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