My Money & God’s Church
Hot Potatoes that make People HOT!! - Part 3
People have a lot of questions that are rarely addressed in most churches, including this one; questions that fall into two broad categories.
The first category has to do with our personal practices of giving. "Do I really have to give (and if I do have to, doesn’t that mean that the church just wants my money)? Does the time I spend volunteering count towards what I should be giving? What about this 10% deal? Is that how much I need to give to be a good Christian? If I give to the United Way at work or to other ministries, does that count towards what I should be giving? What if I’m in a season of financial crisis? Should I give anyway? What if I want to give, but my spouse doesn’t?"
The second category of questions has to do with church finances. "Just how much money does the church collect? Where does the money go? Are we doing OK financially? Is there any accountability?"
And then, of course, there’s the question everyone wonders about but doesn’t ask. It goes something like this: "You know, I notice our pastor is driving an Isuzu Amigo these days. Are we maybe paying that guy too much? I mean, he only works on Sundays."
So, this morning, I’m going to address questions like these under the headings of "the practice of giving" and "church finance 101." But to do that well we need to go back and review a couple of things we’ve covered so far this series. We need to do that because the issue of "money and the church" only makes sense in the context of what the Bible teaches concerning money as a whole.
This is where a lot of people get tripped up on the issue. They don’t have the context, so for them it’s
easy to conclude that, in fact, all the church really wants from people is their money.
“It is you I want, not your money.” 2 Corinthians 12:14
In their minds, the passing of the plate (or not passing the plate) has no significance beyond the mere transaction of funds ("the church needs money; I have some; they pass the plate and I give it to them"), with maybe a slight feeling of goodwill and obligation ("well, they do provide a service to me and to my family, so I ought to pitch in.")
If that’s where your heart is on this giving issue, I want to say this to you: don’t give. Don’t give. Actually,
I’m not the one saying that. The Bible says it:
Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully ...
2 Corinthians 9:7
... not the person who grudgingly pays for services rendered.
Argument: “It is my money…”
Notice that first verse:
Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property. After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money.
Matthew 25:14, 19
God is the Master. We are the stewards. We manage someone else’s property. Because God has all the rights, the reality is that all of us possess much but own nothing. God owns it all.
Deuteronomy 18 talks about this:
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”
Deuteronomy 8:17-18
Your abilities, strength, and power to produce money comes from God, too. We are managing His affairs. We are custodians to His estate. You own nothing. The proof is that you have never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul. You came into this world crying with nothing, and you will leave this world with nothing and other people crying.
You can’t take it with you. You are just managing his estate for a period of time.
To be a steward is to be a manager of someone else’s property.
Argument: Giving Money Isn’t All That Important…
Answer: Giving to God shows how much faith you have in God
You should each give, And God will generously provide all you need. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8
If you’re not giving, you don’t believe this verse. You’re not putting your faith in God. Do you know why? Because for the longest time, I struggled with this. My wife and I were not consistent in tithing. “You mean the pastor struggles with this?” You better believe it. We’re just like you—many times we have too much month at the end of our paycheck! All through seminary, all through my previous 2 churches I served in, both my wife and I were never consistent in obedience to God in this area of money.
Do you want to know what turned it around? 2 things. First, a godly man, a good friend, an elder in this church—Kirk Mourer, lovingly confronted us on this issue. I have been saying this so much lately, but its true. There are some things that are too hard that you just can’t do it alone. You need accountability. Someone who lovingly comes alongside and encourages you to do the right thing, to be obedient. The second thing is are we going to trust God enough to take Him at His Word that He will generously provide all you need, even when the money is tight? Will we obey Him and have faith in God and give Him what He requires right off the top and trust that He will provide at the bottom of the month? For the past 6 months, my wife and I have been consistent in tithing; we’ve not missed a beat. And you want to know something? It has been tight. It has been tough. But God has always provided; He has always come through. And there’s a great feeling and satisfaction that comes when you know that you are being obedient to Him.
Let me give you an example of how God comes through. In January, my teeth started really hurting and acting up. Before I went to the dentist, they said that the services they were going to render was going to cost $104. I didn’t have $104. Before I left to go to the dentist, Wanda comes in my office and says that some people in the church had given her some money to buy my a Christmas present, but she hadn’t had the time to do anything with it. She handed me an envelope, and I stuffed it in my jacket as I was going out the door to see the dentist. After it was all done and I went up to pay, I remembered that I had the envelope. I pulled it out, and there was $110 to pay for the $104 bill. God provided.
Do you want to know how spiritual you are? Do you want to know how much faith you have in God? You don’t need to look at your Bible—how worn the pages are. You don’t need to look at your knees—how worn they are from praying. You don’t need to look at your Purpose Driven Life Book. You look at your checkbook. Why?
Because…
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
Life on earth is just the preface; its not the book. The book is yet to be written. God is watching our lives to determine how much He can trust us with both now and in eternity. How faithful we are with the things He puts in our hands today, in large measure, determines how much He can trust us with tomorrow. God is watching to see whose kingdom we are really committed to.
Look at this verse:
“So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?”
Luke 16:11
If we take Jesus’ words at face value, He is saying that when we’re not faithful with how we use material things, then we put an obstacle and a barrier in our own life to receiving things that are better than worldly wealth. We put up a barrier to going deeper with God. The handling of worldly wealth is a test to handling spiritual riches.
Randy Alcorn said it like this:
God makes it apparent that it is His business to watch us with intense interest to see what we do with
money. We are being tested. And what we do with our money will influence the course of eternity.
There will be a group of people in heaven that will be in charge over much for eternity because they were faithful with the resources God gave them for this life—a split second breath of air. Not only does it speak of eternity, but it also speaks for the here and now—how you handle your money determines how much God can bless your life.
But you say, “I thought God’s love for me is unconditional!” You’re absolutely right. There are no strings attached. He will love you regardless of what you do with your stuff and your money. I am not talking about how much God loves you. I am talking about how much God can trust you with things that are really valuable. Those things are earned. Those things are not just gifts. God is saying, “If I can’t trust you with really small things like money and wealth, how can I trust you with things like people’s lives.” He wants to make sure you mean business in His kingdom. There is too much at stake.
There is a direct relationship between what I do with my money and the spiritual depth and condition of my life. If you’re feeling stuck spiritually; if you feel like you are at a dead end with your walk with God; if you feel like the fountain of blessings is drying up, maybe the problem is not with your quiet time or with your church—maybe you ought to look at your checkbook.
Because…
Inconsistent giving = inconsistent living
Argument: I’ll Start Giving When Finances Get Better
Answer: You will never be obedient and start giving if you wait for the perfect opportunity.
If you wait for perfect conditions, until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.
Ecclesiastes 11:4
Some people think that ‘Once my finances get better, maybe in about 5 years I can start tithing.’ Hear me—if you wait until your finances are in order to start tithing, you will forever be in debt. Your finances will always be in shambles. Why? Because when you honor Him, He will honor you. When you give to God and make Him a #1 priority, He can keep vehicles running longer. He can control your water heater from going out. He can keep your Isuzu Amigo, that is held together with spit, duct tape, and prayer, from falling apart. He owns it all. When the truck breaks down, it is His problem, not mine.
Have any of you ever rented a house? When a pie breaks, whose problem is it? The Landlords. You don’t have to spend a dime of your money to fix it, because you are only renting this property—it is owned by someone else. What about if you own a house and a pipe breaks? Whose problem is it? Yours! Because the deed is in your name—you own it.
What God is wanting you to do with your life, your house, your car, your children, is to sign over the
deed to Him. If you let Him call the shots with your possessions, then when they break, it is His problem. Don’t
wait to be obedient to God. There is never a financially ‘right’ time to start. You just start doing it.
Argument: It doesn’t matter what I give…
Answer: It does matter what we give. The Bible for a tithe
God says, “Bring the full amount of your tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things that you will not have room enough for it.”
Malachi 3:10
The Bible says to give a tithe. What is a tithe? Literally, it is translated 10%. So here’s a trick question: If you earned $400 last week, how much of it belongs to God? $40 dollars, right? No! He owns it all—He just asks for $40.
Do you know that you never give anything to God? You know why? Because it wasn’t yours to begin with! When the Bible talks about tithing, it doesn’t say that we give a tithe to God, but we return a tithe to God. I don’t give God anything that didn’t already belong to Him.
Cornerstone, I am challenging you today with this verse. God says to “Test Him on this…” God is faithful. We have mentioned this before, but I challenge you to tithe. If you need your money back, we’ll give it back to you. “Well, aren’t you scared about making statements like that, Pastor?” Nope! You know why? Because I promise you that God is faithful. He will provide. I want to take all the fear away right now by offering that if you need your money back, we’ll gladly give it back. But “Test Him”. He will open up the windows in heaven and
bless you, I promise you. Listen to what Proverbs 3 has to say about the blessings of God.
Honor the Lord by making him an offering from the best of all that your land produces. If you do, your barns will be filled with grain, and you will have too much wine to store it all.
Proverbs 3:9-10
Argument: The Church really doesn’t need my money
Answer: Cornerstone desperately needs families to be faithful for us to continue to reach out to our
community.
I have to tell you, this one makes me laugh! There are so many things that we can be doing, Cornerstone. We just don’t have the finances. Let me paint some pictures for you.
We have a lot of space in this building, but not a lot of usable space. There is about 50,000 square feet in this facility, but we’re only using a fraction of it. Why? Because there isn’t enough money.
Since September, we have been maxed out on our Sunday School space, and we just finished a new Sunday school wing the month before! We have one adult women’s class meeting in the kitchen, which consistently had 21-22 people in it, that the numbers have dropped because you just can’t get that many people in the kitchen. Just like Kim, Adam Bahr has never had a room for his Sunday Morning Bible Study class. They struggle with noise and visual distractions, and again, there is too many people crammed in too small a space. Not only that, but we need to start some more adult Sunday School classes, but can’t because we have no where to put them. We don’t need 3 big adult Sunday School classes but 5-6 smaller ones where people can connect and grow and make friends.
Because of this need, we have a team of 50 people coming from Tennessee to build some more Sunday School space, but as of right now, we have no money to purchase any lumber or sheetrock. Also, the Sunday School classes that we have right now is in desperate need of getting a new furnace. Almost two years ago, Pat Riley mentioned that The furnace that we have now could stop running at any time. Praise God it hasn’t, but it doesn’t have another year left in it. By the way, we have no air conditioning for these rooms—it busted a year ago.
Here’s another picture. We are consistently bringing over 100 teenagers a week, but they have no room to meet in. They used to have a room, but the AWANA’s needed a game square, and since then, the teens really haven’t been using the teen room. We need to build an another AWANA square before next September. We’re building it in the South West Corner of our facility, but at this point have no money to start the project. We value children and their parents, and we have to provide for them in our facility.
What about what God is doing through the Jump Kicks for Jesus Ministry? Roy Nelson doesn’t have enough space now for the children who are involved in it, and this town is chomping at the bit to get involved in this martial arts and scripture memorization ministry—we just don’t have any more room.
We have a gymnasium that we could be using as a huge outreach tool for our community, but it needs a lot of work. Insulation, a furnace, fixing leaks in the roof, putting up adjustable basketball goals so that small children can play, starting an Upwords Basketball ministry, buying protective pads to put around the poles to keep kids safe, sheet-rocking and purchasing a synthetic rubber floor for the gym—all this takes money.
How many of you know that we have some parking issues? We don’t have enough gravel for everyone to park on. We need more. Not only that, we need to put in a second entrance to the parking lot on the South East corner of our land because now we have a bottleneck. We need a culvert and some gravel.
This year we would like to make a second entrance into our church on the East side that has an drive up awning so that some of our older folks don’t slip on the ice and hurt something. How much to cut the hole for the door? Nothing. Actually buying the door? Priceless!
What about local outreach and missions? Right now we spend about 2% of our budget on missions. I would like to see that percentage eventually go to 10%. That we as a church tithe our income to give to missions. That we partner with Christopher Mwanza in Zambia, Africa and commit to giving $5,000 in 5 years, helping build seminaries that will train local pastors. Giving money to Jim Andersen and the mission in Haiti so that God’s work can spread to the Haitians, helping orphanages, and training and educating Haitian children. Sending people from this church to Haiti and Zambia annually.
We currently give to the Cooperative Program, a missions organization that 10,081 missionaries in 153 different countries. The Cooperative Program started 1,700 new churches in North America last year, and through the Cooperative Program baptized 846,000 people were baptized worldwide. We need to be giving more. God has used our loaves and fishes; what could he do with our obedience?
And let me talk about our worship facility. We are consistently running around 300 every week here at Cornerstone. Someone say Amen! We only have 313 chairs. Two weeks ago we had 382 people. We have to do something, but there are no easy fixes. Let me tell you why.
We just purchased 100 more chairs, which will be here in 6-8 weeks. Where are we going to put them? That’s right, to the North. No problem , right? Wrong. As many of you who sit in the back already know, not only do you have trouble seeing the words on the screen, but you can’t hear the sound real well AND you feel like you’re miles from what’s going on. Can we fix not seeing the words? Yep. For about $6,000 to $8,000 dollars! Purchasing another video projector, more televisions, changing the way we hook al of it up, purchasing cords, another computer.
Can we fix the sound? Yep. That will take another $10,000 to $12,000 dollars to get the sound where everyone can hear it, hanging acoustical fabric on the walls to help, purchasing wireless microphones so that when we share, people can hear, purchasing electronic drums that we can control the sound, purchasing more amps as well as monitors for the band. We can fix it, but it costs a lot.
That’s the good news. Let me tell you the bad news. Can we fix the problem that you feel like you’re miles from what’s going on? No we can’t. There is only two options. Start building the new sanctuary or go to 2 services. Now let’s talk about both of these.
Church, we need to start now going over and above our tithe to sacrificially give to get into that room. That room will seat around 550 to 600 people. We need to purchase some furnaces, insulation, new lights, carpet, more chairs, bigger sound system, bigger video projector… well, you get the idea. We have to start now setting aside money and giving so that we can start building. But know this, raising money is going to take some time. Not only that, But if we had all the money we needed in the bank right now to start and finish the new sanctuary, it would still take us at least a year to get in there.
So what do we do until then? What should we do? We have to make space for new people who need to hear the Good News. If we fail to make space for them, what we’re telling them is that they are not important, and I know our church—Cornerstone believes that everyone needs to come and see what God is doing. So what do we do?
We have to look at the possibility of going to 2 services. I read some of your responses last week, and we had people who are for it and others that are concerned that our church won’t be the same. Let me tell you this: our church won’t be the same either way! In the past 4 months, the atmosphere of our church has changed drastically. We are not the same church that we were 6 months ago, and we won’t be the same church 6 months from now. If we are the same, then that means that we’re not growing.
We are going to have to sacrifice. Some of you are concerned that you won’t see some people if we’re at 2 services, but some of you now don’t see people on Sunday morning! Remember, fellowship doesn’t happen in a large group, but in a small group. We grow larger by growing smaller. Our small groups (both LIFE groups and Sunday School) are key to growing Cornerstone.
The reason why you are here in this church is for the person who isn’t here at our church. We want to welcome them, not only tell them Jesus loves them but show them, baptize them, and disciple them. We have to
sacrifice in order to reach out to them, and I know this church is up to that challenge.
Church Finance 101
Ok, I want give a brief introduction to Church Finance and specifically answer the questions that I mentioned earlier about CCC.
How do you collect the offering? How much money does the church collect? Where does the money go? Are we doing OK financially? Is there any accountability?
Let’s start with the first one. How do we collect the offering? If you don’t pass the plate, where do you put our tithes? You can tithe by placing your money or checks in the offering boxes. We have 2, located at our two entrances. Why don’t we pass the plate? When unchurched people think of the church, they believe that churches are only interested in their wallet. We don’t want to be like most churches, so we collect tithes in the offering boxes. By the way, anything that you give to the church is tax deductable, so you can take it off your taxes. Some people ask “Is it right to take your tithe off your taxes?” The answer is this: “If the government allows it, you’re not doing anything wrong or going against God’s laws by deducting your tithe.”
Okay. What about How much does the church collect? This year, if the contribution rate remains about
the same, we’ll bring in about $167,000
Now, as far as where it all goes ...
47% Salaries
We have 2 full time people on staff and 2 part time.
29% Building
5% Building payment
9% Office Supplies
5% Adult small group and Sunday School curriculum
3% Teens and children
2% Missions
We have to bring in $3,521 every week in order just to pay the bills. So, are we doing OK financially? Well, out of the past 16 weeks, we have only achieved the $3,500 to meet our weekly needs 4 times. Now why is that? Are we paying the pastor’s too much? (Now that’s a hot topic!) As of year 2000 statistics, the average minister of a church about the size of ours makes about $64,000 a year . Cornerstone provides very well for church staff and their families, and we are under the national average. Half of the church budget going to pay salaries is not an unusual thing but a very common one.
So, if salaries aren’t the issue, what is? Is it the building? Though we’re spending a lot on our building, it is still well within the percentage of the 35-40% given for what the average church spends on the buildings.
What is the issue? Well, frankly, though the numbers of our church have exploded (we’ve grown by a 100o% in the last 4 years), our offerings haven’t quite kept up with our people growth. We need more families who call Cornerstone their home to give.
If not, then we’re not going to be able to do some of the things that we desperately need to do. The next position that we need to hire for is a minister to Children. In addition, the salaries of our staff have been frozen for the past three years. We can’t continue to do that and keep good people.
What’s a little frustrating is that it doesn’t have to be that way. A mere 7% of born again adults tithed last year. The average church our size in Iowa brings in $309,198 a year. That extra $150K per year would make a huge difference. We would have more than enough to accomplish our mission of growing this church and starting new ones, finishing our church facility, and hiring more staff.
As you can see, the church is a lot like any business - and it costs to do business.
OK, next question: is there any accountability? Yes.
Kirk Mourer and Wanda Dudley help do our finances. Ryan Bennett and Kirk Mourer count the money together, and Kirk and Wanda pay bills.
Over and above that, we are starting a new ministry here at Cornerstone called Servant Leaders. We are in the process of building these ministry teams of Servant Leaders, or deacons, to help do the ministry. Kirk Mourer has assembled a finance team that consists of Rhonda Moore, Wanda Dudley, Dan Veach and Mary Kirtley and they will review our finances every month, help out with budgeting, and provide financial counseling through a program we are looking at called Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey that will help families get out of debt, budget, tithe, and prepare for retirement. By the way, if you’re interested in becoming a Servant Leader for the finance team, see Kirk Mourer. And, if you want to see our books at any time, just call the office and we’ll set up a time for you to do that.
That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about church finance. But if you still have questions,
our finance team would be happy to talk with you more. Just let me know and we’ll set it up.
Conclusion
The Bible doesn’t say that God loved the world so much that He thought about giving his only son, or that he wanted to give his only son. It says he loved the world so much that he gave his only son. He expressed His love for us in a clear and tangible way. He gave.
It works the other way around, too. When we give, we express our love for God in a clear and tangible way. We declare that God is worth it. We declare that His agenda in this world is worth of our sacrifice. We declare that God has been good to us.
Let me end by telling you a true story. Sam Houston was a Texas and an American hero. Originally he was a native of Virginia. He became a congressman and a governor of the state of Tennessee. He eventually moved to Texas where he joined the fight for independence and became commander of the Texas army.
When Texas became a republic back in 1836, Sam Houston was elected it’s first president. Texas is the only state in the union that is allowed to fly it’s state flag at the same level as the U.S. American flag. The reason is that Texas was a republic before it ever became s state.
When Texas joined the Union in 1836, Houston became Texas’ first Senator. In 1959, he was elected Governor. He was a very tough man. But you know what his nickname was? The Big Drunk. That’s what people called him. But Sam Houston married a devout Christian woman who prayed constantly for Sam that he would come to know Jesus. One day He did. When he came to Christ, he came to Him lock, stock, and barrel.
It happened that Dr. Rufus Burleson, pastor of a small church in Independence, Texas was preaching on the text, “Better he who rules his own spirit than one who rules a city.” Houston had taken many cities, but he had no rule whatsoever over his own spirit. And he came under the conviction of God and walked up front of the church during the invitation. He extended his hand to Dr. Burleson and said, “I give you my hand, but with it, I give my heart to Jesus Christ.”
Houston was then baptized on November 19th, 1854 in Brushy Creek. Dr. Burleson, right before he was to be baptized, noticed that he had a watch and chain on his vest. He said, “Mr. Houston, you probably want to take that off before your baptized, because it will get ruined.” So he takes it off and hands it to a friend. Then Dr. Burleson adds, “You may want to take your wallet out, too, and hand it to your friend.” Sam Houston replied, “No, my wallet needs baptizing, too.”
I love that.
We have been doing a lot of baptizing recently. And for that, I say praise God. Let’s give God reign over all of our life, including His money, which just happens to be in your pocket to build His church.
Friends, this church will go on regardless of whether or not any of us in this room change our financial behavior. This church will go on, because Jesus made a promise that “He will build His church, and the gates of Hell will not stand against it.” No amount of giving is going to stop that.
What doesn’t matter to me is how much we bring in a year. Or how much our budget is. What matters to me is your spiritual life. He wants to be Lord over you. And He wants to save more families here in our community. Will you be obedient to Him?
