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DOES REV. MOON DESERVE TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
#4
HIDING ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT
Let me pose a hypothetical and, hopefully, FICTIONAL
scenario for your Thursday consideration. Let us suppose that you have,
say, TWELVE children like the "Cheaper By the Dozen" Gilbreth
family we mentioned a while ago. And you send your 12 little monsters
and clowns and angels and Ross Perot-masked trick-or-treaters out to collect
all the candy they can get.
MEANWHILE, back at home, even though your own doorbell rings maybe 200
times, you keep all the lights out and hide upstairs in the closet. You
pretend you're not home on Halloween night. Five million gumballs and
candy corn and Reese's Pieces come INTO your household, but you don't
spend a single dime for outgoing treats.
Now, friend, I don't pick that illustration to get into a theology about
Halloween; we're simply recognizing the fact that tonight's the night
and the kids will be out there. But in the realm of the believer, is there
such a thing as RECEIVING the benefits of the Christian faith without
helping to pay the dues? In most American neighborhoods there's a tacit
kind of communal understanding which says, "Okay, I'll buy some candy
for all your kids, and you'll buy some candy for MY kids; and we'll all
have a good time." And all the senior citizens and those without
kids participate just for the fun of it, remembering back to when we WERE
kids. If everyone has a bag of candy sitting by the front door, then everyone
breaks even.
Well, let's quickly move away from the controversy of Halloween and October
31 and back into the Bible passage we've been studying together all this
week. In verse 11 of First Corinthians chapter nine, the Apostle Paul
makes this observation:
"If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap
a material harvest FROM you?"
Over in Galatians chapter six, which is also written
by Paul, we find much the same philosophy.
"Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good
things with his instructor."
Or we can go back to Luke chapter seven, where Jesus
Himself says:
"The worker deserves his wages."
And of course, where would the worker GET wages except
from those he or she is serving?
So this brings us to a question that might unsettle our lifestyle a bit.
If we are Christians who have received the benefits of knowing Jesus and
of anticipating a home in heaven, are we then RESPONSIBLE to participate
financially in the Body of Christ? Does God EXPECT us to help pay our
local church pastor's salary? Help pay the light bill where we worship?
Help fund the missionary campaigns and the community witness programs
and the Worthy Student Fund at our local Christian school?
According to the Apostle Paul here in chapter nine, the answer is a clear
and unequivocal YES. Those who have RECEIVED the gospel should help provide
the support, even the living wages, of those who brought the gospel to
them. And by extension, would you also agree that we should help provide
for the ONGOING witness of those people as they take that same message
we're so grateful for . . . and carry FORWARD that work, sharing it with
others?
This is a heavy concept, friend, and there are a million ways we could
go with it. Let me share ONE thing with you here that comes right from
the heart. The Christian Church isn't an exclusive club where you pay
dues to join. On the VERY contrary, the gospel is a free gift. It's free
from God, and it needs to be freely shared by US as well. Someone who
drops in and visits a Christian church — well, they're as welcome as they
can be. Whether or not they put a dime in the offering plate, God wants
them there and the PEOPLE of God want them there. The Gospel Commission
tells us to share the gospel, PROCLAIM the gospel, to give it away on
every street corner both home and abroad. There are no dues to be paid.
Implicit in that commission is a commitment on the part of those who ARE
Christians to help do that sharing. And of course, I can't think of any
closer-to-home illustration of that than the program you're listening
to right here: the Voice of Prophecy. With a program production and airtime
budget of more than $5 million a year, many, many faithful Christians
contribute virtually all of that money so that a ministry like this one
can continue to be available free of charge to anyone who might be scanning
the dial. Whether a person drops in on us for just one hectic commuter
morning or listens every single day for 67 years, they can know that there
are generous Christians who have donated so that they can freely receive
the blessing and the gospel.
We quoted a few months ago from a marvelous book entitled The Contemporary
Christian, by evangelical writer John Stott, and HE quotes from Archbishop
William Temple, who makes this point:
"The church is the only cooperative society
in the world which exists for the benefit of its NON-members."
So friend, because the Christian faith is what it is,
churches have their doors open for YOU. You can go to a place where the
heat is on, the lights are on, and the blessings are on. A choir will
sing for the express purpose of bringing Jesus close to your heart, and
a preacher whose salary was paid for by other Christians will work long
hours to shape a message that will uplift your soul and bring you closer
to the promise of eternal life. Radio programs like this one will keep
making programs, duplicating tapes, mailing out free books, and paying
the staff salaries — and faithful Christians, OTHER PEOPLE, will keep
paying all those bills so that the gospel can remain FREE to the non-members.
There aren't any dues to join the Christian religion. Those looking on
aren't required to go down to Safeway, so to speak, and spend their own
money for a stash of Halloween candy.
And you know, I'm so glad it's that way. I'm SO grateful that the Christian
gospel inspires people like our Voice of Prophecy "VisionBuilders"
— men and women who are so excited about the gospel of Jesus and so convinced
that radio is a red-hot, powerful way of sharing that message, that they
become MAJOR contributors. They may not have come to a saving knowledge
of Jesus THEMSELVES through radio, but they DO love the Lord and they
consider it both their HONOR and their DUTY to ENABLE God to reach people
like you through radio.
But now let me move beyond that point. So a person VISITS a Christian
church, paying no dues in order to be there. And then he or she makes
a commitment to God and JOINS the Body of Christ. Friend, at that point,
I believe the Bible's teachings are clear. We're THEN called on by the
Apostle Paul, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to begin
participating in the mission of the church, INCLUDING its financial stability.
A person should NOT sit in church forever, taking but not giving, BEING
blessed but never participating in helping to EXTEND that blessing. I
should not be willing for others to pay MY share, as Christians pastors
bless me with their sermons and choirs bless me with their music and re-upholstered
pews bless me with their comfort.
However, I think it's a good thing that God leaves such a matter up to
each person's conscience. Don't you? Church treasurers don't mark down
your attendance on a little laptop computer, and after you've been five
weeks in a row, send you a bill or even a HINT: "Uh, excuse me, but
when are you going to get YOUR checkbook out, lady? You're using up a
lot of our electricity around here in case you hadn't noticed." Nothing
like that. No, friend; it's a far better thing for the Word of God and
the quiet promptings of the Holy Spirit to move us to be responsible MEMBERS
— WHEN we move from being visitors to members — in the Christian family.
Even more than that, I think it's a beautiful thing when the men and women
of God actively LOOK to return blessings, to participate in funding every
spiritual activity that enhances their own walk with Jesus Christ. One
of our staff members was passing through Dallas a few months ago for a
convention, and had the privilege of attending First Baptist Church, a
great, venerable institution right there in the downtown area. Now, he'd
already been to his own denomination's services the day before, and his
membership is out here in Southern California at the Thousand Oaks Adventist
Church. So of course, he participates heavily in the financial life of
his own home church. But as he sat there in that grand Baptist church
and heard a powerful sermon on Calvary, and enjoyed a youth choir and
orchestra with maybe 200 teenagers in it, it struck him that all these
things cost money. The MEMBERS at First Baptist Church were paying the
bills, but HE was getting the benefits. In fact, being a musician himself,
and feeling so moved by the great hymns, he might well be one of the MOST
BLESSED people there that Sunday. So when the plate came around, he got
out some of his money and gave it to that OTHER church, as if to say,
"I'm so grateful for having been blessed that I want to help make
it possible. It would almost feel like freeloading otherwise."
Friend, how about you? When you attend a "(quote) free" Christian
concert, and they pass the plate, do you try to WEIGH the monetary value
of how that music has blessed you . . . and then contribute that amount?
If you're a REGULAR listener to a media ministry like, let's say, "Focus
on the Family," and you ROUTINELY gain the benefits of all their
counsel and encouragement and literature, do you just say to yourself,
"Well, radio's free"? Or do you eventually calculate a price
tag for all that Christian blessing and mail them a contribution? I think
as we read these spiritual words of counsel in First Corinthians chapter
nine, we can sense Paul calling us to that very kind of mature and responsible
generosity.
If the COMMUNITY around us can make Halloween such a roaring commercial
success, can't the community of God's believers do equally as well?
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