![]() Just as a side note this is where we get our authority to take up an offering every week. The word ‘fellowship’ means ‘contribution, distribution, sharing’, but contains no suggestion of limitation of any kind. I think the Lord Himself also encountered the attitude of some Christians in regards to our topic, an attitude which seems to suggest there is something ‘super-holy’ about the fellowship, the ‘koinonia’! ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ Acts 2:42 Think about this for a moment, if it’s right and holy for individual Christians to help unbelievers, how then could it be sinful for a congregation of Christians to do the very same thing? Is it sinful to follow the example of Jesus as a church? All money whether it be personal or out of the church funds belongs to God, Psalm 24:1 / 1 Corinthians 10:26. The apostle Paul teaches us to be prepared for needs beforehand, this is the reason for our collection, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.ĩ. Finally, it’s interesting that some Christians make much of ‘the church treasury’, yet there isn’t a mention of it in the Bible.įurthermore, the reference to 1 Corinthians 16 is referring to funds being raised to meet the material needs of the saints and it was to stop once Paul arrived, therefore couldn’t be ‘the church treasury.’ They try to justify collecting money on a Sunday by referring to 1 Corinthians 16, a passage of Scripture that has nothing to say about such a practice. And we have the authority of God to care for the needs of the unbelievers.Ĩ. You don’t need an example in Scripture for everything you do, what you do need is authority from God for everything you do. It’s crazy to think that the church can advertise a Gospel meeting, rent a hotel, and incur expenses from its resources in order to reach the unbeliever with the Gospel but then, for some strange reason, declare that it’s a sin for the church to use its resources to meet the material needs of the unbeliever!ħ. Preachers can be supported but nowhere do we find an example that they are paid out of ‘the treasury’.Ħ. We build buildings, buy hymn books and pay preachers out of ‘the treasury’ without specific examples. Paul comments on the generosity of the church in helping, not only their own but ‘everyone else’, 2 Corinthians 9:13. ![]() Of course, He would! Then why would the church not care for them? The ‘pure and undefiled religion’ of James 1:27 most certainly applies to the church as much as the individual Christian.ĥ. The practice of pure religion, and surely the church must be to practice pure religion, which is to care for the widows and orphans, irrespective of their spiritual standing, James 1:27. God wants His people, individually and collectively, to help the poor, regardless of their nationality, skin colour, or even spiritual status, Galatians 6:9-10.Ĥ. ![]() The churches and I underline ‘the churches’ in Galatia, Galatians 6:1, were told to care for all people irrespective of their faith, but the church has a particular responsibility to the family of God. Jesus met the material needs of many who made no profession of faith in him.įor example, many of the 5,000 whom he fed, ‘turned back and no longer followed him.’ John 6:66Īsk yourself, wouldn’t the example of Jesus be a worthy model for the church to imitate since we are the body of Christ?ģ. They were to care for those unbelieving pagans from the resources given to them by God, Deuteronomy 10:18-19 / Deuteronomy 16:11 / Deuteronomy 24:19-21.Ģ. Israel were told to care for those who come among them, the widow, the alien, the foreigner. When I was doing my research on this subject, it really saddened me to read the following from a preacher who insisted that if the church as a whole, financially helped any non-Christian from the church funds, that church, ‘would go to hell if it took money from its treasury to feed the hungry, destitute children.’ Let’s think about a few things before we get into the main textġ. The argument suggests that as ‘individual Christians’ we can give out of our own ‘personal money’ to help non-Christians but ‘the church’ as a whole, can’t give non-Christians money ‘out of the church funds’. I personally find it an interesting subject, to say the least, but hopefully, some simple study and common sense may help us understand the subject better. I must admit I didn’t realise how hot a topic this was until I did some research on it and it seems to be a subject which has been debated many times over the years and still causes some division within some churches today. ![]()
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