God Motivation and Surplus

"We don't know what to do with this extra money." You don't hear such statements often from individuals, let alone churches. But the local body I am thankful to be a part of is having to say this very thing. We are blessed to have a godly group of elders at our church that seeks to be unified with one another under the Lord's direction and authority. But it seems in the present situation, God has thus far withheld an answer concerning the opportunity at hand. Such being the case, they have broadened the circle to ask for input from the congregation as to how to use the sizable funds that were left over after the budget was balanced last year.

I am not a financial adviser (I'm more likely to avoid the subject than to engage in it), nor do I have a clear idea on what specifically such extra money should be used for. But if we are to be a church that is God motivated, a church that sees God as both our means and our end in all it's activities, there are certainly principles to consider as we would look for a decision in the situation at hand. A couple of such principles will here in brief manner be explored.

1.) God blesses His people that His people might bless one another. We see this evidenced in 2 Corinthians 8-9 where Paul is encouraging the believers to have a gift ready that will be used for the relief of the saints who are in need. He tells them in 8:14-15, "...your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, and there may be fairness. As it is written, 'Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.'" Though the church by this time had spread out to many different congregations, this attitude hearkens back to what we saw in the early church in Jerusalem where they shared all they had with one another (Acts 4:32). Such a principle at first might seem to have it's end focus on man rather than God, but later in Paul's address to the Corinthians he writes, "For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" (1 Cor. 12-15). The conclusion then of this entire discourse is immensely God-centered. God is seen as the great Giver to be thanked and glorified as He has been the ultimate motivation and motivator of all that would transpire, given their obedience. Considering our situation then, there is great value in considering the needs of the body of Christ in other places. Might it be that there is a body of believers in another part of the world where our surplus could be used to give them abundance? In this part of the world, among our limits in spreading the gospel of Christ, financial resources is not one of them; one might even argue that our abundance serves as a "padding" that hinders this commission. But might there be those Christians who, in their struggle for daily physical needs, would be much helped by a financial gift, a gift that might free them up to spread the gospel in the land where God has placed them?

2.) God blesses His people to teach them how to surrender His blessings. The more we are given, the greater temptation there is to love the gift. When this gift is money, the temptation becomes all the more dangerous (1 Timothy 6:10). An easy way to solve the "problem" of having a surplus of funds is to get rid of it, but such a method in and of itself might not be a thorough remedy. If in our hearts we fail to see God as the Lord of our abundance, we may in our giving simply be placing a band-aid on a fatal heart wound. If, for example, a person (or church) has a certain sum of money he decides in haste to give away out of the "goodness" of his own heart, there may remain in him a desire to either take pride in himself for giving such or a later desire to have back in some fashion what was supposedly freely given. But if, out of God motivation, one endeavors with humble surrender and wise consideration to give a gift to another, he is far less likely to seek his own glory or feel a sense of entitlement in the future. Indeed, having much in the way of worldly wealth increases our temptation to serve that master. So, with the increase of wealth is required an increase of surrender to the One we must treasure above (and in) all else. In short, the heart behind truly storing up our treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20-21) is a heart of total surrender and submission to our Lord.

One of our elders, when addressing the congregation last Sunday, said it well when he reminded us that whatever we end up doing with the available funds, we must use them to God's glory and honor. This is what a God motivated church must stay focused on if we desire to be a church faithful to Jesus, instructed by His Word through the Spirit He has given us.

Lord, please grant wisdom to the men that you have put in place as under-shepherds of our local body. Please give them and all of us God motivation as we consider how to best use the great abundance we have been given.