If you’ve got five minutes, this is definitely worth a read.

If you minister the word of God – it should be without charge -whether on the web or in person.  Freely you have received, freely give.

I’ve also written about this here.

One of the things about technology today is the freedom that it gives us to get the message of the Cross out there into the hands of people on the street.

MP3 audio is able to be consumed by virtually every personal computer and most mobile phones and certainly all the various digital media players on the market today.  A single message recorded in text or MP3 can be distributed and shared by almost the entire western world and a reasonable proportion of the rest of the earths population (language barriers aside).

In addition, CD players are almost ubiquitous, and the ability to create new mediums is now cheap and easy compared to the past.

Not only this, but we live in an age where we have some very experienced and very powerful teachers and preachers and some incredible Christian thinkers.

In a world where western Christians have so much potential and content, you’d think that we’d have nothing holding us back – but we do.

It seems that the key thing holding believing Christians back is apathy, which is induced by modern journalism fueled by secular (at best – socialist more realistically) agendas. 

One of the side affects of this secular mind-set is that everything must be done for a dollar.  You cannot just give stuff away – you must charge for it.

I’ve just finished listening to an audio file by a thinking believer who is in a unique position to understand some of the affairs of the modern world – and what he says is bone jarringly chilling, and something that politicians, Christians and the average Joe on the street should know.  But when I visit the web site that hosts this content, I find that it is material that is copyright protected and distributed for a fee.

This is preposterous. Its like being warned that your neighbors house will be burned down tomorrow and rather than warning him to flee for his life or stay somewhere else, you go and tell him “I have something important to tell you – your life depends on it, but you have to pay me for it”.

If the message is critical (and isn’t any good Bible based teaching?), why do we charge for it? 

Isn’t there enough barriers to people getting into the word of God?  Do we need to introduce another one (money)?

I’ve asked big, well known and well respected ministries about this in the past and have had answers like – “we have more than 100 people working here – we have to support them”.  Maybe you do have lots of people in your ministry – but are they there for money or for Christ?  Is your ministry there for money or for Christ?  Have you set your ministry up for ultimate failure by paying staff a salary from earnings rather than depending on Christ to supply all your needs?  Ultimately these ministries will fail to reach the mass they could because they have limited the accessibility of the ministry to those with money – rather than limiting it to whosoever will.

Do those who preach the word not believe that God owns the world and that all the resources of the universe are at His disposal and he can direct them where he wills?  Do we not trust the Lord of the universe – whom we say and even preach that we trust?

I cannot see how any ministry can justify charging for the word of God or the teaching of the Word.  In fact, I’ll go as far to say that this approach (charging for ministry material) is the equivalent of peddling the word of God (2 Cor 2:17).  Jesus gave the disciples a principle to work by when he sent them out. He told them “You have received without paying; give without pay.”  In case you mistake this to mean that organizations should be non-profit – he continued “Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food” (Matt 10:8-10).  The instruction was clearly to minister without imposing costs.

There has to be a better way that truly honors the Lord and aids (rather than hinders) the dissemination of the Word of God.

UPDATE: One thing I should point out is that I’m deliberately distinguishing between those calling themselves ministries and those calling themselves companies.  Companies charge – thats what they do – ministries shouldn’t.

Now that we are at the end of our study of money, I wanted to isolate out two principles that underpin every discussion of money that we have had.

I believe that with regards to how we give and how we save and how we determine the rightness or wrongness of financial decisions – and even peripheral issues such as insurance, saving, retirement, etc we can understand all these things much more clearly if we understand these two principles.

The first principle is this: Value the Lord the most.

If we value God most of all, then everything else will fall into place.  But we can have a clearer understanding of this by looking at some of the scriptures that we’ve already examined.

The problem with the rich fool was that he valued possessions above God (Luke 12:13-21). If you want to dig further into this, you’ll find that his own pleasure and ease was more important that God.  This was also the problem with the rich young man (Mark 10:17-22).  Fundamentally these had their treasure on earth, and so their hearts were there too (cf Luke 12:34).

The second principle is this: Trust the Lord the most.

It is very easy to trust that our own resources will be enough to help us survive, but the problem with this is that we can become trapped into thinking that we need money to survive – when in actual fact we need the Lord to survive.  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:10), he cares for the birds, how much more will he care for us (Luke 12:24).

This is the very point of Luke 12:22-34 - we are not to trust in the things of earth, but in the provider and sustainer of the universe (Col 2:17).

When we realize that our jobs are dependant on him, and our survival is no less dependant on him and that even without money we would survive as long as He provides for us, we are free to think outside the box with regards to what we can do.

I think its sad that many missionary agencies are now not allowing missionaries to go out to the field until they have financial resources behind them (in some cases up to 2 years salary are required).  This demonstrates a lack of trust in God to provide and limits the effectiveness of motivated believers.

So – if you weigh up your judgement of money based on these two principles you’ll keep yourself on track.  Remember that God is the most valuable thing in the universe, His glory is to be sought at every opportunity, and that by trusting him we give Him glory and demonstrate the sufficiency of the one who gives us life and keeps the atoms of the universe in cohesion.

Another way of thinking about it is in this little saying… “Put God in the center and everything comes together”.  Its all about Him.

In addition to being pure instruction on when and how widows are to be supported, 1 Tim 5:3-16 is also an insight into what happened to the church over time as it spread.

Compare for example passages in 1 Timothy – which was written about 62-64 AD with what was going on in Acts.  In Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:34-35 we see that the disciples had “all things in common” (Acts 2:44, Acts 3:34) which means that they sold their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need (Acts 2:45, Acts 3:35).  We see there the principle of abundance and need was actively working in the church.

Fast forward to the time of first Timothy and you have one of the apostles of the Lord giving instruction regarding how the principle is to be applied to a specific group.  What has happened that the church has gone from having “all things in common” to having scarce resources?  How can we as a church get back to this? 

In fact – many churches today are not even in a position to support widows, never mind the rest of the church.  Why is this? Why would Paul even give instruction like this when the principle of abundance and need is in effect?

These are far reaching questions and by no means can I offer an answer for them in completeness, however, we can observe a number of things from the scripture.

First up with regards to why Paul gave these instructions it is worth noting that the instruction in 1 Timothy is given not to individuals with regards to how they are to give (that is seen in 2 Cor 8:8-15), but to a pastor regarding how to distribute that which is given.  We have a responsibility to give, Pastors and church leaders have a responsibility to distribute that which is given.

There are a number of things that help us understand why these distinctions are necessary for a pastor to concern himself with.  Firstly there is the issue of the distribution of the apostles.  The Jerusalem church in Acts was a group of people who were under the instruction and the authority of the Lords apostles.  The apostles had the experience of three years with Jesus and in addition had special revelation from the Lord that they were able to impart to the early disciples. 

The believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42), they spent most of their time together (Acts 2:46). 

The early church had the most knowledgeable teachers of the Bible that the world has ever seen, and as they were all together, they had all of these teachers together at once.  In addition these teachers were the most acutely aware of the spiritual battle they were in and were the best equipped to deal with adversity.  Finally the level of dedication and devotion of the early church has been unmatched since then.  The very early church in Jerusalem was essentially incubated by top grade mature apostles in a single location. 

As the church grew it became more dispersed and the protection and teaching of the apostles was not as accessible, and the church steadily came under attack.  In addition, the apostles influence was diminished over time as they were either martyred or exiled.

As the church became more exposed false teachers infiltrated the church and started leading churches astray by teaching lies.  In fact, in the previous chapter to the one we started with Paul explicitly warns Timothy that “in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim 4:1-3).  The false teachers were already active in the church.

What did this do to the church?  Essentially false doctrine slows spiritual maturity, and even enables those who are not saved to be part of the church as if they are saved.  In addition some people make the appearance of being saved, but ultimately become apostate and leave the church (Matt 13:18-23, 1 John 2:18-19).

As the church apostasies, not only does it become necessary to be discerning about giving the proceeds of the saints giving to those who really need it as well as those who are worthy of it, but the amount that the church gives also reduces, which means that there is not as much to go around.

So how do we fix this?  How can we get back to the unity of the early church?

There are a couple of basic things that each of us are called to do and can do.  Firstly we must have a high view of God (i.e. love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength) and also to view others as more important than ourselves (Matt 22:36-40). 

As we develop in these two areas, we will develop a greater concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ and this will be displayed as we take a greater interest in the welfare of other believers.  As our awareness of the needs of others grows, so we will begin to respond to those needs work to help our brothers and sisters.  This will have the affect of knitting our hearts together in love (Col 2:1-2) and increased giving will lead to greater affection between believers and consequently greater unity.

Another key factor is removal of wolves from among the flock.  One of the tasks of leaders is to be discerning and to remove the ungodly from among the church.  The affect of the ungodly on the church is quite profound.  Paul said that a little leaven leavens the whole lump – what he meant was that associating with the ungodly who claim to be believers affects the believers in the church, by leading them to consider sin as “normal” or something that can be accommodated.  Paul encouraged the Corinthian church to remove these people from the church.  See 1 Cor 5:1-13 for details.

In the western world we live in a culture that encourages diversity and accommodation, however, the church is not under any circumstances to accommodate sin.  The church should be the last bastion of right thinking and living in the world – not to say that it will be perfect – it is still filled with sinners, however each believer should have an ambition to drive sin from their lives and live for the glory of the Lord.

As we live in purity, our lives are focused on God and we look upon the worlds goods with less favor and we look upon the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ as being as great as, if not greater than our own and we provide for their needs as we can.

We cannot fix the other people in our church, however, we are responsible for our own conduct.  It should be our goal to grow in Christ likeness and purity so that we care for other believers and become better connected with the needs of the church and provide for them as we can.

Paul gives Timothy some instructions regarding the care for elders, and particularly those who are widows in 1 Tim 5:3-16.

Social welfare systems are a relatively modern thing, in the days when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, there was no welfare that would be offered to the elderly.  In addition women were not employed in work as men were, consequently, women were often entirely dependant on their husbands for their living.  In the case where the husband had died, the widow would often have nothing to live on and no way to earn a living. 

So when Paul writes to Timothy to tell him how to decide whether to support a widow or not, he’s giving instruction regarding how the widow will survive once their husbands are gone.

The first thing we see is that Paul mandates that children and grandchildren have a responsibility and indeed an obligation to care for their parents or grandparents.

The responsibility falls primarily to women to care for the elderly (1 Tim 5:16). The key word here is “care” which means “to aid or relieve” or “to hold up”.  This word means not only financial support (which is the given context) but also to actually perform the work of caring for the elderly. 

Part of Pauls rationale for this is back in 1 Tim 5:4 where he says “if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God”.

In other words believers are to show love to their parents by taking them into their care. James 1:27 helps us to understand this a little more – “religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction”  The word “visit” in this verse is not just about going to see them, but to go and see them with the intention of doing something - in other words pure religion before God is to be merciful to those who are afflicted – particularly (in this passage in James) those who do not have family. 

Paul further emphasizes this by saying “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”.

Paul further states that not only should we as believers want to show mercy toward the elderly, but children should “make some return to their parents” (1 Tim 5:4).  What does this mean?

Simply put it means that we are in this world through our parents, and parents carry the load of providing for children and raising them, and this takes time and effort.  It is therefore, pleasing to God for us to be willing to do the same back for our parents.  It shows that we value the sacrifices they made for us and the work and energy the expended on our behalf.  It also demonstrates humility as we are actively valuing them as equal to ourselves (as long as we are doing it in love and not begrudgingly).

As believers we should be about showing mercy to those who need it.  If we fail to do this for our own families we have not only denied the faith, but we have denied our own flesh and blood.  According to Paul such people are not believers – Paul said such people are “worse than an unbeliever”.  Simply because in those times this was expected behavior for believers and unbelievers alike. 

Today, however, we live in a different world and it is very easy for us to put our parents into a home and remove the burden from ourselves.  While this indicates a willingness to ensure they have the care they need, it fails to demonstrate a willingness to do for them what they did for us all those years ago.  In many cases people choose to put their parents into homes simply to ease the load upon themselves.  For couples earning two incomes today, this is simply a matter of selfishness, and elevation of ones self above their own parents which indicates a love of self and is no different to letting the church care for the elderly. 

In some cases, it is necessary to get specialized care for the elderly, however, we should be careful not to confuse specialized care with elderly care, and be clear before God about our responsibilities to our parents and to give back to them some of what they gave to us, while at the same time showing the godly love that as believers we should be showing.