Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (NIV). Pastors ought to help people understand God’s view of money and debt. They ought to personally get out of debt and encourage their congregation to do so. It would be wonderful if they would lead by example. I do know from experience it is difficult to preach what you are not practicing. But is God’s view of money and debt only applicable to personal finances?
I would suggest that what is good for the people in the congregation ought to be good for the church, too. Yet we are more than willing to allow our churches to be saddled with tremendous debt to build buildings. In our efforts to build great monuments for God, we have forgotten this principle. Notice that at no time in the Old Testament did God tell the Israelites to take out a bond issue or go to First National Bank of Judea and get a loan. The big question here is, “How big is your God?” Is he creator and ruler over everything, including financial institutions? Or is he limited in what he can do? Along with that goes another question: “Is the Bible applicable to every part of our lives?”
Ask any church that has gotten behind in their payments to the bank how they feel. I would guess it feels a great deal like when I have personally gotten behind on a payment. I feel guilty. I take my focus off God and put it on my money emergency. Why is that? Because God’s word is true: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7, NKJV). If this verse is applicable to church life, what does it mean? That churches which borrow are no longer servants of Christ alone, but are now also servants of their lender. And if that is true, then Matthew 6:24 comes into play: Which master will you hate? Which master will you be devoted to?
Will you join me in encouraging your church to dump debt and serve only one master this year? And commit to only serving one master in the future? Skeptical? Try it God’s way for a year; if you don’t think it is right, I guarantee your lenders will take you back. “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8, NKJV).
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