Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on
your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's (Church’s or Ministry’s) life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them this parable: "The
ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What
shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what
I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will
store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty
of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be
merry." But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be
demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This
is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich
toward God." Luke 12:15-21 NIV emphasis added.
I heard a
pathetic information from Pastor SundayAdelaja which he gave while he was teaching on a series about “The Prostitution of Tithe and Offering inthe Church”, a message which I will highly recommend to you. He spoke of classified
information he got from a bank staff in Nigeria, of the huge amount of cash
that lays fallow in the bank account of a Church in Nigeria. This banker was
privileged to the information because he manages the account. The story has it
that while this Church is rich with billions of naira, most of her zealous
members are wallowing in poverty.
Upon
hearing this, I tend to ask how many of our Churches have huge amount of cash
laying fallow in one account somewhere or in a hidden place, whereas there are
lots of challenges in the society where these Churches are located. Besides, majority
of the people bringing the money into these Churches in the name of tithe,
offering and seeds, are wallowing in abject poverty. You should wonder if these
Churches are gathering the money to be taken to heaven to spend there!
There is no
doubt that there are Churches that are getting it right in helping their
members in needs and assisting the less privileged, but most Churches have
crossed the line from just saving to meet recurring expenses, to hoarding
because there is actually a thin line between saving and hoarding.
So, what is
the difference between saving and hoarding? When does a Church or an individual
cross the boundary? For in the real sense both are acts of keeping away money.
Saving is
keeping away money in order to delay consumption, like meeting specific needs
or for investment purpose. Saving is cutting present unnecessary expenditure to
meet a vital need in the future. Saving money is putting cash away and letting
the cash make money for you. Saving is done with a purpose in mind.
However, hoarding is keeping
away money because of a mindset that there will be shortage or lack of money in
the future. It can be referred to as “withholdeth
more than is meet” according to Proverbs 11:24. It springs from a belief
that today would be better than tomorrow instead of the reverse. Hoarding comes
from a scarcity or not-enough mindset which leads an individual or organization
to resist spending money even on the things that are vital and essential.
Hoarding is
coming from a heart of greed and lack of faith but fear. Hoarding in Churches is
a sin that will take many General Overseers, Pastors, Evangelists and Ministers
of the gospel to hell. Hoarding is a negative attitude to wealth it gives the
wrong impression that the earth is a permanent abode. Hoarding is an abuse of
God’s blessings and an insult to the people who brought in the gift or
offering.
Can we say
that the ‘rich fool’ who was referred to in Luke 12:16-21 was hoarding or
saving? He was definitely planning to hoard. If he was only saving, he would
not have been condemned by the Lord because God supports saving.
Signs that
show he was hoarding are these:
1.
He
was saving without faith in God for provision for the future; This is similar to what some Churches are
doing today. They fear that they might not be able to have enough resources to
handle the expenses of the future like salary of workers and compulsory
expenditures of the future. This fear pushes them to hoard money, whereas there
are immediate and urgent needs of members that should have been attended to.
2.
He
was only concerned about himself; He was not concerned about other people like the poor, fatherless,
widows and less privileged. This is similar to what some Church Leaders are practising;
they focus solely on themselves while neglecting the poor and needy.
3.
He
was taking pride in what he thought his strength has given him without
acknowledging the God-factor; When you think that everything you have is from God, you will easily
give it out, compared to when you think your strength has given you what you
have. When a Church agrees that what she has is only a blessing from the Lord,
it would be easy to give out, knowing that the same God will do likewise in the
future.
4.
He
was only rich towards himself and not towards God; A man can only be rich towards God when he
lays up treasures for himself by helping the poor and needy around. I’ve heard
some brethren boast about the wealth of their ministries, the question for such
is this, is their ministry rich towards God or towards men? What is the use of
a Church’s wealth if it doesn’t change or add value to the congregation of the
same and the society around?
5.
He
was called a fool; Why?
Simply because he was depending on his wealth for the future and not on the God
who provides the wealth. He had a misplaced priority that is why he was called
a fool.
Jesus said “as long as I am in the world I am the light
of the world”. That should be our mission statement as Christ Ambassadors “as
long as we are in the world, we are (not the government) the light of the world”.
So, quit saying it is the responsibility of the government or it is the
responsibility of their family members. The Church is the only organization
that is referred to as the “light of the world” and not the government or
anyone else. So, let’s give light to the world with our good works.
The irony
of this is even when most Churches claim to be using the inflow of cash judiciously,
when you scrutinize such claims, you will realize that the Churches are using
more of the money for property development instead of human development. As if
the primary purpose of Christ dying on the cross is for Churches to have the
largest and finest edifices and properties.
Christ died
for man. Man and not property is, and should be the centre of everything that
we do in Christianity. Our spending as a Church should be targeted at helping
and restoring man to God’s original state. Besides, human development and not
property development is the only known development that can last the test of
time. So, our spending as a Church should be focused more on human development
than material things.
Jesus
should be our example, the Scriptures in 2 Corinthians 8:9 reads that: For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye
through his poverty might be rich. This is like Jesus Christ emptying “His
bank account” for us so that we can come out of our poverty. Are we not
supposed to follow this footstep of Christ as His body which is the Church, by
emptying ourselves to making others rich and great?
Let’s show
the world the love of God by using our God-given wealth.
