“Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions” (Mal. 3:8). In the previous article, I summarized my “tithing” experience at a church my family and I visited. In the fifth paragraph, I mentioned a mini-speech one of the deacons made at the beginning of the contribution portion of the service, and that is what I want to focus on this morning. While I don’t remember every word, most of what he said was so “impactful” that it has remained with me. That said, I will use some creative license to convey the content and purpose of what was said. The gentleman slowly made his way to the microphone, accompanied by the customary background music.
He stood looking at the audience for more than a minute before lifting his hands, a queue for the band to increase the volume and intensity of the background music. He grabbed the microphone with both hands, literally shouting his first words. “Don’t you dare rob God! Don’t you dare steal from the Creator God of all the universe! What you have, His bountiful nature has provided you. Nothing you have originates from man, and nothing you have does not belong to the Almighty God. He saw fit to bless you with abundant finances, and you are expected to return some of that to Him. God needs the lights of the building to work so that you can enjoy the worship experience.
God needs the electricity to work so that the band can entertain you with their God-given talents. God needs the water to flow freely for the coffee and hot chocolate you enjoyed in the foyer. And God needs his servants to be paid for their labor.” He said a lot more, using a combination of loud, intense music to admonish and soft, pensive music to guilt-trip us into parting with our money. For the “love” offering the focus was on a need for further construction of the campus as well as for a special monetary gift for the pastor and his wife. But, he kept his most intense words for the “missions” offering.
“You in your fancy house and your fancy cars and your fancy clothes. You who feel nothing to throw what you cannot eat in the trash can.
You who have more coats than you can wear in winter, more of everything than you could possibly consume or use yourself.”
Then he stood in silence again as he sternly stared at the stunned-to-silence crowd before him. He opened his mouth to speak again, but the music was much quieter and somber this time. “There are brothers and sisters, your Christian brothers and sisters, who, this morning, will die of starvation. There are Christian brothers and sisters; your Christian brothers and sisters who are freezing to death for lack of anything warm to wear. They may be taking their last breath even as I speak these words to you.
And all that because of your inaction. You who call yourself a child of God and them your brothers and sisters. How can you sleep comfortably at night knowing that you are, at least partly, responsible for their dire circumstances? Does God not require you to share the abundance He has given you with those less fortunate? God says, ‘I have given to you so that you can help those in need?’ No, God does not only say it; he commands it!” His combination of admonishment and guilt-tripping lasted well over five minutes each of the three times before he ever quoted a scripture. As we sat and listened to him, we could feel the mood in the church change. It went from upbeat, excited, and expectant to what I can best describe as shame and guilt.
It felt like a well-rehearsed, well-orchestrated event meant to move the entire congregation to an emotional state where not parting with their money felt like they were stealing from God Himself. As I mentioned in the previous article, contributing to all those needs and others is critical for the health of the church, both locally and further afield, but it was the way that it was done that was, for lack of a better word, appalling. Each time, he ended his oratory shaming with, “God does not only require you to give. God makes this promise: ‘The more you give to my cause, to my children, the more I will return to you with much more than you ever gave. But, remember the Parable of the Talents. Don’t give, and I will take what you have with no reward.”
If it felt like I went on and on – that was my intention. I wanted to highlight just how long the time spent on “requesting” financial contributions was. It must have gone on for more than thirty minutes in total, between the lengthy mini-speeches and the actual collecting of the funds. In the following article, we will look at the scriptures used by the deacon to support his “Don’t steal from God!” admonishments.
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