Mackay, Harold G: Assembly Distinctives 07 ~ Financies-No Solicitation

First Corinthians chapter sixteen, let's read from verse one. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, uh, they shall go with me. Now, just a verse in second Corinthians chapter nine, please. Verse six. Second Corinthians chapter nine, verse six. But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. In a previous study in this series, I, uh, mentioned the surprise that undoubtedly was generated in the minds of many on visiting a New Testament assembly for the first time, when they noted the absence of a reverend gentleman who seemed to be in charge of all of the activities. Well, I believe that surprise is equaled, uh, on the occasion of a first visit to a New Testament assembly, by the absence of the collection plate at all of the services. I think that friends coming in amongst us for the first time get quite a surprise when they find that a collection plate isn't passed. And, uh, that is what I want to talk about a little tonight now, the subject of finances in the, uh, New Testament assembly. What is there of a distinctive nature in connection with the financing of the work carried on by a New Testament assembly. For the question inevitably arises, well, you don't take up collections at all the meetings, uh, where does the money come from? How is this work supported? It must take quite a bit of money in connection with your activities, both for the building and for those who are engaged in the, uh, work of the Lord, the supplies and all of that. How is this provided? Now, I'm going to divide that up. Tonight's subject will be mainly four basic principles followed by most assemblies in connection with the financing of their work. I will follow that by another study that'll be more in line with the booklet I've referred to. How are the workers, both at home and abroad, uh, how are they supported in connection with a New Testament assembly. Now I'm going to give you four basic principles that I believe are followed by practically all New Testament assemblies. They are very simple, but I believe they are foundational, and I think I have proved in my little booklet that they are according to scripture. The first is this, that the finances, the funds of a New Testament assembly do not come from unsaved people. I think practically all who are connected with such assemblies agree that the Lord's work should be supported by the Lord's people. Because of that, there are no collections taken up at gatherings of saved and unsaved. Now, it may be that on some occasions, some money is received from unsaved. I'm not going into details as to how that could happen, but certainly it is not taken knowingly. It is not, certainly not solicited, for the basic principle that governs the financing, the funding of a New Testament assembly is that it being the Lord's work, it should be supported by the Lord's people. And those funds are not solicited. Now, that is a very touchy subject. There are many Christians, and there are many Christian works and workers who would agree with me on point number one, that the Lord's work should be, uh, supported by the Lord's people. But they would disagree with me very decidedly when I say that those funds should not be solicited. There are many so-called faith works right here in America. Now, I'm not speaking about the character of the work. I'm not speaking about the results of the work. I am not speaking about those who are engaged in that work. That is outside the subject that I'm dealing with tonight. I am talking about the funding of work in a New Testament assembly, and I am fully convinced, from my careful study of the Word of God that I've referred to already, that those funds should not be solicited. We are living in days of heavy pressure for funds, and many of God's people are succumbing to that. I think we know that the charismatics and the faith healers are undoubtedly getting more money than any other groups in America. Money is rolling in by the millions, without any exaggeration whatsoever. There are some works in America that are receiving one million dollars a week for their work. Now, it's well been said that it's the squeaking wheel that gets the grease. And there are a lot of squeaking wheels today, brethren, and they're being well greased, I can assure you. Now, if I believed that that was according to the law, I would get the biggest mimeograph machine you could get. I'd get the loudest radio program I could get, and the finest television program, and I would go after it, but I cannot find it in my Bible, and I dare not go outside this book. I am willing to admit that there will be much more money given to those groups that appeal and pressure for money than for those who look to the Lord alone to provide through his people for their work. But I am living in the light of the judgment seat of Christ, and I'm afraid, with a godly fear, to depart from what is taught in this book. And if anyone can show me where we have any right whatsoever to solicit and to pressure people for money for the Lord's work, I would like to see that in the scripture. For I have been studying this book, as you know, for well over fifty years, and I haven't found it yet. And so in assemblies, very much more could be said along that line, but I don't think it needs to be. We are all well aware of these facts that I have referred to. But because of that, because of the total absence of that in the scriptures, pledges, fees, and uh, collections, such as I have referred to already, and appeals for money are not employed in New Testament assemblies. I want to say this, to be perfectly honest and frank, I believe we're getting dangerously near it in some of the works connected with the assemblies, and I don't believe in it. I am not going to name names, but I, there are at least two works that I feel have departed, if not entirely, to a large extent, from that which has always characterized the, uh, New Testament assemblies that I've been associated with, the making of needs known to God alone, and trusting him to provide for those needs. There are not very many today like George Mueller, who took those thousands of orphans into the orphanages at Ashley Downs in England, and fed them, and educated them, and provided for them, without ever mentioning one need to a human ear. There are not very many today like, um, uh, the founder of the China Inland Mission, J. Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor said, I am more afraid of unconsecrated money in the Lord's work than of no money. Now, there aren't very many like that. And from the time he founded the China Inland Mission until the day of his death, no public connect- collection was ever taken for that work. I remember when I was a young Christian up in Toronto, Canada, and a brother asked me if I would like to go to a meeting of the China Inland Mission. I said I would. I had read of Hudson Taylor. In fact, the two volumes on his life were amongst the two books that had possibly the greatest influence on my early Christian life, apart from the Word of God. I said, where it's going to be? He mentioned the name of a Presbyterian church. He said, they're going to be there on such and such an occasion, and uh, the uh, Channel Island Mission workers are going to report on their work. So we went. Well, I thought, now I'm going to a denominational church tonight. I- I better have my collection ready. So I got my collection ready, and the collection plate didn't come around. I thought, well, it'll come around after singing, but didn't come around after singing, and didn't come around after preaching, and didn't come around after talk. And then it dawned on me. I was in a meeting that they were following the principles of the founder of that mission had been thoroughly convinced were according to the word of God. So that I believe that there is a danger in soliciting funds. It gets your eyes off God and onto man. Have you ever heard a prayer, something like this? Oh Lord, our mission is two thousand dollars behind, and we've got to have that two thousand dollars by Friday. And Lord, we're depending on you alone. Our eyes are on you, Lord. Say, what's the matter with that prayer? The only trouble is we prayed in front of an open microphone, and that open microphone was reaching hundreds of thousands of people. Our eyes are on thee, Lord, but the mic's open to an awful lot of other people. Yes? If there's anything I did, I would much rather for someone to get up and in an honest, honorable way say, now we're going to have a collection for such and such a subject, than for somebody to infer. Well, we we need this, we need that. Of course, we're looking to the Lord to provide it, but you get out your pocketbook right now and start working on this. We say, what's wrong with that? I remember talking along this line, and I have talked along this line several places, which has not increased my popularity at all, I can assure you of that. And a sister in California said to me, well, how are we going to know what they need if they don't tell us? I said, sister, did you ever hear about prayer? She said, yes, I've heard about prayer. Well, I said, you pray, and God will tell you what to do with your money, or his money that he's entrusted to you. Well, I could go on at quite some length, but I want to leave something for the next study. But providing information is perfectly legitimate, but soliciting is unscriptural, and sometimes a very thin line between the two, a very thin line. Well, if the Christians are not solicited, what is done then? In an assembly that is well taught, there will be instruction from the Word of God to the Christians as to how we are to give in connection with that which the Lord has entrusted to us. There needs to be an instruction as to what the Bible teaches regarding this subject. That's why I've asked you to read these verses from, uh, First Corinthians sixteen. I'm not going to go into them in detail, but I just want to point out to you a few of the very evident characteristics of Christian giving. Naturally, it takes money to carry on the Lord's work. All right. We have said that money should come from the Lord's people. All right. We have said that that should not be given under pressure. All right. How should it be given then? All right, look at these verses, and we'll run down quickly through them, and you'll see that the first thing that stands out is that our money should be given regularly upon the first day of the week. Now that's regularly, and I believe it's a great thing when we learn to give regularly unto the Lord, not spasmodically, but regularly to the Lord. And then you'll notice that it's individually. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, every one of you. God intends that every one of us that is a member of the body of Christ, that we should give to the work of the Lord that we are connected with. It should, the burden of it should not be left to a few. Some can give more, others will of necessity have to give less, but nevertheless, it should be an individual matter with everyone, and I am convinced of this. If every born-again believer were just to give unto the Lord as they should, there wouldn't be any need for appeals. There would be abundance of provision for the carrying on of the work of the Lord. My next thought is this, now I want you to follow it carefully. It should not only be given regularly and individually, but preparatory. Well, what do you mean by that? You'll notice what it says, let every one of you lay by him in store. It doesn't say put it into the offering. It says lay by him in store. Darby's translation has, uh, put it by him at home. Now the thought is this, on the first day of the week, that day which is particularly associated with the church, because it's the day on which our Lord rose from the dead, ascended to heaven as the, uh, head of the church. Now, on that day, we are instructed to lay by in store. And I have used carefully the term preparatory because that should be in preparation for giving. When you lay by that money in store, it doesn't belong to you anymore at all. You be careful how you use it. It belongs to the Lord. And now the thing for you to do is to be in prayer and exercise before God as to how he wants you to spend his money. It's in store. And you will find it, and I have had Christians thank me all over America, where I have dealt with this subject. They have thanked me after we have dealt with it, possibly on a return visit. They have thanked me for giving them a new perception altogether of Christian giving. I remember one brother saying to me, Brother McKay, before you ministered on that subject, I used to always give whenever there was opportunity for the work of the Lord. But he said, I didn't know really how much I was giving. He said, I may not be giving any more now, but he said, I know what I'm giving, and I know where I'm giving. And brothers and sisters, I can say to you, from these many years of Christian experience, that there's a great thrill in having the Lord's money in store. And then you can pray, you can be guided, you can be directed as to what the Lord wants you to do with it, and to be able to go to the Lord's store and take something out of that and give it as unto the Lord. You'll find that it'll put the thrill of investing into your giving for the Lord. You will hear of some work. God will lay a burden on your heart, and you will go to the Lord's storehouse, and you'll take out of that some of his money, and as he has laid it on your heart, you will give it, and you'll be blessed. I, as I say, I could go on much more along that line, but it's a thrilling thing, and it's perfectly scriptural. But look, how much shall I give? That inevitably arises. Well, we're told we're to give proportionately. That's your next stop, proportionately, as God hath prospered him. Now, the question always arrives about a tithe. Should I give a tenth? Well, you wouldn't even be a good Jew if you didn't give a tenth. So if you want to be a Christian, you better give at least eleven percent. Uh, don't be like the, the man who came home from the revival, and he said the Lord had really spoken to him. He said he had been giving a fifth of his income, but he said since the revival he was going to give a tenth. Well, you figure that out. He didn't get, he got revived in reverse. Someone said to me, Brother McKay, uh, the tithe is legal. Well, I've said, you and I could have a pretty good argument about that. I could sit down with my Bible, I think, and show you that they were tithing long before Mount Sinai. I said, we'll skip that. I said, will it bother you if you just give a tenth? Said, yes, I, I think I'd feel legal about it. Well, I said, I'll tell you what to do. I'll tell you what to do. Give two tenths, and then your conscience will be at rest. I said, whether you'll get any reward for it or not, I don't know. I doubt it. You'll likely just get it for a tenth, but give two tenth anyway, and your conscience will be at rest. The thing is this, there are those on low incomes, and they are really sacrificial when they give ten cents out of every dollar. There are others that have large incomes that can live a lot on a lot less than ninety percent of what their income. Well, scripture says, as God have prospered them, that is to be the guy. Dear friend of mine, now home in the glory, came to me one time. He said, Brother Harold, he said, I don't want you to mention this to a soul, and I've never mentioned his name. He said, I have found that I can live on fifty percent of what I earn. And he put fifty percent into the Lord's work and drove a secondhand car. Yes, he could have had the finest Cadillac. He could have lived in the most spacious home, for he was in the steel industry. But he lived in a home that was very nice, and he drove a secondhand car, and he gave fifty percent. You know, I'm looking forward to the judgment seat of Christ. There are going to be men like, and sisters too, like that good brother I've referred to, and I'm going to enjoy seeing them step forward and be crowned at the judgment seat of Christ. Well, if we turn to that, those two verses we read in second Corinthians nine, we would find in verse six that we're to give bountifully. Not because we have to, but we're told that he that giveth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Brethren, you can't get ahead of God. You can be sure of that. They asked one good brother how come he was always able to give so much the Lord's work. Well, he said, as I shovel it out, he said, the Lord shovels it in, and he got a bigger shovel than I have. Yes. He that soweth bountifully shall of the Lord reap bountifully. He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly. Not only bountifully, but freely. Of a willing heart. I don't believe God actually accepts anything that is given grudgingly to him. No. God loveth, it says, a cheerful giver. Yes, he loves all God's people. But we know that there are expressions of the love of God that are given under certain circumstances, and that is certainly true in connection with this. So we're to give freely, and we're to give cheerfully. So much more could be said on this, but I just have gone over this rather quickly to point out to you that it is not solicitation, it is instruction. And the thing for all of us is to learn what we should do and what we may do in connection with the giving of the, uh, our means to the support of the Lord's work. Now, just in closing this, not only should the funds not come from the unsaved, and they should not come under pressure of solicitation. They should come from intelligent giving according to the instructions of the Word of God, and they should be given, our funds should be given as an act of worship. I think you are all familiar enough with the sixteenth verse of Hebrews chapter thirteen where we read, to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. And Paul, in chapter four uh of his epistle to the Philippians, refers to the gift that has been sent to him from Philippi there as an offering acceptable to God. That is why, while we do not pass the offering plate at our other services, when we are to gather together for our worship service, that is why we receive an offering from the Lord's people. It is part of our worship, and I believe in giving in that way, we are worshiping God. We are presenting to him a sacrifice. We have reference made to our bodies and the presenting of them as a sacrifice to God. We have reference made to our praises as a sacrifice to God, and we have reference in the verses I've referred to and others to our possessions as being given to the Lord in that way, as a sacrifice acceptable to God. Oh, how much more, I was going to say dignified, and I think there is a sanctified dignity that should be attached to Christian giving. How much more Christian dignity there is about me going, and I'm just using myself as a illustration, me going to that which I have prayerfully and carefully set aside as belonging to the Lord, taking from that, and when the Lord's people are gathered together in their worship meeting, giving that unto the Lord as a thank offering to him. Brethren, to me, that's a dignified way of giving him. How much better than under the pressure of some tear-jerking stories, reaching for your wallet and pulling out a bill. You might as well say goodbye to it, brethren. I don't believe you'll see a vestige of it at the judgment seat of Christ. It'll be like the good brother that, by mistake, put a ten dollar bill into the offering, and he got quite perturbed when he found it was a ten instead of a one that he had put in. So he went to the elders after it. Now, that didn't happen here. At least if it did, we didn't find out about it. But, uh, he went to the elders afterwards and told them what a mistake he... Ah, said one older elder, we can't give it back to you. Give it to the Lord, and we've counted it, and you can't get it back. Oh, he said, I'll get a reward for it then at the judgment seat of Christ. The elder said, no, you won't. You'll get a reward for one dollar, because that's all you intend to put in. That's all the reward you will get. The other nine, you'll get nothing of again. Brethren, I think about the, uh, most severe criticism I received when my articles were first published was a brother wrote to me and what I had said about assembly Christians supporting works outside the assemblies. Now you can read it for yourself, I'm not going to take time. But a brother wrote me a scorching letter about that. Well, I knew I'd hit somebody, you see. If you throw a stone into a pack of dogs, it's the one that yelps that you hit. Now, I knew I'd hit somebody anyway. I didn't know what else the little article was going to accomplish. I'd hit one anyway. And he went on and berated me and all and all about that. Well, you'll find my answer in there. And I said that if a New Testament assembly is good enough for me to be in, it's good enough for me to support. And I'm not going to support with my hand what I criticize with my lips, but I'm going to support with my hand what I believe in my heart. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee in the name of the Lord Jesus, that thou art the great giver of the universe. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And we exclaim with the apostle of old, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. And when we think, Father, of the little that we give back to thee, whether it be in love or service or of our means, we are thoroughly ashamed. But we thank thee, Father, for the privilege of giving thee a little of that which thou hast entrusted to us. Make us faithful, Father, until that coming day of review. And we thank thee, Father, for thy gracious blessings upon this assembly from its inception to the present moment. We thank thee, Father, for the liberality of the Lord's people here, which has enabled this work to grow and expand and reach out across the ocean. We thank thee, Father, for what has been sown by this assembly and each one in it, and we know there will