Church Finance
Text: 1 Corinthians 16:2
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- State the New Testament way of raising money for the Lord's work.
- See why human fundraising systems misplace the emphasis.
- Recognize that the church is not a business organization.
Thesis
The Lord's work requires some money, but money holds a subordinate place; the New Testament way of raising it is free, willing, liberal, regular first-day giving — not human fundraising systems that shift the emphasis from the spiritual to the financial — for the church is not a business organization.
Burden
Money is necessary to the Lord's work, but it is one of the easiest things in religion to over-emphasize. A church can slide, almost without noticing, into measuring itself by its budget, running itself like a business, and pressuring its members like a fundraising campaign. This outline wants the money question kept in its New Testament place: real, but subordinate; supplied the Lord's way, not the world's. He is pointed about it — the "budget system" with its pledge cards, he says, emphasizes the money side when the emphasis should be spiritual. The burden of this lesson is to fund the Lord's work the Lord's way, and to keep the church from becoming a business with a religious label.
Introduction
The Lord's work requires some money, but too much emphasis is often placed on finance. The New Testament teaches the proper place of money in the Lord's work — real, but subordinate. The outline treats the subject in three parts: how to raise money, the "budget system," and the disbursement of funds.
I. How to Raise Money (1 Corinthians 16:2)
The New Testament itself teaches how (2 Tim. 3:16-17 — Scripture equips us "for every good work"), and its method is simple:
- Members are taught to be liberal — "he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6).
- To give willingly — "each one... not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7).
- To contribute regularly on the first day of the week — "on the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper" (1 Cor. 16:2).
This is the whole divine plan: free, willing, liberal, regular, proportional giving by the members — no gimmicks, no pressure, no schemes.
II. The "Budget System" (1 Corinthians 16:2)
The outline weighs the human fundraising machinery against the Lord's plan:
- The budget system originated with preachers and promoters, not with the New Testament.
- The Lord's plan has no taxation — giving is freewill, not assessed.
- The system leans on pledge cards and the like.
- Its effect is to emphasize the money side of the church.
- But the emphasis should be on the spiritual side — on willing hearts, not on quotas.
- The Lord's way is the only right way. Where God gave a method — free first-day giving as prospered — men need not, and ought not, substitute a financial system of their own.
The point is not that planning is sinful, but that the emphasis and the method must stay where God put them: on cheerful, spiritual, freewill giving.
III. The Disbursement of Funds (1 Corinthians 16:2)
The outline lists the many questions a congregation faces in spending the Lord's money — lending and borrowing, supporting preachers, evangelists, and "missionaries," class disbursements, helping the poor, the question of supporting "social functions," janitorial service, building upkeep, Bibles, literature, and song books. He raises these as matters for a congregation to weigh, not a closed list of rulings — and over the whole of it he sets one governing principle:
The church is not a business organization. Its money is the Lord's, given freely for the Lord's work, and it must be spent with that in view — to preach the gospel, support those who labor in it, and relieve the needy — not managed as a commercial enterprise or spent on whatever a business would spend on. The principle governs the particulars: keep the spending spiritual in aim, as the giving was spiritual in source.
Application
Check where the emphasis lies — in your own giving and in your congregation's life. Are we giving freely, willingly, liberally, and regularly as we have prospered, because our hearts are in the Lord's work? Or have we drifted toward the world's machinery — pressure, pledges, quotas — that puts the spotlight on money and dims the spiritual? Give the Lord's way: not grudgingly or under compulsion, but cheerfully, on the first day of the week, as you have been blessed. And remember when the money is spent that the church is not a business; its funds are sacred, given for the gospel and the needy, not for whatever a corporation might buy. Keep both the raising and the spending spiritual, and money will stay the servant of the Lord's work instead of its master.
Conclusion
Money has a real but subordinate place in the Lord's work. Raise it the Lord's way — free, willing, liberal, regular first-day giving — not by human systems that put the emphasis on finance. Spend it as the Lord's, for the Lord's work. And never forget: the church is not a business organization, and its treasury is not a corporate account but a sacred trust.
Invitation
Before God asks anything of your money, He asks for you — "they first gave themselves to the Lord" (2 Cor. 8:5). Give yourself to Him today: believe on the Lord Jesus, repent of your sins, confess His name, and be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). Then your giving, like your life, will be the Lord's. Come while we sing.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As he may prosper | ho ti ean euodōtai | proportional, freewill giving keyed to God's blessing | the divine "system," requiring no pledge cards, quotas, or assessments | the divine "system," requiring no pledge cards, quotas, or assessments | 1 Cor. 16:2 |
| Cheerful giver | hilaron dotēn | "hilarious" giver | God wants the heart's gladness, not the pressured gift | God wants the heart's gladness, not the pressured gift; the emphasis is spiritual, which is exactly the point against money-centered systems | 2 Cor. 9:7 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| Scripture equips for the work | I | 2 Tim. 3:16-17 |
| Give liberally | I | 2 Cor. 9:6 |
| Give willingly/cheerfully | I | 2 Cor. 9:7 |
| Give regularly, first day, as prospered | I / II | 1 Cor. 16:2 |
| Give yourself first | Invit. | 2 Cor. 8:5 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 62. Doctrinal audit: core-framework (freewill, cheerful, proportional first-day giving as the NT method; critique of human "budget/pledge" systems for over-emphasizing finance; the church is not a business organization); no correction. Boles' disbursement list (including his skepticism toward funding "social functions") is presented as the open questions and governing principle he intended — congregational matters under the rule that church funds are a sacred trust — without sharpening his framing into rulings he did not make. Style audit: OCR cleanup ("II Tim."/"II Cor."→2 Tim./2 Cor.). Source note: no primary-text line; 1 Cor. 16:2 (cited at I.4, the giving-pattern verse) supplied as text and flagged. All of Boles' citations verified and retained.
