How
do Christians and Muslims approach Money?
Thursday, July
23, 2015
Jeff Lampl
Muslims are
required to give approximately 2.5% of their income to the poor. This functions as a tax that is
required. Christians are also commanded
in their scriptures to care for the poor, both inside and outside of the
church. The Old Testament tells us that a tenth of our income is the benchmark
to go by. The New Testament offers a
higher standard which is based on a freewill response to God in gratitude to
God for what He has done for us. Christ
gave his life for us. Our response
cannot then be measured in a formula.
Rather most Christians would consider the formula of one tenth
legalistic and even too small a response to the Grace given us in Jesus
Christ. In this way one important measure of
gratitude for the Christian believer is the level of his giving to God,
normally expressed by his giving to the local church of which He is a part.
The Church
then functions to bring to the blessings of God to the church family, to the
community and then to the world. When
the members of a church family tithe in this way, the impact for good for the
church and world is immense. When
church members do not respond this way churches can end up in survival mode,
helping no one. But when a church is
financially healthy it not only has strong giving to the poor and to missions,
it also becomes a sending church which sends its members out serve others for
the sake of Christ. We have seen this
this summer, a church family that has sent out over thirty of its members to
six different locations on short term mission trips. And that doesn’t include all those serving
regularly at the Garage, Urban Promise, The Lighthouse, our own youth group,
VBS, KidZone and more. That happens in
a church that has the resources to raise up this kind of ministry.
Have you
considered your level of giving to your local church as measure of your
gratitude to God for the Grace He has given you? Have you considered setting aside funds,
beyond your tithe, to be able to help people who are in need financially? The
following familiar passage speaks to God’s heart for those who have fewer
resources than we.
“When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on
his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his
left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are
blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since
the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you
looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then
the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a
stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did
we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply,
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and
sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his
left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and
you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was
sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will
answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing
clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply,
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you
did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew
25:31-46 (NIV2011)
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