Support

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? I was a soldier for a while; I loved it but I wouldn't have done it for nothing. I sure wouldn't have paid to do it.

Who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat the grapes?

These are questions Paul asks in 1 Cor 9:1-12, as he makes his case that he has a right to expect some support from the churches he plants. You have benefited a lot from my work, Paul says, and asks (v11) "Is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?"

It's a good question. Nowhere else but the church are services expected for nothing -- that's Paul's point with the soldier and the vineyard. In any other endeavor, the first thing we ask is what something costs. In the church we're reluctant if people want to be paid. We can be very grudging with things like mileage, and even more so when it comes to wages and benefits. We wonder why the pastor needs a cell phone, or how the missionary can afford to come home so often, or whether the janitor is really working that much.

Really, Paul is challenging our reaction to the offering. A man said to me recently, "I figure you have time and talents, and you have money. The church doesn't care which you use to get the work done." The whole reason we have a church budget is to pay for things that we can't or don't want to do ourselves. Can't in terms of things like electricity and preaching. Won't for things like playing the organ, evangelizing, or doing service projects.

When Paul says don't be stingy with your support, he's poking us a little bit about our priorities. Most of us have enough money, we just don't want to waste it in the collection plate -- after all, that doesn't gain us anything. Paul reminds us of all those diligent planters and waterers and harvesters out there who need to be supported by those of us they serve.

In fact, Paul claims material support as a right. That means we have an obligation. We like to call our donations "gifts" because it makes us sound generous. Maybe if we thought of what we give to the General Fund as paying off a bill, we'd be less ready to get behind. Of course that would require some accountability for our giving, and we can’t have that.