Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me. 1 Corinthians 16:1-4
“Paul’s references to this collection of money for the poor in Jerusalem – what he taught about it, and the safeguards he put in place around it – are revealing and instructive for us. They show Paul’s strong sense of accountability, transparency, and integrity. His example and his teaching apply just as much now to the financial affairs of churches and missions as they did in his day.
Paul makes use of the collection as an occasion for significant teaching. In fact, he gives more textual space in his letters to writing about this financial matter than he does to writing about justification by faith. That probably surprises us. Saying this, of course, is not in any sense to belittle Paul’s doctrine of justification or any of his great doctrinal teaching. But it does remind us that he considered Christian giving to be a matter of great theological importance also.”
Christopher J. H. Wright in The Gift of Accountability in his book The Shortfall: Owning the Challenge of Ministry Funding (Carlisle, UK: Langham Global Library, 2021) 50.
Matters of diligent financial administration appear as theologically important to Paul as faithful gospel proclamation. Likely this is because He knew you can’t have one without the other.
Why mention this on the eve of Christmas?
God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus. It’s only fitting that our giving, reflect God’s giving and that it be stewarded with standards to preserve the integrity of gospel-centered efforts.
No wonder Jesus and Paul wanted us to get money right!
If you are looking for a ministry to support that helps churches and ministries get their house in order with accountability, transparency, and integrity, check out GTP at GTP.org.
A gift at this time will help us go from five to eight staff to expand our reach worldwide. This empowers ministries to help more people get to know the Christ of Christmas.