The Church Treasury
By Terry Benton

Quote:
It is true that the disciples were instructed to treasure up some things, "And concerning the collection that [is] for the saints, as I directed to the assemblies of Galatia, so also ye -- do ye; on every first [day] of the week, let each one of you lay by him, treasuring up whatever he may have prospered, that when I may come then collections may not be made;". (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). But you cannot term this, "church treasury" and form a doctrine with rules and guidelines attached with it. They had no, "church treasury", as you say. The expression, "Church treasury", or, "common collection" did not come out of the mouth of God. (Quoted from a house-church denominationalist)

Reply:
Not only can a church have a treasury, but it must have a treasury if it is going to do the work that God ordained for the church to do. Each local church is to have a collection, and the collection is called treasuring (in verb form). By implication, that which is collected is the treasury. The above verse shows that every church had its own collected treasury. This collection is to occur on the first day of every week (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). In this particular case, the collected treasury was to be designated and set in ready collected position so that it would not have to be gathered amongst the brethren when Paul arrived. This pooled or collected fund was that church's treasury. Thus, it was the treasury of the Corinthian church brethren. It is foolish to say that you cannot call it what it is. It was the act of treasuring (God's expression) that allows it to be a treasury (noun form). Paul referred to this treasury as "your gift." (1 Corinthians 16:3) Notice that it was not a bunch of individual gifts; it was pooled by the church to become "your gift." It would be silly to say that the church gift is an unscriptural expression that did not come from God. The "your" refers to the combined church, and the fact that it had become one gift, your gift, means it was the church's gift. So, the gift was a treasury collected by the church and ready for Paul to come by and endorse.

If the church had not had this treasury, God would have been displeased with its members because of their selfishness and covetousness. The starter precedent was for Corinth to see a need far away and feel a common need to collect for that need. Corinth should have seen a need to collectively support those who had been sowing spiritual things (1 Corinthians 9:11). Those, including Paul, who had been preaching the gospel to them should have been reaping "your material things." If they had been doing what they should, how would that have taken place? It would have happened just as it did when they collected the common gift for the poor Jerusalem saints on the first day of the week. If the church had collected material things to send to Jerusalem, then they could collect material things to give to gospel preachers.

But, watch this. Once a church understands there are needs (such as poor saints in other parts of the world, and gospel preachers whom God ordained should live of the gospel), if that church desires to fellowship (share) in these endeavors, then it will see the need for a regular treasury. The Scriptures demonstrate that there is no escaping this fact.

What is to be done with regular collections?

Financially supporting men who labor in the word is a good way to fellowship those men. Paul pointed out that in the beginning of the gospel, "when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only." (Philippians 4:15) Notice that churches should share with gospel preachers. How would they do that? They would have regular collections and send what they collected to various gospel preachers. Their support is a "sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God." (Philippians 4:18)

What is not acceptable and well-pleasing to God is brethren who teach that we ought NOT to share with gospel preachers, when God ordained that the church should do this very thing (1 Corinthians 9:14). Paul took "wages" from other churches (2 Corinthians 11:7-8) when he should have been receiving support from Corinth. Corinth was simply blind to this need. These verses emphasize the need to give--not just the needs of those who receive.

The churches of Macedonia had the right spirit. They saw an opportunity to give and wanted to take part. They were practically begging Paul to let them participate in his support. He said they were "imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints." (2 Corinthians 8:4) The diligence of the churches of Macedonia was an example used by Paul to "test the sincerity of your (Corinth's) love" (2 Corinthians 8:8).

So, giving is a test of the sincerity of our faith and love. Do we love the gospel and believe in supporting as many men as possible who are dedicating their lives to spreading it? Or are we wearing blinders and seeing only what we want to see? If a church does not see a need to support needy saints far away and near, its members are wearing blinders. If it does not see a need to support men who devote their time and life to sowing spiritual things, then it is wearing blinders. God is not pleased with the house-church mentality, which looks for reasons to refrain from regular giving. This mentality invents phony reasons to abstain from having and supporting gospel preachers.

Churches should see a need to support elders who "labor in the word and doctrine." (1 Timothy 5:17-18) Such a laborer in the word and doctrine is "worthy of his wages." His spiritual sowing is worth far more than any material wages he reaps. If secular education is important enough to justify giving wages to school teachers, then gospel preachers and elders who labor in the word are worth far more. Carnal brethren are wearing blinders and cannot, or will not, see it; but God said that a man who labors in the word is definitely worthy of his wages. No man should preach or teach the gospel for money, but he should have a right to expect the brethren to appreciate spiritual things and his labor to better learn and expound upon it.

Timothy could give himself to reading and meditation, and his "progress" would greatly benefit the church (1 Timothy 4:13-16), potentially enlightening them with treasures of wisdom and knowledge and also making them aware of spiritual dangers associated with false teaching. This could save him and "those who hear you." What price can a church put on this work? The laborer is worthy of his wages. Saving one soul is worth more than the whole world. How can you measure the worth of gospel preaching that saves the man and those who hear him and provides the church with protection against apostasy? In order for the church to pay wages to such worthy men, it must have a regular source from which to pay those wages. That source is the common collection, the church treasury. A church has to gather a regular collection in order to pay wages to worthy men who labor in the gospel and to perform other works assigned to it.

This is God's plan; but unfortunately, from time to time, there are among us rebellious men who do not want to do God's will in this matter. Not only do they rebel themselves, but they seek to persuade others to do the same thing, and they invent arguments to justify their positions. Peter said they "speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through licentiousness" (2 Peter 2:18). They pretend to be free of organized religion, but they are slaves of corruption.

If the church can and should be "charged" and pay wages, then there must be a common, regular treasury from which to pay those charges and wages and support those men who labor in the word and sow spiritual seed. There are some things for which the church ought not to be charged (1 Timothy 5:16), but there are some things for which it ought to be charged.

When a church opens its heart and mind, it can see needs that demand a commitment to regular giving on the first day of every week. Giving does not stop with one thing. It opens the door to consider many other things.

Those who foolishly argue that the gift from Corinth to Jerusalem was a one-time deal miss the point. It was a door-opener for them to consider other needs--near and far away. Why else would the church need a collection?

The needs are endless. Therefore, a good church learns to see them and yearns to give as much as possible to all that should be charged to the church. A treasury from which to pay support to preachers, widows indeed, and elders who labor in the word and doctrine; and also from which to support needy saints near and far away is a Scriptural church treasury.

Going back to the argument made at the beginning. A church must have a treasury to do what God charges it to do. A treasury is collected from the saints at regular intervals. The example in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 is a suitable example that authorizes us to follow it as a pattern for when and how often we can give to the common cause. There is not just one cause (poor saints) to which the church should give, but many. Since the church should pay wages to workers in the word and to widows indeed, then it must have a treasury. It is shown in the Scriptures and implied by what the church fellowshipped. Every local-church member should do his share and give as he has been prospered. The local-church collection is Scriptural in every way. In fact it is unscriptural for a church to not have a money box or treasury from which to do these things. Those who teach otherwise have been blind and should now be enlightened by these truths. If they refuse these truths, they should be refused membership in any Scriptural church.

The house-church denomination is often composed of such people as would deny the need for a regular church treasury. If Paul wanted the church at Corinth to look as far away as Jerusalem for needs to support, then how long should it take a house-church to see endless needs and, therefore, the need for endless giving? They are blind, sometimes intentionally so, about needs. But, they also often invent false arguments about supporting gospel preachers as another excuse not to give regularly. We have addressed this matter in a limited way in this article, but there is much more that could be said. From the above references, it should be easy to see that brethren who refuse to support gospel preachers are refusing to do what God ordained should be done. These brethren need to be marked and avoided as divisive (Romans 16:17). The argument that the expression church treasury is not found in the Bible is foolish. It would be as foolish as saying that personal Bible study is not a Biblical phrase and, therefore, we cannot do it or say it. Such foolishness is not worthy of further comment.

I've been preaching long enough now to see many so-called Bible scholars causing factions by pushing to the limit their higher knowledge that nothing really comes as a shock anymore. The house-church movement has been promoted by men such as F. LaGard Smith in his book, Radical Restoration; Cecil Hook's book, Free in Christ, has added more false teaching to the mix. These men, and those who follow their teaching, hate Biblical traditions.

Just because something has been done a certain way for a long period of time doesn't mean it's wrong. The Bible strongly teaches that we must follow the Lord's patterns, (Hebrews 8:5; Colossians 3:17; 1 Peter 4:11). Some are just tiring of doing things God's way. Sadly, they have been influenced by the denominations around them and are drinking the same kool-aid they are-ecumenicalism. Men like Mr. Smith and Mr. Hook would have us believe that we MISSED something in our studies of the Scriptures. I keep hearing comments like "The Lord would not recognize His church if He came into one of our worship services today." This is quite a statement, since we can give a book, chapter, and verse for every one of the acts of worship in which we engage when we come together. We did not think up this pattern on our own; it came from the book. If the truth be known, the house churches may be speaking of themselves when they say the Lord would not recognize today's worship. I'll stick with His pattern! (KMG)


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