Giving to a church

I was reading a book by David Servant - "The Great Gospel Deception" and came across this statement that has provoked me to much thought. He is picturing the judgement of the sheep and goats as recorded in Matthew 25. He writes of one who thought he was a Christian but now finds himself about to be banished to hell - this is his thoughts - "Seconds later, you stand before the gates of hell. One final thought springs into your spinning mind before the horror of your eternal nightmare overtakes every cell of your brain: Didn’t the money that I gave to the church count for something? Your conscience, now free from being suppressed by all the former lies, speaks clearly: The church you attended gave no money to help destitute and suffering believers. The small amount of money that you gave to your church helped pay for the mortgage, so you could have a building in which to enjoy church services. Your money also helped pay the utility bills, so you could be warm in winter and cool in summer during your church services. Your money also helped pay for the Sunday School curriculum so your children could have fun classes. Your money also helped pay for the pastor’s and staff salaries, whose time was spent completely on activities related to keeping the congregation happy. Your money thus benefited you, and it was not given out of love for God, but love for yourself. And, in fact, you gave less than your fair share compared to other church members, effectively sponging off them. Additionally, what little you did give required no sacrifice on your part."
What are our motives for giving, and when last did we give sacrificially?

Interesting.

The Lord doesn't base salvation on what others do, he bases it on what you do (or for my Cal friends, what He does). If you give to a church out of obidence, faith and love of the Lord, it truly doesn't matter what they do with it. It is a heart issue. Exceptions can always be made (ie. use the money to support sin and you knowingly know and accept this, etc...), but the Lord honors what we do out of love, not what others do with that love.

Example.

Where I work, one of my residents homes burnt down. They were in my office crying and telling me that they had no where to go, lost everything, etc... I began to pray about this and was lead to give them $100. In the next couple of days I found out that the all wasn't as seems with the fire and their motives. Some one who knew these folks informed me that the man who took my $100 that day, went out that night and went to the bars with it.

The Lord did not judge my giving of the $100 on that man's final actions with it, but judged my giving based on where my heart was and if it was done in honoring Him or myself.

wow both of you. this is a very interesting way of thinking. and this makes a lot of sense. God wants our hearts and He loves us so much that He at least wants that back and if someone is more worried about being comfortable in church than helping another person out then what is it to God? absolutley nothing.

a friend of mine said that love is sacrifice. you don't truely love them untill you are willing, or untill you can sacrifice somehting for your relationshipt with them, and for God it is a million times that. Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us! sometimes it seams that people don't understand how much that means! it means so much to me that our LORD, who to many seam to see as a big dude on a hill snapping his fingers and saying "your goign to hell, your not," is that HE is so loving that HE sacrificed His life for us!

now if someone isn't even willing to sacrifice a few dollars so that they can support a missionary, or a thing that leads people to Christ or shows them how to stay by Christ and get closer (ie church service, money for new places to worship ect. or other stuff, i see no need to list all of them...) then what is it to God? indirectly giving to your church isn't, for the most part, a monopolized way of conning people! it is an indirect way for God to benifet so that others can SOMEHOW hear HIS word!

think about that and what [i]Miccah[/i] and
[i]Know-Him[/i] said. am i condemning you? no! i dont know you enough to even judge you! so if this doesn't have anything to do with you then so be it! i can't know your hearts, only GOd can. i just belive that all of us, even me, need to search our hearts very often and make sure that we are still doing what GOd wants us to, for the reasons God wants us to. and yes i will admit that i probibly need to do more searching than many of you, but that is ok.

love you people alot!

in the name we all love to say!:!:! JESUS!
----allan....

EDITED for names and stuff like that.... yeah..

Miccah I love your example. You gave out of a genuine heart, and may God bless you. However I think it contradicts what you had said earlier. You did not know what that man was going to do with the $100 but you gave it in good faith from a genuine heart. I believe that meets the criteria of Matthew 25. However you ought to know exactly what a church that you contribute to is going to spend your money on. Therefore I think that places the responsibility back on your shoulders.
I think that what David Servant is saying in the quote I gave is that so much of what we give to the church is really for our own benefit therefore not really giving to God and His work.