The Scriptures definitely address money and how we are to think about it, earn it, spend it and give it. The verses are taken from the NASB and the principles in italics are my personal observations. I prepared this personal study when our local church was going through a new building campaign. The principles can apply to a local church or to us as individuals.

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The blessing of God is demonstrated in our ability to lend not borrow; The poor borrow, the wealthy lend and take care of the poor.

Luk 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Deu 15:6 “For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

Deu 28:12 “The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

Mat 5:42 “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

Deu 15:7 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;

Deu 15:8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Deu 15:9 “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.

Deu 15:10 “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

Deu 15:11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

Nehemiah Chapter 5 (not quoted here)

It appears that the poor are the ones in a position to borrow and the rich are to lend generously. The wealthy Jews got in trouble with Nehemiah for not lending according to the law. The richer Jews were extracting interest and servitude from the poor who were borrowing money to eat. Usery was against the Mosaic law and Nehemiah put a stop to it requiring the lenders to pay back the interest they had collected and release those in slavery. The Jews were not borrowing outside the family of Israel, they were borrowing from each other to eat. The labor and supplies for building the walls came from within the houses of Israel except the timber for the gates. The king had given that to Nehemiah based on his request. I’m pretty sure it was not a loan but a gift.

Be content with your wages.

Luk 3:14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Here is a direct command from the Lord to be content with our wages and live within our means. I think this can apply to a church as well.

Borrowing puts you in a weakened position in the plan of God.

Pro 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.

Deu 28:43 “The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower.

Deu 28:44 “He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.

Deu 28:45 “So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

God is our provider and is able to meet all of our needs; personal and for the church. The church should model this faith and thereby help the people to increase faith in their personal lives.

Luk 22:35 And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.”

1Ch 29:16 “O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours.

2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

2Co 9:9 as it is written, “HE SCATTERED ABROAD, HE GAVE TO THE POOR, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER.”

2Co 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;

2Co 9:11 you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.

2Co 9:12 For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.

Phi 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Phi 4:20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

God moves in the hearts of men to provide building supplies and labor.

Ezr 6:7 “Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.

Ezr 6:8 “Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the River, and that without delay.

Ezr 6:9 “Whatever is needed, both young bulls, rams, and lambs for a burnt offering to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem request, it is to be given to them daily without fail,

Ezr 6:10 that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

Ezr 7:27 Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem,

1Ch 29:17 “Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You.

1Ch 29:18 “O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You;

Act 4:36 Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement),

Act 4:37 and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

The people gave – God provided, God received the glor. Their focus was on God; they didn’t borrow from their neighbors. They had all of their supplies before building began and God received all the glory. God can move the hearts of men to give what is needed for building. Then God gets the glory for his provision and man gets the joy of being used of God and seeing God’s hand at work.

Count the Cost – the whole cost.

Luk 14:28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

Luk 14:29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,

Luk 14:30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Be sure to calculate the total cost of the building over the life of the loan, including the interest. Also consider the cost to have a PointBank advertisement staked in the ground in front of construction. Will we be ridiculed because we didn’t have enough to complete it? Everyone that passes by will see that we are going to man for help to build our building.

Wanting money beyond our current supply brings pain and trouble.

1Ti 6:9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

1Ti 6:11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith;

Heb 13:5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”

Heb 13:6 so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” (or the economy or rising prices of steel, or land availability, etc..)

Heb 13:7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

I found it interesting that fight the good fight of faith is set near the context of money.

Interest paid is money wasted.

Luk 19:26 “I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Investment is encouraged; debt only takes more away through interest. Consider investing what we already have – it will continue to generate interest in our favor until we have enough to complete the work.

We glorify God through our faith.

2Co 9:13 Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all,

Phi 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Phi 4:20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Borrowing diminishes the congregation’s opportunity to give.

2Co 8:1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia,

2Co 8:2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

2Co 8:3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,

2Co 8:4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,

2Co 8:5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

If leadership decided to wait and take the faith route with building and finance, the responsibility falls on the congregation to give. They may joyously rise to the occasion knowing that they are looking to God for their supply rather than the bank. Then the building would truly be ours and we would own it in the end.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
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1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org