We seem to have an unwritten rule about what we can and can’t say in the church. One of the rules states that we can’t talk about money. If we do, we will stir up a hornets’ nest. As a result, pastors don’t often address the issue. A few do, but the rule remains for many. Church treasurers do—they know the bills have to be paid.

We even spend a lot of time talking about money without talking about money. We draft budgets and discuss what to include and what to cut. Sometimes those discussions become heated and difficult. We may even talk about salaries and whether we add or cut staff. All that discussion can be carried out without actually talking about money. Where will the money come from to carry out our ministry?

Whether we want to admit it or not, money is a good gauge of what is important to us. Someone once said, “Show me your checkbook, and I’ll tell you what is important in your life.” The children? Certainly! Food, clothes, housing? Absolutely! The mortgage must be paid, and we have to eat. The car? Yes, in our world we have to get from place to place. Now the question about which car or even which house is another question altogether.

Is the gospel important? The ministry of the church depends on the offerings of God’s people. Ask any church treasurer who has to struggle to pay bills. How often do we have to defer the payment of some bills because the offerings were a little short this week or this month? It happens in every congregation. And it happens for the larger church, the synod, too.

In money matters, sometimes the sinful nature is just plain selfish. At times we need to hear the law. The prophet Malachi asked some tough questions of God’s people: “When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor!” (1:8). Or “ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me” (3:8,9). Ouch. The law must have hurt their sinful nature. It hurts ours too.