You May Not Always Get What You Pay For

The following is an excerpt from last week's Newsletter article (which is in itself a reprint of a previous newsletter from 1997, which just goes to show you I have been around for a long time.)


In 1997, a Texas judge ordered a church to relinquish the tithes contributed by a bankrupt church member to a creditor.  In a four year period, Leland Collins had tithed $27,687.23 to his church.  During that same time he owed Bill Gregory considerably more than that, but while fulfilling his commitment to God, Collins did not fulfill his commitment to Gregory.

I’m amused and bemused on why the judge ordered the church to pay back the tithe it received.  The judge ruled that the money Collins had contributed to the church was given “without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange.”   Ouch!  That hurts.  Is the judge trying to say that Collins didn’t get his money’s worth?  If so, how in the world would you determine the value of your church giving?

Were the pastor’s sermons were worth roughly the same as admittance to a motivational lecture or a spirituality seminar?  Is an outstanding Vacation Bible School program for your children worth approximately the same as a week at Scout camp?  Is an outstanding prelude, anthem, and special music on Sunday worth the admission to an organ, choirc, or band concert?  Is a 34 week intensive Bible Study like Disciple worth the same as two levels of Rosetta Stone language software?
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If there is a problem with “equivalent value,” it lies in what God gets in return for all that God has given us.  What can we possibly give “in exchange” for the gift of life?  The wonder of creation?  The joy of unconditional love?  The atoning death of God’s son given on our behalf?  Is $27,687.23 the fair market value for these things?
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Far be it from me to meddle in Judge Sullivan’s Harris County Civil Court, but I think his judgment ought to be reversed.  Literally.  If anyone has benefited disproportionately in this “exchange,” it is us and not God or God’s church.  I am the one who is blessed in the giving—I am the one whose heart is freed from the chains of selfishness and washed clean by the impulse of generosity and worship.  God doesn’t need what I have to give, but I need to give in order to be who God’s created me to be.