Be Glorified

I was making a delivery for work earlier and was exiting off the highway and pulled behind one of those seven or eleven passenger vans. You see them a lot, the kind that belong to churches or large families. Anyway, across the back door of this van was approximately a two foot by two foot decal that said "The vehicle donated by Ministries." On the drivers side of the vehicle was the same decal in the same size. I was not able to catch the passenger side of the vehicle, but I can assume it was there as well. 


When I saw this, I didn't know quite what to think. After the event had some time to sink into my head, I came to the conclusion that the reason for this donation was to make the ministry look good. People will no doubt drive by this vehicle numerous times, and some will think 'how nice it was of this church to donate this vehicle.' The church has put its' name out, and has gotten the attention that they think they deserve. They want people to see what they are doing for charity, and maybe then drop on by the church, or send a donation.


I thought about this for a while and Matthew 6:1-4 came to mind. Jesus says:
"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites to in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."  (Emphasis added)


There is an even greater principle at work here. This passage does not just apply to how we give, but how we live. If you haven't noticed before, I can get on a tangent about the way people worship. So here I go again. When I get on the topic, I say that it is not so much about the what but about the why.The what can be pretty much anything: When to stand, sit or kneel, what to say, how to dress, etc. The question needs to be why? You need to ask yourself: Is this for the glory of God, or is this for the glory of man? 


Practical example #1: Habitat for Humanity is a very well known charity that helps provide housing for lower income families. They rely mainly on volunteers for labor and donations for materials. To this end, a church group decides they are going to help Habitat for Humanity build a house or two in the community that the church serves. They all agree that Christ says that we need to help the needy and the homeless. They show up with matching T-Shirts that say "First Church of Marketing: Habitat for Humanity Project." They decide to put up a banner with their church logo on it.


Practical example #2: In the past two years, Unassuming Local Church has grown from an average Sunday attendance of 150 to 500. It has gotten to the point of having two services to five every weekend. The only problem is that the sanctuary is not large enough to grow the membership any further, and people are actually reluctant to attend regularly because they feel crammed. The leadership of the church has decided it needs to expand, but doesn't have the funds to do so. They get some bids, and figure they need $100,000 to build a larger sanctuary and expand the parking lot. The church goes on a fundraising campaign, including asking for special donations during church services, and even holding a barbecue in the parking lot with signs saying "proceeds will help benefit our new sanctuary and parking lot." After the $100,000 is raised, the fundraising stops, and the building begins.


Now, which one of these situations is for the glory of God? The first one helped out the community at large, while the second one seemed to help the church. The first one built homes for low income families, and the second one raised money for their own church. With this all being said, It is the second congregation that showed glory to God. It is true that the first church helped others and the second church helped themselves, we need to not only remember the what, but the why. The first church helped out with the intention of getting their name out there, much like the ministry mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog. You might even say 'they announced it with trumpets'. The second church expanded their own building to suit the needs of the community. Yes, it dealt with a touchy subject for churches, raising money, but did it tastefully and without overdoing it. 


Now, the question I leave you with: What are you doing? And are you doing it to glorify God, or glorify yourself?


Amen.