Fueling The Engine by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Money as a Spiritual Stethoscope

Randy Alcorn said it this way: money is a spiritual stethoscope. When a doctor uses a stethoscope, he listens to determine the real condition of what is happening inside the body. In the same way, by examining how a person spends their money, the real health of their soul can be checked.

Just as a Christian who is not praying raises a red flag, and one who is absent from the word or from the local assembly signals something is wrong, a Christian who is not generous is showing a sign of spiritual ill health.

2 Corinthians 8:1-4: in great trial of affliction, the churches of Macedonia, out of deep poverty, abounded in rich liberality. The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in giving. This can only happen by the Spirit. A heart must have been renewed for joy to coexist with lack. They gave beyond their ability freely and willingly. Even people without love for Jesus can give if they have the ability. When someone gives out of insufficiency, that is a mark of genuine spiritual life.

What the Church Is — and Is Not

A major source of confusion is the definition of church itself. When many people hear the word, they think of something that happens between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on a Sunday — a production they attend. They even give feedback on how it went, as if they are customers rating a service.

That is not how church is done.

1 Corinthians 12:12: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." The local church is a living organism, not an event. And in a living organism, every part is necessary. When a part of the body becomes sick or painful, what was previously taken for granted becomes deeply valued. It only takes losing the use of a thumb to discover how essential it is to button a shirt.

1 Corinthians 12:21: "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you." No matter how many people are in the assembly, each individual is needed. God is counting on every single one. Two of the seventy elders Moses was supposed to gather did not make it to the tent of meeting. But when the Spirit fell on the sixty-eight who were there, the Spirit still rested on the two who remained in the camp. They counted themselves out; God never did.

The Acronym: I-C-A-M-E

Working through the acronym I CAME helps clarify the full picture of what biblical church participation looks like:

• I — Identity: The church is a people one belongs to, not a service one attends. The church of Jesus Christ is united by blood. It was inconceivable in the early church to claim belief in Jesus without belonging to a local assembly. 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 describes excommunication as being delivered to Satan — meaning, in those days, to exist outside a local church was to exist outside the protection of the body. Today, people remove themselves voluntarily and think nothing of it. That is not proper.

• C — Commitment: The modern church treats commitment as voluntary and loosely held. If something does not go as expected, people leave. But commitment to a local church is covenantal, not contractual. It must be as serious as the blood that holds the body of Christ together. If everyone gave the way you give, how would service be? If everyone committed the way you commit, what would the church look like?

• A — Accountability: Some people in the church pride themselves on the fact that nobody knows them. They see anonymity as freedom. But the real question is: if you disappeared for two months, who would notice? Avoiding accountability is dangerous. God designed the local church to provide a framework in which believers can be known, held, and cared for.

• M — Mission: Every local assembly has one corporate mission. Individual callings exist, but there must be a shared, selflessly pursued corporate mission. Belonging to a church means being committed to that mission together.

• E — Economics: This is where generosity meets ecclesiology. When a person belongs to a local church, the economic dimension of that belonging matters deeply.

The Biblical Economic Framework

Luke 16:11: "If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" God gave the true riches — salvation, eternal life, kingdom identity. He is not asking much in return. Supporting the spread of his message is a small thing by comparison.

Money always flows in the direction of love. Expenditure reveals priorities. If everything a person claims to love in the world draws their money naturally, why is there such resistance when it comes to the kingdom?

Matthew 13:44-46: the kingdom is like a merchant who found a pearl of great price and sold everything to buy it. This is not framed as a sacrifice in the text. It is framed as a smart move. The kingdom is worth more than what must be given to gain it. When a person esteems the kingdom as a greater treasure, giving becomes a delight.

1 Corinthians 9:7-14 addresses this directly. Who goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruits? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? These are not unreasonable expectations. The law says the same. Paul appeals not just to common sense but to divine authority: the Lord ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

If a pastor chooses to work a side job so as not to burden the church, that may seem honorable, but it is not God's design. And for those who look at a faithfully serving pastor and say "get a job," that attitude grieves the Holy Spirit. Jesus said the laborer is worthy of his wage. He told the disciples to drop their provisions and trust that what they needed would be provided in every house they entered.

Generosity rises to heaven just as prayer does. Acts 10:4: the angel told Cornelius, "Your alms have gone up to God as a memorial." Both prayer and generosity rise. A person can be a devout Christian, and only prayer rises from their life. But where both rise together, the combination draws heaven's response.

There is money for the work of this church that is with those who belong here. When God was blessing his people, this church was in mind. Willful, regular, sacrificial giving — not under compulsion but as a delight — is what fuels the engine of the local church's mission. If every member gave faithfully, what could be done together would be immeasurably greater.