Financial Accountability in the Church

Church Fraud, Jerusalem Relief, and the Need for Accountability

I invite you to take out your Bible and turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and find your place at verse 16. The title of today's message is Financial Accountability in Church or in the Church. As I began my studies on Monday of this week, as I do each week on Monday morning is when I begin studying for the Sunday sermon, I did some research on the subject of church fraud.

And I came across story after story of people who have been stolen from, churches that have been stolen from, their money misused, defrauded and it was actually very difficult reading the stories. Like the story of the private school cook who was responsible for purchasing food for church events and for the school and he devised a scheme where he would intentionally buy more food than was needed in bulk and then when it wasn't used he would return it and keep the refund in his pocket and he did that over and over and over again.

Or the church daycare worker who managed to embezzle over $100 ,000 before being caught because she convinced the parents who were bringing their children to the daycare to write the checks to her instead of the daycare because she said the account was in her personal name.

I learned just this week and I did not know this but in the early part of the 20th century the Southern Baptist Convention was in fear of having to close or disband because almost all of its money was stolen.

At one point in the, I think it was in the 30s, there was a man who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from their account, left them with almost nothing and to the point where there was talks of selling the seminary, Southern Evangelical or Southern Baptist Theological Seminary which is their flagship seminary, they were like well we may have to sell this just to keep ourselves up.

Tom Linkenberger who was the Assistant Vice President of Property Claims at Brotherhood Mutual which is an insurance company that specializes in church fraud said this. He said often church people can't bring themselves to believe that their pastor or a church trustee or a longtime member or a school cook could possibly steal from the church.

Normally it's one of the most trusted people in the church who's pilfering from the collection plate diverting funds from the church budget or investment accounts to feed their spending habits or pay personal debts.

Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary which has a extension campus here in town has what it's called their Center for the Study of Global Christianity and they have researched church finances and through their research they have come to the conclusion that more money and I'll put this on the board, more money is lost to fraud than is given to missions annually because as they began to determine how much is given, this is globally, how much is given to churches, 37 billion dollars is the approximate amount that's lost to fraud.

32 is the approximate amount that's given to missions. Now many of you know, some of you don't, but many of you know that a few years ago our own church was among those rocked by the pain of theft and deception and later in today's sermon I'm going to share that story.

Not because it's a story I enjoy telling, but because I want to tell you how God has redeemed us out of that terrible situation. And that's a story worth telling. But you may wonder why I'm even talking about this subject.

Why am I talking about church fraud in today's sermon? Well the reason why is because of the passage that we are in. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 Paul is talking about an offering that he is collecting for the church in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem church was suffering with issues of poverty and dealing with the dual threat of persecution and famine. And Paul determined to collect an offering from the other churches in Macedonia and Achaia and throughout Asia Minor that he could take back to the church in Jerusalem to relieve them in their time of suffering.

Last week we studied 2 Corinthians 8, 1 -15 where we saw Paul commending the Macedonian churches in that even though they were a poor people that they had given above and beyond their means to see the needs of the Jerusalem church met.

They had been given generously and he was calling the church in Corinth which is in Achaia which is south of Macedonia. He was calling them to the same type of generosity. He was calling them to emulate the church in the churches in Macedonia.

Well in the midst of this section if you remember last week in verse 6 in chapter 8 verse 6 he mentions Titus. Now you remember Titus was the one that Paul was waiting on. Titus had been in Corinth and he was waiting on Titus to return to give him a report.

And when he returned there was great joy in the heart of Paul because his missionary associate, his partner in the faith had come back to him and he was excited. Well now he's about to send Titus back.

And he's going to send Titus back with two other men with this purpose that they would manage the offering that they would administer the offering that was being taken by the church in Corinth and as we're going to see in this text today that they would do so in a way that was honorable before God and men.

That they would have an upright standing when it comes to finances before God and before the people. So let's read that. Let's stand together. We'll begin here in verse 16 and we're going to read all the way to chapter 9 verse 5.

But thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel and not only that but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill.

We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man. And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you.

As for Titus he is my partner and my fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers they are messengers of the churches the glory of Christ. So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

Chapter 9. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints for I know your readiness of which I have boasted about you to the people of Macedonia saying that Achaia has been ready since last year and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter so that you may be ready as I said you would be. Otherwise if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident.

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange an advance for the gift you have promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift not as an exaction. Father in heaven hallowed be thy name.

Lord you are holy and to consider to mistreat your church especially to rob your people is something that is so powerfully vile and yet is occurring throughout the world daily as people are pilfering your church.

And this not even to say of those who have made the mistreatment of God's people their ministry as they defraud the people of God by making false promises and false statements about your truth. Lord so many wolves among the sheep I pray Lord that you would keep me from error as I preach this message keep me from weeping as I have wept in preparation for this message as I have remembered a week of sorrow.

Lord as Mike and Andy and I and Jack we came to the conclusion that our trust had been violated our hearts had been broken and that we were going to have to stand before the people of God and tell them that Lord as we consider all that we're going to study today all we're going to talk about today all that we're going to hear today from the word of God Lord let us be diligent to hear it and God please keep me from error please hold my heart in your hand please open the hearts of these people to hear and please God if there be unbelievers here help them to hear the the call of the gospel which is that trusting in Christ is the only way to be saved and Lord let the gospel not be overshadowed in this message let it come out brightly and clearly and may your spirit do his work in Christ's name amen.

Integrity and Transparency in Handling Church Money

Second Corinthians 8 1 to 15 is Paul's commendation to the people to make an offering. He's reminding them about the need for the offering he's telling them what the offering is for and he's telling them that the Macedonians have been generous in their offering.

But then when we get to verse 16 Paul shifts his attention from the the call to make an offering to how that offering is to be administered. And it's funny I got to thinking about it this week and Mike prayed for the deacons and I didn't ask him to do that but it's funny how knitted our hearts are in many ways oftentimes me him and Andy just have a certain way that we're able to sort of think the same about things because the do you know what the word minister administered.

What's the root of that. What's the root word administer. What's the root word minister. Where do we get the word minister from in the Bible. What what one office is the office of ministry. It's the deacon.

The deacon is the minister. We often call the pastor the minister of the church. But ministry is often done at the hands of the deacons. And it's just funny how that worked out as Mike asked to call to pray for the deacons in the ministry that is done by the deacons.

And really what we're seeing here is really a even though it's not an office of deacon that's being expressed here. It's a duty and that's the duty to administer something in the church to manage to steward something within the church.

And who do. You give it to. You give it a trusted men. You give it to men who have been tested. You give it to men who have been chosen by the church for this task and men that can be counted on men that are going to be able to be relied upon men that you know you can stand beside.

That's what a deacon is supposed to be. That's why while the elders lead and govern the church the deacons show by example what service is supposed to be. And I think the main passage in this if we were to look at verses 8 16 to 9 5 which I do think is a unit which is why I'm preaching it as a unit.

But the main the main thrust of this is actually verses 20 and 21 Paul says we take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us. And by the way the word generous there some of your Bibles that may be translated liberal trust me it ain't that kind of liberal.

The word liberal means a large amount or a big amount or to be open right. Well when it says that they have been that Paul says we've taken this course. What course. We've taken the course to assign these men to do this for this purpose that this generous or large offering that we have received that is being administered by us does so in a way that is blameless and honorable.

In fact I put this up as a screen. Paul wants them to understand that the receiving of this offering is going to be blameless. What does that mean. That means it's going to be above reproach. How many of you have read in the Bible that when you call a man to be the elder or pastor of the church that he's to be above reproach.

Some translations say blameless doesn't mean sinless because it couldn't. If it meant sinless then I'm out. Mike's out Andy's out. You're out. But to be blameless is to be a man of integrity. Literally it means to be a man who does not have outstanding things upon which you can hang accusations against his character.

I say it's the difference between being a coat rack and a flagpole. It's hard to hang something on a flagpole because there's nothing sticking out. There's nothing to hang anything to but a coat rack's got all these things sticking out that are intended to hang things on.

And then you see a man with a bunch of things sticking out. You say that man is not the man you want in charge. So to be blameless is not to be perfect but it is to be a man of integrity. And Paul wants this offering to be that same way.

He wants that offering to be blameless in motive and method. In motive he wants them to understand why they're taking the offering. And in method he wants them to understand how they're going to take the offering.

He wants them to know why they're taking it. Because there's a church in need. Not because Paul wants to fill his pockets. Not because Paul wants to get rich. In fact we read in the Corinthian correspondence that Paul actually said to the Corinthians he didn't want to take money from them because he didn't want to be accused of someone who only did it for the money.

But he was taking the money. The motive for taking the money was to help other churches. And the method that was going to be used was going to be I'm going to send you not one not two. But I'm going to send you three men so that it would be honorable before God and before men.

You know sometimes people say well it doesn't matter what people think of me. God knows it's not always true. Because if your outward appearance before men is such that nobody can trust you you have no integrity.

You don't do what you say you're going to do. You can't be counted on to follow through. Then guess what. God takes the same thing we do. I mean honestly people say I don't matter what men think. Well in one sense it kind of does you understand the integrity that comes with.

This is absolutely essential because of two reasons. You want to be in. You want to have integrity and transparency. You want to have integrity and transparency. And so that's what Paul's talking about here.

Everything is to be above board. Nothing is to be hidden. Everything is to be open to the charge. Everything is to be open so that there can be no charges of mishandling or manipulation. The ultimate goal in administering the church and primarily administrating the finances of the church is integrity and transparency.

And so Paul is going to accomplish this by appointing three stewards as the best title I could come for them. The word steward means manager. In fact used to back when we had committees. We don't really have committees anymore.

But back when we had committees what did we call the committee that was in charge of the finances. Anybody remember stewardship committee. The stewardship committee because their job was to manage the finances of the church.

They were to be stewards or managers of the finances of the church. If you ever hear that word that big fifty cent church word stewardship. Well typically it has to do with money. Paul assigns three stewards to this task.

And what we see in this outline is we see the stewards chosen. We see the stewards commended. And then we see the stewards commissioned. Now you'll notice the two verses that I did not include in the in the outline there's 20 and 21 because I just gave them to you.

20 and 21 are the heart of this. Where Paul says this is why we're doing this. We're doing this so you understand it's blameless and honorable before God and before men. But in the midst of that he gives us the choosing the commendation and the commissioning of these stewards.

So we're going to begin in verse 16 and read how they're chosen. So let's go back to verse 16. Paul says but thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. What's Paul talking about here.

He's talking about Titus. You remember Titus had just returned from Corinth. Well now he's going to be sent back. And the reason he's going to be sent back is he's going to be sent back to lead this group of three men who are going to manage this offering that's being given to the church.

And Paul says something about him. Paul says God put it into his heart to love you the same way I do to have the same care for you that I have. So in that sense Titus is going in a sense as a representative of Paul.

He's saying I'm not coming at this point but Titus is coming to you. And God has placed into Titus's heart the same care that I have for you. It's almost as if I'm coming. So in that sense Titus is Paul's representative.

And then he says in verse 17 for he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he is going to you out of his own accord beloved. He wanted to do it. He didn't just do it because Paul said go do it.

He didn't just do it because the church needed him to do it. He did it because he wanted to do it. Can I say this to you. If a man does not want to serve he should not be compelled. If a man does not want to do the job he's not the man for the job.

I mean just think on that I could probably end right there because that's enough that you own for a whole week in it. If the man ain't the one who wants to do it he ain't the one in fact go back to the role of the elder for just a moment.

What is the first qualification for elder. When I ask that question most people say above reproach. That's not the first qualification. That's right first Timothy chapter 3 says if a man aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task he must then be above reproach.

The first requirement to be a pastor or an elder is you got to want it. A compelled pastor is not going to do what God has called him to do because God ain't gonna do it because you didn't put in his heart to do it.

And the same goes for other areas of service in the church. We can guilt you into doing things but it doesn't do any good for you. And it really doesn't do any good for us either. People can be manipulated into participating but that's not the way it's supposed to be.

Is it service to God must flow out of a willing heart. And what we're gonna learn next week. And I'm I tell you I I'm ready to preach both. If you want to just stay for an extra hour because next week we're going to talk about offerings.

And giving is also willing. Service must be willing. And our offerings must be willing not under compulsion because God loves what. Cheerful giver. Cheerful giver. Now I'm not saying a man can't be encouraged.

If you go to a man and say hey we think you would be a good whatever leader in this area. And a man says well I'm a little apprehensive about that. I've never led anything before. And we encourage him.

That's that's one thing. But to make a man do it to compel him to do it to manipulate him to do it is not the man you want. You want a man who God has put it in his heart to do the job because he will do it as unto the Lord.

So we see that in verse 17 he says. For he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he's going to you out of his own accord. He wants to do it. Verse 18. With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel.

Now here's here's the fun part. Paul assigns two people. We're going to see the other one later. Paul assigns two people to go with Titus. And he does not tell us who they are. And I and I. Bob Utley is a Bible commentator and Bible teacher.

I really like him. He's got a nice southern way of speaking and and he said something funny about this passage. He said I think God does this just to give commentators something to write. And you know what's funny.

All the commentaries I read six or seven pages opining about who this guy is. I guess we do need things that fill books sometimes I don't have any idea who it is. One good candidate stands out in my mind.

And that is Luke because at this point Luke is ministering with Paul and Luke was known as a gospel writer. So my assumption is he was probably a gospel preacher. And Paul says this man is well known within the churches for preaching the gospel so that one fits.

But I wouldn't in any way stand up here and say you need to believe that. Because I don't know either I'm just saying that's one good candidate. There are other men who are good candidates. Apollos was known for being a powerful preacher again that says he was well known for preaching the gospel.

She'd go down the list as to who meets the qualifications who's in this area at this point in time who's serving with Paul. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is the next verse. Just look with me because it says with him we were sitting the brother who's famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel which means he's he's beloved for his integrity to the word.

But verse 19 and not only that but he's been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill.

The appointing of the churches is huge because what it means is this man was not a designee of Paul but was a man recognized by the church to do this job. The churches had recognized him to do this job.

In one sense Titus is coming with apostolic authority. He's coming as Paul's representative. He says he has the same heart that I have. God gave him the same heart I have. But this man whomever he may be is coming on ecclesiastical authority.

He's coming with the authority of the church. He's coming having been chosen by and appointed by the church. You understand as a body there are times where we're all called on to speak to decisions. For instance when an elder is chosen the elders put a man before the church to do what to affirm that man.

And you know what our Constitution says if we don't get a 90 affirmation we go back and figure out why. Because if if less than nine out of ten of y 'all think we're right then we need to go check out why.

Because y 'all have the same Holy Spirit we have. We're called to a position of leadership. We do have an appointed position of leadership and governance in the church that is unique. But if the church does not understand or affirm what we're doing we need to figure out what's the problem.

And so in this we have this man who has been appointed by the churches to do this job. And now jump with me just quickly down to verse 22 again jumping past 19 and 20. I'm sorry jumping past 20 and 21.

Excuse me. Going down to verse 22 it says. And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters. But who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you.

Now if I didn't know who the first guy was I ain't got no clue who this guy. At least I gave you some options. This doesn't tell us anything except it tells us one that he was earnest for them. And it too it tells that he had been tested.

This was a man that in some way shape or form was trusted. He had a desire for the Corinthians and he had been tested and affirmed. I think it's interesting that they chose three that Paul appoints three to go.

There's nothing in the Bible that says there has to be three men doing something. But there is some wisdom in that if you have one man by himself the danger of any man by himself is the danger of lack of accountability.

This is why I'm not a fan of the single pastor model in churches. I said not a fan. I don't think it's biblical. I'm not a fan of it. I don't think it's biblical to have a single pastor who functions like a mini Pope in the church that has no accountability.

I think that's dangerous. Can you have two. Yes I think you can have two. But the problem when you have two is you run the risk of division. I'm not saying it can't function with two. I think two can work and sometimes that's all a church can have is two pastors and that's good.

But the benefit of three is you have a third voice. When division comes you have someone within the three because it might not always be against the same two and there's always a third voice. Now again I know we're talking about money.

Daniel we're talking about finances but y 'all know. Also we got three elders and I think that's very helpful sometimes don't you guys. I mean I really do. And also by the way we're talking about this a little while.

We also have three finance officers. Not because of this text but I tell you what. When I was reading this text I was like yeah I think we got it right this time because we did fail in the past. I was part of that failure and I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about that later.

We failed and I was part of that because I thought we put too much trust in one person. But before we get there understand there's three men here. They've been chosen. They are chosen appointed for this duty for these reasons.

Now let's look quickly at their commendation verses 22 and 23 we see their commendation. It says and or 22 says is the verse about the the third man 23 as for Titus he is my partner my fellow worker for your benefit.

And as for these brothers they are messengers of the church is the glory of Christ. So give proof before the churches of your love and are boasting about you to these men. So again 23 and 24 is the commendation of these men and Paul says about them these powerful things.

He says Titus is my partner and fellow worker partner fellow workers soon our gosh he is he is he is right beside me. He's been beside me he's been in the trenches with me. This is a man I trust and I'm sending to him to you.

And the other two he uses the word apostle. Now we think of the word apostle. We think of the twelve apostles. We think of Paul being an apostle. But the word apostle also can have a more general use in the church as one who is sent by the churches.

And it says in this the ESV says messengers was the NSA messengers. That word messengers is the word Apostle loss. It literally means they're being sent by the churches. So again you've got one being sent as a representative of the Apostle.

The other two are being sent as representative of the churches. So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men. I'm sending them to you. Demonstrate your love by receiving these men.

And then we get to chapter 9. And in chapter 9 we see the commissioning of the stewards. The stewards commissioning. Notice what he says. He says now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the Saints.

For I know your readiness of which I boasted about you to the people of Macedonia saying that Achaia has been ready since last year and your zeal has stirred them up or most of them. But I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter so that you may be ready as I said you would be.

I'm sending these three administrators to ensure that you're ready to receive the offering that you promised over a year ago. Remember 1st Corinthians is written about 18 months before 2nd Corinthians and and at the end of 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verses 1 to 4 Paul talks about this offering.

He says set something aside every week as you are prospered so that when I come there won't have to be a collection. It will already have. The money have already been raised. Well here he's saying I'm sending these men to make sure you're doing that because you said you were ready.

You said and you showed your readiness to do this. But I want to make sure that you're ready. Why. Look with me at verses 4 5. Otherwise if some Macedonians come with me and find that you're not ready we would be humiliated.

Paul says if I come and by the way if I come I might bring some people from Macedonia. You remember the Macedonians they were the very generous ones. They were the ones who gave above and beyond their means.

They were the ones who gave him even when they didn't have there there might be a few of them who come with me. And if we come and you guys who are so prosperous and who should have been taking this offering for over years setting stuff aside every week for over a year when we come if we come and y 'all haven't done this yet I'm gonna be humiliated.

Might say that's harsh words but it's just the Paul's being honest. I'm sending these three guys to make sure that you're ready. In fact the word ready in the ESV I think it's four or five times just in this section that your readiness you're ready.

You're ready when we get there. Why. Last verse verse 5. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead of you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift not as an exaction.

Now the word exaction there in some ways can mean taken advantage of motivated by greed to be exploited. But in this context I think what Paul is saying is related to the idea of compelled or compulsion so that it will be a willing offering not a not.

When you get there everybody's running around feeling compelled to raise money. It's not going to be. We're not going to have to exploit this when we get there. We're not going to have to force this when we get there it's already going to be done.

So I'm sending these men to you for the purpose that they would manage the offering so that when I come not only if I bring some Macedonians with me not only will we not be humiliated but we also won't be running around trying to do an offering that we should have been doing for the last 18 months.

So again chapter 8 16 to chapter 9 verse 5 is Paul's choosing or telling the church that three men have been chosen to come to them to administer an offering so that it be done properly and not under compulsion as we see next week.

That's the way offerings are supposed to be not under compulsion but done so willingly. All right. All of this this entire section this entire text from the choosing to the commending to the commissioning of the stewards is all for the purpose of ensuring that finances in the church be handled properly.

That the finances be handled correctly. Paul Barnett who wrote a commentary on this passage or on the whole book of 2nd Corinthians he says these verses serve to remind all Christians and church leaders to exert extreme care in all matters relating to money.

I'll say it again these verses serve to remind all Christians and church leaders to exert extreme care in all matters relating to church money. And Paul was right we have to do that. So I said I was going to tell you this story on the day of the last presidential election.

I went to vote at our local precinct. I was still living here in Jacksonville so I drove down to the church that does the voting there in San Mateo is where I met you. Remember Chris. Years ago you and Chrissy met you while voting.

Mike and I were on the phone arguing about Genesis 6. Not arguing but we were having a strong discussion about our differences of opinion as we often do and lovingly so but I remember that I just remember where I what we were talking about him or what I was doing.

I just had voted came back to the church and on my desk was a letter and I'm not thinking anything of it. I had had many handwritten deaths on letters on my desk over the years from our secretary I just figured it was said something like I'm going to lunch or whatever.

You know no big deal. So I walk and I sit down. Mike's on the phone with me. I open up the letter and I said Mike we got to stop talking. I said just stop listen. And I read to him the letter and the letter said they said Keith I've been stealing from the church for years.

I'm leaving to go out of town. When you file the police report I'll come back and turn myself in. There was more in it but that was the gist at that time. Jack was still serving as an elder and I said to Jack I said I said to Mike I said I got called Jack.

Mike called. I think Mike called Andy and we called Adam because Adams a police officer and a deacon. And we began to research the accounts. We had different accounts. We had account for our checking.

We had account for our running savings and then we had a savings account that was set aside for building fund and what we thought we had in there was not what we had in there. The person that was in charge of the money had been manipulating financial reports even bank records to show us that we had amounts that we did not have and almost well I would say all but what little was required to keep the account open was gone from our bit from our building fund.

Less than a third of what we thought was in our checking was actually in our checking and our savings was gone. I wept along with others for a week at least as we began to uncover more and more deception of things that had been done how it was done how the money was taken how it was done without being seen the the type of subversive things that were done.

The person who stole the money did turn themselves in and they were eventually prosecuted for it. It wasn't the kind of money that you can simply say we're not going to get any police involved. It was I mean if it would have been if she'd have stolen you know two three hundred dollars it still would have been bad.

But something like that can be understood and dealt with this was this was in the amounts that it would have been. It was a legal issue and so here's here's the part that's interesting is is how how this person got caught.

Because I want to credit Andy and Mike and even like I said I mentioned Adam earlier because I was blinded to this deception I worked next to this person for more than a decade. Sometimes in the same office we had we the nursery used to be the church office.