Would you pay to worship? Would you pay to come into the presence of God? Would you pay to read from God’s word? Would you pay to pray? Would you pray to commune at the Lord’s Table?
The latter activity is a reality in Germany. At least in the Catholic church. The church is struggling financially so they made up a new rule. When you appoint man-made rulers, you get man-made laws. The new law says that if you don’t pay your church tax, you don’t get to take communion and you won’t have a Catholic burial!
The civil government assesses the tax and collects it – 8% of the annual tax paid. It is then redistributed to the church authorities. Why the set up? Well, it is convenient to declare you are not religious to avoid paying the tax. Now if you don’t pay the tax, you don’t take the Lord’s Supper. The good news, though, is that the German Catholic church will still administer the “last rites” – even if you don’t pay the tax!
Two matters come to mind. First, this is just another example of how man makes up rules where he should leave things in the hands of God. Man-made rules in religion make Christianity vain, void, and pointless (Matthew 15:8-9). Man-made rules will not assist an individual to go to heaven. Some people in Colossae were practicing asceticism – denying themselves things that weren’t inherently evil – because it supposedly made them more spiritual.
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But Paul wrote: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)–according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:21-23).
My second thought is the one with which I began. Would you pay to worship God? Do you get so much out of worship that you would pay to be in God’s presence? About 4 ½ years ago, while we were worshipping in Tennessee, one Sunday before she put her money in the collection plate, six-year-old Ana quipped, “I wish I didn’t have to spend all that on church.” (I wrote the comment and the date in my Bible).
Is that how we approach worship? If it cost us something, we wouldn’t go? Is that how meaningless it is to us? If so, why?
