This is your church. You receive your spiritual food here. This is your spiritual house. Hence, if you want a nice house, you have to build this house, called Tree of Life Christian Church, yourself. Please do not expect people who are not living in this house, that is, outsiders to renovate or build this house. Why should they? Would you expect outsiders to renovate your HDB flat? Of course not. The flat that you stay in does not belong to these outsiders. Dear brothers and sisters who are living in this flat called Tree of Life, this is your house, let’s build it ourselves.
Today, we hold an Extraordinary Congregation Meeting (ECM) to vote as to whether or not the church will want to buy a property. If we decide to buy it, we will have to raise funds. You can make a free gift, an interest free loan or a loan with interest at a reasonable market rate. When you make a loan to the church, we will also explain to you the church repayment scheme, namely, the loan period, the repayment amount, and the interest (if required).
If you have the money, please consider either giving or lending to the church. But if by lending or giving, you will get into big financial difficulty, please don’t give or lend. Don’t feel upset if you can’t give or lend. The Lord knows your heart. No one should judge another person if he or she does not give. The reasons are several. For many of you, you have exhausted your funds the last time when you gave to the present property. For some people, he or she may be in very great financial difficulties that you do not know. For others, they have given without anyone knowing. Thus, don’t judge because you may judge wrongly.
Rather, let everyone who gives do so willingly because “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). If you can’t give willingly, don’t give. But if you give willingly, God promises you this: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Mal 3:10).
That said, however, every giving or lending must involve a degree of sacrifice. As David once said: “I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (2 Sam 24:24). You will never give more than what your Saviour gave you. Jesus has given us His life. Whatever you give to your Lord will never be enough to repay Him. Furthermore, giving provides good spiritual training for your faith. When you give, you might ask yourself: Is it worth giving to God? Hence, when you give, you will have to give by faith. You will stretch the muscles of your faith. In so doing, your faith in your Saviour will grow. It is no wonder that some after giving, grow spiritually. Also, because they give out of love for their Saviour, they experience the joy that comes from God.
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Mat 6:20).