2 Kings 12:9

 2 Kings 12:9 says, But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.  Jehoiada put a chest with a hole in the lid at the entrance to the temple, and the priests at the door put all the money coming into the temple in it.  This was to set it aside for use in repairing the temple.  We often have designated offerings that set aside money for specific purposes, but this should never come at the expense of our tithes and offerings which are used in reaching out to the world with the gospel and providing for preachers and missionaries.  Verse ten adds, And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord.  When there was a lot of money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest put the money in bags and said the money was found in the house of the Lord.  They did not just put the money in the hands of the priests.  Not everything given to God should be used to support those in full-time ministry nor under their sole authority.  Verse eleven continues, And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the Lord,  They gave the money to those who had oversight of the work, and the paid the carpenters and builders.  We need to make certain that God's money, that brought into the church, is used wisely today, but we should also pay those doing work on church property a fair wage.  Verse twelve concludes, And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.  All those doing the work were paid fairly.  I don't believe that everyone doing the work was paid exactly the same thing, but that they were paid according to their skills and what their work contributed to the overall repair.  As followers of Christ, we are not all going to be rewarded the same materially for doing God's work, but we will all be rewarded the same spiritually and that is what really matters.  Sometimes, we can become jealous or even angry if it seems some other Christian has more in this life than we do, but this should never be true.  Verse thirteen states, Howbeit there were not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord:  They were repairing the building, but they were not making the vessels to be used in worship, which had been lost or destroyed.  Workers can repair church buildings today, but they may not be able to provide all that is necessary for real worship.  Of course, for Christians, this is not physical things, but is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and obedience to His will.  Verse fourteen adds, But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired therewith the house of the Lord.  The money collected went strictly for the repair of the temple.  If we collect money for a specific purpose under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, then we need to use that money only for the purpose for which it was collected, and we also don't need to just sit on the money forever.  If we believe that God has called us to do a specific thing, we should step out in faith and do it.  Verse fifteen continues, Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.  They didn't oversee how the money was dispersed to the workmen but allowed those in charge to dispense it.  If we contract work to be done on church property today, we need to hire someone who is reputable and trust them to be honest in paying those who work for them.  Verse sixteen concludes, The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the Lord: it was the priests'.  The priests were not left without a means to meet their everyday needs but received the trespass and sin money.  We don't collect trespass and sin money today, but we do need to make sure that even during building projects that we continue to bring our regular tithes at least to God.  Our offerings could be designated, but I believe that money for building projects should be in addition to what we normally give anyway.