When he threw the merchants and money changers out of the temple, Jesus said,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Mark 11:17

The “you” is plural and probably refers to the religious leaders, including the high priest. They were getting rich by creating a system where those who wanted to offer sacrifice had to use the services of the merchants and money changers.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes has indicated, there is nothing new under the sun. Anything that is good, can and will be corrupted by our Enemy. So, financial misconduct by church leaders should not come as a huge surprise.

Fast forward to 2021.

All my life, I have had to endure news reports about financial scandals and opulent living of purportedly Christian leaders and teachers. Reports of gold-plated bathroom fixtures and other excesses in the homes of such leaders are used by media outlets for grabbing the attention of viewers.

I need to mention that for every one of the leaders who have disgraced themselves and the name of Christ, there are thousands of faithful ministers who are usually underpaid and overworked. For them I am grateful.

My point in writing this post is to ask us to reexamine what we are expecting in a church organization. Are we enamored by the buildings and grounds? Are we looking for marble entryways and fountains? Are we looking for a mystical experience on Sunday that is produced by a carefully crafted worship center and carefully scripted program?

I must admit that I love visiting old church buildings with stained glass windows, high ceilings, etc. I appreciate the beauty of the buildings and the attention to detail that was paid by the designers and builders of those buildings.

But in those visits, I have to remind myself that the building isn’t the church, the building potentially houses the church. The church is the group of believers that gather for worship in that building. The church building is a tool for ministry, not an end in itself.

This line of thinking also helps me when I see beautiful church buildings that are no longer used for worship. In Eastern Pennsylvania where I live, there are many such that are no longer functioning churches. They are now restaurants, art galleries, museums, and a personal residence in one case I know of.

My tendency is to think this a shame, but when a tool is no longer useful, it should be discarded. If those buildings no longer assist in advancing the cause of Christ, then they should be sold to be whatever the next owner wishes them to be.

Bigger isn’t always better. Numbers don’t always tell the story. Apparently successful does not always mean truly successful.

The result of this musing is that I conclude that most, if not all of the scandals involving financial misconduct of church leaders result from a misunderstanding of the purpose of the church. This coupled with a misunderstanding of the Biblical principles for church leadership provides fertile soil for the seed of greed to grow in the leaders.

The leaders in question could not have lived opulent lifestyles if the congregants had not given them lots of money. Why did they give the money? The conclusion I draw is that they gave to make the organization bigger and the building more extravagant. In some cases, they gave because of a false promise to the givers that what they give will be multiplied and given back to them. None of these is given to us as a legitimate goal in Scripture.

As I examine the New Testament, I also see that the churches were to be ruled by elders rather than by a single man. The plurality (more than one) of elders provides for mutual accountability which will also help prevent such misconduct.

Greed is alive and well, and we should be vigilant against it in our own hearts and the organizations we participate in.

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In reading his book Changes that Heal, I ran across this statement by Henry Cloud:

“Our failures do not surprise [God]. If they surprise us, it is only because we have too high an opinion of ourselves.”

What else can I say?

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These verses are on my mind as I write this post:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.”

Psalm 120:1–2, ESV

The psalmist starts with the understanding that his prayer is heard. What is his prayer?

His prayer is to be delivered from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.

We need to look no further than the playground of our youth to find examples of lying lips and deceitful tongues. It seems that there is always someone nearby who uses their words to hurt rather than heal. As we move into adulthood, we find people at work, and unfortunately, in the church who practice hurtful speech. It is even worse when the deceit comes from a family member or close friend.

My understanding of what it means to be delivered from them has morphed recently. Nowhere in Scripture are we promised that we will not encounter people who lie and practice deceit. People say things that hurt us. Jesus went to the cross at the hands of such people.

But we are delivered from their power to make us respond in an inappropriate way. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can acknowledge the untruth in their speech, we can even acknowledge the hurt that it causes, without lashing out or being overwhelmed or destroyed in the process.

Be angry (acknowledge the hurt) but do not sin (respond inappropriately). God will deliver you from the lies and deceit.

I bet you will have an opportunity to practice this today.

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“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:17 (ESV)

If there is one thing that should distinguish the Christian church, it should be an open admission of our need for a Savior. We are the people that know that we are sick and in need of healing.

Therefore, the church is the one place where it should be acceptable to admit that you don’t live up to your own standard. The church should be the one place where we openly acknowledge that we don’t have everything together. The church is the one place where we should be able to admit that we don’t measure up.

Our shortcomings are painfully obvious to everyone around us, so there is really no downside to making the admission.

Yet, so much of my church life has been one of inherent dishonesty both on my part and the part of those around me.

To corroborate this, just ask yourself what you normally say or hear when the question “how are you?” is asked.

The standard answer is “great” or “fine” or the very spiritual-sounding answer, “I’m doing better than I deserve” or even, “great by the grace of God.”

There is nothing wrong with these responses if that is really the case. But on an average Sunday, I suspect that not everyone in the congregation is doing “fine” or “great.” Some just had an argument with their spouse on the way to church. Some just yelled at their kids for one reason or another. Some have had trouble at work. Some have had difficulty with aging parents. Some have trauma from difficult parents. The list of problematic things in a fallen world is endless.

I’m not saying that we need to tell everyone every problem we’ve had (they have enough of their own), but we do need to be honest that sometimes life gets us down and we need people around us to pick us up.

Also, we need to be honest that we don’t respond well in every difficult situation. We mess up. We hurt people. We say the wrong thing. The list of ways we fail is also endless.

But we need to be people who, like Jesus, are full of grace and truth. We need to give and receive grace for failures while being honest about them.

So, if you are a sinner, welcome to the club. If you feel that you fail more than succeed, welcome to the club. If you know that you don’t have your act together, welcome to the club.

Jesus accepts you and so should we.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. If you are reading this in an email and would like to comment, you can reply to the email or click on the “Read in browser” link below to go to the web page where you can enter a comment. I enjoy hearing from you.