Passion Week -1

HI, folk! I know this is an off week for our group, but Passion Week is so filled with impact that I wanted to at least offer you something to be thinking about. Eight chapters of Matthew, six chapters of Mark, five chapters of Luke, and nine chapters of John take place during this one week in history. These are my thoughts for this time and perhaps they will have meaning for you, too, as we go through these days.

YESTERDAY – the day before Palm Sunday

Jesus has already told His group of followers twice that He will soon be killed in Jerusalem. Their reactions made it clear that most of them didn’t get it. Jesus had long had a base of ministry in Bethany, with His dearest friends among those not always traveling with Him—the siblings living together Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It makes sense that He would want to pause for refreshment with them before the week He knew was coming. They prepared a special meal for Him and His followers, described like this:

John 12:¹ Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. ² A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. ³ Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. 

⁴ But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, ⁵ “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” ⁶ Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. 

⁷ Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” 

⁹ When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, ¹¹ for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.

Try to soak in the feeling as He walked into the home of these three. Imagine the depth of love, gratitude, admiration, and worship for the man who had brought Lazarus out of the grave and returned him to his precious sisters. If you’re wondering, this is not the meal where Martha complained that Mary wasn’t helping her prepare the banquet for the group. That had happened earlier, and there was nothing on any of their minds now but Jesus and celebrating Him.

This would have been the dinner meal, served after sundown which marked the end of the Sabbath. Other gospel writers inserted this later in the chronology as a flashback, describing it after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as a way of highlighting the contrast between the way the religious leaders confronted Jesus and Mary and the others praised Him.

The original Greek says the perfume cost 300 denarii. You may remember from Jesus’ parable of the vineyard owner and other places that one denarius was a normal day’s pay. So this perfume cost essentially a year’s pay (given 52 Sabbaths in the 365 days of a year).  Think about what the average person earns in a year, and think of something precious enough to cost that much and still be held in a carryable jar. Others point out the detail that Mary broke the jar to open it. Surely it’s no surprise that something that valuable was in a thoroughly sealed container to avoid any loss or evaporation, so the spout would have come to a narrow tip that could be broken off and the contents doled out in tiny amounts.

Such extravagance! Such love! How much would you have to be devoted to someone to do such a thing? And not just to anoint Jesus… no, this wasn’t a couple of drops on His head. She poured it out—onto His feet! And no ordinary cloth would do, she wiped His feet with her hair! 

Think, too, that this meant something that would have been unthinkable for a Jewish woman; Mary let down her hair around someone other than her husband. This man that brought such worship and admiration, also brought a sense of relaxed love and intimacy. Those who knew Jesus best didn’t know Him as some aloof religious figure. He promoted an atmosphere of relaxed comfort. It’s hard to imagine the warmth of this scene… at least for a while.

Remember that this isn’t a diary, it was written after the fact. None of them other than Jesus knew at the time that Judas was a thief. In fact, he was one of the most highly educated and respected among them, or they wouldn’t have put him in charge of their ministry finances! Further, I don’t think it would have been a surprise that the treasurer would be concerned about what appeared to be a waste of resources. Might we not question our church spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that might appear frivolous?

Jesus’ response tells us something powerful. While all the rest of them hadn’t been paying attention to Him telling them He was about to die, Mary got it! She knew this was her last chance to express her love for Jesus in the flesh. Of course funding our ministries is critically important, but how much more important is the One for whom we minister?

May we never place so much value on our ministries that they become more important than Jesus.

And of course, you can’t have this big a party without the neighbors knowing something is going on. Remember there was a large crows of mourners who had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave. When they found out Jesus was in town, a huge crowd gathered wanting to get a glimpse of Him and hear what He had to say. Word got back to the religious leaders, naturally, and the Bible tells us they had already begun their plans to kill Jesus—and Lazarus, too.

Curious Conversations

Brian Grazer is the producer who won an Academy Award for Best Picture for the movie A Beautiful Mind. The research he did for that movie continued afterward, and led to him writing the #1 NY Times bestseller, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. Grazer encourages all of us to change our social interactions for the better through what he calls a “curiosity conversation.” The point of a curiosity conversation is to understand the other person’s perspective. That doesn’t mean you agree with it, but that you are open to trying to understand it. Doing that requires not telling the other person how wrong they are.

Julia Dahr, of Boston Consulting Group, calls these “constructive conversations,” and we can all see that the popular method of trying to shout each other down is certainly not constructive. She says the goal of our conversations should not be victory, but progress.

What would happen across social media, gathering places, and living rooms, if instead of “That’s crazy,” we said, “I’ve never thought of it that way. Can you describe it in a way that helps me understand your point of view?” I’ll make a prediction: We would have a much less angry nation, and instead of dismissing me people would see that I care and would be more open to considering my point of view.

History Shows how to Make America Great Again

As I look at the state of the world today, and as I look at the kinds of insultingly attacking questions and responses I get from my Christian teaching on Quora I am tempted to think things today are the worst they’ve ever been.

How short-sighted of me.

The Old Testament shows us that attacks on those who follow God are as old as history. Trying to silence those who follow God’s principles is as old as Genesis. We decry the fact that people today think they know better than God how to live their lives. But isn’t that exactly what happened in Eden?

I’m speaking from the perspective of a person brought up in the United States, old enough to remember when our country had values based on the Judaeo-Christian values of the Bible. Those days are gone, and it seems the majority of Americans today are glad to see them gone. They reject that teaching. But why do U.S. Christians act so surprised?

I see two significant factors at work here, which have contributed significantly to the change in our attitudes, Neither of these are new in any way; in fact they are a continuation of trends we have seen throughout human history.

First, the more comfortable people are the less they think they need God. For millennia we have seen over and over that powers rise based on “good values” and become self-satisfied. We have accomplished all this. It is our strength, our wisdom, and our power. That attitude goes all the way back to the tower of Babel.

Second, since we have proven our strength, anyone who thinks we should acknowledge any higher power should be silenced because they are undermining how special we are. We can’t just ignore them, we must actively work against them because they are a threat to our own individual power.

In each case, the issue is the same; people who are comfortable find it easier to believe that they are in control of their lives. That is why throughout history the less-privileged people have found it easier to call on God.

This is why Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” He wanted to eliminate religion because it gave people hope for something beyond themselves, beyond their country, beyond their government. He believed that the right government could take charge, and take care of everyone’s needs.

If the last few decades have taught us anything, they should have taught us that our government is not made up of gods. It is made up of humans, desperately hoping to hold on to their positions of power. Every one of our political leaders—in every party—are being plied by interest groups working to change their positions. They all have wealth far beyond their salaries, from people trying to influence their positions. I don’t question that they all started with the highest of ideals, but the system has swayed them.

Which of our political leaders has solved our problems? According to https://usdebtclock.org/ the U.S. is currently over $28 trillion in debt. We have had more violent crime deaths in the U.S. in the first half of 2021 than in all of 2020. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought our country to a nationwide examination of racism 50 years ago, and yet racist crimes continue today.

The biblical book of Judges describes a bad time in history in chapter 21:25: In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. That sounds like unguided anarchy, doesn’t it? But today things are worse. People are no longer allowed to do as they see fit. Rather, people are obligated to do as society sees fit. Do you have feelings about homosexuality or abortion or sex outside of marriage? Sorry, you’re no longer allowed to have your own feelings on these things. Instead, you are sued if you refuse to bake a cake celebrating something you disagree with—no matter that there are dozens of other bakers who would be happy to do so. Our culture must silence those who don’t acquiesce to popular beliefs.

The U.S. is no different from any of these—and as such, history shows us only one hope of turning around. God Himself gave the answer to King Solomon way back in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

The people of Israel abandoned all they knew about God, and their nation fell. The people were exiled and scattered to foreign countries. But they returned to God, and He brought them out of exile and rebuilt the nation of Israel. America will not be made great again by any political leader or movement. Only the Church can do it.

Will we?

“Rabbits” by Terry Miles

{Available June 8, 2021}

Wow, such a wonderfully twisted wild ride!

I kept thinking in the early stages that I was so familiar with this story. I thought it must be based on a a short story I had read, but I had forgotten that I had listened to a podcast with the same name. The podcast whetted my thirst, but it didn’t completely prepare me for the intense journey that was Rabbits. You will find yourself frequently thinking you know what’s going on, only to discover that you are as wrong as the characters in the story.

It is really challenging to put people through this many twists and turns without losing them. Terry Miles does an amazing job of this, giving us enough information to think we *might* know what’s going on and then wrenching that out from under us. Even better, the book has a twisted, but understandable conclusion—something SciFi has been lacking since the influence of Gardner Dozois left writers thinking they are supposed to be inconclusive. 

This book is thoroughly engaging and entertaining. The only thing preventing me from giving it my highest praise is that the characters seem unable to say “Hello” without dropping F-bombs. The cumulative effect goes past annoying to offensive, and adds a totally avoidable barrier to full enjoyment of the story.

(Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free for pre-publication review.)

More Than a Shepherd

On Quora I was recently asked if I thought Psalm 23 revealed attributes of God. I thought I would share my response here:

There are several mentioned there, but obviously the strongest is His role as a shepherd. The shepherd has multiple roles, and we see them here.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He will provide all our needs. He will not provide all our wants, because He knows that we often want things that are not best. We have to be honest; the frequent references to God/Jesus as our shepherd isn’t a compliment. Sheep are not the brightest animals in the menagerie. They’re not completely unintelligent, by any means, but you don’t see trained sheep acts. So the shepherd has to look after the sheep and make sure all their needs are provided for.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He is our Creator. I confess that I was a workaholic for part of my life, and I have known a great many others. But that isn’t healthy. The God who “manufactured” our bodies also wrote the Owner’s Manual and knows that we need rest to be at our best. Also, when sheep lie down they close the pack up more tightly. Our families and friends need us. Wholesome time resting with them rejuvenates all of us.

He leads me beside quiet waters, 3 He refreshes my soul.

The Bible talks frequently of meditating on God and the Bible. Quiet times, away from the noise and hurry of the world are truly refreshing and strengthen our relationship with God. It has always been true for me that being in nature helps me quiet my mind so I can just be with God.

He guides me along the right paths

He is omniscient, always knowing what is best. If we are following God’s leadership we will never, ever follow the wrong path. It may not be the most comfortable path, but it will be the right one.

for his name’s sake.

God cares about His reputation. For example, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham negotiates with God regarding the number of righteous people in those cities based on the importance of God’s reputation for being just. This means something for us today, too. Don’t put a Christian symbol on your car if you’re an inconsiderate driver, because you are hurting God’s reputation. Don’t claim to be a Christ-follower if you are a hater, because you’re hurting God’s reputation.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

God is faithful. He will never leave us. Yes, the right path for us may need to lead through some uncomfortable, frightening times. We are still in this fallen world, after all. But we need not fear, because He is with us in the worst of times.

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

God disciplines us when needed. It’s so interesting to me that kids that aren’t given healthy boundaries by their parents are the ones that act out the most. Having limits actually comforts us! It gives a sense of security knowing that someone who knows better than we do is helping us avoid the dangers of our excesses.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

God’s love shines brightest when others are against us. I think of a student playing basketball in the gym of a bitter rival school. It seems the whole crowd is cheering against them. But then they hear the voice of their parents, voices they recognize, cheering for them at the top of their lungs in the middle of the voices against them. And those lonely voices provide a jolt of encouragement in the midst of what they’re facing.

You anoint my head with oil;

The Middle East is a dry and dusty place, and they didn’t have the luxury of hot showers. The scalp gets itchy and irritated. Pouring oil over the head of a guest provided a welcome relief from discomfort. But the use of the word “anoint” rather than “pour” makes it more special. It wasn’t just a physical comfort, it was a clear indication that the person receiving it was special in the eyes of the one anointing them. God comforts us and sees us as special.

my cup overflows.

God is generous. In a land where water is precious, it is not unusual for someone to be given just a small amount of water. Enough to stave off the edge of thirst, but no more. But God is lavish in providing for us.

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

Again we see the confidence that God will never ever leave us, never stop loving us, for as long as we live.

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

But here David goes beyond just the days of his life. It isn’t really clear what impressions the early Hebrews had of the afterlife. But one thing is clear, David expected to be with God forever!

The Desires of Your Heart

“He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4b)

Perhaps you have heard people quoting this from the Bible, as evidence that we can rely on God to give us what we want. Maybe if we just believe enough, or pray enough, or give enough, this promise will come true.

If you aren’t in the Bible for yourself, you may even believe that.

But this is a classic example of pulling a snippet out of its context and torturing it to try to make it say something other than the Bible ever intended. Let’s look at this in its larger context:

3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this.

If we see this snippet the way the writer actually wrote it, we see 7 prerequisites to receiving this promise. The passage says that God will give you the desires of your heart if you:

• Trust in the Lord – Do you truly trust that God will take care of you? One way to tell is to examine the things you worry about. The longer your trust list is, the shorter your worry list will be.
• Do good – This isn’t just avoiding doing evil things, it is also actively, deliberately, consistently doing good things for others.
• Dwell in the land – The people of Israel were called to get their cultural influences specifically from each other, and not to allow their values to be taken over by others. (Especially important to us in a time when nearly all our surrounding influences are contrary to Christianity.)
• Enjoy safe pasture – Do you take the time regularly to appreciate thank God for the things you have and truly enjoy them? Or are you focused on what you don’t have and how you can get it?
• Take delight in the Lord – God is not an add-on, an afterthought, a foreboding figure to avoid. God is caring and loving. Sing His praises. Thank Him always. Celebrate how amazing He is on a regular, consistent basis. Lay back and bask in His protection.
• Commit your way to the Lord – This is not a one-time decision. It’s not something that happens automatically because of who your parents were or what they did. This has nothing to do with what you say or do at church. This is a full, sold-out, life encompassing commitment to serve God with all your heart, soul, and might.
• Trust in Him – This one is so important it is mentioned twice!

What happens if you fulfill all these prerequisites consistently? The desires of your heart change to come perfectly into alignment with God’s desires for you and for others. God is happy to give you the desires of your heart because they are no longer selfish, they are what He already wants for you. Verse 4 really is a fantastic promise, but we can’t remove it from its context. Rather, it should be a prime motivator for us to focus on all the prerequisites around it.

Protecting a Loving Heart

I received a text from a dear friend with a tender heart. Someone who gives all of themselves and is deeply hurt when others don’t return that same love:

You know that I have a heart for others. I want others to be at peace. I want others to see people as human. And I want that in return from people I am invested in.

So, what are some appropriate barriers that I can do put in my mind to not have the expectations of people that I do? Or to help my heart for others be protected from being hurt by people that don’t give anything to my expectations? Do these questions even make sense?

First, I think we need to acknowledge that a soft heart is much better than a hard heart. If Jesus is our role model, I think everyone would agree that He cared more than any of us, and we know of His tears. So never, ever think that your soft heart is something that needs to be “fixed.”

Second, we need to remember that Jesus says we should measure ourselves the same way we measure others. That means bringing an attitude of humility from the knowledge of the times we have not been who we should have been with others. In some cases it was a failure on our part. In other cases their expectation of us may not even have been reasonable, but in their minds we disappointed them–just as we are feeling they disappointed us.

With that foundation, the word that jumps out to me from your note is “expectations.” To me, there is a world of difference between expectations and hopes. We can, and should, hope for the very best from everyone and for everyone. But do we have the right to expect that? What expectations are appropriate, and what are unreasonable?

Tiffani and I made a verbal contract with each other before God at our wedding, giving us the right to have higher expectations of each other than people who haven’t made such a contract. But the truth is that I sometimes disappoint her with my actions. She would rather that not happen, of course, but she doesn’t expect that I always act perfectly–despite the formal contract we made. That would be an unreasonable expectation.

You and I have an informal contract with each other before God, because of our regular professions of love for each other. We have the right to expect a level of concern for each other’s welfare that others don’t have a right to expect of us. Note that this is separate from a family relationship, which is based on the whims of who people sleep with and don’ t necessarily have an element of committed love.

I decided to get creative and try a diagram of what I’m thinking. There are layers of expectations that are appropriate. In the center is God, who will always be looking out for us. Isn’t it interesting, though, that even though He is always working things out for good He doesn’t always meet our expectations? Clearly the problem there can only be that our expectations of Him are unreasonable! That is usually because we want him to do what we want–even though He knows better than we do what is best.

The next layer is with people who have made a formal commitment to unite with us for life. This is why it’s entirely unreasonable for people to have the same level of expectations for a live-in. Those people have consciously avoided making a commitment.

In the next layer I would put Christians. This one is fuzzy, because so many people claim to be a Christian but have never shown any fruit that would support that claim. For true Christians, though, we have a right to a level of expectations that allow us to gently point out things as described in Galatians 6:1(NLT): Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

The next layer is family. The level of expectation that is appropriate here is cultural, being different between Asians than Westerners, different from Northerners to Southerners, different from Latinos to Anglos, etc.

Finally, the rest of the World. While our culture has created some implied expectations for human interactions, we really can’t place expectations on people. They have no obligation to God or to us. We can hope for great behavior from these folks, but we can’t expect it. As Tony Evans puts it, “Of course they’re sinning. They’re sinners! That’s their job! If we want to see a change in them, our best path is to lead them to Jesus!”

So with all of that being said, I think the level of hurt you feel is going to be based on whether you 1) look at others humbly, recognizing that you are not always acting the way they want you to, and 2) keep your hopes high, but your expectations at a reasonable level–knowing that even God is not going to meet your unreasonable expectations, and 3) remember that Jesus, too, was let down by people who disappointed Him. But He kept loving.

Why Do Christians Suffer?

A follower in Kenya (whose English is far better than my Swahili) wrote: “Please sir we want you to share us your opinion about this? Why Christian suffers even after born again??”

Well, the short answer is that we still live in a fallen world. But there’s more to it than that, our suffering actually helps us develop as disciples. Look at James 1:2–4 (NLT):

“2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

Romans 5:3–4 (NLT): “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

But there’s even more. The suffering we go through makes us better able to minister to others! Look at 2 Corinthians 1:3–5 (NLT):

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.”

The Bible makes it clear that this world is not our home. Hebrews 11:13 tells us we shouldn’t expect everything to be great on earth: “13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”

But our time on this world is very brief compared to the glorious eternity in Heaven we will have:

1 Peter 1:6–7 (NLT): “6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

So what do we do when we encounter suffering? Be joyful, because God is developing us as disciples, and making us better able to help others. But most importantly, James 5:13 (NLT): “13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.”

When we call on Him, God’s Holy Sprit will be our Comforter.

Christians Entering the Election Season

As we get to the heart of the U.S. election season–hot on the heels of so much COVID-19 worry and controversy–I really wanted to reach out to my brothers and sisters with words I believe are biblical regarding our decisions and conversations.

Let us first remember that no matter how patriotic we are, our first loyalty must be to the Kingdom of Heaven. 1 Peter 2:11 tells us that Christians are foreigners and strangers to this world. Our loyalty is already in Heaven, and our earthly loyalties must always come second to that. To put it bluntly, if you are a Christian, the Christian flag should always take priority over the American flag.

Second, let us look at the life of Jesus. He was an Israeli Jew in a time when all of Israel was under Roman occupation. They were persecuted and put down. I challenge you to show me a passage in the Bible where Jesus told His followers to overthrow the Roman occupation! In fact that’s what they hoped and expected Jesus would accomplish and many were disappointed when that didn’t happen. He didn’t focus on politics once, but kept His attention on individuals. The closest He came to political conversations was in Matthew 22:

Matthew 22:15–22 (NLT): 15 Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. 16 They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. 17 Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? 19 Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin, 20 he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

22 His reply amazed them, and they went away.

Jesus didn’t tell them to rebel against the government, but to consider it secondary to serving God.

Third, let us admit that Jesus would not be Republican or Democrat. The Democratic party in the U.S. espouses a level of love and compassion for those in need that Jesus would agree with. The Republican part in the U.S. espouses a level of stewardship and respect for life that Jesus would agree with. I don’t believe we can, with integrity, support either party wholeheartedly. We must take the time and effort to examine individual candidates.

Fourth, in our conversations let us be gracious and speak in ways that draw people toward Jesus rather than allow them to paint us as “haters.” I’m not asking people to be soft on things they consider to be sin. I’m asking people to remember how much sin they have been forgiven of, and communicate that same grace to others. Remember that scary passage in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our mistakes as we have forgiven other?” Let us disagree with others in ways that are supportive and respectful–because if we’re honest, no other tone will change anyone’s opinion. You attacking me will not change my mind on the issue, but it will tell me a lot about who you are as a person…and the God you claim to serve.

Finally, let us earn the right to be heard. A random person on social media ranting about something means nothing to me. A man or woman who has given of themselves to make a difference in the world has established in my mind a whole lot more respect for that person, and I am far more inclined to listen to their opinion–and such a person is far more likely to word their opinions in ways that are acceptable rather than accusatory. What do people see of you and me? Do they see us actively working to show the love that Jesus said would be our hallmark? Or do they see a person who is constantly spewing venom against others?

Our end goal should never be some political win. Our end goal should always be the advancement of God’s Kingdom and the moving of people closer to Jesus Christ. I entreat you, please, to consider this in everything you say during the next few months.

Is it Right to Pay Church Musicians

I was recently asked this question on Facebook, and as I thought through my answer I quickly realized it was going to be too long for Facebook. So I decided to make it a blog post, and I’ll be interested in your comments.

I don’t think that question can be answered with a yes or no. In my opinion it is acceptable to pay them, but it might not be best. Let me explain my thoughts.

There are certainly biblical passages supporting payment. In 2 Chronicles 34:10 we see that they paid the workers who were renovating the Temple. In 1 Timothy 5:17-18 we see that church leaders deserve wages. Interestingly, in Acts 20:17-35 Paul reminds the leaders of the church in Ephesus how hard he worked to start a church there—but in verse 34 he makes it a point to remind them that he worked hard in a separate job all that time so that he could support himself without their money! He wanted to demonstrate that it wasn’t their money he was after, it was more important to him that he show a good example of helping the weak.

Something else to consider is the teaching in places like 1 Peter 4:10-11, Romans 12:6-8, and 1 Corinthians 12. These passages make it clear that God has given each believer a specific spiritual gift that God expects them to use to help the church and each other. So it is completely appropriate for people to use their gifts in the church as their response to God’s love without expecting to be paid.

Here in the U.S., people who are paid to do something tend to look at it as a job rather than a ministry. That is a very different attitude. Remember that Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that the church leaders aren’t the “ministers.” Their job is to equip ALL the people to be the ministers of the church. So as much as possible, I believe it is appropriate for everyone to use their gifts in the church without pay because that is their responsibility.

I know a carpenter who built an entire gymnasium wood floor for the church with no payment, simply because he wanted to use his gifts and resources in that way. It would have been entirely appropriate for the church to pay him for that. Everyone would agree that it would have been a good expense for the church. But he chose not to accept money, because he felt that would take away his joy at being able to show his love for God and the people voluntarily.

On the other hand, if the church needs so much of a person’s time that he or she cannot earn enough at other jobs, the church must pay that person. Churches that need all of a preacher’s time need to pay that person a living wage. And remember that much of a teacher’s time is in study and prayer rather than public tasks. But as Paul showed the people in Ephesus there are times where a leader should be willing to work a separate job to support himself, rather than be an undue burden.

Another thing churches must consider is whether payment implies value. Does paying a musician imply that his or her time is worth more than the time of people who pack food bags to distribute to the poor but aren’t paid? Instrumentalists can add energy to music, but doesn’t the Bible teach us that caring for widows and orphans is more important? If we pay instrumentalists but not those who visit people in prison, are we saying that the music is more important than fulfilling Christ’s commands?

In Acts 2:42-47 we see the time of greatest excitement and effectiveness in the Church’s history. We see people gathering for teaching, worship, fellowship, and openly sharing all they had with each other. Musicians aren’t required for any of that. I do love great Christian music, and I personally play piano. However I think the Bible makes it clear that worship is about the state of our heart, not about whether instrumentalists are playing. They are very valuable and inspiring, certainly, as God instructed the Israelites to be LED by people blowing horns around the walls of Jericho in Joshua 6. But let us not fall into the trap of thinking worship just means music

In my opinion it is better to describe musicians as “lead worshippers” rather than “worship leaders.” They should be people whose motivation is to demonstrate sincere worship, so that others will be drawn into with them. If their motivation is payment, I don’t think they should be at the front of the church. If I look at them and don’t see faces in worship, then they are taking away from the mood rather than helping it. However, if their hearts are sincere and they are truly worshiping rather than “performing” then it is entirely acceptable (but not necessary) to pay them. They may prefer not to be paid because then they would be getting their reward from people rather than from God.

So my answer must be that it depends on the situation, and each situation should be covered in prayer asking the Holy Spirit for discernment. May our churches be filled with people who are giving their all to use their gifts for God’s purposes, and may our churches be led by elders wise enough to know when payment is the right thing and when it is the wrong thing.