Jesus' Class on Financial Accountability for Ministries

This is a fully accepted statement: Those of us who are involved in the ministry of Jesus need to be careful with money. Some misuse of funds over the last years by ministers, pastors and church groups -- and their punishments by various church boards and governments -- has only served to increase our realization that this is so.

In response, many churches and ministries have been setting up financial accountability programs, based on accounting and governmental principles of the world. While using such guidelines is good and will help us avoid being punished by our current government, what about abiding by the principles that Jesus set up for His disciples to follow? Shouldn't we, as believers, church workers, pastors, and ministry leaders be just as concerned – in fact, more so— with Jesus' instructions on the subject, to say nothing of the punishments that await those who fail to obey His Word?

Below are five Biblical principles of financial responsibility for disciples. All of these are given to disciples in general, two of them specifically to disciples involved in ministry. Yet, if we as individuals are commanded by Jesus to follow these principles, how much more so should groups of believers, be they congregations or ministries, apply these principles as well!

A. "Beware of all forms of greed!" (Luke 12:15)
Jesus warns that no disciple should focus on greed. The word "greed" in the original Greek has a number of different forms that it takes, and Jesus mentions this in his statement. A disciple, He tells us, is not to take part in any of these forms. They include:

• Keeping excess for oneself (Matthew 6:19)
• Keeping for yourself when another has greater need (Luke 3: 11; I John 3:17)
• Seeking to gain what another has (Luke 12:13-15)
• Increasing wealth for one's future enjoyment (Luke 12:16-21)
• Focusing on the wealth of this world, as opposed to the wealth of God's kingdom (Luke 12:15, 21, 33-34)

For a ministry or church, this means that the gathering of wealth or possessions for the sake of the wealth itself is unacceptable. That means a ministry needs to avoid seeking to make a profit geared only to be spent on itself or its leaders. Paul and Peter both agree that any teacher who is seeking wealth for his own gain is a false teacher (I Timothy 6:5; II Peter 2:3). Only receiving money for the sake of assisting others -- as the apostles did in Acts 4:34-35 -- is permissible. Instead of constantly seeking wealth, we should be content with what God has given us (I Timothy 6:6).

B. "Seek God's kingdom and all this will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)
A disciple of Jesus should seek God, rather than the strength of their own arm, for provision of their daily needs and that of their family. If we try to meet our needs any other way than through God, Jesus says, we are acting like an unbeliever (Matthew 6:32).

The focus of every disciple should be to build God's authority and will into his life and the lives of those around him, and trust the provision of their basic needs to Him. To do so will likely mean great sacrifice --economically and otherwise. Sometimes we might lose our jobs, our friends. Even our family may turn against us. Yet there are times when God asks us to give up what wealth and security we have for the sake of others. Should any of this happen, we must look to God to gain what we need to live, rather than struggle and strain in our flesh to obtain financial and material wealth. We must ask God and trust that he will give us what we need.
Moreover, the sole focus of every church and ministry should be to establish God's kingdom, and leave the meeting of needs to Him. If we are low on funds, our first response should not be to send out a letter pleading for financial support, but to set our needs and the needs of those among us before God.

We need to trust that God will provide our every need (Philippians 4:19). Our first response to need should not be to put our hand out, but our hands up.

C. "Sell your possessions and give to the poor." (Luke 12:33)
A disciple of Jesus should give those in need. Any excess we have, beyond our own personal needs, should be given to the poor. If we have possessions we do not need -- excess clothes, food, books, CD's, whatever -- we should make them available to those who truly need them.
Moreover, at least one part of every church or ministry s work should include meeting the needs of the needy among them. This could be done in various ways: through a generous benevolence ministry, working hands on with the poor, or assisting organizations or churches who work in impoverished areas.

Finally, if a church or ministry has finances which exceed their basic needs, they should think of ways they can use those funds to meet the needs of the poor (Acts 4:32-37), not on building bigger churches or office complexes (Luke 12:16-21). The poor will always be with us, so we will always have an opportunity to help them.

D. "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)
A declarer of God's message should give God's word without charge. Jesus' message was, and is, free. He gave it away to anyone who followed him. Moreover, we can still obtain the word of God without cost, if necessary. The Spirit of God is free -- healings and exorcisms cost us no money. For the same reason, the one who declares God's word, heals, casts out demons or does any kind of ministry using the power and authority of God should not charge for it.

If you wish to grant the gospel to people, do not sell it, but offer it freely. If you wish people to have a book, tape or video of what you learned from the Lord, offer it without charge, do not sell it. Christian publishers, bookstores and ministries act in opposition to Jesus' word anytime they take money for giving out His Word or life. Jesus said that those who take money from the poor for the sake of ministry will receive greater condemnation than other sinners (Mark 12:40). And again, if any minister is out for their own profit, the Scripture calls them false teachers (I Timothy 6:5; II Peter 2:3). A true profit in ministry is a false prophet!

E. "The laborer is worthy of his wages." (Luke 10:7)
This is a principle given to those who minister, but really it applies for those who receive the message of God. A declarer of God's message should be given their basic needs by those who receive the message. Although the minister does not ask for money, they can expect that their basic needs would be met by those who hear his message. Jesus established that a messenger of His Word would declare His message and do healings and, while he was doing the work, he would be housed and fed by a local believer. Even so, the basic needs of ministers and their families should be met by those who are growing through their message. In fact, Jesus said, whoever provides for a minister of Jesus in even the smallest way will gain their reward in heaven (Matthew 10:42)! Paul also applies this principle in different church contexts (Galatians 6:6; I Timothy 5: 17-18).

These principles are not given us to condemn each other with, but to allow our ministries to grow in faith and love and holiness, without which no one will see God (Galatians 5:6; Hebrews 12:14). I pray that the Lord will grant us wisdom to apply these principles to our homes, our churches and to everything we do in the Lord's name.

God's Standard for Leadership

Every single leader will be judged according to this standard.
• “Did you use your wealth for frivolous living or for the needy?”

• “Did you give more leniency to the wealthy and popular than you did for the poor?”

• “In your warfare, did you harm the innocent poor because they were expendable?”

• “In your church, did you treat the homeless and mentally ill and poor as second-class citizens? Were they excluded because you considered money to be the means of entrance to fellowship? Were people unable to fellowship in restaurants and movies with you because they couldn’t afford it? Were the poor not welcome because they weren’t the same as the rest of you?”

• “In your schools, did you give fewer opportunities to have knowledge to the poor than to the wealthy of society?”

• “In your employment, do you give the poor equal opportunities for employment, even if they haven’t showered, don’t have experience or can’t work a full time job? Are they given short term employment by the wealthy who need clean up or help in their homes?”

• “In your charity distribution, did you give the poor good, nutritious food, good clothing to help them in the weather, or did you give them the items that weren’t good enough for those who could afford it?”

• “In your stores, was the cheapest food the garbage that no one could live off of, or the staples that everyone needs to live?”

• “In cheap housing, is that offered to the poorest of the poor, or only to those who could afford the medium-range prices?”

• “In the value system of your society, are the poor assumed to be immoral, simply because they were poor? Are the poor questioned and doubted when no one else would be? Is there theology that teaches that the poor are less spiritual? Is the poor of one’s family shunted aside and rejected? Does no one want to see them, simply because everyone feels so guilty just looking at them?”

'In your family, did you treat those under you with as much respect as you demanded for yourself? Did you meet their needs, as well as you could, both emotional and physical?'

If the poor are treated badly, then it is God himself that will judge. He alone defends them and will support them. And God will question each one of us according to how we treated those poorer than us. Let us pray we have a good answer. (Exodus 23:23; Matt 25:31-46; Proverbs 19:17)

Boy, You Turn Me Upside Down

My heart exults in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the LORD is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are shattered,
But the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to hunger.
Even the barren gives birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes.
The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The LORD makes poor and rich;
He brings low, He also exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with nobles,
And inherit a seat of honor;
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S,
And He set the world on them.
He keeps the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a man prevail.
Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered;
Against them He will thunder in the heavens,
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.
An ancient Hebrew poem

In I Samuel 2, this song is quoted by Hannah, a formerly barren woman who had been oppressed by her co-wife, who had many children. The context of this song is that of increasing God’s reputation in the world because of the great things he had done. While Hannah might have specifically been focusing on verse 5, that shows God’s help to the barren woman, the song speaks in general of God’s strength being given to those without strength.

She sings about the “feeble” who have no power against those who take up arms against them. She sings about the hungry, who are unable to provide themselves even with the staples of life. And, of course, she speaks of barren women, who have no ability in themselves to gain what they most desire in life—a child. These are the hopeless, the ones who gain nothing from anyone.

But she also makes it clear that these are the ones whom God has focused on. God takes these resourceless people and provides them not only with what they need, but more. Not only do the defenseless have protection, the hungry have food and the barren have children, but they are also given authority and power over those who used to have all the world.

It is a natural part of life that those who have look down on those who have not. It is a moral position of the powerful and satisfied that anyone could possibly have gained their position or strength or wealth or authority. All that would need to happen is for them to be self-disciplined and wise enough and anyone would have gained the same power. But, say the powerful, since they were morally superior, they gained the greater position, and thus the greater life. For this reason, the powerful place themselves in the position of moral guardians and standard-bearers. No one else is worthy.

And this unworthiness of those who are not in positions of authority is a natural consequence of those who have. Those who do not have wealth or position or possibilities in their lives, they must be in some way morally inferior. The rulers are righteous, while the pauper is morally poor as well.

“What right do these lowlifes have to ask our kind for money? Perhaps they are in need, but it is their own fault. They just want to take advantage of honest, hardworking people! Why don’t they just get a job? Aren’t the shelters and workhouses still open? If I give—which I probably won’t—I want to make sure my money’s not being used for drugs or alcohol. If they want some food, okay, I can understand that, but I can’t trust that they would actually use it on food! Since they are on the street, drugs must be more important for them than food. In fact, I wonder if they are truly human in the way that we are. After all, real humans are more interested in slaving all day so we can spend an insignificant fraction of our lives in wealth and extravagance. These people who wish to live simply, who do not seek power, who live a hand-to-mouth existence—I just don’t trust them. Some kind of alien, I think.”

Hannah sees the ones who have military might, more than enough to eat and multiple children as being boasters, arrogant in their strength. They are not righteous at all, but the lucky who do not humbly recognize the One who gave them their strength.

And God is strong, in Hannah’s view. God is the source of all strength, authority and power. Human power is nothing, Hannah boldly proclaims. Human strength is not real strength. The reality we see is like the matrix we mentioned before. That which looks to be strong is only the semblance of strength, and the real strength is at the foundation of reality. In Hannah’s song, real power and might comes from God. And the only ones who will obtain that power in the end are those who are weak enough to depend on God for that power.

For this reason, reversals are necessary. The wealthy who oppress the poor will be set aside and destroyed. They will be “made low” or taken out of their positions of authority and power and wealth. The weapons of the soldiers will be destroyed; the full of food will soon be so desperate they will hold signs saying “will work for food”; the woman with many children will be in mourning. These will soon have nothing, looking at their empty hands wondering what happened to their lives. But the lowly—those who depended on God to strengthen them—they will gain the fullness of God’s strength. They will be the strong, the powerful, the important.

And these reversals display God’s strength, God’s power. It does not show that God can grant his power arbitrarily, but that he chooses those who depend on Him. God looks for the nobodies to display what he can really do with what he has.

Down and Out Leadership

Luke 22:24-30
The disciples had an argument, there at the Last Supper. They were debating which of them would be the most important ruler beside Jesus when His kingdom comes. Jesus calmly said to them, “It is presidents and kings of the world that are concerned about authority and power. These wield great authority over all men and everyone must call them ‘gracious’, as in ‘gracious lord,’ or “Wow, you are the greatest thing since Oprah”. But if you want rule in my kingdom, you can’t act like that. The ones who will have the greatest authority in my kingdom must prepare themselves for it by acting like the least important. If you want to be important, then be like a waiter. In a restaurant, who is in charge, the waiter or the customer? Isn’t the customer who orders the waiter around, telling him what to get and how much and sending something back because it isn’t quite right? And doesn’t the waiter have to run around, doing the bidding of the customer? Now look at me—I am the waiter. I am here to serve others, not to tell others how to serve me.
“Look, guys, you are great already. You have stayed with me during my most difficult days, though all the struggles and trials. Because of this, you will rule with me because the Father has given me His kingdom to rule. So you will be feasting at my side—even as we are feasting here!—in my kingdom. And then I will give you authority to rule all of God’s people. Each of you will sit on a throne, and you will rule the twelve nations of Israel.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World…Sometimes
Well, this is kinda embarrassing. After all, Jesus is the one who is always talking about lowliness, about humility. Yet, here He is, encouraging arrogance. You see, even though he is correcting the disciples about some things, he is in agreement with them about the thing most of us are uncomfortable with: It is a good thing to want to be in charge of the world.

Most of us feel that this is inappropriate. After all, its just too lofty of a goal, and it is straight hubris—blatant pride to think that we should rule the world. That’s God’s job, isn’t it?

Well, in fact, its not. God gave the job over of ruling the world to human beings way back in Genesis 1. It is our job and we should want to do the job that God has given us. So when Jesus answers their question, He doesn’t deny that we should want to rule the world. Frankly, we should.

And even if ruling the world seems distasteful to you, we all have a hint of it in ourselves. We all want to be respected by the people who know us. And we all want a certain measure of control to make things “right” over our lives. And we get angry when we see that something isn’t right, either in our lives or in the lives of those around us. These are God-given characteristics to everyone in humanity so that we can do the job that God gave us, namely, to rule the world.

The Wile E. Principle of Leadership
The problem is that we take the characteristics that God has given us and go too far with it. Waaaaay too far. God gave us anger at injustice and we have turned it into anger against anyone who irritates us for any little reason, without regard to what is really right. God gave us the desire to make things right and we have turned this into control-freakishness or harshly punishing those who are different than us. God gave us the desire to be respected and we turn this into a hunger for fame or a fear of negative responses. This is not the kind of world-leadership Jesus is looking for.

So when Jesus responded to his disciples, he didn’t correct their desire for world leadership. In fact, He affirmed it. He said that they would be world leaders in the kingdom. And desiring it is a good thing. What he needed to correct was their methods in achieving it.

Most of us think of obtaining leadership like Wile E. Coyote. Wile E. is on one cliff and he is running as fast as he can to the other side, but he doesn’t realize that there is a canyon between him and the other cliff-top. So he runs out.. and there he is, standing on thin air. And then he falls— Bam!— at the bottom of the canyon and we next see him wrapped in hospital gauze.

Even so, we often think that leadership—as well as wealth and popularity— is a straight line. If we want it, we just go get it. And although we must work hard to achieve success, we will get it if we just take it by the throat. But what we don’t realize is that there is a huge canyon between us and our goal. And if we just try to achieve success in a straight line, then we will be the one in hospital gauze.

The Power Broker
Jesus helps us realize that the only one who can give us success, or power or popularity or wealth— in any positive, permanent way—is God. He is the one ultimately in charge of all things and He gives these things to whom He wills. And while the power-hungry may be in charge now, it will not be that way forever. God will come down to kick out the power hungry and instead welcome a different kind of person.

But to obtain that kind of position, we have to be that different kind of person. God is looking for the lowly, the Anawim, to be in charge of the world. God can’t have the control freaks, the judgmental, the quick to anger or the anxious be in charge of the world. So for world leadership, God is looking for a the lowly and righteous. For the Anawim. God is looking for the people who will act as Jesus said they should—People who are repentant of their sins; people who will sacrifice their life, family and possessions to love Jesus; people who will endure in Jesus through persecution. People who will set aside their comfort in order to serve others. God is looking for faithful disciples.

Jesus Leadership
But not just disciples. Different disciples will obtain different levels of leadership in the final kingdom. And those in charge won’t just be the good disciple—the whole world will be filled with those. But the world leaders will be those who have certain characteristics of leadership

To be an anawimic leader, we have to follow certain principles of leadership now:
Hang out with the down and out—To be a leader in Jesus’ methodology, we cannot be shy of having the outcast be our friends and companions.

Live like the down and out—To be in charge, we have to remain lowly, not seeking wealth or power, but constantly giving to those in need. A godly leader doesn’t think how he can benefit from a resource, but how the whole community can benefit from it.

Get used to taking orders—To be in charge, we have to listen to other’s needs and act on them, rather than our own ambitions. When we see someone’s need, we take that as an order from them to act. If we act in accordance with the other’s need, then we are living out Jesus’ leadership.

Lead by example—It isn’t enough to tell others to do good, to repent, to live purely—we have to do it ourselves. We must show the life of Jesus and not just teach it to others.

Encourage, don’t demand—To be Jesus leader is to be gentle and to recognize other’s freedom to do as they please. If we give others freedom and opportunity to live for God, then they can have a relationship with God. But if we end up controlling others, they have no relationship with God, only us, which defeats the purpose of trying to get people to live for Jesus.

So to be a leader in Christ is to be the Anawim. It is to live as a waiter, a servant of others, only living to act for others and not for our own ambition. If we attempt to get our own ambition, then we end up like Wile E.— Falling to our doom.

Women and Men in Leadership-- A Postion Paper

Issue
The church is divided about what the Biblical command is concerning the leadership of women in the church. Many churches throughout the history of the church have indicated certain Pauline passages as being normative for women and men in leadership, including, “Women must remain silent in the churches” (I Corinthians 14:34), “I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man…” (I Timothy 2:12). Other churches have focused on the passages in the New Testament that show the leadership of women in the church, such as Mary (the first preacher of Jesus’ resurrection), Priscilla, Chloe and Junias (Matthew 27:1-10; Romans 16:3, 7; Acts 18:24-27; I Corinthians 1:11). The one side seems to indicate that women should never be in leadership in the church, while the other indicates that women should always be accepted in leadership. Is biblical counsel on this divided? Below is how I understand the biblical passages.

Biblical Themes
The Practice of Women in Leadership:
At the very least, it must be admitted that women were leaders in the early church. Junias (a female name, although sometimes mistranslated) was called an apostle by Paul (Romans 16:7). Women were always accepted as prophets in the early church, which was a position in which someone spoke for God and sometimes acted with God’s authority (Acts 21:9; I Corinthians 11:5; Luke 2:36-38). While these positions weren’t as frequently filled by women, it allowed the possibility of women being in church leadership.

Sexual interdependence:
Biblically, men and women are equal in the church community, one not greater than the other, although in society it may be different (Galatians 3:28). The sexes are interdependent, each having their place of leadership and each having their place of submission to each other (I Corinthians 11:11-12).

Male headship:
However, it seems clear from a cursory reading of Scripture that men were authorities over women (I Timothy 2:12; I Corinthians 11:2-3; Ephesians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:18; I Peter 3:7). It must be noted, though, that every one of these passages are not speaking of male dominance over females, but of a husband being head over his wife. Even passages that are often translated “men” and “women” instead of “husband” and “wife” are better understood in the second manner, dealing with relationships in marriage, not about male and female relationships in general.

Yet even this “headship” is marginalized in Scripture. Yes, the husband has the responsibility of being head of the family, but this also means that he has the responsibility of being sacrificial (Ephesians 5:25-33; I Peter 3:7; Colossians 3:9). This means allowing the wife to take leadership as it is necessary, even as Aquila allowed his wife Pricilla to take leadership in most church matters (Acts 18:24-27; I Corinthians 16:19).

General position statement on Women in leadership
Women need to have positions of leadership in the congregation, in order to provide a voice and an authority that has been oppressed by both church and state for millennia. A man is not qualified to be a leader over any woman because of his maleness, even as a woman is not especially qualified to be submissive because of her femaleness. Rather, the church should celebrate the lesser, and give them a higher position, if they are qualified otherwise (I Corinthians 12:22-23). The church is supposed to be an example of the kingdom of God, in which men and women, poor and rich, slave and free, educated and uneducated are treated with equal respect and honor, even as will be the case when the Lord comes to earth. At the same time, the church will respect the God-given, but this-worldly authorities. Thus, should a wife desire to be in leadership in the church, then the church should look to the husband for permission. Should such permission be granted, then the wife is to have equal authority of anyone else in her position—including the authority of equal respect, obedience and salary as one would give anyone else in the position.

Seemingly contrary passages
Some would say that my position is in opposition to some Scriptural passages. Quickly, I will present my understanding of the original intent of these passages:

a. “Man was not created for woman’s sake, but woman for man’s” I Corinthians 11:2-16. This is a complex passage, but my understanding is this: Paul was answering a teaching that was taking place in Corinth, a summary of which he received in his letter from them (I Cor. 7:1). He offers an introductory commendation of how closely they listened to his teaching (I Cor. 11:2-3), then he quotes a passage from their letter to him, which describes their argument of why women should have their head covered when praying and prophesying and why men ought not to. (I Cor. 11:4-10) They say it is because of the inferiority of women to men. Paul, however, immediately counters their reasoning by saying that men and women are interdependent, neither one inferior to the other (11:11-12). He then speaks against the practice of head covering, saying first that it is unnecessary (11:13-15), and then offering the final argument that “we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God”—claiming that their special revelation is not shared by the church in general. (Some translations translate this “no other practice”, but this is a mistranslation of the Greek—see Zerwick, An Analysis of the Greek New Testament, as well as the New Revised Standard Version, the King James Version and the New King James Version).

b. “Women must remain silent in the churches.” I Corinthians 14:32-38. Paul here is using an example of a clearly false prophecy to make his point about chaotic prophecy in the church. A prophet should not be carried away by his spirit, but the spirit should be under his control, which means the prophet shouldn’t speak whatever and whenever a spirit encourages him or her to speak. Paul gives an example of a prophecy stated in Corinth that states that women should no longer be prophets in any of the churches throughout the world. Paul’s response to this is basically, “Who gave you the right to say this?” Paul already confirmed that women are allowed to be prophets (as the Corinthians already knew, or else why put coverings on their heads when prophesying?), and he sees this prophecy as not undermining women’s authority in the church so much as his own. Paul then affirms his own authority, which affirms the right of women to speak in the churches.

c. “I do not allow a woman to teach or have authority over a man.” I Timothy 2. This passage is in the context of a household command list. “Men” in this passage is better translated “husbands” and “woman” is better translated “wives”. Thus, this passage is only affirming the headship of a husband over his wife. A husband’s headship responsibility, Paul says, includes praying daily for authorities—in that way they affirm those who are in authority over them (2:8). In the same way, wives show their submission to authority by being modest in clothing and demeanor. This does not mean that women cannot be teachers in the church, with their husband’s permission. It rather means that the husband should give permission, and the wife should not demand the authoritative position over her husband.

In Summary:
I hold that the seemingly contrary positions of male headship, but the practice of women leaders is the difference between the old system of practice in the world—patriarchy—and the new kingdom system—sexual and social equality. The church should allow the superficial practice of the one in the world, although that practice is marginalized by the radical, sacrificial love of the leader to those under him. But within the church, patriarchy is already overthrown, and women, slaves, the poor and the outcast are given greater honor, including positions of leadership.

To affirm patriarchy in the church, and to leave it unmarginalized in Christian marriage, is doing harm to the gospel of Jesus, who allows every person equal access to God the Father. Should we force any person because of one’s social standing to not do the work of the Spirit, to not speak the word of God given to them, or to not love as God has commanded them to love is to do irreparable harm to the ability of the whole church to follow Jesus. To force some men into a leadership role they are not equipped to handle is to harm him and everyone under him. To not allow a woman the leadership abilities granted to her by the Spirit is to take away the Spirit’s gift to her family and to the church. I pray that the church cease practicing the very teachings Paul was opposed to in the first century: the patriarchal stranglehold of leadership, which is choking the life out of the church.