For the love of Money: A tale of two perspectives
Ok this is going to be a long post. After not
posting on the Essential 100 challenge for awhile, this is a doozy. When I came
upon reading 87 about ‘The Love of Money’ I was really challenge.
I do not know about you, but I could have seen this
coming. On the Oxygen network this fall is a new reality show called,
“Preachers of L.A.”. This show follows six ‘mega Church’ pastors and what is
called their ‘Mega-lives’. The trailer for the new reality show indicates that
that it will follow these six pastors in their ministry and their lavish
lifestyles. If you want to know what the show may focus on just look at these
quotes from the Oxygen Channel’s trailer for the show:
1. "The Bible says I wish above all things that you would
prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. I believe that,"
declares Bishop Clarence McClendon, one of the stars of the show.
2. McClendon, whose weekly international broadcast reaches some 250
million homes, believes "there is no other kind of Gospel" except the
prosperity gospel, according to a release from the Oxygen network.
3. P. Diddy, Jay-Z, they're not the only ones who should be driving
Ferraris and living in large houses," says cast member Bishop Ron Gibson,
a former gang member who now ministers to 4,500 people each week at Life Church
of God in Christ.
4. "The Bible says that those of us who sow among us should reap
from us, that's implying that preachers should be taken care of," says
Senior Pastor of The Sanctuary of Huntington Beach Pastor Jay Haizlip, who is
also on the show.
Another cast member is described as
follows:
“Cast member Bishop Noel Jones, who was
born into extreme poverty in Jamaica, now lives "on a hilltop with a view
of the Pacific Ocean, Malibu at his feet, and across the street from the former
home of the late L.A. Lakers owner, Jerry Buss," according to his
biographic information shared by Oxygen.”
Part II
What holds all these pastors in common
is not their ministry, but their lavish lifestyles and belief that God’s desire
is for those who follow him will prosper.
Recently, as I was reading day 87 of the Essential 100 challenge,
I was confronted with Paul’s writing to Timothy regarding Pastoral leadership
and ‘the love of money’. In 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of
money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have
wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
I
will be so bold as to declare to things:
1.
I love money. I love the security it brings, the comfort it brings
and the lifestyle it brings. But this too, as the writer of Ecclesiastes would
say, is vanity. To love Christ is to forsake money. You can not serve two
masters.
2.
God specifically does not want money, possessions or anything else
to impede our relationship with him or our mission of spreading the Gospel of
the Kingdom of heaven; which is freedom in and through Christ.
I
want to end with comparing two stories from this week, the Pastor’s of L.A.
with Pope Francis and ask which of these ministers most truly reflects the heart
of God and the ministry of Jesus Christ.
1.
Those
six Mega Pastors on Oxygen
2.
Pope
Francis asking his clergy, “What Would Jesus Drive.” And asking them to be more
humble.
http://news.yahoo.com/jesus-drive-pope-tells-priests-buy-humble-cars-183903106.html
