The "Business" Of Church

Matthew 21:12-13 ~ 12- And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13-And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Although there is a healthy debate even among Christians as to whether the "church" as we know it today was ever supposed to be the "church" as we have become used to seeing it, or even whether Jesus came to establish a religion at all, one thing is for sure, whatever the church and religious practice associated with the church once was, it is hard pressed to continue to be that and as a result has lost it's luster in a ever increasing mine-field of church and even secular "alternatives".

In short, the rise of relative moral values, increasing secularism, and the desire for social relevance are among some of the more pervasive issues that the church faces. That doesn't even begin to touch on the ever increasing moral failures of some of the leaders and adherents of the church. All of these things have made the church, the modern physical church, a very difficult landscape for the average person to navigate.

Church, The Business

Then add the "business" of church to the mix. There has always been a business aspect to serving God through the corporate entity called the church. Even within the first church people sold what they had that the needs of the corporate group might be met (Acts 4). Under the Levitical system, sacrifices and offerings cost and had value. In Jesus time, ministry under the Temple System had become big business. Scripture records that Jesus drove out the "moneychanges" at least twice during his ministry (Matt. 21:12-13, John 2:14-15) and reprimanded temple leaders for their excesses. I believe, and have further taught, that Jesus did this at least annually as a symbol of his office and in expectation of what the religious Jew would have understood as the special authority associated with the Messiah who was expected to appear in every generation. By the time of Jesus, to say that the Temple and the people were being abused would have been an understatement. What was being done was not in accordance with what God had commanded and not in line with what he expected from those who would serve HIM. The poor were to be ministered to, not taken advantage of. The very fact that the nickname of the Temple at that time was "Herrod's Temple" indicates that money and evil associations had began to rule the day even in what should have been the most sacred of places.  

Show Me The Money!

From the historical position of Catholic "indulgences" to modern mega church "sacrificial gifts", to $50 million dollar plus places of worship, not to mention $250,000 monthly TV programming budgets. As we already know, on any given Sunday at mini-mega local churches offerings of the faithful can exceed $20,000. Big business exists within and surrounding the modern church. Much of the raised funds are delivered to folk

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