Price in the hand of the fool!

       

                                                                                                    

King Solomon was a brilliant man, rhetoric in his speech, philosophical in his thoughts, logical in his analogies and raised many questions that demand extensive retrospection. One of it is this question that I thought was just brilliant. It goes like this, Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, Seeing he hath no heart to it? Proverbs 17:16. A serious question to ponder upon!  I was challenged when one of the Pastors in an open forum raised this question by asking, “how is that the many Christian scammers manage to receive funds over and over again, when someone who is honest and consciously careful, struggle to find resource for God’s work?”

The concerns grows when people witness many in Christian leadership positions call themselves as servants of God. They live with zero sense of accountability, fudging accounts, misappropriation of funds, take advantage of people for their benefit and personal amplification. And especially when the same portray as if God’s mission is in their hand, then it raises even more serious questions. If you are one among the groaners who is concerned, then I hear you dear people. I think Solomon when he raised this question had the same concern in mind. The sad thing in all of this is when the Christian world unfortunately assumes, that a person with a consistent fund flow of funds is God’s beloved candidate called to do God’s mission work in this world.

During my association with the international social agency, I used to visit many Churches and Church based organizations to monitor the program impact and fund utilization. Honestly, it would hurt so much. I would think, how one could claim being a servant of God, live so depraved using the name of Jesus, with poor accountability. I say this because the accounts would show so much of misuse, mishandling, and misappropriation of funds. Yet he would be thriving in his ministry. In such cases we are tempted to raise the pointed question of Solomon, “Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a food to get wisdom..” Well, it is not only about wisdom to buy; it can be anything.

In the Bible, we notice it disturbed David too, when he saw the wicked being more wicked, and yet flourishing and he was groaning and lamenting. We find this in Psalms 94:3 where he says, “Lord how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?” I understand when it comes to the one who don’t know God and whose “god” is money, they have the best share in this world and the means don’t matter to them. But what about the ones who claim to be Christ’s servant yet all they do is mishandle and cheat for money. The sad part is they live under the false belief that God has blessed them and want them to thrive in their mission work. Hence, all the wickedness gets endorsed.

I have heard from several leaders who claim to be the great servants of God making bold claims by saying, God does not have any other alternative besides them. And that I thought was a desperate, pathetic statement I have ever heard. C S Lewis responds to this so beautifully, “God does not need you, the reason He has chosen to need you is because you need to be needed.” Kenner American French Historian said this way, "I have no fear that God's work will be kept undone, I have every fear that it will be done without me.”.

God’s work can grow best without funds too. If brevity of fund is the challenge for ineffective mission work, then technically God must be blamed for the stagnation of the gospel work, not you and me. And since it is not true, which means there is something seriously wrong. Mission work needs bold people who are ready to lay their life for the sake of the gospel. This is what is said about Barnabas and Paul in Acts 15:26, “who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”. Do not worry if you are struggling to manage funds to the bare minimum. It is not always about your accomplishment but it about your faithfulness. It would be a blessing if you don’t always get what you want. Let me end with the quote by Oscar Wilde, “In this world there are only two tragedies, one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it”. For example Solomon had harem twice the size of the temple. Do you have a price in your hand, how are you going to use it?

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Legitimate question!

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Psalms 115:2. Do we realize we are His ambassadors and witnesses?

 >To reflect the image of God (Genesis 1:27)?

 >Be a carrier of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3),

 >Execute justice and fight against the moral and legal corruption (Amos 5:24; Jeremiah22:3; Luke 4:18), and

 >Lift His name high (Philippians 2:9)

If this is not reality then what on earth are we doing? John Calvin put it so beautifully by stating this, "A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.".  He is not far from the truth. Today, unlike the early Christians, many have learnt to maintain a long silence. I am not sure if they need to be categorized as cowards or are yet to understand His mission clearly. By and large, the so-called Christians including many Pastors/ leaders seriously lack confidence and are unable to muster courage to declare to the dying world that Jesus is Lord and there is no other name given under the heaven beside Jesus by which people can be saved (Acts 4:12). 

What are the Churches and Christians really busy about? Christians and Christian leaders/pastors in many cases are busy in number of non-productive tasks assuming they are doing a great favour to God, leaving millions enter a Christ-less eternity. We are silent in order to protect our dignity and image in the society. By doing so we want to portray that we are just another religious entity like any other in our country. We are busy using His name to increase our bank balances, build luxurious houses, buy high end cars and tag it, "all for God and for God's work.".  There are many who are sleeping and doing nothing as long as they have good fund flow. It is easy for many to manage big numbers, which we use on our favor to impress donors and congregation. The Bible condemns the Shepherds vehemently. In Isaiah 56:10 it says "His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.". I don't want to sound critical and condemning, but there are many facts which are undeniable. There are many who thrive and take credits on the accomplishment of their poor Pastors/ workers doing the ministry in the fields. Visiting so many churches and having worked with Mission organizations the patterns are a proof time and time again that most of them are scamsters, culminating to misappropriation. The Bible warns, “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” Haggai 1:4 CSB, when it sees a similar situation of peoples’ apathy.

Let’s not conclude and justify our demands from the congregation and well-wishers to build a Church building, and call it a Church. Your Church building is not a Church. Your pulpit is not a sanctuary like the temple of God. Don't create a false sense of holiness about the church building to impress the people so that they can sustain you. This is totally unbiblical. God does not dwell in any of our Church buildings. There is one largest Church in Chennai collecting building funds for more than 20 years and still the building mission remains unaccomplished.  Solomon’s temple was the last building where God dwelt. He no more dwells in building made by hands. He dwells in human hearts (Acts 7:48; 17:24).  You may need a Church, but you don't need a building to be a Church.

Today, we want to heighten the importance of Church buildings over Church movements. Technically, Jesus had supporters from all over, and He could have easily erected a Church building to start weekly service and settled in. And for real it would been the largest Church facility with huge sum of offering flowing in. But no, that was never His goal and it should never be the goal for us, even today. For that matter the apostles could have also done the same. But they were concentrated on the gospel and became the mobile church. Coming to the theme verse, why should the nations say, "where is their God?”.  If we are struggling to come out of superficialities, struggling to be His real ambassadors, then the nations would continue to grope in the dark for a true God and we will remain to be failures to present the Savior to the world.  What is your answer to this legitimate question? - "where is their God?” 

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