Is Money The Qualification?

In a recent conversation with a brother he said something to me that struck a chord that is continuing to resonate in me. We were talking about how the Body of Christ is being matured and brought together in various places and in various ways. As he was sharing with me about the manner in which the Body has been coming together in his hometown he was saddened that it seemed that for all the good information and teaching that had been brought in by various men of God, the gathering to specific leaders was rooted in something less healthy than the revelation of the Lord. Many of the people in his city were gathering around leaders that had a common quality – financial wealth. He quoted another brother’s read on the circumstance and it is that quote that has been stirring me deeply; “The Body of Christ will not mature until rich men are no longer the leaders.”

Before anybody gets all bent out of shape or starts to think I am attacking wealth as something evil I am not. Nor am I going to espouse the spiritual goodness of poverty. Both those arguments are the creation of men to defend their condition or to give “good” reasons for their disregard for brothers and sisters in Christ who are not in the same condition as them. I’ve heard both of these arguments and have found both to be well crafted, deeply held and basically useless in the life of most believers. These are not rooted in following the Spirit of God, these are simply  “spiritual” prejudices creating an excuse to behave poorly. 

Our connection to or submission to a leader in the Body of Christ ought to have nothing to do with their net worth. If we are choosing the leaders based on their income level or success rate in the business world because we see that as somehow being connected to God’s approval and anointing as a leader we already have plenty of those in the Word of Faith circles. It would seem clear to me, at least, that we don’t need more of those leaders. As the Lord unfolds His purpose and plan into this generation the need is for those who are more mature to simply live out what it means to be led by the Spirit, to live out what it is to be a son of God. A person’s portfolio is not ever going to be the standard for such.

If Jesus said that those who trust in wealth are going to have a hard time entering the Kingdom (mark 10:23-25) can we make wealth the basis for our esteem of a leader? I fear that too often the cultural view and value of the wealthy man has influence over the Body’s view of leadership quality. it is time to let that cultural stigma about wealth no longer have sway in the Body of Christ. We are told again and again that God is looking into the heart of a men not their viewable traits to choose leaders. we must stop contradicting the Lord’s ways and instead let His ways be enough.

May the Lod continue this work in us all…

Culture Guided Faith is a Mess

(I wrote this a while back and forgot about it. While looking through some files I ran across it and thought it might be post worthy. For what it’s worth.)

This morning while drinking coffee and visiting with my wife I was watching a morning news program. They were giving the top headlines and had follow-up interviews of key individuals in some of those stories. This took about five minutes of a thirty minute segment. They then headed into a 12 minute segment for new recipes from a food and cooking reporter. It was certainly an interesting mix of information to say the least. I think the programming mix reveals much about the condition of our culture and what the people responsible for programming sense is necessary to maintain and entertain viewers.

It was surreal to have a story about military conflict that is escalating between Israel and the Palestinians followed up by pasta dishes and the appropriate uses of tomato sauce and olive oil. A brief overview of war is followed with a complete presentation of linguine and its various cousins. But that seems to be the way so much of our media programming is set up; a touch of the heavy and truckload of the inconsequential. To reverse the philosophy of Mary Poppins, “A spoonful of medicine helps the sugar go down.”

Bla, bla, bla…

It is not often that I am at a loss for words. In just about any setting there will be an opening for me to interject my thoughts and opinions into the flow of dialogue that comes  forth from others in the room. Topic does not hinder my participation nor does the amount of intellect within the setting. Basically, what I am saying is I love to converse. The verbal engagement of ideas, theories, beliefs, ideologies is a beautiful and wonderful occurrence to me. It is energizing to be caught up in a discussion of things that matter to people, and it can be a really nice excuse for not dealing with things in one’s own life.