Scott's N-Cites

God or Money

When I was a pastor I used to meet every week with a group of pastors from the area to discuss the sermon texts we were working on. That group has influenced and impacted my life significantly. With the schedule changes of a new career, I haven't been attending often but I got to go today and it was really good.

Today we were talking about the time Jesus cleared the temple (Mark chapter 11). It's not exactly the meek and mild picture of Jesus most people think of. Here is Jesus, throwing people and tables and money all over the place, and literally cracking the whip. And right in the middle of all that action, he taught them. I never saw that before. He didn't just yell and wreak havoc - he created a teachable moment and then he taught them.

I was using a borrowed Bible and it directed me to Jeremiah 7 as a cross reference to Jesus telling them God's house was to be a house of prayer and they had turned it into a den of robbers. Harsh words. Violent actions. And, as usual with Jesus, a powerful lesson. As I met with these old friends, God gave me a new idea - not new as in "never thought of before by anyone else," but new to me.

Jesus had a lot to say about money and how we can't have two masters. We will either serve God or we will serve Money. Then he said that the people in the temple were a bunch of robbers. So it sounds like he is saying that they were serving Money even as they were carrying out their for-profit business in the temple, aka God's house.

So here's the "new to me" idea: When a house of prayer stops being a house of prayer, it will inevitably become a den of robbers. We're all either serving God or serving Money. That's a good challenge no matter how much or how little money one has. When I have the choice (and I do, every day) to either work first (ie make money) or pray first, I know I need to pray first. I don't always do that, but I sure want to. Feel free to ask me if I'm doing it.

posted by Scott @ 9:52 PM