Let Me Build My Kindgom First, Part 3

"So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods." (Luke 12:18)

What is wrong with this picture? This man seems to be making a good business decision given that God had blessed him with such abundance he had no place to store it. The problem is, nothing in the teachings of Jesus indicate we are ever to store things on earth. In fact, to the contrary, we are told, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth..." (Matthew 6:19) This is why the only scriptural mentions of a storehouse are in the Old Testament--well, except when Jesus teaches the birds do not have one. (Luke 12:24) The whole concept of the storehouse is largely misunderstood to be a place where things are brought and stored for sometime in the future. The storehouse of Malachi is actually the pantry for the people who have need of the things stored there, first for the full-time ministers, the Priests and Levites. By God's word the Isrealites were to care for each other as, and also strangers among them as needs arose. Note that the storehouse received "things", the offerings of food and goods that were used in worship. The monetary offerings were taken to the treasury rather than the storehouse. This is just another scriptural teaching that has become polluted and diluted down through the Church age.

If the previous concept has not caused enough of a rub in your theology, consider Ephesians 4:12 which tells us succinctly what the job of the "professional clergy" is. Their sole responsibility is, "...equipping the saints for the work of the ministry."  What is the salary these professional clergy men and women are to receive? (No answer is forthcoming here. Since this is Easter week, if you go on a search and find the answer let us know.) God's intention is that every Christian be working full-time in the ministry regardless of his or her occupation. To be sure, the workman is worthy of his wages. (1 Timothy 5:18) Would it not be better to, "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches."?

Although we would be loathe to admit it, we usually consider kingdom building here on earth to consist of lands and buildings supported by hundreds and thousands of people who bring their freewill offerings to those buildings on the appointed days to be used primarily for the maintenance of those buildings and to pay the salaries and benefits of those who work there full-time. Before you argue with that statement ask yourself who was the last person you heard say it is about people, not buildings, from a small building. We do buildings like almost any earthly business does. Do we not? (This is getting ugly.)

Admittedly, much of what is being done in and by churches needs to be done to fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Church buildings do provide places for the necessary services to congregations and communities such as facilitating worship, fellowship, and teaching. They can be used as bases for sending ministers out to do their work, feeding the poor, housing the homeless, and providing emergency relief. Even in that partial listing we see that most churches do not do all those things.

In his 1986 book, Biblical Eldership, Alexander Strauch suggests a church with minimal paid staff--and no professional clergy. Shortly after the book was published, a pastor friend confided in me that he wanted to throw the book across the room when he first read it. In contrast, about the same time, I also met a man who attended a church which decided Mr. Strauch was onto something and was staffed by volunteer clergymen. To each his own, as the saying goes.

The nagging and uncomfortable question remains as to whether we, as The Church, are building the kingdom of God or building something for ourselves? We could go on and on and on and... We will not, knowing that some will chew on these concepts and some will discard them out of hand. Some will wonder as to our intention in pointing them out. That is the intention--to point them out. Period. God bless.