45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:45-51
Jesus was just teaching about His second coming. He taught that the day and the hour is unknown. Jesus even said that He did not know the day and hour of His second coming. Only the Father knows. Now, the heart of the matter is not about knowing the time of Jesus’ second coming. The main point of Jesus’ teaching is for His disciples to keep watch. The most important meaning of keeping watch here is to live accordingly as required by God. No, it is not about watching the seasons and calculating the best possible time when Jesus would come. But it is about internalizing and practicing the teachings of Jesus Christ in real life, so that our human nature is gradually transformed into that of Jesus Christ. In this way, it does not matter when or at what time or at what day and hour Jesus comes, He will always find us ready for Him.
Now, Jesus’ bodily absent from earth means that He delegates His ministry to His servants. For about two thousand years now Jesus has delegated His ministry to so many of His servants all over the world from age to age. After two thousand years, Jesus has not yet come. We still don’t know when He would come. Although we truly hope that He would come sooner rather than later. But the fact remains that He has not yet come. He might come 1 second after this or a month or a year or a decade or a century or even a millennia later. We still don’t have any clue as to when He will come. All that is required of us is to keep watch. To live accordingly as God wants us to live. In His delegating His ministry, He also gives His servants some kind of authority to conduct the business of the Kingdom of God. Some servants are chosen to be in the position of leadership and thus have greater power. Others are to be placed under their authorities for the purpose of accomplishing His ministry.
This is where the biblical passage above is very significant. Power is a tricky thing. The sinfulness of humanity has corrupted the utilization of power. Power is important. It is needed to do things, from the simplest to the most complex. However, in this broken world, power tends to be abused. When someone holds power, he or she is always at the crossroads as to whether to use the power to serve or to lord it over others, to protect or to destroy, to liberate or to enslave, to give or to take, to sacrifice oneself or to sacrifice others, to help or to force others to do what he or she wants. This is especially true when dealing with the weaker party. Unfortunately, Christ’s servants are not immune to it. The presence of power may tempt even the most humble of the followers of Christ.
After talking about the unknown day and hour of His coming, Jesus shifted attention to the behavior of His servants. Knowing that Jesus is not present, a servant with power might then choose to use the power entrusted to him to help himself. This kind of servant Jesus called as wicked. This wicked servant exploits the fact that Jesus has not come. He thinks to himself: “My Master is delayed.” This statement alone is not wrong by any sense. However, what he does with that statement is a different matter. Knowing that his Master is delayed, this wicked servant begins to abuse the power entrusted to him. He beats his fellow servants using the power that is supposed to be used to serve and help them doing the ministry. And he does not stop there, he adds his abuse of power by adopting a lifestyle that is so contrary to the way of life of God’s servants. He then joins the rank of drunkards, enjoying himself by getting drunk with earthly pleasures.
The question is: “What are we doing with the power Jesus entrusted to us? Are we abusing it? Are we using the power to beat others and to shower ourselves with the pleasure of the world? Are we that wicked servant in the story?” Perhaps as Christians who God has entrusted with power in this life, we would not imagine ourselves as the wicked servant. This is our psychological self-defense mechanism. We always want to look good. If we look bad, we will feel bad about ourselves. If we feel bad about ourselves, we won’t have any spirit to live. So we fight off any truth that discloses our ugliness. In the final result, we have then created a different version of us that is totally different than what we really are. This is what is known as the false self. So we reject the imagination of the wicked servant being applied to us. Let us bring it down to the more concrete level.
Pastors
At this moment I would like to talk about pastors. When I talk about pastors, I also include the evangelists, the missionaries, and also bible teachers. Pastors are given a great power by the Lord. From generation to generation, pastors continue to have power. The office of pastor in itself carries a kind of power that God has sanctified. Jesus Himself gives this special gift in order to edify the church. Ephesians 4:11-12 records:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
The power of the word of God is given to pastors and this is not a small matter. It is as if the power of God Himself is given to them. Not the power to wield sword, but the power to speak to the mind and the heart. This is the greater power than the power of sword. Because with words, the course of man may change. With words even the strongest man may fall. Such power is great.
Together with the word of God Himself given to office of pastors, they are also endowed by heaven with the power of the eloquence of speech. Be it in writing or verbal. The fluency of rhetoric is a special gift God gives to those who are entrusted to pastor His church. The combination of the divine word and the rhetorical power is very powerful. If used for good, the result is amazing. If used for evil, the result is devastating. Pastors are always tempted in this area. As a pastor myself I have to admit that pastors are at the crossroads. Their words are usually taken at face value. Their office alone carries with it such charisma that people have the natural tendency to trust the pastors’ words, and especially, when the pastors speak in the name of God citing His words in the Scriptures. Such speech bears the power of heaven and it overwhelms the hearts of common man.
From history we have learned that many pastors have abused this power. In the name of God they spoke, not for the sake of the glory of God, but for their own petty gain. In the dark ages up until the Reformation, the Pope wielded such great power over the lords and kings. Under the pope’s order, the crusade war started. Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade when he was preaching at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The lords and kings responded to his sermon and began marching for the crusade war. For two hundred years and more than 7 crusades the Catholic Church commanded the crusade wars. The result was pain, suffering, and devastation. Hatred mounted up between the Christians and the Muslims. They were killing one another in the battlefield in the name of God. All because the people in power misused the power of God’s word and the spiritual gift of preaching for the purpose of their own glory.
Many more events in the trace of church history show that pastors have abused their office along with God given gift of preaching and the authority of the word of God. At the end of the medieval period, the church officers grew bolder in deceiving the commoners. Pope Leo X urged the marketing of the indulgence letters all over Europe in order to rebuild the Basilica St. Peter in Rome. Johann Tetzel aggressively promoted the indulgence to raise funding needed for the Basilica. The commoners flocked the indulgence’s sale, for they wanted to be saved from hell and purgatory. The sales of indulgence increased more because the Pope allowed the indulgence to be used for other people who were already deceased. Because the commoners desired for their entire family to be saved from hell and purgatory, they bought the indulgence in record number. That went on until Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. The power of God’s word, the power of rhetoric, and the religious office were abused shamelessly by the religious leaders.
Today in the 21st century we also witness many pastors exploit the same power in order to gain a fortune or two for themselves. Costi Hinn, the nephew of the world-famous prosperity preacher Benny Hinn, talked about his uncle’s crusade being unethical and deceitful. Costi Hinn co-wrote a book called “Defining Deception: Freeing the Church from the Mystical-Miracle Movement.” In Christianity Today, Costi Hinn opened up about his experience following his uncle.[1] He told about how luxurious their lifestyle was and how lavish their spending as they travel, such as staying in a $25,000 a night suite. Here is a report taken from churchleaders.com:
“[When I finally saw what I had become] I was disgusted,” Costi told the HLN network in a recent interview. “The Gospel then became real, the real Gospel, not just the good news, the bad news too. It’s bad news because I was greedy, I was ambitious for all the wrong things, exploiting the poor, squeezing every last dollar out of people so we could live the way they couldn’t. Using Jesus to do that.”[2]
Based on the testimony by Costi, it is clear that Pastor Benny Hinn, who is followed by millions, abuses his position as pastor, misuses the word of God, and exploit his gift of preaching in order to amass dollars for his own pocket and bank account. Costi question the practice of healing miracle:
“It got really weird; because the Bible says this, so why aren’t we going to be the hands and feet of Christ? If we can heal let’s go heal. And we couldn’t unless there was money and music and atmosphere.”[3]
Then Costi exposed the manipulative rhetoric used by “Uncle Benny”:
“One of the cruelest lies of faith healers today is that if you just have enough faith, God will heal. He begins to commentate that God is sovereign in healing.”
The burden is laid on the person who wishes to be healed. If he is not healed, then he lacks faith. This is just a deceptive rhetoric to hide his actual inability to heal. And there is not just one person like Benny Hinn. In the 21st century there are many pastors who paddle God’s word for money, through the mystery of healing, the spiritual imagination in the Holy Spirit, the promise of blessings, the lure of prosperity, and the dream of being successful in the name of Jesus.
Such pastors enjoy the power they now have in their hands. But instead of using it for the sake of the Kingdom and for the glory of the name of Jesus Christ, they exploit it for their own gain. Their followers are charmed by their flashy demeanor, their lavish lifestyle, their charismatic speech, their fancy rhetoric, their creative imaginations, and their never-ending sweet promises. They carry God’s banner as if they come from God. They quote from the Scriptures as if they are God’s messengers. They declare a promising message as if God told them Himself. Yet with the power they now enjoy, they squeeze the poor people’s money to fill their treasury, so they can spend it all in their own empty and meaningless life. This counts as wicked! They have been entrusted with great power, yet instead of feeding the household of God some healthy food, they feed them junk food. Instead of taking care of the sheep, they starve them. Instead of giving them the treasures of heaven, they rob their little money they have with the dream of getting a return of investment. Instead of leading them to God, they lead them to the world. Instead of comforting their broken heart, they beat them with the accusation that they lack faith. Instead of loving the church, they abandon the church in order to spend their lives in the pleasures of the world. For these kinds of servants, Jesus said: “50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Elders and Deacons
I also want to talk about elders and deacons. A lot of times we use the term “servants of God” only to apply to pastors and the likes. But actually, the term “servants of God” applies to all whom God has saved from the bondage of sin. Thus, we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to God. Romans 6:16-19 & 22 says:
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Therefore, all of Christians are actually God’s servants. Elders and deacons are definitely included. Besides, elders and deacons are special because they have a special role in the church of God. They are given the power and authority needed to conduct the Lord’s ministry.
Now, the faithful and wise servant, knowing that his Master is delayed, faithfully obeys and does what is commanded. This is what Paul instructed Titus as he was tasked to appoint elders:
5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:5-9)
Similarly, Paul instructed Timothy of the qualifications of elders and deacons:
1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. 8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:1-13)
And in addition, Paul instructed Timothy further regarding elders:
17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17-18)
One of the obvious qualifications of elders is to hold firmly to the truth of the word of God as taught by the apostles of Christ. They are to rule the church, and the church must be ruled according to the word of God as the Head of the church. Some of the elders were even tasked to preach and teach the people of God. Thus, in order for the faithful elders and deacons to take care of God’s church according to the will of God as revealed in the Scripture, they must study the Scripture properly in order to guard themselves from false teachings and to protect the flock from the attack of the devil. In their understanding of the Scripture they faithfully feed the congregation with the authorized spiritual nutrition. They do not allow unauthorized knowledge to sway the minds of the people of God. The extension in the 21st century is that they must select only the faithful pastors to preach and teach the word of God to the congregation.
The problem with today’s elders and deacons is that most of them do not know the Scripture properly. The light of elders and deacons have grown dim in the modern church. Not only they do not understand the Scripture properly, they also do not know how to teach and preach the word of God. And worse, many of them are chosen just because they are wealthy. And since the appetite of the modern people is to honor those who are wealthy, these wealthy people have some influence on the people with their charisma. As they sit on the office of elders and deacons, many of them do not rule according to the Scripture. These elders and deacons rule according to the way of the world, the way that makes them wealthy in the first place. Therefore, the value of the world has been imported into God’s church. This makes many churches resemble the world more than the temple of the Lord. Many of these churches’ strategy is based on the business world. About 100 years ago Charles Haddon Spurgeon battled his church’s new strategy, which was to adopt the way of the world, and in doing so the focus of Spurgeon’s church shifted to that of pleasing the market, which was the world. Today is no different. Many overgrown churches or the so-called mega churches have employed the best marketing strategy in order to keep the church business running and to continue to attract the world to be interested in the church. And this is all done under the direction of the elders and deacons.
These elders and deacons have become unfaithful to the Master. The Scripture is then set aside. They rule God’s church as if it is their business companies. One of the worst policies many of these churches executes is the one Paul instructed Timothy to be careful about. Let me take the liberty to repost it here:
17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17-18)
Most elders no longer preach and teach in the 21st century. They have relegated that duty to pastors and evangelists. However, by relegating that honorable duty, they take charge of the church as if they are the board of directors of their own companies, and thus rule over the distribution of the wages for those who preach and teach the word of God. And in doing so, many of them “muzzle the oxen when they tread out the grain.” They pay them the minimum salary which is barely enough for them to live on how much more to take care of their family, and by doing so they rob the pastors and evangelists of their rights and honor.
In their defense they say that the pastors or evangelists got the easiest work, they only talk and nothing else, thus they do not deserve a high salary. These unfaithful servants beat the pastors and evangelists till they have no more dignity left in their life. The unfaithful servants abuse their authority and oppress those whom God loves very much. For they actually know that the labor every pastor and evangelist does is very hard. Pastors and evangelists study the Scripture very diligently in a rigorous discipline, for the fear and love of the Lord is in their heart. Day and night they have to master the knowledge and skill to interpret the Scripture. Every second of their life is dedicated to learn how to counsel the congregation. Their entire being is concentrated to detect and uncover falsehood so that the people of God will not fall into the devil’s snare. When they are given the call to preach and teach the word of God, they tremble before the Lord for they are entrusted with the truth; they must not speak an unauthorized interpretation of the Scripture. The work they put in before opening their mouth in a worship service takes many hours of preparation. Yet the wicked servants who sit on the position of governor in the church do not care and exploit the obvious fact that the pastors and evangelists appear before many for roughly an hour speaking of the word of God. So, they make a case that the work of the pastors and evangelists only worth an hour of speaking. They deliberately dismiss the tens of hours behind the curtain that every pastor and evangelist must devote prior to the preaching and the teaching. Not to mention the resources these pastors and evangelists must muster in order to continually upgrade and update themselves. What such elders and deacons do is oppression.
When these pastors and evangelists speak up in their pain, they are ridiculed and labeled as servants of money. So, the wicked servants have silenced the pastors and evangelists in agony. They continue to endure the persecution, because their eyes are fixed upon their Lord. Every day they pray to the Lord Almighty asking for help. Their dignity is crushed. They wear worn clothes. They eat rationed food. They have no house. Their health is deteriorating. They do not dare to go to the doctor for fear of the medical bill. They can’t buy books or any resources so they may feed their children. Their preaching illustrations are recycled because of the lack of resources yet they are scorned and accused of being lazy and uninteresting. They keep their mouth shut because their life depends on the monthly paycheck the elders and deacons distribute. The wicked servants look down at them. They order them around as if the pastors and evangelists are their servants. They scold the pastors and evangelists like they are treating their employees in their companies.
Alas, after so many years, a saying is invented and believed to be the truth: “To be a pastor is to be poor.” This is also exploited as the weapon of the wicked servants to force any pastor and evangelist to live a poor life. When the country’s economy is in a massive inflation, the salary stays the same. And so, the pastors and evangelists become poorer over time. Food price jumps from $1 to $5, yet their salary stays $300 a month. Anybody speaks on their behalf is ridiculed: “Don’t you know that God can take care of them just fine?!” So, the mega church spends their millions of dollars in their building program. They have a beautiful brick church building, yet their pastors cannot even save. These pastors and evangelists eventually live off the pity of the wealthy elders and deacons in the church. They walk with their heads down all the time. Because they are but an unworthy servant, not of God, but of the rich elders and deacons who act as if they own the church. Yes, they are afraid to open their mouth regarding this issue because then they might lose their job in the church. The elders and deacons of the 21st century church are the boss.
Do you realize that when you give a very minimum honorarium/salary to pastors and evangelists for their preaching and teaching, you actually show how much you value God’s eternal word? The authority given to them is abused. They have dishonored God’s servants that He has endowed with the gift of interpretation of His Holy word. What will the Master do when He comes in an hour the wicked servants do not expect? He will throw the wicked servants into the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Dignity
God cares about our dignity very much. When Adam and Eve fell, God did not destroy them in cruelty. You know what God did to them among other things? Genesis 3:21 records:
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Why did God bother to clothe Adam and Eve? Their sin was severe. They had just caused the entire human race to be punished in eternal death. It was a serious offense against the Lord. Yet the Lord did something genuinely compassionate to them. It was within God’s right to throw them away. It was within God’s right to not associate with them anymore. It was within God’s right to abandon them right there and then. Yet He did not. Instead, He made them garments of skins and clothed them.
First of all, Adam and Eve had already worn some kind of clothing from the leaves of the fig tree (Genesis 3:7). If the purpose was just to give them physical covering, then Adam and Eve already got it covered. Something more than just physical covering must be at stake. Yes, it was the dignity of the first humans. The fig leaves clothing could not maintain their dignity. It must have been ugly. In their state of panic, Adam and Eve could not have been thinking creatively in the design. They took whatever was available and quickly transformed it into a garment. Their state of mind was so focused on their nakedness and how to cover it. But the God of all the world knew better. So, He made them garments from skin.
Leather is the name we have now for the material we also call skin. We know that leather is the most expensive material to be used for garment. The beautiful look of leather makes it very valuable. The artistic quality of leather is amazing. When someone wears a garment of leather, the person’s dignity somehow goes up very high. The comparison between fig leaves and leather garment is like heaven and earth. God knew that Adam and Eve needed to have dignity. They had lost it all, yet God cared for them and gave them the dignity they did not deserve. When God made anything, it must be the most beautiful. Jesus mentioned something important in Matthew 6:28-29:
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
The lilies of the field are considered to be of no value in the market. Yet for that ‘valueless’ flower, God made it so beautiful that even Solomon in His splendor could not compare to the beauty of the lilies of the field. Solomon’s royal garment could not be ugly, could it? The best designers must have been brought in to the royal palace to clothe Solomon. Yet God’s work on the lilies of the field was much more superior to Solomon’s royal garments. It is safe to conclude than the garments God made for Adam and Eve was so beautiful, for, first and foremost, God made them, and second, it was designed for the purpose of Adam and Eve’s dignity to be preserved before the eyes of the entire universe.
Secondly, by nature leather, which is skin, is the best material there is, bar none, in the whole wide world, to touch our delicate skin all day long. The softness of leather fits the softness of our own skin. It is not abrasive as other materials. Thus, it is the most comfortable garment material anyone can find in this world. God was aware of the level of comfort Adam and Eve needed as they were going to be let go into the wild world of thorns and bushes. In their hard labor, Adam and Eve needed the most comfortable garment they could afford in order for them to work as effective as they could. God made them the garments that they needed.
Thirdly, it is said in the Scripture that God clothed them. The act of clothing Adam and Eve is remarkable. When we see a naked child, we can’t ignore it. There is something in our heart that prompts us to clothe the naked child. That is an act of compassion. A naked person is robbed of his/her dignity. To clothe the naked person is to restore his/her dignity. God knew how terrible Adam and Eve felt in their soul. The shame was unbearable. The act of clothing alone must have melted their hearts, because before their very eyes God had demonstrated His great love. He did not call an angel to clothe them. He did not magically call the garment to self-clothe them. But God did the act Himself. It is as if we see a mother clothing her naked child. So gentle and soft, full of love, the mother’s hands touching the child’s shoulder. The child is dignified when the mother clothes him/her. When God clothes Adam and Eve, He dignified them.
This is the wonderful act of God. Now, as God’s children and servants. We are entrusted with authority to govern His church. Aren’t we supposed to use the authority given us to dignify our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Aren’t we even supposed to dignify those who do not believe in Christ? Why many servants of God today abuse the authority and oppress their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Don’t you fear the Lord? We are supposed to care for the people of God; not to exploit them as our cash cow like what Benny Hinn is doing. We are supposed to care for our pastors and evangelists; not to exploit their vow to follow the Lord no matter what. Their dignity must be preserved. God Himself maintained Adam and Eve’s dignity even though they just hurt the Lord big time. How much more we are supposed to dignify our brothers and sisters, especially those God has ordained as preacher and teacher of the word, whom are supposed to be given a double honor. God’s church must not be run according to the value and way of the world! God’s church belongs to God and it must be governed according to the will of God as revealed in the Scripture!
Now this message has come to you. Which kind of servant are you? The faithful and good one or the unfaithful and wicked one? Deep down in your heart you all wish to be the faithful and good one. Good! But you must evaluate your soul. What kind of servant you have become? There is time to repent. You must leave the wicked way. You must not paddle God’s word for money. You must get rid of the way of the world. Learn to clothe your fellow brothers and sisters with dignity. Learn to honor your pastors and evangelists. You must no longer pay them the low salary. You must give them the salary that will reflect their dignity as servants of the Most High God. You are not their boss; you will never be. God is your boss and their boss. May the Lord illuminate your mind so you will start dignifying others like God has dignified Adam and Eve and all His servants throughout.
[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/october/benny-hinn-costi-uncle-prosperity-preaching-testimony.html accessed February 27, 2019.
[2] https://churchleaders.com/news/312317-benny-hinns-nephew-rejects-prosperity-to-find-the-gospel.html accessed February 27, 2019.
[3] https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/benny-hinns-nephew-discusses-excesses-errors-uncles-ministry/ accessed February 27, 2019.
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