Ministry Money Men

Jesus warned us about pastors that serve God for a price. Jesus warned us of men who are after ministry money. He called those men hired hands—salary seekers. Will you take his warnings to heart?

Hired hands look like shepherds but they are not real shepherds. They won't fend off spiritual wolves to protect God’s flock. They do not protect because they do not love God's people. They love money.

The hired hand is not the shepherd, and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away (John 10:12).

In this teaching Jesus puts his finger on the root sin of false pastors: They do not love God's people. Pseudo-pastors are cowards. They love their own lives more than the lives of the people they pastor. Unlike Jesus, they will not give their lives for others.

Hired hands are focused on what they can get out of ministry, not what they put into it. They wonder what their ministry can do for them, not what they can do for the ministry. They feed themselves while God's sheep go hungry.

Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock (Ezekiel 34:2-3; NASB).

Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-19).

What the hired hands want, they want in the here and now. They seek ministry money, not eternal rewards. Pastors are promised a crown in the Bible, but the hired hands do not look to Jesus’ return. They don't seek his Kingdom. They can't because they love the World.

Happiest When…

Jesus told a story about a pastor who felt happier feasting with sinners than fellowshipping with believers. The pastor in Jesus’ story didn’t want to do his work. Instead, he used his position of authority to cover up his sin. Living in hypocrisy, his job became his coverup, his alibi. Inside, he was as sinful as any worldly man.

Before we read the story, we need to establish that the food the ‘servant who the master has put in charge of the servants in his household’ is the Word of God. A pastor’s primary duty is to teach the Scriptures, and to teach them regularly. Just as food is best served as three square meals a day, so should pastors give balanced and proportional Bible teaching.

Before we read the story, let's get some other aspects of the story clear:

• the faithful and wise servant = a pastor

• the master = Jesus

• the servants in his household = members of the church

• the return of the master = the return of Christ

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 24:45-50).

Jesus told this story right after he described the Last Times. Yes, Matthew 24 is the Apocalypse of Matthew, one of the greatest chapters of the Bible on the Last Times. What’s the connection between the Last Times and negligent pastors? 

Jesus tells us the story of the abusive steward and reveals the root of the wickedness in the servant when he says: "... but if that evil servant says to himself, ‘My master is delaying his coming’" (Matthew 24:48; NKJV). In other words, the servant stopped feeling there's someone to whom he has to give an account. He forgets the return of the master of the house.

Not Really Pastors

Pastors who will not minister in the light of Jesus’ return are failing the Church. For one thing, they do not believe in the nearness of Christ's return. Pastors must preach Christ's Second Coming if they are going to preach the Good News of the Kingdom. That Kingdom will start when Jesus returns to rule. It is the Gospel.

Secondly, since Jesus will not return until there is a falling away of the Church, and pastors must fight the tendency of this "falling away." One important way to do so is to warn believers how the "falling away" is connected to Christ's Return.

... that day [of the Rapture] will not come unless the falling away [Apostasy] comes first, and the Man of Sin [the Antichrist] is revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3; NKJV).

A true pastor will teach these things! He'll prepare the people for tribulation. The problem is, as Jesus points out in his story, many pastors do not believe that Jesus is coming back soon. These men are not really pastors! They don't shepherd the sheep.

Dereliction of Duty

Any pastor derelict in their teaching duties will not prepare people for the Last Times. Part of the Last Times is the Apostasy and the deceptive rule of the Antichrist. If pastors do not warn against these dangers, they are fleeing from the wolves. They are cowardly hirelings. People will die because of them.

Jesus issued a very simple piece of instruction to pastors: feed my sheep. Pastors should feed believers the Word of God. Hired hands will not do that. They will not 'give them their food at the proper time' because they are too busy eating and drinking with the drunkards.

Worst off, in their heart, they do not even believe in Jesus' return.

The Beginning of the End

The times we live in today are characterized by greedy Christian pastors. We know that. It's obvious. But what most of us don't know is that the "prosperity gospel" so prevalent in today’s Church was long foreseen by the prophets--and it was foreseen as an indication of the End Times!

Read the words of Zachariah as he spoke of the flock, God's people.

Thus says Yahweh my God: “Shepherd the flock doomed to slaughter. The ones buying them kill them and go unpunished, and the ones selling them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I have become rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them (Zachariah 11:4-5; LEB).

Have you heard pastor’s boast of their wealth? Have you heard them say, “I praise God I am wealthy”? Have you observed their lifestyle?

The opulence of today’s pastors demonstrates how far they have drifted from the simplicity of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. But it also indicates that we're very close to the End!

A Flock Doomed to Slaughter

What we read in Zachariah is that there is a sign of the nearness of the Apostasy: Pastors will be so greedy that they will not care for souls anymore. The days of true pastors will have passed. Hypocrites will be in charge of churches.

Do the pastors of today have anything of the love the apostles had for God’s people? They look much more like the Pharisees than like the Apostles. They look more like Judas than like Jesus.

The Apostasy is on the horizon. Will this generation be the generation the Scriptures call the flock doomed to slaughter? If so, then we must be properly prepared. We need sound doctrine to resist the lies and deception the Antichrist will bring.

Have you ever seen sheep approaching a slaughterhouse? Have you seen sheep innocently shuffle along towards their death? It’s a pathetic sight. They don't know what's coming. But you do! You're not like a sheep because you can choose your shepherd. You don't need to be a follower of a greedy pastor.

Demas: So Close

Demas. His name became famous when John Bunyan made him a character in his classic allegory Pilgrim’s Progress—but it doesn’t matter whether you’ve read Pilgrim’s Progress or not. Do you know the Demas of the Bible? Have you read about him there?

Demas was a fellow worker of the apostle Paul. He was on the same ministry team as Luke and Mark. Those last two became gospel writers, and Paul wrote more New Testament books than any other man. That means that Demas was in good company. He was surrounded by the best of men.

Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas (Colossians 4:14; NASB).

Epaphras… greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my [Paul’s] fellow workers (Philemon 23-24; NASB).

Demas: The Deserter

Demas was right up there in spiritual status with the greatest names in the history of the Church. He lived in close fellowship with God’s most anointed servants. Nevertheless, Demas turned his back on his friends. He deserted Paul and went the way of the World.

Demas, having loved this present World, has deserted me [Paul] and gone to Thessalonica (2 Timothy 4:10; NASB).

Demas loved the World—and that’s a serious sin. Many believers don’t consider being a friend to the World to be a grave sin, but it is! It's a very serious sin because becoming a friend to the World makes you an enemy of God!

… don’t you know that friendship with the World means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the World becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).

Beware not to follow in Demas’ footsteps. Beware of friendship with the World.

Self-Sending and Misleading

When Paul said that Demas had traveled to Thessalonica, he meant that Demas went to the church community in Thessalonica. That means that Demas went to Thessalonica as a self-sent missionary, not as a man sent by God. People welcomed him as an apostle of God, but he was not.

You might know a missionary too. They might teach in churches. They might do home-based Bible studies. But if God has not sent them, no amount of ministry can hide the fact that they are not true shepherds of God's flock. They're hired hands.

Stop evaluating people according to titles. Stop calling people pastor just because they call themself a pastor. Use sound judgment. You will know a true shepherd by their fruits! Be wary of greed or worldliness in pastors. The ones who have unchecked greed have come not to protect you, but to destroy you.

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves (Matthew 5:17; LEB).