Is It OK for Church Leaders to Live in Luxury? Free Reprint Article

NotifySnack

Christian Articles for All of your Publishing Needs!

LIKE US

Translate this Page Here

Word Count: 1445

Send Article To Friend

Print/Use Article

Contact Max Aplin

Is It OK for Church Leaders to Live in Luxury?

by Max Aplin
12/11/2024 / Leadership

Not that long ago, I was talking to another Christian about a certain well known church leader.

I won’t mention the name of the leader here, for two reasons. First, naming him won’t be necessary for me to make my points in this article. And second, just in case the information I have about him is not completely accurate, I don’t want to misrepresent him.

I am pretty sure that what I have heard about him is correct, but even if it isn’t, there are other church leaders who are in the same sort of situation anyway, and my aim in this article is to make points about church leaders generally.

The situation of this leader

The leader in question is someone who rightly opposes the so-called Prosperity Gospel, which says that a Christian who is living in a way that is pleasing to God should expect to be financially well off. Nevertheless, he has written many popular Christian books that have earned him a great deal of money. And with some of this money he has apparently bought three luxury homes.

The issue

When I was discussing this with the other Christian, we took different views on whether this leader had done the right thing in buying these three homes.

I forget the precise words that each of us used, but the other guy argued in the following sort of way:

The Bible makes it clear that it is the love of money that is sinful, not being wealthy in itself, and there is no evidence that this church leader loves money.

Besides, he clearly works very hard, and he deserves a big financial reward for doing that. There is also every reason to think that he gives away a lot of what he earns.

Therefore, he has done nothing wrong in buying three luxury homes.

I am not persuaded by this argument. I think this leader has made a big mistake in buying three luxury homes, and in what follows I will explain why.

Points of agreement

Before I give my explanation, I want to note some points of agreement with the man I was talking to.

First, it is true that the Bible condemns the love of money rather than money itself.

Second, I don’t know if this leader is guilty of the love of money, but in the absence of clear evidence for this, I am happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he isn’t.

Third, there is no doubt that this leader works very hard, and that he deserves a financial reward for this, as 1 Timothy 5:18 says.

And fourth, I am sure that he gives away a lot of the money he earns.

Nevertheless, I don’t think these things justify buying three luxury homes.

Basically, I think this leader is missing a golden opportunity to steer his flock away from the love of money by setting an example of being content with few things. Let me explain why I think this.

The love of money is a serious and very common sin

To begin with, we need to be clear that the love of money is a sin.

In 1 Timothy 6:10, for example, the apostle Paul says:

‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’

This should leave us in no doubt about the seriousness of this sin.

Similarly, in Matthew 6:24 Jesus teaches:

‘You cannot serve both God and wealth.’

Given that our whole aim in life as Christians is to serve God with an undivided heart, these words underscore how harmful it is to love money.

As far as the frequency of this sin is concerned, I think it is obvious that in society generally it is an extremely common thing to find. In fact, I would say that all over the world it is very rare to find a non-Christian who doesn’t love money.

We can just tell, can’t we, by the way so many people speak about possessions, that they are lovers of money?

Love of money inside the church

Importantly, wherever there is a sin that is widespread in a country, it is always the case that this sin will significantly affect churches in that country. I don’t think there is ever an exception to this.

So, because the love of money is so common throughout the world, this means that the love of money is a big issue for the church in every country. Many Christians love money, and many others are fighting the strong temptation to love money.

If we were to make a list of important things that Christians in leadership positions need to do in their ministry, I would suggest that steering their flocks away from the love of money is in the top ten things, or maybe in the top twenty, for virtually every church leader in the world.

In other words, helping Christians in their churches to avoid the love of money is a key part of the job description of a Christian leader.

How do leaders steer Christians away from the love of money?

So how do leaders help their flocks to avoid the love of money?

Well, firstly, they need to teach on this subject. And the Bible is full of teaching on this.

But there is a second way in which church leaders should influence Christians in their churches for good, and that is by setting an example. And as far as loving money is concerned, the example they can set is one of being content with living a relatively simple lifestyle with relatively few luxuries.

In 1 Timothy 6:8 Paul says to Timothy:

‘If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these things.’

This is a wonderful attitude to have, and it is certainly one that church leaders should aspire to.

Giving up what we deserve for the greater good

But there is another important point to bring in here, which is the principle of giving up things we deserve for the greater good.

In 1 Corinthians 9:3-23 Paul talks at length about how as an apostle he deserves to earn a living from the gospel, but how he has not taken advantage of this because it will help his evangelistic work not to. He says something similar in 2 Corinthians 11:7-10.

It is too simplistic, then, to say that if a church leader works hard, he should automatically take advantage of what he earns.

Summing up

Getting back to the leader I mentioned who owns three luxury homes, I find it very difficult to believe that he has got this right.

Given how common the love of money is, even among Christians, in his church of over a thousand people there are bound to be many who are either guilty of loving money or are battling temptations to commit this sin. And in that context, I just can’t see that he should have three luxury homes, especially when most of those in his church won’t even have one.

I think he is missing a golden opportunity to set a fantastic example by living in a relatively modest way. I am not saying that he should avoid all luxuries all the time. I think that would be going too far. But to have three luxury homes is to my mind very poor leadership.

If I were a church leader who earned a lot of money, I think I would set a little rule for myself that my standard of living would not be above the average of the people in my church. I am not saying that every leader should do precisely this, but this is what I would aim to do.