Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. – Numbers 31:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 12, 2015): Numbers 31

A couple of years ago, Christian musician Steve Camp published a blog post about “ministry for sale.” The post, and most of the responses to the post, took issue with idea of selling God in the form of mp3 messages for sale and pastors exorbitant salaries (I don’t know many of those), but also at issue were Christian musicians who charged more than normal amounts (and I have no idea how you can define that) for their CD’s and concerts. The question that seemed to lurk beneath the words of the post was “has God simply become something that we have learned to sell?” And what exactly is appropriate compensation. For Camp, all true ministry is free. We raise funds through donations from people who believe in our ministries and then offer the product of our labor to anyone who would like to partake. And this describes most Christian ministries that I am aware of – the only holdouts to this would seem to be elite ministries, Christians Music artists and Christian book sales. It is the way that the ministries that I am associated with, which includes this daily blog as well as videos or attendance at our weekend services, are conducted. We are run on a donation basis by the people who believe in the ministry.

But I also understand the other side. There are costs associated with ministry. Camp argues that with the advent of mp3’s the costs can be minimized, but ministries routinely underwrite the costs of production and distribution of their materials. The question is not whether or not Camp is right, he definitely is. But the question is where exactly we need to draw the dividing line between proper ministry and selling God? Camp says ministry is always free, but is that always true. When does God cease to be about ministry and start to be about profit? While I am not sure exactly where the line might be, we can often identify ministries that fall on either side of line. Maybe part of the identification of where the line might be begins with the intrinsic purpose of the ministry.

Balaam was a prophet God. God spoke to him, he directed him and as we read the story of Balaam and Balak there is no question Balaam understood the purposes of God. Balak wanted something that was contrary to what God wanted, and Balaam repeatedly told Balak that what he wanted violated the will of God. But Balaam was paid for, and he was willing to sell out God. What Balaam did was tell Balak what to do to get around the will God. Balak could have what he wanted if he would only do what Balaam told him – if Balak could get the women of Midian to tempt the men of Israel into sexual sin, then God would stop protecting Israel. Balak did what Balaam told him and the men of Israel fell into the trap. The plan worked perfectly, except that that God was not amused.

I have to admit that stories like this make me more than a little uncomfortable. It is easier to think about the love of God, then it is too confront the vengeance of God. But then again, maybe we should be made a little more uncomfortable about the things that we do in the name of God – and all of the ways that we attempt to sell him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 32

Personal Note: Happy Birthday, Mom