Keep Lottery Winnings Out of the Church!

True North Community Church in Port Jefferson, New York had a difficult decision to make this week.  Unfortunately, they chose poorly.  The Long Island place of worship is a young and growing church that found itself cramped in its present facilities.  A few weeks ago the Lead Pastor stated that if anybody in the congregation had a couple of million extra dollars lying around they should make an appointment to see him.  He told them God could work a miracle and provide the money if He wanted to.  Then it happened.  A parishioner presented the church with a winning lottery ticket worth more than three million dollars and the pastors had to respond.   

 

Should they (or we for that matter) accept money from gambling winnings?  Why not, you may ask?  Is gambling a sin?  What about accepting the profits of gambling if in fact you or I did not participate in said gambling?  While there is no verse in the Bible that reads, ‘don’t gamble because it is a sin’, there are multiple verses that tell us to avoid ill-gotten gain, greed, slothfulness and poor stewardship. 

 

Further, consider the evils of the gambling industry for a moment.  Gaming institutions encourage people to come and have fun while they take money from men who should be feeding their families.  They sell themselves as entertainment venues that are fueled by the discretionary income of normal Americans.  However, they are fueled by habitual gamblers that spend wealth until it’s gone and incur debts most simply can never repay.  This leads to the ruin of individuals, the break-ups of marriages, the abandonment of children,  dependence upon drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms and the ultimate destruction of many families just to name a few of the social strains and ramifications. 

 

The gaming industry in this country is evil and the church has no business benefiting from it!  You may argue that the church could take this ill-gotten money and use it for good.  We could be the ‘good stewards’ of this improbable windfall.  But if we do so we fuel the industry and become the ultimate beneficiaries of this great sin. 

 

Playing the lottery and visiting gaming institutions equates to stealing from the poor and enslaving them rather than helping, feeding or serving them as God commands!  I am convinced that Jesus would have us serve those who suffer from bondage to this sin rather than to further take advantage of them. 

 

As a pastor, I feel a responsibility to refuse such an offering of a winning lottery ticket the same way I would refuse money from a recently converted drug lord or the wealth of newly saved former pornographer.  Rather than soil God’s coffers with dirty money gained in the destruction of the lives of countless men and women I would offer counsel better suited to advance the Kingdom of God and redemption of mankind.  My pastoral advice to the lottery winner, drug-runner or sex-industry kingpin would be to use the money gained in sinful allegiance to the god of this world to love, minister to and reclaim the lives that are being ruined from these practices.

 

Non-profit, para-church ministries could be formed with this money to help strippers and prostitutes find a noble and honorable profession that restores their ingrained dignity as image-bearers of God.  It could be used to give drug addicts a place to recover and find deliverance through Jesus Christ.  It could enable credit-ruined gambling addicts to abandon chance in favor of embracing the sovereignty of God.  There are thousands of ways to redeem this wealth while maintaining the purity of the Bride of Christ, His beautiful church.  

 

My prayer is that True North Community Church sees the error of their decision to accept a winning lottery ticket and repents of benefiting from ill-gotten gain. 

 

[Proverbs 1:19 –  Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.   Proverbs 10:2 – Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.   Proverbs 28:16 & 19 – ¹⁶ A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment, but he who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long life…¹⁹ He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.]

 

May you and I pursue the purity of the church at all costs and support her by being good stewards of that which God has entrusted us.  And may many trapped in the sex, drug and gambling industries find deliverance through Jesus Christ and repent and serve others to the praise of His glorious grace!

What’s wrong with your church? (Part 1)

I have a question for you. What’s wrong with your church? Don’t say nothing. Sure it sounds pious and may make you appear spiritually mature…but you’re lying. No one attends a perfect church. So sound off. Let’s hear it. What’s wrong with your church?

Maybe I can help us get started. Is it the pastor? Might as well go for the jugular. Maybe he’s the problem. (if you said that she’s the problem we have a whole ‘nother set of difficulties to deal with first!) Is he too short or too tall? Maybe he’s too long-winded. Maybe he can’t keep your attention for more than ten minutes. Is he too dominant or too passive? Too emotional or not merciful enough? An out in front leader, or reclusive reader? Surely he’s got his problems. But maybe you love and support him anyway.

Ok, what about the music. Too loud? Too repetitive? Too many hymns? To contemporary? Do the drums annoy you or do you find a dark desire buried way down deep to take and axe to that old-fashioned organ? Which is more distracting the gray-haired choir in light blue robes or the twenty something with messy hair and piercings jumping around with the red electric guitar? Don’t tell me you like the worship music at your church too! (You’re awfully close to being a content Christian. Can’t have too many of those!)

How do you feel about the facilities? Are they clean enough? Nice enough? Comfortable enough? Big enough? Does the color scheme appeal to you? Are they kid-friendly or too adult-oriented. Are they located in the right zip code or do you secretly hope to re-locate so you won’t have to drive through ‘that’ neighborhood?

Do the programs work? Are there enough programs? Too many programs? Age-appropriate programs? Are there enough volunteers? Please tell me your church has enough volunteers. If not, they may ask you to volunteer thus revealing their utter incompetence because everyone knows that you are a leader and not a mere servant.

I wonder if I’ve hit on your complaint yet? We could keep going but even Olympic Softball implements a ten run mercy rule. So after the airing of our grievances against our local church let me ask another question.

What are you doing to help?

Sorry, offering ‘constructive criticism’ isn’t really a verifiable spiritual gift. I don’t need to know the name of your church or a list of its strengths and weaknesses to know that they need your help. The Apostle’s Peter & Paul tell me this. (Eph. 4:11-16, 1 Pet. 4:7-11, Rom 12:3-8, 1 Cor. 12:4-27) Consider the admonishment of Peter in 1 Pet. 4:10, ‘Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.’

What will you do? Consider what Korah did (Numbers 16) and what Nehemiah did (Nehemiah 1-5) when faced with problems. Pick one of them to emulate. Oh, and be prepared for the consequences.

‘Sneaky Sin’

Recently my two and half year old (Natalie) reminded me about the ‘sneakiness’ of sin.  Sin is sneaky isn’t it?  It begins so subtly.  A desire arises within me.  I allow it to linger.  It presents a case.  The desire matures to the status of a need like a tadpole making its transition to a frog.  Having refused to kill the desire in my mind it begins to make demands.  I move into the realm of rationalization.  I should be given this thing, this want…No, I DESERVE it!  Who cares about my diet, my health or my conscience…I DESERVE a chocolate covered donut!  Might as well throw on the sprinkles.  Why not make it a baker’s dozen while I’m at it?  I slump out of Dunkin Donuts defeated, in shame and with more sticky on my buns then when I entered. 

 

Sin is sneaky.  You see this pattern over and over in scripture.  Consider David in 2 Samuel 11.  He sees Bathsheba bathing in the second verse and desire was aroused.  Rather than killing the desire he sent and inquired about the woman in verse three.  In the next verse he takes and lay with her.  The transition in these three verses is rapid.  David then spends the next 23 verses (and the rest of the chapter) trying to cover up his sin.

 

The sin of Achan takes a similar trajectory.  Achan took some of the plunder of Jericho when God said it was all to be put into the treasury of the Lord.  When explaining his sin in Joshua 7:20 he said that he saw silver, gold and a beautiful robe; he coveted them; he took them; and he hid them in his tent. 

 

Sin is sneaky.  It always takes us farther than we are willing to go and costs more than we are willing to pay.  God told Cain that “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”  (Gen. 4:7)  Good advice from a merciful God.  We must master our sin.  This means that we must be aware of our desires and kill them before they develop and mature into full-scaled rebellion against God.  

 

Natalie is fully aware of her desires.  She prefers ‘junk-snacks’ to healthy ones.  (The ones her mom gives her.)  She also knows where we keep the Nesquik.  I assume her desire for chocolate led her to the pantry.  She saw the bunny.  She coveted the Quik.  She took it.  She devoured it.  She hid under the table.  She made a mess!

 

By the way, though God is merciful, He still judges sin.  David’s son died.  Achan and his entire family were stoned.  Natalie’s life was spared, but she was punished nevertheless.  We decided to … well, I’ll just let you guess.

 

May you master the sin that crouches at your door as you pursue God this week.  May His Spirit empower you to victory.  May you experience holiness in Christ, with which the pleasure of sin simply can’t compete. Natalie and I will be praying for you.