A pastor who reveals money too much
“Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God. Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the LORD will speak to me.” (Numbers 22:18-19)
‘I don’t know why our pastor keeps talking about money in the pulpit. I wish he would stop talking about money.’ It seems that there are many believers who have this kind of thinking these days. So some church members can't stand it any longer and even move to another church. It seems that some members of the church even leave the church because they are tempted by the pastor. For some reason, it seems that money is being proclaimed rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ in the church Sunday worship pulpit. Why did the church come to this point? The reason is because of us the pastors who love money.
Although Jesus clearly said, “You cannot serve both God and Money” (Lk. 16:13), we pastors who love money are serving two masters, God and Money. Even though we have to hate money and love God, we love money and value money very much (Mt. 6:24). Although we who love money preach from the pulpit with our lips, “I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Ps. 18:1), in real life we believe, “Money is my power,” and are busy accumulating money. On the outside, we seem to have a very good faith in God. But on the inside we believe in money more than God. We seem to love the Lord very hard on the outside, but on the inside we love money more. Such pastors are like the Pharisees in the Bible. Now, we outwardly fast (Mt. 9:14), keep the Lord’s Day thoroughly holy (Mt. 12:2, Mk. 2:24), offer tithe (Mt. 23:23), and don’t even eat with “sinners” (Mk. 2:16). On the outside, there seems to be no uncleanness (Mk. 7:5) and looks clean (Mt. 23:25), but inside we are “full of greed and wickedness” (Lk. 11:39). Now we are greedy and don’t know that we never have enough (Isa. 56:11). Now we have become pastors who lack understanding and who seek our own gain (v. 11). From small church pastors to large church pastors, they are all greedy for gain and practicing deceit (Jere. 6:13). Because of that greed, the pastors became a fool (Eccle. 7:7). Now money is corrupting our heart (v. 7). Because of that greed, we are also living a life of debauchery, secretly from our families and church members (Mt. 23:25). Now we even engage in sexual immorality and of any kind of impurity (1 Cor. 5:11; Eph. 5:3). In this way, we have eyes full of adultery and never stop sinning (2 Pet. 2:14). We are experts in greed (v. 14). That is why we who are now led by greed are standing on the pulpit of the church and revealing money too much. But what's even scarier than this is that, despite the fact that our hearts are full of greed, we stand at the pulpit and don’t reveal the money, and are preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ with our false hearts and lips. At that time, none of the believers who are listening to the gospel will realize that we are wage earners who love money (maybe our wives at least can guess? For some reason, even our wives may not know). So now, it is difficult for believers to distinguish who is a true Christian and who isn’t. And it is very difficult to distinguish who is the true pastor and who is the false pastor. How can we tell them apart?
I have one person in the Bible who confuses me by asking, ‘Is this a true prophet or a false prophet?’ That person is “Balaam” in the context of Numbers 22:18-19. When I first started to read the Bible with interest in a man named Balaam, as I read these words of Balaam, I thought, ‘Oh, this man must be a true prophet: “… I will bring word back to you as the LORD may speak to me …” (v. 8), “…or the LORD has refused to let me go with you” (v. 13), “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God” (v. 18), “…I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back” (v. 34), “…Behold, I have come now to you! Am I able to speak anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I shall speak” (v. 38), “…Must I not be careful to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” (23:12), “…Did I not tell you, 'Whatever the LORD speaks, that I must do’?” (v. 26), “'Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the command of the LORD, either good or bad, of my own accord What the LORD speaks, that I will speak'? (24:13). If we read only these words, wouldn't it be enough to assume that this man Balaam was the true prophet? When I first read these words, I misunderstood.
Then, as I read these verses about Balaam, I began to think, ‘Oh, this man is not the true prophet, but the false prophet: “So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak's words to him” (22:7), “But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as an adversary against him …” (v. 22), “…Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me” (v. 32), “For there is no omen against Jacob, Nor is there any divination against Israel …” (23:23), “When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek omens …” (24:1). As I read these verses, I thought that Balaam was “the diviner” who practiced divination (Jos. 13:22) rather than a true prophet of God. However, I was a little confused about how such diviner spoke as if he didn't want the silver and gold that filled the house of Balak, king of Moab, and said that he could not do less or more in violation of God's word, speaking like a person who only proclaims the word of God.
Then, while meditating on Balaam a little more, I saw the words of Balaam written in other places besides Numbers 22-24, and I was convinced that ‘this man isn’t a true prophet of God at all’: “Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD” (Nub. 31:16), “For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you” (Deut. 23:4), “In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination” (Jos. 13:22), “because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)” (Neh. 13:2), “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Pet. 2:15), “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion” (Jud. 1:11), “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality” (Rev. 2:14). Looking at these words, we can see that the man named Balaam is clearly the false prophet. He was the diviner who practiced divination (Jos. 13:22). He was the one who was tempted by the bribe of Balak the king of Moab (Deut. 23:4, Neh. 13:2). He fell into the temptation of the bribe because he loved the wages of wickedness (2 Pet. 2:15). As a result, the Israel fell by the stumbling block Balaam had set, playing the harlot with the daughters of Moab in Peor, bowing down to their gods, Baal of Peor, whom they served (Num. 25: 1-3). The Israelites went to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved (Hos. 9:10). The result was God's wrath, and a plague broke out in the camp of Israel [“a plague broke out among them” (Ps. 106:29), and 24,000 people died (Numbers 25:1-9).
In the process of reading, examining, and meditating on the words of God, I came to realize that Balaam was not the true prophet of God, but the false prophet. Amid such realization, I read and meditated on Numbers 22:18-19, and had two questions:
The first question is that Balak, king of Moab, sent to Balaam leaders, “more numerous and more distinguished” (v. 15) than “the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian” (v. 7) and said, “Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me; for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me” (vv. 16-17). Upon hearing this, Balaam replied: “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God” (v. 18). When King Balak of Moab said to Balaam, “I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me” (v. 17), Balaam replied, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God” (v. 18). The question that came to me while reading this was, ‘Although Balak seemed not talking about giving silver and gold to Balaam but he would honor him richly, I wondered why Balaam was talking about silver and gold. Also, in Numbers 24:11, 13, it is evident that King Balak was trying to “honor” Balaam greatly if Balaam come and curse the Israelites (v. 11). But Balaam spoke about “full of silver and gold” at Balak’s house (v. 13). Then Balaam said, “I could not do anything contrary to the command of the LORD, either good or bad, of my own accord What the LORD speaks, that I will speak” (v. 13). I thought it was like a person who wanted silver and gold more than being honored by Balak. And the Bible verse that confirmed my thoughts was 2 Peter 2:15 – “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (Note: Jud. 1:11). From this word, we can clearly see that Balaam was a man who loved silver and gold of wickedness. In a word, Balaam was the false prophet who loved money and who revealed money too much.
The second question is Numbers 22:19 – “Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the LORD will speak to me.” As I read and meditated on this Balaam's word, the first thought came to my mind: When King Balak had already sent the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian to Balaam (v. 7), Balaam said to them, “"Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the LORD may speak to me” (v. 8). Then he received God’s word, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (v. 12). It seemed a bit odd that Balaam told the servants whom King Balak sent the second time, “Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the LORD will tell me” (v. 19). Although God had already commanded clearly, “Do not go with them” (v. 12), why did Balaam pray to God again to find out “what else the Lord will tell” him (v. 19) beside what He had already said to him (v. 12). Isn't that a bit strange? Apparently, Balaam said in verse 18, “I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.” So why did he try to find out what “else” God would tell him beside what He had already said in verse 12? Could it be that Balaam coveted the silver and gold of Balak, king of Moab? As the Apostle Peter said, Balaam was a person who “loves the wages of unrighteousness”, and he was greedy for Balak’s silver and gold. So he prayed (?) to God one more time and, in addition to what God had already said, because maybe he wanted to hear the word ‘Go with them’ (Num. 22:20, 35). Of course, we have to ask another question here why did God told Balaam “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them” (v.20), even though He told him at first “Do not go with them” (v. 12) [later, “the angel of the Lord” (v. 22) also commanded Balaam to “go with men” (v. 35)]. And after saying that, God was angry when Balaam “got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab” (vv. 21-22). This is a word I don't quite understand. In the midst of this, the second half of verse 13 came to me: “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” One of these words of Balaam that particularly caught my eye was the phrase “has refused to let me go with you.”
Here we need to know that theologically there are two things in God's will. The two are God's "direct will" and God's "permissive will." The direct will of God is the will directly proclaimed by God. For example, Samson was a Nazarite who was offered to God, and it was never God's direct will for him to marry a Philistine woman who didn’t believe in God. In other words, God's direct will for Samson wasn’t to marry the foreign woman. However, Samson disobeyed God’s (direct) will and married that Philistine woman. This is the permissive will of God. The word God permitted here means that Samson was able to marry that Philistine woman because God allowed him to break with God's direct will and marry the Philistine woman despite his parents' stubborn opposition. The important thing here is that holy God wants holy saints to marry believers and form holy families. Nevertheless, even if we disobey God's direct will and try to marry an unbeliever, God can allow it. Then why would God allow that marriage? Maybe the reason is that God wants to use us as an instrument to preach the gospel to her so that she may believe in Jesus Christ. In the end, God respects our free will and allows us to make choices that are disobeying God's direct will, so that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). Applying these two wills of God to the words of Numbers 22, God's direct will was that Balaam should not be with the men sent by Balak, king of Moab, and not curse the people of Israel (Num. 22:12). Nevertheless, Balaam, who coveted the King Balak’s silver and gold, the wage of unrighteousness, and so who wanted to go with the King Balak’s servants, disobeyed God's direct will. And God allowed Balaam to go with the Balak’s servants (vv. 20, 35) [Cf.: “God gave them over …” (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28)]. So God was angry, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way where Balaam was riding on his donkey with his drawn sword in his hand in order to stop Balaam (Num. 22:22-24). Interestingly, when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field (v. 23) in order to save his master Balaam. But the doney was struck by Balaam three times with his stick (vv. 23, 25, 27) because Balaam didn’t see the angel of the Lord with his drawn sword in his hand. On the contrary, Balaam said, “You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now” (v. 29), to the donkey who didn’t do anything wrong (v. 28) and who had been faithful to him (v. 30). Isn't this funny that it wasn’t the donkey that made the fool of Balaam but himself who didn’t see the angel of the Lord with his drawn sword and who didn’t know that his donkey try to save him? Isn’t this funny that Balaam said to the donkey “If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now” (v. 29) even though it was him who didn’t see the drawn sword of the angel of the Lord? Can't we see this ridiculously funny scene even in the church now?
I remember the late Pastor Han-heum Ok saying that it is very difficult to distinguish a real Christian from a fake Christian, just as it is very difficult to distinguish a male from a female insect. In this day and age, we are living in a world where there are many counterfeit Christians who are very similar to real Christians. In this world where it is difficult to tell which is a real luxury item and which is a fake, in this world where counterfeit products look like the real thing, it has become very difficult for us to distinguish the real from the fake. But I think this fact does not apply only to lay Christians. This also applies to pastors like us. In other words, it is very difficult to distinguish who is a true pastor and who is a false pastor. He looks like a real pastor because he seems to love the Lord and love neighbors very much. Also, his sermons that he preaches from the pulpit are so good and seem genuinely evangelical and reformed. But I think that pastor could be the false pastor too. The reason I think so is because of what Jesus said to “the crowd and to his disciples” about “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees” (Mt. 23:1, 2). Look at Matthew 23:3 – “So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Mt. 23:3). Jesus said not to do what the hypocrites, that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, do, but to “do everything they tell you”. What was the reason? Couldn’t it be because what they were saying wasn’t’ wrong (was right) even though they didn’t practice what they preached? Of course, Jesus wasn’t here talking to the crowd and his disciples to do the traditions (the traditions of the elders) that the Pharisees attached to the Mosaic Law. What Jesus was saying was to do the law of Moses, which the scribes and Pharisees had spoken of. In doing so, Jesus told the assembled crowd and his disciples to obey the law of Moses, but not to imitate the hypocrisy of scribes and Pharisees who only talk and don’t do.
In the same way, there are pastors in the church that believers should not imitate. These are the pastors who are hypocrites. Even if these hypocrites pastors don’t live the right life at home during the week, at least in the church, they can proclaim the correct word of God from the pulpit during the Sunday worship service. We can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ from the pulpit even while violating the command to live the gospel worthy of life (Phil. 1:27) (of course, the fact that the gospel isn’t being preached from the pulpit is the most serious problem). Even the pastors, like the Pharisees, love money in their hearts (Lk. 6:14). But they can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ while preaching from the pulpit and pretending not to reveal their love for money. Knowing that the love of money is the root of all evil, they covet money (1 Tim. 6:10). But at the Sunday worship service, they preach the gospel, the good news, in front of the church members at the pulpit, and even bless them in the name of Jesus. The true believers should not imitate these pastors. In particular, we must not imitate pastors like Balaam, who was a false prophet who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5). Therefore, the believers should not love money and imitate these idolatrous pastors. They must not imitate the pastors who love money and walk “in a crooked and depraved generation” (Phil. 2:15) without restraining their feet (Jere. 14:10). The believers should not imitate the pastors who serve both God and money (Mt. 6:24). They should not imitate the pastors who reveal money too much.
But what is so surprising and shocking is the fact that God blesses the believers whom God loves even through such pastors who love money and reveal money too much. We can know this from the fact that God blessed the people of Israel three times even through the false prophet Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness (Num. 24:10). This is because God allowed Balaam to go with the servants of Balak, king of Moab (22:12-13, 20, 35), but never allowed him to curse His people, the Israelites (v. 12). God forcibly prevented the false prophet Balaam, who loved silver and gold, from cursing the Israelites (24:11). Why did God do that? The reason is because the Israelites were blessed (22:12). You are the ones who have been blessed by God. Really, the Bible says to all of you Christians, “Blessed are you, O Israel!” (Deut. 33:29) The reason is that there is no people like you who are saved by the Lord (v. 29). God demonstrates His love for us in that while you were yet sinners, Christ died for you (Rom. 5:8). Therefore, the God of love, who is the source of blessings, works powerfully even through such pastors who love money and reveal it too much, and is blessing you Christians today.