Selling JesusWHY Is This Wrong? - Selling Jesus Episode 2
Should churches charge admission fees? Most Christians today would recoil at the idea but struggle to point to anything in Scripture that would condemn such a practice. And many people have forgotten that churches used to commonly rent out pews, even though we'd condemn such a thing today. The arguments used to defend this practice back then are eerily similar to how Christians today defend selling things like Christian books and media, Bible conferences, worship events, biblical counseling, and seminary education.
But why does the sale of other things like the Lord’s supper, prayer, or baptism, feel wrong to us at a gut level? Can we clearly articulate from Scripture why it's an issue? Surprisingly, most Christians actually struggle to explain what's wrong with charging money for access to these things.
Yet a close look at the Bible shows that Christian ministry should be supported, but never sold. Christ commanded us to give freely (Matt 10:8). Jesus and the apostles were remarkably clear about how gospel ministers should be supported without selling their message or putting a cash price on blessing others. There's a better way to sustain Kingdom work generously without reducing the gospel to a commercial commodity. Let's let Scripture recalibrate our thinking. Let's abolish the Jesus trade.
Here are some of the resources referenced in the video, as well as some others that might be helpful:
Seat Rents Brought to the Test of Scripture: https://archive.org/details/seatrentsbrought00begg/mode/2up
The Dorean Principle: https://thedoreanprinciple.org/
Does Jesus’ Command to “Freely Give” Apply Today?: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/freely-give-today
Common Objections: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/objections
Ten Times Commercializing Ministry Is Condemned: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/commerce-condemned
Books and Resources on the topic: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/resources
Easy conversations to help you understand these issues better: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/conversations
The Coke/dollar study is from "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely.
Please consider learning more at:
https://sellingjesus.org/
https://thedoreanprinciple.org/
https://copy.church/
Follow:
https://www.facebook.com/sellingjesus.org
https://twitter.com/Selling_Jesus
https://open.spotify.com/show/2dDRm550aeja4a8vdtHEck
[See any ads? YouTube sometimes shows them, but they are outside our control. This channel will never be monetized, and you can also watch here ad-free: https://lets.church/channel/sellingjesus . Read our position on ads at https://sellingjesus.org/articles/ads ]
But why does the sale of other things like the Lord’s supper, prayer, or baptism, feel wrong to us at a gut level? Can we clearly articulate from Scripture why it's an issue? Surprisingly, most Christians actually struggle to explain what's wrong with charging money for access to these things.
Yet a close look at the Bible shows that Christian ministry should be supported, but never sold. Christ commanded us to give freely (Matt 10:8). Jesus and the apostles were remarkably clear about how gospel ministers should be supported without selling their message or putting a cash price on blessing others. There's a better way to sustain Kingdom work generously without reducing the gospel to a commercial commodity. Let's let Scripture recalibrate our thinking. Let's abolish the Jesus trade.
Here are some of the resources referenced in the video, as well as some others that might be helpful:
Seat Rents Brought to the Test of Scripture: https://archive.org/details/seatrentsbrought00begg/mode/2up
The Dorean Principle: https://thedoreanprinciple.org/
Does Jesus’ Command to “Freely Give” Apply Today?: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/freely-give-today
Common Objections: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/objections
Ten Times Commercializing Ministry Is Condemned: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/commerce-condemned
Books and Resources on the topic: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/resources
Easy conversations to help you understand these issues better: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/conversations
The Coke/dollar study is from "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely.
Please consider learning more at:
https://sellingjesus.org/
https://thedoreanprinciple.org/
https://copy.church/
Follow:
https://www.facebook.com/sellingjesus.org
https://twitter.com/Selling_Jesus
https://open.spotify.com/show/2dDRm550aeja4a8vdtHEck
[See any ads? YouTube sometimes shows them, but they are outside our control. This channel will never be monetized, and you can also watch here ad-free: https://lets.church/channel/sellingjesus . Read our position on ads at https://sellingjesus.org/articles/ads ]