Selling Jesus

For those of you who prefer to listen rather than watch a long video, this episode is for you. Watch the original video here , which also includes subtitles for the limited parts in Spanish. This is part 3, so if you haven't watched the previous episodes, make sure to watch part one and part two . Now that we’ve spent some time laying the biblical foundations for freely giving ministry, it’s s...

Read the profile here . This series on " ⁠⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Chris has a timely message and warning for the Church. He’s filled with a passionate and prophetic urgency to admonish evangelicals about the dangers he sees looming ahe...

Although this article was not originally written for a podcast, we offer it here for those who don't have time to read it. If you prefer to read it, you can do that here . See the timestamps below to skip to different sections: 00:00 BIBLICAL CONTENT + BIBLICAL CONTEXT 03:29 BIBLICAL TIMES 04:06 MINISTRY, MOTIVES, AND MONEY 08:27 GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS LEADERS 14:16 OTHER BIBLICAL EVIDENCE...

Read the article here . "For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2 Cor. 2:17, ESV). This highly technical discussion is not an easy listen, and it's recommended that you complement it with the visuals in the written version of the article. That said, the primary source of interest...

Our Master has commanded us to “teach and admonish one another” (Col. 3:16) and to “warn those that are unruly” (1 Thess. 5:14) as part of our Christian duty. Yet rather than speaking truth and wisdom to others freely, as they received it from God, some sell their biblical counsel as though it had originated from themselves. By God’s grace, this is not the practice of a majority of biblical counse...

This series on " ⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Luke is a gifted preacher and speaker. Some of the biggest summer camps book him years in advance, and large churches love to invite him to present at conferences. In the early years of his preac...

Read the article and footnotes here . Let’s imagine that your pastor gets up one Sunday morning and announces: “If anyone wants to share passages from the Bible they need to ask me for permission first. I have to do this in order to carefully steward God’s Word, because people might abuse it. That said, I’ll be very generous in giving permission. I’ll even let you share it for free if you’re only...

This series on " ⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. James is a worship leader. When he was single he wrote some of his best worship songs in the evenings while working at a bookstore to make ends meet. His heart’s passion is to serve the Church with...

The 1998 movie  The Truman Show  is a film about a man named Truman Burbank who—unaware—lived his entire life inside a simulated reality TV show. In order to pay for the show, the producers filled Truman’s world with cleverly placed ads of all kinds, even within conversations that Truman had with his wife (who was really a paid actress). At one point Truman and his wife are in the middle of an int...

The biblical counseling movement was founded on the conviction that the Bible is sufficient for solving all non-medical problems that humans face. The central figure behind this return to Scripture was Jay Adams, who shocked the world with a bold and controversial claim “that the task of counseling was a theological enterprise that should be primarily informed by a commitment to God’s Word.” While...

Conley Owens argues that the Bible is clear that ministers should be financially supported. In the same context that Jesus commanded the disciples to “freely give” their message, he acknowledged that the worker is “worthy of his food” (Matt. 10:10). Paul also argued for the right of a minister to earn a living as he does ministry (1 Cor. 9:1-14). Ministry should be supported, but it shouldn’t be s...

This series on " ⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Recommended reading (even though, sadly, none of these books are free): Competent to Counsel The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams Counseling the Hard Cases Speaking Truth in Love Check out th...

As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they tackle the question: Where should our sense of obligation lie when giving to support Christian ministry - to God or to man? Looking at biblical illustrations like a soldier's wages and an ox treading grain, they walk through 1 Corinthians 9 to see how Paul unpacks the idea of "mediated obligation." Giving should stem from love...

This series on " Christians Who Sell Jesus " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Our intention is to engage with practical matters and have an open conversation about how each person can follow more closely in Christ's footsteps and give ministry freely. Jane believes that ther...

As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they try their best to grapple with some passages from the Apostle Paul that can be confusing. Why is Paul willing to receive money from people in some circumstances and unwilling in others? Walking through key passages in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, they explore the distinction Paul makes between reciprocity (payment in exchange for preachi...

This series on " ⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Our intention is to engage with practical matters and have an open conversation about how each person can follow more closely in Christ's footsteps and give ministry freely. Joe is a gifted autho...

For nearly a century, copyright legislation has been subtly but effectively applied, misused and abused in regard to the Word of God in order to chain the Bible to a new pulpit, differing in kind but not in essence from the restrictive practice so loudly decried in the Middle Ages. While the contemporary difference can be described in terms of dollars and cents, the net effect is identical: the fr...

People often attempt to justify the Jesus trade by dismissing the command of Christ in Matthew 10:8 as irrelevant to Christians today. They say that the command to freely give just doesn’t apply to us anymore, so we can sell the spiritual and the sacred without any problem now. In this episode Conley Owens addresses the issue and argues that the command of Christ does indeed apply to us today. Con...

In this episode Jon, Conley, and Andrew discuss some of the common objections that typically come up when Christians encounter resistance to the Jesus trade. There are a lot of people with their entire lives invested in a system that monetizes ministry like everything else on the market, and when we point out that the Bible condemns the sale of ministry, but commends the support of ministry throug...

As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they discuss the history of how we got to this point in history where the monetization of ministry is so normal and such a respectable sin. They talk about how the early church had standards about money and ministry that would be foreign to us today, and how examples like Martin Luther's put most modern believers to shame. Finally, they unpac...

As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they discuss the interpretation of Matthew 10:8-11 and other key verses that help shed light on the difference between selling ministry and supporting ministry. They look at how believers should give support out of obligation to God, not man, and why Jesus' command to freely give applies to us today. sellingjesus.org  |  thedoreanprinciple.or...

As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they explore how the tendency to do "whatever works" has often triumphed over obeying Scripture, especially when it comes to money and ministry. They look at examples of how Christians can be tempted to sell spiritual things for the sake of expediency and outcomes that are perceived as beneficial to God's Kingdom. They also discuss...

With this short conversation between Tim and his pastor, we want to set the foundation for further discussions of generosity and biblical thinking about money and ministry. And that foundation is that we worship a stunningly lavish God who did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, and freely gives us all things. sellingjesus.org  |  thedoreanprinciple.org  |  copy.church

Read the written version of this article here . Truth was already being sold way back in the 8th century BC in the time of the prophet Micah, and what he wrote has implications for today’s monetizing of ministry. So, I invite you to join me in taking out the microscope and meditating on Micah 3:11. "Could it be possible that the richest, most materialistic societies in all of human history (W...

Conley Owens is a pastor at Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church and a software engineer.  This is his story of discovering the Bible’s view of ministry fundraising. "I don’t know who may be listening to this or watching this.  Maybe you are a pastor who has been selling ministry material for a long time.  Maybe you are a new Christian who has never even been involved in ministry.  Regardle...