The error of Balaam

 

Balaam epitomized the sin of greed!

He was a pagan prophet, an enemy of God, who believed he could profit from doing the work of God. We're living at a time where this has become the order of the day for a majority of our ministers. The scriptures indeed speak about honoring the servants of God who teach in our midst(1 Timothy 5:17-18  Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.  18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages.")  but many have majored on this at the expense of the weightier matter.  I have observed that I can easily run in the error of Balaam if I am not careful to guard against these two things:

1. Slowly gravitating towards eisegesis as opposed to exegesis. Eisegesis happens when one reads into a text. This is where one wrongly interprets the scripture in order to fit his/her interpretation. That's the challenge of our generation (reading the word out of context). I believe if we seek to find the answers to a few questions (Who wrote it? To whom was it written? Why was it written? What was happening at the time of its writing? What did it mean to them? ) Only then can we be justified to apply it in our lives. We jump to application before observing and interpreting.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.(2Timothy 3:16-17)

2. An overemphasis on the scriptures that address pastoral token/ benefits as opposed to emphasizing the redemptive work of Christ at the cross. This tells apart the shepherds from the hirelings. I'm a strong believer that if we preach Christ, Christian living will automatically propel the correct response with regards to honoring our spiritual leaders. Here's why:

Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them (Luke 24:27-30).

Here's a worthy lesson from Christ Himself. When people see Christ, hear about Christ, are taught about Christ's work for them and in them, they can't help but be Christ-like.

Following the conversation they had about Christ, these two men automatically developed a concern for their teacher and offered him a place to stay and a meal to eat. That's the model.