Should Churches Sell Stuff?

Today it is common to see churches hosting, on their property, rummage sales, bake sales, auctions, and other fund-raisers. Such well-intentioned traditions typically boost the funds needed for missions or special projects. But what would the Lord Jesus say about such practices?

If you were to look at all the times that the Lord Jesus grew impatient with people during his earthly lifetime, you would find that they were quite few. You might remember his anger toward the Pharisees and their hypocrisy, and his occasional frustration with his disciples' slow progress. Jesus was not a violent man nor given to outbursts.

Yet in two instances, he drove people out of the temple in Jerusalem. They were selling and buying there, right there -- in the house of God. The temple had been established as a house of prayer, and they had turned it into a market. Jesus drove them out with a whip, and overturned their tables, saying "Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." In a nutshell, Get this stuff out of here and don't do worldly business in God's house. (See John 2:13-21, Matthew 21:12-14)

In that first clearing of the temple, he did not say they that the sellers took up too much space and crowded people out. He accused them only of doing business in the wrong place, in the sacred place. He did not distinguish whether their motives were right or not, and that was not the point. And in the second temple clearing, he spoke more sharply: he called them thieves. Some Bible students suppose that the temple merchants were cheating people, which might well be true. The main problem remained, though, which is that they were not giving importance to God's holiness. They presumed to mix their own worldly practices with what should have been set totally apart and sacred to God.

They were sinning against God, and so Jesus rose up in godly zeal to clear them out. We, as his followers, ought to be concerned about how he thinks about things. What do you suppose he would he do at your church or mine? Is your church a market or a house of prayer? Do you have a gift shop, or a bookstore, a car wash, raffle or bake sale? Can bypassers find you selling things in front of your church? Would we tempt our Lord by the way we go about handling money? Would you not rather preach the gospel to bypassers near your church, and let the fund-raisers happen elsewhere? Certainly people could have a yard-sale in front of their own homes or sell their belongings elsewhere to give to the poor. I hope that the fear of God will keep us from trampling upon his holiness in our churches, they they may be places of godly worship, prayer, and the gospel.

What do you think about it?