Pirates, Bernie Madoff and Your Church

12/31/08

Author: John Beeson

Pirates have been on my mind recently.  Seriously.  Two weeks ago I learned that there really is a day called “National Talk Like a Pirate Day” (it be September 19, matey, in case you be settin’ your 2009 calendar and want t’make sure ye don’t miss it!).   That brought to mind a family trip to Lake Winnipesaukee, NH a few summers back where we played a round of miniature golf at Pirate’s Cove, a pirate-themed golf course.  The Jolly Roger flag swung in the breeze atop the mast of a wrecked pirate ship, a pirate mannequin perched in the crow’s nest, and canons served as obstacles on the course.

 
There was one detail that simultaneously made and ruined the miniature golf experience for me: historical placards.  At every hole a placard explained the life of an historic pirate.  I had never spent much time thinking about the connection between historic pirates and pirate mythology that later developed, but even a miniature golf historical tour makes one quickly realize it’s pretty odd that we glorify a group whose poverty and destitution was matched only by their immorality.

Believe it or not, pirates have also been in the news lately.  Just Wednesday, Chinese Government sent out a convoy of ships to stop what has been a year of increasing piracy in the Aden Gulf (off Somalia’s coast).  Closer to home, it has also been a banner year for corporate piracy in America.  Bernie Madoff and his $50 billion ponzi scheme stand a sad exemplar of what was a year that will be remembered for its greed, corruption, and the inevitable economic and social consequences.

Three times in Paul’s letter to Timothy he speaks of being above reproach: first, in the selection of elders (3:2), second, to the church at large (5:4), and third, to Timothy himself (6:14).  In the world we live in, the call to be above reproach, above piracy (whether financial, spiritual, relational, or emotional), is difficult.  Countless loopholes and shortcuts present themselves daily to us: at work, at home, in our spiritual lives.  But the Bible tells us that our calling as Christians is to be “anti-pirates.”  We are called to be those who give, not take.  We are called to live above reproach.

Are you above reproach?  Is your church above reproach?  There are two extremes we can move to in our churches as we attempt to ensure institutional integrity: laxity or legalism.  The first naïvely assumes that those working for the church will be honest and scrupulous; the second tries to, by external checks and balances, create integrity in the employees.  The truth lies somewhere in the middle.  We cannot be so foolish as to think sin won’t affect those working for the church and we cannot believe the corporate myth that a system has the power to create character.

Paul reminds us in Colossians that the formation of the heart that is above reproach comes only through God’s work.  It is through Christ’s work on the cross that God is able “to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (1:22).  The work of heart change is Christ’s.

 
But Paul is also fastidious in his shepherding of the undershepherds.  He never assumes that the gospel without a network of relationships and accountability will overcome the heart’s “sin inertia.”  Christ works in us through his people, and through systems of accountability as well.  May this be a year where your church’s leadership and, moving out from that center, your congregation, live as a people above reproach.  And may we rest in the work Christ has already done to transform our hearts given to piracy to hearts above reproach – hearts of flesh.

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