One of the most interesting people in the OT is a man by the name of Balaam. His story is found in Numbers 22–24. He is a prophet, and God communicates with him. However, he also loves money. This love for money causes him to do some dumb things. He offers his services to a pagan king who wants to destroy God’s people. Balaam does everything in his power to ingratiate himself with this king so the king will pay him. Maybe he even thinks he can have a lucrative prophetic ministry in the pagan king’s country.
As a result, God rebukes him through a donkey. A donkey is not known for its intelligence, yet it speaks to Balaam and gives him wisdom. The lesson is clear: A person who claims to be serving God but sets his heart on money is dumber than a donkey.
Many of us might think that we could never be that obtuse. We would never be like Balaam. Peter, however, indicates that we should not be so confident. He talks about Balaam in the context of discussing false teachers. These teachers have followed the example of that OT prophet, because they are covetous and love the “wages of unrighteousness” (2 Pet 2:14-15). This last phrase indicates that one of the main reasons these teachers are involved with the church is their desire to make money. They are unrighteous men who are looking for the “wages” that they can make by duping believers.
Peter indicates that these particular teachers are not believers. Once again, some would point to that and conclude that as Christians, this could not apply to us. But, in the very verse where we find Peter’s description of these men, he points out that they “entice unstable souls” (v 14). This is clearly a reference to believers. Christians can fall into the trap of acting just like these covetous, unrighteous teachers.
This can certainly happen with a believer involved in public ministry. He or she might feel the pressure to compromise truth in order to appeal to the masses or even to appeal to a wealthy benefactor, such as the pagan king Balaam desired to please. A board of elders, for example, might compromise truth in order to increase attendance or have a successful building project. A parachurch organization may do something similar in order to increase its public profile and have a more numerically significant ministry. It might even rationalize that the more people it can reach, the better it is serving the Lord.
The Bible teaches us that our culture can have a very strong influence on our lives. The Lord’s disciples who were believers struggled with the impact their Jewish culture had on them, especially regarding certain legalistic issues. The Lord had to point out areas in which that culture darkened their spiritual understanding. For example, they thought that eating certain foods defiled them, but Jesus taught them that it was the inner thoughts–the heart of a man–that defiled him. Food did not do that.
What about our culture? We live and move in an affluent culture that values wealth. We measure success by it. It would be easy to conclude, even if subconsciously, that God is more pleased by a large, numerically successful ministry than by one that is not. We might be duped into working toward that goal and feel proud when we accomplish it, even if achieving our “success” involved using means of which the Lord disapproves.
Peter says that the donkey that spoke to Balaam rebuked him for his madness (2 Pet 2:16). Balaam was nuts. How crazy would it be to realize that a donkey is smarter than you are? When we seek wealth while thinking we are pleasing the Lord, that is the situation in which we will find ourselves.
