Judas

Embezzlement is a special problem in churches and Christian ministries because trust is so important. That shows the power of trust. And trust is good, but if it’s misused … that’s really a problem. After someone had been convicted of embezzlement … there were church members who still said, “I don’t believe (they) could do this.”

Brock Bell of Brotherhood Mutual writes:

It doesn’t take a hardened criminal to steal money from a church. In fact, those who embezzle are often well-known, well-liked, and completely trusted by fellow church members. They don’t set out to steal hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. But ample opportunity and a lack of financial controls enable them to do just that.

Yearly timeline of embezzlement from churches and ministries:

1970 $5 million

2000 $19 billion

2022 $59 billion

2050 (Projected $170 billion)

6% of Christian giving is lost to embezzlement

1 in 3 churches suffer embezzlement

27% of embezzled churches don’t report

Possible Preaching Angle:

Unfortunately, the pattern of Judas who stole from the money bag (John 12:4-5), has been copied in many churches and ministries. To avoid this problem, make more than one person responsible for handling and accounting for the money, reconcile bank statements monthly, and schedule regular audits by an outside organization.

Among the apostles, the one absolutely stunning success was Judas, and the one thoroughly groveling failure was Peter. Judas was a success in the ways that most impress us: he was successful both financially and politically. He cleverly arranged to control the money of the apostolic band; he skillfully manipulated the political forces of the day to accomplish his goal.

And Peter was a failure in ways that we most dread: he was impotent in a crisis and socially inept. At the arrest of Jesus he collapsed, a hapless, blustering coward; in the most critical situations of his life with Jesus, the confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi and the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration, he said the most embarrassingly inappropriate things. He was not the companion we would want with us in time of danger, and he was not the kind of person we would feel comfortable with at a social occasion.

Time, of course, has reversed our judgments on the two men. Judas is now a byword for betrayal, and Peter is one of the most honored names in church and world. Judas is a villain; Peter is a saint. Yet the world continues to chase after the successes of Judas, financial wealth and political power, and to defend itself against the failures of Peter, impotence and ineptness.

Think of Judas. Judas decided to follow Jesus. Judas heard Jesus teach. He went out two by two with the others, healing the sick and exorcising demons. Judas did a lot of disciple kinds of things. Yet he is remembered solely for how his relationship with Jesus ended.

How a life, a ministry, how a relationship ends is absolutely crucial to everything that goes before it.