The Businessman & His Pastor

Picture a king walking into the temple like he owns the place. Because, in his mind, he does.

His name is King Uzziah. He’s been on the throne for decades. He’s built towers, dug

wells, raised an army, and his fame has spread all the way to Egypt. He’s the most successful man in the nation. And one day he picks up a censer and heads for the altar of incense, a place God reserved for the priests.

Azariah the high priest and eighty other priests stand in the king’s way. Azariah looks

him in the eye and says, “It is not for you, Uzziah.”

King Uzziah gets mad. And right there, with the incense in his hand, leprosy breaks out

on his forehead!

But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly,

and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the

LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

— 2 Chronicles 26:16 (NASB)

He lived the rest of his life in a separate house, cut off from the house of the LORD. The most powerful man in the country, and he couldn’t take correction from a priest.

The Teaching That Puts Businessmen On the Throne

There’s a teaching that’s gone through the marketplace like wildfire. It goes like this: God has made us kings and priests. Pastors are the priests. Business people are the kings.

I understand why business people love it. Nobody tells a king what to do. And if I’m the

king, then the pastor works for me.

But I’ve watched the fruit of that teaching, and it isn’t always good. I’ve watched

successful men stop listening to anybody. I’ve watched them treat their pastor like a hired hand and treat spiritual leadership like an optional extra. So I went back to the Bible to see if it actually says what we’ve been told it says.

It doesn’t.

What the Book Actually Says

It all starts at Mount Sinai. God tells the whole nation of Israel, every farmer, shepherd,

carpenter and cook:

You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

— Exodus 19:6 (NASB)

Not kings and priests. A kingdom of priests. One people, one calling. The Hebrew is literally “a kingdom made of priests.”

Peter picks up the same verse and hands it to the whole church:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for

God’s own possession.

— 1 Peter 2:9 (NASB)

Royal priesthood. “Royal” describes the priesthood. It isn’t a second class of people. Peter is writing to slaves and masters, wives and husbands, and he tells every one of them the same thing.

The only place your King James Bible says “kings and priests” is in Revelation 1:6 and

5:10, and the oldest Greek manuscripts read “a kingdom, priests,” which is why the NASB says, “He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.” But even if you keep the King James wording, look at who John is talking about: everyone washed in the blood, from every tribe and tongue. Every believer is both. Nobody gets to be the king while somebody else does the praying.

There is not one verse in the Bible that makes business leaders the kings and pastors the priests. Sorry to burst your bubble, King Businessman! Not one verse.

Paul Had A Word For the Self-Made Kings

The church in Corinth had some people who’d come into money and decided they were a cut above the apostles. Listen to the sarcasm in Paul’s voice:

You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings

without us.

— 1 Corinthians 4:8 (NASB)

That’s not a compliment. That’s a rebuke. Paul is saying, “Look at you. Rich and reigning, and you don’t need us anymore.” It’s the exact attitude this teaching produces.

Even Real Kings Answered To Somebody

Here’s the irony. In the Bible, even the actual kings had to be told what to do.

God commanded every king of Israel to write out his own copy of the law and read it

every day of his life, “that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen”

(Deuteronomy 17:20). Saul offered a sacrifice that wasn’t his to offer and lost his kingdom. Uzziah grabbed the censer and lost his health. And David, the greatest king Israel ever had, sat on his throne while a prophet named Nathan pointed a finger in his face and said, “You are the man!”

David didn’t fire Nathan. He repented. That’s why he’s called a man after God’s own

heart.

If David needed a Nathan, so do you.

A Word To My Friends In Business

I’m a businessman. I’ve run companies and I’ve made money. So hear me as one of you: your money does not put you above spiritual leadership! It actually puts you in more danger.

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix

their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us

with all things to enjoy.

— 1 Timothy 6:17 (NASB)

Notice who’s doing the instructing. The pastor instructs the rich man, not the other way

around. And Hebrews says it plainly:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as

those who will give an account.

— Hebrews 13:17 (NASB)

If there’s nobody in your life who can look you in the eye and say, “It is not for you,” then you’re not a king. You’re an Uzziah waiting to happen. And the leprosy of pride always shows up on the forehead, right where everybody can see it.

The Better Calling

Here’s the good news. You don’t need to be a king. You’ve been offered something better. You are a priest of the Most High God.

Your office can be an altar. Your payroll can be an offering. Your boardroom can be a

place of worship. Every deal you sign can be done as unto the Lord. That’s not a demotion. That’s the highest honour Heaven gives, and it’s the same honour God gives to the single mom in the back row.

And there’s only one King in this kingdom. His name is Jesus. He’s the King of kings,

and the kings of the earth will bow to Him. The rest of us get to cast our crowns at His feet.

So if you’ve been walking around with a crown on your head and a little contempt in

your heart for the men and women God put over your soul, maybe it’s time to set the censer down. Call your pastor. Take him for lunch. Ask him the question proud men never ask: “What do you see in me that I can’t see?”

Then listen. That’s what a priest does.