Matthew 11: 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.”

People don’t always attend events or watch presentations for their advertised purpose. I’ve seen people attend political rallies not to support candidates, but to heckle them. I know a young man who attended his friend’s church youth group because he thought the girls were pretty. A friend of mine in Dallas was a faithful watcher of one prominent televangelist, but he didn’t believe a word he said. He thought the melodramatic performance and outlandish claims were hilarious.

Jesus does a little digging with the motivations of his audience in these words. He knew that many, if not most of them, made the trip into the Judean wilderness to hear John the Baptist preach. Why did they go? What were they looking for?

Why do we go? What are we looking for? You see the guys on television: Rolex watch, gold cuff links, hundred dollar ties, thousand dollar suits. Their clothes are a badge of their success. For their adoring fans, this show of wealth is evidence that the preacher’s method works. Pray like he does, work like he does, and most important, step out in faith with a super-sized donation to his ministry, and God will reward that faith with earthly prosperity of your own.

Sometimes the preacher may be wearing camouflage on stage. Ripped jeans and a t-shirt make him look cool and relevant. Then he gets into his Porsche and drives home to his 5000 square foot house after church.

There is nothing wrong with wearing a nice suit or blue jeans and t-shirts. It is not wrong to drive a sports car or live in a big house. There is a problem with a man of God building his own little kingdom on earth.

Using the ministry to enrich oneself isn’t a strictly modern problem. Jesus is hinting at it here. Mercenary preachers tell people willing to pay what they want to hear. The Old Testament prophet Balaam was a “preacher for pay” and made quite a good living at it. The Apostle Paul warned his young friend Timothy about the kind of teachers “who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.” It’s not. 

These preachers may have the ear of the powerful and the respect of the masses, but one thing you can be sure of: your best interests aren’t what this kind of “successful preacher” has in mind. He is looking out for number one, and by that I don’t mean our Lord. That wasn’t John the Baptist, and it’s not what you or I should go to see, either.

The call to repentance isn’t only a message for preachers to preach. It is a message for them to take to heart and put into practice. The temptations of materialism affect clergy in the same way as everyone else.

The call to repentance invites us all not only to give up our greed and idolization of money. It directs us to put our trust in the One who gives us something better: the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus gives us God’s grace. He takes away the spiritual tatters we were wearing and dresses us in his own perfect righteousness. Clothed in his holy love, we are dressed for real success, and ready to take our place in the palace of our heavenly King.