“Having said that, a Rolls? That he only uses on special occaaisions? I wasn’t aware that employees of Jewish Carpenters required any more than their daily bread and any other gift The Spirit chosses to give them.”
I agree the rolls is way beyond proper. Who wants to see a church representative pull up in a rolls? Perhaps their wife or hubby. That said you won’t get too many people working for bread today. God doesn’t require that his servants be poor, dirty and hungry.
No he does'nt. But He does require them to "not be greedy for filthy lucre". No problem with a pastor being blessed with a decent house, a decent vehicle, decent clothes, a nice vacation or two during the year, and the ability to put his kids through college. Mansions, Rolls, Armani, first class flights to timeshares in Vail -- well that's just outrageous.
Even worse, this reinforces the external view of "hypocrisy in the church" that makes the work that other, genuine, modest workers for Jesus do with joy and much less compensation. Some of the hardest workers for God I have seen around the world were pretty darned poor and at times, dirty. Can't be helped when the nearest running water is a two hour drive from where you live and work.