Pastor, here’s how to answer “This money could be used for something else.”

You’ve heard it after a building campaign, a generosity Sunday, or a viral post about some church’s new facility: “This money could be used for something else.” Why build that? Why not give it to the poor? It sounds compassionate. It’s a sermon of the serpent, and the first person to preach it out loud was Judas. Here’s how I tell honest feedback from a critical spirit, and how I answer it as a pastor.

What criticism is

I’m not talking about honest feedback. Every pastor needs that. Here, criticism means a settled posture of fault-finding toward the church and its leaders. It’s Judas at the alabaster jar, objecting to the worship someone else gives. Left alone, that posture doesn’t stay in the back row. Criticism grows into activism against the church.

The serpent’s question

Remember the story. Mary takes a jar of expensive perfume, worth about a year’s wages, and pours it on Jesus’ feet. It’s extravagant worship, and well deserved. Judas immediately objects: “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?” (John 12:5). John tells us he didn’t say it because he cared about the poor (John 12:6).

Jesus answered, “Leave her alone” (John 12:7), and in Mark’s account, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6). So the hiss is “Did Jesus really say she did a beautiful thing?” The serpent wants you to second-guess worship that Jesus Himself defended.

Step 1 — Recognize the catalog

The spirit of Judas still preaches today. You’ve heard the catalog:

• “That sermon wasn’t very good.” “I’m not being fed here.”
• “The music’s too loud.” “You never visit anyone anymore.”
• “It’s gotten too big. Nobody knows my name.” “That sermon was too political.”
• “You didn’t mention my event from the platform.” “My kids don’t like the youth pastor.”
• “Why is the church always asking for money?” “You changed the service times without asking us.”
• “We never do missions anymore.” “You care more about new people than the ones who built this place.”

And online there are modern social-media Judases: “Look, this church spent ten million on a building.” Same sermon. “This could be used for something else.”

Step 2 — Sort feedback from criticism

Not every hard word is Judas. Some of it is a friend telling you the truth, and you need that. So ask one question: is this person helping build, or standing at the jar? Feedback wants the mission to go further. Criticism wants the worship to cost less. What’s especially evil about the critical spirit is that it criticizes the worship itself.

Step 3 — Answer the elder brother with the Father’s heart

That last line in the catalog, “You care more about new people than the ones who built this place,” is the elder brother in Luke 15. The younger son comes home, the father throws a party, and the older son stands outside, unhappy about what’s going on. Same attitude of criticism. The father’s answer is the one we give: “We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again” (Luke 15:32). People being restored to Jesus is everything. We should never hold anyone back from finding life and faith in Him.

Step 4 — Don’t let the critic set the budget

Why does the church spend so much, locally and globally, on the gospel? Because Jesus Himself is worth everything. We pour our wealth, our resources, and our lives at His feet to serve the gospel. And what someone chose to give is what they chose to give. Don’t let anyone attack a giver for their gift. Keep planning for extravagant worship and generosity, and don’t let the loudest critic in the room set the number.

Extravagant worship will always have a critic. God is worthy of all worship and praise. Reject the sermon of criticism, welcome real feedback, and remember who was standing next to the jar. Jesus defended it.