Skip to main content

Hardworking Farmers


The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.  Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (II Timothy 2:6-7) 

          Getting from what this says to what it really means is just a little tricky in a day when people are protesting for fifteen dollars per hour minimum wages. Paul isn’t setting forth a societal rule. In fact, the commentary in my study Bible suggests that it’s an entirely spiritual rule. Pastors are like farmers. Hardworking farmers plant lots of seeds, tend their crops diligently and reap the reward. Hardworking pastors will, too, entirely in the spiritual realm. 
           It seems to me that Paul raises a similar issue in II Corinthians 11:7-12. He points out that he received money from other churches so that he would not burden the Corinthian church by asking them to support him. He also worked as a tent-maker while doing his work as an apostle. In other words, he didn’t receive a share of the crops from his Corinthian field while he was working it. That was the example that Timothy would have seen. In this passage, however, I believe he told Timothy that it isn’t wrong for Timothy to receive the not only the results of the work he was doing in Ephesus, but also the financial support (pay) of the church.
          Sometimes it seems that we expect certain people to work for free. How dare anyone charge anyone else to religious material? How dare anyone charge that much for a handmade _______ when the materials cost a tenth of the price demanded? When I worked on my family history, I spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars doing research. I charged only a little more than the price of physically producing the books for copies. If I had charged enough to recoup the cost of my research, few could have afforded the book. If I had added to that the cost of my own upkeep while working on it, no one could have. Yes, I did it for love of the research, but none of the people or businesses I had to pay provided what I needed for love of retailing, service, or scholarship.
          Pastors are among those who seem to be expected to work for nothing. Some might say that they should let God provide. Well, God did. He provided a congregation and gave them the commandment to love their pastor (who is, after all, their neighbor and who does, after all, work on their behalf.) Granted, there are profiteers and charlatans, but don’t assume that because there are some, they all are. Hardworking pastors deserve their share of the crops.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more