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

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more