I can just imagine the disciples sitting forward, anxiously waiting for Jesus to finish speaking. He’s just given them power and authority that they’ve only seen; that they’ve only been witness to - they’re anxious to get started. Jesus wants to make sure that they’re prepared before they go out on their own.
Jesus has already told these men what they are to say and what they are to do: proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. Now He’s going to tell them how to do it; not the technique but the attitude. He begins by saying, "Freely you have received; freely give (8b).”
As a rabbi Jesus was forbidden by tradition from receiving money for teaching. The disciples had not paid they were not to expect payment either. From the miracles they were going to perform, from the teaching they were going to do, or the acts of kindness the report to share. Just as Jesus had given freely to them they were to give freely to all they came in contact with he’d set the example-they were follow it.
The teaching of the Word, the spreading of the kingdom, are not to be business ventures. The teaching of the Word, the spreading of the kingdom, are to be gifts not commodities. So how are they to be supported? How are they to eat and live? He goes on; "acquire no gold nor silver and copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the worker is worthy of his support.”
Jesus is telling them they are to walk by faith. He will supply all their needs, and He will do so at the hand of those who will receive the gospel. Much of what passes for ministry today isn’t really ministry at all; it’s big business. The same was true in Jesus’ day. It was not uncommon to see someone with a bag at their feet while they were giving some kind of elucidation about the way of the world, the way of philosophy, the way of wisdom, some word of knowledge and expecting people to pay for it. The disciples were not even to take that kind of bag with them. But not only were they to do things differently, they were also to look different than the false teachers, the ones who were only after promoting themselves.
Think about this for a minute: You’re being sent out onto the mission field nothing but the clothes on your back and you are to take nothing with which to buy more clothes or even to buy food with you. How do you feel? Nervous? Scared? Intimidated? Not at all sure you want to be part of this little enterprise after all?
Jesus ends this part of his instructions with this phrase, “the worker is worthy of his support.” In other parts of the Word, 1 Corinthians 9:14, and 1 Timothy 5:18, for example, Paul reinforces this teaching with statements like: “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel,” and, “For the Scripture says, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.’" The statement in 1 Corinthians literally means that Jesus has directed that those who proclaim/preach/teach the gospel are to ‘live their living” from the gospel. This is where Jesus Himself instituted the practice of full-time Christian ministry.
There is a big ‘however’ here. Jesus first said that they were to give what they had to give freely. But then He turns around and says that they are to receive adequate support for their work. How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction? We look at the heart behind the message. Jesus first tells them to give freely and to not even take up time preparing to travel. They are to just “go”, trusting in the Providence of God to provide all of their needs as they need them, even their basic day-to-day sustenance. He tells them that, as His representatives, they are “worthy of [support]”. The inference is, of course, that the people of God, sensitive to the mind and heart of God and to His Spirit, will realize who it is that these men represent and, as His representatives, are worthy of what they would give to God Himself.
I need to make a couple of remarks here to clear up some confusion that has arisen from time to time over seeming discrepancies between Matthew’s account here and Mark’s account in Mark 6:8-11. Luke’s account of this commissioning in Luke 9:3-5 very much matches Matthew’s account.
In the version recorded in Mark, Jesus is reported to have said, “and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff – no bread, no bag, no money in their belt but to wear sandals; and He added, ‘Do not put on two tunics (6:8-9).’" This is simple to resolve if we consider that some of the disciples had staffs at the time, others did not – they were no to procure any if they were without. He told them in Matthew’s account not to acquire these things. In Mark’s account, it is simply a matter of a difference in emphasis and phrasing.
There is also a difference in the words used for the footwear discussed in these two different accounts. Matthew uses the word hupodçma, which means “shoe”. And Mark uses the word sandalion, which means “sandal”. One completely encased the foot while the other was a sole pad bound to the foot with straps.
This I point out so that we can all understand that the Word of God is very specific and whenever there seems to be a discrepancy or a contradiction, if we look into the real details of what is being said and how, we discover that the “contradiction” actually reinforces the point instead of weakening it.
Now to continue. We need to talk about the matter of money and the ministry for a little bit.
Jesus tells us that men in the ministry are worthy of getting their basic needs met through the giving of those they minister to. He does not tell us, however, that ministers of the gospel are to become wealthy and to spend the revenues of the church for their own enrichment. The pastor is supposed to be the principle servant, not the principle served. Just as in any “industry”, there is a standard “rate of exchange” for work done and payment received, this principle is supposed to be at work in the Church, also.
Jesus uses the phrase, in the literal translation of Matthew 10:10, “the one who labors [for the gospel] is deserving of his nourishment.” The word picture here is that the man whose task it is to be at work preaching and teaching the “whole counsel of God” deserves to have his daily rations, having his basic needs met. If Jesus had meant that preachers deserved to get rich from what they do in their work as ministers, there are any number of ways He could have made that clear.
Some fellowships have determined that their Lead Minister or Senior Pastor or whatever title he bears at that place, that he deserves a high salary based upon the amount of work that is required of him in his position and the amount of proportionate resources that are available through the fellowship. Other fellowships do not have a great deal of resources and are not equipped to pay a high salary – some can pay virtually no salary at all.
Many, many fellowships are filled with people who feel that they owe their pastor a great deal for his sacrificial lifestyle, long hours, 24-hour on-call status, heavy responsibility for the spiritual and emotional well-being of a group of people who turn to no one else, and the continuing education that he pursues at his own expense (for the most part) and they wish they could pay him what that is all worth, yet the resources are not there.
The median annual salary for pastors in America today, according to the Barna Study from May, 2006, is $40,715. When we look at what comes out of that, we might be surprised to discover what the average pastor will actually take home. Deducting tithing, federal taxes, Social Security and Medicare, and unreimbursed ministry/business expenses, a pastor who lives in a state without a state income tax would take home about $20,113. In states with state income taxes, that amount could drop to as low as $16,041. Deduct basic housing costs from that, and you have a potentially emotional situation. A family of three making $16,600 is at the 2006 Federal poverty level.
Many churches provide a parsonage for their pastor and his family, which can go a long way to making up for the lack of money available. Add to that the care and concern many people have for their pastor and his family, and there landscape changes even further.
I have heard a multitude of stories from all kinds of preachers from all over the place that testify to the graciousness and benevolence of people within the Church in meeting the needs of their pastor and his family out of their, may times, limited resources. One preacher told me that once a week his family received one live chicken from one of two different families, and that each of those families gave them a dozen eggs on the opposite week. There is a balance of the heart there that cannot be recorded or measured on a balance sheet.
Another preacher I know likes to tell about the half a beef he and his family was given every year by a family in their congregation that raised cattle. He and his family ate better then, he says, than they do now that he makes over fifty-times more in salary than he did back then.
Both of these men, and innumerable others, speak of the sense of blessing they have known when they were as dependent on God and His people as the rest of His people were. There is a sense of commonality and shared existence that allows people to know that their pastor is just like them and that he knows their struggles and understands their lives because he is one of them.
It is my conviction that opulence and lavishness do nothing to contribute to the gospel message or the image of its source. I also firmly believe that extravagance brings a level of comfort to the life of the one who is supposed to sacrifice for the benefit of others that deadens the desire as well as the ability to sacrifice and to serve, while at the same time it inflates the ego of the man reaping the fruit of excessiveness – to his demise, I am sure. I am also confident that the average person feels no real respect or sense of credibility for a man in ministry who gains financial prosperity from what Jesus Himself gave freely to all. If Jesus didn’t get rich at it, how can any of the rest of us justify doing so?
Clear back in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, God warned about the riskiness of the priests becoming enamored with the portion that was theirs by right from the sacrifices brought. Eventually, by Jesus’ day, the priesthood had indeed become quite wealthy and acted very much like those in Christendom today who have grown rich at the expense of those they “minister to”. The question that has to be answered is: Who is the servant of whom?
Now, you naturally may be asking yourself about our fellowship here. You have every right to know how your giving is used. As you know, I do not receive a salary. I have a fulltime job outside of home and ministry. I go to work everyday, just like all of you. Our board chose to pay for certain of my expenses very early on and they have renewed that commitment since then. They are kept abreast of our financial expenditures regularly and anything that is unusual or out of the norm, they are brought in to help with the decision making. I do not have any access to the funds that come into this fellowship. I cannot sign a check; I cannot access the ministry account through an ATM, nor am I a signatory of any kind at the bank. In fact, the bank doesn’t have any official idea that I am even part of this fellowship.
I also do not know who gives what. If you are giving, I thank you in the name of the Lord for doing so and for doing so as faithfully as you do. If you are not, then you need to make sure that that is okay with God. Your giving is between you and God – I will not allow anyone’s giving or lack of giving to impact my ministry to them, so I don’t even want to know for the most part. The only time that changes is in a personal counseling situation where finances are an issue. At that point in time, you and I, and probably my wife, will sit down and look specifically at your finances, including your giving.
Some of you have had that conversation with us. Those of you who have can testify that my attitude about your giving has to do with the motivations of your heart and your understanding of what God expects of you personally in your giving. I still don’t know the specifics of anyone’s giving. That is not my concern, nor should it be.
I have spent so much time here on this because it is very important that we have very real conversations about the very real applications of God’s truths in real life.
In our text, Jesus has made it very, very clear that the disciples are to give freely whatever He has given to them without expectation of anything in return, and they are to trust Him to provide for their basic needs through those with whom they will be coming into contact. They are not to take with them anything extra nor are they to provide anything for themselves; they are to walk by faith alone.
That is a tall order; but He has just given them power and authority that they have only been witness to until now. I’m sure their confidence level had to be enhanced somewhat by that fact. But, I’m sure there was also a little trepidation on their part as well. The work of the ministry in any vein is a work of faith.
Jesus goes on to tell them how to know where to stay, how to stay where they light, when to leave, and how to leave. We will get into the details of this next time. For today I wanted to focus just on this small portion because ministry and finances is such an important issue to understand.
Jesus affirms here what His Word has said from the beginning, and that is that He honors work, that the one who works diligently is worthy of having his needs met, and that faithfulness will be rewarded. God Himself worked six days – it should be an honor for us to do likewise. However, opulence and lavishness do not honor God but man, despite what many in the Word-of-Faith Movement would have you believe.
So, how does this apply to those who are not called to “full-time” ministry? How does this all apply to the regular, “everyday” disciple of Jesus Christ?
Perhaps a little insight from the life of Paul will help here. In 1 Corinthians 9:1-15, Paul spends time speaking specifically to the rights, as he says in verse 14, “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.” But, he goes on to say, “But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.”
In Acts 20:18-38, Paul has called the elders from the church at Ephesus to him, and he recaps what his ministry looked like while he was there with them. Paul was a tentmaker by trade, and he reminds them in verses 33-35, "I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ’It is more blessed to give than to receive.’"
How much did Paul work? Let’s start with the first missionary journey. 1 Corinthians 9:6 suggests that Paul and Barnabas supported themselves by working throughout their journey through Cyprus and Galatia. Paul’s use of the present tense indicates that both of them continued supporting themselves when they “formed” separate ministry teams.
During the second journey, Paul work at his trade as a tentmaker in Philippi (2 Corinthians 11:12). According to both of his letters to the church at Thessalonica, he worked while he was there also. In 1 Thessalonians 2:9, Paul says, “For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”
He worked "night and day," which means that he worked both the early morning and the late afternoon shifts, the same work schedule observed in the Mediterranean today. Laborers go to work in the dark, take a three or four hour break during the heat of the day, and then work another shift that ends in the dark. Supper is eaten between nine and midnight.
In Corinth, Paul’s went looking for work and he landed a position where he worked and boarded with Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:1-5) who were also tentmakers by trade. Paul was not only trained in the Scriptures and in the ways of the Pharisees, but he was also trained to make and repair tents and other things made from animal skins.
Some say that Acts 18:5, “When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus,” means that Paul worked only until Timothy and Silas arrived from Philippi with money. But the Greek says only that they found him already involved in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is often assumed that Paul had already quit the tentmaking job he had found shortly before Silas and Timothy arrived. But the text makes no suggestion at all that there was a change in his activity after their arrival. There is no reason to believe he quit making tents. He integrated his ministry and his manual labor.
In fact, if Paul had quit tentmaking after a short time, it would never have become an issue in Corinth. After Paul had moved on to Ephesus, the Judaizers came to Corinth and tried to discredit Paul on this very issue. They claimed his manual labor proved he couldn’t get support for his ministry because he was not a genuine apostle.
But if Paul had not worked most of the time he was in Corinth and the other cities in the area, the charges against him would have been unfounded and his passionate defense of his manual labor would have been pointless. Because of this conflict, we have Paul’s own very strong arguments for people involved in missionary work to be supporting themselves in the communities where they do their ministry.
This is not to say that Paul did not receive any support at all. In Philippians 4:15-18, Paul says, “You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.” The church at Philippi was the only church to ever give anything to support his ministry.
Paul’s example seems to contradict what Jesus instructs in our text. How do we resolve this? Is one better than the other? Does one cancel out the other? Is the Bible wrong, or is Paul usurping Jesus’ authority and asserting his own, trying to make himself greater and more important? Not at all. The contexts are different, for in John 21, Peter is told three times by Jesus to “feed my sheep.” Yet, in the text we looked at in 1 Corinthians 9:1-15, Paul says in verses 4-5, “Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”
Peter was at that commissioning service we’ve been looking at in Matthew 10. yet, we see from Paul’s interrogative in this passage that Peter and his wife were receiving support for their ministry. Peter was not being disobedient or unfaithful to Jesus. He was living out the teaching of Jesus within the context of where he lived, just as Paul was.
In ministry today, the same principle must apply: If a pastor is ministering within the context of a fellowship that has the wherewithal to support him in fulltime ministry without his needing to gain his own support outside of the pastorate, all well and good; if that is not feasible, or if the man in question is on the mission field, then Paul’s example is the one that applies. Both are correct, depending on the context of the circumstances. It would be inappropriate for a large fellowship to demand of its pastor that he work a fulltime job and minister fulltime as well if there are adequate resources for his support. It would also be unscriptural in most instances for him to refuse to put himself under obligation to that fellowship financially in the same circumstance.
On the same hand, it is unscriptural for a man to expect fulltime support from a fellowship that just cannot come up with that kind of money. The sheep are not intended to sacrifice their own lives for the shepherd – it’s the other way around. The sheep sacrifice only for their Lord, as He requires. Only the butcher “demands” the sacrifice of the sheep.
Paul had credibility in the circles he traveled in because he received no financial gain from preaching the gospel. The traveling philosophers and itinerant “preachers” of the various religions within the Gentile world of that day did so for financial gain. They sold all kinds of trinkets with supposed spiritual and medicinal powers. These things were bogus and played on the superstitious hopelessness of the people. Paul was a learned man. He was invited to speak to the great gathering of the most erudite minds in Athens (Acts 17:16-34). This put him on an intellectual level that made for a major disconnect between him and the common people.
Paul’s working with his hands in order to make a living gave him a credibility and an identification with the working class that was essential for him to be able to share the gospel with them. It also was his way of modeling for them the principles of a biblical work ethic. Remember in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul writes, “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.”
A man in ministry is not exempt from this principle. If there are not enough resources available for him to be fully supported in his ministry, then he is to work to support himself. Finances are not a consideration when it comes to answering the call of God on a man’s life to ministry. Finances are a tool only; they are not the all in all. From both the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of Paul we see that what really matters is to faithfully give what He has given us. He will take care of the rest. This applies to everyone who is a true follower, a real disciple of Jesus Christ.
All of us minister where we are and with what He has provided and we don’t sweat the rest of it: period. That’s what faithfully serving for the sake of the gospel is all about, and that is what it’s all supposed to be about for all of us anyway. Every one of us that claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to follow this same prescription. In the context of our text, Jesus was laying forth precepts that were to apply to us all while at the same time extending to that first group of disciples a promise of supply that they had never seen.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be provided to you.”
Let’s pray.
