“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” (2 Thess. 3:10)
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33)
The verse first in this short letter to you has been transposed by the world to read, “God takes care of those who take care of themselves,” the remaining verses and those like them are simply passed over, for they offer no opportunity for their works to be recognized as worthy of acceptance by the Lord. Something for nothing is how they view them, simply say that there is a God, go about your business as usual, and expect your work to matter.
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12)
The work of course that those who cannot or will not Spiritually discern our first verse properly is that which produces some form of monetary gain, something that most generally does not glorify the Lord, but is simply a job they go to each day, and then with some of their earnings they purchase food, and in most cases not giving God the glory for the bounty that fills their cupboards and pantries.
Born-again believers do not work for food, without being presumptuous, we take the Lord at His Word, He said He would provide all our needs, and so we spend very little time thinking about food and clothing. The work that we do each day, the employment field that we are in is to be used, no matter what area it is in, in some way each day to lift up the name of Jesus Christ, to praise the name of the Most High, whether there is financial renumeration in it or not. You will eat because the Lord has promised it, but the world says if you do not work you should not eat.
We cannot help but to work if we serve the Most High God, it compels us to do so, He compels us to do so. If our thoughts are not revolving and contemplating Him and His Word, our actions are, you can glorify God pushing a broom or building a rocket. Many, if not most pastors live on the offerings of those that attend the church they lead, and I am not sure that many who sit in the pews truly realize this. Most have some form of financial board, a group of individuals who meet a few times a year to discuss the amount of those offerings and how to dispense them according to the will and Word of God.
I am a firm believer that occasionally, I will not say the amount or how often, each person who attends a church on a regular basis, the members of the church so to speak, should be required to all be present in the building they come to worship at, and a full account of all monetary funds should be given. Not only in the expenditures of those funds received, but in the amount of how much is received, not personally from each member, that is of course between each individual and the Lord, but as a whole, as the total of the congregation. Then the entire assembly must either be given thanks for the offerings they have laid at the altar, so to speak, or reproved and corrected for not doing so.
Our opening verse does not speak of physical labor alone, but of the heart, it speaks of accountability, of how much we have given, how much we have received, and the rewards in this life from a merciful God for doing so. If you are incapable of physical labor, for whatever reason, and indeed cannot work, consider this, is prayer work? A heart that serves Jesus Christ out of an adoring love for Him never stops working, the rest of the world works to eat.
