A Question About Work

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Didymous

Didymous

Senior Member
Feb 22, 2018
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I've worked since I was 12, and always thought that was the way we made our way in the world. Only when I went to Pentecostal or Charismatic Churches did I meet men who-because someone gave them a word of whatever-said that God had called them to a ministry, so they didn't need to work. This puzzles me when men with families don't think they should work to provide for them. Anyone have any biblical support for such beliefs?
 
We are to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow which is part of the curse of sin but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
No Jesus was a carpenter. Peter a fisherman.

There is lots of scripture about working...

Being a priest or pastor is work too..some are counselors. Some administrators.
 
As someone said, hard work is a part of a curse.

If you can afford not to work, do not. Or make it as easy as you can.

But I think your question is more about people who want to live on money of others in church...?
 
◄ 2 Thessalonians 3 ►
English Standard Version

6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.d

****

There is idleness versus the call to ministry which is totally different.,,not sure which one you want to talk about.
 
Besides needing a living and provision for your family some work is good for the soul. Yet some kinds of work are soul-destroying. I see a decent job as God's provision but that's for me. I wouldn't presume to tell someone who is called by God into ministry that they shouldn't follow that calling.
 
Thanks to you all for your input. My question, I guess, is more like-should a young man believe other Christians when they tell him that "God gave me a word of knowledge for you, that you are called to have a street ministry," to also mean that he shouldn't work to provide for his family?
In this case, it isn't a church supporting the young man, but his wife's mother. She loves her daughter, so she gives her money to help pay her bills, because her husband is in his room reading the Bible and praying in tongues for hours.
I'm not against prayer or bible, but I don't see the Bible supporting doing nothing to provide for your family, because you've been told you have a street ministry. I'm always looking for support for beliefs I may not understand, but I haven't been able to find any about this yet. So, if anyone has any scriptures I haven't found, I'm always happy to learn something new.
 
FamousBlueRaincoat said:
Besides needing a living and provision for your family some work is good for the soul. Yet some kinds of work are soul-destroying. I see a decent job as God's provision but that's for me. I wouldn't presume to tell someone who is called by God into ministry that they shouldn't follow that calling.
Click to expand...

God wants us all to share the gospel with the lost. Does that mean we should have a family and then not take care of that family? Because you think God told someone to tell you you shouldn't work, does that really mean you shouldn't work? I've done street ministry before, but I also worked whenever I could, and the two were never mutually exclusive.
 
Didymous said:
I've worked since I was 12, and always thought that was the way we made our way in the world. Only when I went to Pentecostal or Charismatic Churches did I meet men who-because someone gave them a word of whatever-said that God had called them to a ministry, so they didn't need to work. This puzzles me when men with families don't think they should work to provide for them. Anyone have any biblical support for such beliefs?
Click to expand...
LOL I'm curious how they have ministries without working. I wish I had been gifted in a ministry that didn't require any work. LOL

So, could you explain to me what these guys do without working?
 
Didymous said:
Thanks to you all for your input. My question, I guess, is more like-should a young man believe other Christians when they tell him that "God gave me a word of knowledge for you, that you are called to have a street ministry," to also mean that he shouldn't work to provide for his family?
In this case, it isn't a church supporting the young man, but his wife's mother. She loves her daughter, so she gives her money to help pay her bills, because her husband is in his room reading the Bible and praying in tongues for hours.
I'm not against prayer or bible, but I don't see the Bible supporting doing nothing to provide for your family, because you've been told you have a street ministry. I'm always looking for support for beliefs I may not understand, but I haven't been able to find any about this yet. So, if anyone has any scriptures I haven't found, I'm always happy to learn something new.
Click to expand...

If God really called the person to ministry He would provide food and shelter for him, education and a church or people to help support him.

Why doesn't his wife work?
 
Depleted said:
LOL I'm curious how they have ministries without working. I wish I had been gifted in a ministry that didn't require any work. LOL

So, could you explain to me what these guys do without working?
Click to expand...

In this case, his wife makes crafts and sells them, but the bulk of their financial support comes from her mother, who is retired, and loves her daughter, so she gives money to her. There is a Native American belief in helping families that worked very well in the old days. Today, it doesn't seem to do much but drain the finances of the elderly. I understand why the unsaved in bondage to alcohol and or drugs rely on their elders, but when it's Christians I'm baffled.
 
Ariel82 said:
If God really called the person to ministry He would provide food and shelter for him, education and a church or people to help support him.

Why doesn't his wife work?
Click to expand...

His wife has serious health issues, and is still recovering from a car wreck some time ago. He doesn't go to a church. To be fair about the last one, there aren't many churches in this little town.
 
Didymous said:
God wants us all to share the gospel with the lost. Does that mean we should have a family and then not take care of that family? Because you think God told someone to tell you you shouldn't work, does that really mean you shouldn't work? I've done street ministry before, but I also worked whenever I could, and the two were never mutually exclusive.
Click to expand...
I'm skeptical about it. Like you I've always had to work. It's just that it's hard to make a judgement when it's someone you don't know personally. I guess it depends on how much you trust the Christians who are offering this "guidance" to the young man not to work. All the pastors, leaders and ministers I have known have worked. Even after entering full-time ministry they seem to work within the church not just praying and Bible-study as you've described.
 
Didymous said:
Thanks to you all for your input. My question, I guess, is more like-should a young man believe other Christians when they tell him that "God gave me a word of knowledge for you, that you are called to have a street ministry," to also mean that he shouldn't work to provide for his family?
In this case, it isn't a church supporting the young man, but his wife's mother. She loves her daughter, so she gives her money to help pay her bills, because her husband is in his room reading the Bible and praying in tongues for hours.
I'm not against prayer or bible, but I don't see the Bible supporting doing nothing to provide for your family, because you've been told you have a street ministry. I'm always looking for support for beliefs I may not understand, but I haven't been able to find any about this yet. So, if anyone has any scriptures I haven't found, I'm always happy to learn something new.
Click to expand...
I've had some friends who were in street ministry. At least one of them still is.
1. The one who still is, is a missionary here in Philadelphia. (West Philly, is his mission field.) And he was told he was gifted in that by elders, who are no fools. But being a missionary in our denomination means backing is required. When he worked within the church, others saw what he did, and the Lord told them to gift him each month. (Different amounts for different people.) His other backing is his wife. She backs him in all ways wives are supposed to back their husbands, plus she's gifted in knitting and plant raising, so she sells what she makes. (I see her selling some truly beautiful scarfs, sweaters, and even Christmas decorations. I've also seen her selling her African Violets. She's always making things and then selling them.) And she's got gifts I didn't know modern people can still do. She knows how to darn socks! I haven't seen anyone darn socks since Mom did it when we were kids. And she's a member of a community garden, so brings home the produce while helping others eat too. (All that, and she doesn't have a single disk in her back that hasn't been welded to other disks in her back.) AND the two of them write a monthly newsletter so people gifting them, know what's happening in their ministry. Nothing is hidden.

But, I know him too. Hubby used to visit church members with him. If someone new came into our church, guaranteed this brother was going out to their home and visiting them within a week. And he'd listen to their problems, help them with whatever they needed, (mostly new immigrants, so the usual problems when landing into the US), and evangelize. He always took one other man of God with him. And if they weren't new to the church, then he'd meet them at the bus stop, or in the park, or on the street. Wherever someone was alone, or people were looking sad, he'd walk up and start talking. Caring for them.

2. The other friend kind of dragged his family with him for new experiences. He fed the hungry peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, at the cost of taking food out of the mouths of his wife and kids. He'd decide to move at the whim of a thought. And one of those thoughts was he'd reach Hollywood actors, because he met a famous actor once, so the family got stuck moving across the country, until his kids were old enough to leave. Then again, no one ever called him to that. Most of us tried talking him out of it, but he wasn't listening.

Never did figure out why his wife stayed with him. She was the one always struggling to keep a roof over their heads and feed their kids. I figure some people need codependents to keep up the facade, like that MIL supporting that man you were talking about.
 
2 Thessalonians 3:10
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.



1 timothy 5 :8

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel


BUT

Matthew 6:25-34
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.


___________


my thoughts on this

He ought to work his tail off to provide for his family
and not be lazy in that regard

he shouldnt WORRY in the sense he knows our Father is who truely provides

but he should find time during or around working to provide for his family to work for our Father

1 cor 7
28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;

31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
_________


working to support your family is part of marriage

and complications come with marriage....

i think his zeal is coming from a good place
but i believe he is lacking a little understanding regarding his role as a husband


(sorry.. and please forgive me if im rude with how i said what i said... i am in no way suggesting he deined the faith)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Didymous said:
In this case, his wife makes crafts and sells them, but the bulk of their financial support comes from her mother, who is retired, and loves her daughter, so she gives money to her. There is a Native American belief in helping families that worked very well in the old days. Today, it doesn't seem to do much but drain the finances of the elderly. I understand why the unsaved in bondage to alcohol and or drugs rely on their elders, but when it's Christians I'm baffled.
Click to expand...
Again, in our denomination, I can point to quite a number of men that, if you watched them, looked like they were holed up studying the word and praying all the time. (Ours is not a denomination that cottons tongues much. lol) BUT, the reason you'd see them doing that is because when you don't see them, they really are out helping others. They are missionaries, so have strange hours. One guy bought and took care of a large rowhome for homeless men to get them off the street. Another one found gently-used clothes to dress homeless people. My friend would visit people and evangelize almost every night.

So, besides take money from his MIL and hole himself up to pray and study, what does that guy do for a ministry? If he ain't ministering, and ministering effectively, he's not a minister.
 
Didymous said:
His wife has serious health issues, and is still recovering from a car wreck some time ago. He doesn't go to a church. To be fair about the last one, there aren't many churches in this little town.
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Even Paul spent 3 years in a faith community training before being sent to an evangelism mission.

If he isn't part of the Body, then how does he hope to be a leader or teacher if he never humbled himself to be a learner?
 
I honestly don't know why he believes the way he does. I'm pretty sure she's codependent, as is her mother,I believe. I'm asking about this because the mother is dear friend of mine, and she's asked me many times why her son-in-law won't work. Ive searched the Bible for years on this and many other issues, and haven't found support for this, so that's why I'm asking here. I want to be able to tell this mother that there is precedent in the Bible for what her son-in-law does, but haven't found it.
 
Ariel82 said:
Even Paul spent 3 years in a faith community training before being sent to an evangelism mission.

If he isn't part of the Body, then how does he hope to be a leader or teacher if he never humbled himself to be a learner?
Click to expand...

I know the young man learned the bible from continuously reading and studying it while in prison-where he was born again. I've shared some of the scriptures others here have noted, but he'd usually get angry, and call me an accuser of the brethren. I'm not trying to fix him, just looking for something to tell his mother-in-law.
 
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