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Sow Beside All Waters, July 24
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand....
Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for
your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the
workman is worthy of his meat.
Matthew 10:7-10
.
Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, learned the trade of a tentmaker.
There were higher and lower branches of tentmaking. Paul had learned the
higher branches, and he could also work at the common branches, when
circumstances demanded....
The Greeks on the seacoast were sharp traders. They had educated them-
selves to sharp practice in deal, and had come to believe that gain was godli-
ness, and that an ability to acquire gain, whether by fair means or foul, was a
reason why they should be honored. Paul was acquainted with their practices,
and he would not give them a chance to say that he and his fellow laborers
preached in order to be supported by the gospel.
Although it was perfectly right for him to be supported in this way (for
“the labourer is worthy of his hire”), yet he saw that if he were [to do so], the
influence upon his fellow laborers and those to whom he preached would not
be the best. Paul feared that if he lived by preaching the gospel, he might
be suspected of selfish motives in [so] doing.... He must show that he was
willing to engage in any useful labor. He would not give any an excuse to
demerit the work of the gospel by imputing motives of selfishness to those
who preached the word. He would not give the sharp Grecians any occasion
to hurt the influence of God’s servants.
Paul reasoned, How could he teach the commandments, which required
him to love God with heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and his neighbor
as himself, if he gave any one reason to think that he loved himself more
than his neighbor or his God, that he followed the practices of the Grecians,
trading sharply upon his office for the sake of gain, instead of following the
principles of the gospel. How could he lead the people to Christ, if he took
all he possibly could from them? Paul decided that he would not give these
keen, critical, unscrupulous money traders occasion to suppose that God’s
servants were working as sharply and following as dishonest methods as they
were.—
Manuscript 97, July 24, 1899
, “The Minister and Physical Work.”
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