Most All Believers Have Two Jobs.
How many people do you know with two jobs?
Pay bills and
Distribute the Gospel.
The first job (earning a living) … we really focus on. Because our belly craves nutrition. And we like modern convenience. And it’s nice to stay married. :) Right?
The second job (distributing good news) … we have to be intentional because supernatural energy is required.
We are not oversimplifying. This concept is not easily dismissed. Because it’s accurate. 2 jobs. You believe? Congratulations, you just signed up for your second job.
My dear dad worked 50+ hours sheetrocking and mudding walls. Then 15 to 20 hours preparing sermons and lessons and and pastoring a local church. He also carved out time to be a dad and attend our sporting events.
Here’s the message:
Go bi-vo.
Bi-vocation.
Bi means two.
Vocation comes from voca: voice: the call from above. God in His wisdom distinguishing a specific purpose for you, and promising to help you fulfill His calling on your life.
Vocation is what occupies our time.
Let every physician, every lawyer, and every mechanic be diligent in their first vocation … and ponder the value of answering that upward call and spiritual urge to be about our Heavenly Father’s business also.
Sometimes in high school, we endured a class as necessary, so that … we could enjoy a sport as our primary endeavor!
Two jobs. Both carry value.
Vocation one answers, “What do you do?”
Vocations two answers, “How are you loving God and serving others?”
You will receive two paychecks. Your first job has a pay cycle. And your second job has a pay cycle, slightly longer. Pay indicates energy and time invested. Pay belongs to those who show up. :)
The community of born-again believers will not complete the mission of distributing the knowledge of the gospel of Christ to the known world unless we first embrace the mindset of responsibility. Responsibility that carves out precious time each day devoted to vocation number two.
What percent of our time is given to the first job, of making money? Let’s look up some statistics.
According to BLS time-use surveys,* full-time employed people in the U.S. work an average of 8.7 hours per day.
And then clock out and be done?
Suggestion: put in your 8.7 hours … then put in one more for God and community.
Apparently, this life is designed to be bi-vocational. We have to function in the economy. Gotta eat. And we get to serve God. Both. Bi-vocational.
Paul was a maker … of tents ⛺️ . And Paul was also … a delivery channel for the gospel to unreached people groups.
Paul made tents in the night so that he could preach in the light.
1 Thessalonians 2:9 “For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.”
“Yea, ye yourselves know, that THESE HANDS have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.” Acts 20 verse 34. Paul was clarifying, “None of you guys paid my bills. These hands right here … my own hands … covered my necessities, and also those who traveled with me.”
There’s no excuse for single-vocation believers who devote 100% of their working energy toward improving a standard of living for themselves, and their immediate family … only. And do not carve out intentional time for their second vocation of gospel distribution.
“Well, I don’t have time for the ministry.” Hmmmm. Tell that to Jesus.
“If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.” ~ Corrie ten Boom
The gospel does not go forth without time. When all our time is consumed at “job one” then “job two” suffers.
Be done with lesser things.
Stop excess entertainment.
Chop the news.
Is there not a call?
God’s Four Calls:
The call from ABOVE (our Divine Commission)
The call from BELOW (“for I have five brethren!”)
The call from WITHOUT (“Come over into Macedonia, and help us.”)
The call from WITHIN (“Did not our heart burn within us”)
Now, why do we confidently assert that most all believers should have two jobs?
Workers will work. Meaning if somebody is already working their first job … that kind of person will tend to also pick up a second job. Because … non-workers who cannot handle a first job … logically will not also carry the additional responsibility of a second job. :) Workers work.
Very few believers are full-time in the ministry, with a singular job. Its a small number; where the verse actually applies: “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal [which means tangible, financial] things?” First Corinthians 9:14, 11. Paul went on in the same passage to explain that he was not going to allow these people to pay him anything, because he understood their spiritual immaturity, and did not want to leave a sour taste in their mouth. Therefore, he labored both night and day: the implication; bi-vocational.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness … while he built the ark. He swung the hammer and preached the truth.
Romans 13:12 “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” The time remaining is super short. We should act with urgency.
Our first job, we take it pretty seriously. We show up. We understand the attendance policy. The schedule is boss. Right? Our second job … we just kind of fluff around. We’re not serious.
A fresh level of spiritual maturity is required to properly balance being bi-vocational.
We fulfill our earthly commission: food, shelter, transport, phone bill, clothing … all that’s covered.
The only logical way to fulfill our Great(er) Commission, given to us by the Great Captain of our faith, is by every believer fully filling their station in the sequence of delivering the gospel daily by some means to someone. And then, by every means to everyone. Every possible believer on every possible platform using every possible means of delivery.
📑 ✅
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🔊 ✅
👁 ✅
✋🏽 ✅
⏺ ✅
🎙 ✅
📻 ✅
📺 ✅
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“Well, I don’t prefer some of those methods.” Well, that opinion frankly doesn’t matter. The Gospel goes. No slowing it down. Just don’t block it. Please get out of the road.
“Well I don’t prefer putting scripture on paper.” Argue with God later. For now, just hand it out. Deliver the mail.
“Well, I like to wait … until the spiritual temperatures’s just right … about 6 1/2 months after meeting somebody and we’ve gone out to pizza a couple times and I know their pet’s personalities, and they know my cousins, and then I’d feel comfortable enough to mention Jesus and eternity.” Is that the Spirit of Christ speaking from within you? Jesus was plenty comfortable speaking bluntly on any topic, the full truth. Right up front; He did nothing in secret. Luke 8:17 “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” Why hide salvation?
Imagine: every believer engaged every day in someway in gospel distribution.
:)
Work two jobs. Paul did. As a pattern for us, no doubt. One financial and one spiritual.
“Well, I like kinda blending both of my jobs together.”
Really? How does your employer feel about that?
Paul addresses the topic of money and ministry to the weak, carnal, immature, self-centered, elementary-level church at Corinth. Paul discerned that the Corinthians would freak, … if he had asked for even one dollar compensation for all of his spiritual labor in their midst. Paul had the liberty to ask for pay, but did not exercise that liberty.
“But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak” 1 Cor 8:9.
The Holy Spirit Author guided Paul to open the topic of stewardship with some pointed questions:
Let’s open up to chapter 9 and follow the line-upon-line reasoning, please. We’re going to fill in the conversational-blanks with the possible response from the Corinthian audience, upon their fresh reading Paul’s epistle.
1 Corinthians chapter 9: “1 ¶ Am I not an apostle?”
[Long pause … uhhh, … yes, yes you are an Apostle, Paul.]
“am I not free?”
[Awkward pause … of course you are a free man, Paul. Speak on.]
“have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?”
[We all hear that you have seen Christ on the Damascus Road and other times, sure.]
“are not ye my work in the Lord?”
[The obvious answer, Paul is: we are the results of your work, in the Lord, yes sir, and we thank you.]
Verse 2, “If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.”
[Wow. Thanks for the compliment, Bother Paul. We are like your proof signature. Nice.]
“3 ¶ Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, have we not power to eat and to drink?”
[… Um, we would not want you to starve sir. You certainly may eat, Paul. And you’re implying that money is required to purchase food. We’re not gonna withhold from you the necessary finances for basic living expenses. What do you mean and who is examining you?]
“5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?”
[Yeah, Peter has a wife. Correct, because he’s not Catholic. We recognize many brothers and apostles have spouses. So there’s nothing stopping you, Paul, from exercising the option to become a husband. Which again it seems you were implying that supporting a wife requires financial stability and strength, and we would not reduce your power to provide for a family, sir. You certainly do have this freedom.]
“6 Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?”
[Forbear working? Well sir, we can see that you have a strong line of reasoning rolling here. A lot of questions. And it seems like you’re emotionally engaged in the topic. A strong sequence of open-ended questions which bluntly compel us to think of real answers. And we humbly admit that we’ve not been the best at allowing you to thrive by providing basic necessities you are listing, such as food and family-needs. Yes sir, you and Barnabas both have earned the right to exercise the power to not have to work full-time elsewhere because realistically we all see you as full-time in the ministry here, serving us; and spiritually, we are high maintenance. :) Even though we all know you have a second-priority job which generates income, after-hours, making tents. You totally could and should give up your pouring-out energy X-number of hours per evening doing manual labor and just instead focus on spiritual labor with eternal, lasting results. Because you’re really good at it, Paul; God has obviously gifted you. But for some reason you still keep your night job. Both you and Barnabas. We understand Barnabas was a wealthy landlord. However God moved him to liquidate his land-holdings and give all that to the cause of Christ. So Barnabas gladly started over financially. We appreciate that even Barnabas still carries on a job now as a source of income, when he could have made passive income from renting out his lands.]
“7 Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?”
[Well sir, when it comes to war on behalf of a country … that government pays the soldiers, otherwise obviously the soldiers could not continue. A self-funded war sounds short-lived even for a billionaire. And we recognize the implication here in this question, which has layers, that you are in a spiritual war and should not be expected to be on the front lines of fighting the demon hordes alone with zero support.]
“… who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof?”
[Um, yes sir, that would be silly to do all the work of farming and get no food rewards.]
“… or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?”
[Good point. Quite reasonable. The farmer enjoys the fruits of the farm. Well said, sir.]
“8 Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?”
[Wow, Paul. We had no idea this was such a hot topic for you. Evidently it’s close to your heart. We get that you work hard. We see that you toil among us night first, and day second, with tears laboring until Christ be formed in us. Helping us to mature spiritually and we get it … we’ve not recompense or recognized your efforts in any tangible or meaningful way. Because we are basically selfish kids, and for that, we sincerely apologize.]
“9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?”
[From everything we’ve learned about nature, yes … God takes care of the animals. God provides them something to eat. We’ve never personally met a starving ox. And if we’re listening with spiritual ears, we’re hearing that you feel somewhat starved yourself, Paul, even though you’re doing a lot to help us.]
“10 Or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.”
[Well, we’re meditating on what you’re saying. Nobody would plow unless they hoped for a return. Nobody would work with wheat unless they expected some nutritional benefit from all that physical labor.]
“11 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”
[Long pause, again, sir. We are beyond embarrassed at this point. We’re kind of shuffling our feet and staring at the floor. Because obviously you have written us multiple letters. You have spent many months if not years of your life in our presence, with our people. You have poured out your heart and soul and tears and sweat and even blood 🩸 to reach our Gentile families for Christ and witness to our community and neighbors and friends. And we have given you pretty much nothing in return. Which we now realize, is a reflection of our level of gratitude for the things of God and for you personally. We are very sorry that you don’t feel much appreciated. And we have little evidence to show that we appreciate your tangibly. Here’s a bottle of water. Which doesn’t mean a whole lot.]
“12 If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather?”
[You are right, sir. When other people give us the benefit of knowledge in business, or they teach us anything about mathematics, or they explain how to learn a language … any kind of teacher gets compensation. Obviously. So we certainly pay for understanding and growth in other areas of our life. But we’ve given you so far zero dollars for all this spiritual wealth from above, which far excels anything we can learn about math or science. And we do feel like idiots for not offering you anything at all. Are you sure you don’t want this bottle of water?]
Now here’s the amazing part. Right when you thought Paul building up to about to pass the offering plate … instead:
“Nevertheless we have NOT used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.”
Because Paul could sense the spiritual immaturity of the Corinthian audience. He knew they would be offended if even one dollar went to cover his expenses for all the labor he poured into their lives. Paul did not want to put himself in a position where the Corinthians could twist his motives and accuse him of being 1% greedy or even motivated by self-gain vs. doing the labor of the ministry with a pure heart, fervently.
“13 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?”
[We remember the Torah and the teaching of Moses explaining how the Levites lived off the sacrifices of the temple including the grain offerings and the meat. Barbecue, yes. That illustration hits close to home.]
“14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.”
[And Paul, you definitely are the fireball spreader of the gospel at maximum level. You are burning the candle at both ends trying to get the gospel out to the whole world in our generation. And if anyone should “live of the gospel” and be rewarded for their labors … you are that … oxen. You are that Levite, you are that farmer, you are that tenured, worthy teacher, you are that spiritual warrior … working among us for zero wages. That’s embarrassing. Convicting. Reflects our level of appreciation for anything spiritual; even our eternal salvation seems of little value if we cannot reciprocate tangible things like food and lodging for our preacher. We do love you and appreciate you. But we have no proof.]
“15 ¶ But I have used NONE of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.”
“I’m proving a point,” pretty-much, Paul was saying, “I’m not gonna accept any of your things. Keep your stuff. I would rather die than put myself in a position where anyone can point at me, and financially accuse me of having a greedy motive. I’m not here for the almighty dollar. I’m here because God Almighty loves me and God loves you. And therefore, the truth must be transferred. I’m just part of the pipeline delivering the fluid from Heaven.
“16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
Paul continues here: “I am responsible. I carry a Commission from my Chief Captain. I am under direct orders from the highest Headquarters to preach the gospel here. There’s nothing for me to glory about. I’m simply an obedient messenger. It’s absolutely necessary. You wouldn’t want to know what kind of person I turn into if I stopped preaching the gospel.”
The ministry is not about DIGITS.
Definitely not about self-gain.
I do this gospel job pro-bono. (Should we all say.)
You (we can tell our audience) are not my employer.
God squares on His invoices on His timeline.
“17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a REWARD: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.”
Paul was saying, “If I have a great attitude about this opportunity of preaching the gospel to everyone everywhere … there is a promised reward from the Rewarder. However, if I don’t feel like it … I still have great responsibility committed upon my shoulders to carry this gospel forward.
There is a Higher will-power than just me. I would be smart to carry His gospel, even if doing so goes against my will. Because I understand who God is.” :)
“18 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.”
Back to the Corinthians: “Wow. Mind-exploding wow. That’s spiritual high-level maturity, Paul. Deliver the gospel without charge? No cost? Preach the gospel with no strings? Zero opportunity for accusation of abuse. There will be no offering accepted. Wow. That’s different than the last guy.”
“What is Paul’s reward then? He must believe there’s some kind of a reward. Maybe Paul believes his rewards happen in the life yet to come. Maybe he believes God will reward him. But meanwhile … Paul makes tents. Paul is a master craftsman. Paul labors with his hands several hours each night, doing non-Gospel-related activities. So that he can extract the necessary funding to get food and cover the cost of his travels … while charging the sinner and the newborn-believer literally nothing for his gracious presence and his delivery service of spiritual food to our hungry hearts.”
Paul kept a job.
Barnabas worked a job.
They both had power to forbear (or to put away) working. However they willingly chose not to do so. Paul did not grumble about his mundane, manual labor side-job that paid the bills.
“19 ¶ For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.”
Paul was essentially saying, “I owe no man anything. I am not a debtor. I am free from all debts. No one can accuse me of not paying my bills. Yet have I positioned myself to serve multiplied more people than if I was dependent on people for income. I gain more souls by working two jobs.”
“23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”
Unboxing that concept: Paul was saying, “I work as a tent maker for the gospel’s sake. Because I cover my own bills, the gospel has free course and can move forward without accusation.”
“… 23 ¶ All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.”
Although Paul viewed accepting an income stream (at least from the carnal Corinthians) as NOT expedient for the maximum explosion of the gospel across the known world. It would be lawful for him to take a salary, certainly, however he saw that income as a potential trap to offend fragile believers rather than edify them, which means to build people up.
“24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.”
I’m not here to scoop arm-fulls of wealth for myself away from you … but I’m rather here to seek your spiritual gain and your spiritual wealth. I’m genuinely here for you. Not for me.
And Paul had an amazing labor track record.
Acts 20:31+ “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. …
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. [I did not take a paycheck in any form.] Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. [My own hands generated enough side money to cover my necessary living expenses and also my crew, who traveled with me. ]
“35 I have shewed you all things, how that SO labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. …
32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
I give the gospel with full-heart desiring the maximum glory and beauty and attention directed toward God alone. Truly not about me. Not seeking mine own profit. So that when I pick up a scoop of food, I can still say, “All glory to God, I’m not offending anyone by depending on them financially. I just want them to be saved.”
How backward-thinking is that? Must be spiritual. Not seeking my own profit? Who does anything without a profit motive? Why go into business if not for gain?
The gospel delivery business is not about gain from others. The gospel is about giving the gospel. Trusting the Rewarder will reward.
Next verse. Immediate context. This is the invitation:
On the topic we just covered … here is the summary:
“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
Was not even Christ Himself a pattern of non-burden to His followers?
Paul was not saying follow me in everything. Paul was saying let’s all follow Christ according to the pattern Christ established of not being a financial hardship on His audience. You can safely follow the decision of Paul, who based his decision on the pattern of Christ … being a giver rather than a taker.
Work diligently. Pay the bills. Then also participate in the ministry of the gospel at least 1 to 2 solid hours per day, working around the schedule of your other job.
The eventual goal would be devoting as much time and energy as God will give you, to the spiritual ministry of reaching others, while also generating a reasonable, necessary income to sustain the physical and emotional needs your own household. :)