If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
Sowing spiritual things gives a right to reap material things in return, so those who give spiritual instruction, ministry, preaching and teaching rightly receive material support from those they serve as a fair and just exchange. It is God's will and part of an orderly system of systematic benevolence that those who receive spiritual ministry give from their substance to support ministers, alongside aiding needy widows and fatherless children and sustaining God's work and cause. All who preach the gospel, whether men or women, are entitled to a just reward for their services.
The principle applies to supporting self-sacrificing ministers and providing for their families, and withholding such help through covetousness dishonors their labor and burdens them. Ministers who sow spiritual things by giving their time, thought, and labor have just as much right to reap material wages as workers in publishing houses and other institutional labor, and to pay them meager wages is robbery. They should receive their due from the tithe, enough to supply their families with food and clothing, although they themselves must pay tithe according to their ability. Their due must meet the extra expenses of their work, including traveling from place to place, separation from families, costlier clothing, leading out in donations where they labor, helping pay for tents and camp-meeting expenses, and providing their own food and fare.
Paul could rightly have claimed this support from the Corinthians and the churches he served because he had sown spiritual things among them, but he gave up that right and supported himself by tentmaking when claiming it might hinder the gospel. He did so so that financial support would not give opponents grounds to question his motives, create suspicion that he preached for personal gain, or weaken his message. Those who have spent precious time, study, experiment, and large outlay of means to develop special health foods for building up and advancing the cause have the right to reap the fruit of their labor. As the Lord's stewards they should control a reasonable income from those special products so they have means to make appropriations for God's work as occasion demands. No one else has the right to borrow or steal that business, learn the secrets of their composition and manufacture them selfishly for personal profit, or give the impression of working in harmony with the original makers while doing so.
Humble self-supporting missionaries who go forward in evangelistic work without promised support sow spiritual things by imparting the treasures of the Word and spiritual food to the wealthy and the poor. In return they reap material things as those they teach give favor, friendship, temporal sustenance, and help in many ways on their way, so both are blessed. Even the poverty and helplessness of the workers becomes a means of gaining access to families and isolated ones who otherwise would never be won.
Sowing spiritual things gives a right to reap material things in return, so those who give spiritual instruction, ministry, preaching and teaching rightly receive material support from those they serve as a fair and just exchange. It is God's will and part of an orderly system of systematic benevolence that those who receive spiritual ministry give from their substance to support ministers, alongside aiding needy widows and fatherless children and sustaining God's work and cause. All who preach the gospel, whether men or women, are entitled to a just reward for their services.
The principle applies to supporting self-sacrificing ministers and providing for their families, and withholding such help through covetousness dishonors their labor and burdens them. Ministers who sow spiritual things by giving their time, thought, and labor have just as much right to reap material wages as workers in publishing houses and other institutional labor, and to pay them meager wages is robbery. They should receive their due from the tithe, enough to supply their families with food and clothing, although they themselves must pay tithe according to their ability. Their due must meet the extra expenses of their work, including traveling from place to place, separation from families, costlier clothing, leading out in donations where they labor, helping pay for tents and camp-meeting expenses, and providing their own food and fare.
Paul could rightly have claimed this support from the Corinthians and the churches he served because he had sown spiritual things among them, but he gave up that right and supported himself by tentmaking when claiming it might hinder the gospel. He did so so that financial support would not give opponents grounds to question his motives, create suspicion that he preached for personal gain, or weaken his message. Those who have spent precious time, study, experiment, and large outlay of means to develop special health foods for building up and advancing the cause have the right to reap the fruit of their labor. As the Lord's stewards they should control a reasonable income from those special products so they have means to make appropriations for God's work as occasion demands. No one else has the right to borrow or steal that business, learn the secrets of their composition and manufacture them selfishly for personal profit, or give the impression of working in harmony with the original makers while doing so.
Humble self-supporting missionaries who go forward in evangelistic work without promised support sow spiritual things by imparting the treasures of the Word and spiritual food to the wealthy and the poor. In return they reap material things as those they teach give favor, friendship, temporal sustenance, and help in many ways on their way, so both are blessed. Even the poverty and helplessness of the workers becomes a means of gaining access to families and isolated ones who otherwise would never be won.