Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
Even the ox when it treads out the corn must not be muzzled, but must be left free to eat from the grain it is threshing and not be deprived of food or its due provision. As a principle this establishes that a worker should share in the material benefit of the labor he performs. Paul's application shows the law was written for people's sake, teaching that those who plow or thresh should work in hope of sharing in the harvest.
Applied to ministry, those who spend their strength advancing God's cause and preach the gospel should be supported by it. Their right to fair remuneration must be respected, and their expected wages must not be unjustly withheld or reduced. Those who trust God's wisdom and not their own walk in safe paths and will not presume to claim authority to restrict, restrain, dictate to, or control people called to labor in partnership with God.
To muzzle, dictate to, and control such a human agent is offensive to God, especially to control one whom Christ invites to come to Him, find rest, and take His yoke. God has not placed any of His human workers under the jurisdiction, dictation, and control of erring mortals to say what they shall do and shall not do. He will judge those who assume over His workers an authority He has not given, and no human authority justifies withholding their freedom or treating them as tools.
Even the ox when it treads out the corn must not be muzzled, but must be left free to eat from the grain it is threshing and not be deprived of food or its due provision. As a principle this establishes that a worker should share in the material benefit of the labor he performs. Paul's application shows the law was written for people's sake, teaching that those who plow or thresh should work in hope of sharing in the harvest.
Applied to ministry, those who spend their strength advancing God's cause and preach the gospel should be supported by it. Their right to fair remuneration must be respected, and their expected wages must not be unjustly withheld or reduced. Those who trust God's wisdom and not their own walk in safe paths and will not presume to claim authority to restrict, restrain, dictate to, or control people called to labor in partnership with God.
To muzzle, dictate to, and control such a human agent is offensive to God, especially to control one whom Christ invites to come to Him, find rest, and take His yoke. God has not placed any of His human workers under the jurisdiction, dictation, and control of erring mortals to say what they shall do and shall not do. He will judge those who assume over His workers an authority He has not given, and no human authority justifies withholding their freedom or treating them as tools.