Gospel Workers (1892/1893 ed.)

Engaging in Secular Business

Ministers should have no separate interest aside from the great work of leading souls to the truth. Their energies are all needed here. They should not engage in traffic of any kind, or in any business aside from this one great work. The solemn charge given to Timothy rests will equal weight upon them, laying upon them the most solemn obligations and most fearful responsibilities: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” [2 Timothy 4:1, 2, 5.] GW92 195.3

Wrong habits of life have lessened our mental and physical sensibilities, and all the strength we can acquire by right living, and placing ourselves in the best relation to health and life, should be devoted unreservedly to the work which God has assigned us. We cannot afford to use the few enfeebled, crippled energies which we possess, in serving tables, or mingling merchandise with the work God has committed to us. Every faculty of mind and body is now needed. The work of God requires this, and no separate business can be engaged in aside from this great work, without taking time, and strength of mind and body, and thus lessening the vigor and force of our labor in the cause of God. Ministers who do this will not have all that time for meditation and prayer, and all that strength and clearness of mind which they should have to understand the cases of those who need help, and to be prepared to “be instant in season, out of season.” [2 Timothy 4:2.] A word fitly spoken at the right time may save some poor, erring, doubting soul. Paul exhorted Timothy, “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.” [1 Timothy 4:15.] GW92 196.1

In Christ's commission to his disciples, he tells them, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” [Matthew 18:18.] If this is the fearfully responsible work of God's ministers, how important that they give themselves wholly to it, and watch for souls as they that must give an account! Should any separate or selfish interest come in here and divide the heart from the work? Some ministers linger about their homes, and run out on the Sabbath, and then return, and exhaust their energies in farming or in attending to home matters. They labor for themselves through the week, and then spend the remnant of their exhausted energies in laboring for God. But such feeble efforts are not acceptable to him. They have no mental or physical strength to spare. At best their efforts are feeble enough. But after they have been engrossed and entangled all through the laboring days of the week, with the cares and perplexities of this life, they are wholly unfitted for the high, the sacred, the important work of God. The destiny of souls hangs upon the course they pursue and the decisions they make. How important, then, that they should be temperate in all things, not only in their eating, but in their labor, that their strength may be unabated and devoted to their sacred calling.... GW92 196.2

The responsibility of the work rests very lightly upon some. They feel that after they leave the desk, their work is done. It is a burden to visit, a burden to talk; and the people who are really desirous of getting all the good there is for them, and who wish to hear and learn, that they may see all things clearly, are not benefited and satisfied. Ministers excuse themselves because they are weary; and yet some exhaust their precious strength and spend their time in work which another could do just as well as they. They should preserve moral and physical vigor, that as faithful workmen of God they may give full proof of their ministry.—Testimonies for the Church 1:470. GW92 197.1

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Ministers cannot carry the burden of the work while at the same time they are carrying the burden of farms or other business enterprises, having their hearts on their earthly treasures. Their spiritual discernment is dimmed. They cannot appreciate the wants of the cause of God, and therefore cannot put forth well-directed efforts to meet its emergencies and to advance its interests. They constantly seek to shape the work in accordance with their circumstances, in place of shaping circumstances to meet the demands of the cause of God. The want of a full consecration to the work on the part of the minister is soon felt all through the field where he labors. If his own standard is low, he will not bring others to accept a higher one.—MS. GW92 197.2

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The people will seldom rise higher than their minister. A world-loving spirit in him has a tremendous influence upon others. The people make his deficiencies an excuse to cover their world-loving spirit. They quiet their own consciences, thinking that they may be free to love the things of this life, and be indifferent to spiritual things, because their ministers are so. They deceive their own souls, and remain in friendship with the world, which the apostle declares to be enmity with God. Ministers should be examples to the flock. They should manifest an undying love for souls and the same devotion to the cause which they desire to see in the people.—Testimonies for the Church 2:645. GW92 198.1

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“No man that warreth, entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” [2 Timothy 2:4.] GW92 198.2

Principle is always exacting. Our country claims of fathers and mothers, their sons, the brothers, the husbands, to be given up, to leave their homes for the field of carnage and bloodshed. They must endure privation and hunger, weariness and loneliness; they must make long marches, footsore and weary, through summer's heat and winter's cold; they must face peril, run the risk of life. They are compelled to follow the commander, even to the death. And all this severe experience is in consequence of sin. There is an enemy to meet, an enemy to be resisted; enemies of our country will destroy her peace and bring disaster and ruin, unless they are overcome. “Conquer or die” is the motto. GW92 198.3

Thus it is with the Christian warfare. We have an enemy to meet, who is vigilant, who is not off his guard one moment. The claims of country are not higher than the claims of God. If hardships are borne and trials endured by soldiers fighting in behalf of their country, how much more willingly should the soldiers of the cross endure privation, self-denial, and any taxation for Christ's sake.—MS. GW92 199.1

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The Lord cannot glorify his name through ministers who attempt to serve God and mammon. We are not to urge men to invest in mining stock, or in city lots, holding out the inducement that the money invested will be doubled in a short time. Our message for this time is, “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” [Luke 12:33, 34.] GW92 199.2

Just before Israel entered the land of Canaan, Satan sought to seduce the people, and lead them to idolatry, thinking to compass their ruin. He works in the same way in our day. There are young men whom God would accept as workers together with him, but they have become absorbed in this real-estate craze, and have sold their interest in the truth for the prospect of worldly advantage. There are many who hold themselves away from the service of God, because they desire worldly gain, and Satan uses those who claim to believe the truth, to seduce souls. The tempter comes to men as he came to Jesus, presenting the glory of the world; and when a measure of success attends the ventures of men, they become greedy for more gain, and their spirituality dies; they lose their love for the truth. The immortal inheritance, the love of Jesus, is eclipsed to their vision by the fleeting prospects of the world.—MS. GW92 199.3