Labor Day Comment

Let's get something straight. This blog may not please every Pastor or Church Staff member, but ALL labor done in Jesus name is as Spiritual an act as Prayer, Preaching,
or Missionary Endeavor....IF the Christian doing the work is doing it for Jesus Christ and to the best of his/her ability. If you are not called or gifted to preach, teach or sing solos or in the choir but love to keep the nursery, or you don't mind cleaning the church, and do it for Jesus, in His name, that becomes as spiritual a calling as anything anyone is doing. And, if you do it with all your ability and don't feel you are being taken advantage of,but are glad to be of service, you are doing more than a Staff member or Pastor or Missionary who has a bad attitude or does it for show or for a salary or for any "other" reason.

When I was a young pastor, I had everything in my ministry classified as either
"SPIRITUAL" or "physical". The physical things were money, mowing the church lawn, painting the steeple, vacuuming the floors, cleaning the restrooms, etc. Somewhere along the way God began to "convert" my thinking. That "cup of water given in Jesus name", the "widow's mite", the "Boy's five loaves", and other scriptural lessons changed my understanding of God's economy. I began to comprehend that anything and everything done for Jesus, "in His name" was spiritual more than physical. No matter how lowly it may appear to most human eyes, whether it is scrubbing the floor, picking up trash or changing a tire for someone, if that is what God is calling or leading you to do, at that moment, and you do it in Jesus name, it is a spiritual act. "Little is much when God is in it."

When we started the church in Tallahassee, Florida, my wife and children worked as hard as I did....maybe harder. She labored all day for her family, cleaning, cooking, making clothing, and a thousand other things. Our children, "labored" in school, helped their mom, unloaded and loaded 200 folding chairs, baby beds, and song books from a trailer every Sunday. The girls kept the nursery. They worked as hard as I did, preparing messages, visiting people and other so called "spiritual work". When rewards or crowns are given, in heaven, by the Lord, they may well be more honored than I.

My two original classifications were right but my understanding of them was all wrong. The fact is that everything truly done in Jesus' name is spiritual and everything not done in Jesus' name, even religious things, is physical and worldly.
"...Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom.14:23. Be very careful how and why you do what you do.

Yes, of course, it is true that bringing people to Christ is the ultimate goal of all "real" Christian efforts. In a war, the front line is the goal and purpose of the factory workers, supply forces, headquarters personnel and everyone else doing their best for the war effort. All of their jobs are important to accomplish their goal of winning the war. The primary difference in the different people and the different jobs, is "their level of loyalty and commitment". Without the immense effort on the home front the soldiers on the battle front do not have a chance of winning or even surviving. I can say these things without apology because I fought in the Korean War against the Communist North Korean army and the Chinese both in South and North Korea with the U.S.Marines. We could not have stopped the enemy without the ships at sea and the air power and those at home producing the material who had the right motives and commitment in mind.

Our Lord's work is like that. Our primary purpose is to bring souls to Christ and train others to do the same, but we cannot get that job done without nursery helpers, mechanics janitors, electricians, tithers, etc, etc. All labor done for Jesus is spiritual labor. The "Go ye" in the Great Commission is as important as the "Preach the Gospel".

Pass It On. RB