Should I Charge Other Christians for My Expertise?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | How do we determine the monetary value
00:00:06.840 | of our personal skills and gifts?
00:00:09.560 | And what are they worth to other Christians?
00:00:12.100 | This is a really practical question for a lot of you,
00:00:14.840 | applicable to anyone in a local church
00:00:16.640 | who has a skill set or a gifting that benefits others.
00:00:20.440 | Today's question comes particularly from a listener
00:00:22.560 | in Los Angeles who writes this.
00:00:24.680 | Pastor John, hello and thank you for the APJ podcast.
00:00:26.880 | My question is a reoccurring heart issue for my life.
00:00:30.600 | I am a graphic designer.
00:00:33.080 | I'm trying to live out my gift according to 1 Peter 4.10,
00:00:36.800 | as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another
00:00:39.920 | as good stewards of God's varied grace.
00:00:43.360 | How can I obey this verse without feeling resentment
00:00:46.360 | and bitterness towards people, Christians and non-Christians
00:00:49.940 | who mainly contact me because I have a skill
00:00:52.480 | that can fulfill their need,
00:00:54.640 | but who use my skills and never pay me for them?
00:00:59.160 | I often feel used and deemed worthy
00:01:01.780 | of quote unquote friendship by what I can do,
00:01:05.540 | not who I am.
00:01:08.040 | My assumption is that if I did not possess
00:01:10.080 | this graphic design gift,
00:01:11.880 | these people would never contact me.
00:01:13.980 | How do we think about the value of skills that are God given
00:01:17.040 | and about the right of making a little bit of money
00:01:19.800 | from these God given gifts to make a living?
00:01:23.120 | Pastor John, what would you say?
00:01:24.880 | That's a really good question
00:01:26.440 | that many Christians need to think about
00:01:28.440 | because I have seen professionals in the church
00:01:33.440 | misused when people unthinkingly,
00:01:39.120 | I think it's usually unthinkingly,
00:01:42.240 | take advantage of the church family connections
00:01:45.800 | to get services that most people are paying for,
00:01:49.680 | to get them free.
00:01:51.280 | Like a doctor or a lawyer or a plumber
00:01:54.040 | or a carpenter or a designer.
00:01:56.520 | And people just ask them to do little jobs
00:02:00.360 | or little consultations say in the evening or after church.
00:02:05.360 | That's their gift without even thinking
00:02:08.400 | how this may be unbiblical by mooching or exploiting.
00:02:13.400 | And I'll come back to those words,
00:02:17.280 | mooching and exploiting in just a minute.
00:02:19.680 | So the first thing that I would say about the text
00:02:24.360 | of 1 Peter 4, 10 and 11,
00:02:27.440 | is that they're not speaking directly
00:02:29.680 | about professional services,
00:02:31.840 | but spiritual gifts in the church.
00:02:34.280 | It says, "As each has received a gift,
00:02:36.800 | use it to serve one another
00:02:38.600 | as good stewards of God's varied grace.
00:02:41.560 | Whoever speaks, like preaching or teaching,
00:02:44.680 | as the oracles of God,
00:02:46.040 | whoever serves as one who serves in the strength
00:02:48.960 | that God supplies in order that in everything,
00:02:51.440 | God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
00:02:54.200 | to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.
00:02:57.720 | Amen."
00:02:59.400 | But even though I think these are directly
00:03:04.320 | referring to spiritual gifts in the church,
00:03:07.440 | some of them are remunerated in the church.
00:03:11.920 | For example, when Paul says that some elders
00:03:15.560 | who have the gift of teaching should be paid,
00:03:18.600 | that's elevating some of these
00:03:20.240 | to the point of professional skills.
00:03:23.080 | Let the elders who rule well,
00:03:25.240 | this is 1 Timothy 5, 17,
00:03:27.360 | let the elders who rule well
00:03:29.960 | be considered worthy of double honor,
00:03:32.400 | especially those who labor in preaching and teaching,
00:03:36.360 | for the scripture says,
00:03:38.280 | "You shall not muzzle an ox
00:03:40.880 | when it's treading out the grain,"
00:03:42.840 | and the laborer deserves his wages.
00:03:48.280 | So I think some of those spiritual gifts
00:03:52.920 | rise to the level of vocational callings,
00:03:56.240 | which Paul says should be paid.
00:03:58.760 | And that means I think it is fair
00:04:01.800 | to draw some principles out of these texts
00:04:05.680 | that do in fact relate to the question of natural gifts
00:04:10.080 | or natural skills that a person has
00:04:12.040 | and which they use to make a living.
00:04:14.680 | One principle is this,
00:04:17.120 | God intends for us to work in order to make a living
00:04:22.120 | and not be dependent on others when not necessary.
00:04:28.160 | Here's where I get that, 1 Thessalonians 4, 11,
00:04:31.760 | "Aspire to live quietly, mind your own affairs,
00:04:36.760 | work with your hands as we instructed you
00:04:40.080 | so that you may walk properly before outsiders
00:04:44.000 | and be dependent on no one."
00:04:47.560 | So one of the functions of work is to make enough money
00:04:51.560 | so that you don't have to depend on others inappropriately.
00:04:56.560 | So it's right to be paid for your work,
00:05:00.480 | the laborer deserves his wages,
00:05:02.480 | don't muzzle the ox while he's treading out the grain.
00:05:07.320 | Now, this does not mean,
00:05:09.640 | I don't want to overstate the case,
00:05:11.920 | this does not mean there's no room for merciful generosity
00:05:16.920 | to help those in need with your professional skill.
00:05:23.680 | I mean, Christians all over the world do this, right?
00:05:28.640 | Dentists will take his Fridays off and go to an inner city
00:05:32.800 | and set up a little clinic and give free help to teeth.
00:05:36.800 | That's beautiful, I'm not at all discouraging that.
00:05:41.040 | In fact, Paul says that one of the reasons for working
00:05:44.840 | to make a living is so that we might have something to give.
00:05:47.840 | (laughs)
00:05:48.920 | It's what he says in Ephesians 4, 28, he says,
00:05:51.640 | "Let the thief no longer steal,
00:05:53.880 | but rather let him labor doing honest work with his hands
00:05:57.480 | so that he may have something to share with anyone in need."
00:06:02.480 | So I'm not saying that those with special skills and gifts
00:06:08.120 | should never use them freely and generously to help others.
00:06:12.920 | All the commands to be generous, to give to the needy,
00:06:18.120 | even to be willing to be taken advantage of, Jesus says,
00:06:22.040 | they're all still in the Bible.
00:06:24.520 | But what our friend is drawing our attention to
00:06:27.960 | in asking this question is that there is more
00:06:32.480 | than one kind of teaching in the Bible
00:06:36.140 | and neither should cancel out the other.
00:06:38.880 | There's the command to give freely to the needy
00:06:43.680 | and there's the command to earn your living
00:06:46.680 | so that you and your family can eat and be clothed.
00:06:49.680 | So work to get to use and work to get to give
00:06:55.640 | are both in the Bible, right?
00:06:59.360 | Go to work so that you can get,
00:07:01.840 | so that you can use it to put a roof over your head
00:07:06.320 | and work and get so that you have lots to be generous with
00:07:11.320 | and help others.
00:07:13.600 | They're both in the Bible
00:07:15.060 | and that's the challenge of love and wisdom
00:07:17.320 | that our graphic designer in this question
00:07:20.480 | is challenged with.
00:07:23.300 | But those in his network, his friends, his church,
00:07:27.540 | I think they need to hear another message from the Bible,
00:07:32.120 | namely the message found in 2 Thessalonians 3.
00:07:37.080 | Remember, some Christians in the church in Thessalonica
00:07:40.360 | had become seized by a kind of hysteria
00:07:45.360 | about the nearness of the second coming of Christ
00:07:49.080 | and they had stopped working
00:07:51.040 | and started to live in idleness
00:07:54.380 | expecting the momentary return of Jesus
00:07:56.720 | while mooching off of those
00:07:59.480 | who kept on working for a living.
00:08:02.040 | So here's how Paul responds to that.
00:08:04.720 | Verse six of 2 Thessalonians 3.
00:08:08.800 | Now we command you brothers
00:08:10.360 | in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
00:08:12.560 | that you keep away from any brother
00:08:14.720 | who is walking in idleness
00:08:17.680 | and not in accord with the tradition
00:08:20.200 | that you receive from us.
00:08:22.000 | For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us
00:08:26.540 | because we were not idle when we were with you
00:08:29.720 | nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it.
00:08:34.720 | That's amazing.
00:08:36.040 | Paul was so jealous not to give the impression
00:08:40.000 | that he could exploit the work of others
00:08:42.540 | while he lived in idleness
00:08:43.960 | that he didn't eat anybody's bread without paying for it.
00:08:47.840 | Amazing.
00:08:48.680 | But with toil and labor, we worked night and day
00:08:53.380 | that we might not be a burden to any of you.
00:08:57.940 | Now that's the message some of the believers need to hear
00:09:01.920 | who are taking advantage of people's services
00:09:05.220 | without paying for them.
00:09:07.700 | It was not because we do not have the right,
00:09:11.500 | this is Paul continuing in verse nine,
00:09:13.640 | it was not because we do not have the right
00:09:17.040 | but rather to give you ourselves as an example to imitate.
00:09:22.700 | For even when we were with you,
00:09:25.460 | we would give you this command,
00:09:27.320 | if anyone's not willing to work, let him not eat.
00:09:31.940 | For we hear that some of you are walking in idleness,
00:09:36.860 | not busy at work, but busy bodies.
00:09:40.420 | So the point that I'm drawing out of that text
00:09:43.740 | for our question is the network of Christians
00:09:47.940 | who are taking advantage of the work of others
00:09:51.660 | to get something that most people are paying for,
00:09:55.100 | they need to be taught, don't do that.
00:09:58.520 | That is don't presume upon that, be willing to pay.
00:10:03.520 | If the skilled person wants to make a special gift to you,
00:10:09.560 | that's his to decide, not yours to expect.
00:10:12.980 | And to the graphic designer himself or herself,
00:10:17.580 | I couldn't tell which we're dealing with here,
00:10:20.100 | to him or her, I would say,
00:10:22.760 | pray that God would direct people's hearts in the right way.
00:10:28.540 | In other words, pray for people,
00:10:30.180 | that he would wake up to what they're doing.
00:10:32.020 | And then perhaps talk to your pastor or teachers
00:10:35.900 | in the church to see if they can begin to apply
00:10:39.380 | the scriptures to this issue for a while in the church
00:10:42.360 | so that there's a culture in the church
00:10:46.080 | that includes both generosity and even willingness
00:10:51.040 | to be taken advantage of for Christ's sake,
00:10:53.240 | but also a sense that we must not mooch off of,
00:10:58.240 | we must not exploit those who are hard at work
00:11:04.600 | making a living, but rather take responsibility
00:11:08.740 | for our own needs instead of depending on others
00:11:12.440 | to give us freebies.
00:11:14.420 | Behind both those aspects of church culture,
00:11:18.640 | generosity and responsibility,
00:11:20.560 | those are the two poles I'm talking about,
00:11:22.940 | behind both of those aspects of church culture
00:11:26.960 | is the grace of the Lord Jesus.
00:11:31.080 | He gives the grace to work and he gives the grace to give,
00:11:36.080 | and he gets the glory both ways.
00:11:40.660 | - Yeah, really good balance here, Pastor John, thank you.
00:11:44.620 | And thank you for joining us today.
00:11:45.740 | Ask a question of your own, search our growing archive,
00:11:48.240 | or subscribe to the podcast, all at askpastorjohn.com.
00:11:51.600 | And speaking of learning to live out
00:11:54.140 | the authentic Christian life,
00:11:55.780 | what distinguishes the Christian life
00:11:58.260 | from the non-Christian life?
00:12:00.660 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke,
00:12:01.500 | and we're gonna find out on Monday.
00:12:03.300 | We'll see you then.
00:12:04.200 | (upbeat music)
00:12:06.780 | (upbeat music)
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