Post by Nephi –
In my last post I promised to elaborate on one of the closing statements I made there. ““The laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion, for if they labor for money they shall perish.” Why this particular statement? Though many of the things that I have shared deserve more attention, this one will get the attention today because it means something personal today.
In God’s true church, His servants neither preach for hire nor divine for money. His servants will follow the pattern of providing the gospel of Christ without charge, lest His servants abuse or misuse the power the Lord has given them. Freely we have received and freely we must give, for salvation is free. All who thirst are invited to come and drink of the waters of life, without money and without price.
All our service in God’s kingdom is predicated on this eternal law which I stated: “The laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion, for if they labor for money they shall perish.”
We know full well that the laborer is worthy of his hire. Those who devote all their time to the building up of the kingdom must be provided with food, clothing, shelter, and the necessaries of life. We employ teachers in our schools, artisans to design our temples, craftsmen to build our synagogues, and honest men to run our businesses.
But those specifically employed, along with the rest of the followers of Christ, participate also on a freewill and voluntary basis in otherwise furthering the Lord’s work. Together, without receiving even one senine, regardless of our profession, we leave our work to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, we teach one another the words of Christ, we minister to one another’s needs freely.
Because the work of the kingdom must go forward, Christ’s true followers are and shall be called upon to bear off its burdens. It is the Lord’s work and not man’s. He is the one who commands us to preach the gospel in all the world, whatever the cost.
God’s Kingdom can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart, not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people. The Kingdom of God is “every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.”
Work is to be honest toil with this overarching, divine purpose. So yes there are those that will receive wages for professional services provided in the building up of Gods Kingdom on earth, and they are worthy of hire. The challenge comes when our hearts are upon the things of the world regardless of our employment. Therefore, whether our material compensation in this world is received for direct service in building God’s kingdom here on earth or we are employed in what we perceive as a labor totally unrelated to building God’s Kingdom, we are expected to earn our wages and use those wages with an eye single to the glory of God.
