Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Attitude”
Our Bible verse for today: “Paul came to them, and being of the same occupation, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.” Acts 18:3-4 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Your job is your ministry field.”
In Acts 18:3-4 Luke reveals to us something of the Apostle Paul’s background that we didn’t know before. Paul was trained as a tentmaker. He made tents for a living. This is something we didn’t know about him and it comes as a bit of a surprise. Prior to this we knew little of Paul’s early years except that he was a diligent student of the Old Testament law and that ultimately he became a Pharisee, and was therefore a religious professional.
But at some point in those early years he also learned a trade – that of a tentmaker. Good thing he did too because we find that after he became a Christian, and was therefore no longer eligible to be supported out of the temple treasury like all Pharisees, he needed to make a living. So we read here in Acts 18:3-4 that when he arrived in the city of Corinth God hooked him up with Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who were also Christians and who also make their living as tentmakers. They all then evidently went into business together.
What’s most interesting and most instructive for us here this morning is that Paul used his employment as a platform for ministry. He did what he had to do in order to earn a living, but he also preached and taught as he had the opportunity. I imagine that in addition to formal preaching and teaching opportunities, Paul being Paul, he almost certainly used his daily business dealings in the tent making business to talk to people about Jesus.
This passage illustrates a mindset we call “business as ministry”. “Business as ministry” is a model whereby someone intentionally uses their work situation as an opportunity for ministry. I know a successful and affluent businessman who uses a lot of the profits from his business to help fund a wide array of Christian ministries. I know of many others whose jobs require them to interact with the public all day long. They then use that as an opportunity to build relationships with people, talk to them about Jesus, pray with them, and invite them to church.
Another term that’s often applied to this approach is “Marketplace Missions”. This is the understanding that a secular job is not an inconvenience or a necessary evil, but instead it is a God-given opportunity to meet and interact with people for a higher purpose. This is the context within which tentmakers do their best work for the kingdom of God.
“Marketplace Missions” is one of the most effective ministry models commonly used by overseas missionaries in a foreign country on a long-term assignment. They use their trade or profession as a medical doctor, nurse, auto mechanic, teacher, etc, as a means of interacting with the people and driving down deep into their culture.
I want to encourage you today to see your job as a God-given opportunity to be on-mission with Jesus. Your job is your mission field. It is “Marketplace Missions.”
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 