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Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:1; Acts 20:34; 18:3; 1 Cor. 9:6-15; Phil. 4:13-19; 1 Tim. 5:17
The matter of being full time has been very much misunderstood for centuries. The common thought in Christianity is that being a preacher or a pastor is a kind of profession. You have to be hired, and people either pay you or they may fire you. According to the New Testament, however, to be a full-timer should not be to take a kind of profession.
Romans 12:1 says, “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.” Actually, for one to present his body to God is to go full time. If you do not go full time, how could your body be free to be presented to God as a living sacrifice? Our entire being is contained in our body, and our body is confined in our time. Therefore, the body is the center of these two things, the center of our being and the center of our time. The being is what we are, and the time is where we exist. We can change the places where we live, but we cannot move ourselves out of time. We always remain in time. To present our body to God means that we give ourselves to God. This is to be full time. We Christians should all be full-timers. We have to give ourselves to Him. We do not give ourselves to anything else, only to our saving God.
Consider those approximately eight thousand saints in Jerusalem who were scattered. Acts 8:1 says that except for the apostles, all of the disciples were scattered. They went out. Were they not full-timers? They were scattered not to do a job, but Acts tells us that they were scattered to spread the gospel (v. 4). I believe that their number was at least eight thousand. One day three thousand were saved (2:41), and another day, five thousand (4:4). They all were scattered to preach the gospel. What were they? They all were full-timers. They were scattered throughout all of Judea, and they also reached Samaria. That was a fulfillment of the Lord’s word in Acts 1:8: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria.” This was accomplished not through preachers or apostles but through the scattered full-timers.
Christianity considers that Paul was a preacher, but Acts 18:3 tells us that he was in a trade, making tents. Paul went purposely to stay with his co-workers, Priscilla and Aquila, because they were in the same trade. Probably they made tents together. Paul not only made money to support himself; he also made money to support his co-workers (20:34).
First Corinthians 9:14 tells us that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. Fifty years ago in Chefoo, we began to have the church life without any hired preacher. A friend of mine, who was a generation older than I and highly educated, argued. He said, “What’s wrong for a person to be paid as a preacher? The Bible says whoever preaches the gospel lives from the gospel.” Apparently his word was right. But Paul does not say that the preacher of the gospel is paid by somebody. He says that he lives from the gospel. Because no one supported Paul, however, he had to make tents. The church in Corinth, whom he served, thought he took advantage of them, that he was a person of guile (2 Cor. 12:16 and footnote 2, Recovery Version). Thus, he did not use his right to live from the gospel with the saints in Corinth. He preached the gospel yet lived on his tentmaking.
Paul illustrated his right to live from the gospel in several ways. He likened his apostolic ministry to that of a soldier, a farmer, a shepherd, an ox on a threshing field, and a priest serving God by offering sacrifices for the people (1 Cor. 9:7-15). He illustrated in these many ways to vindicate himself, proving that he did have the right to live from the gospel. But due to the wrong environment in Corinth, he would not use that right.
Another aspect of being full time is shown in Philippians. In Philippians 4:13 Paul says, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” Probably we have never related this verse to being full time. To be a job-dropping full-timer is not a small thing. In ourselves we cannot do it. Philippians 4:13 is related to Paul’s being such a full-timer. No one can do it except those who do it in the One who empowers them. We all need such a Christ. If you are thinking of taking the full-time way, you must realize that it is only possible for you to do it in Christ who empowers you. Do not think, “Well, it might be all right because in my locality the church has over one hundred fifty people. Surely they can support me.” To think this way is wrong. This is the same as being hired by your church. You should not consider in this way. When all those thousands of scattered saints from Jerusalem went to Samaria, how could the Samaritans support them? How could they get a job? Who supported them? They must have lived from the gospel. They did this in the One who empowered them.
The highest example of being full time is the Lord Jesus. Up to the age of thirty He made a living by being a carpenter. In all those years He had a job, but then He came out at age of thirty to serve God with His full time. Nobody paid Him or hired Him.
He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil concerning His living (Matt. 4:1-4). The Spirit led Him into this temptation. He did not enter into temptation by doing something wrong, like we sometimes have done. Many times we have gotten into temptation because of our mistakes, but the Lord Jesus was brought into that temptation by the Spirit. This temptation was a test to prove that He was qualified to be the King for the kingdom of the heavens.
The Lord’s fasting was also the Spirit’s leading, and His fasting led Him into a position to be tested. For forty days He did not eat. Then He became hungry. At this point the devil tempted Him to perform a miracle to make the stones become loaves of bread (v. 3) to prove that He was the Son of God, that God was really with Him. But the Lord Jesus would not do it.
When you go full time, sometimes you also will be led by the Spirit into hunger, with nothing to eat and nothing to live on. At that time you will be tempted by the devil, who would say to you, “You are a servant of God. Surely you can pray that God would do something as a miracle for you.” Eating is always a trap used by the devil to snare man. The Lord Jesus, humanly speaking, was mainly supported by His followers who were women. These women not only supported Him, but they also supported His other followers (Luke 8:2-3). Peter, James, and John all gave up their fishing occupations and became “crazy” in following Jesus. They traveled around, going through the villages with no certain place to stay and no assurance of something to eat.
They just liked to be with this person. The Lord was like a magnet who drew and attracted them to Himself. The Lord said that “the foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20). Even though He did not have a resting place, the disciples just wanted to be with Him where He was. Their fortune was just to be with Him without any concern for their living.
The job-dropping full-timers should be honest with their parents. Tell them that you are not sure where your support will come from. Tell them you feel that the Lord wants you to go full time and that you will follow Jesus and serve Him. The husbands who are burdened to be full time also have to fellowship with their wives honestly. They should not assure them with promises of security. You cannot assure your wife with any security. All you can do is ask her to go the full-time way with you.
Does this kind of talk disappoint you? If so, then you should go back to your job. Thousands of people got helped, healed, and saved by the Lord, but eventually only a hundred and twenty remained with Him. At that time the Jewish people were threatening all the followers of Jesus, but these hundred and twenty were not afraid of this kind of threatening. For ten days they did nothing but pray. You may wonder how they lived, but they just lived. The Bible is a wonderful book. It does not tell us how these people were supported, how they survived. Yet they survived. Would you still take this way? There is no promise that anyone will support you. No one would beg you or put you on the payroll. Just do it in Him who empowers you.
When I became a full-timer, no one hired me. The church was small and could not support me. Mainly it was only my brother and I who supported the church because only we made good salaries. That was over fifty years ago, when the world’s financial situation was very poor. The living standard was very low, and it was hard to make money. A teacher in high school could only make about twelve to fifteen dollars a month, which was only good for two or three persons to live on. It was hard for every family to have any savings. I realized this, and others reminded me that it was mainly only my brother and I who supported the church. I was also reminded by some that if I gave up my job, I would need somebody to support me. Some said, “You are now supporting the church. When you become one who is supported, who will support you?” I did not know, but I made a resolution to live in a very simple way. As long as I could live, I did not care. That was my intention. I was burdened to give up my job just to preach Jesus.
In case you still could not make a living, you can “make tents”; you have a good example in Paul. We may be strange and peculiar persons whom others cannot understand. They will say, “Is this not your job?” No, it is not. Paul made tents, and he even had co-workers, Priscilla and Aquila, working in the same trade. The church in Rome (Rom. 16:5) and in Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:19; cf. Acts 18:18-19, 26) met in their house. They were so much for the Lord’s interest, yet they still made tents.
Another verse concerning being full time is 1 Timothy 5:17: “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” Double honor means that they need double support. You have to support them, but it does not mean that you have to pay them. There is no word even as a hint in the New Testament telling us that the church paid somebody to be their preacher or to be their elder. Yet Paul did tell us there were elders who went full time and needed others to support them.
The last part of this verse says, “Especially those who labor in word and teaching.” To prepare the messages for all the meetings surely needs an elder’s full time. If you still have a job, you will not be able to labor so well in your leisure time, after office hours, or on weekends. You need to be full time to labor in the word. Paul says that the ones who labor in the word and teaching are worth even more than double honor. The ones who take the lead well are worthy of double honor, and the ones who are laboring in the word and teaching are worthy of more than double honor. Do not consider being full time as a profession. Do not consider yourself as a preacher whom the church has to pay. Just consider going this way by being led of the Lord.
In principle, we have to realize that every saved one should be a full-timer. This is why Paul has the ground to charge us to present our bodies to God. Every saved one must be a full-timer, presenting his body to God. To present your body actually means to present yourself. Sometimes you may say that your body is here but your being is somewhere else. Actually, your being always goes with your body. Where your body goes, your being goes also. But you cannot say that where your being goes, your body also goes. Thus, to present your body is just to present yourself to God. As a saved one, you have to present yourself to God. Having presented yourself to God, you will be led by the Lord to either do a job to make money or preach the gospel without making any money. Whether you do a job or preach the gospel depends upon the Lord’s leading.
Today, however, due to our human concept, we call the full-timers the ones who have given up their jobs to preach the gospel, but we do not consider those who do a job as full-timers. Actually, all those who do a job should also be full-timers. Some brothers doing a job are really not full-timers. They are full-timers for themselves; they are not full-timers for God.
Sometimes when such a one who makes a lot of money is happy with God, with the church, and with the elders, he would decide to write a check. First, he has the thought to write a check for ten thousand dollars. Then he says to himself, “Wait a minute. How could the church need ten thousand dollars? It’s too much. It’s foolish. This is not the way to manage the finances, so I’d better write a check for five thousand dollars.” When his wife finds out that he is giving the church five thousand dollars, she says, “The church doesn’t need that much. One thousand is good enough.” Then the check is written, and they begin to eat their lunch. During lunch they have a further talk. The wife asks how much they have in the checking account. When the husband tells her that they have a lot in savings bonds, she will not agree with his selling the savings bonds. When the husband tells her that there is only twelve hundred dollars in the checking account, she says, “Could you write a check for one thousand out of twelve hundred? Don’t you know that Mark, our second boy, needs five hundred dollars to pay for his tuition tomorrow?” Then the husband replies, “If that is the case, we’d better write a check for five hundred and cancel the other one.” Finally, they both agree to give the church five hundred dollars.
Such a money maker surely is not a full-timer for God. Through church history and even among us we have seen some, although not too many, real full-timers who made money for God. They made ten thousand, yet they spent only two thousand for their living and gave the rest to the Lord. Thus, they also were full-timers.
Every saint should be a full-timer. Every sister who is a housewife should also be a full-timer. We have a reputation with most Christians that we are people who love the Lord. Many married sisters pretend and even declare that they love the Lord. Eventually, it becomes manifest that what they really love is their children. They do not even love their husbands so much as their children. Such a sister who declares that she loves the Lord yet who really loves her children more is not a full-timer. If a sister is really a full-timer, whether her children live or are taken away by the Lord, it is the same. Hence, to be a full-timer is not an easy thing. You need to say, “I can do all things in Him who empowers me. Whether I have my husband and my children or I lose everyone, I can bear it in Him who empowers me. I am a full-timer.”
As the one who proposed to have five hundred full-timers per year in Taiwan, I am quite concerned that by this practice a lot will come in who are sloppy ones, idle ones, ones who just know how to eat but do not know how to work. I have seen some like this already. When you encourage all the saints to go full time, these ones will take the lead to say, “I will be a full-timer; wonderful! I don’t need to work. I don’t need to go to the office during certain hours. I can sleep as long as I want. No one bothers me and no one fires me, since no one hires me. Once I declare that I am full time and the church consents, then I am a full-timer for my whole life.” Do not assure these ones that the church will take care of them; otherwise, you will spoil them.
To be a full-timer means to be one who is absolute for the Lord. Your income may be five times what you need, yet you would spend only that one-fifth for your living and give the other four-fifths to the Lord. To talk about tithing as the Seventh-day Adventists practice is a shame. That is something from the Old Testament, something in the law. In the New Testament you should not present one-tenth but present your body, your entire being. This includes everything you are, everything you have, everything you can do, and everything you earn. It is not just one-tenth but ten-tenths.
We must teach this and promote this to the uttermost. Paul was such a person, and Aquila and Priscilla were such persons. They were for nothing else. They were just for the Lord. Whatever they had for their living was also for the Lord. If they did not take care of their living, they would die. If they died, they could not live for the Lord. Whatever they did, even making a living to keep themselves alive, was also for the Lord. They did nothing for themselves.
We must uplift the standard of the biblical truth concerning the matter of being full time. I hope that we all would be recovered in the understanding of such a truth. Do not think that this is a small matter. The Bible reveals some truths by plain words and other truths just by cases. None of the verses in the Scripture Reading use the word full-time, but all the cases are there. In all these cases there is the truth of all the saved ones needing to be absolute for God, to be full-timers, regardless of what they do.
