Employment Opportunities in the Kingdom of Heaven
You've heard the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. You're ready to put your faith to work by seeking His Kingdom above everything else. You've taken that bold, brave step to leave the Matrix. You've quit your job, sold all those unneeded possessions, and are starting over as a citizen of Heaven. So how do you go forth into God's vineyard offering your help to those in need?
In the Kingdom of Heaven, we make a covenant with God. He supplies our material needs and we make the seeking of His Kingdom our top priority. As far as work goes, we don't work for the food that perishes. That's being supplied. We work for the food that endures to eternal life. And where do we obtain this work? According to John 6:27, the Son of Man gives it to us.
There are fields ripe for harvest, full of lost and hurting people in need of being rescued from the domain of darkness. They are leading lives of quiet desperation. If they knew a better way to live, they might consider it. That's where we come in.
But, alas, our neighbors are worried about who will win the next election. They are considering taking on a second job because they are so far behind in their bills. To them, living under the liberty of Christ is too far removed from the hard realities that press upon them. Their mind is on earthly things. The heavenly things will have to wait.
Take my ambitious friend in the ministry, Leonard. I was surprised to discover he had given up the pulpit and was practicing medicine. I asked why he made the change. He said, "I took up the practice of medicine because I discovered that people will pay more money to care for their bodies than to care for their souls."
Just recently, I found out my friend gave up medicine and became a lawyer. Perplexed, I asked for a reason. He replied, "I took up the practice of law because I discovered that people will pay a lot more money to get their own way, rather than to care for either their soul or their body."
. . . One day a plumber came to Leonard's house and fixed his sink. He handed him a bill for $200 for a half-hour's work. My friend the lawyer was outraged. He said, "That's $400 an hour. Hey, that's more than I make." The plumber replied, "I know, I used to be a lawyer."
This story about the foolishness of craving more and more wealth is fictional, but many people are caught up in the deceitfulness of riches.
The following stories of men and women pursuing the Kingdom are real. Some of these stories are current and some are from the past, but the principles hold true.
Working for Love, Not Money:
How, then, do we labor? Kingdom citizens do not work at 9 to 5 jobs, nor do we contract with businesses or corporations for our labor. When we work, it is with individuals. And the object of our work is to show them God's love - not to make money.
Our labor is to seek the Kingdom of Heaven. This is our first priority. "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." John 6:27
Working offers an opportunity to help someone in need and by our kindness sometimes their heart softens toward the Gospel of the Kingdom.
We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, go to the prisoners, and preach the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 25) Not all of us pull out the Bible and stand on a street corner delivering a message. But we can powerfully preach the gospel by our lives. As we labor in the Lord's vineyard, we seek opportunities to offer help, encouragement, and love to those we come in contact with. You need only step out your door to find people hurting and in need of God's love.
Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interest in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
People in the world work for money. They usually are paid with a salary or an hourly wage. It is an exchange of work for money. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, we offer our help, whether or not we receive any financial reimbursement.
In the early church, most work was closed to Christ's followers because they would not pay homage to Caesar. The work they did was manual labor, typically reserved for slaves.
Today, the work open to us is that which does not require licenses, degrees, or special training. Nor are we pressed to work long hours, like the people of the world. Our needs are few. We have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of God's creation and to have heart-to-heart talks with the people we are helping.
Our dwellings are simple. Food and clothing are provided without our thinking much about it. And we are working to serve others, not to enrich our own coffers. Nor do we depend solely on any funds we might receive when we labor. God faithfully provides for our essentials in many different and unexpected ways. Our labor provides a practical example of how we help others, but we remain dependent on God's provision.
Real People Doing Real Work in the Kingdom of Heaven
Some of our Kingdom citizens are finding ways to evangelize using the Internet, spreading the Word through websites, blogs and videos. They may also work one-on-one serving people out in the Lord's vineyard. Here's some examples of real people who have exited the Matrix and are working in the Kingdom of Heaven:
Cleansing Souls
Fred and his wife have a marriage counseling ministry coupled with their YouTube channel. Fred also cleans carpets part-time with his growing sons. As he finishes his work, his clients often chat with him about whatever is on their mind. He's always looking and praying for an opportunity to talk about the freedom of living under God's rule. He carries pamphlets on the Kingdom of Heaven to hand out to those who are interested.
Fred calls his work "underground evangelism." The homeowner thinks they are getting their carpet cleaned. But in reality, it is an opportunity to cleanse their soul.
True Bread of Heaven
Ken's work as a finance manager put men and women into usury when they bought a new car. "I was good at it. I was ruthless and I made a lot of money." But the Lord started to convict Ken that this work could not be honoring God. One day he brought home a big, ugly, fire engine red commercial bread mixer. This heavy monster stood on the floor and held 20 gallons of bread dough. He didn't know what to do with it at the time, but God was starting to put the pieces together for him. His wife had a dream that they were selling bread at a "wide spot in the road" and eventually that dream became reality.
After a few false starts, Ken quit the financing business for good. Today Ken, his wife, and three boys have a bread-making ministry. They bake healthy, multi-grain breads and accept donations for them from their pickup at the "wide spot in the road." It can be exhausting work, but as Ken says, "It is a wonderful peace to be tired in Him."
What about permits and licenses? Ken's family works solely under the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven. They move their portable bakery down the road every few months, so they maintain their status as pilgrims and strangers, not residents. If they are asked to leave a particular spot, they pack up and go.
The Whites also bake bread early in the morning and then go out into the city streets offering their homemade loaves. Along with their bread, they distribute brochures on the true Bread of Heaven. They seek out the poor and homeless to give the bread as a gift. And they also have regular bread customers who make donations.
Mowing Lawns
Charlie worked with mental patients in the prison system. Though he considered himself a Christian, God finally started convicting him that his work was incompatible with Christ's teachings. Charlie said, "I am not treating people the way I would like to be treated, and I am overcoming evil with evil."
He finally realized prison work was not for him. He had to pay off about five thousand dollars of credit card debt and then he quit his job. He began mowing lawns and likes the pleasant work.
He and a friend go to subdivisions where the houses have a simple, flat front lawn. They don't do landscaping, lawn edging, or anything specialized. They just mow the lawn. Almost inevitably when they begin mowing one lawn, someone from a neighboring house wants them to mow theirs. All work is done on a cash donation basis.
Peter also mows lawns, specializing in helping widows. He plants gardens for them and does small household repairs. He enjoys talking with them about the Kingdom of Heaven and the love, joy and peace of being one of God's dependents.
He doesn't ask for money, but does accept donations. Some of the widows can't pay him cash, but they give him a home-cooked dinner at the end of the day, with good fellowship. There's no comparison between these lively dinner discussions and sitting on a hard church pew taking communion, all in a row like robots.
"He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed." Proverbs 19:17
How is this different from a secular business? Let's say you have been regularly mowing someone's lawn and they have been giving you donations. Then they tell you not to mow next week because they are having financial problems, but you do it anyway. And you do it for free. This usually shocks someone in the world system.
In the culture that surrounds us, when someone labors, they expect to be paid. When we offer our services, not demanding payment, it surprises them. Why would we work for love and not money? They often want to know more. This opens the door for us to talk about Kingdom living.
Most people want to give us a donation, even though we don't ask for or expect it. "For the worker is worthy of his wages" Luke 10:7.
Kingdom Commerce vs World Commerce
Here's another difference between Kingdom commerce and the world's commerce. If someone employed in the world system needs a new lawnmower, they save for it or put it on a credit card and pay for it in the months ahead. Either way, it takes many hours of labor to buy the lawnmower.
In Kingdom commerce, Peter's lawnmower breaks down and he needs to replace it. One of the widows realizes she has a brand new lawnmower sitting in her basement. "My son in Jersey sent it to me. I've never used it. You take it." And Peter is off to mow the next lawn with hardly a delay.
Peter doesn't even use a car. He travels around his local neighborhood on a bicycle with a cargo trailer attached that carries his lawnmower and tools. He doesn't have to buy many things, but finds that God supplies his needs in amazing and unusual ways. A van, lawnmower, garden tools and more items have been given to him through God's network. It's not unusual for him to have someone, even a stranger, come up to him and say, "The Lord told me you had need of this weed cutter."
Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
Families Living By Faith
If you think you can't live by faith, because you have a family to support, look at Marc. He and his wife are raising nine children under the Kingdom of Heaven. He works part-time repairing and restoring old barns and God is faithful in meeting his family's needs.
Jim also has a young family and does general handyman work. When he first started out, he was new to the area and inexperienced. His first job was to move a refrigerator across town.
That first summer as a handyman he kept busy doing small plumbing jobs and repairing and replacing screen doors and windows. He bought a tool at the hardware store that simplified the task. By fall, he was cleaning gutters, using a couple specialized tools.
As with all our Kingdom work, the work itself is a way to get us in the door so we can show them God's love and, hopefully, teach them a little bit about the Kingdom of Heaven.
If you are university educated, you may be snickering at the work we do in the Kingdom of Heaven. Lawn-mowing? That's what I did in high school? Handyman? Don't you have any work that requires a brain?
It is true that the Kingdom work is humbling, low status work. But it is honest work. And, most importantly, it gives us an opening to infiltrate those in the Matrix and show them how to live in true liberty.
This is the end of Part 1. If you want to hear more stories of real people turning their backs on the world system and living under the care and protection of our Father, check out Part 2 of Employment Opportunities in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Wake up and repent. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
