Supporting the Work of the Church

3 John 1:5-8 (ESV)
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, [6] who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. [7] For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. [8] Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
“Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.” It is not for everyone to be an evangelist, a theological expert, or a pastor. Everyone in the body of Christ has their own gifts their own place. For some being a good Christian is being a good wife, husband, father, mother, it is doing a good job where you are at, doing an honest day’s work. Perhaps you opportunities are given at work to talk to you neighbors about Christ, perhaps not. But we all have the duty to support the work of the church, and by supporting the work of those who do work in a more direct way for the church, we become fellow workers with them.
Whenever there is a new member in your church that is your work. This is why the church has the office of ministry, this is why Christians call someone to be their pastor, and support and pay him. So that he has time to do what there otherwise would be no time for. Those who support the work of the church deserve honor and respect just as much as those who are elders in the church. We become partners in the missionary work of the church, not by “going on mission” which is so often code for vacation to paint a building or something. No we support the work by sending missionaries, providing for them so they can be about the work of a pastor establishing a congregation, baptizing and teaching, teaching and baptizing, over a long period of time, time enough to do lasting work.
So it is also with the work of our local congregation. The pastor can’t do what he does without your help. If it wasn’t for the existence of faithful Christians supporting the work of the pastor, the work would never get done.