In the Gospels we find that the Lord never once called an unemployed person to be His apostle. Peter, Andrew, James, John and Matthew (whose 'calls' alone are described in the Gospels) were all working at their earthly occupations when the Lord called them. They left their profitable earthly jobs, when the Lord called them to follow Him. There are three reasons why the Lord called only those who were working in a secular profession:

1. We have to prove our faithfulness in handling money in the secular world before God can give us a spiritual ministry. And we can prove our faithfulness with money only when we have earned that money ourselves. Money that we have received as a gift, can easily be given to others or to the Lord's work because we don't feel the pinch ourselves. Such giving doesn't prove our generosity at all, because it is someone else's hard-earned money that we are giving away!! It is when we learn to give money that we have worked hard to earn ourselves that we can prove our generosity.

2. God governs the world on the principle of sacrifice - as we see from Calvary's cross. So there must always be a sacrifice in our going out to serve the Lord. Otherwise we cannot be servants of the Lord. If we gain financially by our going out to serve the Lord, or if we earn more than those we serve, or if we live at a higher standard than those we serve, through the offerings that they give us, then our so-called "godliness" has become a means of profit for us and not loss and sacrifice. Then we are like the money-changers in the temple whom Jesus drove out. Jesus will drive us out too.

3. The people to whom we minister God's Word in the church are all working in secular professions. If we ourselves have had no experience in the struggles and difficulties that there are in a secular job, we will only be able to preach theories to our flock, and not practical truths that work in the secular world. We have to preach from our experience, not from our knowledge.

For these three reasons, Jesus chose apostles only from those who were already faithfully doing their secular jobs. He has not changed His mind in the 20th century. He chooses only such people to serve Him even today.

In 1 Cor.9:15-18 Paul tells us , how he considered it a privilege and an honour to support himself, while serving as an apostle of Christ. The Holy Spirit led Paul to serve the Lord like that, so as to expose the false preachers in his day - "to cut out the ground from under the feet of those who boasted that they were doing God's work in the same way" as Paul was (2 Cor.11:12 - Living).

Peter and John told the lame man in the temple that they had no silver or gold to give him (Acts 3:6). Even though the believers in those days gave so much of their money to these apostles (Acts 4:35), the apostles knew that such money was given for distribution to the poor. So nothing stuck to their hands, even when so much money passed through their hands. Those apostles refused to receive any payment for their services! Thus, through being faithful with money, they retained the anointing of God upon their lives until the end, unlike many in these days, who started well, but who have ended up like Judas Iscariot.

The New Testament warns us of the ERROR of Balaam, the WAY of Balaam and the DOCTRINE of Balaam (Jude11; 2 Pet.2:15; Rev,.2:14). The example of Balaam who loved money and collected money from the rich, for his preaching, has been highlighted again and again in the New Testament, to warn us against falling into such a pitfall ourselves.

Godliness must never become a means of gain to any of us - either in terms of money, honour, profitable business- contacts or any other type of material gain. Genuine godliness will actually bring us loss of honour and money. Thus we pay a price for what we believe. Jesus lost both wealth and honour when He came to this earth. And if we follow Him, we will lose wealth and honour too. It is only people like Judas Iscariot who will make a profit through their spiritual contacts. If your version of "godliness" has brought you honour, wealth or financial profit, then you must be following Judas, and not Jesus. The real gain that godliness brings will always be spiritual.

God is looking for a generation of radical men and women who desire to please Him alone, and WHO WILL DEMONSTRATE TO THIS WORLD THAT ITS ENTIRE VALUE-SYSTEM IS TOTALLY WRONG AND THAT ALL THAT IS EARTHLY IS WORTHLESS UNLESS IT IS USED TO SERVE THE LAW OF LOVE.

Such people will show forth by the way they live, that money is not everything, education is not everything, comfortable living is not everything, worldly honour is not everything, etc., etc., Instead they will stand upright for the truth in an upside-down world, and show forth to the world that: GOD ALONE IS EVERYTHING. Will you be one such person?

May the Lord raise up many such men and women across the world.