Ministry vs. Occupation: What is more important?

What do you think as a Christians more important is it the ministry or the occupation? Here are is one of a distorted belief of Pastor Nick that he believed and he was taught it and He ignorantly believed it. If you do not have a proper biblical, healthy Mind-skin regarding this things then everything you do in life will be affected. Your Mind-ski must be sourced in the Word of God.

Does Ministry is more important than your occupation?

I remembered when I was 15 years old and sitting in a meeting where the preacher was telling a story of how he was working and making lots of money in his business and how it was multiplying but then he gave it all up and now he was doing something more important which was preaching. He ended his message by challenging everyone to do the Lord's work and by that he primarily meant preaching and working in a local church. That day really left me in pieces. I know there are people whom God has called to do that because up till that time they were just doing whatever their hands found to do, until they suddenly discovered their God given assignment, but this was not that case. He was pushing the fact which left people feeling that if they are not preaching and doing something in a local church, they were second class citizen.

Some people have traveled around the world and have met people who consistently have thought of themselves as second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. Often they view their occupations as being spiritually fruitless and frustrating. I cannot emphasize too strongly that such thinking is deplorable, because it is unbiblical. When somebody preaches, we call them 'Man of God', or 'Woman of God'. If someone owns a business, well is he not a man of God too? Perhaps we just look at them as an ATM, someone who just dispenses money so that the 'Man of God'—those involved in 'full time' ministry work like pastor, evangelists—can do real work. This is so demeaning and painful.

I do not think it is a far stretch for me to say that many Christians have the impression that church workers especially evangelists, missionaries, pastors, priests, ministers and the like — have a higher calling than other workers. While there is little in the Bible to support this impression, the 'religious' — as pastor, priest, nun, etc. — is widely considered holier than the ordinary life. Regrettably, this distortion remains influential in churches of all traditions, even though in our normal conversations we affirm the equal value of the work of those outside religious institutions. In the Bible, God calls individuals both to church-related and non-church-related work.

For example, we read in Exodus that Aaron and his family were called to work in the Tabernacle, a type of a church in the Old Testament,

Exodus 28:1

Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priests, Aaron and Aaron's sons: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

Then we have people like Simon and Andrew personally called by Jesus,

Mark 1:16-17

16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

We also have those who were not called to religious work as we would use the term; people like Moses and Joshua were both primarily military or political leaders, not cultic or religious leaders. They were both exceptionally close to God, but that did not make them religious leaders. Rather it showed that God calls people from all walks of life. We had Nehemiah who was a cupbearer to the king, we had Joseph who worked in the government of Egypt. We had Solomon who was a king, an inventor, a writer, a poet, etc. God calls people in different walks of life, including business. I want to affirm you by saying that non-church work like running a business is as much 'full-time Christian service' as church work. We are commanded in Colossians 3:23, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”