I hope you can differentiate between pure commerce and production. Wheat, cows, sheep, tents, and fish can be sold. This is not the commerce we are talking about. The so-called commerce in the world means that today I buy one hundred sacks of flour from another person. I store them until the price goes up and then I sell them. Or I buy fifty tins of oil and put them away until the price goes up and then sell them. The wheat or oil has not increased its volume because of me. The oil has not increased, neither has the wheat. But my money has increased. I have not increased the goods of the world, yet my wealth has increased. This is a shameful thing. This is one thing that believers should try to avoid at all cost.
It is all right to buy and sell for the sake of taking care of our production. But it is wrong to buy and sell for the sake of buying and selling. It is right for a brother to sell products from his farm. But it is wrong for the same brother to buy rice and then sell it again. Although both are selling, the principles are altogether different. If a brother buys ten tents and resells them, he does not have the same occupation as Paul’s. If I make tents at night and then sell them in the morning, I have the same occupation as Paul’s. The two are absolutely different. If you labor on something and then sell what you have labored on, this is something that can be blessed by God. But if you buy something and then sell it, hoping in your heart that you will make money in the process, you are engaging in the lowest occupation, not only from a Christian’s point of view, but also from a Gentile’s as well.
No brother engaging in pure commerce can be a responsible brother, for such a person can never be fully delivered from money. Our way is becoming clearer and clearer. God’s children must be fully delivered from the power of mammon. This is the only way for them to serve God and for the church to have a way to go on.
Both shepherds and farmers are producers. Merchants belong to another category. There is a third kind of people who come in between these two. They are workers, like doctors and teachers, who work with their skills. These are also good occupations according to the Bible. Although they are not producing anything, they are not extorting anything from others either. They do not receive anything from nature, but they do not take anything from people either. They maintain their livelihood by utilizing their own contribution of time, energy, and mental power. The workman is worthy of his pay. This is one scriptural occupation that is acceptable to God. We can say that the highest occupation is the occupation which produces. The second highest is the occupation that works with skills and that receives rewards by contributing intellectual or physical strength.
The producer takes from nature and receives nothing from men. The worker takes nothing from nature and receives nothing from men. The merchant receives nothing from nature but takes things from men. These are three totally different kinds of occupations. The producer obtains something from nature while taking nothing from men. This is the highest occupation in the Bible. The worker puts in his energy, whether mental or physical. He puts in his time and energy to earn what he deserves. He does not make others poorer. Others pay him for the service he renders, and the interests of both parties balance out each other. This is an occupation acceptable to God. The merchant who deals with pure commerce receives nothing from nature but receives something from men. He has no other motive than to make money. This is the lowest occupation according to the Bible.
Today the way is clear, and the principle is also clear. We hope that all the brothers would try to have a turn in their occupations.