ben_hartnett (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ben_hartnett) wrote,@ 2007-04-16 13:31:00 |
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Principles of Payment
These are general principles but I've applied them to clients and artists (a few paragraphs down, anyway!).
There's a strange attitude (one of many, I guess) found in a lot of Christians; sometimes including myself. It's the expectation that a fellow Christian will do work for us for little or no pay. I'm not talking about when someone freely offers to do something, but when it's expected of them.
Maybe something in us says that, since a Christian is working 'for family' and 'for the Lord', money shouldn't be an issue. After all, it would be greedy and selfish to take money off the ones they're supposed to be serving! It's okay for me to take their time and effort, but not for them to be fairly paid.
Missionaries and pastors can suffer most, perhaps because they're 'serving' all the time. For them to get money for serving would surely defeat the purpose by making it a job (or even an act of greed). That's why everyone else is allowed to have a nice house and a new car (I'm not saying they can afford them, just that they're allowed to have them!), but if these people who serve us have anything more than a hovel and a beaten-up old Ford they're looked down on. I heard that the renowned D.L. Moody used to work flat-out all year doing so much more good than most, but was frowned on by those same people when he took some weeks off at the end of each year.
A 'just balance' (Proverbs 11:1) isn't being used in these situations. Aren't all Christians servants? They're certainly all human. Does a pastor (and his family) not need sleep, or fun, or time off, or food, or rent money? There are so many ways in which we think something is spiritual when God's standards are different, even opposite.
What does God say? More specifically, what does God say to the person requesting the work (I'll call them the 'client', for lack of a better word) and what does he say to the artist? The two aren't always the same. I don't think a client's instructions are for an artist to keep track of and enforce, and the artist's instructions aren't for the client to police either. Each is responsible to God for their own obedience.
Instructions for the client: Colossians 4:1 says “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven”. Luke 10:7 says, in reference to the apostles, “...for the labourer is worthy of his hire”. 1 Timothy 5:18 says “...thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, the labourer is worthy of his reward”. None of these verses support the idea that someone should be expected to work for nothing, though they're free to offer that service if it seems good to them.
It may be that someone would use this verse: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17)”. They may argue that doing free work for them is a good deed, therefore it'd be sin not to. There are many ways to look at this, but here's one: is it a good deed to encourage selfish manipulativeness? Maybe it's worth it for the good of those who'll use the end product. Whatever the situation, giving is up to the giver and is not to be demanded (though I suppose it could be humbly asked for) or coerced.
The client's instruction is to pay what's fair. Artists' financial sacrifices are between them and God. An artist may charge a fellow Christian full price for their services but afterward give money to a chosen cause. Even if they don't, we can keep this in mind (with great difficulty for some of us): “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth (Romans 14:4, talking about attitudes between Christians). Artists can certainly be selfish (sometimes I wonder if I can be anything else) but that's between them and God.
The client is to pay what is just and equal if at all possible, and not grudgingly. If the artist wants to work for little or nothing, that's the artist's choice.
If a client expects something for nothing, I'd personally rather not encourage that attitude (if a client is genuinely willing to pay but can't afford it, that's another matter of course).
Really, why would someone treat their fellow Christians as cheap or slave labour, even to the point of judging them as selfish and unspiritual when they don't comply? Why are family members, whether physical or spiritual, the people we're least willing to reward for effort?
In short, God's standards seem fairly clear: work is to be rewarded with fair pay. If an artist (or whoever) is willing and able to work for nothing, that's their call. God often seems to favour the practical rather than the 'poetic' in things like this.
Of course, if the artist needs a service, he or she should be willing to pay a fair price as well.
These are general principles but I've applied them to clients and artists (a few paragraphs down, anyway!).
There's a strange attitude (one of many, I guess) found in a lot of Christians; sometimes including myself. It's the expectation that a fellow Christian will do work for us for little or no pay. I'm not talking about when someone freely offers to do something, but when it's expected of them.
Maybe something in us says that, since a Christian is working 'for family' and 'for the Lord', money shouldn't be an issue. After all, it would be greedy and selfish to take money off the ones they're supposed to be serving! It's okay for me to take their time and effort, but not for them to be fairly paid.
Missionaries and pastors can suffer most, perhaps because they're 'serving' all the time. For them to get money for serving would surely defeat the purpose by making it a job (or even an act of greed). That's why everyone else is allowed to have a nice house and a new car (I'm not saying they can afford them, just that they're allowed to have them!), but if these people who serve us have anything more than a hovel and a beaten-up old Ford they're looked down on. I heard that the renowned D.L. Moody used to work flat-out all year doing so much more good than most, but was frowned on by those same people when he took some weeks off at the end of each year.
A 'just balance' (Proverbs 11:1) isn't being used in these situations. Aren't all Christians servants? They're certainly all human. Does a pastor (and his family) not need sleep, or fun, or time off, or food, or rent money? There are so many ways in which we think something is spiritual when God's standards are different, even opposite.
What does God say? More specifically, what does God say to the person requesting the work (I'll call them the 'client', for lack of a better word) and what does he say to the artist? The two aren't always the same. I don't think a client's instructions are for an artist to keep track of and enforce, and the artist's instructions aren't for the client to police either. Each is responsible to God for their own obedience.
Instructions for the client: Colossians 4:1 says “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven”. Luke 10:7 says, in reference to the apostles, “...for the labourer is worthy of his hire”. 1 Timothy 5:18 says “...thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, the labourer is worthy of his reward”. None of these verses support the idea that someone should be expected to work for nothing, though they're free to offer that service if it seems good to them.
It may be that someone would use this verse: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17)”. They may argue that doing free work for them is a good deed, therefore it'd be sin not to. There are many ways to look at this, but here's one: is it a good deed to encourage selfish manipulativeness? Maybe it's worth it for the good of those who'll use the end product. Whatever the situation, giving is up to the giver and is not to be demanded (though I suppose it could be humbly asked for) or coerced.
The client's instruction is to pay what's fair. Artists' financial sacrifices are between them and God. An artist may charge a fellow Christian full price for their services but afterward give money to a chosen cause. Even if they don't, we can keep this in mind (with great difficulty for some of us): “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth (Romans 14:4, talking about attitudes between Christians). Artists can certainly be selfish (sometimes I wonder if I can be anything else) but that's between them and God.
The client is to pay what is just and equal if at all possible, and not grudgingly. If the artist wants to work for little or nothing, that's the artist's choice.
If a client expects something for nothing, I'd personally rather not encourage that attitude (if a client is genuinely willing to pay but can't afford it, that's another matter of course).
Really, why would someone treat their fellow Christians as cheap or slave labour, even to the point of judging them as selfish and unspiritual when they don't comply? Why are family members, whether physical or spiritual, the people we're least willing to reward for effort?
In short, God's standards seem fairly clear: work is to be rewarded with fair pay. If an artist (or whoever) is willing and able to work for nothing, that's their call. God often seems to favour the practical rather than the 'poetic' in things like this.
Of course, if the artist needs a service, he or she should be willing to pay a fair price as well.
