R.C. Sproul

But let's look at this illustration.

Does a lumberjack do a service for mankind?

You know, in a real sense, we wouldn't be able to read the Bible if it weren't for lumberjacks because they cut down the trees, the trees are turned to pulp and so on, pulp into paper, paper into books and so on.

So that in the whole complex of life on this planet, the tending of trees, the cutting of trees is all part of the flow of necessary goods and services that benefit mankind.

And so a person doesn't have to be a preacher to contribute to the kingdom of God.

A lumberjack can do that as well.

A taxi driver gives a service to people.

people who wait on tables, not only in the church but in the world, serve the general welfare of the human race.

Now a few years ago I saw a television program where a man had been interviewed who had established a lucrative business in prostitution with a famous house of prostitution in the state of Nevada.

And they interviewed this man and they asked him, to what do you owe your success and your prosperity?

And he answered without flinching, through the providence of God.

God has blessed my business because I made a bargain with God before I entered into this enterprise and I said, God, if you will bless my business and cause it to prosper,

then I will donate such and such a percentage of my profits back to the church."

And he had the audacity to say on national television that God was blessing his business.

But he had entered into a vocation that God prohibits.

and not only was he being disobedient at that point with his life, but he was doubling the sin, adding injury to insult by slandering the deity as being the one who called him to this enterprise.

So when we're considering vocations, when we're considering career paths, the first thing we have to ask is, is this particular function

something that God allows, number one?

And number two, is it something that really contributes to the general good of people?

And I think those questions are extremely important when we're asking the question, what is the will of God for my life?