What Kind Of Tent Maker Was Paul?

Introduction

Well, I have a few questions for you. By show of hands, how many of you have gone camping before? All right. Now, by a show of hands, who have gone really gone camping? I’m not talking about an RV with an air conditioner and a memory foam mattress. I mean really camping. All right. Third and last question, I’ll let you off the hook. How many of you enjoyed it? Enjoyed roughing it out into nature, taking your life into your own hands. Wondering what every little snap of a twig, what dangerous animal was about to tear its way through your tent and then through your throat. Living without all of the modern conveniences, no air conditioning, no restroom, all of those things.

Well, I take that back. He believed that we could go anywhere in the world as long as we could be back home by bedtime. His one exception to that was camping. We would go camping. And usually what I call rustic camping, we would have a tent.

I can still remember, I can picture that orange, bright orange tent that we had. I can remember sleeping in it when it was cold, sleeping in that tent when it was so hot. Sleeping when it rained. And as a child, not being able to resist the temptation to reach up and to touch the top of that tent that now let the water. I don’t know the science of that, but now it became a flood into that tent just because I touched the top of that tent. Like I said, I don’t know about tents. I know that tents play a part in the biblical narrative. In the Old Testament, tents were pretty prominent, weren’t they? Many of the ancient people, including many of the Israelites for a time, were a nomadic people.

And being a nomad, a tent would come in handy. You could set that tent up and move and set that tent up. In fact, we remember, as biblical historians, don’t we, that the first enclosed place of worship to God was a tent. The word tabernacle just simply means a tent.

Tents were still a part of that first century world, weren’t they? And I know that largely because of one New Testament character, don’t I? The Apostle Paul.

I might get a couple responses. Some might say, well, he was an apostle or a preacher of the gospel. Someone else might say, but yes, at least on the side, he made tents, didn’t he?

I want to ask and answer what at first may be a curious question to you this morning. And that is, what kind of tent maker was Paul? Now that’s a curious question because, again, we think of the idea of Paul being a tent maker as just a footnote in his story, don’t we? His story is the story of a preacher of the gospel as an apostle of Jesus Christ. The tent making thing was just a side note or a footnote in his grand story. But I think there’s a lot to learn in considering this question of what kind of tent maker was Paul. And what we’re really going to try to ask and answer is how can I glorify God in my life in the things that I do?

1. Paul Was a Good Tent Maker

That are more of a secular or earthly nature. And we’ll do that by examining the question: what kind of tent maker was Paul? I would first contend to you this morning that I would imagine that Paul was a good tent maker. Turn with me to Acts chapter 18. We’ll introduce the idea of him being a tent maker.

At least at times we know that Paul would provide for his own physical needs by the making of tents and the selling of those tents. In fact, he had that in common with the married couple in Acts chapter 18, where it says, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. And he came to them. So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked. For by occupation they were tent makers. And so again, for a portion of his life, at least, he worked at this secular occupation of making tents to support himself in the preaching of the gospel.

And what we know about the life of Paul, particularly what we know about the writings of Paul, I think we can assume that Paul would have been a good tent maker. Or at least, let’s word it this way at least he was the best he could be at it. Turn with me, if you will, to the book of Colossians, chapter 3. And I’ll tell you why I think he would have been good, or at least the best that he could be. This man who at times supported himself by the working of his own hands and making tents, said this about those who were to work in this secular world in Colossians chapter 3, in this context of teaching us how we should live in every relationship.

He speaks to fathers, he speaks to mothers, he speaks to husbands, he speaks to wives, he speaks to children. And now he’s going to speak to both master and slave. And notice what he says in Colossians 3, beginning in verse 22, he says, bond servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not to men. Now, Paul was speaking to bondservants or slaves there. We many times make the application, though, to anyone who would work on behalf of anyone else. And if those principles are thus applied, and Paul would apply this teaching to himself, can you answer the question, what kind of tent maker was Paul?

He was the type who would have done this work not just to please men, but to please God. And he would have done this work, as he said in verse 23, heartily as to the Lord. Now there’s an application for us. I believe the principle can be firmly established, not just from this passage, but from numerous biblical passages. That as a Christian, as a child of God, one who would wear the name of Christ, who would swear allegiance to his Father in heaven, who would seek to reflect in our lives the glory of God in Jesus Christ, that in every pursuit of our life, that we do our best.

That a Christian is going to be, a Christian man is going to be the best husband he can be. And the best father to his children that he can be. A Christian woman will be the best wife that she can be and the best mother. And all Christians will be the best children and the best parents. We will be the best neighbors. We will be the best citizens in our government. And I hope as I’m going through this list, that you’re thinking at least of passages in the New Testament that absolutely support that ideal. We’ll be the best neighbors, the best co-workers. We’ll be the best.

That every employer would want to have someone like you, hardworking, conscientious, honest. The concept that’s not my job. The mentality of they’re not paying me enough is not a part of the New Testament Christian’s vocabulary. And the mindset that I’m doing whatever I’m doing in whatever relationship in life, that I’m doing it for that other person in the other side of this relationship, and based upon what I view their value and their worth to be, then that’s how I’ll rise to that occasion. The child of God recognizes that’s not the principles by which we live, that we’re doing this ultimately to and for God. And so I’ll be the best spouse I will be, not because my spouse is equally great, but because I am a child of God.

I’ll be the best parent that I’ll be because I’m a child of God. I will diligently give my best at a citizen of this government, as a neighbor in my neighborhood, and as an employee or employer on the job, because God is my master.

2. Tent Making as a Blessing From God

But I think the teaching and the writings of Paul teach us that he was happy to do so. Paul would have approached tent making and the ability and the opportunity that God gave him to make those tents as a blessing from God. Look in the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, what he has to say about this. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul recognized that this was a blessing that he had to be able to provide for his own needs and not to be a burden to others. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and in verse 9, in setting an example to some of these Christians who were shirking their responsibility in this area, he says in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 9, for you remember, brethren, our labor and toil.

For laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preach to you the gospel of God. Now, when he says our labor and toil, in this verse at least, he’s not talking about my labor and toil and preaching the gospel. In this context, he’s talking about my labor and toil as a tent maker to support myself to preach the gospel so that I would not be a burden to someone else. Paul viewed that as a blessing. The blessing to be able to work with his hands and to provide for his own needs and his own necessities. He also viewed this as a blessing, to be able to make this income so that he could not only support himself, but to be able to give to others.

In Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul attributes a saying to Jesus when he says it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Notice the context. Turn over to Acts chapter 20. The context in which he quotes our Savior, it’s more blessed to give than to receive, is in the context of him recognizing the blessing that he had to be able to work and to support himself and to help others. Acts chapter 20, verse 33, beginning, he says, I’ve coveted. I’ve coveted no one silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who are with me. I’ve shown you in every way by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of our Lord Jesus, that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The point I want to recognize from this is that we have been given by God the opportunity and the blessing to be able to go to work to make an income so that we can take care of ourselves, and so, don’t forget this aspect of it, and so that we might be a blessing to others.

And I think the lesson we can learn from that is that we need to begin to view the things of this life as blessings. Instead of always trying to find a source for complaint, try, at least try, to find in everything a source of rejoicing. Instead of getting mad at that alarm clock that goes off way too early on a Monday morning. Be thankful that you have the health and the privilege and the opportunity to have a job to go to. A job that millions across this world would give anything to be able to wake up early in the morning and go to. And apply that to almost every avenue of this life. Of things that we might find if we look for them, a way to complain.

We can also, if we’ll look for them, find an opportunity to rejoice. Turn with me in the Old Testament to the book of Ecclesiastes. The wise man Solomon had a lot to say about this concept of work and the things of this life and the proper view of them. Let’s start in Ecclesiastes chapter 1. He starts on a rather pessimistic note in talking about the things, the mundane trivialities of life, including our jobs, our occupations, our incomes, all of those things. He begins first to view those almost in a negative light. When he says, look in Ecclesiastes 1, beginning in verse 3, what profit? What profit has man from all the labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever.

The sun also rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south and turns around to the north. The whirl, the wind whirls about continually and comes again into its circuit. And all the rivers run into the sea. And the sea is not full. To the place from which it rivers come, there they return again. All things are full of labor. Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor ear filled with hearing. If I understand what the wise man is saying, he says, our life, if looked at in a mundane, trivial way, our life, our occupations, are much like that river that’s running into the sea. It never gets finished, does it?

That river flows and flows and flows. It never fills the sea up to an adequate capacity where the river can just say, okay, I’m through, I’ll stop. You ever feel like your life is that way? Maybe the modern analogy we would use rather than the river flowing into the sea, is we would picture that hamster on that wheel, wouldn’t we? You felt like that, haven’t you? That you’re running and running and running and you’re getting nowhere. You work all week just to start over. My dad worked for Monsanto Chemical Company for between 30 and 40 years.

Every day he would go, punch that clock, work a 12-hour shift, and come home day after day, weeks turned into weeks, months into months, years into years. Actually, decades, my father worked there. And then when he retired, he was told that he had accomplished nothing because when he retired there, hired somebody else to do his place. He didn’t get it done. That’s life, isn’t it? You’re on that hamster wheel until your heart finally gives out. And the hamsters drag you off and put another hamster on that wheel. That’s one way, the wise man says to view this life. To view our occupations, to view the things of our everyday lives. But look at another view. Stay in the book of Ecclesiastes and go over to chapter 2.

Chapter 2, the end of chapter 2 is the first time that in a significant way at least, God is now entering into the picture. And that changes everything. That now with God, we’re not just living our lives under the sun, we’re living our God, our lives considering above the sun, considering God into this equation. And notice how it changes everything. Ecclesiastes 2, verse 24, there is nothing better than for a man that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have an enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight. But to the sinner, he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give it to him who is good before God.

3. Paul Was a Godly Tent Maker

This also is vanity and a grasping after the wind. The conclusion of the wise man is that if we look at things from just a mundane worldly view, yes, there is just this meaningless triviality, mundaness, and repetition of life. But when we look at God, we put these things in perspective, and he says, there’s nothing better. In fact, he says, enjoy this life. Enjoy the fruit of your labors. Always considering God. But enjoy it. Pursue it. Be thankful that you have those opportunities to be able to provide for yourself and to help others. And surely that was Paul’s perspective. But lastly, surely Paul was a godly tent maker. Paul teaches us that our Christianity is not one compartment of our life, separate and distinct from every other.

The true child of God is a Christian every day and every way of his or her life. That it pervades, in fact, it directs everything that we do. Paul surely would have used his vocation to glorify God. The principle he taught in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God, surely applied to his secular occupation. Do all to the glory of God. Paul brought, when Paul became a Christian, Paul brought his knowledge of that old law, and he used that knowledge to glorify God in his preaching and teaching. Surely he did that with this secular occupation as well. He surely saw being a tent maker as a way to let his light shine before men.

Others, Matthew, Peter, James, and John put their occupations aside, to devote themselves solely to the preaching of the gospel. But Paul was different. Paul used his occupation as a tent maker to support himself, to give to others who are in need, and surely to let his light shine before men. Not all of us are called to do what Paul did in the preaching of the gospel. But all of us are called upon to do what Paul did as a tent maker and to use what we have in this life to glorify God.

Another lesson is that Paul used secular things. He could use these secular earthly things as a way to glorify God. You know, sometimes we struggle with that, don’t we? Am I doing enough? I have secular pursuits. I’m doing other stuff. Am I doing enough? I go to the Old Testament and it says, upon his law I’ll meditate day and night. And then I turn to the New Testament, it says, pray without ceasing. And I think I need to be a monk. I have to quit my job, unhook everything from this life, and just read and pray 24 7. Now please do not misunderstand me. Those are noble pursuits. They better be high up on our priority list. But Paul teaches us that this life demands that we engage in secular pursuits.

And we have to do two things. We must make sure that we do not allow those secular pursuits to become worldly pursuits. We make a distinction between that. I’ll work in an occupation that allow me to serve God, but I will not work in an occupation that will cause me to do something that a child of God should not do. Apply that to everything, entertainment, whatever pursuit. I’ll make sure that I’ll not allow those pursuits to cause me to do something that would violate a principle or a command of Scripture. But I’ll also use those secular pursuits as a way to glorify God. That’s what Paul did. Paul said to me, Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. And so that’s what he did.

When he was in prison, he preached the gospel. When he was sailing or shipwrecked, he preached the gospel. He preached the gospel before rulers. Don’t you imagine that as he was a tent maker or in the marketplace, that he used that secular pursuit to glorify God. Paul helps us put things in perspective. Help us to understand that we can live in this world without being worldly. That we can use the most mundane and trivial things of this life to glorify God by doing them heartily as to God and not unto men. To recognize the blessings that we have. And to use those blessings and these secular pursuits as a way to glorify our Father who is in heaven.

Conclusion

Are you a child of God this morning? I want you to recognize how the becoming a child of God is going to change every aspect of who you are. It’s going to change who you are as a father, a mother, a wife, a husband, a citizen, a neighbor, and as an employee or an employer. But more importantly, it’s going to change your relationship, not just to your fellow man, but your relationship to God. Would you become a Christian this morning, believing in Him, repenting of your sins, confessing that faith and to be baptized this morning? Maybe you’ve done that, but you shirked your duties and responsibilities. Your faith in God has waned in some way. Then why not redouble your efforts? Why not rededicate yourself this morning?

If we can help you to become a child of God.