Bible Perspectives On Work

Bible Perspectives on Work

Chuck Sligh

September 5, 2021

This sermon is adapted from another source, but I have lost the source information. If someone recognizes similarities with another sermon and can provide me the source, I’ll be glad to cite it.

TEXT: 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”

INTRODUCTION

Tomorrow is Labor Day in the U.S. Labor Day is a strange holiday:

• Nobody this morning wished me, “Happy Labor Day, Pastor.”

• We don’t send out Labor Day cards.

• We don’t decorate the house for Labor Day or give Labor Day gifts.

• The florists and greeting card manufacturers haven’t found a way to capitalize on it.

• It’s a bad weekend for a church because everyone wants to get their last summer traveling in before winter sets in.

• And strangest of all, we celebrate Labor Day by not laboring at all—we get the day off.

Thinking about Labor Day coming up, it occurred to me that in all my years growing up and as an adult, ministering in churches, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Labor Day sermon. That’s odd because the Bible has a lot to say about our work. So, I did a little study on work and found it very rewarding, and I’d like to share the fruit of my study with you.

We’re all acquainted with the initials TGIF—“Thank God, It’s Friday.” This can be a positive statement—sincere thanks for Saturday’s rest and recreation and Sunday’s worship. More often though, it’s negative—meant to belittle work.

Work can be much more rewarding if you look at work from a biblical perspective. So today, the day before Labor Day, I want us to think about “Bible Perspectives on Work.”

I. THE FIRST PERSPECTIVE IS THAT YOUR DESIRE AND ABILITY TO WORK ARE A REFLECTION OF GOD’S IMAGE IN YOU.

Work was part of God’s original creative plan:

There was to be PHYSICAL work: Genesis 2:15 says, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.”

God also gave mankind MENTAL work: Genesis 2:20 – “And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.”

All this, mind you, was before the Fall when work was not toilsome. Usually, we picture paradise as a place of leisure and no work. But that would really not be paradise at all! God meant from the very beginning—back in the Garden of Eden—that people should work and labor in life. And the Bible strongly hints that we will engage in meaningful work in heaven.

We were created to work because we are created in God’s image. The first recorded acts of God in the Bible were to work for six days and to rest the seventh. Now, that doesn’t mean that God’s work in creating the universe involved toil. And His rest was not needed because of how hard it was to work those six other days. God spoke the universe into existence with just His word and instantly it all came into glorious existence. It took absolutely no exertion on God’s part, but it was work, nevertheless. God set an example for us: We are to labor for six days and rest on one.

But even now, much of God’s creative power is manifested in work—our work! On this earth, we are God’s hands, feet, muscles, and minds. Much of His creative activity is completed through us. God does not, by Himself, plow a field, write a poem, build a house, or cook a meal. He chooses to do these things through you and me.

Remember too, that Jesus, the perfect man, worked. He labored with His step-father, Joseph as a carpenter—a difficult work, demanding much exertion and energy. And when Jesus began His ministry, He often worked from dawn to dusk meeting people’s needs, healing the sick, and preaching and teaching. Jesus was a hard worker, and we, created in the image of God, and commanded to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, should see work as a blessing.

II. THE SECOND BIBLE PERSPECTIVE IS THAT WORK IS YOUR DUTY.

The Bible stresses the duty of work.

In Exodus 20:9 God said, “Six days shall you labor, and do all your work.”

Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let him who stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have to give to him who is in need.”

And then in our text we read – “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10)