A Godly, Honorable Work
Proverbs 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. 12:14 From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.
I’m going to use a four letter word that some of you might not like: WORK! It seems that no matter who we are, we don’t value the worth of work. Someone once said, “Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.” We find it very easy as humans to do that which comes easiest to us. What is easiest is not always best. We live in a society that has mixed views on work. Some like People to work many hours a week. It makes them think they will get ahead. They like to think that if they work early, stay late, and bring their work home with them it will be good. I like what one first grader told his dad about bringing his work home with him all the time. “Why don’t they just put you in a slower group?” Others do not like work and seek pleasure and entertainment. They only go to work Monday through Friday so they can spend the weekend in fun activities. Work is only an evil necessity that allows them to do the things they would rather be doing.
We want to look this morning at what the book of Proverbs has to tell us. We need to look first at Genesis. We find that in six days God created the heavens and the earth. Work was not evil. When God created Adam, he put him to work. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Adam was put to work naming the animals. Work it seems to him was a joy and a pleasure. He did not say “God, why don’t you just name them yourself, I’m tired.” When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit it was then that work was part of the curse. “To Adam he said, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. So then work became viewed as a curse. God chooses to have us work to provide for our needs. We get into trouble when we try to bypass God’s plans. We think Work is a curse, so we try to do anything we can to avoid working. Let’s look at some of the ungodly ideas about work.
A. We find that Laziness, This is a common attitude in our society. Would you admit with me that often I feel lazy? Proverbs has a lot to say about laziness.
1. We see that Laziness brings want & lack, 6:6-11: Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; insufficiency will attack you like an armed robber. 20:4, If you are too lazy to plow in the right season, you will have no food at the harvest.
2. We see that laziness brings disgrace. 10:4-5: Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich. A wise youth works hard all summer; a youth who sleeps away the hour of opportunity brings shame.
3. We see that lazy men bother those whom they work for. 10:26: Lazy people are a pain to their employer. They are like smoke in the eyes or vinegar that sets the teeth on edge.
4. We see that laziness builds poor habits. 12:27: Lazy people don’t even cook the game they catch, but the hard-working make use of everything they find. Those who are to lazy to cook just eat junk food all the time? Some people just don’t like the work of preparing a good meal. That is why we have a generation of obese people. We can control what we eat and how much we eat.
5. We see that laziness ends up in unfulfilled desires. 13:4: Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied. Those who are lazy normally get nothing they really want. They tell themselves they are happy, but because they will not work, they do not get what they really want.
6. We see that laziness leads to ruin. 24:30-34: I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one lacking sense. I saw that it was overgrown with thorns. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. How does your yard look? It does not take long for things to over grow. Farmers back in Iowa talked about little trees that grow along the fence line. They said you can either cut down the tree early or repair fence.
B. Another wrong attitude towards work is that if you can strike it rich, win big, you don’t need to work; you just need a little luck. Even when we know the way to acquire wealth and meet our needs it is through working. 12:11 Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time. 13:11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows. It seems we don’t like this idea, we don’t want to work and wait, we want it now. In the story of the prodigal son, he didn’t want to wait until his father died for his inheritance; he wanted it then and there. And what happened? He wasted it all in living a life of ease. We have been fooled into believing that if we just buy the right ticket or play the right game we can become rich. How many rich people do you know that are better because of their wealth? You are richer that 2/3’s of the world population. Are you happy and do you make others happy?
C. Greed is an attitude that plagues many. Even when we work, we never seem to have enough. We can have a wrong attitude towards work by never being satisfied, never being content with what we have. Have you ever just been out some where and spent money on something that you really did not need? We bought a car once and it was more than we could afford. We did not take time to pray. I had a wreck in that car where I could have been killed but as I look back it was God getting me out something I did not need. I wonder what God is going to have to do to some that have stepped over on what they really need and find them selves over their head with payments. What if you lost your job or became sick would you be able to make it? 13:4 Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied. 27:20 Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. This is God’s word as a warning to greedy people. May God help us?
D. There are those who have an attitude of Boasting that ruins work. We have some who think they are conceited about how good they are. Whatever needs to be done, they always know a better way. They talk a lot about work, but they never seem to get a lot of it done. 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
E. What about an Attitude of Careless working. There are many who work to only put in hours. They don’t work as unto the Lord, or even as unto their boss. They are simply there. Sort of like the road workers: You drive down the road past a construction site, and there will be one guy in a pit shoveling stone, and five guys at the side, watching, leaning on their shovels. Do you do your best on your job or do you just put in your time? 18:9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. Once again, another ungodly attitude towards work. THE BLAME GAME
The man said, “The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Gen 3:12 In Mastering Personal Growth, author Gordon MacDonald asks three questions we can all use to assess our degree of spiritual health and well-being: 1. Have I locked myself into a schedule that provides for no rest or fun times with friends and family? 2. Am I drawn to television shows, movies and DVDs that do not support my desire for balance, health and spiritual wholeness? 3. Am I blaming others for things that are my own fault, the result of my own choices? Answering yes to any of these important questions puts us in spiritual jeopardy and signals a need for swift, definitive action. But today I would like for us to focus on what is often called Defense” blaming others rather than being honest with God about our poor choices. It is so easy to blame others for our behavior, especially when it comes to a chronic lack of loving self care. We can’t prepare healthy meals because our family won’t eat “that food.” We can’t exercise because someone else is demanding our time and attention. We can’t find a quiet spot for Bible reading and prayer because the television is always blaring. We can’t say no when someone offers us a fat-laden desert because it might hurt their feelings. The list is endless, but the bottom line is always the same: we are blaming others for our sin, our unhappiness and our lack of self care. And God is not fooled by our “the devil made me do it” excuses any more than he was convinced by Adam’s! Yes, other people can complicate our life, and they can make a healthy lifestyle more challenging. But ultimately, when we stand before God at the end of the day, we are each accountable to our Master for our own behavior. We are each responsible for confessing our own sins, amending our own ways and accepting God’s forgiveness. We will never be asked to give an accounting for someone else’s behavior but we are responsible for how we have reacted to that behavior. Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences. Robert Louis Stevenson
F. we can have an attitude of Making excuse about work (or lack of it). Some people always have an excuse why they can’t work. There is always a reason. PR 22:13 The lazy person is full of excuses, saying, "If I go outside, I might meet a lion in the street and be killed!" We find a lot of bad attitudes about work. We need to search our hearts to make sure that we do not have these attitudes. It is easy to excuse ourselves. In fact, those who view work wrongly often think they are wise. 26:16 Lazy people consider themselves smarter than seven wise counselors.
Let us look at God’s plan for our attitudes about work?
II. We see a Godly view of work: it come from turning the curse back into a blessing.
Work does not need to be a curse to us. Rather, when we work with a godly attitude, God can use that work to be the channel of his blessing to us.
A. We have Provision. When we work as we should, God always supplies our needs. 6:6-8 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. 12:11 Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time. Let me ask you if you are lacking in things today?
B. We have Material comfort. Those willing to work God’s way will increase their worth. God’s plan is not necessarily for us all to store great fortunes, but God desires to meet our needs, and he desires for us to have something to give to those who have need. Let’s look at what the proverbs say about wealth. PR 10:4 Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich. 13:11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows. 20:13 If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!
C. We have Goodness. Those who work diligently bring goodness to themselves.
PR 12:24 Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave. 22:29 Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than ordinary people.
D. We find Satisfaction. When we work God’s way, we are content with what we have. PR13:4 Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied. 12:27 Lazy people don’t even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find. 11:18 Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.
III. Work is a physical power with a spiritual element. Even though work is physical activity; it has a lot to say about our relationship to God. PR 20:11 Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure and right. 16:3 Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed.
This is not a promise to get whatever you want, but rather a promise that as we do things God’s way, those plans will succeed. Often we work so we can accomplish our plans. We choose a job for how big a salary we make, what it will to in advancing us in the eyes of the world. Let’s make sure we look at work as an avenue of serving Christ. Col. 3:23 Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Have you seen yourself this morning in these examples of work styles and attitudes? Hopefully, we saw ourselves in good examples. Thoughts taken from a message by Dean Rhine
WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH YOUR WHOLE LIFE By Judy Douglass
The boy hesitated as Andrew pushed him toward Jesus. “Sir, I have only a small lunch, five loaves and two fish, but if this could help feed some of the people, You can have it.” I’m sure Jesus smiled and said, “Thank you. I think this is exactly what I need.” The boy watched in awe as, with that small lunch, Jesus fed more than 5,000, with lots of leftovers. “Wow,” the boy responded. “If He can do that with my lunch, I wonder what He could do with my whole life!” Each of us could wonder the same thing: What if I give Him my whole life? What if I give Him my time? Would my day look different? Would I get the priority things done? Would He multiply my time to enable me to accomplish more of His work? What if I give Him my talents? He gave them to me to begin with, would He develop them more fully, more beautifully? Would He fill me up and pour me out to touch every life I encounter? Would He surprise me with the good works He created me to do? And what if I give Him my treasure? Do I really need so much of it? It’s just loaned to me anyway. He tells me not to invest in things that don’t last, but to invest in heavenly endeavors, where the return on investment multiplies many times for eternity. So what if I don’t stop at time, talents and treasure? What if I give Him my hopes and my dreams? What happens if I give Him those negative things in my life my shame, my guilt, my fears? Certainly He won’t multiply those; maybe He will halve them. No, not halve. He erases them, forgives them, buries them, sets me free from them. So Lord, I give You everything I am and have puny as it all is to do what You desire with all You made me to be. The song says, “I can only imagine!” And that is true I can only imagine. But His Word promises that He will do far more with what we give Him even our whole lives than we can ask or even imagine! Reprinted with permission from GiftedforLeadership
