For What Do You Work?
08/23/09 AM
Text: Matthew 6:19-21
Introduction
I had a conversation recently with Sister Meredith, it was really just an idle chat after class one Wednesday evening. I had made the observation that for her every night was Friday night as she was now on her summer break from teaching. That led to a couple of comments about work in general that stayed with me as I drove home that evening and the next morning when I was listening to the radio while driving to work and one of the commentators was recounting the story of a couple who were suffering from the state of the economy. The commentator made the statement that “in the economic downturn they had lost everything they had worked for” and I thought how very sad. Not over the couples’ financial condition, though there was no joy to be had in that, but that “everything they had worked for” could be wiped out by a worldly event such as a weak economy.
And so that is the question I would like us to consider in our lesson today: For what do you work?
Which is an entirely different question than, Why do you work?
I. Work Has Been With Us Since Adam
A. Adam was given a job by God
1. Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
a. Human work was a part of God’s original intent for His creation. It is a divine gift and is not to be viewed as a punishment. (Adam ate of the fruit of the garden.)
b. In human work God was sharing a part of His responsibility to care for the world He created. Labor is a normal part of the responsibility of God’s people.
2. This activity did not become drudgery until the fall.
a. Genesis 3:17 - 19 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
B. We see God’s people working throughout the Bible
1. Abraham was a shepherd, as was David.
2. King Solomon had much to say concerning our labor
a. Proverbs 10:4 Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
b. Proverbs 13:11 Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one who gathers by labor increases it.
c. Proverbs 14:23 In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.
d. Proverbs 16:26 A worker’s appetite works for him, For his hunger urges him on.
1) And there is the root of why we work!
2) And there are literally dozens more.
3. In the New Testament we are told of many of the Apostles’ job.
a. Most were fisherman: Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
b. Matthew was a tax collector.
c. Paul was a tent maker.
1) Paul supported himself and others while in Ephesus
Acts 20:34 “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
2) Also at Corinth and Thessalonica so that he would not put a burden on these poorer churches and to set an example.
d. It is likely, since He did not begin His ministry until He was thirty and due to Jewish tradition, that Jesus learned the carpenter trade from Joseph.
C. Work is expected and even command of us.
1. It is clear that we are expected to work.
a. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 - 12 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
b. Ephesians 4:28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
1) But rather let him labor - Let him seek the means of living in an honest manner, by his own industry, rather than by wronging others.
2) Working with his hands - Pursuing some honest employment. Paul was not ashamed to labor with “his own hands” Acts 20:35; and no man is dishonored by labor. God made man for toil Gen. 2:15; and employment is essential to the happiness of the race. No man, who is “able” to support himself, has a “right” to depend on others.
2. In our labor, our attitude matters.
a. Ephesians 6:5 - 9 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
b. Colossians 3:22 - 24 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
We are expected to work, and to work with a proper attitude so that in all we do we may give glory to God and this begins to answer the question of our lesson: For what do you work?
II. For What Do You Work?
A. We do not work just for the things of this world
1. Luke 12:15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
2. The parable of the Rich Man. Luke 12:16-21
B. Work but keep the proper perspective!
1. God expects us to work, He knows our needs and He expects us to trust Him to meet them.
a. Luke 12:22-31 “Seek His Kingdom”
2. Matthew 6:19 - 21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
a. 2 Peter 3:10 - 12 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be £burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
b. 1 Corinthians 3:13 - 14 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
Conclusion:
Work we must in this world but let us not work for this world!
Work in this world not only as if for the Lord but always for the Lord and for things eternal.
2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
And that is for what we are working!
Invitation
