Your Place in the Divine Labor Union
Ephesians 4:3-16
So what’s your idea of the way to celebrate Labor Day?
Is it a holiday from your work so you can enjoy rest?
Is it a holiday from your vocation, so you can work at home?
Do you and your spouse share the same idea?
Or is it an end-of-summer holiday for recreation, reunions, cookouts or traveling?
I’ve heard that Labor Day was first celebrated in Boston on Sept 5, 1882. It wasn’t until 1894 that it became a federal holiday. That was an effort encouraged by President Grover Cleveland to reconcile with the labor movement and prevent further violence.
You see, in the spring of that year was the famous Pullman Strike. It took place between Chicago and Gary, Indiana, in Pullman, Illinois. That was the home of the Pullman Palace Car Company which built cars for the railroad, including luxury sleeping cars and dining cars.
Some 3,000 workers went on strike because of reduced wages. It was a very violent strike in which several workers were killed by federal troops sent there to by Cleveland.
Labor Day was instituted as a holiday to call attention to the strength and unity of the organized labor movement.
We who are believers in Christ are members of a divine union. As such, we share the benefits that kinship offers.
I’m not talking about guaranteed wages, paid vacations and holidays, insurance, pensions, and other benefits secured through collective bargaining. I’m talking about benefits of a more spiritual than material nature; of a more eternal than temporal nature.
Issues of organized labor and collective bargaining have been at the forefront in political and media conversations during this year. There are differing opinions and strong emotional reactions.
My purpose is not to criticize or commend either side of these issues. I want to show you a higher form of union and benefits which we gain by a grace covenant with a perfect God, over and above what’s gained by negotiated contracts with imperfect people.
Let’s read from Ephesians 4. Our key verse is the 16th. “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (NIV)
Let’s start reading at verse 3. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”
Now go to verse 11. “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (NIV)
Let’s consider some benefits of divinely organized labor.
1. We enjoy the security of authentic kinship because we are united in a grace covenant instead of a negotiated contract. (Ephesians 4:3-6)
Believers are united in a kinship to God and a brotherhood to each other by God’s covenant of grace. Look at that union in Ephesians 4:3, “Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace.” (NLT)
Paul says, “endeavor” and “give all diligence” to keeping the unity provided by God’s Spirit.
It is a work of God’s Spirit in believers to produce oneness. This oneness exists even when we’re not careful about it, because it’s made by the Spirit. But when we’re not careful in attending to unity, its display is lost and the world won’t see it.
The Spirit achieves a kinship, a brotherhood through some “bond of peace”. There’s something that links and binds us together. That something is the grace covenant.
Contract and covenant can often be interchangeable terms. Their general meaning is pretty much the same; two parties agree to provide a service or product for their mutual benefit. Contracts and covenants binds parties together.
But there is a difference at heart between a legal contract and a theological covenant; law and grace.
In human relations, business, industry and institutions the bond is by legal contracts which the parties negotiate. In the body of Christ, the bond is the covenant we enter by grace.
If you’re married, do you consider it a contract? In a sense, it is. But I hope it’s more than that. I hope you think of it as a covenant. You see, contracts can be effective without any love, compassion or grace. They’re effective because we fear the consequences of breaking the terms of the contract. Covenants are not rooted in fear, but in love.
It’s far better that husbands and wives, and that fellow believers are united in a grace covenant than a legal contract.
The result is that we share oneness and belonging because of seven specific linkages. Look at Ephesians 4:4-6. “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. 5 There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.”
There is rich and joyful security in the brotherhood – the kinship – of oneness and belonging.
Let’s think about a second benefit.
2. We enjoy the satisfaction of contributing to an eternal product because we are gifted with spiritual skills and equipped with divine tools. (Ephesians 4:7, 11-13)
For half of the year in 1977, before I returned for my last semester of college, I operated a numerical control lathe at a large machine shop that produced parts for jet engines and many other industries. It was a union shop.
I found it satisfying to produce parts that met the strict tolerances required and that made the quality control inspectors happy.
I realize a couple of things about that work. First, I had to use the skills and the tools made available for each job. Someone trained me to set-up the lathe and run the parts for each particular order. For each set-up I had to check out the right cutting tools from the tool department.
Second, those precision parts I made and that gave me such pride have long been rusting on a scrap heap somewhere, or recycled for other uses.
That first thing true of us. The Lord provides tools and skills – by the Spirit and through people gifted to train us – so we can make a quality contribution.
The second thing should not be true in that what we produce with spiritual tools is eternal and will not rust away.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:7, “…he has given each one of us a special gift according to the generosity of Christ.” And then in verses 11-13, “He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, 13 until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.”
There’s a goal, something to be accomplished, something of eternal quality, a satisfying contribution as we share our tools and our skills. And that brings me to our third benefit.
3. We enjoy the success of achieving a meaningful shared purpose because we are diverse members carrying out our special task. (Ephesians 4:16)
Let me take you back to that job at the machine shop. I realize another thing. I did not accomplish the work myself. As I said, someone trained me. Someone in the tool department saw that I had the precise tools. Someone made those cutting tools and someone else built the lathe. In the office were programmers who designed the commands so the computer would tell all the various controls in the brain of the lathe precisely when and where to move to cut the hunk of metal into a useable part. There were quality control personnel who made sure all the parts were within tolerance and there were maintenance workers that kept the electricity on and the machines operating as they’re supposed to. The list can get much longer, but you get the idea.
That is true in this divine union – this kinship that we share. We can’t succeed in our God-given purpose and work by ourselves.
Read Ephesians 4:16, “Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (NLT)
The Bible says that we who are believers form one body consisting of many parts. We are all joined together in a divine union. We all have an important function – just as the parts of our bodies. We enjoy the success of achieving our meaningful, divine purpose when, though diverse members, we each do our special work to benefit the whole brotherhood.
Peter wrote, “God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking thru you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ... (1 Peter 4:10-11)
That sounds like what Paul wrote in Romans 12, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. 7 If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If it is contributing to the needs of others, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” (vss 6-8)
God’s gifts vary widely because the needs of the church and of the world are diverse, as are the means to meet those needs. What gifts, skills and opportunities each of us receive, we are given for the good of the rest. The church is a union, a kinship in which each has a responsibility to all.
If we recognize that God has put us together in this divine union by his grace covenant, not merely a legal contract, and has given us a divine, eternal purpose we will value our own special work and that of everyone else, and we will enjoy success in achieving God’s purpose for us together.
That benefit will bring us joy, as will the satisfaction of contributing to something eternal, that will not rust, and the security of genuine kinship.
So have you joined this divine union? Are you a member of the International Brotherhood of Christian Workers?
If your answer is, “No”, I have good news. It’s seen it the word “belong.”
You can enjoy every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms when you belong to Christ.
How can you join up? The Bible says that even before he made the world, God loved you. It has been his plan to adopt you into his own family by bringing you to himself through faith in Jesus Christ. And this gives him great pleasure.
You and I started life, from birth as outsiders, living apart from Christ and excluded from God’s people. Apart from faith in Christ we live in this world without God and without hope until by believing we come to belong to Christ Jesus.
God’s purpose is to bring together one body. So every one of us, no matter who we are can join up through what Christ has done for us. We must believe him and receive him.
That’s the good news for you if you’re not yet participating in this divine union and enjoying the wonderful benefits, the great work and the amazing retirement plan.
When I asked if you’re a member of the International Brotherhood of Christian Workers; if your answer is “Yes”, I also have good news for you.
When we wonder about what purpose our life has served, whether it ends today or if the end is decades away, here is some wonderful encouragement; “…my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV)
