September 2, 2012
Colossians 3:23-24
Labor of Love
Well, summer’s pretty much over. In a few more weeks the leaves will begin to change color and fall to the ground. Temperatures will turn cold and we’ll see that weird white stuff on the ground. Labor day weekend signifies a shift from thinking summer to thinking fall. The kids are in school, they’ll wrestle with tests, homework, papers and projects. For parents and grandparents, it’s back to the hectic pace of life with no real break until next June.
Tomorrow is the last “holiday” until Thanksgiving. For the next 2½ months all we have to look forward to is the brief weekend respite from each weeks labors, before we spend Monday morning, mourning Monday morning.
Have you ever thought about what the word labor means. I checked out other words for labor, and in my opinion, not too many of them were uplifting. Think about these words — Labor = chore, drudgery, effort, energy, exertion, grind, job, plod, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, trouble, and wrestle.
That’s not an overly positive image of what it means to labor. In fact, with that in mind, we might just want to think about celebrating something other than labor.
When we think of the Bible and our call to labor, we think about Genesis 3:17, when Adam was told by God ‘the ground is cursed and through painful toil and the sweat of your brow you will work the ground.’ Not an overly great image.
This message to Adam came after he and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ But, that wasn’t the first reference to working in the Bible. One chapter earlier, in Genesis 2:15, we read, The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to WORK IT and TAKE CARE OF IT.
The phrase to work the land in Hebrew has a number of meanings, it also means to serve, to minister and to worship. Those are interesting meanings for the same word that means work. I don’t believe God intended work to be drudgery and a real pain. Instead, work is supposed to be a blessing and a way in which we bring honor and glory to God.
In Colossians, Paul wrote, 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
In other words, whatever we’re doing, we are to put our whole self into it, knowing that our boss is really God. One of the things I really enjoy about sports is watching athletes who give it everything. They don’t save anything for the post-game shower. They leave all of their energy and passion on the field. That’s what God is talking about. We are called to give it everything we have. Another way to look at this would be to ask the question ~ “If you were your boss, would you be happy with your work?”
In Ephesians 2:10, Paul wrote, we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do what . . . to do GOOD WORKS. This is a theme that runs through Paul’s letters, the image that we honor God by our work, not to complain, not to grumble. Instead we learn what God wants us to do, because we were created by God – we are God’s handiwork, He was the master designer who knit us together in our mother’s womb so that you could be here today and so that you could have the gifts and talents so that you could do Good works, not to earn salvation, but because of your salvation. You can’t wait to make a difference in the lives of others. That’s what Paul is getting at.
Yet, we see bumper stickers that say, I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to work. Or “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.” Then there are the ones you can buy at college, “My child and my money go to such and such college.” This attitude gives us the impression that work is simply to pay the bills, to buy what we need and if there’s anything left over, go to a movie, out to eat or have a vacation.
What’s your attitude about your work? You see, it doesn’t matter if you’re in school, working full time or retired. Your attitude and mind set will impact everything you do. Are you taking 4 or 5 coffee breaks BEFORE lunch? Do you count the weeks until flu season, knowing this will provide a great excuse to miss work? Do you practice your cough and stuffy nose so you can sound convincing? If you feel this way you’re not alone, surveys indicate 7 out of 10 Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs and dread going to work. They think real living only occurs on weekends or when their shift ends.
Think of the slogans we have for work — “HUMP DAY and T.G.I.F.?” Hump day is Wednesday, which means we’ve made it over the hump and we’ll make it through the week. And T.G.I.F. means “Thank God It’s Friday.
Have you ever seen the TV commercial that shows parents attending their son’s college graduation? They ask him ‘now that you’ve graduated college, what are your plans for life?’ He says, he’s done a lot of thinking and has decided to skip work and go straight into retirement. Many of us would do that if we could!
The bad news is that the average person who works a 40 hour week all their lives, will work approximately 130,000 to 150,000 hours in their lives. That amounts to literally working 15 to 17 years of your life.
The fact is, you and I will spend more time WORKING, COMMUTING and THINKING about work than anything else we do in life. We’ll spend a greater number of hours AT WORK than we will with our family, or friends, in leisure, or in spiritual activities.
Whether we like it or not, work dominates our lives. Since work is such a BIG part of our existence, how can we learn to enjoy it? Must we waste so much of our lives in misery? What can we do to turn our work from drudgery to fulfillment? How can we become like those people we know who actually enjoy their work. . . you know, those individuals who can’t wait to get up in the morning — even if that morning is Monday? Well, I think the key is changing the way we look at our jobs.
We must realize that work is one of God’s special CREATIONS. Now, why would a loving God put His children to work as soon as He created them? Well, He did this because He knew that labor was a blessing. He knew work would provide us with challenges, excitement, adventure and fulfillment. And God still knows that we, who are created in His image, benefit from devoting our time to meaningful, creative jobs. Ecclesiastes 5:18 says,
It is good and proper for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all their labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage.
Work WAS and still IS a wonderful blessing. When we look at work with the right perspective it can bring great purpose and feelings of accomplishment.
There’s a special sense of satisfaction we can only find in the completion of all meaningful labor ~ whether it’s the salesman who closes the deal and says, “I did it!” The janitor who puts away the cleaning equipment and surveys an immaculate facility; the teacher who finishes the last lecture; the farmer who harvests the last row; the accountant who balances the last ledger; the parent who finally puts the baby down for the night; or the student who completes the final exam. All of these moments are precious slices of reality for people who labor.
Martin Luther wrote, "The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays -- not because she may sing a hymn as she sweeps, but because God loves clean floors. The shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship."
However, one of the problems is that we often times don’t utilize our God given talents and skills. We settle for something that is not what we really desire to do, we work simply to pay the bills and what we really have passion for, is lost. I enjoyed working as an investment auditor, it was fun to audit properties that were worth millions upon millions of dollars, but I wasn’t being fulfilled in what I was doing. It was fun and interesting only when you found a problem. Now, I’m doing something I love. There is joy in my work. There are difficult moments, but I wouldn’t trade what I’m doing. I wouldn’t want to go back to my old job, even though the pay was great.
You see, when we are laboring for God and using our abilities, work becomes more joyful, more rewarding and there is more passion. It’s a great feeling! Bill Hybels wrote, “Human labor was designed by God, assigned to everyone of us and offered as an opportunity to build confidence, develop character, and enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishment. Does that sound like a curse?”
If you don’t enjoy your labor, it could be that you aren’t where God intended or maybe you are in just the right place. Let me explain!! First, how many of you have prayed about your careers. Whether or not you should take a job, accept a promotion and so on. You see, I believe some people are in the wrong job because they’ve never asked God where He wants them to be. Others, I believe are in the right job, even though they don’t like it.
Tony Camplo tells of a friend who received his Phd with him and began teaching at a college. But this man, who held a Phd in English quit his job after 3 weeks. Campolo asked him why he quit. He said, “Tony, I just can’t teach. Every time I walked into that class and gave a lecture, I died a little. Now, “I’m a Ph. D. mail man. Campolo said, “Well, if you’re going to be a mailman, be the BEST mailman.” His friend replied, “I’m a lousy mailman. Everybody else gets mail delivered by 1:00 pm. I never get back until about 5:30.”
The friend explained, “You wouldn’t believe how many people on my route never got visited until I became the mailman.” You see, this man was more than a mailman. He was God’s minister, going door to door, giving more than just the mail. He visited and joked with lonely elderly people, counseled troubled teens, and had a friendly hello to all people.
Campolo said, ‘The people even had a birthday party for him. They love him because he’s a mailman who expresses the love of Jesus everywhere he goes. According to God’s custom design, this man is changing the world, changing the lives of people, touching them where they are, making a difference. When we fulfill our calling, work will be a joy!’
Take steps in the direction that will get you in a position that lines you up with who God made you to be. We have human bosses, but as Christians following our call, we answer to a higher authority. We work for God Himself. Again, as Paul wrote,
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, 24 It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
If we want to turn the drudgery of work into fulfillment we need to understand that work is a special CREATION of God. We need to work in such a way that each day we seek new CHALLENGES at work and we need to find and fulfill our unique CALLING from God.
