Tomorrow is Labor Day and this is Labor Day weekend!
There are a couple of important things we all need to know about Labor Day and what it means to us …
1) It is not fashionable to wear white after Labor Day
(hopefully this only applies to outer wear …)
2) It is not appropriate to wear garments made from seersucker fabric after Labor Day
3) Labor Day is the unofficial end of Summer!!!
Labor Day was established in the late 1800’s
Unions had been established due to unfair labor practices.
Horrendous working hours
Unsafe conditions
Child labor
Poor pay
Not all employers or companies were unfair but many would squeeze every ounce of work from their employees while paying them only enough to keep a roof over their heads and to keep their family from starving.
Unfair!
Now, in many cases the tables have turned. In many closed, union shops the threat of strike is held over the head of the companies to squeeze every nickel and penny they can get.
In my 20’s I worked at a union forging works and got reprimanded by fellow workers for working too fast.
Many times I saw a forging crew finish their eight hour piece rate in four hours and then just sit in the break room for the last four hours of the day. That company went out of business.
Our son works as a nurse in an ICU wing of Highland hospital in Rochester. He cannot empty an overflowing waste can without getting in trouble with the sanitation labor union.
Unfair!
Well, both of these are unfair! But you say, “Life isn’t fair.”
That’s not exactly a true statement. Life as God intended it to be IS fair.
Fair is the way God intended and intends us to live our lives and that includes work, working diligently and with the welfare of others in mind.
We all know our memory verse from Matthew 22:37-40
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second it like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Now, remember, we are created in the image of God. God is a worker and so we are intended to be workers as well! And, God sets a great example.
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea!
Psalm 19:1 says,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”
“All Thy works shall praise Thy name!”
I always thought of this as it says in Shout to The LORD, “mountains bow down and seas will roar at the sound of Your name.” but it’s more than that.
Let me give you a simple example: say for instance someone said to me, “Make me a shovel so that I can dig a hole.” And I brought this to that person. Would they declare the glory of my handiwork or would they curse my ineptitude and slothfulness?
But, what if I went to my garage and from a lump of metal I dug out of the ground I made steel and hammered it into this shovel head and then went to the woods, cut down a young tree and on a lathe turned down this handle and brought it to them. They would declare the glory of my handiwork!
Such is the case with the handiwork of the Lord declaring His glory. Just a couple of weeks ago Pastor Karenlee and I were driving somewhere and came across a beautiful vista of a corn field that must have been at least a hundred acres surrounded by dozens of gorgeous, lush, tree covered hills and topped with a perfectly clear blue sky! It was breath taking! The bountiful works of God bringing praise for His name from our lips! Awesome!
Now, remember, we are created in the image of God and as born again Christians we are supposed to be conformed to the image of Christ, so, whatever we do reflects not only on us but on God Himself.
Now, here’s an important distinction! Work is not just what we think of as work. Getting up early in the morning and heading off to a job.
Work involves every area of our lives.
How many of us “work” at our family relationships?
How many of us husbands “work” at loving our wives? What do I mean to “work” at loving our wives?
Ephesians 5:25 and 28 say,
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her …”
“In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
Colossians 3:19 says,
“Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.”
And 1 Peter 3:7a says,
“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect …”
So, I ask again, how many of us husbands “work” at loving our wives? And what do I mean to “work” at loving our wives and our children?
When I was in industry we would do yearly evaluations with our boss to take a look at our working strengths and weaknesses and what we could do to strengthen our strengths and correct our weaknesses.
How many of us do that on a continual basis in our home lives? How many of us take a serious look at our lives and try to make corrections?
Do we do things that make our wives cry?
Do we act in a way that makes our children resent us?
Do we have a cold relationship with any of our family members?
Do we have a plan to no longer do things which make our wives cry?
Do we have a plan to interact with our children in a way that will build communication bridges instead of barriers.
Do we have a plan to bring the warmth of love and trust back into our family relationships?
Is your family, is my family not as important as our work? Then why don’t we put the same amount of effort into it?
And, what about the spiritual training of our families. Is that not work as well?
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says,
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
On this Labor Day we need to know that this is the most important work you can perform if you have children or any family relationships, love them and talk to them about Christ and your great love for Him!
This is also an incredible witness to the unsaved. Marriage is a model of the relationship between Christ and the church and when our marriages are in disarray or in conflict or when they break up it is a poor witness to the world.
Another area where we need to work as Christians is in the area of the Sabbath.
Work, creation, is so important to God and to humanity that some of us have a way of making an idol out of work. This is ruinous to our relationship with God, it is ruinous to our relationships with others and it is ruinous to our health. So, we need to work at not working on the Sabbath!
This was so important that God gave us a special command so we wouldn’t miss it!
Exodus 20:9
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work.”
Emphasis added in Exodus 34:21
“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”
We need a day of rest and a day of worship every week and so when we evaluate our week do we see a Sabbath day of rest in our week? If not then we need to work at making it happen!
We think our work is so important, that it won’t get done unless we work on Sunday! Look at Exodus 34:21 again:
“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”
Plowing and harvest was a big deal in the ancient Middle East agricultural society! If you don’t get the crops in on time you won’t get a harvest. If you don’t harvest the crops in time they will rot in the field. Then, here comes this pesky Sabbath day!
Which would you prefer, to work at plowing on the Sabbath Day without the Lord’s help or to honor God with rest and worship on the Sabbath and to have His blessing and help on Monday?
Which would you prefer, to work at harvesting on the Sabbath Day in disobedience to God and without His help or to honor God with rest and worship on the Sabbath and to have His blessing and help on Monday?
Do you trust God or do you just say that you trust Him?
You see, we even need to work at resting!
Finally, there is one kind of work we should not be involved with that is taking this country by storm and that is the work of getting out of work.
Do you remember the brass ring? Year ago on carousels they would extend an arm from the wall that contained rings. People riding the outer row of horses could reach the rings and if they got the brass ring their next ride would be free.
Living a life with no work is now the brass ring for Americans. How can I get a life without having to work? Personal injury lawsuits, disability, the lotteries, etc. all aimed at a “life of leisure.”
Being able to work and choosing not to work short circuits our creation. Idleness is destructive. Boredom is a prison. This boredom leads to a whirlpool of self-centeredness which literally sucks the life out of life. No purpose. No glory which can be passed on to God. Sadness.
God created us to create!
If we collect garbage we are creating a clean town.
If we work for the water department we are creating a source of pure drinking water.
If we spread manure for a farmer we are helping to create the next crop of food.
If we fish or farm we are creating food for a otherwise starving population.
If we were astronauts we would be helping scientists to understand how God put the universe together in order to help others with advanced technology.
If we are an employer and we treat our employees like Christ would we are not only providing a way for them to support their families but we are, through out witness, redirecting the glory from us to God.
If we are an employee who is working for out employer as we would for Christ we are helping to keep a business going which benefits our employer and our fellow workers and the praise given to us is redirected to our Lord.
If we work at our family and friend relationships we create an environment stress is diminished, where love abounds and where the word of truth can be shared.
This Labor Day weekend, let’s try to take some time to evaluate our lives. This tremendous gift of creative work is available to all of us. Why would we not participate with the Lord in this great endeavor?
