(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit https://danachau.thinkific.com/ for a free online course.)
Work
Selected Scriptures
If you were with us last Sunday, you would know we covered the topic of rest. We saw that rest is not passive but purposeful activities. And the activities included repairing from and preparing for the demands of work. Ultimate rest, we saw, involved trusting God's goodness.
Today we will look at the complement to rest, and that is work. What is work?
Some say, “Choose something you enjoy doing and you will never work another day in your life.” Others say, “It is not real work unless you would rather be doing something else.” A dictionary definition of work is, “Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something.”
Work is more than a job. It takes work to express faith. It takes work to develop godly character. It takes work to build a loving family. It takes work to bear fruit in ministry.
This morning, we'll mostly talk about what we do for a living when we refer to work. Work employs time, energy, talents and resources to provide services and goods. Work that adds value to people and properties.
If we were to direct the question, "Why work?" to a general population, here are some responses: I need the money. I owe, I owe, off to work I go. To pay off the mortgage, the college loans, the credit cards. To pay for my living expenses and lifestyle.
Or, I like what I do. These are the fortunate. You find your work meaningful, rewarding and enjoyable. You feel useful. You like the people you work with. You get your identity and fulfillment from your work.
What if we were to direct the question, "Why work?" to God? How would He answer? Would He say, "I designed for you to work as a punishment for sin"? Or would He say, "I designed for you to work as a gift of love"?
Justin Holcomb, in his book, What do you do for a Living?, noted: "If you have a job, you probably spend most of your waking hours working, getting ready for work, or commuting to and from your workplace. The activities you do most often are the ones you do at your job. The people who take up most of your time and attention are probably not your family and friends, but your boss, your clients, or your coworkers."
Since your job consumes much of your awake hours, thinking correctly about work is important. And there is no better place to go than to the Bible. The Bible records God’s work called creation, salvation, redemption. The Bible also records the origin and role of work in human lives. Let's look together.
First, the Bible tells us human work reflects God's image.
Genesis 1:31 records the creation of the world, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."
God is Creator. He is a Worker who creates. He is unique in that He created all thing out of nothing. Here's what else that may surprise us.
God has not stopped working since creation. He took a day off on the seventh day of creation, but God is actively working since. Jesus said in John 5:17, “My Father [in Heaven] is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
What is God doing today? The Bible, in John 16:8-11, tells us God's Spirit is working in the hearts of men and women to bring them back to Himself. First, to convict us of our wrong against God. Second, to convince us of our need for forgiveness through Jesus' death on the cross.
We reflect God's image as a Worker who creates. Imagine putting our pet hamster or dog in an open field. A year or two years later, we still have an open field. But put people in an open field, and a year or two years later, we may have a garden, an orchard, an apartment complex, a shopping mall or a church.
You might argue that ants and bees work. To survive. But humans work to create, to continue shaping God's original creation. Mankind has turned sand into computer chip, mined ore to build automobiles.
Genesis 1:26 reads, Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” When God said He made humankind in His image, he elaborated that image was the image of a worker.
Second, the Bible tells us human work respects God's command.
In the creation account in Genesis 2:15, we read, "The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to work its ground and to take care of it."
Mankind's purpose in the garden was not to stroll through it, but to work in it. This command came before Adam and Eve sinned against God. So work was not God's punishment for sin but God's design for creation.
Exodus 34:21 reads, “Do your work in six days. But you must rest on the seventh day. Even when you are plowing your land or gathering your crops, you must rest on the seventh day."
This is a command to rest one day out of seven. But for this command to make sense, we must work the other six days. Whenever we work six days and rest one day, we are honoring God's command.
We are made in the image of God the Creator and Worker. But our sinful nature distorts the image of God in us. Some have become lazy while others have become workaholics. God reminds us through His commandment to work 6 days and rest 1 day.
We don't have to be legalistic. God's Word doesn't say we need to work a paying job for six days. We can do household chores. Volunteer. Serve others. Contribute value to family and society. Six days each week.
Third, the Bible tells us human work reveals God's love.
In the New Testament, we are given the rule, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10).”
Couldn't God have designed a world where every food we need were pollinated by insects, watered by rain and harvested by the beasts of the field? Why make us work?
You've heard me quote this Danish proverb before, "Give to a pig when it grunts and to a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child."
So to work for our needs is for our good. We receive internal rewards. Growth in skill. Growth in character. Growth in capacity. Growth in ingenuity. God's love for us compels Him to have us work.
There are also external rewards from work. A teenager asked a millionaire, "What is the first secret of your success?"
To which the millionaire replied, "Hard work."
Not liking the answer, the teen asked, "What's your second secret?"
1 Thessalonians 4:11b-12 reads, "You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
You don't have to like your job, but you could like the paycheck. You could like what your paycheck permits you to do: Support God's work, pay the bills, enjoy recreation. But willingness to work must come before having the rewards.
Jim Rohn said, "Don't just let your job make something (paycheck and praise) for you; let it makes something (character and capacity) of you. Most people do their best to get through the work day. Wise people do their best to get from the work day." Our work provides rewards, external and internal. Make sure you get some of these rewards every day you work.
Here's what else. God's command for us to work gives us opportunity to love one another. The excellent goods we produce and the caring service we provide to others allows us to express love to them. Work allows us to reveal God's love to one another.
Fourth, the Bible tells us human work radiates God's witness.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:16, " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven."
Colossians 3:23-24 tells us, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
Here's what a member of our church wrote in an email to me: "My supervisor(s) at work have been commenting to me over the past year on how impressed they are with the way that I handle and manage tough situations and difficult people at work. They know that I am a Christian, and I let them know that I read the Bible and pray and allow the Holy Spirit to guide my decisions and problem-solving for these issues.... I spend every morning in quiet time with the Lord reading the Bible or Our Daily Bread for guidance, strength, and direction in my decisions, leadership, mentorship, and guidance for everyone that I come in contact with at work and I pray that the Holy Spirit will use me for His glory at work. We have a lot of internal politics here and it is very difficult at times, but I just try to stay humble and submissive to God for His direction and guidance during these difficult times. I couldn't do what I am currently doing without Him in my life and I pray that my Christian example will lead others to Christ."
To be God's witness is to represent God at work. But we are not pointing to our goodness but to God's goodness.
A college student asked during a T2 group mentoring session last month: "Why don't all Christians become pastors so that more of God's work could be done?"
As a mentor, here was Jody Wong's response: "The pastor shares the gospel in the church. Christians who work in the marketplace share the gospel in their company."
A pastor cannot witness to the unchurched at Kaiser, Cheveron, Cal State U East Bay or Chabot. But if you work there or go to school there, you can. Your congregation is your co-workers, your clients, your classmates.
Here is at minimum what you can do as a Christian employee: Colossians 3:22, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything. Don’t do it just to please them when they are watching you. Obey them with an honest heart. Do it out of respect for the Lord." Follow through with your boss' instructions, and show respect.
Here is at minimum what you can do as a Christian employer: Colossians 4:1, " Masters, give your slaves what is right and fair. Do it because you know that you also have a Master in heaven." Be fair and just in dealing with those who work for you.
How we do our work is our witness to the God we belong. And for students, your work is your study. And for everyone, our work at home is our household chores. Work isn't just what we get paid to do. Work is what we do to add value to people and possessions God entrusts to us.
So, why work? Because work reflects God's image. Work respects God's command. Work reveals God's love. And work radiates God's witness.
Just as we commission missionaries when they go oversees to witness for God, I want to close our message commissioning you to witness for God at your work or school. If in response to this message, you want to begin or continue being a witness for God at your work or school, I invite you to stand and be prayed for at this time.
(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit https://danachau.thinkific.com/ for a free online course.)
