The ideas that most
Christians have of work are informed more by the world rather than by the Word
of God! This is most tragic, for it means that instead of working for God, they
work for mammon (money)! Instead of living a coram Deo like in their places of
work, they are clouded by the darkness of this world, called financial security
or prosperity.
Is work a spiritual subject
that should concern us? Absolutely! For God has so clearly said,
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him…
Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way
of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the
Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing
that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are
serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:17, 22-24 ESV.
Whatever your hands finds to do –
do it as to the Lord. Do not worry about whether it is the right job, as long
as it is honest employment, be concerned that you please God in it. The Lord
has put your there as a Christian to showcase His glory to your boss and colleagues.
Do not make a mess of it. If you are student – study as if Lord sent you to
study, and as if He will set the exams!
If you are thinking that your job
is so meanial, remember that the Lord, in His sovereign will sent you there. Do
everything in the name of the Lord, and not in the name of ‘substantial salary’
or promotion. The Lord points to the least of all – bond servants, workers who
have no right… no trade union, no salary. And what is the instruction? Work as
if God is your boss! Forget that the earthly master is not watching and
remember that the heavenly Master – God, is watching! Do not aim at pleasing
men, aim at pleasing God by working sincerely, from the heart, fearing the
Lord. Note the wonderful promise harnessed to this instruction – from the Lord you
will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. It is
absolutely important and fulfilling to know that the Lord will reward all our
labours on earth.
Do you just work to earn a living?
To get money? Is work something to be endured? – “I owe; I owe; so off to work
I go!” No you are serving the Lord (v.24)
Why is work necessary?
1.
Work is a
requirement of God to man.
From Creation: There
is a close correlation between the work of God and the work man because God
implanted in the human constitution the desire to not only have dominion, but
also multiply all that He gave him. Remember that this was without the
necessity to having to work to eat, to clothe or to shelter. The Garden of Eden
was such that it was going to yield fruit and food for man without any
infestation of thorns and thistles, or pests and diseases which were a result
of the fall into sin. With the fall came difficulties of labour in that just
like the rest of the world is under the influence of the fall and sin. God told
Adam,
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to
the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,
'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain
you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall
bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of
your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you
were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Genesis 3:17-19
As a command: The
Fourth Commandment is so categorical:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days
you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the
LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your
daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the
sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11
The fourth command begins by
rest and ends with labour and from it we see that labour is the convers of
rest, and not the other way round. In fact when we will be in glory, we rest
from all our works and we shall enjoy the full rest. Our observance of the Sabbath
now points forward to that eternal reality. The fourth commandment refers us to
the initial labour command in Genesis
2:15 - The LORD God
took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Clearly, part of God’s original
purpose for human life is to work. Labour is divinely designated by God to
yield Him glory. For any individual to fail or refuse to work, is abnormal and
unnatural and it is direct rebellion against the divine order. Therefore,
whether you eat or drink or what you do, do all to the glory of God.
On the other hand those who labour outside
what God has said must realize that they will yield vanity – for unless the
Lord builds a house, its builders labour in vain (Psalm 127:1). The whole book
of Ecclesiastes is about the vanity of work without God (see 2:11, 22-23). We
must reiterate that there is meaning and significance in human labour because
it is divinely appointed. Luther so categorically said that when we carry out
our vocation in faith to God and obedience to His commands, God will work
through us.
2.
Work is necessary
to meet your own needs:
Because
of disobedience of Adam, eating what he wasn’t supposed to eat, God instructed
in the curse that man was to eat from the cursed ground. A ground that was to
be infested with thorns and thistles, pests and diseases was to provide food
for man’s livelihood. This was to happen all the days of his life – God does
not see any retirement for an eating man! There is an emphasis on pain and
toil. To reject work when God required the fallen Adam to work is a double
rebellion. You also notice the dependence of man upon the earth, to eat of it
and to die in it. We live to work.
Paul
by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ puts it like this,
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us,
because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread
without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we
might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that
right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we
were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to
work, let him not eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:7-10
Work is not being idle. Your hands
have to find something to do. A working person is not content to simply eat
what others have worked for, and not doing anything to provide. Paul says that
they did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it. Instead they lived a
life of ‘toil and labour’ they ‘worked
night and day’ so that they did not become anyone’s burden. This is how they
were able to set us a good example to emulate. So if anyone is unwilling to
work, let him not eat. Why should eat what you did not provide? Only parasites
and thieves want to enjoy benefits without taking any responsibility.
3.
Work is
necessary to meet the needs of others
We work to cater for the needs of the family. Any Christian must be able
to provide for the needs of his own. And so the instruction from the Lord is,
But if anyone does not provide for his
relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith
and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8.
But how can you possibly provide
for yourself, let alone others if you are not willing to work? The inability to
provide for one’s relatives, is a denial of the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever. Unbelievers work for money. They will meet their needs and the
needs of their people. A Christian works for the glory of God and for his own
good as well as for the welfare of others beginning with his own.
We work to provide to the needy.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor,
doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share
with anyone in need. Ephesians 4:28
In
all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the
weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35
So
then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to
those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10
Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone
to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one
another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout
Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire
to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as
we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be
dependent on no one. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
I pray that this knowledge will
transform your work ethic as a Christian. You will spend your time, skills, and
energies in a manner that understands that God is watching to remunerate you!
God’s reward surpasses all that this world can afford.
