Godly Work
Nothing seems to keep us occupied more than work does.
For most of us, work is the necessary evil; the things that I have to do so I can do the things I really want to do. We work so we can play. We don’t really like work and yet for many, especially men, our work somehow defines us and gives us some kind of value in our own eyes, the eyes of others around us, the eye’s of our fathers.
I often ask people “do you like what you do?, where you work..., who you work for... most people are neutral, but if given the opportunity they would do it less.
Retirement is the golden egg – the day we finally have everything we need to ‘hang it up’ and do what I always wanted to do.
Until then, we work.
I had planned to finish this series with a message about Sabbath – finding God’s rest – but as I worked through that I realized that to understand what it is to find God’s rest – we must begin with God’s understanding of work.
To keep the Sabbath well, we must have a right view of work, without a good theology of work, we will have a messed up theology of rest. Before we understand God’s rest, we must understand the Lord’s work.
We have a God who He himself works. From the beginning God has been at work
John 5:17
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
There is something about finding rest in a Sabbath that is distinctly tied to work.
God initiated and created work for mankind
Gen 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Then things went wrong – There’s a serpent, deception, betrayal, trespass, concealment, blaming, and before you know it the garden party with God was over. However, the work was not, there was still work to do, more than ever only now it was “no fun”
Gen 3:17-19
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
From that day forward, WORK has been a challenge. The Fall skewed what God had created for good. Now doing our work is like trying to hammer a nail with a screwdriver, frustration is coded into the structure of the fallen creation.
Therefore, there will be days you do not like your work at all.
When you have one of those “take-this-job-and-shove-it days try this.
Pg 15
God values my work and He wants me to value it as well.
Col 3:23-24
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord
Ps 90:17
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us —
yes, establish the work of our hands.
Prov 22:29
29 Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve before kings;
he will not serve before obscure men.
When I can see the value God places in my work, I can find value in it as well.
Studs Terkel wrote a book ‘Working’ – a compilation of interviews of hundreds of people about their jobs. A common theme he discovered: “Most people...live somewhere between grudging acceptance of their job to an active dislike of it.”
Yet for many people, their work consumes them and most people deal with it by nursing a fantasy.
The dream of being a man-child: escaping all obligation, all responsibility, but without loosing a shred of freedom. It is having ample money, time, health, power and yet not having a claim on any of it.
The typical response to the burden is to flee it – RUN AWAY – escape is the cure for troubles. “If only I could get away – then I would enjoy life” - But we know that flight is a trap – there is no end to the running.
God’s solution is surprising – He offers REST. But it is not just sleep as another form of escape, but to rest in him in the midst of our threats and burdens. It is discovering that God alone is our refuge, our rock in the midst of struggles. He offers something better than our fantasy – He offers Himself.
God values my work and...
The Lord gives me work as a gift and I must receive it as His calling
Eccl 5:19
when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work — this is a gift of God.
Historically, the church has done little to help people here. If I say the phrase “the Lord’s work” what do you think of? Most people will think of pastor, priest, missionary, and doing those sorts of things. That is a shallow and narrow understanding of the Lord’s work.
The bible tells the story of (Luke 5:1-11)
What has Christ called you to do? Many people struggle with this question. We think that when God calls a person, he takes them from fishing, and makes them preachers. Were not sure that God could call a person to be a fisherman, teacher, landscaper, housecleaner, home-maker, truck driver, construction worker.
The truth is God set up life on this world and we need everyone of those. This work is and can be a calling, a ‘vocation’ - literally the work that The Voice told you to do.
Jesus held honest work in high regard; he never brushed off the value of work.
To Peter and others, Jesus wanted to elevate the status of their work IN THEIR OWN EYES, so that he could reinforce a lesson about the cost of obedience. Jesus makes the choice to heed his voice costly. Fishing is suddenly good – it is suddenly hard to leave.
1 Cor 7:20-22
20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you — although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.
The opposite of a slave is not a free man. It is a worshiper. The one who is most free is the one who turns the work of his hands into a sacrament, into offering. All that he makes and does are gifts from God, through God and to God. Where the work of our hands becomes the worship of our hearts.
We can view our work as a calling from the Lord and it is not the career field that makes it a calling but our attitude – our perspective. When our perspective of our work changes and lines up with God’s perspective of our life then we are doing God’s work
When I realized that I had given my life to Christ, that I actually belonged to Him. As long as a person ‘belongs’ to themselves then they are responsible to determine their own ‘calling’.
But, as a person who belongs to Jesus, my career becomes his as well. He sanctifies my work and makes it my calling.
I must take responsibility for my calling. Task vs call
Finish a task or fulfill a calling
There was a time in my career at Boeing I really hated my job, but God had begun to get ahold of my heart in a new and significant way. I was moving more and more to the point that I truly wanted to please him in the way I lived, but I hated my job.
God revealed to me in my prayer time and said “ I have put you there, not yourself, there is a reason you are there” and he brought the names of several people to my mind. “I want you to love these people and help them to see me”
That changed my entire perspective of my life and purpose at Boeing. Before long I began to view myself as a person doing the “Lords work” but getting my paycheck from Boeing. What that forced me to do was to be a better employee
Col 3:22-24
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 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.
God calls right where you are at. If He wants you someplace else, doing something else – He will tell you and make sure you know what / where that is, but otherwise - assume He wants you where you are at. God values your work there and he wants you to value it as well.
Most of Jesus life on earth – he spent as a carpenter. The apostle Paul, even at the height of his preaching and missionary work, he supported himself through tent-making.
Paul was insistent about the value of common labour and told the Thessalonians
1 Thess 4:11-12
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,
2 Thess 3:10
we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
1 Thess 1:8
“The Lord's message rang out” from their lives.
Martin Luther said:
“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 Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian 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.”
There is sanctity in honest Godly work. There is something about it that pleases, not only the eyes of others, but also the heart of God.
Eph 6:5-8
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
All the glory of my work belongs to God – (not me)
We pick our jobs based on the glory we think we will receive from it – based on what we value = $, status, power, prestige, time off...
As my life changes & I see the value God brings to my work, & He is empowering me to accomplish what He has set before me then the Glory of my work belongs to Him and not me.
Work done in such a spirit has the power to reveal Christ himself, to make Christ known and ‘ring out’.
Our Response –
Father my life is yours; thank you that you value me
Thank you that you help me know how you would want me to spend my days
Look into your hands and pray...
Father please take my hands and set them to meaningful work that will bring you glory.
Sanctify the work of my hands.
If you want to call me to another task make it clear and help me accomplish what you set before me.
Help me have an attitude to enjoy the work you call me to.
May the work of my life make you happy.
May the work of my life bring you glory.