Good Morning!
In this week’s worship and prayer help I want to expand a little bit on something I said in the sermon Sunday evening during our graduate service. Does how we go about work matter? In other words is there something unique about the way Christians approach employment? Should we derive joy from it? Let’s take a second this morning to think through this question.
While we understand that earthly labors are not the goal of life, and that they will pass away when the Lord Jesus returns, this does not mean (despite the thoughts of a few people in Thessalonica) that work is evil or a consequence of the fall of Adam, just to be dealt with and then ignored. No, laboring with our hands and mind was part of God’s good creation from the beginning. One of the first tasks Adam is given in the Garden was to tend to it: to shepherd the animals, and raise up the fields with plenty. It’s only with the entrance of His breaking God’s covenant that work became filled with toil and drudgery, that thorns and the sweat of the brow become the norm. Work is now hard, frustrating, and often leaves us feeling drained and demoralized.
Yet, as Christians we believe that when we read for instance in Romans 8 about Christ redeeming all things that this includes the day-to-day labors we perform. Hear what the Psalmist has to say about this, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.” Notice the pattern in those verses. If we fear the LORD (that is trust and rest in Him) and walk in accordance with His commandments, then when we consider what God has called us to we will then see the benefits and blessings of work, and that will move us to turn back to the LORD in joy and thanksgiving. Now, nothing in those words says that working as a Christian will be easy, that faith in Jesus Christ means you will have a good boss, or that your company will pay you well or that the more faith you have the more success you will have. That kind of Health and Wealth stuff is heresy. What it is saying is that none of the difficulties of labor will ultimately matter to you, again it’s not going to make cleaning toilets magically fun, but it will change how you approach it. When you get up and go wherever it is that you ply your trade this morning Paul is reminding you that in Christ the joy you receive from work will be grounded in the providential blessings of God. At the end of the day you will be able to look at your hands and see that because of what the Lord has provided you can eat, your family can live under a roof with walls, and because if this your soul will be content.
We hear the echo of our peace in work in what Jesus says in His preaching to the crowds in Matthew 6:25-26 during His Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Here we are reminded that whatever it is we do, it is a blessing from God and we should treat it as such, and as stewards of it let us remember the parable of the talents and not bury it in the ground, but make use of it as a fruit of our resting in His grace.
As you go to work (some of you are already at work) and as you face trials in the midst of it remember why it is you do these things: For the Glory of God, for His mercies, and a return of thanks for all that He has done for you. It won’t make the sweat go away, or the day move faster, or your boss be nicer, but it will change how you approach your labors and others will see your countenance and give praise not to you, but to your Heavenly Father who has made it well with you through the gift and grant of peace in Christ.
Y’all take care and have a great day!
Today’s link is from Gene Veith and speaks more to the value of work:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-doctrine-of-vocation/
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church