Lesson 24

The attitude of a child of God towards work is very important because work takes up a huge proportion of our waking hours.
If we adopt a scriptural attitude towards work, our work will bring satisfaction to our soul, joy to the heart, and blessings to others around us.
Our work would become fruitful for the kingdom of God.

However, if our attitude towards work is unbiblical, work will become a heavy burden to our soul.
We will be joyless in our work and not be productive in our labor.
We will be a bad testimony to God in our working place and in society.

When God created man, He put man and his wife in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15).

The LORD God took the man and put Him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
(Genesis 2:15)

Other translation render the Hebrew word for work in the above verse as "cultivate" (ML), "till" (RSV) and "tend" (NKJ).
We thus see that work has been ordained by God for man from the very beginning of man's creation.

Work is therefore a creation ordinance.
Work is thus good for man and his well-being, for every plan of God for man was for his good (Psalm 100:5).

When God  made man, God made man in His image (Genesis 1:26-27).
Man's nature is thus a reflection of God's nature.
Therefore, because God is a God who creates, man also has a creative nature.
Unlike God, man is not able to create things out of nothing.
However, he is able to create many things out of the basic materials God has created in this world.
And man can only find fulfillment for his creative nature through work.

Another aspect of God's attribute is that He is constantly at work watching over His creation (Psalm 145:8-9, 13-20; Matthew 5:44-45; John 5:16-17).
Man, created in God's image, has also been entrusted with the task of looking after and ruling over the world that God has created.
This is a work that God has ordained for all men.
He is to be a steward (manager) of God's creation on this earth (Genesis 1:27-28).

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
(Genesis 1:27-28)

When God gave His law to the nation of Israel through Moses, God commanded them to work for six days and rest on the seventh day.
The reason for this was that God Himself created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh.
Thus man's pattern of work and rest days is based on that set by God during the Creation Week.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day.
(Exodus 20:9-11)

Thus man is not to work 10 or 20 or 30 days without a rest day in between.
Workaholism will kill his body in no time.
God has not made our body for continuous toil.

Neither has God made man to loiter around doing nothing for days on end.
Just sitting around doing nothing but watching videos, eating and playing will cause a man's spirit, soul and body to deteriorate quickly.
That is why it is a commonly known fact that men who retire without any plans for active work die very soon after their retirement.

God's plan for man's work are an expression of His wisdom.
Work for man is God's idea, not your father's or your employer's idea.

The world was created by God, and working in this world and ruling over it can only be done successfully through Gods wisdom (Isaiah 28:23-29).
Therefore, man must seek to receive wisdom for His work from God.
All work must be done in dependence on God's wisdom and strength.

Listen and hear my voice;
     pay attention and hear what I say.
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
     Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
When he has leveled the surface,
     does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,
     barley in its plot and spelt in its field?
His God instructs him
     and teaches him the right way.

All this comes from the LORD Almighty,
     wonderful in COUNSEL and magnificent in WISDOM.
(Isaiah 29:23-26, 29)

This dependence of man on God's wisdom for his work can be seen right from the beginning when God put man to work.
When God placed man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to take care of it, God also offered man the fruit of the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life represents God's love and power.
Partaking of the fruit of this Tree of Life represents fellowship with God.

And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the Tree of life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to WORK it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat of any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
(Genesis 2:9, 15-17)

God know that in the course of a man's working life, he needs the wisdom and strength of God to do his work.
So right there at the point of putting man to work in the newly created world, God gave man the resource - the Tree of Life - God's own wisdom and strength.

Man needs God's help to fulfill his mandate of ruling and over the world.
He can receive this wisdom and strength only through daily communion with God through a daily partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Thus the work that God has ordained for man will be a constant and daily reminder to him of his total dependence on God in his daily life.
For without God's wisdom, how can he hope to successfully rule the world that God has created?

God does not want man to work in dependence on this own strength and wisdom.
Man's work in dependence on his own ideas and strength will only bring death.
Partaking of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is thus forbidden by God (Genesis 2:17).
Knowing good an evil is not enough for us to please God.
We need daily communion with God to know how to work, when to work, and where to work.

When a man works, God's word declares that he will be blessed with the fruit of his labor (Proverbs 10:4; 12:11; 14:23).
The wages from his labor will also bless his family and others around him.

Lazy hands make a man poor,
     but diligent hands bring wealth.
(Proverbs 10:4)

He who works his land will have abundant food,
     but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.
(Proverbs 12:11)

All hard work brings a profit,
     but mere talk leads only to poverty.
(Proverbs 14:23)

When a man works for others, he is to be rewarded for his labor.
He deserves to be paid promptly.
This is implicit in God's command to the Israelites not to withhold or delay the payment of wages to their hired workers (Deuteronomy 24:14-15).
Our Lord Jesus Himself affirmed this law when He sent out the seventy-two disciples to preach all over Israel (Luke 10:7).

Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
(Deuteronomy 24:14-15)

Jesus told them (his seventy-two disciples): "Stay in the house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for THE WORKER DESERVES HIS WAGES."
(Luke 10:2,7)

Thus we see that God cares about all labor  and the wages due.
And He Himself will ensure that every act of labor rendered will get its due reward.
No labor done will ever be unrewarded, whether in the world or in the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:58; Galatians 6:9).
No matter ho long it takes, the harvest of our labor will come forth eventually.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15:58)

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
(Galatians 5:9)

On the other hand, if a man does not work, he has disobeyed God and will not be able to provide for himself or his family (Proverbs 10:4, 14:23).
Such laziness is a disgrace for a believer and such a person should not be allowed to eat from the toil of others (1 Timothy 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 3:10).

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
(1 Timothy 5:8)

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
(2 Thessalonians 3:10)

He is fulfilling God's mandate to man to manage and rule over this earth on God's behalf (Genesis 1:26-28; Matthew 21:33-41; 24:45; 25:14-30).

Therefore, in the eyes of God, every vocation, every job, every form of human toil, which does not involve sinful acts, is equally esteemed by Him.
When we work, we are worshipping and serving God through our work, for we are obeying God when we work.
Work is therefore an act of continuous worship to God our Creator God.

Thus every form of human work is to be considered sacred before God.
We are not to despise any form of human toil.
Our Lord Jesus was thus fulfilling God's purpose in his life by being just a carpenter for the greater part of His earthly life (Mark 6:3).
Likewise, Paul, the greatest apostle of the early church, was a tentmaker even while he was preaching the Good News throughout Europe, providing for his own needs and the needs of his companions (Acts 18:3; 20:34).

And because Paul was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
(Acts 18:3)

You yourself know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of HARD WORK we must help the weak.
(Acts 20:34-35)

Only work that is sinful does not glorify God but grieves Him (Genesis 6:5-6).
If we are involved in a work that does not glorify God, the Spirit will be grieved and will direct us to change our work.
The Holy Spirit can also direct us to a work that is the calling of God at different points in our life.
E.g. Paul's calling as an apostle 15 years after his conversion (Acts 9:1-41; 13:1-3).
Otherwise, we are not to change our work, but we are to remain where we were when we were saved (1 Corinthians 7:17-24).

Every believer should therefore consider is work a holy calling of God.
He is never to despise his work but to bring glory to God through it.
He is to work "as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23-24).

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you SERVE the Lord Christ.
(Colossians 3:23-24)

Since a believer serves Jesus our Lord in his work, he should always consider his work as a full-time ministry.
In his place of work, he is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
Every believer who works is thus in full-time ministry.

No believer should divide his work into sacred and secular parts.
He should never wrongly say that "only church work is ministry to the Lord."
It is wrong for a believer to say that he only has a part-time ministry.
If we believe that we only have a part-time ministry, then logically we are only part-time Christians. Are there part-time Christians around?

No believer should ever belittle himself or let others belittle him by saying that his work is not a ministry to the Lord.
This is fallacious reasoning based on a wrong view of the sacredness of work.
A pastor's calling is not higher than the calling to be a homemaker.
A full-time church musician's calling is not greater than that of a factory operator.
Every vocation is sacred before God.

In fact, an evangelist most probably will not be a good or efficient child-care center helper or supervisor.
Many pastor will also never survive in a commercial line selling toothpaste, or be able to reach out to fellow sales men selling toothpaste. Other believers can.
We work according to the calling of God.
And where God has called us to work, that is our full-time ministry.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were driven from the Garden of Eden and from fellowship with God (Genesis 3:1-24).
Sin entered all men and brought death to every aspect of their life, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 5:12; 6:23).

Man's work now became corrupted by sin and death.
Instead of bringing glory to God and blessing to man, it brought suffering and death instead.

Thus many fallen men idolize their work and put it above God.
Others use their work to elevate themselves above their fellow-workers, and disparage and look down on the work of others.
Yet others exploit and oppress their fellowmen in slave labor and in degrading work conditions.
Evil men also use their work to destroy in more powerful and efficient ways.

Also, as a consequence of man's sin, God put a curse on the earth (Genesis 3:17-19).
Man's labor on this earth thus became difficult and wearisome, and the earth no longer gives forth its produce so willingly.
Thus for a man without the help of God, work on the earth becomes an unceasing burden and painful toil instead of joyful service to God.

To Adam God said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I command you, 'You must not eat of it,'

"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
     all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for your,
     and you will eat the plants of the fields."

(Genesis 4:17-18)

Through the death of Jesus on the cross, all sin is atoned for, and man's fellowship with God is restored (John 3:16; 1 John 5:12).
The believer is now able to receive God's wisdom and strength to do his work and bring glory to God and blessings to man through his work.
In fact, every believer has been "created in Christ to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).

And man has been given the spiritual authority once again by our Lord to rule this earth for His glory (Matthew 16:19; 18:18).
The curse on this earth can now be broken by the believer and God's kingdom rule established in every area of life through man's work (Matthew 6:10; Mark 11:20-24).

God's name is thus exalted through the work done by every believer in the name of Jesus.

Your thought

1. Do you enjoy your work? If not, why not?

2. Do you look down on your work? Why? How should your see your work?

3. Why has God put you to work in the place where you are working now?

4. How can you glorify God in your daily work?

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