Why do we work? What value do we attach to our work? Does our choice of jobs matter?
There’s a lot of talk in Christian circles these days about work. Much of that talk seems to put a value on work that I simply don’t find in the Bible.
What does the Bible actually teach about work?
- God works … and then rests. (Gen 1).
- As God’s creatures and agents in the world, we work (Gen 1:28-30). That means that work is a core part of what it is to be human. Work is not something that gets in the way of leisure; work is good.
- However, work in a fallen world will be frustrating and difficult (Gen 3).
- Work in a fallen world can also express our desire to find identity and meaning apart from God. (Gen 11).
- God cares that we work honestly, being fully conscious that he can see us working (e.g. Col 3:22ff).
- The general expectation is that we all should work. However, those whose task is the preaching of the gospel aren’t required to work in the conventional sense; instead, they are to be supported by God’s people (1 Tim 5:17-18).
I can really only find two reasons in the Scriptures as to why we work:
- We work in order to provide for our own basic needs and those for whom we are responsible. In so doing, we are not being lazy or a burden to others. We work to survive (2 Thess 3:6-14).
- We work so that we might be generous (Eph 4:28).
I often hear people adding a third reason based on the mandate in Genesis 1:28. However, I believe that Genesis 1 is teaching nothing more than that God gives human beings the right to use the resources of this world in order to enable them to thrive. It is really just an aspect of the first reason above: we work to survive in God’s world.
If all of this is true, then it means that we don’t work to find fulfilment, meaning and satisfaction. We don’t work to find status and significance. We don’t work to exercise power. And we don’t work in order to advance the kingdom of God or advance the gospel.
To be honest, I hear people saying the last of those things all the time. It represents a confusion about how God is at work in the world. God is working in the world through the proclamation of Christ crucified. Work itself doesn’t proclaim Jesus—our lives in themselves don’t proclaim Jesus; the only thing that advances the kingdom of God in this world is the verbal proclamation of the message about Jesus Christ and him crucified. We may do some of that gospel proclamation during our work life, but our work itself is not the work of the kingdom.
The implications of this are massive. It means that our paid work is less significant than the gospel proclamation and ministry that we do. Sharing the gospel and teaching a Bible study group, a Sunday school class or our own children about Jesus is far more important than the work we do in order to survive and to enable us to be generous.
Now, if that is the case, then we will make decisions in life based on that priority. We will choose to turn down the promotion or the transfer if it will get in the way of the gospel proclamation ministry we are doing. Conversely, we will stay in an otherwise unsatisfying job if it is providing us with excellent gospel opportunities.
Of course, if someone was to offer you the chance to no longer have to work in order to live, but rather to spend more of your time in your real priority (gospel ministry), then wouldn’t you want to say ‘yes’ straight away? Perhaps you have excellent reasons for saying ‘no’ that are ground in the priority of gospel proclamation, but this probably applies to less of us than we think. If you decline that opportunity without good reason, doesn’t that expose the reality that your work is a greater priority to you than the proclamation of the gospel?
Gavin,
On first read, I think I agree with much of what you say here, although I want to re-read it.
However a couple of additional Scriptures came to mind to fill out the picture a bit.
Firstly, there’s the teaching of Ecclesiastes that work (like the other things ‘under the sun’ which the Preacher tried) is meaningless/absurd and a chasing after the wind (e.g. Eccl 2:17-23). Our efforts in labour and acheivement spring from our envy of neighbours (Eccl 4:4).
Yet for all that, the Preacher also acknowledges that by the gracious gift of God it is possible for a person to enjoy their work and find satisfaction in it (e.g. Eccl 2:24-26). Indeed he says there’s nothing better than this (Eccl 3:13, 22).
So how does enjoyment of our work (gifted by God) – albeit we should expect it to be elusive for most of us – factor into your thinking above?
A second Scriptural strand comes in Titus 2:9-10 where the manner of a slave’s work (obedient, respectful, honest and trustworthy) “will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive”.
This is part of the broader teaching that our good deeds adorn the gospel and can bring glory to God (presumably because we have not been silent about our affiliation with Christ!) – see Matt 5:16, 1 Peter 2:11-12.
Our work doesn’t proclaim the gospel, but it may make it attractive. How do you weight that in your thinking above?
Lastly, I also thought of 1 Tim 5:4 & 8 which teach that we must provide for our relatives, especially our immediate family.
Of course, most westerners think this means providing the best of everything for their kids, so we and our kids live in dreadful greedy materialism – just a little less extravagant than the non-Christians! Of course, 1 Tim 6:8 should incline us to think mainly of basics like food and clothing.
However in context, we see it’s actually talking about providing for our elderly and perhaps infirm parents, especially a widowed parent. (This is reinforced by Mark 7:9-13.) I have been so impressed by congregation members who have done this at great cost to themselves, and also at some cost (for a time) to the gospel ministries they were doing so well and enjoying at church.
Yet the Scriptures lead me to believe they were doing totally the right thing to leave off from gospel ministries to provide for their elderly parents! (I should note that the people I am thinking of weren’t being dictated to by fussy elderly parents who had an unrealistic view of their own health or an excessive view of what they could demand/manipulate from their kids. And in fact, they had great ministries to their elderly parents of sharing or reinforcing them in the gospel and the Scriptures.)
So there’s three extra strands of Scriptural evidence to factor in.
Nicely put, Gavin.
It reminds me of an article I wrote a long time ago which got me into all sorts of difficulties.
As I still occasionally get hate-mail for that one
I’ll pray that the response you get is not quite so fiery.
Gavin,
While I agree with most of what you said here, I am not so sure about the “third reason for work” (or rather, disregarding of it).
If that mandate found in Genesis 1:28 cannot be a reason for work, and the other two reasons you listed are the only reasons for work, then I find no bases for saying that we will have work after this “life on Earth”.
We wouldn’t have a concern for our survival after resurrection, would we? And in what sense will we be generous to others who are also resurrected?
Even if there will be work for us to do after Jesus’ return, what significance would that carry?
Or are we not going to have any work to do after the resurrection?
Maybe you were only talking about the work until Jesus’ return, but, even then, I thought there would be more continuing and constant reasons for work, and that third reason (mandate in Genesis 1:28) could be one that applies both before and after Jesus’ return.
It’s funny to see you posting on this topic today! I posted a series on the meaning of work in my blog today and during the two previous days, partly in response to Gordon Cheng’s blog posts about work. I’ve listed 7 ways the Bible gives work meaning. Gordon suggested you and your readers might like to take a look:
http://jeaninallhonesty.blogspot.com/search/label/work
I really appreciated what you said about the importance of preaching the gospel and how this affects our attitude to work. Also your interesting comments on the theology of work, and whether it’s furthering God’s work in the world.
Hi Gavin,
My main concern with your article is how do we avoid the situation where people feel that unless you’re a full-time preacher &/or evangelist, you’re a second-rate Christian. Earlier in the year we did a series of “get to know you” interviews with members of my congregation. When I asked an older woman in the congregation if I could interview her, she responded “Why me? I don’t do anything at church.” Yet she was doing heaps as a welcomer and supper provider, but, as these weren’t “up-the-front” ministries, she didn’t (at first glance) see them as important. I think that we need to remember 1 Corinthians 12 when thinking about this subject.
Your comments are a good warning to professionals like myself not to let our careers become idols, even if we try to make them sanctified ones. But most Christians won’t have the skills or temperament to be a full-time preacher/evangelist. How do we encourage them to use their jobs to bring glory to God through their good deeds and places where we can share the Gospel with our workmates?
Sandy –
I think your additional references are helpful, especially the tension in Ecclesiastes… work is ephemeral, and yet in the grace of God can be satisfying. Although, I take it that his references in chapter 3 need to be understood in terms of his rhetorical assumption of what life looks like under the sun… that is, let’s think about life and what makes sense if we take God out of the picture. We also need to remember that the aspiration (quickly becoming a basic need for some) that a job be satisfying is a very modern, western, middle class idea. The vast majority of people in history, and throughout the world today simply work to survive and provide.
Also I fully agree that godly Christian behaviour at work (or anywhere) can supplement gospel preaching and make it more winsome. However, godly Christian living, without accompanying speech explaining why we live that way, can only ever teach religion and not the gospel. I’m planning to expand that idea in another post.
I also agree that there are stages of life when our responsibilities to those entrusted to our care mean that our priority on gospel ministry needs to take on a different form. However, even in that context, the priority of our hearts doesn’t change… simply how we express it.
Gordo –
I love your article. Don’t feel persecuted. I love you brother.
Timothy –
Thanks for your thoughts.
I was only thinking about work this side of the resurrection. I’m not sure that we’re told anything about work in the new heavens and new earth. Do you have particular verses in mind that speak about that?
I fully agree that the resurrection is bodily, and that we’re not going to spend eternity floating around on clouds. However, as to whether we ‘work’ in the world to come… I’m not sure. We certainly praise God, but as for other work, I don’t believe we can speak about that with any degree of confidence.
Your argument that Gen 1:28 means more than I stated is based on the assumption that we work post-resurrection. I would love to hear the grounding for that assumption.
Jean –
Thanks for your thoughts… I enjoyed reading your post.
My reflection is that your 7 reasons all fit within the structure of thinking and the 2 reasons that I’ve argued for.
Do you feel that I’ve missed some of your emphases?
Roger –
I appreciate your concern.
I tried to be very clear that whether or not we are deemed to be in ‘full-time’ public ministry or not, our priority ought to be the same. If I’m working 50 hours a week as a plumber, that is less important than teaching my kids (or other people’s kids) about Jesus.
In terms of using our jobs to bring glory to God through our good deeds… I take it that a theology of work is irrelevant to that. What we need there is a theology of the Christian life (our time at work simply represents a part of our whole life). In all our lives, work included, we are living out the gospel of grace as we love those around us. To import into the work element of our lives a particular theology that emphasises that part of life in it’s capacity to glorify God seems unbiblical to me.
As I said in the post… …our paid work is less significant than the gospel proclamation and ministry that we do. Sharing the gospel and teaching a Bible study group, a Sunday school class or our own children about Jesus is far more important than the work we do in order to survive and to enable us to be generous.
Gav! no fair trying to win the ‘most comments on a blog post trophy’ by posting a dozen of your own!!
Gordo
It’s the personal touch… the individual response… it’s all about people.
BTW thanks for adding another comment to the tally!
Hi All,
Sorry to join the discussion a little late but I want to just raise an issue about Ecclesiastes 3 (slightly off tangent I know but…)
I don’t buy the “life under the sun” being life in the world without God in the picture. In Eccl I think that “life under the sun” represents life in this world with God. All through the book the writer is wrestling with the fact that he knows that God is there (3:17, 8:12-13) but even the fact that God is there doesn’t seem to take away the “vanity” of life in this world.
In fact, I want to go one step further and suggest that his point in the book is that life in the world is characterised by a “vanity” created by God (1:15 cf 3:11 and 7:14). And I take it (3:11ff) created by God to teach us to fear him.
I want to say basically that in Ecclesiastes there is a twofold problem. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow (either good or bad) and I am not sure what happens after death (it is better to be alive than to be dead). And it all comes from God. So the only thing that I can be sure of is that in some way God will judge everything (12:14).
The difference that the resurrection of Jesus brings is that I can now know with certainty what comes after death BUT I still cannot know what will happen tomorrow! And so the existential angst is still a reality for Christians. However, knowing what happens at death makes a big difference.
So, the big question we need to ask is about judgement (yet again). What happens at judgement? Well, I want to say that it is the way that we have lived our lives (what we have done, thought and said) that will bring glory and honour and praise to God (1Peter 2:12).
And so, while I in essence agree with Gavin, I think that he is overstating the case. Work, as a commandment of God (which I think that it is) is part of living our life in obedience to God which brings him honour and glory on the last day. And so I want to suggest that it is possible to even glorify God without speaking (for example – I will choose to work on work time and not evangelise in certain situations, or if I evangelise, I won’t put it on my timesheet). Or, I think in 1Peter 3 – there are moments when in particular relationships we spend less time talking and more time living, if I can make that distinction.
Anyway – I have gone on for far too long. Hope that this contributes a little bit?!
So for those in full-time paid work when and how (I guess I am particularly thinking of mwk)do you undertake gospel proclamation work and do you find you really have sufficient time and energy?
I am of course including all the ‘support’ ministries which mean that the above can take place. No Lone-Rangerism implied.
Cathy
Hi Gavin!
Yes, I agree my post fits within your structure and assumptions well – the 7 reasons aren’t of the “secular work builds God’s kingdom” nature. I was trying to think of reasons work has meaning apart from this.
Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Jean.
If I may, I thought you guys might benefit from hearing Jeff Noblit of Anchored in Truth. Here is the link below you will have to scroll down to find the sermon.
Noblit links Worship and Work. It is a very exciting sermon from a reformed pastor.
11/21/2004 Worship Revolutionizes the Workplace Ephesians 6:5-9
http://www.anchoredintruth.org/resources/sermons
Hi Gavin
Can I put my hand up to agree with Paul G about ‘life under the sun’ – life not apart from God, but for people who are not God.
Another creation passage to consider is Gen 2:15. Certainly it’s pre-fall, in a garden beyond finding again. But it’s a garden shaped like the temple, which place does figure quite a lot in the rest of the Bible. And the verbs used (work & keep) are elsewhere translated ‘serve/worship & obey’.
I’m not saying work = proclamation of the word. Yet I think there is ‘meaning & satisfaction’ in work – paradoxically not in the work, but only in the work as God-given.
But now, time to stop work & have tea & cake with my wife!
Gavin,
thank you for responding to my comment.
I have to admit that I, myself, am not so sure whether we will have work after the resurrection. I tend to think that we will, mostly because I have been taught that way by people around me, but I can’t point to any specific Bible texts for it. So I was asking “Or are we not going to have any work to do after the resurrection?”
I agree that, until we have a solid Biblical text for it, we can’t be sure whether we will work after the resurrection.
Now, without that assumption of work after the resurrection then, can I still argue that the work has any significance when it is not directly related to the Gospel preaching?
I think I can.
I believe so, because at the Fall, the work was cursed to have side-effects, e.g. toilsomeness and vain-ness, etc., but the work itself was never a curse from God at the beginning. When I read Genesis 1:28, I see a gracious invitation given to us from God to be part-takers of God’s work in this world. God holds and takes care of the whole creation, before and after the Fall, but within it, we are invited to be part of that work of God as the image-bearers of God. This work is indeed cursed and may not have lasting result physically any more for this world is passing away, and we will be given a new heaven and a new earth. But I think the service we offer up to God and for others in our daily work will be honoured and remembered by God as long as it is done for and from the love of God.
However, one can never work for and from the love of God unless he is a Christian, and no one can be a Christian without being told of the Gospel. Hence, I still think that Gospel work is more foundational than other types of work. I just do not think that when a Christian works as a road worker, as a bank teller, as a taxi driver, as a chef, as a politician, as a computer programmer, that his work is purely for his survival or to be generous, but one’s work can be, and must be to honour God by the faithfulness and honesty in their work, and to serve others as an agent of God’s caring work in this world, and that is a good reason for work.
What do you think? Am I too naïve to think this way?
Dear Gavin,
I have been troubled by some of the implications of your post for we western Christians. If one is not in full-time (paid) ministry, then how do we justify our lifestyles which go well beyond basic survival (food/shelter/clothing), caring for family members and giving generously?
Are we in fact urged by the Scriptures to see the excess money from our work in terms of ministry opportunities or is there a place for enjoying some of the good things in creation (books, good coffee to name two!)?
Also, where do we draw the line? I am deeply challenged by the Charles (?) Wesley model but as yet have not lived up to it.
Thank you
Cathy
Hi all,
Some further possibilities in thinking about the value of work:
Happy to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for all the comments!
The same idea has come up a number of times:
Paul: “The way that we have lived our lives (what we have done, thought and said) that will bring glory and honour and praise to God (1 Peter 2:12)”
Tim: “But I think the service we offer up to God and for others in our daily work will be honoured and remembered by God as long as it is done for and from the love of God … one’s work can be, and must be to honour God by the faithfulness and honesty in their work, and to serve others as an agent of God’s caring work in this world, and that is a good reason for work.”
Rob: “Is work done by Christians part of their worship of God, as something done in the body as an act of faithful obedience, acceptable to God in Christ Jesus ?… Is work serving the Lord Christ, and really done for him? Would this lend dignity to any work, even the most menial?”
Can I reiterate the clarification I offered in the comments above? It is our whole lives lived out of the grace of God, loving God and loving our neighbours, that glorify God and honour Him. Obviously work is part of that, but it not work ‘as work’ that does that. Rather, work honours God in the same way that unpaid work, leisure, Sabbath, parenting etc. honour God.
Now, I think that is a way to ensure that we value all we do as our acceptable sacrifice of praise to God, instead of focusing on a particular part of some of our lives as especially honouring to God (i.e. work).
Does that make sense?
Hi Gavin! Yep, I agree with this 100%. This has been a most helpful discussion.