Idolatry 3: Work

Intro

this one maybe some of you are starting to wrestle with now

or maybe its something that you are already caught up in and you just haven’t realized it

for most of you this one will come later but likely for all of you at some point as american teenagers who are set up for success will have to wrestle with it

the idol of work can be an ugly one because its one that’s easy to justify, even when I know I’m tricking myself and those around me to justify it

how can work be an idol in our culture today?

1 Timothy 5:8

just like the other idols we have discussed, there is nothing wrong with working in and of its self

in fact it is something that is commanded not just here but in multiple places in scripture

it is good and just to provide for your family and especially for your household

not to provide is a sin

to be lazy and not do anything when you could be productive and helpful is just as much a sin as making work your idol

but even our savior did not spend every waking moment with other people teaching and healing

sin can be you doing a good thing for the wrong reasons

Molech

a Caananite deity that is depicted as a bulls head or goats head with a furnace for a belly and often multiple arms

made that way to accept sacrifices, often children

the same letters used to spell Molech spell the word for king in Hebrew

I don’t bring this up to say that any of you will likely struggle with child sacrifice or the worship of an ancient super weird deity

but for the idol that is our topic it is important to see the contrast here

if we make anything and especially in our culture, our work the most important thing in our life, we will likely be sacrificing other things in our lives to it along the way

like those relationships that we talked about last week that were given to us for good and so we could build each other up

or maybe our morals are what will be given up so that we can appear to be the person that the people we work for would want to hire or promote

just like we did with relationships and we will do for all of these idols, whats the point?

Ecclesiastes 2

Solomon asked for wisdom from God and God gave it to him

he used that wisdom for good and for his own pleasures as well

Solomon worked his whole life to make Israel the greatest kingdom on earth and when he was done it was at its height for sure on this earth

but the true value of all of that he shares with us in his writings

it was just vanity and striving after wind, pointless and egotistical

all of that work and work he did well, is just going to be passed on to someone who didn’t earn it and won’t appreciate it

Solomon is trying to tell the reader that if your work your job, your occupation, is the most important thing in your life, you will have wasted a life

it is much better to simply enjoy what you do even when its hard and rejoice knowing that we are blessed by God to be where we are

putting God first, even when we consider the work we do

Application

its not wrong to work, in fact its commanded that you care for the people in your life and have some way to do that

work and work hard, doing your best to be a provider, to be helpful, and find enjoyment in the life you’ve been given

but don’t make work the idol to which you sacrifice all of those things that you were meant to be working for

work hard at whatever your hands find to do but remember the God who stitched those hands together for you