Wisdom and Work

Colossians 3:22-24

Wise work is done as for the Lord.

Over your lifetime, there is one time commitment (activity) that more than doubles all the rest. Some of you will become experts in it, some complete failures, and most of us will just be mediocre.

You, on average, will spend 227,000 hours, or 28 years, sleeping.

Contrasted with working – 10 years or 90,000 hours; about a third of an adult's active life.

We spend far more time sleeping, but we don’t let that activity give us meaning or identity. As if our introductions would require it… “Hi, I’m Jonathan, an inefficient side-sleeper!”

But work, that which we are compensated for or must do out of necessity, often defines us.

It’s the first question many ask when they meet someone new; we believe it tells us a lot about a person; it's how we form perspectives and impressions of people.

And in our age, there are fewer and fewer commitments vying for the identity-claiming pull of work. Borderline religious.

An article in The Atlantic in 2019 captured the essence of work’s command over identity. “Workism is making America Miserable.”

“The decline of traditional faith in America has coincided with an explosion of new atheisms. Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.

What is workism? It is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work…” Derek Thompson

When you make work your sole identity, it becomes a tyrant. Some of us may get a sense of this tyranny even now.

“When work becomes the primary arbiter of identity, purpose, worth, and community in our lives, it has ceased to function as employment and begun to function as a religion. Or at least we have made it responsible for providing the very things to which we used to look to God.” David Zahl

Again in our wisdom series, we encounter a terrain of life that promises what only God provides.

We are in the midst of discerning biblical wisdom for several arenas of life. And when it comes to work, there are myriad streams of guidance in Scripture and themes we could build from. For our purposes today, we want to explore a better place of identity and think through how that shapes our perspective on work.

Wise work is done as for the Lord.

So wisdom begs the question: what is the basis for work that doesn’t demand to be our identity? And once we have an answer to that question, we can figure out the way we work… wisely.

The Root of Wise Work

Last week, wisdom told us not to build our identity on what we own. This week, it tells us not to build it on what we do.

Jesus’ exhortation was to consider the ravens and lilies and God’s great provision for us.

Martin Luther famously noted that God feeds the birds, but He does it through the farmer, the baker, and the miller.

God’s care for us includes the use of our hands, our minds, and our experience in work. And it is baked into our existence.

You were made for it. That’s where we land: surveying biblical wisdom on work.

We can catch that view of work even from the beginning of the redemptive story, where we see God working.

Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)

Genesis 2:1–2 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. (ESV)

God works, and he passes it on to humanity.

Genesis 2:15 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (ESV)

Tending the garden. We may imagine that the garden, the abundance, and the presence of God would entail leisure. But work is central to the human experience from our first moments. It is image-bearing.

Ordering the garden, being like the Father, bringing life out of nothing.

Work is not a necessary evil; it is a dignity. You are most like your Creator when you are taking raw materials—whether that is a blank spreadsheet, a stack of lumber, a chaotic classroom or home—and bringing order, beauty, and flourishing out of them.

So work is good. Then why does it feel like the opposite?

Work becomes toil once sin enters our story. It is labor, by the sweat of our brow. Biblical wisdom still calls work a gift, at least we should see it that way in we want any joy in our lives. The trouble is that it is such a central part of humanity’s existence, maybe even purpose, that it is controlling, consuming. Likely why we rely on it for identity.

Ecclesiastes 2:18–23 “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, [19] and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. [20] So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, [21] because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. [22] What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? [23] For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” (ESV)

This is the tension of toil; for its own sake or merely as a means to an end, work leaves you vexed without rest.

The best the preacher of Ecclesiastes can come up with is seeing work as a gift

Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, [25] for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? [26] For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. (ESV)

The frustration of working without the Lord (vanity). At least get some enjoyment out of your toil by seeing it as a gift. But that still leaves identity-defining questions. Ecclesiastes always asks questions that Jesus answers.

There is a better way… of identity and of work. Ecclesiastes asks the question that wisdom needs answered. Paul answers it.

We see it in the apostle Paul’s exhortation to the church in Colossae.

Colossians 3:1–4 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [3] For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (ESV)

The root of wise work is identity in Christ. Because our lives are hidden with Christ, we are freed from the tyranny of “workism” or “workoholism.” Rescued from work-as-identity.

The freedom of not having to look to work to provide something only God gives.

Given that freedom, what does the doing look like?

The Fruit of Wise Work

Your secure identity alters day-to-day labor.

In a life submitted to the reign of Christ, work is not vanity, and we dress appropriately!

Colossians 3:12–17 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, [13] bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [14] And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. [15] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (ESV)

It’s what we wear when we work, and these virtues are not only for the church but for every core relationship of the human experience, of which work is one.

Before Paul tells us how to work, he tells us what to wear. You don't walk onto the job still dressed in workism's anxious, performative clothes; you put on compassion, patience, peace. Then Paul gets specific: verse 22.

Colossians 3:22–24 “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. [23] Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, [24] knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (ESV)

Our guiding text today is from a section of Colossians known as the Household Codes. Following the long stream of new identity in Christ, Paul highlights that we still participate in core human relationships that require attention: husband and wife, children and parents, workers and bosses.

Work resides in a core human relationship.

In the first century, in the realm of Roman work, bondservant (or slave) was a fairly regular “job.” Bondservants covered all vocations, and in Rome in that era it is believed that some 60 million people were this kind of servant. The way of pay was ownership.

These texts have been badly misused to defend chattel slavery, and that's not what's happening here.

A modern worker chooses their job and can quit; a Roman bondservant could not. But the principles for wise work still apply.

For the Christian, all that we do is as for the Lord; we are serving Christ. This radically changes our perspective on work.

“Implicit here is an affirmation of the value of labor in God’s sight. Because God created us to exercise dominion over his creation, he is pleased when we fulfill that by pursuing excellence in our jobs. In this sense, the words “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it!” (Col. 3:23) are as much a promise as a command. By the spiritual renewal offered us in Christ by God’s grace, we can do our jobs with zest.” Theology of Work Project

In our work, whatever it is, we are not to be performative - only work well when someone is watching. We are not to labor as people-pleasers. But with sincerity of heart.

In 2024, according to Reuters, Wells Fargo fired more than a dozen employees in its wealth-management division after discovering they'd been using devices to simulate mouse and keyboard activity to appear busy while not actually working. This is the exact modern shape of first-century eye-service: performing presence for a watching authority rather than actually doing the work.

Working heartily as for the Lord means accomplishing your tasks with full commitment, understanding that it is fundamentally done in Christ’s name rather than merely to satisfy human supervisors.

“The kind of direction found here in Colossians is not at all unique. In fact, similar issues are addressed in a number of passages of Scripture, such as 1 Timothy 2–3; 1 Peter 3; and the similar passage in Ephesians 5–6.

The most striking thing about this code is the way it calls Christians to live out their faith in whatever role they perform in society. That might be in a position of great authority or of little or no authority.” Alistair I. Wilson

Our identity is no longer defined by our work, but by our relationship with Jesus, and that defines how we work.

This reframes our entire relationship to work.

What Colossians calls us to is recognizing that we represent Jesus in the workplace, so how we treat others and accomplish our work reflects on the Lord.

More fundamentally still, working “in Jesus’ name” means acknowledging him as your ultimate master and the one to whom you’re finally accountable. Many bosses, One master.

Not just the worker, but also the employer in Christ.

Colossians 4:1 “Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. (ESV)

Alexander Maclaren said, “If we try to live that commandment for twenty-four hours, it will probably not be its vagueness of which we complain.”6 Employers, if you truly realize that you must answer to God for the way you conduct yourself with your employees, you will care about what happens to them. You will be concerned that they are paid properly. You will be concerned about their illnesses, their spouses, their children, their education. Along with this, you may have more problems. In fact, this kind of caring attitude assures that you will. But you will also have the fullness of Christ.

Also, submit all your strategy and structure to the Lord.

This all follows and flows from biblical wisdom. As the Proverbs call for diligence, no slack.

It might mean there is some work you don’t do… since it should be done for the Lord.

There is no division between "sacred" and "secular" work. A doctor heals the body, a lawyer protects justice, a janitor preserves health, and an artist feeds the soul. Every legitimate job is a channel of God’s care for humanity. You don't need to quit your job to do "ministry"—your job is your ministry.

Dorothy Sayers' essay "Why Work?" — she argued that the Church has done the carpenter a disservice by telling him his sacred duty is making shoddy tables for a fair price rather than telling him God cares that he makes good tables.

And from the Lord we receive the inheritance as a reward. More than vanity, eternity.

We know the motivation for right behavior, to match what the Apostle Paul is encouraging, is a transformed heart and wholehearted commitment to the Lord. Being made new.

If you have been “raised” with Christ, this is for you.

“Christ’s authority is not bounded by church walls. He is Lord of the workplace for both workers and bosses.” Theology of Work Project (William Messenger)

This flows into all of the relationships of life.

Your past, present, and future are settled in Christ, so now you can work as for him, in whatever work God has given to you.

Wise work is done for the Lord.

So who are you? Not "what do you do" — who are you. Because if you're in Christ, that question already has an answer that has nothing to do with your job title.

Look at Ephesians 2:10. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

That word "workmanship" is the Greek word poiēma. It's where we get our English word "poem." Paul isn't saying you're a product. He's saying you're a poem — God's finished work of art, made in Christ Jesus, before you ever produced anything at all.

That's the whole argument of this sermon in one word. Workism tells you that you make yourself through your output — that you become someone by what you produce. Paul says the opposite: you are already made. Already God's workmanship. Already a completed, beloved poem written by the hand of God. And it's because that's settled — because your identity was never up for negotiation in the first place — that you're free to walk into the good works he's prepared for you. Not to become something. Because of what you already are.

So here's your real introduction. Not "Hi, I'm Jonathan, an inefficient side-sleeper." Not "Hi, I'm a pastor" or "Hi, I'm an accountant" or "Hi, I'm between jobs right now." Try this one: chosen. Holy. Beloved. Hidden with Christ in God. That doesn't change on Monday morning. It doesn't change when the performance review is bad, and it doesn't inflate when it's good.

And because it doesn't change, you're free to work heartily — not to prove something, but because you already have everything you need to prove. William Tyndale gave his life translating Scripture into English and was executed in 1536 without ever seeing what that work would become — the backbone of English Bible translation for the next five hundred years. He didn't need to see the fruit to do the work faithfully. Neither do you. From the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Know Jesus. Apart from faith in the work of Jesus for you, all your work is vanity — striving after wind. In him, work means more, because you mean more, settled and secure, before you've done a single thing.

Work heartily. As for the Lord, and not for men. This is what you were made for. He has redeemed you, and through you, he is redeeming work itself — for the good of your neighbor, and for his glory.