#8 in Proverbs / Foundation of Christian Work Ethic

The Way of Wisdom: The Virtue of Work

Theology of Work with a foundation in the Proverbs

Intro: Laziness is the real epidemic.

Last week, my Army boss and I were trying to get some lunch. We drove into a fast food location, and they were offering only drive-thru, even though there was no local ordinance outlawing inside dining. When we asked the lady at the window why they weren’t opening the doors, she said, “It’s because we can’t get enough people to work the kitchens and cleanup. We have to choose.” This is in spite of an entry-level wage nearing $15/hr.

There is an epidemic in this country, but it has nothing to do with Coronavirus. The real epidemic is laziness.

More jobs are available than ever before. Yet people are staying home at greater rates than ever. As of last July, job openings outpaced unemployed workers by 2.2M. Ie, 2.2 million people would rather stay home than go to work at jobs that are immediately available.

Not long ago our government (Federal) wanted to send $300 PER WEEK in unemployment benefits to people not working. Many made off better than working, so they kept cashing checks instead of looking for work.

This wouldn’t happen if people understood and believed what God commands concerning work.

Transition: From working to watching

For most of human history, work was required in order to survive. Unless you were born into a particularly affluent family, you had to work if you wanted to eat. You had to raise your own crops and your own meat. Or buy it at the local market from your neighbor. You had to prepare your own meals, including animal slaughter and cleaning and making meals from scratch. If you wanted a bath, you had to draw the water from a well; then you either took a cool bath or waited for the water to heat over a fire. You made your clothes by hand; you washed them by hand; you mended them by hand.

Every day was work from sunrise to sunset.

More recently, there’s been a seismic shift in the way we see work. Technology and capitalism have combined to produce an affluence that rivals the richest kindgoms from ages past. Quite literally we live today like kings and queens. Creature comforts have supplanted daily toil, and streaming services have replaced a hard day’s work.

One of the fruits of this exchange is seen in our view towards work. Instead of providing for our daily bread, now work has to give us meaning. “I won’t work at a job that I can’t enjoy” is a common refrain. It’s interesting that very few people before about 100 years ago would have even understood asking that question. Now it drives education departments.

Others think of work simply as a means to an end. [INSERT GRAPHIC OF MAN CHASING MONEY TO LIFE’S END.] “If I have to work, I want to make the most money I can so that I can retire and live the life I’ve always wanted to live.” From this vantage, work is merely a lever I pull that produces a paycheck.

But God’s Word gives us a different perspective: Work is good by itself. Work is a gift from God and often an end in itself. Work is good, even if it doesn’t produce a large paycheck or give meaning to my life. This is the perspective of work I want to show you from God’s Word.

Work is Good.

God works.

Scriptural Support

Prov 8:22 “22 “The Lord acquired me at the beginning of his creation, before his works of long ago.”

Gen 2:2-3, “2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.”

Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31, “31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.”

Jesus

John 4:34, “34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.”

John 5:17, “17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.””

John 17:4, “4 I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

“It is finished.” What is finished? The work!

Principles:

We are made in the image of God, and that means we are created to reflect His glory. The way we do that is by being like Him when we can.

It is God’s nature to work. He didn’t “begin” working as a result of man’s fall into sin. He doesn’t work merely to overcome the Devil or defeat evil. He already was at work before any of these things occurred because it is in His nature to work.

Add it up and working glorifies God. As His image bearers, when we work we are reflecting His character, because He works.

Transition: This is a nature segue into my second and final main idea: When God created you, He created you to work.

God created you to work.

Scriptural Support

Exodus 20:9, “9 You are to labor six days and do all your work,”. The 7th day sabbath assumes the other six will be filled with work.

Genesis 1:28, “28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”” The first command from God was not “Don’t eat” but “work and rule the earth.”

Genesis 2:15, “15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.”

Principle: That we work is not a result of the fall. The curse applied to how hard we must work, the difficulties of life, and eventual death. But work was a part of God’s “very good” creation before Adam and Eve fell.

Christians ought to be the best workers.

Examples in the NT

Barnabas and Saul, Acts 13:2, “2 As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.””

Everyone, 1 Cor 15:58, “58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Saints, Ephesians 4:12, “12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,”

Work hard, Col 3:23, “23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people,”

Because we know better.

We know that it’s God’s nature to work.

We know that God created us to work.

How can we be lazy?

Principles

Work is good because work reflects the character of God.

Work is good because work is a part of the “very good” creation God made in the beginning.

Work is not merely a means to an end; it is an end in itself.

Work is not a means to an end; it is an end.

Applications

Getting by is not good enough.

We should be content with what we have. But we should work for what we have.

Freeloading is a sin.

It’s not an option for a Christian, even if the government says it is.

Children should learn to work while they’re at home.

Retirement should not be the end of your working days.