The Gift of Work

Happy Labor Day!

I honor you

I want to remind you and encourage you. Work is a gift.

Turn to

Genesis 2:5

The Bible is all about God. So is life.

We saw God creating the universe with His words. “Let there be”. With intention and purpose.

He made humans, “Adam”, in His “Image”, out of the dust of the earth and personally breathing life into us and put us in charge of His world. We are therefore wanted, made to represent Him, which involves being responsible for the world around us, the people around us. Loving each other and respecting each other as image bearers, and obeying God and serving the world and each other.

Today let’s look at part of our responsibility.

1. God gave us work to do.

a. Remember: Work the land.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:15–17 ESV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

iii. So God made a garden in a land called Eden and put the man there and told him to work the garden, keep it and enjoy it (except for that one tree)

iv. A gift and a responsibility!

v. This also involves oversight over the animals.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

vii. That’s pretty amazing- God made the animals and then tells the man to name them.

viii. Like giving a kid a stuffed toy and telling them to name them. But it’s God’s actual created beings!

ix. And God goes along with it! What you name them, that’s their name now!

x. And when you get to name something… it implies some degree of ownership and responsibility.

b. When we take care of whatever part of creation is under our influence, we are being godly.

c. We we don’t… we are not.

d. Does this mean we all have to plant gardens and get a dog?

e. No- but we all have been placed somewhere, and that place comes with some degree of responsibility.

i. At home

ii. School

iii. Work

iv. Church family

v. We are made to represent God, His will, among the people, in the place where we are placed.

vi. Have you given that any thought at all? Where are you? What are you doing with it? Does what you do represent God’s will, or something else?

f. We’ve been given work to do. And...

2. Work is a gift, not a punishment.

a. Why?

b. To work is to be like God

i. God as creator worked the first 6 days of creation

ii. (remember as image bearers we represent Him!)

iii. To refuse to work is to make it seem like you’re more important than your creator.

iv. And since he commands it…

c. To work is to serve God

i. Remember he gives us the work to do.

ii. Everything is His, so our work shows how much we care about what we’ve been given.

iii. And He’s put you where you are for a reason. You are not where you are in the relationships where you are by accident.

iv. To have oversight and responsibility. START THERE. Get to work.

v. It’s part of being in God’s image. It’s part of serving and obeying God.

d. To work is also to serve others

i. Recognize the image of God in others. What you do affects others

ii. What you have to do is to serve them.

iii. So… not only what you do but how you do it affects others, and God sees it too.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

e. And work is the means by which you provide for you and your family.

i. Adam got his food directly.

ii. We make money by which we buy what we need.

iii. That should earn some gratefulness, yes?

iv. So if work is a way to be like God and an opportunity to represent him, serve others, and provide for your needs…

3. Whatever God gives you to do, do it well and do it fairly.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

b. Students- class participation, homework, etc.

i. Do your best, like doing it for God.

ii. Treat your teachers, and fellow students, like you’d like to be treated.

iii. The grades will probably take care of themselves.

c. Workers. Same.

d. Bosses. Same,

e. Retirees- Some of you are busy people too. What is before you? What opportunities have God given you?

f. Serving in church. No one should do everything. But trust me, you were not made and given to a church to “attend”.

g. Neither are we to “phone it in” through the responsibilities placed before us.

h. Transition to conclusion

The world doesn’t need more lazy people.

The world needs people who will work.

The world doesn’t need people who hate their schools, hate their jobs. Hate the housework. Hate serving their community. Hate serving their church. Their fellow human.

Imagine a world where we worked like we cared for what we do and saw it as a part of taking responsibility for what God has given us in this moment and as an opportunity to represent his goodness and love and generosity!

Let’s work and serve like that.

Reflect

Pray

English Standard Version Chapter 6

The LORD bless you and keep you;

25  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 2:5–9. [2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 2:15–17. [3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 2:19.