In the United States nearly one third, 100 million people, receive government benefits: 50 plus million on food stamps, 83 million on Medicaid, and when you add in Medicare and Social Security it becomes almost half. We are becoming a nation of entitled consumers rather than producers, and as Christians we should pause to reflect on the meaning of work.
Work is not something we do in order to pass the time or a necessary evil that we do as little of as possible. Work has dignity. In Genesis 1, before the God makes man, he works, creating and shaping, and then makes man in his image, made to imitate him. In 1:28 he tells Adam and Eve, the human race, to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over it. That is, get to work.
God works and man imitates him before the fall, before sin enters into the picture. Work gets harder after Adam’s rebellion as the ground is cursed and would now produce thorns. But God still blesses our work. The sleep of the laboring man, Proverbs tells us, is sweet. Even our redemption is couched in terms of harvest, 30, 60 and 100-fold.
Work is central to the life of a Christian. Jesus told his disciples the workman is worthy of his hire (Lk. 10:7), and Paul quotes him telling Timothy that a man who wouldn’t work to support his family is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:18).
Much of the church today has fallen back into thinking that certain people are called into ministry while everyone works a job. But this was addressed wonderfully by the Reformers and Martin Luther in particular who taught that each believer has a calling before God. Vocation extends beyond ministry. The Latin word for calling is vocare from which we get vocation. Luther said every single believer has a vocation, a calling, to which he or she was fitted by God and to which every believer should endeavor with faithfulness in order to be obedient to God and display his glory in a fallen world.
God made us to work and to find joy and fulfillment in our work. Resist the temptation to complain about work. Get to work early and be productive throughout your day. Care about those you work with and work in such a way that reveals your gratitude to God for your job and for the opportunity to work with them. Don’t make an idol of your work, but don’t work lazily, bearing the name of Jesus in vain.
You kids heading back to school, be thankful for the sacrifices of your parents and teachers, for the opportunity to learn and prepare to work faithfully and fruitfully your whole life. You get to learn all sorts of things; be interested in those things.
God blessed Adam to work, and in Jesus, the second Adam, he blesses us to work.