WORK God’s Design

We’re Wrong and We’re Right We’re wrong because we often have an unbiblical view of work We’re right because work is hard in a sin-cursed world

Truth #1: We were made to work “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Gen. 1:26 “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” John 5:17

Truth #1: We were made to work “And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over…every living thing that moves on the earth.” Gen. 1:28 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Gen 2:15 Biblically speaking, work is the first thing we were called to do, and the main thing that will fill our lives.

Truth #2: All work is done for God “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people- pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.” Eph. 6:5-8

Truth #2: All work is done for God The way we work matters, because God judges or rewards the manner of all our work. Our work should not be done just to please our teachers or parents or people around us, but should be done at a level that will please God. All your work is a matter of stewardship

Truth #3: Our work is part of God’s work “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…” Gen. 2:5 “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:38 All our work is helping build his kingdom, sustain and beautify his creation, and bless his people.

Truth #3: Our work is part of God’s work “You were created to contribute to God’s good world. Every job has a host of tasks that don’t really excite us or unleash our creative energies. But if we look at our work through the lens of Scripture, our work, no matter what we have been called to do, is imbued with great meaning and significance.” Tom Nelson

Application #1: Diligence and contentment are marks of godliness Prov. 6:6-11 “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like an armed man.” Prov. 21:5 “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes to poverty.”

Application #1: Diligence and contentment are marks of godliness 2 Thess. 3:10-12 “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.” Phil. 2:14 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God.”

Application #2: Obedience to God means doing work well “What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables. Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly – but what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry?” Your Christianity will have impacted the biggest area of your life when you do your work, your school, well.

Application #3: Work is worship “On Sunday we say we go to worship and on Monday we say we go to work, but our language reveals our foggy theological thinking. This dichotomy is not what God designed nor what he desires for our lives.” How will you approach school tomorrow morning?