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- Why I Labor | Part 2
Why I Labor | Part 2
Labor Day now seems like the distant past, but as a reminder from Part 1 of this installment, we looked at just one facet of the Faith & Work Movement, which is how believers can separate themselves from American (evangelical) syncretism. Our work is not about defining success according the American Dream or corporate ascension, but through:
service: Mark 10:43-45
sacrifice: Phil 2:5-8
submission: 1 Pet 2:13-14; Rom 13:1-2; Titus 3:1
and sometimes suffering: 1 Peter 2:20-21
Visions of secular success can slowly but surely erode this biblical understanding of work, which is in part why research shows only 6% of American adults hold a biblical worldview:
..the overwhelming majority of American adults (88%) lack a cohesive, coherent worldview, and instead substitute a patchwork of conflicting, often irreconcilable beliefs and values as they navigate life.
So what is the ‘Reformed’ view of work? How can we ensure that our professional aspirations align with a biblical worldview?
It starts with having a solid foundation of the theology of work..
Here's a look at what's up ahead:
Lets ask a different question
In Part 1 we asked a prompt:
What if loving others well and doing good work amidst workplace pressure is the clearest picture of Jesus your coworkers will see?
Part 2 will ask this from a different angle:
What if a theologically-sound and God-inspired view of work could totally redefine how you show up to work and even how you set your career ambitions?
Work established by creation itself
Remember that Paradise wasn’t a vacation—it was a vocation.
To start to answer this question, we need to understand God’s purpose for our work- HOW and WHY we were created to labor. To do that, we must first look at what the Bible tells us about our Creator:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form and void.. (Genesis 1:1)
We know from the next verses that God speaks the universe into existence. Science now shows us (more and more with each discovery) the irreducible complexity of His creation. Genesis shows us that this painstaking detail is deliberate in how God exercises His creativity.
God is a worker. From the very beginning of the Scriptures we are faced with the inescapable fact that work is part of God’s character and nature.
Vocation is “integral not incidental to the mission of God.” “The Bible begins with the announcement, In the beginning God created...not sat majestic in the heavens. He created. He did something. He made something. He fashioned heaven and earth. The week of creation was a week of work.”
When we refer to God as a Creator God, we are implicitly saying that He both instituted the concept of work and demonstrated what it looks like. Part of his nature which is critical not to miss in the six day creation account is how He reflected on His labor:
So for six “days” God is hard at work, forming and filling the earth up with life. And at the end of the week we read, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” This is God sitting back after a long, hard week’s work, sinking into his chair, and thinking to himself, Not bad. It’s God drawing joy from his labor. That sense of satisfaction and fulfillment you get when you’re good at what you do and you love it.
In contrast to how we feel after long 8/9/10 hour days (16 for those SAHMs 😱😬) , God does not get tired. He’s the omnipotent God of the universe..
What this shows us is that there is God-given quality to delighting in your labor. Resting in your work. God exhibits the pinnacle of creative energy and intricate beauty so that we don’t simply just stare in awe, but also work with such a vigor that we can similarly can admire the fruit of our labor.
the [Genesis] narrative is filled with metaphor after metaphor for who God is and what God is like. God is an artist, a designer, a creative . . . He’s an engineer, a builder . . . An ecologist, a zoologist, an expert in horticulture . . . A musician, a poet . . . A king, a shepherd . . . But above all, he’s a worker, and a vigorous one at that.
Even before man and woman step onto the scene to play their role, we’re given a clear picture of what vocation looks like. What it means to work as a calling, not as a means to end, but because there is inherent value in taking nothing and making it into something. Bringing order out of chaos. Harnessing raw, untapped potential to create something of worth. Ultimately, something to glorify our Creator God.
Responding to God’s handiwork
God took what was formless and empty and fashioned the most majestic, glorious surroundings. We as humans can’t fully fathom the depths of beauty and power needed to craft such handiwork. The splendor of creation always leads me back to Psalm 8:
1O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens..
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet..
I know for me it’s easy like King David in this Psalm to consider the heavens and God’s majesty and feel small and insignificant (v4). A clear, starry night in the wilderness will do that to ya. And it’s a right response to the glory of creation, the power of God, and the frailty of man. The term ‘son of man’ here even may emphasize that humanness in contrast to the stately splendor of the moon and stars.
However, verses 5 and 6 direct our attention not to our lowly estate, but upward to the heavens. It’s here we reflect on our identity, being made in the image of God. What does it mean to be made in God’s likeness and have authority to rule over his dominion? How does this impact our day-to-day work?
We’ll explore this in the next installment. Until then..
May the favor of the Lord our God be upon you, to establish the work of your hands,
Trent
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