We spend most of our waking lives working. That is what God wants us to do.

• Why is that?
• Is that the way God really wants it?
• Does the bible have anything to say about the nature of work?
• Did Jesus weigh in on work?

Read the beginning of an essay penned by Bob Black in 1985 entitled “The Abolition of Work” read:

 No one should ever work. Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you’d care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working.

In a leisure-loving culture, many would wholeheartedly echo Black’s sentiment. Americans spend approximately 50 percent of their waking hours devoted to work. Is work a curse, or is it something that humans were uniquely designed to do? In stark contrast to the assertions of Bob Black, the significance and beneficial nature of work is a resounding theme in the Bible.

The origin of work is depicted in the book of Genesis. In the opening passage, God is the primary worker, busy with the creation of the world.

• The Bible states that God worked for six days and rested on the seventh day.
• These passages reveal that God was the first to do work on the earth.
• Therefore, legitimate work reflects the activity of God.
• Because God is inherently good, work is also inherently good

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.^[1]

Ephesians 4:28

Genesis 1:31 declares that, when God viewed the fruit of His labor, He called it “very good.” God examined and assessed the quality of His work, and when He determined that He had done a good job, He took pleasure in the outcome. By this example, it is apparent that work should be productive. Work should be conducted in a way that produces the highest quality outcome. The reward for work is the honor and satisfaction that comes from a job well done.

God reveals Himself to the world by His work. Through natural revelation, God’s existence is made known to every person on earth. Thus, work reveals something about the one doing the work. It exposes underlying character, motivations, skills, abilities, and personality traits.

Jesus echoed this principle when He declared that bad trees produce only bad fruit and good trees only good fruit. Isaiah indicates that God created man for His own glory. Paul challenges us that whatever we do should be to His glory. The term glorify means “to give an accurate representation.” Therefore, work done by Christians should give the world an accurate picture of God in righteousness, faithfulness, and excellence.

God created man in His image with characteristics like Him. He created man to work with Him in the world. God planted a garden and put Adam in it to cultivate and maintain it. Additionally, Adam and Eve were to subdue and rule over the earth.

• What does this original work mandate mean?
• To cultivate means to foster growth and to improve.
• To maintain means to preserve from failure or decline.
• To subdue means to exercise control and discipline.
• Rule over means to administer, take responsibility for, and make decisions.

This mandate applies to all vocations. The 15th-century Reformation leaders saw an occupation as a ministry before God. Jobs should be acknowledged as ministries, and workplaces should be considered as mission fields. The real work in God’s kingdom is done in the marketplace and not in “church buildings”.

The Fall of Man depicted in Genesis 3 generated a change in work. In response to Adam’s sin, God pronounced several judgments, the most severe of which is death. However, labor and the results of labor figure centrally in the rest of the judgments. God cursed the ground. Work became difficult. The word toil is used, implying challenge, difficulty, exhaustion, and struggle.

• Work itself was still good, but man must expect that it will be accomplished by “the sweat of his brow.”
• Also, the result will not always be positive.
• Although man will eat the plants of the field, the field will also produce thorns and thistles.
• Hard work and effort will not always be rewarded in the way the laborer expects or desires.

It is also noted that man would be eating from the produce of the field, not the garden. A garden is symbolic of an earthly paradise made by God as a safe enclosure. Gardens also symbolize purity and innocence. The earth or field, on the other hand, represents an unbounded, unprotected space and an emphasis on loss of inhibition and worldliness. Therefore, the work environment can be hostile, especially to. As we will see, faith at work will probably lead to persecution.

Some questions to consider:

• What has Jesus asked me to do that I am not doing?
• How can I “take up my cross” daily at work?
• What does it mean to “lose my life” for my co-workers?
• How should I test myself to see if I am faithful at work? Am I getting helpful feedback?
• What is the leadership model we see in the Jesus Manifesto?
• How can I be a happy leader who is favored by God?

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 4:28). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.