An Open Door for Churches
A door has opened wide for churches to present young people with a Kingdom-of-God outlook on work. The whole idea of working has come under sharp scrutiny by Millennials and others. As many websites observe, “They no longer value the traditional workplace rules.” And “They don’t want to be just another cog in the wheel.”
The pandemic has intensified all this into what has become known as “The Great Resignation” and “quiet quitting.” In a BBC Worklife article, “The Rise of the Anti-Work Movement,” Brian O’Connor says, “some people are . . . wondering aloud if there’s purpose to their work.”
They’re asking a question for which the Bible has plenty of meaningful answers. Here, then, is a made-to-order opportunity for the church to step in and say, “Yes, God has given us many solid reasons for working.”
In this blog, I will briefly describe seven of those reasons. In future blogs, I hope to develop each of these at more length.
1. God tells us to work. For us human beings, work has always had a high priority in God’s thinking. He made only seven days in a week—86 percent of them made for working: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (Ex. 20:98). In various ways, this command gets repeated six more times. In the New Testament, God did not change his mind about work: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (II Thess. 3:10). Why work? To obey the One who made us.
2. Working mirrors God. The fifth word in Genesis tells us God is a worker: “In the beginning, God created.” His creating activity, says Genesis 2:2-3, was “work.” We, made in his image, have the high honor of doing what he does—working. Why work? By working we reflect into the world a small picture of what God is like.
3. Our work cares for God’s earth and its life. When it all began, God put us human beings in charge of his earth. “Fill the earth,” he told Adam and Eve, “and govern it” (Gen. 1:28, NLT). In taking that wrong step at the off-limits tree, these earth-rulers gave over their say-so to the false god of this world. But Jesus, their descendant, has now received the authority to rule the earth. Why work? In Jesus, each of us—through our work—rules a bit of what God has created.
4. God uses our work to grow us up. We begin the Christian life as spiritual newborns—a good place to start but not to stay. God expects us to develop into fully capable adults. He uses our work as one of his major tools in moving us from infancy to maturity. How? The heat, hassles, and responsibilities of working teach us to rely on his life within us. Even the sinless Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Heb. 6:8). Why work? To let God form Christ in us through what we encounter on the job.
5. We can offer our work as worship. The god of this world tricks us into split thinking: “Sundays for worship; weekdays for work.” So faith and job get sorted into separate boxes. But Moses used the same Hebrew word—abad—for both work and worship. Paul urged Roman Christians to worship by offering their physical bodies—the very instruments they used for working. And he told slaves in Ephesus and Colossae they were serving Christ in their work. Why work? To offer what we do to God as a pleasing sacrifice.
6. By working we can show Truth in action. Witnessing in the workplace? That’s often unlikely if we see witnessing as only gospel-talking. But if we recall the words of James, “I will show you my faith by my works,” then just about any job offers constant opportunities to demonstrate how to live out the Truth. An others-first, self-giving, track record leaves its mark. Why work? To offer others a preview of life in the fully-yet-to-come Kingdom of God.
7. Paid work lets us support ourselves and help others. Yes, God approves of making money. Like other good things—driving, eating, swimming—earning exposes us to risks. But spiritual danger also lurks in the refusal to work and pay our own way. Titus was serving on an island of people known for their laziness. Paul, in explaining how Christians were to live within that culture, told Titus: “Our people have to learn to be diligent in their work so that all necessities are met (especially among the needy) and they don't end up with nothing to show for their lives” (Titus 3:14, MSG). Why work? To pay our own way and have enough to share.
Jesus, through John, told the church in Philadelphia: “I have placed before you an open door . . .” (Rev. 3:8). Today, the “Great Resignation” offers churches another open door. How can your church answer the “Why work?” question for young people in your congregation and beyond? And who might you speak with about how to do just that?
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GIFT IDEA
A timely Christmas gift for that young person who is asking: “Why work?”
