Work and the Phony Divide

(The following is the text of the video, “Work and the Phony Divide,” found HERE.)

Sawing off the branch you’re sitting on is a dangerous idea.

Imagine your life of faith and your life at work on the same branch. Cutting your work life off from your Christian life is also a dangerous idea.

Yet long-held church traditions have cut faith and  daily work apart. This split has become known as the “sacred-secular divide.” That  word “sacred” refers to matters that relate to God. And the word “secular” points to matters that have to do with the world.

So-called “sacred” work includes such roles as pastor, worship leader, missionary, or evangelist. Examples of those in so-called  “secular” work would include accountant, farmer, sales rep, programmer—and just about any other job you can think of.
But should we see some work as  sacred and work as secular? Is that idea true or false? Truth or lie? How can we tell? What clues does Scripture contain about how God sees our daily work?

Genesis 2:15 says: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” What kind of work did God assign? Not religious work, but farm work, work that involved dealing with things in the world, the physical earth. No sacred-secular divide there.

Even after sin had invaded his world, God’s work assignment remained the same: “to work the ground.” This second call into non-religious work came from God himself. So the work could not have been “secular.”

Over in the New Testament, we find carpentry. Jesus worked in this trade for years. Tentmaking. Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila did this kind of work. Fishing. How many of those first disciples were fishermen? Shepherding. The first witnesses to Jesus’ birth were shepherds. But nowhere does the Bible label  these kinds of work as “secular.”

Lydia worked as a fabric merchant. God sent Noah into boatbuilding. Daniel served as a government executive. And Samuel worked as a judge.

So the idea that some work is sacred and other work Is secular does not pass the biblical truth test. It is a phony divide. A lie. And like all lies, the sacred-work versus secular-work idea injures all it reaches.

It injures Christians working in normal jobs. Believing their work to be “just secular,” many think they’ve taken the wrong way. They must have  missed hearing God’s call into “full-time Christian service.” That leads them to think they serve God only part time—in church-related activities evenings and weekends.

The sacred-secular divide leads Christians into fragmented lives. Have you ever eaten from a compartmentalized food tray? Peas don’t mix with potatoes. Meat does not touch dessert, and so on. The phony divide between so-called “sacred” and “secular” does the same thing to our lives. It separates work from faith and everything else.

The sacred-versus-secular work lie injures the mission of the church. Jesus sends us into the whole world—which includes the work world. The world’s labor force numbers 3 ½ billion. But millions of Christians in that labor force think of their work as merely “secular,” unrelated to faith. So their salt-and-light influence suffers.

Hugh Whelchel, Executive Director of the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, says:  “The biblical doctrine of work was all but lost to the church by the end of the nineteenth-century. Finding significance in our work requires that we once again overcome the sacred-secular divide and embrace a biblical view of work.”

So how can you help “overcome the sacred-secular divide”? What disables a lie? Only truth. How can you, with the truth, help to eliminate the sacred-secular divide?

Begin by learning to see and do your own work as under the rule of King Jesus. Your work takes place within the Kingdom of God. Whatever your role, it gives you the say-so over a small area within that Kingdom. Your small area belongs to Jesus. Rule it as his agent. To the degree possible, aim to see his will done in your area on earth as it is in heaven. If you are serving Jesus in it, your work cannot be “secular.”

Next, do what you can to reshape the vocabulary we Christians use. Let’s say you hear someone speak of “full-time Christian service.” Politely ask if there such a thing as part-time or no-time Christian service. Point out that Jesus calls all Christians to serve him full time---no matter what their work.

You may also want to protect others in your church from the damaging effects of the sacred-secular divide. Consider asking your pastor to view this video by Mark Greene, of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity. In it, he states, “In reality, the sacred-secular divide has had a devastating impact on two key areas of Christian life: our mission and our living.”

While speaking with your pastor, offer some further suggestions for the Sunday gathering. Suggest showing that Mark Greene video to the congregation. Encourage your pastor to invite workplace testimonies in which working Christians tell how God is moving in their work circles. And propose that your pastor teach a series on the biblical view of daily work.

Don’t be taken in by the phony, sacred-secular divide. Your daily work does not come from the world—so it is not “secular.” It comes as a gift from God—so it is sacred.

This means, as Paul told the working people in Colossae, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” Your work is sacred.

One more magnificent reason to get up and go to work!

From Chapter 14:

“The sacred-secular divide demeans and disables Christians.”