On the set of a great Hollywood film, a boy was hired for, perhaps, one of the least glamourous jobs possible: to sweep the set floor after each take. To clean up after the actors after each scene that was filmed.

The boy threw himself into this repetitive and poorly-paid task with incredible enthusiasm and dedication. Day after day he worked hard and he worked joyfully, his excitement seemingly growing each day. And it eventually drew the attention of the film’s leading actor, a man who was losing his own excitement for the project.

Approaching the boy, the star asked him:

I’ve noticed you around the set and I have a question for you. Why do you race around like someone who’s just won the lottery when you only have this crummy job that no-one else wants? You come here each and every day in exchange for some loose change that most of us here wouldn’t pick up if we saw it on the sidewalk. Nobody here shows an interest in you; you’re ordered around like a slave and all you are doing is sweeping the floor again and again. Why are you so enthusiastic?

Unphased by the actor’s attention, or by the blunt, strange question, and without missing a beat, the boy looked up at him and replied:

It might look like I’m merely sweeping the floor, sir, but in fact, I’m doing much more than that. I’m helping make the best and biggest film in the history of cinema.

The boy saw his work as more than just sweeping the floor. He saw it as a valuable contribution, a way of participating in something bigger than himself, a part of a greater story.

It begs the question: What stories do we tell ourselves about work? How does our work fit into the great redemptive story God is unfolding across Scripture and throughout history? That is what I hope to sketch out for us in this message: a Christian vision of work.

CREATED TO WORK

And it begins in Creation:

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing [the creative work of Genesis 1]; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

In Genesis, God is the first to work, showing that work is a godly activity. The Lord creates the heavens and the earth, and everything that fills them before taking a satisfied rest on the seventh day. Here is a God who works and who establishes a rhythm for work (one that includes rest). We worship and serve a God who gets his hands dirty, who uses his power to create, build, and cause things to flourish, and then He calls Adam and Eve to do likewise, to engage in work of their own.

You see, our first parents weren’t just lounging around, talking with God, eating fruit and cheeses off charcuterie boards, and watching the sunset. No, God assigns them work; gives them tasks to take care of in Eden. Manage the garden, rule over the animals, be fruitful and multiply. Have dominion over the earth, unfolding the latent potential embedded within it. This is the cultural mandate that finds expression in every kind of legitimate, good work.

We image our Creator God as we work to create after Him. A colleague of mine with Resonate Global Mission, a Ugandan community developer named Jonny Kabiswa, puts it this way:

As God is the Creator, people made in his image also continue to create new things. People develop God’s world. People create culture, write songs, build houses and roads, cultivate fields, and create social institutions. We utilize God’s creation for our benefit and for God’s glory.

Work is a unique gift God gives to humanity; enriching what it means to be human by filling life with purpose. And so, to work is part of what it means to be human. This is reflected in traditional African attitudes to work. Work was celebrated because of the crucial role it played in the community’s dignity, well-being, identity, and, as a result, it gave individuals a sense of dignity and worth, wellbeing and identity.

This is something we find born out in the research that shows that people who work are generally happier and have a greater sense of purpose in life. Communities with low unemployment rates and job opportunities are more attractive, safer, often more enjoyable places to live and desirable places to raise families.

What the creation account reveals to us is that we have been called to work; that work is godly; work is good; and work is a gift, enriching human life and community. As the English author, Dorothy Sayers, writes in an essay entitled, “Why Work”:

Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do.

Brothers and sisters, know that you were created to work. You were created to be artists and attorneys, engineers and educators. And your work—whether in the field or on campus, at the office or in the home—is valuable. And perhaps it’s necessary to add that this is also true of those who are engaged in unpaid or overlooked work: cleaners and caregivers, mothers and fathers, and, though temporary, as students. It has dignity and worth in the economy of God. Know that your work, whatever it might be, is a good gift and a godly endeavor.

THE FALL OF WORK

And yet, work today is understood and experienced by people very differently. Work is hard, feels fruitless, and so often seems to lack meaning. Work, like the wilderness, becomes something to escape, with an end to work being the ultimate goal, leisure and recreation the Promised Land.

So what happened? What happened to distort the God-given structure and direction for work? Namely, the Fall.

All of this stems from Adam and Eve’s dreadful decision to disobey by eating from the forbidden tree. It’s not only a violation of the command God gave them, but also the rupturing of the covenantal relationship—the bond of trust and obedience—they share with God. And as a consequence for this, the Lord brings a punishment—the curse for covenant breaking—on humanity:

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

Though work itself is not a curse—it remains good—work becomes cursed. And what we find in the unfolding story of the Bible is the way in which this curse unfolds as work becomes distorted and dehumanizing through idolatry and injustice, enslavement and exploitation. Work grows increasingly difficult, painful, and at times, frustrating.

Israel is enslaved by Egypt and forced into hard labor. Later, fear, failure, and desperation in the work of their own hands leads the Israelites to false gods for comfort, hope, and escape. The prophets cry out against the wicked for whom work and wealth become an idol. They labor, build, accumulate and possess for the sake of their own selfish desires and the glory of their own name at the expense of others and to the detriment of the community. Similarly, the wise issue warnings to the sluggards and the fools—the lazy, ignorant, and apathetic—who fail to see the point of work, or even worse, who have no desire for it, leading to their own demise. And for many others, the testimony of Scripture is that work becomes instrumentalized, becoming merely a means to an end, a way to survive. Feeling crushed within the gears of the work machine, they cry out to God: How long?!?

As a result of the fall, all forms of work have the potential to be exhausting and stressful, frustrating and even dangerous. Something that continues to be true today. Because we know the toil of work. We’ve felt the pain of thorns and thistles in our own labors. Long hours, tedious tasks, tight deadlines, and toxic environments. Work remains hard and, at times, can feel more like a burden we carry than a joy to carry out.

We, too, are tempted to make work an idol that we sacrifice more and more of our lives to in the hope that it will give us “success” as the world defines it—wealth, power, status, prestige—but instead it just takes and takes until we have nothing left to give. Similarly, when we feel ourselves being crushed under the stress of our work, or become aware of the fragility of our life and our jobs, we can be tempted to turn to other idols for comfort or hope—alcohol and entertainment, anti-anxiety pills and other religious paths—anything to alleviate the burdens of our work, to numb the fear, disillusionment and despair.

We still see the dehumanizing effects of work in modern day slavery and exploitation. Maybe you’ve even experienced it. From the wine farms to the world of academia, workers—and especially foreign workers—continue to be exploited through long hours, low wages, and unethical practices for the benefit of their employers. High unemployment leaves many feeling hopeless, undignified, and less than human, leading some to gangs and others to begging.

False beliefs people peddle about work—that it is evil or that God didn’t create us to work—these false beliefs seep into communities, cultures, and our lives, leading some to laziness; others to prosperity churches where they hope to receive wealth by simply having faith or buying some fetish. These false beliefs lead to attitudes towards work not dissimilar to the sluggard or the fool—doing just enough to get by, working for the weekend, for that bottle of black label or another care-free night out—causing many poor people to remain impoverished and many others to become poor.

To paraphrase J.H. Bavinck: Sin pollutes man’s hearts as well as his work, disturbing the relationship between man and his work, so that instead of fulfilling its intended purpose, work often becomes a self-centered pursuit of wealth and power, or simply a means of escaping from the responsibilities and struggles of life.

And so, like Israel, we cry out today: How long, O Lord?!?

REDEEMED TO WORK

But the good news is that God hears our cry; he knows our struggle; and at just the right time, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem not only our lives but also our work. In the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the kingdom of God—the rule and reign of the Lord—has broken into the world and broken the power of sin, death, and evil.
By His Spirit, Christ restores the structure and direction for our work, bending back what sin twisted and reorienting our misguided hearts so that they are no longer aimed towards idols or self, but rather towards their proper telos (end): the Lord God. He restores purpose and meaning to our work that extends beyond the hollow goals other endlessly chase; more leisure, another paycheck, or the praise of man.

In Christ, we are “rehumanized.” We’re made more human as our heart, head, and hands are restored for carrying out our God-given calling to work. You are “god’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2:10)” that God planned long ago.

We get glimpses of this even before Christ, in God’s deliverance of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and calling skilled workers to lead the people in the work of building the tabernacle, a symbol of the Garden, God’s presence, and His creation plans and purposes. Work that served as a witness to the God of Israel among the nations.

So be encouraged: for Christ knows your joys and struggles in your work; our God is with us as we labor; and He promises that our work is not in vain, but accomplishes what He desires for it, what he desires for us.

Returning to our text from Colossians, we find an invitation to work, not serving human masters or as the world does, but instead serving Christ according to God’s will and ways: to unfurl like a rug the potential within our lives and in the world in service to our neighbor and for the glory of God. The testimony of faith “Our World Belongs to God,” puts this beautifully:

Our work is a calling from God.
We work for more than wages
and manage for more than profit
so that mutual respect
and the just use of goods and skills
may shape the workplace.
While we earn or profit,
we love our neighbors by providing
useful products and services.
In our global economy
we advocate meaningful work
and fair wages for all.
Out of the Lord’s generosity to us,
we give freely and gladly
of our money and time.

It follows, then, that in Christ all work is sacred work. Whether in agriculture, business, academia or industry; in the worlds of art, science, or theology, all work is a calling—and the way we do it—serves as a means of glorifying God and serving our neighbor, locally and globally. In Christ, our work takes on new significance because it now serves as a means of imitating God in both his creative and redemptive work, bearing witness to the ways of the Kingdom of God to the world around us.

Do you see your own work in this way? Do you have the imagination to consider how it reflects our God, how it points to Him and His Kingdom. Robert Banks, in his book Faith Goes to Work, offers six categories to stimulate our imagination and see the ways our work serves to image the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

-Redemptive Work (God’s saving and reconciling action)

-Creative Work (God’s fashioning of the physical and human world)

-Providential Work (God’s provision for and sustaining of humanity and all creation)

-Justice Work (God’s maintenance of justice and peace)

-Compassionate Work (God’s involvement in comforting, healing, guiding, and shepherding)

-Revelatory Work (God’s work to bring the truth to light)

CONCLUSION: AN UNRIVALED VISION OF WORK

Abraham Kuyper, in his address at the opening of the Vrije University, gave us his famous “Every square inch” statement:

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!”

It is a statement that reveals the sovereignty of the Lord over all things, including our work. We were created to work. It is godly, good, a gift, and a witness.

And despite the fall, despite sin—the thorns and thistles, the toil and pain—that remains a part of our work today, in Christ, it is once again redeemed to realize its created purpose. Work is filled with meaning and power as each of us participate through our own work in the mission of God. We live as workers before the face of God, in service to Christ, for the good our neighbor, to the glory of God.

What an incredible vision—a Christian vision—of work. No other philosophy or ideology rivals it. No other system or story can even come close to this story and this vision for work. And as we take hold of it and live into it, we will more and more know the delight of our God. Something that will continue into the new creation, the fullness of God’s Kingdom where we will work and it will be a joy. Let’s pray.