Did you hear about the young college graduate who was interviewing for his first job? When the HR Director asked him what he was looking for, the young man explained that he hoped to get an executive position with a starting salary of $100K, be placed in a corner office and he wanted his own secretary. The HR guy responded by offering to add a matching dollar for dollar to his 401K as well an company car of his choice, probably a BMW. Then asked, “How’s that sound?” The young man replied, “Are you kidding me???” The HR guy said, “Of course I am but you started it.”

When it comes to our career, most of us have our dream job and then we have our real job. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: “My father taught me to work.  He did not teach me to love it.”  Can you relate? How did you end up in the job that you have? Are you happy with your career choices so far? Do you look forward to going to work each day? Have you ever considered the link between your work and how that impacts your walk with Christ? Your job is a big deal to God.

Tomorrow, as I’m sure you know, is Labor Day. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations and eventually became a nationwide holiday.

I remember as a kid, thinking that Labor Day had something to do with giving birth—like this is the day we celebrate all the pregnant ladies. Labor Day is actually a creation of the labor movement, dedicated to the achievements of American workers. It’s a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to discover some of what the Bible has to say about the work we do and how we do it.

The Bible, I think, gives us three different ways to view our jobs—whatever those jobs might be. And the way we view our jobs, I think significantly impacts our success and satisfaction at work. First, we can view our job as an obligation.

 

• WORK IS AN OBLIGATION

 

The Bible is rife with commands to work.  God views work worthy of its own engraved commandment: “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest” (Exodus 34:21). We like the second half of that verse.

One time a preacher was preaching about the importance of work. He told the congregation that they should praise God for the opportunity of working for their daily bread. “But the Lord has seen to it,” he said, “that you don’t have to work every day.  Because of Moses you have Saturday off, and thanks to Jesus you have Sunday off.  Isn’t that wonderful?” he asked. A voice from the back pew piped up, “Sure is. Five more Jewish boys like that and we’d never have to work again!”

Most people would love to work less and rest more. But emphasis on the one day of rest may cause us to miss the command to work: “Six days you shall labor,” God said. Whether you work at home or in the marketplace, your work matters to God.

And it matters to society. One reason I think God commands us to work is that we need each other. Cities need plumbers. Nations need soldiers. Stoplights break. Bones break. We need people to repair the first and set the second. Someone has to raise the kids, raise the crops, and raise the gross national product.

Another reason I think God wants us to work is because He is a worker! Not only was God working the first six days of creation, but Jesus once said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). God doesn’t take a day off. He never calls in sick. He doesn’t go on vacation and leave the universe to run itself. God is always working. Whether you log on or lace up for the day, you imitate God when you work.

The Bible never promotes workaholism, but it unilaterally commands those who are able to follow God’s own example and get to work. The New Testament goes so far as to say, “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NLT).

But listen, just because work is an obligation, doesn’t mean it has to be drudgery. As the shadows fell on the life of Solomon and he reflected back upon his life, this is the conclusion to which he came. “It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19 NLT). Enjoy your work, he says. It’s a gift from God, he says.

Do you enjoy your work? Do you see it as a present from God or a punishment from God?  I like what Mark Twain once said about work. He said, “Work is not a concrete thing; it is a mental attitude.  Nothing is either work or play, but thinking makes it so.” Thomas Edison agreed. He said, “I never did a day’s work in my life.  It was all fun.”  The truth is—when you find something you’re good at and enjoy doing, it doesn’t feel like work. If you don’t love your labor, then maybe you’re not doing the work God intended for you. So while we ought to view work as an obligation, that doesn’t mean it cannot also be fun and fulfilling.

Furthermore, the Bible also urges us to view work as an opportunity.

 

• WORK IS AN OPPERTUNITY

 

Paul had something very interesting to say about the way we work. He writes, “Also, make it your goal to live quietly, do your work, and earn your own living, as we ordered you. Then your way of life will win respect from those outside the church, and you won’t have to depend on anyone else for what you need.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).

Apparently, Thessalonica had a high unemployment rate and some of the only jobs available were manual labor, which many Greeks looked down on. Some Thessalonian Christians had settled into a life of laziness and became dependent on handouts. The phrase Paul used for them is idle busybodies. As a result, the church in Thessalonica was losing the respect of the unchurched. You can’t be very effective in sharing your faith with others if they don’t respect you.

So Paul urges them (and us by extension) to develop a good work ethic in order to win the respect of their unbelieving neighbors. In other words, you can witness through your work. Your attitude and actions testify every day to unchurched co-workers, customers, and clients about Christ. Many of the people whom you work with will never come to a church service like this one. Few of them are going to turn on their television and hear a gospel message and fewer still are going to pick up a Bible and get to know God personally. But they will interact with you on daily basis.

 

If you’re the kind of employee or employer who always does the bare minimum, gripes about everything, and does shoddy work, people won’t respect you and they won’t be interested in the God you worship or where you go to church.

But if you’ll come into work with a positive attitude and strong work ethic, people will see that too. And they’ll be more open to having spiritual conversations. That’s why the Bible says, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:5-6 NIV).

Are the conversations you have at work full of grace? Are they seasoned with salt? Are you wise in the way you interact with unchurched people? Are you making the most of every opportunity?

If you start to view your job as an opportunity to share Christ with your co-workers or customers, it will totally change how you do your job and how you interact with the people around you. So view your job as an opportunity to witness through your work. Finally, view your job as an offering to God.

 

• WORK IS AN OFFERING

 

Your career consumes half your life; shouldn’t it glorify God? Don’t those forty to sixty hours a week belong to him just as much as the one or two you spend in church? Paul thinks so. He writes, “In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people” (Colossians 3:23 NCV).

Regardless of what we do for a  living, we are working for God.  Our real boss/manager/owner/CEO is Jesus Christ! No matter what you do in life, whether inside the church or outside the church, do it for God.

James Cash learned about faith and business from his father, who served as the pastor of a small Primitive Baptist church in Hamilton, Missouri, and struggled to make a living off the family farm. At age 8, young Jim was told he would have to start buying his own clothes and earning his own money. Life was tough, his father said, and success only came through hard work and long hours. But things would turn out all right, he was told, if he just followed the Golden Rule, treating others the way he wanted to be treated.

In 1902, when James was just 26, he bought his first general store which he named The Golden Rule. The company store and the twenty-one saloons in town all offered credit, but James’ store accepted cash only. He felt he served the community better by keeping them from becoming indebted. Within five years, James opened two more stores, then three more. There were more than 30 within that first decade.  In 1913 he was forced to change the name of his department store chain because unscrupulous competitors had begun to use the Golden Rule name. James finally died in 1971 at the age of 95 and left a 1,660 store empire that he built to the glory of God.

Looking back on his life and business, James Cash Penney—better known J. C. Penney—said, “I would rather be known as a Christian than a merchant…The assumption was that business is secular, and service is religious. I have never been able to accept that line of arbitrary demarcation. . . . Is not service part and parcel of business? It seems to me so; business is therefore as much religious as it is secular. If we follow the admonition to love God, and our neighbors as ourselves, it will lead us to understand that, first of all, success is a matter of the spirit.”

J.C. Penney was a man of faith who not only lived his life by the golden rule, but by Colossians 3:23 too! “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (NIV). It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it for God. Martin Luther once said, “A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God!”

I love what his namesake, Martin Luther King Jr., once said about this verse. He said, “If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

God honors work; shouldn’t your work honor God, too?

 

 

Conclusion

 

Studies show that 25% of American workers are unhappy with their jobs. One-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their life. Seven out of ten people are neither motivated nor competent to perform the basics of their jobs. Fully 70% of us go to work without much enthusiasm or passion. Most wage earners dread Monday, dream of Friday, and drag through every day in between.

What’s God’s solution?

First, see your job as an obligation and occasion to obey God’s commands and imitate God himself. Furthermore, see your job as an opportunity to witness through your work and share Christ with you co-workers, customers or clients. Finally, see your job as offering to God. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, because ultimately you are working for the Lord, not people!

 

Invitation

 

If you’re among the 70% of us who aren’t content with their work, I just want to encourage you to talk with someone here about it. There are some wonderful spiritual mentors here in the church—deacons, elders or ministers. We’d love to pray with you and perhaps help you find satisfaction and success in the work God made you to do.