Work is Good because it’s from God…
- I’ll never forget the talk Coach Skip gave me in 3rd grade…
- There we were, the sun was setting after school, and it must have been sweltering…
- My two buddies needed a break from running practice drills, and they were sitting on the ground, leaning against the chain link fence, drinking water, and cutting up.
- I had enough and asked the coach if I could stop all this work and take a break.
- I’ll never forget his response: “Anderson, this is when you get better…when work gets hard, you press in…you keep going…you must have a work ethic to be successful. If you sit now you’ll sit the rest of your life.”
- Fast-forward to sophomore year of high school…there I was on the practice field again…
- This time, I was taking a knee because I was benched for fumbling the ball so much…
- I was ready to throw in the towel—I had worked so hard and had played football since 3rd grade, and now I was ready to stop the workouts…
- However, Coach Skip’s words were right there…I pressed in…was moved to linebacker, and the rest was history…
- Then school comes along…college…then marriage…etc…
- You are starting to see a theme, aren’t you?
- There is something inside of each of us that moves us from stagnation…
- We do not settle…and if we do, we usually regret it unless we have built a defense mechanism or something up…
- In fact, we usually want purpose in our work…why do we do what we do?
For us to understand work, we must understand its origin…
- Look at Genesis 2:7-9; 15:
“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”
Three points:
- Work was created before the fall… it’s what we were created to do…
- Sin did not create work…work is not a curse…
- What, then, what work was man to do?
- Mankind was charged to cultivate and to keep it…
- Cultivate – it is a work or service (care or protection)…
- It carries the idea of preparing and using…intentional action…
- Cultivate – it is a work or service (care or protection)…
- We learn more about work pre-fall in Genesis 1:27-28:
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Fruitful // Multiply // Fill the earth
- The work of Adam and Eve was initially not constrained to Eden…
- Thus, humanity will create culture…think about how the West developed…what was its foundation?
- Subdue // Take Dominion – sees chaos and creates order
- How does this happen? Effort.
- There is complexity…and we make order out of the chaos…
- We Image God…when we work.
- Let me ask you a question: When you think of imaging God, what comes to mind? Is it His physical appearance? These extremities of our bodies?
- We image God in at least three ways:
- Intellectually through our reasoning capacities.
- Relationally, we can do this through our ability to relate to ourselves, others, creation, and God.
- Functionally, we steward resources and apply skills.
- Sin Altered the Environment of Work…But Fruit is still produced…
- What about after the fall?
- Look at Genesis 3:17-19:
“Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face You will eat bread, till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
- What happened?
- The environment of work changed…did you catch that? His work environment was changed…work became difficult…not evil.
- Work wasn’t cursed, but the ground in which the work was applied…
- Hang with me…
- Incidentally, isn’t it easy to just shut down and view work in and of itself as cursed…
- However, what was Adam told to do?
- Toil…how long? All his days…
- By the sweat of his brow…eat…how long? Until he dies…
- His environment of work?
- Cursed ground…thorns and thistles…sweat…until death (another consequence of sin)
- However, what was his Fruit?
- Food, sustenance, iPads…civilization and flourishing…
- In conclusion, on WEEK 1, we ask the question…Is Work Good?
- Answer: YES, because it is from God. Why?
- It is what we were created to do…before sin ever entered the picture…
- We image God when we work…as a witness to Him…
- Work produces Fruit…despite its altered context…