Work tends to be something we do absent-mindedly. Maybe you are currently working at your dream job and enjoy waking up each morning to get at it, but for the rest of us, work tends to be something we do out of necessity, not desire.
This is especially true in the secular world and can be evidenced by the old adage, “I’m just workin’ for the weekend.” In other words, “I am only doing this because it is a means to do what I really want to do, which is to spend time pursuing pleasure.”
Sadly, this attitude is easily adopted by those within the church too. I’m no exception. As a married seminary student, work tends to be a means by which I pay tuition, so I can eventually get to the place where I am being paid for what I desire to do – which is pastor a church. Thus, it is tempting for me in this stage of life to view work as a necessary evil. Or at the very least, as annoying and time-consuming.
But as a Christian, this is an unacceptable attitude towards work. Work is not a necessary evil or even a result of the Fall. Adam was given the command to tend the Garden and to act as a priest, expanding God’s dominion from the Garden of Eden to the ends of the earth. Thus, a view of work that considers it a result of sin falls short of a Biblical worldview.
So then, what is the Biblical attitude towards work? That’s what I desire to lay out briefly for you today.
This past Sunday I had the privilege of visiting a Reformed Baptist church in Kentucky and during the evening service, the text was Colossians 3:23-24. I am indebted to pastor Tim Yoak for sparking the idea for this article. Much of what follows stemmed from my meditation and reflection on his sermon. Let’s look at it in its entirety:
Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. – Colossians 3:23-24, CSB
Here are three observations from the passage that will give us a concise theology of work.
Our Work Must Come from the Depth of Our Being
In the context, Paul is discussing Christian conduct in the day-to-day affairs of life. He addresses husbands and wives in verses 18 and 19, children in verse 20, Fathers in verse 21, and slaves in verse 22. Our verses of consideration come on the heels of Paul’s instruction for slaves when he encourages them to be submissive to their masters and not people-pleasers.
He says that whatever they do, they are to do, “from the heart,” or as another translation renders it, “heartily.” While these are acceptable translations of the Greek phrase ἐκ ψυχῆς (ek psychē), I think a little of the force is lost by these renderings. Literally translated, the phrase says, “out of the soul,” or, “from the soul.”
So what Paul is saying here is that when we work, we are to do it from our very soul, from the depth of our being! Our work should arise from the core of our essence.
I don’t think many of us can truly say that we mop floors, flip burgers, or sit at an office desk with energy that arises from the center of our being. But that’s what Paul commands believers to do! When we work, it should be fueled by an energy that comes from the heart!
Our Work Must Be Done for the Lord
Not only should our work come from our souls, but it should be done for the Lord. It’s easy to throw around verses like this and 1 Corinthians 10:31 (do all for the glory of God), but to practically live out verses that command us to do mundane, everyday tasks not for ourselves but for God is a real challenge.
This challenge can come in one of two ways when it comes to work. One, it can come in the form of vanity. We can get caught up in the desire to please men rather than God. That means we are only working for a promotion, or a raise, or for a chance to build our resume for a better position elsewhere. We forget that we are called to work not for our own glory, but for God’s.
Or second, it can come in the form of apathy. We hate our job and choose to do the least we can without getting fired. We shirk responsibilities, cut corners, or work with a negative attitude. Different symptoms, same root: a failure to remember that our work is not for our own glory, but for God’s.
Our Work Will be Rewarded
Finally, the last bit of verse 24 reminds us that our work will be rewarded. I think there are two main takeaways from this fact. First, it reminds us that God is watching our work. Understanding that we live all of life coram Deo (in the presence of God), even our work life, has a sobering effect that should bring about a change of behavior. Second, it reminds us that God is faithful. Even if you are laboring at a job you dislike and want to quit, but you work at it from your soul for the glory of God, he will see it and you will be rewarded for it. If not in this life, then in the next.
Keep laboring, brothers and sisters. From the depth of your being to the glory of God, submit your vocation to his will.