Story of Work - Creation
Core Seminar | The Story of Work • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
This book, the Bible has so much that it wants to say.
Theology of Work
Story of Work
Creation - now need 8 weeks on this
Surely, following Jesus should deeply inform how we think about and go about our work, right?
Think about work a good amount
My work - On my computer, “God gifts us with the incredibly gracious dignity of real responsibility.”
Your work - I am very much fascinated with the different challenges and opportunities that each of you have
Woefully - unprepared to help people of various vocations make application to the Word
How can I be a good Christian airplane pilot - (1) land the plane well
168 hours a week many are spending 40-50 hours there. It must matter.
Our culture lacks a grand story about work.
Our culture lacks a grand story about work.
Beyond survival, consumerism, and the weekend warrior mentality.
Work 80 hours so you dont have to work for someone forty.
Side hustle to leave your current job and do another one.
Hope depends on finding some end to be pursued more extensive than merely instant desire.
Ecclesiastes takes us on a journey looking for this.
If we do not find it we will become some “type of formless monster”
The Bible provides the grand story of work we need.
Story of a man who walked up to you outside at bus stop and says “the name of the common wild duck is historonicus” THis makes no sense to you. Three options for the story. — We must put our defintion of work into a story
This is just one version of the story.
A church I am doing God’s work. Out there I am just making money.
Jesus is to be king over ever area of life.
We lack a grand story about work is precisely what the Scriptures are trying to offer us.
Turn to page one of the Bible with me. Just a simple observation about the first sentence of the Bible.
"Creation, fall, redemption, and restoration" refers to a foundational narrative within the Christian faith, describing the overarching story of God's relationship with humanity, where God initially creates a perfect world, then humanity falls into sin, God redeems them through Jesus Christ, and ultimately works towards restoring creation to its original state of goodness.
This same outline will tell us the full story of work.
This same outline will tell us the full story of work.
Work is not a result of humankind’s fall into sin.
Work is central in Genesis 1 and 2. There it is—right in the midst of paradise, right in the picture of God’s intentions for how things ought to be.
Work is a gift from God. Work is something we were built for, something our loving Creator intends for our good.
Work is not evil, nor is it a side effect of sin. This truth can be hard for us to trust when we are frustrated in our jobs or unfulfilled in our careers.
Act I: Creation
Act I: Creation
I. Consider What the Grand Story Tells Us About Our Story
I. Consider What the Grand Story Tells Us About Our Story
A. The first worker in the Bible is not a human. It's God.
A. The first worker in the Bible is not a human. It's God.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Epic stories start with grand openings.
The Bible is a grand story that claims to be telling the story of our world that we happen to be sitting in right now.
God's focus is on turning chaos into order.
The story is not primarily about how or how long, but about purpose and order.
Discussions about creation and evolution matter, but there is more for us to learn.
Genesis is offering us a grand story about work and the meaning of work.
B. The starting point of creation
B. The starting point of creation
Genesis 1:2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
World was without form.
Hebrew phrase: tohu wa-bohu (wild and waste).
This state was not suitable for human life.
God moved upon the earth.
God’s Spirit hovered over the waters.
God's presence brings transformation and order.
C. God's work in and preparation through creation
C. God's work in and preparation through creation
Genesis 1:3–5 “3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Bringing order from chaos. (Tov)
Separation of light and darkness
Establishing time and structure.
For whom was it not good?
Everything is seen through the view of what is winding up for humans in a good space.
The land producing vegetation and life (Genesis 1:11)
Focus on fruit-bearing trees, highlighting human benefit.
Creation filled with potential and order.
God’s creative work is purposeful and beneficial.
In Genesis we see God as a gardener, and in the New Testament we see him as a carpenter. No task is too small a vessel to hold the immense dignity of work given by God.
II. Humanity's Role in Work
II. Humanity's Role in Work
Genesis 1:26–28 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
A. Work should reflect God's creative order
A. Work should reflect God's creative order
Work is about bringing order, beauty, and benefit.
Not merely survival, but participation in God's design.
Work is what we were created for. Genesis 2:15 “15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
By producing godly offspring and teaching them to work, Adam and Eve were to subdue all of creation. / franchise opportunities
Theologians call this the “cultural mandate”- mandating that Adam creates culture
The cultural mandate: filling, subduing, and exercising dominion.
Subduing is asserting my will over something so that it yields its potential or increases its potential.
We are continuing God’s work of forming, filling, and subduing. Whenever we bring order out of chaos..
Apple tree had many apples. But it needed our care of it to make the best apples.
B. Work as an expression of God's image
B. Work as an expression of God's image
We see God not only working, but commissioning workers to carry on his work
God left creation with deep untapped potential for cultivation that people were to unlock through their labor
Why don’t you name the animals? - The naming of the animals in chapter 2, verses 19–20 is an invitation to enter into his creativity.
God is building the house (providing for us) through the builders. Psalm 127:1 “1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
We are to see work as a way of service to God and our neighbor, and so we should both choose and conduct our work in accordance with that purpose.
Psalm 147 says that God feeds every living thing, meaning he is feeding us through the labor of farmers and others
Builder – Psalm 147:2 Medical Field – Psalm 147:3 Astronomer (Implied) – Psalm 147:4 Farmer – Psalm 147:8-9 Warrior (Implied) – Psalm 147:10 Messenger – Psalm 147:15 Weather Observer/Meteorologist (Implied) – Psalm 147:16-18
What else is all our work to God—whether in the fields, in the garden, in the city, in the house, in war, or in government—but just such a child’s performance, by which He wants to give His gifts in the fields, at home, and everywhere else? These are the masks of God, behind which He wants to remain concealed and do all things. - Martin Luther
Something can be a calling only if some other party calls you to do it, and you do it for their sake rather than for your own.
The question regarding our choice of work is no longer “What will make me the most money and give me the most status?” The question must now be “How, with my existing abilities and opportunities, can I be of greatest service to other people, knowing what I do of God’s will and of human need?”
The material creation was made by God to be developed, cultivated, and cared for in an endless number of ways through human labor. But even the simplest of these ways is important
C. Bible describes a proper attitude toward the work
C. Bible describes a proper attitude toward the work
Scripture condemns slothful and lazy attitudes toward work. Proverbs 18:9 “9 He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.”
We should work with all of our hearts as to the Lord (Colossians 3:23) rather than being motivated by our own fulfilment. Colossians 3:23 “23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”
Without meaningful work we sense significant inner loss and emptiness
We are to work 6 days and rest the 7th tells of our high capacity for work.
The loss of work is deeply disturbing because we were designed for it
According to the Bible, we don’t merely need the money from work to survive; we need the work itself to survive and live fully human lives
Dr Sisk told us that one of the tings we looks forward to in the New Heaven and New Earth is the ability to work and be given assignment by God. In his age he learned to be grateful for what we often take for granted.
III. God's Work and Rest
III. God's Work and Rest
Genesis 2:2–3 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”
A. Design of Work
A. Design of Work
Genesis 2:15 “15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
In the beginning there was work.
The Bible begins talking about work as soon as it begins talking about anything—that is how important and basic it is
This view of work—connected with divine, orderly creation and human purpose—is distinct among the great faiths and belief systems of the world
Babylonians great conflict - think Godzilla and King King
Greeks - man and gods were together and there was not work
Work was not a necessary evil that came into the picture later, or something human beings were created to do but that was beneath the great God himself.
No, God worked for the sheer joy of it.
Work could not have a more exalted inauguration
We should do good work
If God’s purpose for your job is that you serve the human community, then the way to serve God best is to do the job as well as it can be done.
Dorothy Sayers writes, The church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him to not be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours and to come to church on Sundays. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.
B. The rhythm of work and rest
B. The rhythm of work and rest
What does God ordained rest tell us about work?
Work is not endless toil; rest is necessary active. It is not the escape of work.
The purpose of work is to create something good and meaningful.
The gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves and secure our identity through work, for we are already proven and secure. It also frees us from a condescending attitude toward less sophisticated labor and from envy over more exalted work. All work now becomes a way to love the God who saved us freely; and by extension, a way to love our neighbor
C. Rest as trust in God
C. Rest as trust in God
Recognizing our limits and dependence on God.
Finding identity beyond productivity.
To practice Sabbath is a disciplined and faithful way to remember that you are not the one who keeps the world running... not even the one who keeps your work projects moving forward.
IV. Finding Meaning in Our Work
IV. Finding Meaning in Our Work
A. Recognizing work as part of God's grand narrative
A. Recognizing work as part of God's grand narrative
God as the first worker and model for us.
Only man is set apart and given a job description
Work as a means of glorifying God.
Our work reflects His purpose and design.
Encouragement to embrace work as a sacred calling.
Adam’s work in the Garden was not just a means to an end but was a way for him to worship God.
B. Challenge the commonly held narratives about work and identity
B. Challenge the commonly held narratives about work and identity
Moving beyond survival and consumerism to purposeful vocation.
Lie: Work is a necessary evil. The only good work, in this view, is work that helps make us money so that we can support our families and pay others to do menial work.
Lie: We believe that lower-status or lower-paying work is an assault on our dignity
Truth: All work has dignity because it reflects God’s image in us, and also because the material creation we are called to care for is good
Our daily work can be a calling only if it is received as God’s assignment to serve others.
Overcoming idolatry of work and finding identity in God
Martin Lloyd Jones said on the tombstone of most doctors could be said, “Born a man, died a doctor.” It becomes their identity
The gospel redeems work by aligning it with God's purposes.
C. Understand the context of your life
C. Understand the context of your life
Tension: You will not have a meaningful life without work, but you cannot say that your work is the meaning of your life.
Our story fits into his, not the other way around.
"Without the gospel, work can become our identity instead of a way to serve."
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Thanking God for the gift of work.
See your garden as a gift from God. He wants to work with you to cultivate it. Genesis 2:15 “15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
Committing our efforts to bring glory to Him.
