A Biblical Theology of Work

Welcome again to our Sunday evening live stream service. I very much appreciate your tuning in and being a part of our worship time and our hearing the Word of God and receiving the Word of God. I'm mindful that all day on the Lord's Day is a day to worship the Lord.

So thank you for not only tuning in this morning and scheduling your life around the gathering of the church, but also doing that again this evening. Genesis chapter 1 beginning at verse 26 says, Then God said, Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

So the evening and morning were the sixth day. And then in Genesis chapter 2 verse 8, the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Verse 15, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a helper comparable to him. I'll stop the reading at that point, and we will consider this evening the subject of the theology of work, the theology of work. But before we get to that, let me pray, and then Rob McDormand is at the sound board, and he will cue up for us a video update from Herb and Wanda Taylor on their ministry. This is what we've been doing in lieu of having live missionaries here the month of November and reporting on their work. This is our fourth Sunday in November. Let me remind you of what we have heard. The first Sunday in November we had a video update from Tom and Connie Chapman from Chile, and then the next week Paul Snyder from Papua New Guinea gave us an update, and then last week Mike and Melanie Webster from France. But tonight, Herb and Wanda Taylor, and then, Lord willing, next week from the Bunions out in Montana.

Let me pray, and then we'll see this update from Herb and Wanda Taylor. Father, we bow in your presence with humility of heart and gratitude for all that you have been to us, for revealing yourself to us, for redeeming us and making us your own. Lord, left to ourselves we would be astray. We would be wandering in the wilderness.

We would be on the broad way that leads to destruction. But how grateful we are that in grace you came and redeemed us and set our feet upon the solid rock of Christ Jesus, and set us on the straight and narrow way that leads to life. Father, thank you that we have this privilege of gathering as the people of God in this way on this Sunday evening. Lord, we lift our hearts to you with gratitude, and we look to you in hope and anticipation of that which you yet will do for us, not only this evening, but in the days and weeks and months and years to come.

Lord, thank you that you are ordering all things after the counsel of your own will. We thank you tonight that we can intercede for others. We thank you for bringing Stuart Waugh through yet another surgery this week, this serious aneurysm surgery that was very delicate. Thank you for giving skills to the doctors to perform this implanting of this stint, strengthen this brother and renew him in the inner man. And Father, if it would please you to honor their plans for him to be well enough to return to Zimbabwe on December the 10th. We ask that you'd be with those who have contracted COVID in recent days. We think of Caden Hammond.

We think of Terry Ann Majors and Jonathan Wright. We pray that their bout with this infection would be minimal and you would return them to a full measure of health. Thank you for bringing Dawn Burns through pretty serious foot surgery.

Help her as she has got to be off of her feet for six weeks or so. Thank you for the improvement that Nellie Hunter has known from the serious elbow surgery and the report that she's not having very much pain and is exercising and is making very good progress. Thank you for John Spencer being in our service this morning after having a total knee replacement. Lord, we marvel at your healing power in our lives. We pray for Drew Guthrie as she battles cancer. We pray for Alice Marley as she is at Wait A Manner now and we ask you to help her to regain her strength.

For Marseille Councilman who is facing eye surgery in the next week or so. Father, we again look to you for all of our needs. Thanking you that you're able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or think. Lord, use our time tonight to fan the flames of our affection, increase our love for you, increase our dedication and our commitment to Christ and His kingdom. Help us, Father, to be good stewards of life and of the resources that you've entrusted to us. We would commit our Faith Promise Program to you and thank you for this Harvest Day and thank you for those who have responded already and we pray for others who are praying and contemplating and considering what it is that they will trust you for in this coming year. Lord, you know the needs that we have and the commitments that we've made to our missionary family.

We pray that the response would be sufficient to meet the needs that we have engaged in. Again, we commit the remainder of this service and this video update from Herb and Wanda Taylor. Thank you for their lives. Thank you for the way you have blessed them and equipped them and gifted them. Again, thank you for these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. As we serve in Hispanic ministries with Baptist Church planters, we continue to see the great need of reaching Hispanics, our neighbors, here in the U.S. From the beginning, our three-fold purpose has been to assist in planting Hispanic Baptist churches, partnering with churches to reach Hispanics, and preparing Hispanic ministry leaders. Since the U.S. is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, we sense the unique urgency of this ministry. We often find ourselves giving counsel to English-speaking pastors who want to know how to reach Hispanics in their community. Often, we direct them to our Reaching Hispanics website for ideas on how to start an ESL ministry, questions to ask before starting a Spanish ministry, where to locate Spanish materials, and much more. Recently, we counseled young people in a Christian school in Indiana to learn Spanish to prepare to serve the Lord in Hispanic ministry. This past fall, Hispanic college young people gathered around the campfire at our home where we encouraged them to use their bilingual lives for the Lord.

One of our summer sons, Felipe, he lived with us for two summers, is now married and has helped us with filming and live streaming, and they both are now assisting us with our websites. We also participated in a weekend ministry in Brookfield, Wisconsin, speaking to the Spanish group and connecting with the Spanish pastor over, yes, yet another cup of coffee. In addition, we seek to guide Spanish ministries, such as Iglesia Bautista de la Libertad in Gainesville, Georgia, who have over 50 people meeting in a small house.

Here are a few video clips from that day. We served with an agency, Baptist Church Planters, a church plant, Iglesia Bautista, independently through the United States. Our mission is solely in the United States, planting Iglesia Bautista independently through the United States.

And the majority speak English, but I am the director of the Spanish department. Pastor Pena explained that they have a piece of property, the house, and $55,000 saved, but need an architect or builders in order to have the room they need. On the same day we ministered in Iglesia Bautista Sublime Gracia, Pastor Arjona and his family have been seeking to gain their residential status since 2001, but after $25,000 in lawyer's fees, they face the possibility of having to return to Argentina, a place they haven't seen for over 20 years and their children have never visited. Nacho, the National Conference on Hispanic Outreach, a ministry we lead to encourage and equip Hispanic ministry leaders, continues to grow. In October 2019 we had 110 attendees, displays from 14 ministries, 4 main sessions, and 3 workshops in our conference in Greenville, South Carolina.

We gave away Spanish copies of Theology of the Family, copies of Juanita Purcell's Study on James, booklets on the life of John Bunyan, and counseling booklets from editorial Bautista Independiente. Herb opened the day with a session entitled What is Nacho? Steve Little led a session on church planting followed by a good Q&A time with the participants, and each of the sessions were also live streamed to approximately 300 additional viewers.

We want to share a brief video overview of the day, followed by a video from Steve Little. We are thrilled with what Herb and Wanda Taylor have done and the committee, the Nacho committee, to reach our nation in this way for Christ through the ministry of Nacho. We also seek to lead, assisting in the planting of Hispanic Baptist churches. A few reflections are the graduation of a BCP church plant, Iglesia Bautista La Fe, in Arizona in 2016. Several years ago, we suggested to a retiring Spanish-speaking pastor in Iowa to move to Arizona to help Brother Marquez, and they did, and now he's preaching regularly there.

Brother Alberto is part of our Nacho committee, and their son Aaron is now a student at Bob Jones University. Last fall, Herb took BCP church planter Carlos Vasquez to the Expositoras conference in Los Angeles, where they were encouraged along with 2,500 others from the word. Sadly though, Iglesia Bautista Biblica La Rocca in Hayward, California recently voted to close the ministry. The death of Carlos' wife and several church challenges brought this change. However, Carlos is presently ministering in another local ministry and has asked us to come and visit that ministry in June. BCP church planters Miguel and Ana Quintana serving in Seminole, Florida continue to faithfully disciple a number of ministry leaders. Ana leads their women's ministry, and Miguel also serves as the chaplain at the Pinellas County Jail, where over 30 have been saved.

Their son Jonathan was married on January 3rd, and he and his new bride left on February 18th to teach ESL in South Korea. Miguel and Ana have also participated in several of our Nacho conferences in South Carolina. Finally, BCP has a church agreement with Iglesia Bautista de la Fe in Grover Beach, California. After years of us mentoring several men in the leadership, Javier, here, is one of them. Finally, Noe Vasquez became the pastor. With the help of Bruce McLean, together we have been able to lead this ministry in making a budget and working to get Pastor Noe's family here to the states from Mexico. We hope to see this ministry soon graduated from missionary status.

And finally, a few personal notes. We are grateful to visit recently with those who first came to know the Lord years ago in our ministry in Virginia. Grateful to minister to Hispanic pastors around the country now.

Grateful to be doing premarital counseling for some of our neighbors. Grateful for our co-workers, and most of all, grateful for the Lord's faithfulness to us over these years. It's really encouraging to see these updates because knowing these people and knowing their commitment to Christ and the relationship that we've enjoyed with them for years and years and years deepens our appreciation for what God is doing and the partnership that He's allowed us to have. And it's our Faith Promise program that allows us to continue in investing in the work of missions through people like this.

So again, be encouraged with what you've been seeing on these video updates. I would just remind you that Tuesday night is our praise and thanksgiving service, and we would encourage you to make plans to be with us at 7 o'clock. Time of giving testimony, public testimony to the Lord and singing together as a church.

And that will be a people present service, so plan to come and join us and bring your out-of-town guests if you have any. And we will have a time of rejoicing in the Lord. The American labor force consists of 165 million people. I'm convinced that we need a biblical theology of work. I saw a statistic recently that said three out of four workers are unhappy and unsatisfied in the work that they're doing. And I'm convinced that in that number are a number of Christians. And I'm also convinced that if we had a better, clearer biblical understanding of theology, that we would find more people satisfied in the work that God has called them to do.

So tonight I'd like to focus our attention on that. We need a theology of work to give meaning and purpose to what occupies so much of our time. When you think about, just for general terms, starting work at, say, 16 or 18 years of age and working on into your mid-60s, that consists of 50 years of work. So much of our life is taken up with working. And it's not a menial thing, it's not a useless thing, it's something that is at the core of what God has made us as image bearers. I read from Genesis chapter 1 that God created man in his own image. And in the context of that instruction and that God given us that revelation, God worked for six days and created the universe as we know it. Part of being made in the image of God is that we are a worker. And because of that, that's what gives meaning to work.

We're God's representative, we're an image bearer, we are to work as unto the Lord. I don't often use children's stories as an illustration, but I want to do that at the beginning of this message. Rumpelstiltskin is a German fairy tale from the early 1800s. And it tells the story of a miller from a village who wanted to make himself appear important. So he boasted to the king that he had a beautiful daughter who could spin straw into gold. Well, the king called his bluff, ordered her to come, he put her in the palace in a tower, and ordered her to spin straw into gold by morning or else face death. And there she was, as the fairy tale goes, frustrated, not knowing what to do, and suddenly an elf, the only way I can describe it, a dwarf appears and offers to do this magical deed for her. He had the power to spin the straw into gold, but in order for him to do this, she had to agree to give him her firstborn child. You're going to say, well, what does that have to do with work?

Well, let me connect for you. Apart from faith in Christ, our deeds, our works are said to be nothing more than wood, hay, and straw, according to 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 12. When they are tested on judgment day for their quality, they will burn up and we will suffer loss. However, anything done by faith in Christ for the glory of God will survive the fire of judgment day and will last for eternity. So in this way, faith transforms straw and makes it gold.

That's what we need. We need, like I say, a biblical theology of work. The story of Rumpelstiltskin is a parable concerning the power of human labor to turn something worthless into something of immense value. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 16, Paul says that we must be redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeeming the time in 50 plus years of work represents an awful lot of time that needs redeemed. Every minute that God gives to us comes to us as straw, worthless, fit only for burning. Apart from the spirit-empowered labor, those minutes, hours, and days will be wasted. But by the spirit, we can actually transform the straw of earthly minutes into the gold of deeds done for Christ. And they will last, as I said earlier, for eternity, rewarded on judgment day. You see, if we lack a biblical theology of work, we will be part of that 75% that are dissatisfied with what we're doing.

We will suffer loss because we don't understand how what we're giving ourselves to has any redeeming value or quality. And we will be no better than those around us who are grumbling and complaining and enduring their work. So to be a better representative of Christ for our own benefit and for the benefit of others, we need a biblical theology of work. How critical this can be, how valuable this can be, how fruitful this can be to be able to speak into the lives of people in the workplace and bring a biblical understanding of work. So a mature Christian seeks to glorify God in whatever work his hand finds to do, no matter how insignificant that task may seem to be.

No matter is not what it is that we're doing, making photocopies, taking the car to the shop, stopping by the grocery store to buy groceries, picking up a friend and take him to a doctor's visit. Whatever it is that we're doing can be done as unto the Lord. Colossians chapter 3 verses 23 and 24 says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward, it is the Lord Christ you are serving. Whatever you do, whatever it is that you find yourself doing tomorrow and the rest of next week, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward, it is the Lord Christ you are serving.

You see, if we're going to spin straw into gold by following the Spirit moment by moment, we need to live in the reality of these truths. By the Spirit-led labors of our hands and of our minds, we are given the wonderful opportunity and privilege of storing up treasure that will last forever. So as we're thinking about this theology of work, let's begin by saying this. We were created for work, and work is a gift of God.

Too many people misunderstand and think that work is a result of the fall, that it is part of the curse of sin. But work was created and given to man to do before the fall. Work predates the fall of Adam.

That's why I read from Genesis chapter 1. It presents the incredible labor of God in creating the heavens and the earth. God labored for six days and crafted an immense universe filled with the works of His hands, and human beings created in His image were created to do work after this pattern. In Genesis 2.15, the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do what?

To work it, to keep it, to till it, take care of it, to protect it. So work is not the result of the curse of sin. The curse that's placed on Adam as a result of his sin was that his work would be cursed, and ultimately futile, because of a cursed earth and his own inevitable death. Genesis 3 verse 17, to Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, you must not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. You 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.

And from that day until this day, men have labored under this curse. Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, Solomon writes, Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless, what does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? And that is a perspective that lacks a vertical orientation, that doesn't bring God into the equation, it's just simply looking at life and work on a horizontal plane. And if we do that, we're going to be of that number that finds work very unsatisfactory, very unfulfilling, pretty much a useless waste of time. The Bible tells us that there is a day coming that God is going to destroy this present world to make way for a new heaven and a new earth. Until He does, our work, whatever it is that God has led us to do, should be pursued with diligence, with integrity, and with focus.

Because 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10 says, The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. But that does not mean that our labors are worthless, not at all. On the contrary, our works will remain in the record book of God, and if they are done by faith for His glory, we will receive a reward in that day. So as we're thinking about a theology of work, it's good to consider two examples. We could look at many examples, but I want to look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and then the life of the Apostle Paul as two examples or patterns for us to follow. So this is just a collection of verses that speak of the work that the Lord Jesus Christ engaged in when He was on the earth, and the work that God directed the Apostle Paul to give himself to while he was on the earth. Listen to what Jesus said in John chapter 4 and verse 34. My work, or my food, said Jesus, is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. John 5 verse 17. Jesus said to them, My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working. John 5 36. I have testimony weightier than that of John for the very work that the Father has given me to finish and which I am doing testifies that the Father has sent Me. John 9 verse 4. As long as it is today, we must do the work of Him who sent Me.

Night is coming when no one can work. John 17 4. Jesus said, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave Me to do. And we could look at many, many, many more scriptures, but in those ones that I've cited for you, you see an incredible focus in Jesus. There was no time to waste, and at every moment He was focused on doing the work that God had assigned Him to do. And whatever you are doing right now is the work that God has assigned you to do.

And you are to do it with focus and with diligence and with integrity. We see a similar dedication in the Apostle Paul who frequently spoke of his work for Christ. Again, notice these scriptural sightings. Acts chapter 20 verse 34 and 35. Paul says, You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 11 and 12, To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless, we work hard with our own hands. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 5, In beatings, imprisonments and riots, in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger, that which he endured for the sake of God's elect. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 23, Are they servants of Christ?

I am out of my mind to talk like this. I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Paul's boasting about his work ethic.

I have worked much harder. And in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 29 he says, To this end I labor, struggling with all of his energy, which so powerfully works in me. And then 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 7 and 8, For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it.

On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling, so that we would not be a burden to any of you. Again 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 7 and 8. The apostle Paul, his labors were a mixture of practical work for money, tent making, and spiritual work in the gospel.

So what do we have here? Jesus and Paul set very clear examples before us. Joyful labor unto the Lord.

And no task was beneath them. Paul didn't view tent making as inferior to planting churches. It was all part of God's calling upon his life. In John chapter 13, Jesus shows us he was willing to do the lowliest of tasks.

What was that? To wash the disciples feet. And as Christians, we should never refuse to do some work because we think it is too demeaning. Christ has removed that excuse from us forever.

The straw, back to Rumpelstiltskin, the straw of every moment, serving God and others can be spun into gold. So whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do it all for the glory of God. So a Christian with a biblical theology of work can wash dishes, can mow the lawn, can paint a fence, can make a bed, can do laundry, can change a diaper, can cook a meal, can rake leaves, take out the trash and a plethora of other things to the glory of God.

Romans 14 verse 23 says anything that does not come from faith is sin. And therefore whatever it is that we find ourselves engaged in to do, if we can have this theology of work, that we're doing this as unto the Lord for His honor and glory, it will redeem it, it will make it worth our investment of time. And some are of the opinion that when we leave this earth that our work will be done. But Revelation chapter 22 and verse 3 says this, no longer will there be any curse, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in that city and His servants will serve Him.

His servants will serve Him. You see, the removal of the curse is not an end to work, but rather a promise that the work we do in service to God will be richly blessed. We need to honor God in our work by viewing it as sacred. A mature Christian views his work on that basis.

He begins with the premise that Christ is Lord of all and thus He can be glorified in all things. Now early in the church history there came an unbiblical dichotomy between the sacred and the secular, but in those days it was between the secular and what they called the profane. Sacred, it was claimed, had to do with spiritual work done by professional clergy, priests in their service to Christ. Profane had to do with secular work done by laymen in their pursuit of their trades. And unfortunately from this false dichotomy there became this hierarchy of spirituality. There was the class of the professional clerics, the popes, the cardinals, the bishops, the monks, the priests, the nuns, all of whom gave their full time in spiritual service to God. And below them were the less spiritual people who were tradesmen and farmers and housewives and serfs and everyone else.

And again this is a false dichotomy. And that never changed until the time of the Reformation. With the coming of the Protestant Reformation this changed, at least among those who embraced Reformation doctrine. Martin Luther emphasized the priesthood of all believers. And he worked out a consistent doctrine of labor.

Listen to a couple of quotations from Martin Luther. When a maid cooks and cleans and does other housework because God's command is there, even such a small work must be praised as a service of God far surpassing the holiness and asceticism of all monks and nuns. The seemingly secular works are a worship of God and an obedience well pleasing to God.

And one more. Your work is a very sacred matter. God delights in it and through it he wants to bestow his blessing on you. William Tyndale and the English Puritans who followed him worked out this doctrine of the sacredness of all honorable work. He said, The action of a shepherd in keeping sheep is as good a work before God as is the action of a judge in giving sentence or a magistrate in ruling or a minister in preaching. The Puritans developed this doctrine of a Christian's vocation and believed that it was a calling.

It was their sacred offering to a sovereign God who sanctifies all of life with his holy presence and blessing. Listen to what one of the Puritans said, A vocation or calling is a certain kind of life ordained and imposed on man by God for the common good. Every person of every degree, state, sex, or condition without exception must have some personal and particular calling to walk in. I wonder how many of you view what you're doing as a calling or is that a new idea to you? Have you isolated that sense of calling to the sacred? All preachers and missionaries are called but those who are not given to those tasks are not called.

See, that's a false dichotomy. God calls housewives to be mothers in the home. God calls men to work in IT work. God calls a man to be a mechanic. God has a calling on all of our lives. You say, well, where's the biblical precedent for that? Well, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10 says, For we are His workmanship created unto Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God hath foreordained that we should walk in them. His workmanship. God has work for us to do.

He's preordained that we would do that. That elevates all work to a sacred level. Listen to what Cotton Mathers said, Oh, let every Christian walk with God when he works at his calling, act in his occupation with an eye to God, act as under the eye of God. In other words, we're to work and act like God is our boss. We do our work as unto the Lord. God will reward us for our faithful work someday. Your work matters to God. And again, I'm convinced that we need clarity in this matter.

I've talked to so, well, not so many, but I've talked to quite a few men who are frustrated in that which they're doing, feel like their life could be more meaningful, more useful, that they have this one life to live, and fail to understand that where they are at is according to God's calling. And having a biblical theology of work, they can work there as unto the Lord and have wonderful influence and impact and bear fruit unto the glory of God. We need this.

We need this desperately. A mature Christian seeks to glorify God with all of his labor, whether in menial daily chores or in a Christian career. A mature Christian will feel the pleasure of God in all of his tasks, whether a scientist or working for a pharmaceutical company or a janitor or a journalist or working as a secretary or a missionary learning a language or a pastor preparing a sermon or a college student studying for an exam or a housewife cleaning the dishes. All godly work is sacred. And what makes it godly? What makes it godly is that God has assigned it to us, that we're doing our work as unto the Lord. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do it to the glory of God. That's what makes it sacred.

That's what makes it pleasing to the Lord. Listen to the words of this hymn. Give of your best. Give of your best to the Master. Give him first place in your heart. Give him first place in your service.

Fully surrender each part. Give and to you shall be given. God his beloved Son gave. Gratefully seeking to serve him, give him the best that you have. Give of your best to the Master. Give of the strength of your youth.

Armed with the sword of salvation, join in the battle for truth. Jesus has set the example. His life for others he gave. Give him your loyal devotion. Give him the best that you have.

Give of your best to the Master. Give him your silver and gold. Give him your time for the gospel, gathering sheep to his fold. Give him your gifts and your talents, all he so graciously gave. Make him your heart's meditation. Give him the best that you have.

Give of your best to the Master. Not else is worthy his love. He gave himself for your ransom. Gave up his glory above. Laid down his life without murmur. You from sins ruined to save. Give him your heart's adoration.

Give him the best that you have. Shall we pray? Father, thank you for your kind providence that directs our lives. Thank you for redeeming us and making us sons and daughters of yours.

Thank you that you have left us on this earth, that you have purposes for our lives, whatever it is that we find ourselves doing. We can do it as unto your glory. Help us, Father, to have a biblical theology of work and may it transform the way we engage ourselves in that which you've called us to. Forgive us for having a secular view of work and joining the crowd that are murmuring and complaining and unsatisfied with what you've called them to do. Thank you for the Word of God that speaks so practically to this area of our life.

Lord, redeem these careers of work, whatever it is you've called us to do. Make us fruitful, abounding in the things of the Lord. Give us opportunity to speak in the lives of others who do not have what you are giving to us, this biblical theology of work. Lord, thank you for loving us, for saving us, for giving us meaningful things to do. Lord, if we're working in the home, help us, Lord, to view this as a calling from you.

We're thinking of missions, and our minds immediately go to worldwide missions. But, Lord, you've called us to make disciples of the children that you've given to us in our very homes. What greater mission work could we give ourselves to?

What greater mission field is there? Then, working and laboring to see our children become devoted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless our efforts in that way. And again, thank you for your Word that corrects us and instructs us in righteousness. Now, blessing and glory and wisdom. Thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.