Working as for the Lord

Every second, God is working. God's not passive.

God is active. And because of that, we are made in the image of God. And we are made for a task, and that is to work. Today on Renewing Your Mind, we bring you a message from this year's Ligonier National Conference. Our theme was, Right Now Counts Forever. And as we'll hear from Dr. Stephen Lawson, the way we work today, right now, influences how the world sees Christ. Well, the theme of our conference is, Right Now Counts Forever. And so your work right now counts forever.

It really matters how you do your work. And so I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 6, and I want to begin by reading verses 5 through 8. And in this message, we're going to look at a lot of different verses, but this will be the launching pad, the beginning place. The title of this is, Working as for the Lord. And so in Ephesians chapter 6, I want to begin reading in verse 5, Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ. And not by way of eye-service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will render service as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. In these verses, we clearly see that your work matters to God. Whenever the people of God have come back to the Word of God, they always come back to the fact that your vocational calling is a sacred calling unto God.

As Martin Luther once said, there are no small occupations, that everything that you do, whatever that is, whether you're a white collar or blue collar worker, whether you work in a field or in an office, wherever God calls you to put your shoulder to the plow and perspire in the field and to work, you are to do that as unto the Lord. And it was this realization that the Reformation, the Protestant movement of the Reformation came back to recover. It was known as the Protestant work ethic. It was known as the Calvinistic work ethic. And our country was founded even in New England with this Calvinistic work ethic, that your work is a part of the will of God for your life, that you have not been saved to sit, that you have been saved to work, and that your work is a means by which you will glorify God. And in the Reformation with the five solas, that apex sola, sola deo gloria, for the glory of God alone, they understood that as the umbrella over not just salvation, but the umbrella over everything, that not only is your salvation unto the glory of God, but how you carry out your work is to be done for the glory of God. And so if right now counts forever, and it does, then your work counts forever.

And so the first heading that I want to set before you is work assigned, work assigned. And if you'll turn back to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 1, and I want to begin reading in verse 26, and everything begins here as it relates to work. And we read in verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. And so we as human beings, beginning with Adam and then Eve, have been uniquely made in the image of God, in the likeness of God, to be like God in a way that is distinct from the rest of His creation. Such that we are set apart in the created order in a higher place than animals and trees and rivers. We uniquely are made in the likeness of God. We are image bearers, imago Dei, of God.

So what is number one on that list? What is the first thing that God assigns here in verse 26, and it will be repeated in verse 28. Number one on the list in this text is that Adam would work because God is a working God. And if Adam is to be like God, then Adam must work because God is a working God. God is not a sitting God in the sense of being inactive. Though He is enthroned in the heavens, He is working the affairs of providence every moment of every day. God is answering prayer. God is opening blinded eyes to see the truth of the gospel. God is opening hardened hearts to receive the message of saving grace. God is overturning the resistance of the world to the gospel. Every second, God is working. God is not passive.

God is active. And because of that, we are made in the image of God. And we are made for a task, and that is to work.

God never intended life to be a vacation. He intended it to be an occupation, and we are to work. And so we read in verse 26, you can see it for yourself in your own Bible. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Now here's number one. And let them, notice the them, it's in the plural, so this goes beyond just Adam. And I think beyond Adam and Eve, this extends to all whom Adam would represent as the federal head of the human race.

This would apply to you and me as well. Let them rule over, and now in this verse, over is used five times. So we see the emphasis that God is placing here that we are to preside over God's creation, and we are to work. Let them rule, which means to have dominion and to subjugate over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing. And so here God assigns work to Adam.

You'll also note that this precedes the fall. This precedes original sin. That the curse is not assigning work. God assigned work before there was original sin and before there was the curse. This is the perfect will of God for man to work.

And so we learn much here about work assigned. And this creation mandate has never been rescinded. It has never been annulled. It is so foundational that in a sense it's never been repeated in the Bible, because it is so glaringly foundational that everything else will be built upon this creation mandate. And it is still a part of God's will for our lives that we do the work that is assigned to us to do. Therefore, idleness is a sin and industry is a virtue. Therefore, laziness is ungodly and labor is godly.

Receiving a handout, if you can work, is ungodly. Working to earn your livelihood brings honor and glory to God. So that's where we begin in our survey, work assigned. Now if you will, come to Genesis chapter 3, and I want you to see the second heading, which is work hindered. First, work assigned in Genesis 1. Now second, work hindered in Genesis chapter 3. And I want to look specifically with you at verses 17 and 18, because sin has left a devastating effect upon man's assignment of work. And so in verse 17 we read these startling words, cursed, severely judged is the ground because of you, because of your original sin. In toil you will not eat of it all the days of your life. This word toil in the original Hebrew speaks of pain, hardship, sorrow, back-breaking sweat, producing labor and work. And so the creation mandate, the work assigned will continue, but now you're going to be pushing the rope uphill. Now there will be difficulty in a fallen world because of God's curse upon the world. Nevertheless, you are to continue your work. And he says in verse 17 at the end, he says, all the days of your life.

This curse will never be lifted, and you will work all the days of your life as long as you are physically able to do so. And by this you will continue to glorify God. So we come to verse 18, both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you. Now there is the introduction of difficulties.

Literal thorns and thistles and many other speed bumps and roadblocks and difficulties and challenges are now thrown into the planet that makes the workplace a very challenging and difficult thing. And this was done not by Satan, this was done by God Himself. And so he says, and you will eat the plants of the field. To be vegetarian, of course, is part of the curse. Sorry, I'm just biblical.

Romans 14, 3 says, he who is weak in faith eats vegetables only. So, sorry, just quoting the Bible. So verse 19, by the sweat of your face, and he's talking about your work, that there will be perspiration streaming down your face and it will be dripping off the tip of your nose from your hard labor. By the sweat of your face, you will eat bread till you return to the earth. So Adam, and for all of your descendants, you will no longer be living in a garden, you will be living in a thorn-infested field and you are to continue to glorify Me by carrying out the work that I have assigned to you and it is to be a continual remembrance of original sin. That this human race has risen up, as R.C.

would say, in cosmic rebellion against Me. And you are to work till you return to the ground. And God created Adam out of the dust of the ground and he was to continue to work until he is placed back into the ground. So I would say to you from this, as long as you are alive on planet earth, there is work for you to do. Work in the sense of a vocational calling and work in a sense even after you would retire from whatever your career has been.

Nevertheless, you are to work until you are placed back into the ground. And so you may retire from your career, but you will never retire from the work that God has assigned to you. At the end of Moses' life, he spent the last 40 years of his life, the greatest challenge of his life, leading Israel into the very precipice of the promised land. And Caleb, when he was advanced in years, he didn't retire.

He said, I want the biggest mountain with the biggest giants. You assign that to me. And the Apostle John, at the end of his life, he's still writing books in the Bible and he is still serving the Lord. And so this is work hindered. And so you and I just need to understand this. There is not intended to be an easy job anywhere. And if you're looking for an easy job, you're not going to find it because of the curse that God has placed on creation.

It will be met with difficulty and challenges and roadblocks. Now third, I want you to come to Psalm 128. Psalm 128, and I want you to note third, work blessed. Psalm 128, and I want to look at the first two verses of this Psalm. And he begins by saying how blessed. Despite the curse that is upon work, the earth, and our labor on the earth, there nevertheless is a blessing that God pronounces upon the worker and the one who works to provide for his family and to provide for others. And so beginning in verse 1, he begins, how blessed. In the Hebrew, it's in the plural, which is, oh, the blessedness, the multiplicity of blessing, the fullness of blessing, how blessed is everyone.

And he now mentions three things. Number one, who fears the Lord, synonymous with saving faith, synonymous with the one who stands in reverential awe in the presence of God, realizing who he or she is and who God is and knows the Lord. How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord.

Every unbeliever fails to take God seriously, and it is only the believer who genuinely takes God seriously from His Word. That's number one, fears the Lord. Number two, obeys the Lord because all true fear of God, always leads to obedience to God.

If you're disobedient, then you have failed to fear God. And so he says, who walks in His ways. Walks is a metaphor for daily living.

We would say today daily Christian living. It's where the rubber meets the road, one foot in front of another, on a narrow path, headed to a destination in front of us. It speaks of how we conduct ourselves in life. He walks in His ways, not your own ways.

No, the one who fears the Lord walks in the ways of the Lord as a result of reverencing and worshiping God. But there's a third step here in verse 2. He says, when you shall eat of the fruit of your hands. And the fruit of your hands is really your work. In fact, the word for fruit in the original Hebrew is translated labor or work. I'm preaching out of the New American Standard, and it's metaphorically translated as fruit, but it's literally you shall eat of the labor of your hands.

And so he says, you're to have your shoulder to the plow. He says, you're to have your hands out in the field and in the harvest, and you are blessed of God. Now, the word blessing in the book of Psalms is used in a two-fold way. There is an eternal blessedness, which is our state of standing in grace, justification by faith.

But there's also a temporal dimension to this word as it relates to one's personal joy. We might say happiness as we are graced and favored by God. We are satisfied by God. And so what he is saying here is that when you fear God, you will walk in His ways. And when you walk in His ways, included on this path is the work that God has assigned you to do, your vocational calling.

And you will be immensely satisfied as you carry out what God has called you to do. Out of the Reformation, there was the realization not only is the minister called to preach the Word and shepherd the flock, but even the blacksmith is called by God to do the work that he's called to do. That even the farmer, the housewife are called by God to do what God has put before them to do, but no one is not called who fears the Lord. And we glorify God, and we honor God by our work. And on the last day when we stand before the Lord, every Christian will stand in the judgment. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, For we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And that we refers to believers. And we will be appraised by our master as a servant slave to our master.

Have we been faithful in his household to do the work that he has assigned us to do? And we will give an account to the Lord on that last day for the use of our time, for the use of our talent, and how we have employed it and invested it in serving others. Martin Luther when he preached on Psalm 128 had this to say. Let me quote Martin Luther as he is expounding on Psalm 128 verses 1 and 2. He says, Your work is a very sacred matter. God delights in it. This praise of God, Luther writes, meaning God's praise of work should be inscribed on every tool and on every forehead and on every face. In other words, that it would be constantly before us. He says the world does not consider labor a blessing, but flees from it and hates it.

It cannot wait to stop working. But, Luther writes, the pious, referring to the godly, who fear the Lord, labor with a ready, cheerful heart. The world inverts the thought, meaning the world has it the complete opposite of what the Word of God says. And I wonder how much have we been influenced by what the world says about work, as though we can hardly wait to get out of it. The world inverts the thought and says, Miserable shall you be, for these things must forever be endured and born. No, Luther understood that there is a vocational calling on every believer, and as long as we are on planet earth and breathing, there is work to be done that is placed before us by the Lord.

I just have one last heading, and I'm looking at my friend the clock. And the final heading is work reinforced. Work reinforced because as we progress in the progressive revelation, as the Bible continues to unfold, we do not see a diminishing of work. If anything, we see a heightening of work. And in 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 11, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business.

Stop sticking your nose into everyone else's business. You just do what has been given to you to do, and he says, and work with your hands, just as we commanded you. So it's a command to work, verse 12, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in need. And Paul's point is, it would be a horrible testimony for you to loaf at work. It would be counterproductive as a Christian, your witness to the world, for you to try to pull back from your labor. No, you glorify God, and you give evidence that you've been made in the image of God, who is a working God, as you do your work.

So let me ask you this. Are you working? Do you know what it is God has you to do?

Because there's no one on planet earth who has nothing to do but hang out. You need to find the work. Whether you're paid for it or not, you can be a volunteer worker. You glorify God with your work. That's Dr. Stephen Lawson with a message titled, Working as for the Lord. He was speaking at this year's Ligonier National Conference held here in Orlando back in March, and our theme was, Right Now Counts Forever. You know, Dr. Sproul wrote a monthly column in Table Talk magazine by that name, and this year's conference was meant to help us see that every moment of our lives bears inestimable value, because every moment matters for eternity.

And that really hits home when we talk about work, doesn't it? The current issue of Table Talk magazine is also on this theme, Right Now Counts Forever. In the leading article, Dr. Burke Parsons wrote this. He said, Dr. Sproul's concern was to help believers be thoughtful and articulate Christians who know not only the Gospel, but also the whole counsel of God, the theology of God's Word, the history of that theology, and how to defend the entirety of their faith. That continues to be our focus here at Ligonier Ministries, and I'd like for you to have a copy of this month's Table Talk. Just contact us here and request it when you give a donation of any amount. You'll also receive a full one-year subscription to this monthly magazine. You'll find articles and Bible studies that will help you in your journey to be an articulate, thoughtful follower of Jesus Christ. You can make your request and give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org, or you can call us.

Our number here is 800-435-4343. I mentioned Dr. Parsons. He is the editor of Table Talk Magazine and a Ligonier Teaching Fellow, and he will be our teacher tomorrow here on Renewing Your Mind as we continue this theme, Right Now Counts Forever. The early church here in the first century was participating in all the things that Christ commanded, guarding them, observing them, and of course practicing what the apostles themselves did as well. And they were committed to these things, to the teaching and to the fellowship. Dr. Parsons will address why church is not optional for the Christian. We hope you'll join us Wednesday for Renewing Your Mind. .