Revolutionary Work

What's the point of the 9 to 5?

William Taylor

• Publisher: 10Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781911272038
• eBook ISBN: 9781911272038

This is the eBook version of Revolutionary Work, the eBook can be downloaded onto a number of different devices including, Mac, PC, Kindle, etc. A help document can be found here explaining how to access your files.This eBook is available FREE with a purchase of the physical version of Revolutionary Work, click here to buy.

We spend more time working than doing almost anything else, yet work is often difficult, unsatisfying and frustrating. Sometimes our efforts feel never–ending, and the idea that we should be working for the Lord is often squeezed out.

This book, based on a series of sermons by William Taylor, willhelp you to see that being a Christian can make a differenceto how we experience work. William argues that 'the Bible'steaching on work is not only liberating but also exhilarating andrefreshingly realistic'.

Whatever type of work you're involved in, you'll find this bookfull of wisdom on how to be a wise and godly worker.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF WORK?

GENESIS 2:4–17

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—⁵and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground—⁷the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

⁸Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground— trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) ¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. ¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’

THE DIGNITY OF WORK

To gain a proper perspective on work we need to go back to Genesis. 1:26–27 declares,

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

We discover here that the God of the Bible is a worker: he made the universe. Unlike the pantheon of Greek gods or Eastern deities, he gets his hands dirty, as it were. God himself dignifies work. Since God made man in his image, we find that we are workers too.

Furthermore, God entrusts to humanity the task of work in his world. He could quite easily have delivered this created order with everything complete already: all scientific discoveries; all technological advances; all the peoples of the earth already placed; and all houses, hedges, buildings and every aspect of art and culture here for us. Yet he did not – he entrusted us with this work.

Since God is a worker, who entrusts his work to men and women, God himself dignifies the substance of everyday life. As Jesus said, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working’ (John 5:17). We should also remember that Jesus worked with his own hands as a carpenter. What a radical challenge it was in first-century Greek culture that God came to earth as a labourer. Paul too was happy to work as a tanner and a tent maker in order to support himself as he spread the gospel of Christ.

This dignity of work makes sense of so much of our lives; as always, the word of God explains God’s world. We do love to create. In however small a way, we love to invent, to build, to organise and to order. As we engage in various DIY projects at home, even if the end result is a slightly crooked shelf, we rather like what we have achieved. We get satisfaction from a job well done. Likewise, even when our jobs are as simple and everyday as cleaning the house, cooking a meal or filling out a form, we are pleased when it is done well. This sense of the enjoyment of creating things explains why unemployment is such a blight.

Whenever my family goes on holiday to my parents’ farm and there is a lot of manual work to do, we have a silly joke that there are only three topics of conversation: what is Dad planning to build?; what is Dad building?; and what has he built? That sounds laborious but I enjoy work, and I like to look at the results of my labours. We see this same sense of satisfaction in other ways. Maybe it is a celebratory party after the completion of a deal, or a grand opening with the cutting of a ribbon, or simply an invitation to come and look at what we have been up to. This same pride is demonstrated by children who talk about or display their achievements in ‘show and tell’ sessions at school. We all know that there is something essentially dignified about work – we are made in God’s image and we are made to work. Likewise, we understand that enforced or unending leisure is ultimately bland and boring.

We must hold on to this essential dignity of everyday labour as we progress through this book, especially as, in chapter 2, we consider the futility and the frustration of work. We must never lose the idea that work is gloriously good and that God has work for us to do in his creation in which we live. Work is a high, honourable and godly thing. We will also see that God has very special work for us to engage in which makes our everyday job pale into insignificance, and that God’s new creation will be a place of work.

This means that the next time your alarm clock goes off at 5.50 or 6.50 a.m., or whatever time it happens to be, summoning you to get to work, you should remind yourself that work is good; this is a glorious thing you have been given to do. It is dignified; God is a worker and Jesus worked.

Equally, the next time your boss lands a heap of papers on your desk, or an avalanche of emails floods into your inbox, or the senior staff nurse gives you a list of tasks, or as a lecturer or teacher a mountain of new assignments is handed to you, again remember that work is good. God is a worker and he has bestowed on us the dignity of work.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WORK

Secondly, we see that God entrusts to Adam and Eve the responsibility of ruling his creation in his image and under his authority. Genesis 1:28 says, ‘God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”’

God is the ruler and God is a worker but humanity is to rule and work under him. This is a delegated task, given to us by God, and therefore we are answerable to God for the manner in which we undertake it. We are to rule over the world and care for it in an accountable and responsible way. We are to develop it and to design within it, but must not forget that it has been given to us on trust.

We find the same responsibility in 2:15: ‘The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.’ Our work is to be conducted reliably under God because we are his sub-regents in his world, and this suggests a degree of accountability. That is why Paul in the New Testament says to servants and slaves, ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord’ (Col. 3:23).

It may be that you work for a law or accountancy firm or in some part of the state sector. They are your employers on paper. They pay your monthly salary as well as any expenses. Yet these passages show that you and I are working in God’s creation, which has all been given to us on trust. Therefore, whatever position or role we fulfil, we are accountable ultimately to God.

This understanding should change the annual end-of-year review many of us have. God is our supreme boss and we have absolute responsibility to him in whatever job we are doing. In 1 Corinthians, as we will see, Paul tells each of us that we have been assigned a place by God in his goodness. It may not be a position we enjoy or even the position that we feel we are best equipped to fulfil. Nevertheless, God has placed us there in his sovereignty and he considers us to be answerable and responsible to him as we rule over that particular part of creation. The job that he has given us to do is one we must carry out in a proper and fit way. There is accountability in our work.

Yet our responsibility in work does not reach only vertically to God; it also extends horizontally to our fellow human beings. This horizontal responsibility is taught in various passages in the New Testament, which instruct us that we are responsible to others as we handle the proceeds of our work:

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need (Eph. 4:28).

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:8).

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share (1 Tim. 6:17–18).

In Ephesians 4 it seems that some have been converted to Christianity from a life of dishonest thieving. They are now to live a life that is both accountable vertically to the living God and responsible horizontally to the believers around them as they start to work and to share with those in need. In 1 Timothy Paul teaches that Christians are to share what we have with those in need. We are to care for our elderly relatives and young children, as well as the widows and orphans in our church. If we are wealthy, we are to use our money responsibly and generously in doing good for others.

We have a responsibility to work, a responsibility within work and a responsibility beyond work. We are to work and care for what God has entrusted us with in his creation, and we are to work and consider others as we use what God has given us in our work.

What a transformation that would bring to the way we conduct ourselves at work. Imagine I was not the Rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate but a research technician. How should I think about my work? I should thank the Lord for giving me this job, for I am able to take part in ordering this creation of his. Or imagine I were a security guard. Then I should thank God for entrusting me with the security of a building so that I can welcome the hundreds of people who arrive in the morning, greeting them in a way which will bring him honour as I engage in my work responsibly. If I were a technological whizz-kid, I would thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to serve those in the company needing technological assistance as I act with responsibility within the workplace.

We have to be careful how far we take this responsibility to design, to develop, to explore and to investigate within this creation because, as we will see, the mandate that was given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1 is radically altered after the Fall in Genesis 3. When we come to look at Genesis 9 we shall find that there are significant changes in the responsibilities given to Noah from those given to Adam. Nonetheless, there is responsibility in work. There is responsibility vertically to God, to whom we are accountable, and responsibility horizontally to fellow humans.

THE NECESSITY OF WORK

Thirdly, we see the necessity of work. Genesis 1:29 says, ‘Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”’ God gives Adam and Eve plants to cultivate for their nourishment. There is a sense that they must work at doing so if their life is to be sustained.

This emphasis on the necessity of work is picked up repeatedly in the main passages which address the topic of work in the New Testament:

… we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle (1 Thes. 5:14).

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you have received from us. 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, labouring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies (2 Thes. 3:6–11).

Here Paul is writing to a church that was so fixated, albeit rightly, on the coming of Jesus Christ and the new creation that they were downplaying the daily necessity of labouring in order to earn a crust. They were saying that, as Jesus is coming back again, we can all lie back and not bother working at all. To this Paul says quite simply if you will not work, you will not eat.

Work, then, is necessary for our food and well-being. Work is necessary so that we can provide for our families and the families of others. Work is necessary, too, so that we can be generous to those who are in real and genuine need. Later, we will discover, from 1 Timothy, that work is also necessary for the setting apart of Bible teachers to teach the word of God.

A number of years ago some of our Australian friends visited us and found that we had some very unbiblical and sentimental views about work. In particular, one of them stood up in a meeting and said, ‘Why do you work? To feed your face.’ This phrase caught on with some people, but others started criticising it and saying it was rather reductionist. I wonder, however, if their criticisms were quite as valid as they thought. Yes, there is a dignity to work, and it is good that we work because work is a dignified part of being human. And, yes, there is a responsibility to work. However, in these New Testament passages that deal specifically with the subject of work, Paul points out that if we will not work, then we do not deserve to eat. In other words, we work to feed our face!

It is possible for some Christians to be so super-spiritual and so refined that they think that working just to earn a crust is somehow sub-spiritual. We do work to feed our face – it is as simple as that. Yes, there is a dignity to it and there is a responsibility as we do it, but work is also fundamental to our needs.

I realise as I write that some who are reading this may currently be experiencing either short- or long-term unemployment. The Bible’s teaching on the dignity, responsibility and necessity of work will ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Note to Reader
• Contents
• Work …
• 1. What Is the Point of Work?
• 2. What Is the Matter with Work?
• 3. Is There Any Hope for Work?
• 4. What Is the Work of God?
• Appendix 1: What about ‘My Talents’?
• Appendix 2: A Special Case for ‘The Arts’?
• Appendix 3: How Can Churches Be Revolutionary about Work?
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Notes