The Godly Activity of Work

Work is a four-letter word. This is true on more than one level. A preschooler can look at the word, count the characters and verify this fact. But for many, work is a four-letter word for much deeper reasons. The four-letter nature of the word is related to the displeasure that work often brings.

When something is “work,” it usually denotes that a less-than-pleasant amount of effort is required to accomplish a task. Tedium or toil is commingled with the concept of work. Because of this, people get the Sunday evening blues when they consider the looming specter of the Monday morning grind starting up again.

Joyful harvest

But this is not the way God designed work. God created the steward for the purpose of work. Genesis 2:15 makes this clear! “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Work was always part of the identity of the human steward. In God’s perfect Garden of Eden, the work was simple and joyous. It was that of harvest.

Just imagine being a farmer in the garden! No plowing. No planting. No weeding. No rock-picking. No bucking bales. No floods. No droughts. Just harvest. When it was time for zucchini, you picked it. When it was time for bananas, you picked them. The work of the steward in the garden was beautiful, not burdensome.

Confronted with labor

But that is not the case for the stewards we are entrusted to lead. The labor that confronts us in the present day is anything but automatic. There is good reason for this. The first stewards did not fail in their work; they failed in their keeping. Adam did not keep, that is defend, the garden against its only natural enemy: the alien word of sin and death spewed by the serpent.

Because of this, the judgment of the sweat of the brow and toil has been inextricably linked this side of eternity. Humanity was not terminated from their position. They were put in a place where the burden of their sin would also be a physical burden. Work was not cursed. The sinful worker was.

Because of this sinful failure, work has inherited a bad rap! It is no wonder that so many loved the lyrics from the musical “Firebringer.” In a song entitled, “We’ve Got Work to Do,” the ensemble responds in a contagiously catchy way, “I don’t want to do the work today!” We do not want to do things that make us bear the burden of the labor to which we are called. Burden is not beloved. We are tepid when it comes to toil. It is a daily reminder that the labor which wears us down is leading us back to the dust from which we were taken.

Work is worship!

This is important for us as steward leaders to emphasize. Work is a godly activity. In fact, set in the temple of the garden, work is much more than just labor. Work is worship! While work does not achieve the status of righteousness before the Lord, it is the way that the Lord has called the steward to be faithful to his or her call. Work, as defined by the Lord, is the essence of the way the steward faithfully serves the Lord who has tasked them with it.

St. Paul sets the work in context for the baptized and redeemed steward when he tells the Romans: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). Labor can only be seen as a blessing when viewed through the mercies of God. The labor of Jesus on the cross on our behalf is what redeemed work.

The liturgy of redeemed work

Baptismally repurposed work is once again worship. The word translated as “spiritual worship” in the verse above is the word which also gives us our word “liturgy.” Our daily liturgy of harvesting the fruits of Christ’s redemptive work on our behalf in Word and Sacrament, and putting it to work for the benefit the neighbor removes the burden. It is once again worship. The steward loves God by the Holy Spirit leading them to and through labor.

Keeping the mercies of God in view also then “keeps” work in its godly perspective. The steward leader extols work, not because it needs to be done, but because it is the call of the steward. Work is not dreaded because the mercies of God have restored it to its original purpose of worship. The burden, while still felt in the body, is lifted by the promise of God’s Word of forgiveness, life and salvation.

Work is still a four-letter word for the redeemed steward. But not for colloquial reasons. Those four letters, viewed through the mercies of God, grant purpose and peace to the steward. Teaching this gives the same purpose and peace to the steward leader as well.