A small gaggle of gawkers and gossipmongers gazed out over the Sea of Galilee and spoke to each other between glances laden with meaning. “Aye, you can take the fisherman out of the sea, but you can never take the sea out of the fisherman,” commented Carmi of Capernaum. “Indeed, the denier is back in the boat and he has taken trembling Thomas and the boys of Boanerges with him. Can you even fathom such a thing?” remarked Malcus of Magdala. Binnui of Bethsaida just shook his head in agreement and said, “Peter has gone back to work as a fisherman!” Many, with the wisdom of the ages, have imagined such criticism of Peter and his fellow disciples as they returned with their nets to the Sea in John 21. Perhaps the emphasis belongs on the word “imagined.” Truly, it is not clear that Peter was in the wrong at all in those moments. He was with the Lord’s people and in the region where the Lord had directed him to wait. This beautiful conclusion to John’s Gospel is like a fisherman’s net overflowing with rich spiritual lessons for our enjoyment. Yet it also speaks to the very practical matter of the place of work within the life of a believer. As we continue this collection of articles on work, we wish to emphasize that work is good and gainful, but work is not our God.
Work Is Good
Work is good because God is good. All goodness finds its source in God. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jas 1:17).1 Our God is a God of great works. When He does a work, His work is always righteous – done in the right way, at the right time and for the right reasons. His work is never frustrated, but it is always completed when and how He chooses. As those made in His image, we appreciate the goodness of work. Indeed, how wonderful is a finished work!
Conversely, we live in a time when the goodness of work is being discounted. Many prophesy that shortly, as technology advances, the work week will be reduced, the worker will be replaced, and income will be universal rather than earned. This trend, moving further away from biblical principles, does not bode well for humanity. Some are adjusting their focus from work to leisure. They are not just working for the weekend, but are striving to make every day a day devoted to pleasure and recreation. Yet, we aren’t writing these lines to debate great social issues, but rather we seek to consider great spiritual truth. Work is good because of God.
Work Is Gainful
An insightful believer and experienced businessman commented to me, “People say that the business world is a difficult place for a Christian to survive in, but I often find the opposite to be true. Believers are honest, conscientious and dedicated, and their lives are free of many of the vices that plague the world around us. They are often the ideal worker.”
The Lord uses our secular work to bring great blessing to our lives. The financial blessing that the Lord brings through our work provides for our families, our assemblies and the work of the Lord. The bounty of work extends far beyond the financial. Work brings structure, teaches valuable interpersonal lessons, and often leads to opportunities in the gospel. With all its aggravations, deadlines and middle managers, when is the last time I simply thanked the Lord for leading and providing for me in my work?
Yet a sobering thought rises to the surface. In our day, it is likely that the financial wealth of assembly believers in North America far surpasses that of past generations. But what of our spiritual wealth? Certainly the God who is so willing to bless us with gainful employment is a God who would delight to shower us with further spiritual blessing. Are we guilty of laying up treasure in all the wrong places? Are we prioritizing the material over the spiritual?
Work Is Not God
“ARBEIT MACHT FREI” (work makes you free), proclaim the twisted metal words over the entrance to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. It was a cruel and twisted lie of the Nazi regime, as over a million souls passed under that sign and found death. But if you look closely at the sign, you will find that the B in “ARBEIT” is upside down. The Jewish metal workers forced to make the sign understood that they were in an evil, upside-down world, and so they expressed it in the small way that they could. We need to face the truth that we are in that same evil, upside-down world. Indeed, our work can be to the glory of God, but it can also become an impostor, claiming the rightful place of our God.
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” may be the last words written chronologically in our Bible (1Jn 5:21). The aged apostle, who had outlived so many of the first Christians and felt burdened as he considered assemblies entering a new century ahead, expressed this insightful admonition. His wisdom speaks to our day. An idol is anything that takes the place of God within our lives.
Have I allowed work to encroach upon time that was previously devoted to meeting attendance, Bible study and devotional time? Have I developed the habit of glancing through the day at my 401k rather than lifting my eyes to heaven to ask the Lord to sustain me this day? Would my ego and self-worth collapse without my job? The list of searching questions and personal evaluations could continue, but they are simply evidence that work would love to become the idol, the god, whom I serve.
Work Is Our Future
Dr. A.J. Higgins has often cautioned, “Many people tell me, ‘Doc, once I retire then I will get serious about my health.’ But I find that most people remain exactly as they were during their employment.” Thank God for every believer who is using his or her retirement to further the work of the Lord, for teachers yielding their summer to children’s work, and for precious vacation hours being spent at a Seed Sowers event. But we should all be cautious not to delay our work for God to a future day. The time for work is now. Indeed, in heaven we will be at work for His glory, so let us labor for Him today and exhaust ourselves for His honor.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the NKJV.
