Redeeming Work II: Work Stinks but God is good.

Work isn't what I thought it would be. When I was in Junior High I realized I had a penchant for science and math and I didn't really like english. I made up my mind I wanted to be an engineer and go to the Colorado School of Mines. I achieved all of that but after a year of work with a good job in a really cool industry (telecommunications with T-Mobile), I wasn't feeling very content. I lot of it felt like a waste of time and I used virtually nothing from my degree. Considering you spend most of your time at work, this can make for a boring life. Some of the issues that contribute to the problem is that it doesn't seem to capture the whole of what it means to be human. We are creative by nature and large corporations like to streamline things and thus they place many constraints on one's creativity in a job. We are another cog in the machine. For me personally, I had a much more exciting job than many of my college buddies, and I still wasn't satisified (partially because of a calling to ministry, but that's another issue).
Many young adults feel the same way. There are a variety of reasons why we struggle with this thing called work. They begin in Genesis 3.

The effects of the curse:
After the fall of Adam and Eve God describes the effects of sin on their lives. It does not just result in death, but in a fracturing of what we were made to do, rule over the earth like God does. There are several results of this:
1) Giving birth will be more painful (Gen 3:16). This means family will be a mixed blessing with both joy and pain.
2) You will desire him and he rule over you (Gen 3:16). Work will come between the family as humans live out God's mandate to rule over creation.
3) Cursed is the ground... (Gen 3:17). Creation itself is cursed and must be worked for food and this work becomes painful.
4) producing thorns and thistles. This was an agricultural society. What we are trying to work with, will fight against us. Hardly different today, you work with computers and they often work against you.
5) You will have to work until you die (Gen 3:19) and death will be the result.

Three ways in which work is broken:
1) Work Itself is Broken.
a. We get bogged down in things that do not contribute to getting the job done.
b. You worked for a retirement plan only to watch it get destroyed in November last year.
c. What we work to accomplish, eventually breaks down no matter what we do.
2) Workers are broken.
a. We are frail and we die. We experience pain often times at the hand of the work we do to give us a better life. I went to a doctor for back trouble a few years ago and the doc told me a lot of young professionals are having back trouble these days from sitting at a desk all day long.
b. We take advantage of our job. We work too much and make it a functional savior. We leave early, steal stuff from the office, cheat on your expenses, lie to our employer, etc. I am sure you got some examples.
3) Employers are broken
a. They are not willing to do the work the give to others. There is a lot of busy work created by upper management that they would never in their right mind do. They simply "lord it over people."
b. They hire the wrong people or give good people the wrong job.
c. They abuse those they employ (not always, just the really bad ones). Over work people, pay them too little. Salary for some equals slavery.
d. If you want to get ahead, you have to make sacrifices for the company, usually your family.

Responding to Work, Ecc 2:17-26:
1) You make it your savior because you believe it is still good.
a. Ecc 2:18-22, work as hard as you want and it will amount to nothing because someone will ignore it or exchange it for new and "better" ideas.
b. Ecc 2:23, Your reward for giving everything you got to work is... sleepless nights.
c. this person is a work-a-holic.
2) You stop doing it because you see it as the curse itself
a. We were made for work, see Gen 1:28.
b. Think of Peter in Office Space
c. This is the sluggard of Proverbs 6:6-11; 10:4-5; 1 Thess 4:11-12; 2 Thess 3:6-15
d. If you don't work you don't eat and you will get your reward, nothing.
e. Being "busy" does not count as work. Your work should be something that contributes.
3) You blame it on an oppressive employer or a bad employee.
a. This is the first response of Adam and Eve. "It's not my fault."
b. "She made me do it." As if Eve was an oppressive employer.
c. "The devil made me do it." The bad guy is the reason why I messed up.

so how should we respond...

Work Stinks, but God is Good.
1) Don't stop reading, Ecc 2:24-26
a. Nothing better than to be able to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in work.
b. We were made for them so don't stop pursuing them.
c. Satisfaction in work is a gift from God. Someone works too much and has no sabbath is not satisfied and thinks by their efforts it will come instead of relying on God's grace.
d. God gives grace to those who work well. He gives greater understanding, insight, and enjoyment.
e. Those who abuse work, God will give your efforts to the righteous. The oppressed will recieve the spoils of their oppressors when the kingdom comes in all its fullness.
2) Its not the job, but the quality of your work that counts. Col 3:17
a. doing for the Lord and do it by his grace.
b. It is not what you do but how you do it. You should strive to do your best.
c. God will give you grace to do it well.

Well, those are my basic thoughts and why works stinks and how we handle it. Satisfaction in work is the grace of God and the days I worked hard, I felt the most satisfied. The days I messed around, I felt even more discontent. In the end, God will supply what we need to do our job to best of our ability. Rest in him, not in your efforts.

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