Redeeming Work, Part I ... (better late than never!)

The top three activities that consume the time of Americans, in order, are (1) sleeping, (2) working, and (3) watching TV. (For more information, see the 2007 American Time Use Survey.) In fact, among working Americans, the average workweek is 53 hrs/wk.

Here at Regeneration, all of us fall into one of three categories: (1) You have a job, but it is not your dream job; (2) You have a job, and it is your dream job; or (3) You don’t have a job, but you would like to have one in the future.

Because work is such a big part of our lives, we are spending seven weeks looking at what the Bible has to say about this important subject. What is a good theology of work for God’s people?

The Bible begins with God working. Genesis 1:1 reads: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In the beginning, God was productive. We are made in his image, and that includes working and being productive.

There are at least five things that we can produce: (1) commodities, (2) goods, (3) services, (4) experiences, and (5) transformations. (For more on this idea, check out this helpful presentation by Jim Gilmore.) Some of our jobs overlap and involve not just one of these products, but two or three of them.

The second thing that we see in the opening chapters of Genesis is that God has given us dominion over the earth. To understand this concept, notice that God does his work by first creating stuff (1:1-2), then fashioning what he has created into something with shape and form (days 1-3), then filling this creation with abundance (days 4-6), and finally ruling over creation as its sovereign.

So God creates-fashions-fills-rules his creation. Humanity, being made in God’s image, can follow this pattern. As discussed above, God’s creative work is roughly analogous to our productivity. The rest of the pattern (“fashion-fill-rule”) can then be outlined for us as follows:

1. “Fashion” - Stewarding God’s creation (the earth): We are called to steward, allocate, and maximize the earth’s resources wisely and not foolishly.

2. “Fill” - Developing God’s creation (the earth): Our job description is to bring God’s good creation to fruition. Our work should make the world better and more complete.

(Aside: This is one of our frustrations with work. Our work may not seem significant, i.e. it may not seem to make the world better and more complete. In this, it is helpful to consider that significance is not a simple thing (meaning made up of one part); it is a complex thing (meaning made up of many parts). There are at least three layers of significance: (1) That I do work, rather than being a lazy bum; (2) How I do work, i.e. attitude, excellence, integrity, and faithfulness; (3) What I do for work, i.e. how does my work make the world better and more complete?)

3. “Rule” - Ruling over God’s creation (the earth): We are called to rule over the earth in the same way that God rules and reigns over all of creation, by creating and preserving order not chaos.

But work is not just a thing of beginnings; it is a thing of eternity. One of Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels is that those who are faithful with little will be entrusted with more. It is possible that, on some level, this means those who are faithful with their resources and responsibilities in this life will be given greater resources and responsibilities in eternity. Elsewhere, Revelation 22:3 seems to indicate that we will have resources and responsibilities (re: jobs) in eternity. Think about it: if we had jobs in paradise before paradise was lost, why shouldn’t we have jobs in paradise when paradise is regained?

In summary, we were made for work. We were made to be productive and have dominion over the earth. And we will work serving God in eternity.

In conclusion, it is important to note that, although we were made for work, work is not the only thing we were made for. We were also made for worshipping God, loving our neighbors, etc. Being fully human (i.e. being sanctified) means learning by God’s grace to do each of these things well and in proper proportion to one another.

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