In the Bible, the very first chapter of the first book, Genesis, tells the story of God creating and uses a framework of six workdays to describe its development. Then in Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, we see work, work, work.
[2:1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
The story of creation from the Jewish scriptures, believed by Christians, is that creation was the product of
God gets right to work from the beginning of time. That’s unique. Many other creation stories in other cultures start with conflict between gods. They say we and our world are products of destruction. But the Christian story says we are products of construction.
When it’s all done, God is satisfied, and can rest. He’s said over and over as he created, it’s good. When he created humans he said it was very good. And then he rested, satisfied he’d done good work.
For the rest of the summer, we’ll be looking at work and rest, and how important they are for followers of Jesus.
And it starts here, with the simple fact that God works, and is still working to provide, care, heal and sustain life for us on earth.
God and Jesus work: in John 5:17 he responded to those who objected to him healing people on Saturday, what should have been a day of rest. He said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
God didn’t stop working forever, he is still at work, including in and through his son Jesus.
Later in John 5:36 it’s clear God the Father has given him work to do…like an assignment.
Finally, work is in paradise. If the Garden of Eden, in creation, we get a picture of heaven on earth, and we see work is meant to be there, not just added in after humans rebelled against god – it was there before the rebellion. The nature of work changed, but it was meant to be there already.
Today we’ve seen, work is meant to be a good thing…something God embraces. Not an evil virus infecting life.
Question: Why is the goodness of work not more apparent in human life? What makes this so hard to believe?
Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest
Loading Content...
Share a Link to this Message
The link has been copied to your clipboard; paste it anywhere you would like to share it.
I overhead some people on a first date talking about what’s important in life. I remember answering questions like that – listing your priorities as a good way to learn about someone.
There’s a standard formula. If you’re a Christian, have to start with God. Then you’re supposed to say something about people: family, friends, loved ones. Then finally material things – jobs, posessions, etc.
But are they true? Or are we trying to say the right things to impress someone – show that we’re a good date, good Christian, good person?
They make for inspiring stories - take the Office two weeks ago: Jim has stepped back from a business he’s started to mend his marriage and work at his old job with Dunder Mifflin. David Wallace, the CEO of Dunder Mifflin, says “Most of the guys I know wouldn’t rearrange their golf schedule to save their marriage”.
But what does that really look like in practice?
How many times can you sacrifice money for kids before your kids suffer?
Would God rather you spend Sunday morning at hockey practice, for your kids physical health, or at church, for their spiritual help?
When does God trump one’s kids – only on Sundays, all the time, or never?
This kind of prioritizing can leave us feeling like every decision is a competition.
We asked some people on the street about their top two priorities in life – and heard about kids, money, health and more.
That’s what we’ll look at this week. But instead of a question, here’s your task – list off some important things in your life, and rank them. Think of things like Kids, Parents, Spouse, Friends, Job, Home, Savings, Paying Debt, God, Possessions, etc.
Prioritize them – rank them – you’re not allowed to give any ties. We’ll use this list in Thursday’s challenge.
If you’re not sure, look at your spending, or use of time through the week. It’s usually a good indication of your priorities in life.
