Last month I presented a three-hour address to my church entitled “Called to Work: How We Should View and Do Work.”
- MP3s: part 1 | part 2 (October 20 and 27, 2010)
- Update: condensed in one sermon (January 27, 2013)
Here’s the outline:
Introduction
1. What are some popular views on work?
1.1. Work is awful.
1.2. Work is meaningless.
1.3. Work is everything.
1.4. Work is money.
1.5. “Secular” work is inferior to “full-time Christian ministry.”
2. How does work fit in the Bible’s storyline?
2.1. Work at Creation
2.2. Work under the Curse
2.3. Work under Christ
2.4. Work in the Consummation
3. For what purposes should we work?
3.1. We should work in order to glorify God.
3.2. We should work in order to glorify God by providing for our basic needs.
3.3. We should work in order to glorify God by serving others.
3.3.1. We serve others by providing for our own needs.
3.3.2. We serve others by providing for the needs of our family.
3.3.3. We serve others by supporting our pastors and missionaries.
3.3.4. We serve others by giving to those in need.
3.3.5. We serve others by doing good to humanity in general and our community in particular.
3.4. We should work in order to glorify God by having meaningful and fulfilling lives.
3.5. We should work in order to glorify God before non-Christians.
4. How should we view work?
4.1. Hate sin and its effects, but don’t hate work itself.
4.2. Distinguish between wholesome work and sinful work.
4.3. View work as stewardship.
4.4. Don’t idolize work.
4.5. View “secular” work and “full-time Christian ministry” as equally important.
4.6. View blue-collar and white-collar work as equally important.
4.7. Value unpaid work.
4.8. Reject the retirement-mindset.
5. How should we work?
5.1. Work heartily and sincerely as for the Lord, not other people.
5.2. Work hard; don’t be lazy.
5.3. Work hard, but don’t overwork.
5.4. Work shrewdly, but don’t work dishonestly.
5.5. Be ambitious, but don’t be greedy.
6. How do we know what specific work God wants us to do?
7. Conclusion
8. Recommended Reading
- Nichols, Stephen J. What Is Vocation? Basics of the Faith Series. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2010.
[31-page booklet.] - Piper, John. “Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5.” Pages 131–54 in Don’t Waste Your Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 2003.
- Ryken, Leland. Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work and Leisure. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995. [By far the single most helpful resource on work I’m aware of. Academic treatment, not popular. Written by an English professor at Wheaton College.]
- Veith, Gene Edward, Jr. God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002. [Explains how vocation includes all of life; follows Martin Luther.]
Thanks, Andy. This dovetails nicely with our Sunday morning meditation yesterday in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24.
Good teaching, Brother. I pray it bears much fruit.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Naselli. Some of the young men that I attend church with have been mulling over this issue. I will direct them to this post.
God bless your labor!
Andy, have you seen the book The Gift of Work: Spiritual Disciplines for the Workplace by Bill Heatley? What are your thoughts on it if you have?
I haven’t read it, Craig.
Thank you so much for your teaching on work. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to be there for your second session. It was very encouraging!
The Gift of Work has been a joy to write and a wonder to watch grow in popularity. It helps people understand the purpose of work as God intended and combines that Scriptural knowledge with spiritual disciplines to help the Christian remain strong in the face of all that confronts them in the workplace. Much of what Andy has been writing about harmonizes with what I’ve written.
Grace and Peace,
Bill Heatley
Also recommend as a reading Gustav Wingren’s book Luther on Vocation. A really eye-opening book on the Reformer’s view of vocation; Dr. Veith used a lot of his material in his book from Wingren.
Love the two talks on this subject. It has been a pet subject for me for about 20 years, and I’ll soon be teaching a very short series on it at our church (in Sunday School). I’m very much in agreement with the man who made the comment near the end of talk #2 that many pastors feed the illusion that their work is more important than other work. I recently heard a big-name pastor tell a room full of pastors that they were the most important people in the world. OH. MY. GOODNESS.
Andy,
Since you did this work and published this post, I thought you should know (if you haven’t heard already) that Dr. Terry Rude’s son, Paul, released a book called Significant Work at the beginning of this year. I just got a copy of it. Haven’t read it completely, but my reliable sources tell me that his stuff is really helpful. He’s got some videos on Vimeo about his new ministry/non-profit.
Peace, brother.
Will