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Explore the fallacies of the current understanding of work and ministry, and discover a new theological paradigm that integrates them. Discuss the need for balance, the eternal significance of work, and the role of work in our spiritual formation. Join us for an engaging seminar led by experts in the field.
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Outline of this Seminar • The Fallacies of the Current Understanding of “Work” & “Ministry” • A Biblical Theology of Work • The Need for a New Theological Paradigm • Q & A
In Groups of Twos… • Why do you work? • Are you ”happy” when you work? • How do you describe your attitudes toward “work?”
Why do we work? • To earn our daily bread and provide for our necessities. • To keep us out of trouble, because laziness is the Devil’s playground? • To exercise our talents and our gifts, or to acquire new ones. • To make a positivedifference.
Why do we work? • To serve our “neighbor” with our earned income • To socialize ourselves so that we don’t become totally self-centered • To learn from others and to build relationships • To advance the Kingdom of God • To assist the poor and needy • Others?
Really… Why do we work? • To serve God and God’s purposes in unfolding the potential of creation. • To grow in holiness and Christ-likeness
Questions about Work • Whose work matters to God? Only that of “professional Christians?” (clergy) • Does all work have intrinsic value? • Does work have a part to play in our spiritual formation? • Does our work have any eternal significance? • Is work defined differently from one culture to another?
In Groups of Fours… • What are some synonyms (similar words) of work? • What adjectives are used to describe work? Name at least 3
Attitudes/Synonyms for Work in the Westernculture What do each of these words tell us about attitudes? Examples: Job, Occupation, Career, Living, Profession, Trade, Labor, Employment, Business. Examples of Attitudes: Drudgery, Travail, Sweat, Toil, Daily Grind, Duty, Obligation
Language Problems Problem of inadequate language: “Occupation” can mean to “occupy” or “fill space”, or it can mean “busy-ness”, or “doing for the sake of doing”---there is no “objective” (direction) in “occupation” “Employment” suggests work, or again, just busy-ness, according to the whims of an employer. There is a power difference between employer & employee. “Career” and “Profession” suggest status rather than servanthood. It gives the idea of progression, but does not give purpose.
An Alternative Language: “Vocation” or “Calling” The term “Vocation” comes from the Latin “vocare”, “to call”, and suggests that our purposes are bigger than just doing a task, or filling space, or busy-ness. It suggests that the God who made us (He was fashioning us for His pleasure, His artifact), wants us to be similarly creative. He made us with gifts, and uses families and friends to develop our talents, so that we may work with Him in tandem with His creative process. This we call “ministry” In other words, we are all “called” to work alongside of God for His purposes and our fulfillment.
Why then, a “Theology of Work?” • Meaning: Because it brings meaning to that portion of a person’s life that occupies most of his or her waking hours. It is central rather than peripheral. We spend far more time at our workplaces than we do in “Church.” • Balance: Because it is essential for putting “work” in its proper place. Work cannot be our “god” (the center of one’s meaning), nor is it simply a curse as many suppose it to be. • Freedom: Because work can be a liberation for all Christians in that every Christian lives life in two worlds---in the world of the Church “gathered” and in the world of the Church “dispersed”
Why then, a “Theology of Work?” • Accessibility: Because all people are called to mission and many of them are placed in “secular” worlds where missionaries and professional Christians have no access. • Preparation: Because Scripture indicates that our “deeds” (our work) will follow us into eternity where we will have a continuation of work in the new heaven and new earth. Since work is not just an earthly activity, we prepare ourselves for even more noble work in heaven (Rev 22:3).
Some Important Paradigm Shifts • The understanding that ALL seven days of the week are holy days (holi-day), that the goals of Sunday are the same goals of Monday, Tuesday, etc. Indeed worship is a seven-day spiritual commitment. • That the whole people of God are empowered for service and ministry in the world (there is no division in vocation between lay and professional Christian workers). Functions may differ, but intent and purpose are the same. • That the dualism that maintains that “church” work is spiritual and “world” work is secular be rejected, thereby producing changes in work ethics, motivation, witness and meaning.
The Fallacies of the Current Understanding of Ministry By dividing Sunday from the rest of the week, secular from sacred, lay from professional, we create the following problems: • Compartmentalization: We are Christian in Church, but someone else in other contexts. • Reductionism: We limit God and His work to “within the walls of the Church” activities and fail to see God at work outside. • Depreciation: We lose the effectiveness of the many lay people in the Church, by confining their “service” to church tasks and responsibilities.
The Fallacies of the Current Understanding of Ministry, cont’d 4. Distortion: We diminish the lordship of God in our workaday worlds, and so do not bring to bear our ethics, our compassion, our creativity, our calling to the world outside. By confining “spirituality” to formal religious exercises, we let Satan rule in all the rest. In the words of Paul Williams, “A faulty theology of vocation and work was a significant contributor to the secularization of Western society. Recovery of a fully biblical theology of vocation and work has the potential to energize a radical new missionary movement in the world today.”1
So then, What Is A “Theology of Work? 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. 1 Thess 4:11-12 (ESV)
Biblical Theology of Work The Genesis Account: • God is described both at work and rest, i.e. Gen. 2:2-3 • Humans are given the mandate to create, i.e. Gen. 1:28-30 (we work because God made it work) • Sin corrupts the understanding and role of work, i.e. Gen 3:16-19 (We labor because we lost our work) The Pentateuch and Historical Books: • Israel is given a missional calling since the beginning to be a blessing to all nations (e.g. Gen 12:2-3), • Work is substantially redeemed, i.e. the Jubilee in Leviticus 25, Bezalel and Oholiab given skills in Ex 31:1
Biblical Theology of Work Judges and the Kings: a. Shrewd leadership acts in beneficent ways, Elijah, Josiah. Wisdom Literature: • The soul of work and the way of wisdom are highlighted, i.e. Prov 6:6-11 • The character of work is related to one’s worldview, Ecclesiastes The Prophetic Books: a. The heart of God is shown through work and the workplace, i.e. Daniel and the three Hebrew
Theology of Work: Old Testament The entire Bible is a narrative of God’s work in three major ways: • Creative Work (Primarily described in the role of God, the Father – Genesis account) • Redemptive Work (Primarily expressed in the figure of Jesus, the Son – e.g. John 4:34) • Sustaining Work (Primarily seen through the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit – e.g. John 14:26) However, we cannot separate cleanly the functions of the Godhead as all are engaged at all levels seamlessly.
Biblical Theology of Work The Gospels: • Describe a Kingdom Worldview and its functioning, i.e. the Beatitudes • Present Jesus and his Work Ethic, John 4:34 and 5:17 Acts: • Illustrates the Anointed Worker: The Holy Spirit and Everyday Work. Acts 6:1-6 The Apostolic Letters: • Exhibits Why & How to Work e.g. 1 Thess 4:11-12; Revelation • Describes the Heavenly Good of Earthly Work, i.e. Rev. 14:13b
The Need for a New Theological Paradigm • God want to use everybody for His mission of redeeming the world. • The Bible is filled with stories of lay people who made a difference in their worlds. • Most parables and examples that Jesus used to teach about the Kingdom of God involved lay people.
The Need for a New Theological Paradigm • God wants to redeem the world in all senses not just those who attend church. • We are all called to be agents of reconciliation: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross” (Col. 1:19).
Changing our Attitudes about Work Jesus himself did God’s work: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work (John 4:34). Or . . . My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working. (John 5:17)
What was Jesus’ Work? Was it to . . . • Reshape Society by Being Salt and Light? • Reconcile People to Himself and Each Other? • Usher in the Kingdom of God? • Die on the Cross, Offering Salvation from Sin?
What was Jesus’ Work? It includes all of these tasks. And God invites all of us to announce, proclaim and introduce the mission of God (“missiodei”). And Jesus invites us to be co-laborers with him in these tasks. (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; etc)
The Creative and the Redemptive Mandates We are all familiar with the “Redemption Mandate”that is, to “go into the world and to preach the Gospel to every creature. But sadly, we ignore the“Creation Mandate”(sometimes called, the “Cultural Mandate ”) to : • Tend the garden (our earth) Gen 2:15 • Name the animals (subdue it for our good and God’s glory) Gen 2:20 • Proliferate (fill it with beautiful and creative life) Gen 1:28 In other words, we help God finish the creation (to give “added value” to it.
The Creation Mandate, cont’d • People are essentially built by God to create “value” • People are intended to work in and for community with God and other people (“it is not good for man to be alone” is not just for Adam & Eve — Gen 2:18-19) • Work becomes the sphere of activity dedicated to value creation and thus it is fundamentally a spiritual activity or at least should be. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. This is expressed in all areas of life.
More about the “Creation Mandate” The Creation Mandate preceded the Redemption Mandate in the following ways: • Your work mattersto God (“it was very good”). He wants us, in his image to do “good work” • Work is the fundamental human activity along with community, love, sex, family. • Work predates worship. Worship is not a separate activity. Indeed work is a way of expressing worshipping • The word, liturgy, comes fromleitourgos‘minister’, from lēitos‘public’ + ergos‘working’.“Our work is liturgy when understood in the correct way.
Before the “Fall” and Human Sin In the Garden of Eden, the task was • To create, to add value to God’s creation. • To never devalue life or resources. There was no negative creation, no violation of proper limits. • To enjoy the perfect harmony between creation and distribution. No imbalance. • To enjoy the balance of work and rest which were both integral aspects of adding value.
So Why am I Missing “Joy at Work”? My problem might be in the . . . • “What”: Could it be that I am not doing the “good works” that God has prepared for me in advance to do? (Eph. 2:10) • “How”: Could it be that my attitude toward my work, my employer, my co-workers, is not appropriate (Phil. 2) • “Why”: Could it be that I don’t see any purpose and meaning in the work that I am doing? (Jer 1;5, Rom 8:28)
So “For Whom am I Ultimately Working?” • For my own gain? • For my family and their future? • For my boss? • For my board? • For my supervisor? • For the people who contribute to my salary? • For the customers? • For the Lord? (Col. 3:23)
A Closing Personal Exercise • Are there any occupations that dishonor God and are, by nature, unable to fulfill the “Creation Mandate” in that they do not have the potential of “added value” to the character of life? Why? • How do you think about your job? Is it tilted towards the “creative”, the “redemptive” or the “sustainer” purpose? • What really motivates you in your job?
Conclusions • As God found joy in his creative efforts, we too were intended to find joyin His creation and in the act of creating. • God created us to be partners with Him in stewarding His creation. Therefore our work is important in God’s Kingdom • Every believer is engaged in “sacred” work, or should be. • By seeking to understand our “calling” and fulfilling it faithfully, believers find purpose and fulfillment in life • Humankind will be held accountable for how we steward God’s creation.
Good Questions to AskHow much is enough?Can I find worship in work?Am I serving God or man?Are there compromises @work?Do I earn a fair wage with my labor?Am I joyful and intentional @work?Do people know I’m a Christ-follower?
