The Purpose of Work

Last night I was at home. I had a pretty busy week and I got to veg out on the couch and it just so happened to be that there was one of my favourite films on called Good Will Hunting. Anyone seen that movie? Yeah, great movie. The story, if you don't know, is about a working class, a young working class guy in his early twenties who happens to be an absolute boy wonder, a genius.

And he's a janitor at MIT in Boston, I think, Massachusetts. And he, while he's cleaning the floors, is able to solve these amazing mathematical problems. And the story is about this guy who, although a genius, is a very flawed personality, comes from a very broken background, and a particular professor identifies him and sees his brilliance. He tries to reach out to him and obviously harness this amazing skill, this amazing gift that he has. But in return, he gets pushed back. The character pushes everyone and everything away from him as he sort of tries to protect himself and insulate himself against further harm.

But he gets connected with a psychologist played by Robin Williams that acts as a mentor and sort of guides him through this process. And there's sort of a climax to the movie where they're in the office and Robin Williams, the psychologist, asks Matt Damon, what do you want to do with your life? What do you want to do? And this genius, the irony of this story, this genius who can quote pages and pages and pages of Shakespeare and of great philosophers and mathematical equations and knows so much about life at age 20, 21, cannot tell, cannot answer this very simple question. What do you want to do with your life?

What do you want to do with this great gift that you have? And the story of Good Will Hunting is so great because it deals with the humanity of what it means not simply to be gifted, but to find one's place in a very complex, yet beautiful world. This morning, we're going to be looking at the purpose of our place in this world by talking or looking at something that we all do and what we all spend most of our waking hours doing, and that is work. And the essence of this morning's service is actually based on the salt and light service we did about two years ago now on work. So some of this you might remember, but I've been asked a few times to do this again and I thought maybe today is a good time to do it.

So we're going to ask this morning, where does work and our abilities, our gifts, these things that we believe we have received from God, how does it fit into God's plan for our lives? Is work, like many Aussies believe, simply a necessary evil to tide us over until we die? Is it something that we just have to do in order to sort of earn a crust, as Aussies say? In my family's house growing up, we're a Dutch family, and there's a very typical Dutch thing in our house. We have those little plaques, porcelain plaques, with very pithy, wise Dutch sayings or statements on them.

And one of these plaques reads in Dutch, we should not live to work, we should not live to work, but work to live. We should not live to work, but work to live. I don't know why the Dutch, you know, have this point that they want to make or this point they want to prove with all these wise sayings around the house, but this one in particular, I remember very well from my childhood. But I want to ask us this question, what if we were actually designed to live for work? What if we were actually designed with a view that we should live to work?

Perhaps not in the slavish way that this quote is obviously trying to protect us from. You know, the idea that you could be working twelve hours a day, six days a week, for forty years, and then collapse in a pile and die. But maybe there is some sort of connection between our purpose as humanity and what we do, what our giftings are. So we're going to have a little bit of a systematic look at how the Bible, what Christianity has to say about work. The first thing we wanna look at today is God's intention for work.

God's intention for work. The first thing we see is that God created humanity. God created the world rather with a purpose in mind, a very clear order that He wanted the world to operate by. We see in Genesis 1:28 that after God created mankind, He blessed mankind and said, be fruitful and increase. Fill the earth and subdue it.

Be fruitful and increase. Fill the whole world and subdue it. And scholars and theologians call this the cultural mandate. This was God's first command to humanity, that we populate the world, but that we subdue it, that there is an aspect of the world around us that needs to be cultivated, that needs to be ordered, that needs to be worked. And so we have this idea that God gave us a command to cultivate and develop the world, and God built into the world and into us humans the potential to actually grow and develop.

God created the world to be developed, and God created us to be part of that development. Not only to reproduce, you know, some people will say, well it was only to fill the world, so let's have lots of babies, but to develop all facets of human development. So that includes science. That includes technology. That includes the arts, and we'll see this more. It means that God intended us to build houses.

God intended us to start farms. God created us to design or create art, to build computers even. And this was God's intention right from the start. Listen to this. Genesis 2:15.

God takes Adam after He's created Adam, His precious creation. God takes Adam and He places him, it says, in the garden. And He puts him in this garden. Genesis 2:15 says, to work it and take care of it. This is before the fall, remember? This is before things start going bad.

God creates Adam and places him in a garden to work it, to take care of it. And then like I sort of said, Genesis 3 comes along and that's where humanity, Adam and Eve, rebel against God. They walk away from God's commands. They sin against God for the first time. And God, in Genesis 3, spares their lives but told them that they would lose some of their blessing.

Genesis 3:17 says that the ground has now become cursed because of you, Adam. Through painful toil, you will eat from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you. So work, in other words, as part of the curse of the fall, work becomes difficult for Adam now. Before it was easy to do, it was still part of the original mandate, but it was easy to do.

And through sin, this chaos enters the world and drought and disease and thorns and thistles, pests enter the world of his work, and work becomes more difficult than it had ever been. But what I want us to know and see is that when God created us, He created us to work. He created us to work. The second thing we see from the Bible is that God is a worker Himself. Exodus 20:11, that great passage on the Ten Commandments, says that we are to rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath day, keeping it holy because God created the world in six days.

It says God laboured in creating the world, and on the seventh day He rested. And so this should be the pattern for humanity. We see God rolling up His sleeves, so to speak, and getting His hands dirty in forming and moulding the known universe. But then we also see many passages that I've listed up here on the PowerPoint. Psalm 104:30 saying that God works at maintaining or sustaining the world.

God works by sustaining the world. Psalm 65 says that He waters it and enriches it like a gardener watering his plants. Psalm 145:15 and 16 says that He feeds everything like a farmer would feed his flock. In fact, we see at the end of the Bible in Revelation 21 and 22, that God is in the process of developing this world and redeeming it, restoring it back into a city, and that He is at work building a kingdom. Like a king, He is at work.

God actually loves this created world so much, Revelation says, that He has sent His Son to redeem it, and therefore He is restoring this place. And so, in other words, God thinks that this world is good in and of itself, but that it has been broken and corrupted, and that the story of redemption that we've been working through in the past few weeks will come to fruition in this city, the New Jerusalem that God has built as an expert builder, as an expert city planner. The Bible makes a point that work is good, in other words. Work is good because God works. Work for us is good because God works.

In various places in the Bible we see that God through His spirit is a gardener. God through His spirit is an artist. God through His spirit is an investor. And for us, this means then that being a farmer or an artist, or a banker actually reflects in some way the character of God. Have you ever thought of it that way?

Being an artist, being a musician, being a builder, being a banker, an investor, reflects part of the character of God. And so this has some real implications into how we think because it means that if I'm a farmer, you know, many people view it as a humble profession. As a farmer, that is not less significant than being a preacher. It is not. In God's eyes, it is exactly the same because this is an important job.

Being ultimately, you know, working towards this great restoration of the world, in fact, my job, when the new heaven and the new earth comes, is going to be obsolete. I'm not going to have to preach anymore, because we'll be able to come to God and ask Him questions, we'll understand His word completely. I'm going to have to start upskilling, that's why I'm doing an MBA now. Not really. But yeah, but a musician, man, he's going to have a job or she's going to have a job for the rest of eternity.

There's going to be so much opportunity to make music. We're going to be, it's going to be a very tangible experience, the new heaven and the new earth. We're going to need engineers. And, I know, you know, yeah, this musician thing is a great thing. My dad is a frustrated musician, so he's just so excited about this idea that he'll be having an eternity to make music because he says his week is always too short to work and then do more music in between.

So our farmers may continue farming. Our businessmen may continue with businesses. We participate in work, in other words, because God is a worker Himself. And since we were created in His image, we reflect some of His character, and even in our work, we reflect Him. The third point I want to make is that work is a gift and that it has a purpose of service.

Isaiah 28:24 says that, actually, let's have a quick look at that because it's a longish quote. If you have your Bibles, Isaiah 28. This is a great, just a, yeah, one of those great little nuggets in the Bible. Isaiah 28:24.

Isaiah 28:24. When a farmer ploughs for planting continually, does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has levelled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.

So what we see here is God in the process of teaching and guiding and instructing farming through His spirit. We see even in places like Isaiah 45:1, that God raises up King Cyrus to work at establishing God's kingdom. And Cyrus is a pagan. He's not even a believer. He's not even part of the people of God at that point.

So what we see here is that God would even instruct or send His spirit to work into the hearts of unbelievers in order to work His purposes out for Him. It's remarkable because it shows that God's spirit equips every person for work, even though they may not be believers. It shows that God gives wisdom. He gives wisdom to this farmer who knows when he should sow his wheat and when he should sow his barley and where and how. And we see another example even from Exodus 31, the early stages of God's people.

Exodus 31:1-4, where Bezalel is a man who is given, who is filled with the spirit of God with the ability and the knowledge to do all sorts of crafting and art. God sends His spirit into this man to equip him to be a great artist. Interesting, isn't it? Work, in other words, the Bible says, is a gift. Work is a gift.

And therefore it also has a purpose. And again, that purpose is made clear for us in the Bible that it is an act of service. We are given gifts and abilities and talents for a purpose of service, service to others. And let me put it this way, imagine you come home one night from your work as an economist or something like that, and you get home and it's seven or eight at night and you realise now you have to make dinner. So now you have to go out into your back paddock and find a cow and shoot the cow and butcher the cow and slice it into steak so that you can fry it.

Thank God that we have butchers because we don't have to do that, right? And thank God we have shopkeepers because we can go and buy the steaks prepared for us, and thank God for people that put gas fittings and there was a plumber and that sort of thing and could give us or provide us with gas to cook our steak on and so on. All these forms are part of this cultural mandate that God gave us to cultivate, to care for, to sustain the created world, and all of these jobs are part of service to others. Part of service to others. And so the Bible says in a sense, we're actually all ministers.

We're all priests acting on behalf of God to bless others. In work, we take the raw material of creation and we develop it for the sake of others. Musicians take the raw material of sound and develop it and make it bring meaning into the lives of individuals. Farmers take the raw material of soil and seed and bring food into the lives of others. Engineers take the raw material of stone and iron and knowledge of the physical attributes of this world and build a bridge to cross a river.

This means that we are God's ministers for others. Not only when we're witnessing, not only when we're sharing the gospel are we exemplifying, are we communicating about God. Not only simply through our mouth, but what we do. And so our third point this morning is that work is a gift from God for the purpose of service to humanity. And I wanna make the point that when work becomes difficult for us, when people really wrestle with work, it's because they've lost this aspect of service.

They've lost the overarching mission of their work. If it really is simply to get your paycheck at the end of the week, your work is going to become unbearable, intolerable, sooner or later. But when you understand that there's a reason for this, that you're doing it to build God's kingdom, that you are doing it to serve others in love, well, you could be a street sweeper and do it for the glory of God and find ministry to others so worthwhile. And then lastly, we have this question. So work is a gift for service.

And then this last one, and in particular, well, I think all of us get there from time to time, but particularly our young people, knowing your work. What is my work? What is my God ordained purpose? How do we know what work we should be doing in the first place? Well, firstly, you have to discover what God has called you for and equipped you for.

And I'm quoting pastor Tim Keller here because he wrote a great book on this. He puts three points up that we can use to gauge our calling. We can use to reflect on these things. And the first one is something he calls or labels affinity. Rather than looking at your own skill and your own gifts first, which is often subjective and open to change, oh, I think I'm very good at working with people, when in fact you're actually not that great.

Start with your context first. Start with your context first. What do you relate to? What moves you, in other words? You may feel a great compassion for people that are wrestling with pain or illness.

That moves you, that compassion, that sense of mercy. It could be a negative emotion. You could be frustrated with, you know, really bad roads, I don't know, with potholes in it, and you just think, man, this is terrible. I'd love to design better highways. Or what gets you excited?

You know, just ask yourself those questions. What angers you about this world? What gives you a great sense of satisfaction? It could be you get a great buzz out of doing fantastic filing and creating a fantastic filing system. Don't laugh because I know people like that.

People in this church, I won't mention their names. The reason many people hate their work is because it doesn't move them emotionally. The reason people hate their work is because it doesn't move them emotionally. And it really is possible to get moved by great mathematics. It is important that we get into a calling firstly because you have an affinity towards it, because it moves you some way.

Secondly, have a think about your ability. We should look at our abilities when prayerfully working out our calling for work. If I am particularly moved to a certain workplace, professional trade, usually I lean towards those areas because I have an interest in that area. I have a skill in that area. It just works.

Again, to use the Good Will Hunting analogy, somewhere in the movie, someone asked him, you know, how can you do all this maths? How can you think like this? And he says, Mozart and Beethoven saw a piano, and for them it just made sense. The keys just made sense. And for me, when I see maths, it just makes sense.

I just get it. And so we reflect on our ability in that way. What makes sense to you? What can I contribute to this trade or this profession? What strength has God given me to meet this particular need?

We also need to have the maturity to search ourselves correctly and to be willing to take other people's advice on board. Like I said, sometimes we may be very subjective in evaluating ourselves, good or bad. We may think we're not very good at something when we are in fact very good at it. For example, I might have the mind to be a great engineer and can design some great things, but I might be very terrible at communicating with subcontractors. So being able to plot honestly our abilities and our deficiencies is very important in determining our calling in life.

These are just very practical things and I hope you find them useful. Thirdly, Tim Keller says this, that we should not take for granted opportunity. Sometimes we can overlook this because we are so thinking about, you know, ten years ahead of us and where we want to be, but God often guides and leads very gently and very quietly. And so often when we want to think through our work and where we find ourselves and what our calling in life is, we should just look around us, our immediate context. And God changes and guides our situations or plans by letting us walk into an opportunity, sometimes knowingly, but sometimes accidentally.

We should always remember that God is in control of His calling over our lives. That's a big one. You can see many career counsellors, but they're not God. God has a plan for us and we have to remember that as well. And then sometimes just on this point as well, we can really wrestle with, you know, that question, what if we take the wrong opportunity?

What if we go down the wrong path? What if we make the wrong decision in this area? Well then we also believe that God is in control, and not only in control, but that He's a redeemer, and that He can hit a great straight shot with a very crooked stick. And He can guide us and He can move us and He will place us where He needs us if we do that honestly and if we still remain very prayerful and obedient to Him. He can redeem even our mistakes.

So I hope those three things are our affinity, our ability, and our opportunity. But then I want to finish with this this morning. Identity and work. One of the first things people ask when you meet them, isn't it, is what do you do for work? What do you do for a living?

And once we say that, we sort of get pigeonholed, and that's an engineer and that's a street sweeper, and this is a farmer and this is a psychologist. It becomes in our society, it becomes a measure of your identity, of who you are, and perhaps what you're worth. And the danger is seeing that this is your only identity. And while it does form a little part of who you are because you do it a lot in your life, when you make your work the standard by which you have or gain respect for yourself or how others respect you, it means that if you're successful at that work, it destroys you because it goes to your head. If work is the measure of who you are.

If you're successful, it destroys you because it goes to your head. On the other hand, if you're not successful, it destroys you because it goes to your heart, and it destroys your self worth. If you're not a successful businessman, if you're not a successful tradie, it destroys you because it damages your self worth. But this morning, I want to tell you that faith in Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of identity. And the great thing is that this is not a work or a calling.

It's an identity that has given us insulation against everything that life and work can throw at us. Our identity is founded in Christ, and that is one of the things that the New Testament, the apostle Paul makes so clear so many times. And so understanding who we are in Christ, that we have been redeemed, that we've been set free, that we have this great God, like I read in Jeremiah 31 that says, you will be My child and I will be your God. And I will write My law, I will write My word onto your heart, and you will love Me, and you will not need to be reminded to love Me. And this understanding will keep you peaceful even when you are out of work, even when you're wrestling with your calling and your purpose in life.

It gives you rest when the pressure is on for you to perform. If your worth is built on Jesus Christ and His finished work done for you, then if you are successful at work, you stay humble because you realise your skills are given for a greater purpose than you. It keeps you humble. If your identity is solidified in Christ, if you're not successful at work, you have some stability because you realise you are loved regardless. Work is a blessing when it is a servant rather than a Lord.

Again this morning I want to encourage you, if you don't understand Christ as the source of your identity, if this is a weird phenomenon, if this is a weird saying that you don't understand, please contact me, speak to me after the service, call me, email me, and we can talk about this. But friends, I wanna encourage you, and whether you are retired or not, actually, we are all at work in some way or another, in some vocation, in some calling. But I wanna encourage you this morning. May God bless you in your work. May He make it so fulfilling and successful in so many facets and ways, whether it is in paid work or not, whether you are in retirement or not.

May you find a great sense of satisfaction and joy in what you do. Understanding your purpose and the service that you are offering the kingdom of God. Remember that what you do is important, that it matters, and that God is using it in some way to build His kingdom here on earth. So let me pray for us when it comes to work. Father God, we thank you that your word is so practical in so many ways and is so beautifully varied that we can think of great theological philosophical truths that we can be shored up in our identity in Christ, that we have a God who loves us, who has adopted us into His family.

But Lord, that even here on earth, while we wait for this great return of Jesus Christ, here on earth is a meaning and a beauty and a purpose to our living. Father, I pray for all of us here, all of us here who have a vocation, who have a calling, who have a purpose in work. I pray, Lord, that we may find great satisfaction and fulfilment in it. For some of us, struggling with this, unsure of this, I pray Lord that You will give much guidance and insight. For others who may have had it at one point and seem to have lost it along the way, Father, I pray that we may also rekindle that in some way.

That You'll give us a love for our workplace, our workmates. And Father, I pray that through that, we will understand more and more how we can serve You. Father, I pray also that our success or not so much success doesn't go to our head or our heart. That we do not struggle when things are difficult and hard and when we are in work or out of work. Lord, I pray that it will not drive us in our identity, in our self worth, that we will not in some way become self righteous or seek to save ourself or justify ourself, but Father that we will also see it and view it rightly.

Help us to rest enough, but also to work hard. And Father, in all these things, we pray that Your purposes, Your mandate to us to fill this world, to subdue it, to develop it into a glorious kingdom. Father, that we may do this and that You may be proud and pleased by our efforts. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.