Have you ever felt that your Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 work as something that is separated from our Sunday worship? Do you have this view that what we do at church, singing, listening to sermons, giving, and ministry are  worship, but our work is just a means to survive in this fallen world? If you do, then this article is for you. It is very crucial that we have a biblical worldview about work, not only because work takes a third of our life (8 out of 24 hours a day), but also because I believe that right believing leads to right living. For instance, if we have the view above that work is just a means to survive in this fallen world, then that is going to be reflected in our attitudes toward our vocation. we would not do the best work that we can for the Lord (Colossians 3:23), but our work would just be mediocre work. 

Actually, this separation between work and worship is not new. In the medieval church era, the church at that time made distinction between God’s work and worldly work. Only monks, priests and nuns can be classified as God’s work, as they were called “the spiritual estate”. Praise God that He raised up Martin Luther, who attacked this idea forcefully in his treatise “To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation”:

It is pure invention [fiction] that Pope, bishops, priests and monks are called the “spiritual estate” while princes, lords, artisans and farmers are called the “temporal estate”. This is indeed a piece of deceit and hypocrisy.Yet no one need be intimidated by it, and that for this reason: all Christians are truly of the spiritual estate, and there is no difference among them except that of office.. We are all consecrated priests by baptism, as St. Peter says: “You are a royal priesthood and a priestly realm” (1 Pet. 2:9).The Apocalypse says, “Thou hast made us to be kings and priests by thy blood (Rev. 5:9 – 10).

Furthermore, in Luther’s Large Catechism, he argues that the way God answers one of the petitions in the Lord’s prayer that says, “give us our daily bread” is not through raining manna from heaven (although He can, like what He did to the Israelites), but through farmer, baker, retailer, software developer, truck driver, supermarket shelves assistant and all other vocations that contribute to bringing us our food on the table. So, we need to view our work as the “masks” of God’s providential care over His creation. Even the humblest farm girl is fulfilling God’s calling. As Luther preached, “God milks the cows through the vocation of the milk maids”, and he said, “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” Going back to the beginning, men were called to “subdue and have dominion over every living thing on the earth” (Genesis 1:27 – 28), which means that God as creator, created this world out of nothing, and our work is to use the talents and gifts He has given us to shape what God has created to make Him look great. Looking forward to the future, our work participates in God’s work of renewing creation (Revelation 21:5). 

Our work can also be used by God as a channel of blessing for others, especially the needy. After expounding the gospel in Ephesians 1 – 3, Paul articulates the applications of the gospel in chapters 4 – 6. Paul says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). If we believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we should experience radical transformation in that work is no longer self-centered, i.e. to fulfill our own needs, even if it means taking from others (Paul uses thief as an example here), but it is also a channel to give to others, especially the needy. We do not need to wait until we are super rich to be able to give to others (remember the Macedonian Church in 2 Corinthians 8). Jesus’ own words say that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Finally, you might be wondering if the title of the article is a typo. It is not a typo, I took it from a good book about vocation by Kara Martin (Workship: How To Use Your Work To Worship God). We have reached the end of this brief article, and I hope to encourage you that “Whatever you do, work at it with all of our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23 – 24). For those who love reading, and want to find the meaning of work elaborated even more, please find the recommended books below. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the eyes of our heart  as we seek to understand the truth, and that we may be the salt and light wherever God has placed us.

References

1. Every Good Endeavour by Timothy Keller (this article is inspired by this book)
2. Workship: How To Use Your Work To Worship God by Kara Martin
3. Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper (chapter 8: Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5): https://document.desiringgod.org/don-t-waste-your-life-en.pdf?ts=1642086957