All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Ed. (NASB95)

This Monday was Labor Day in the U.S., so for most Americans, paradoxically, it is a day without labor. However, for believers, this should never be the case. Far from our modernized and pampered western mindset regarding life — the Bible, and especially the New Testament, presents us with a glorious and exalted view of work and its place in living a life that pleases God. From the beginning of the story, man was created to work. Moses writes,

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” (Gen. 2:15)

Notice here that the express purpose of God putting Adam into the garden was to cultivate it, and to “keep,” or “guard” it. That was work!

Besides the biblical witness, if anyone has any common sense, it’s self-evident that no necessity in human life is obtained without some kind of work. This is precisely the reason that our bodies require food and sleep — they were designed to expend energy, and therefore need to be restored from exertion.

Of course, after the fall of man, work was corrupted. It was distorted from something only enjoyable and satisfying, to something that is filled with suffering, frustration, and dangers. The good news is that, through the Lord Jesus, work has been redeemed! If you’re a worshiper of Him, then all your work can have eternal significance, which will reap you benefits in the next life, even if you don’t see any in this one.

The central significance of work is highlighted at the end of one of the most well-known passages in the New Testament. After telling the Ephesians that they are saved by God’s grace, and not by working, Paul then concludes in 2:10,

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Thus, not only were we as humans created for good work, but we as believers have been recreated for good work. And how were we remade? Through God’s “workmanship,” or “craftsmanship.” So, Paul presents the activity of our condition as God’s children here, but in Philippians, he urges his audience’s action in response to this purpose by ordering,

“. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:12-13)

All believers are responsible to take their salvation, and to work out its effects and implications! If you don’t work through and on your salvation, then that’s proof that God is not working in you. And if He isn’t, that means that you haven’t been saved to begin with! Why? Because Paul says here that the motivation and power behind our salvation work is the fact that God is working in us, so that we can “will” and “work” for His pleasure. In other words, the reason that we have the will and the ability to work out our salvation is that God is giving us these qualities through His sovereign power.

However, the apostles go into much greater detail about our work as Christians. In sum, all of this life is a life of work — and hard work at that! If we’re not exerting intense effort to live for the Lord, then we’re denying our very identity as children of the ultimate Worker, and followers of the hardest Worker who has ever lived on the earth. But, in order to remind ourselves, and to cement in our minds why and how we are to work on this earth, I’d like to survey a few of the categories of teaching on work in the New Testament.

First, we’ll look at the motivations for work. Then, we’ll observe the owner of our work. Third, we’ll examine the benefits of our work. Fourth, I’d like us to briefly discuss the relationship between work and leading other believers in the work of faith. Finally, we’ll note the most important work of our lives.

Faith and Love Labor

The main aspect of our Christian work that I want you to remember, and cement in your mind and heart, is that we work through faith and love. This is taught in several passages from Paul, but most succinctly in his first letter to the Thessalonians, where he explains that he’s thankful for them while he’s,

“. . . constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father . . .” (1 Thess. 1:3)

Notice that he uses two terms to describe the main behaviors of his brethren. First, they simply demonstrate a “work of faith”. This is the generic term for exerting thought and energy, but it springs from faith. That is, the overarching activity of their lives is motivated and empowered by faith. As should be obvious, this is faith in Jesus, and in His teaching. Secondly, he increases the intensity of his description and highlights their labor of love. The Greek word he uses for labor conveys work that exhausts one’s energy, so they have nothing left to give. In the cliched way of speaking today, this would be called working really hard. And why do they do this? Because of “love”. As believers, they work hard because they love God, and because they love others, especially their brethren in Jesus.

A verse that sums up this teaching is found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he says that the most important way of living is “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).

All Our Work Belongs to the Lord

The next feature of our work I want us to see is that all of our work isn’t ours, but belongs to Jesus. Paul makes this clear when he concludes his detailed explanation of the Lord’s and our resurrection by urging,

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58)

What’s most important about this verse is the comprehensiveness of the work he’s describing. To begin, he warns the Corinthians to persevere and avoid giving up through anything that may hinder them from their work. Then, he denotes the duration, intensity, and ownership of this work. We need to abound in the Lord’s work. The Greek word he uses here conveys the sense of the greatest amount of interest and exertion possible. In fact, the CSB translates this phrase as “excelling in” the Lord’s work. Next, we’re to always abound in it. This tells us that there ought to be never a moment when we’re doing something other than the Lord’s work. To repeat what I said earlier, this teaches that all of our living is to be a work for the Lord. And finally, our work is not ours, but ultimately the Lord’s. That is, because we belong to Him, all that we do through the Spirit –not through our sinful flesh — belongs to Him.

In spite of the fact that all we do right is the Lord’s work, the apostles don’t fail to explain the nature of our wordly employment for provision, and that’s where we’ll go next.

Our Providing Employment is Intended to Serve Others

As most view the term “work” in its common usage as that activity that earns us wealth to provide for our needs, I’ll next turn to the main passage outlining the proper Christian view of it. Paul teaches us the direct goal of our earthly occupation in his letter to the Ephesians by exhorting,

“He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” (Eph. 4:28)

By specifically addressing thieves, Paul is here able to lay out the basics of the Christian work ethic, since stealing is the direct opposite action of what Christians are supposed to be doing. But first, he gives the remedy to stealing — labor. Again, this means working hard, and specifically working hard with one’s hands to do good. Since nearly all work in that day was done by hand, Paul has to remind these former thieves that they’re going to need to exercise their bodies, and get their hands dirty, in order to reverse their stealing. But Paul doesn’t stop here. Take note of the fact that he doesn’t say that the believers need to work so that they’ll support themselves. That is obviously implied, since they were stealing to provide for their needs. Rather, he presents the purpose of working hard as being the acquisition of goods to share with those in need. In essence, Paul is defining the Christian goal of work as providing for oneself for the purpose of giving to others.

If that’s the case, then this eliminates any excuse for failing to provide for your needs, if you’re able to do so. This also shows us that there’s no excuse for church leaders to be lazy, or to unnecessarily take financial or material support from others. In contrast to some hypocritical behaviors of many so-called “pastors,” “preachers,” and/or “evangelists,” the New Testament urges church leaders to be the models for working hard, as we’ll see next.

Church Leaders Must Work Hard at Leading

To highlight the absolute necessity of Christian leaders being some of the hardest workers, we’ll look at a few passages from Paul. First, I’d like to bring up once again 1 Thessalonians, where he continues to encourage his audience by telling them,

“For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”

To remind you of the background of what he’s been saying thus far, he’s been describing his time with them when he first went to them as a missionary. He had recently come to the city, and he had converted at least a few of them. However, as he writes here, he didn’t use his role as a missionary, and their main leader in the faith, as a reason to take money from them. Instead, he and his companions experienced “labor and hardship” by working night and day. They did this to avoid burdening the Thessalonians, and this all while they were regularly engaged in preaching the gospel to them, and to other unbelieving inhabitants.

At the end of his second letter to them, Paul provides more detail when he reminds them again of the missionaries’ example of working hard, after just urging them to shame those who are refusing to work among them:

“For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day . . . not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” (2 Thess. 3:7-10)

Yet again, we see that working to provide for one’s needs was so important to the first leaders of the Thessalonians, that they abstained from their right to support to show the newborn believers how to work hard for one’s provisions. They even went so far as to make the rule that any able-bodied person who refused to work wouldn’t be allowed to eat with them.

But to transition specifically to Paul’s instructions for leaders of established assemblies, we can see that even teaching and studying to teach are required to be done in a laborious manner. First, let’s highlight a verse specifically addressing elders, or church leaders, and their expectation for their two main duties. In Paul’s first letter to one of his main representatives at Ephesus, he declares,

“The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” (1 Ti. 5:17)

Although this verse implies that there are some elders who are failing to “rule well” and to “work hard at preaching and teaching,” the implication is that this diligence should be the goal of every elder over assemblies. As an aside, I want to clarify that the word “rule” is a poor translation of the Greek, since the concept of totalitarian reigning is in no way in Paul’s mind. The word should be translated “lead” or even “oversee,” since he’s simply describing leaders who mainly lead through example, as well as teaching. But the relevant point here is that these elders should be working hard at preaching and teaching. Again, what Paul is saying is that they should — as far as they’re able — exhaust themselves in the works of preaching the gospel, and teaching the teachings from Jesus.

Lastly, Paul explicitly terms his representative overseer, Timothy, as a “workman,” when he sums up his main duty in his last letter:

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Ti. 2:15)

Here, he pictures Timothy as a stone mason, and God as his Boss. He is to be diligent, or make every effort, to be approved by God as an unashamed workman. And what is he specifically to be diligent in doing? Paul literally uses a masonry term here for “accurately handling,” and says that he needs to cut straight “the word of truth,” or the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. Thus, it’s clear that preaching and teaching God’s Word ought to be hard work for church leaders.

Question — are the recognized leaders of your assembly not only qualified to be overseers, but also working hard at leading, teaching, and preaching? If not, then they are unapproved by God, and need correction from one of their brothers.

Leaving off the work of church leaders, we’ll close by examining the diligence it takes to become more like Jesus in general, through the Holy Spirit’s power in His Word.

Work at Improving Your Character

In my mind, one of the most comprehensive and detailed descriptions of growing in Christlikeness is given by Peter in his second letter. After reminding his audience that they’ve been made to know Jesus, have been rescued from the world’s sinfulness, and have been made sharers in God’s character, he enjoins,

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Pe. 1:5-8)

My purpose in this study isn’t to explain the connection between each of these virtues, but just highlight their relatedness, comprehensiveness, growth, and direct cause. First, the direct human cause of these qualities being practiced in a believer is the duty of every believer. Peter commands Christians to apply “all diligence,” or to make every effort. What this comes down to is work. Of course, we are to rely on the Holy Spirit to enable us to do these things, but we are to do them. And what do we need to do? Peter says to “supply” virtue with virtue. The word “supply” means to make whole and ready, or to meet a need. This tells us that no Christian can rightly live without any of these qualities. They are possessed by all believers in some measure, but Peter is saying they must be cultivated and encouraged.

Just take note of the scope of all the characteristics we are to possess and practice. First, we must start with faith, the root of all the rest. But then, we must be morally excellent; we must have spiritual knowledge; we must control ourselves; we must persevere in our diligence; we must be godly, or reflective of God; we must be brotherly and affectionate toward our brethren in Christ; and finally, we must be loving. But Peter then adds that all these virtues must be increasing through our diligent cultivation of them. It’s only then that they’ll make us useful and fruitful in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus, or our service of Him. Hence, this passage teaches that the only useful and faithful Christian is the one who is being diligent to grow in his Christlikeness. Are you working hard at this? It’s the only work that will earn you eternal wages. Always abound in the work of the Lord!