God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28)
If you found out today that a long-lost relative had passed away and left you 10 million dollars, would you be at work tomorrow? For most people, including Christians, the answer is a resounding ‘NO!’ Why? Because these people see work as only a “means to an end” and that end is the end of each week when they can “Thank God It’s Friday.” As the song goes, “Everybody’s working for the weekend” including most Christians.
Now, this was not always the case. The early Christians saw their work as an act of worship to God. It didn’t matter what the work was, they knew if they were doing it to the best of their God-given ability for the glory of God and the good of others, their work was worship. Of course, they understood that work was not a result of the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. They knew work was a gift from God given to Adam and Eve in the beginning. It was the primary way they, as image-bearers of God, were to bear His image in this world. In her book, Total Truth, Nancy Pearcy puts it this way:
In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” The first phrase, “be fruitful and multiply” means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phrase, “subdue the earth,” means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music. This passage is sometimes called the Cultural Mandate because it tells us that our original purpose was to create cultures, build civilizations – nothing less.
Remember, our God is a working God, who created everything, and continues working by sustaining everything. As His image-bearers, we are called to live out the Cultural Mandate in every possible sphere of life. Every kind of job matters to God when we are doing it to expand the cause of His kingdom. Cleaning a house, cultivating a garden, practicing law, digging a ditch, driving an Uber, building a home, baking bread, waiting on tables, stocking store shelves, and on and on. The problem today is the church has lost sight of this biblical truth and has bought in to the sacred/secular split. All the jobs I mentioned are put in the category of “secular” while only those jobs inside the church or para-church organizations are “sacred” and truly doing the work of God. NOT TRUE!
Your work matters to God, no matter what that work is . . . when you are doing it for His glory and to the best of your ability. If we understand the Cultural Mandate rightly, we will see that the fundamental hallmark of authentic Christianity is to do a job, any job, for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom. That is when our “Work is Worship.” Remember Jesus came into this world and spent much of His life as a carpenter and Paul was a tentmaker. Only when we understand our work . . . ALL WORK . . . as worship will we begin to influence and impact our culture for the glory of God and the expansion of His Kingdom as we bear His image to everyone who sees our witness in our work. Now how do you see your work?
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 