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Foundations for life (III): work is a blessing of fruitfulness (Gen 2:15).
Prayer
Reading
Genesis 2:15.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Meditation
Of the numerous popular songs of the Australian rock band Powderfinger, “Not my kinda scene” was definitely up there. Get on YouTube and listen to the song sometime, but at least for now let me give you the opening words:
“Tell me where I'mSupposed to beginAn unhappy life workingSome kind of dead end jobFor everything you thought you hadHas gone from worse to bad.”
These words express a sentiment typical of many people. Work is a drudgery, a necessary evil. Even Christians can tend to define work in terms of the curse in Genesis 3. In one sense, yes, there are many thorns and thistles in our work because of the fall. In spite of this, however, we need to realise that work in its basic nature is a blessing. Work was instituted before the fall. It’s not a curse, it’s a blessing, and it ought not to be a drudgery to us.
In an earlier meditation we’ve already seen to some extent how work will be a blessing: as we serve others, our work will be a blessing to them. A well made pair of shoes is a blessing to those who have them. Building on that, we need to also see that this blessing is more significant still. So here’s my message for you in this meditation: work is a blessing because work is fruitful. Let’s unpack this a little.
The fruitfulness of work ties back in to our question of the relationship between work and life. Work is one of the God-appointed means through which life will flourish. I’ve been trying to say here that work is fruitful, byt why do I say that? Well, you tell me, what happens when a man works and keeps his garden? I’ll tell you what happens – fruit grows! In Psalm 128:1 “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.” The fruit of our labour will be a blessing to ourselves and others. Even more importantly, it will be a source of life.
I’ve said in earlier meditations that God will fill the earth with life in three ways: through service, wisdom, and relationships. Our focus here is service. So then, this is how service, or work, fills the earth with life. In the big picture sense, service and work bears fruit, and fruit enables life to flourish. That’s true in the most basic sense because there’s a fundamental relationship between working, eating, and living. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” How does God provide for life to grow? He gives man work, and as the man works he provides food for his family, and thus his family is sustained and enabled to live. Similarly, this is why 1 Timothy 5:8 says “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” He has denied the faith because he is going against one of the most fundamental and basic blessings that God has given: the blessing of fruitful work. Life flourishes as man works because man’s work is fruitful.
This principle starts with gardening and farming (i.e. we need food). It is a basic necessity in every household (i.e. we need to work so that we can eat). It starts there, but this principle then also extends outward. As a man works, the fruit of his labour allows life to develop and flourish even more. That’s what technology, for example, does. You might not grow carrots as a farmer, but as a doctor your work will still nourish life. As an artist, your work will enrich the beauty of life. As a mechanic, your work will enable life to excel and grow through transport. As a computer technician, you will equip people with better and more powerful tools to see life expand in new and exciting ways. So then, all of our work – not just the work of farmers – bears fruit, blesses others, and is a means through which life can expand and fill the earth.
Be ye doers of the word…
Death presents a basic problem for us when it comes to work and the flourishing of life. No matter how hard we work, death creeps up on us, and the fruitfulness of life slowly fades away. We cannot work to give ourselves life, ultimately, because we remain under the curse of death. The only way that the blessing of work can truly be restored to a proper and functioning place is through Christ. The blessing of work is restored through Christ.
The curse of death actually means that much work is unfruitful, and much is actually not life-giving, but death-bringing. Consider the industry of pornography, for example. That is an industry that brings death to all that it touches. In Ecclesiastes 2:18 we read: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.”
In a fallen world, death has the final say, and so the life that work is intended to bring is stopped in its tracks. But through Christ, this vanity and vexation is defeated at last. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, that great chapter on Christ’s resurrection, we read: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” As believers we now know our work is not futile but it will bear fruit that lasts. Colossians 3:23 says: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.”
So then, remember that in your work, as you serve others, as you work diligently, as you pursue excellence, as a Christian it’s not in vain. Work as unto the Lord, and your work will bear fruit that lasts eternally as God graciously rewards you for it in the fullness of time. Work as unto the Lord! SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
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By Reformed devotions from all of scripture.Prayer
Reading
Genesis 2:15.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Meditation
Of the numerous popular songs of the Australian rock band Powderfinger, “Not my kinda scene” was definitely up there. Get on YouTube and listen to the song sometime, but at least for now let me give you the opening words:
“Tell me where I'mSupposed to beginAn unhappy life workingSome kind of dead end jobFor everything you thought you hadHas gone from worse to bad.”
These words express a sentiment typical of many people. Work is a drudgery, a necessary evil. Even Christians can tend to define work in terms of the curse in Genesis 3. In one sense, yes, there are many thorns and thistles in our work because of the fall. In spite of this, however, we need to realise that work in its basic nature is a blessing. Work was instituted before the fall. It’s not a curse, it’s a blessing, and it ought not to be a drudgery to us.
In an earlier meditation we’ve already seen to some extent how work will be a blessing: as we serve others, our work will be a blessing to them. A well made pair of shoes is a blessing to those who have them. Building on that, we need to also see that this blessing is more significant still. So here’s my message for you in this meditation: work is a blessing because work is fruitful. Let’s unpack this a little.
The fruitfulness of work ties back in to our question of the relationship between work and life. Work is one of the God-appointed means through which life will flourish. I’ve been trying to say here that work is fruitful, byt why do I say that? Well, you tell me, what happens when a man works and keeps his garden? I’ll tell you what happens – fruit grows! In Psalm 128:1 “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.” The fruit of our labour will be a blessing to ourselves and others. Even more importantly, it will be a source of life.
I’ve said in earlier meditations that God will fill the earth with life in three ways: through service, wisdom, and relationships. Our focus here is service. So then, this is how service, or work, fills the earth with life. In the big picture sense, service and work bears fruit, and fruit enables life to flourish. That’s true in the most basic sense because there’s a fundamental relationship between working, eating, and living. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” How does God provide for life to grow? He gives man work, and as the man works he provides food for his family, and thus his family is sustained and enabled to live. Similarly, this is why 1 Timothy 5:8 says “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” He has denied the faith because he is going against one of the most fundamental and basic blessings that God has given: the blessing of fruitful work. Life flourishes as man works because man’s work is fruitful.
This principle starts with gardening and farming (i.e. we need food). It is a basic necessity in every household (i.e. we need to work so that we can eat). It starts there, but this principle then also extends outward. As a man works, the fruit of his labour allows life to develop and flourish even more. That’s what technology, for example, does. You might not grow carrots as a farmer, but as a doctor your work will still nourish life. As an artist, your work will enrich the beauty of life. As a mechanic, your work will enable life to excel and grow through transport. As a computer technician, you will equip people with better and more powerful tools to see life expand in new and exciting ways. So then, all of our work – not just the work of farmers – bears fruit, blesses others, and is a means through which life can expand and fill the earth.
Be ye doers of the word…
Death presents a basic problem for us when it comes to work and the flourishing of life. No matter how hard we work, death creeps up on us, and the fruitfulness of life slowly fades away. We cannot work to give ourselves life, ultimately, because we remain under the curse of death. The only way that the blessing of work can truly be restored to a proper and functioning place is through Christ. The blessing of work is restored through Christ.
The curse of death actually means that much work is unfruitful, and much is actually not life-giving, but death-bringing. Consider the industry of pornography, for example. That is an industry that brings death to all that it touches. In Ecclesiastes 2:18 we read: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.”
In a fallen world, death has the final say, and so the life that work is intended to bring is stopped in its tracks. But through Christ, this vanity and vexation is defeated at last. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, that great chapter on Christ’s resurrection, we read: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” As believers we now know our work is not futile but it will bear fruit that lasts. Colossians 3:23 says: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.”
So then, remember that in your work, as you serve others, as you work diligently, as you pursue excellence, as a Christian it’s not in vain. Work as unto the Lord, and your work will bear fruit that lasts eternally as God graciously rewards you for it in the fullness of time. Work as unto the Lord! SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe