Three Cheers for Labor!

A professor at UCLA once made this statement, “Christianity teaches that work is bad and is a product of the Fall.”

Although this false statement is found nowhere in the Bible, it implies that Christianity is the enemy of labor and therefore the working person.

The goal of this post is to show you otherwise.

Fact:  Adam and Eve were given work to do in the Garden of Eden–to tend, care for, and bring order to the place under their care–before the Fall.

Work, in other words, is not a curse.

Fact:  in Revelation 22 it says, “His bond-servants shall serve Him.”

Thus, throughout all eternity, we will be doing holy labors for our King of Kings and carry out assignments and holy adventures.

Before Paradise was lost, and forever after Paradise has been regained, we fulfill our Creator’s design to devote ourselves to good labors and holy tasks assigned to us by Him.

Work is good!

What God cursed was Adam’s disobedience, and it brought about futility.

Life outside the garden was full of “thorns and thistles”, of gardens invaded by weeds, of laboring “by the sweat of your brow” with creation working against us instead of working with us.

Work became frustrating, counter-productive, conflicted, and far more difficult.

And all the other people we’d work with, just like ourselves, would have a sin-nature and be inherently selfish and prone to quarrelling, jealousy, and back-stabbing.

What a mess!

No wonder we all have problems on our jobs!

Then add to all this the fact of bodily weakness, aging, sickness, and infirmities of our minds and one can see why people would assume the faith teaches that work is a curse.

But I take the opposite view, one revived by Martin Luther in the early 1500’s:   every kind of work we do can be done for the glory of God, and no work is more or less honorable than any another.

This teaching is far more revolutionary than anything Karl Marx taught–without destroying the individual in the name of the State.

It elevated the worker beyond anything the feudal era–which looked down on labor as beneath the nobility and the clergy.

One of the Reformation’s great liberating truths was destroying the distinction between “sacred work” of monks and priests, and “secular work” done by everyone else.

The bricklayer, the ditch-digger, the field hand could rightfully hold up their heads alongside the lawyer, the pastor, and the doctor.

All professions, all occupations, were honorable and could be used to bring good to the world and bring honor to Christ.

In fact, for the Christian, we are explicitly told to “do your work heartily as for the Lord” and “whatever you do in word and deed, do all to the glory of God.”

Our only boss and employer is Jesus Christ Himself, and how we do our work is a direct reflection on Him.

Work, in other words, is another way we worship Him.

Hence, the Protestant Work Ethic is really the Biblical work ethic.  

Our work is a part of our witness whether we realize it or not.

I do not mean to make an idol out of work, as workaholics do.

But I do intend to raise high once again the value of work and the worthiness of labor.

I do not mean to elevate businesses or unions.

But I do mean to Christianize, transform, and dignify the rank and file as well as the owners.

Christ desires His followers to be the best of workers–on time, hard working, putting forth a full effort, reliable, non-complaining, honest.

Just as Christian slaves won their slave-owners in the Roman Empire, we can win our bosses, owners, and managers to Jesus by how we labor–even when nobody is looking and even when we don’t “earn” anything on earth as a reward.

Christ desires Christian businessmen, owners, bosses and managers to treat their employees well–to grant them justice and fairness, to pay a fair wage for a fair day’s labor, to regard them as people instead of as commodities to be bought and sold and traded.

Sadly, an entitlement mentality has taken over.

Many workers want to be paid, but few will work for it.

Many owners want hard labor, but few are willing to pay for it.

Many workers want to be paid more, but few want to work harder for it.

Many owners want to pay less, and wonder why they receive worse labor.

Many workers want to be the boss, but few want to start at the bottom and pay your dues and work their way there or prove they can be trusted.

Many bosses want to keep people down and exploit them, but few know how to empower and dignify those who labor for them.

Many want the good things of life, but few are willing to work years and save and wait for it until they have the cash.

We do slipshod, minimum efforts for employers and wonder why we don’t progress in our field.

We treat employees like dirt, and wonder why their work is so slipshod.

American businesses and workers are caught in a toxic cycle that no government or economic fix can fix.

Be the exception.  Break the cycle.

But let’s do it for the right reason–to bring honor and fame to our Master, Jesus Christ, and not for material advancement or power over others.

It is no disgrace either to work or to employ workers.

In fact, nothing could be more honorable in the sight of God than to do our labors well and do them for Him.

And that is why I celebrate Labor Day and why you can as well.