Church Family,
Did you work today?
Whether you are a student, a retiree, a stay-at-home parent, or gainfully employed is irrelevant. The question is “Did you work today?”
If your answer is “Yes, I worked,” then you also loved.
On Sunday morning we wrapped up our More Than Sunday: Living as People of the Resurrection sermon series by looking at a Biblical understanding of work. Dependent upon the stage of life you are in, it is quite possible that you spend more time at work than you do engaged in any other part of your life. Is it imaginable that Jesus is not concerned with the place and the thing where we spend the vast majority of our time and energy? Of course not. In fact, the Gospel has tremendous implications for our work lives.
As we studied 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 on Sunday we saw how the Apostle Paul teaches the church to view our work, in light of the resurrection of Jesus. If you missed the sermon you can listen to it here. In a passage that is entirely about love, Paul tells us that our work is not about our status. Work is not about your boss’s approval. Work is not really about making a paycheck for yourself or your family, even though we can feel that way. Work is primarily about love.
Because work makes us useful to others it therefore gives us a chance to love. And this prospect of being useful to other people gives us an opportunity to embrace our work, not simply as a means to an end, but as a God-given opportunity to live out our faith.
The resurrection of Jesus means, among many other things, that your worth as a person does not come from your work. Your worth comes from Jesus’ work on the cross and in his resurrection from the dead. Because Jesus loves you, he has died and risen for you, and you have worth because God has assigned you value. In view of the resurrection our job is not to demonstrate our value through our work but to use our work to mirror the work of our Savior and love others by being useful to them.
We Christians have different occupations: administrators, business-owners, bankers, marketers, IT professionals, investment managers, teachers, health care providers, accountants, salespeople, retailers, retirees, stay-at-home parents, realtors, consultants, and on and on. We have different occupations, but we all have the same vocation.
Our vocation is love. When we work and make a contribution to the common good, we follow the example of Jesus Christ and love others.
So as you climb into bed tonight, know that, if you gave to the world an honest day’s work, you took advantage of an opportunity to love.
Grateful to be finding my worth in places other than my work alongside you all,
Chris Griggs
