Man Is Made For Work

All right, good morning. We're continuing our study on basic truths and Genesis and today the basic truth that we are going to be discussing is the truth Man is made for work. So if you do have a Bible turn to Genesis 2 15.

And we will be reading Genesis 2 15. Please stand whenever you have scripture for the reading of God's Word. Genesis 2 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

This is the Word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's pray. Well, we do. Thank you for the opportunity that we have to think about these great truths that are foundational to our life in The scriptures.

Pray that you bless our time here today and help us to learn great things from your word. Your son's name.

I pray man.

Growing up I grew up in public school and So much of public school was devoted to teaching me to have a certain perspective of work which In many ways is very contrary to the perspective of work that the Bible would have us to have Growing up.

I was told that work was basically a means to an end. So I was taught to think about work in that way that it was a means to an end. It's kind of a necessary evil. The goal of life is to find a good job.

Go fight. So that was the goal and education in the sense of a college degree was going to play a significant factor in me getting a good job and Then I was told as a young man that the in order to have a fulfilling and a satisfying life.

That basically what I should be trying to do would be to try to find a job. That I would love to do so that I wouldn't have to ever have to work essentially. So work was was treated in my mind as kind of a necessary evil means to an end.

You work in order to provide for the bills in an ideal world if you can find something you'd love to do then you wouldn't have to ever really suffer through the Routine of going to work every day. You could actually enjoy what you're doing.

And then work was kind of a means to get you to the weekend to where you can enjoy your life. So work was kind of a barrier that was put in your path for enjoyment in the best-case scenario. You find something that you like to do.

But then you know as I think about the way that I thought about work and the way that I was trained trained to think About work there were many assumptions that were put into that kind of package. Meaning there were certain kind of jobs that I should be pursuing that not just me that everyone should be pursuing so there were jobs that Like most of those jobs that most people were being taught to pursue.

Were the kind of jobs that are white-collar jobs that didn't require you to get your hands dirty. So to speak so the goal of life is to kind of get into some kind of nice easy Financially secure stable job that you had a passionate enjoyment at.

For so that you wouldn't have to psychologically experience Work in the way that the vast majority of individuals through human history have but as I said I mean there are many lies that I was being taught to believe about the nature of Work, and I didn't have a biblical perspective of work.

And I certainly hadn't come to the scripture trying to think about what does the Bible say about this topic in general? How does God want us to think about this topic? What why did he make work? What is work here for?

How should we think about it? How should we think about finding work? You know I certainly I wasn't going to the scripture to try to answer all of these questions. And so for me work was something that I was taught to do so I did have it.

I did have a father who taught me how to work hard, and I saw work somewhat as a necessary evil. That I had to perform in order to get to the stuff that really Mattered and I would say that growing up.

I was very much played with the with the questions What do I love to do and as a young man without much experience in the world? I'm certain that many people can relate to the experience of trying to think about how to answer that kind of question.

You know what well, what do I love to do? It's like. I don't really even know How to answer that question? Considering the fact that I haven't done anything serious with my life in general I don't know what I would love to do and that question seemed to be a taskmaster that hung over my head and Condemned me in many ways and so this this was.

These were questions I had growing up that I didn't really have wonderful answers to and I hope that we can Today talk about God's perspective of work and how God wants us to think about work. Why he made work?

What is it for and how do we glorify God in the midst of this work? One of the basic truths that we have today as I've said is the truth that man is made for work. And so we would do well to think about some foundational truths related to work.

Particularly those foundational truths that we're going to find in the opening chapters of Genesis. And one of the things you'll realize is that the opening chapters of Genesis do provide the foundation for all of the Bible's teaching on Work so much so that when you look to other passages in the scripture About that about work in general what you'll find in case after case after case is That these other passages are pointing back to these foundational truths in the opening chapters of the Bible.

They're giving you an explanation for.

Why.

What the Bible says in the opening chapter is there and so as I said, we should turn our Attention at the start to some foundational truths about work and one of those foundational truths. The first one is to say that man's work is based on God's work.

So Genesis 2 2 says this on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and he made it holy because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in Creation.

So creation itself is described as a work that God completed so God as a pattern for humanity created the world In six days so there you see in the opening chapters of Genesis this record of God's creation that God finished this work of creation on The sixth day and God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because God rested from all the work that he had done in Creation.

God could have been the type of God who made the world instantaneously in an instance. I mean he could have made it in a variety of ways and we've talked about some of these things in our study of creation in general and God could have made the world with a finger snap if he wanted to it could he could he could have Brought the world into existence.

Just like that. He could have made it everything fully formed organized designed everything Instantaneously appearing at once but he chose the main means of creation Intentionally in order to provide certain truths about the nature of who he is and how we are to follow his example.

And as I said one of these foundational truths about work is that man's work is based on God's work. So God worked Six days he rested on the seventh that's meant for us to be a pattern that we should work for six days in rest one day God creates man in his own image.

The fact that man is created as an image bearer of God has Ramifications for the nature of what we are designed to do. So because God is a God who is a creator God who worked? We are also creatures who are being designed by God to follow in God's pattern and example.

In the sense that we are also designed for work. So Genesis 126 We've spent some time talking about these things but Genesis 126. Then God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea.

So think about that language for a second in relation to the topic of work. God's given God's created man. He's given him responsibilities to exercise dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heaven and over the livestock on And over the livestock and over all of the earth and in over every living thing that creeps on the earth.

So God made man in his own image in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them. So God creates man in his own image. We are God's vice regents on the earth. We're going to follow into the same pattern example that he has Given us in his work of creation.

We're going to carry that out in perpetuity Forever throughout our time here today. All of these things just come straight from the opening chapters of Genesis. God has created man for work. Man's work is based on God's work.

And we know this about Christ that Christ has come With a great work to accomplish didn't he brothers and sisters. So John 6 38 says about Jesus it says for I have come down from heaven. Not to do my own will but the will of him Who sent me.

When you think about the life of Christ Jesus had a work to do. He had a mission to do on this earth and at the end of his life John 17 for Jesus says I glorified you on the earth. Having accomplished the work That you gave me to do so Jesus came to earth As a man not just as a aimless man with nothing to do who devoted his life to pursuing his own interest to pursuing entertainment.

Trying to keep himself occupied. Sitting in a house staring at walls with nothing to do twiddling his thumb. No, Jesus. Jesus had a work to do and every element of his life Was focused on carrying out the work that God had prepared before the foundation of the world for him to follow.

So as he says in John 6 38 I've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. So man's work is based on God's work. Man's work is based on the work of Christ. Christ as the perfect man has come to show us what it means to be a perfect human being and He certainly had a task to accomplish on the earth, and he set himself up to do that.

Making the best use of the time because the days are evil so man's work is based on God's work. Second. Work was assigned to man pre-fall now. I know that this is just a basic observation. But then it really is a very profound kind of observation.

Particularly for the kind of person who like myself saw work as a necessary evil. So notice what the text says Genesis 2 15 God makes man and this is pre-fall the Lord God took man and Put him in the Garden of Eden.

To work and to keep it so as I said, this is a very profound truth that work was assigned to man Pre-fall and that says something about the nature of why you're here. So you're living in a world obviously that is it that is trying in every way that you can possibly imagine.

To tell you that work is bad. It's a necessary evil. You work to get to the weekends right like you work to get to the weekends. The real purpose of your life is going to be entertainment. Pursuing your own interest having time to relax.

But this is just that thing that you have to do In order to get to the stuff that you really want to do and that's the way I viewed work growing up. I've worked very much like that like work was a task that I had to do a Task that it was understandable to hate.

So that's the way I viewed work. It was a task Understandable to hate because after all who likes to work right? Who likes to work who enjoys working that's that's the way I grew up thinking about work.

But the problem is that work was the sound signed a man pre-fall. And what that tells you is that work is not just a consequence of life in a fallen world. Work is a good in of itself. The fact that God made you And he gave you something to do is a good thing.

Boredom is a bad thing, okay. As you read the scriptures having no productive work to do in many ways robs a person of their dignity. They have nothing productive to do. God has given us something to do if you want to if you want to read the best book on the Bible on the topic of work and Better understand what I'm talking about here today the best book in the Bible that you can read on this topic is the book of Ecclesiastes and You'll see that the book of Ecclesiastes is a book devoted to this topic of work in really in many ways.

It's explanation of everything that you're going to find About work in the opening chapters of Genesis, but here's the point work was assigned to man Pre-fall work is good. You know that when you get to heaven after you die, but After Jesus Christ returns when we're living in the new heaven new earth.

Do you understand that? You're gonna have work to do then. Work is not just like a feature of life in a fallen world work is a good. That God has given to man, and there's a variety of biblical passages which Point to this fact so third work becomes toil after the fall.

So work is was assigned to man pre-fall as a good, but work becomes toil after the fall. So what did the fall do. Well the fall makes work harder? It doesn't make work necessary. So the fall makes work harder so notice in Genesis 3 17.

After the fall.

We see this Genesis 3 17 and to Adam he said because you've listened to the voice of your wife. And I've eaten of the tree of which I have commanded you you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground become of you because of you in pain.

You shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till the till you return to the ground for out of it.

You were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return so notice. What's being said here work is made more difficult as a consequence of fall? As a as a consequence of the fall man is going to obtain his food.

By the sweat of his brow it's going to be a painful process. It's going to have trials that are introduced into it so the fact that work is hard at times and difficult at times and has Challenges at times those are all natural consequences of the fall, but as I said I mean that doesn't mean that work itself is bad.

Work itself is not bad. It's just made more difficult now. Now we have to deal with the weather. Now you have to deal with sunburns. Now you have to deal with long hours. They that are hard now instead of just having all the energy that a person could possibly have as Adam and Eve did in the garden.

I would imagine imagine what that's like for them working in the garden prior to the fall. They're not they're not worn out with exhaustion sore. You know tempted with sickness getting sunburns. Having to worry about changes in weather and temperature.

They're not struggling to fight the ground in order to get the produce so. The issue is that work after the fall becomes toil and that's just natural challenges that come with work today a lot of which many of us are sheltered from due to the nature of the kind of jobs that we perform.

But there's also challenges that are introduced into work that come from working with other people too. So most of the difficulties that I've had in jobs that I've worked at were not related to so much the task Depends on the job.

I suppose I mean I've had some very physically demanding jobs myself but most of the challenges came from working with other sinful human beings who had Unrealistic expectations of about at times who were prone to think the worst of other people.

Who were eager to tear down others with their words? You know at times who refused to do their jobs like they should refuse to show up like they should. Causing other people to have to bear more burdens than they should.

But here's the point the point is that work becomes more difficult after the fall. So man's work is is based on God's work. Work was assigned to man pre-fall work becomes more difficult after the fall but even Even this work this work becoming toil after the fall toil is still Described brothers and sisters as God's gift to man.

Understand like this is a gift like work is a gift. So Ecclesiastes 519 says everyone also to whom God has given Wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil.

For this is the gift of God. So certainly work becomes toil after the fall, but toil is still God's gift man so let me read that again and To accept his lot and rejoice in his toil for this is the gift of God to man.

It's difficult to understate the importance of having something productive to do in life. When you look at around the world you see that you're living in a world that is subsidizing Subsidizing laziness in many ways the people who are most Tempted towards depression in life are individuals who have nothing productive to do.

Have nothing honorable to do. If you're living in a society right now that gives money to people to incentivize them to not have to work and when you Incentivize people to not have to work. There are temptations that they open themselves up to to engage in all kinds of wickedness.

You you you take away their dignity you subsidize laziness you open them up to temptations and really a lot of the reasons why Antidepressant use is so widespread today is the fact that people Really there's a lot of people who have way too much time on their hands, and they don't have anything good to do with their time.

And When you sit around having nothing productive to do with your time you're going to be weighed down by guilt and shame and condemnation. That you cannot escape because God has made work as a created good man is made for work and when you reject that In general if you're a man who rejects that you're going to find ways to blow up the world.

Blow up relationships. If you're a woman who rejects the work that God has made you to do you're going to find your own unique ways.

To.

Mess things up and break things. But a point here here is just to say that when you reject that gift of God What you find is many people give themselves over to anxiety to worry to depression. Because even though work has been made more difficult and now as experience as a form of toil at times It's still God's gift given to man.

There's something about working a long and hard day and Getting to the end of it. Even if it's something that you didn't enjoy the whole time and looking at the fruit of your labor there's a sense of accomplishment that God has made you to feel in light of.

Working hard that it's it's really difficult to describe, but I'm sure that you all understand and know exactly What I'm talking about.

With that.

So as I said some foundational truths about work man's work is based on God's work. Work was assigned to man pre-fall. Work becomes toil after the fall, but toil is still God's gift to man. Fifth work is gendered.

You know there is a concept brother and sisters of work, that's a man's work. There is a concept of work. That's woman's work. I know that We try as much as we can to blur all these lines. To where we refuse to accept that anything fits into these kind of categories.

But the truth is that God made these categories and God knows what he's doing and you see that work is gendered on the basis of the fall. So think about the nature of the curses that are given to man and woman.

In the garden and you'll realize that there that work is gendered. It's meant to be gendered. There's some works that are more suitable to men. There are more work. There are some works that are more suitable to woman and you see this as you read through the curses.

So Genesis 3 16 to 19 to the woman. He said I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing. What is he what is he saying there? What is he saying there he's making her work harder. Isn't it to the woman he said I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing.

In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire for shall be for your husband. He shall rule over you and Adam. He said because you've listened to the voice of your wife and Eden of the tree of which I've commanded you.

You shall not eat of it. Curse is the ground because of you and pain you shall eat of it the days of your life. Thorns and thistles that shall bring forth for you. You shall eat of the plants of the field by the sweat of your face.

You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it. You were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. So notice like man's work has made more difficult as a result of the fall his work becomes toil.

Woman's work has made more difficult. As a result of her fall her work becomes toil. There's obviously simple examples of this fact that work is gendered that I could give you. Obviously men are made Physically stronger than woman who is the weaker vessel?

There are certain jobs which are very appropriate to men on the basis of this. One of those you think about police officers you think about? Men in the military all this relates to the fact that man is made more strong than woman.

Over and over again as you read through the Bible you'll realize that men have been given a protector role in society. And you can think about the nature of all of the armies that you will find throughout the whole Bible.

All the armies are always filled by men. The Bible says that. You know it's an abomination for a woman to wear a man's garment. There's some discussion to be had about whether or not Kelly there that word is being used in the sense of a military implement of a man.

Leaving that all aside is just to say that there's obviously Work that are more suitable to men and there's work That's more suitable to woman, and I'm not going to go into great Lengths today to describe this other than just to say that work is gendered.

So we see this in the nature of the fall itself that there are unique curses that are given on the basis of Different roles that men and women are designed to play. Then finally we see that work should be done within divinely Prescribed boundaries so Genesis 2 2 on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done.

And he rested on the seventh day from all of his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day. And he made it holy because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in Creation so man is obviously made for work.

But he's not made to work only so he is made to worship his maker. God has assigned Boundaries for man's work. There is a pattern that's fixed into creation where man should Work for six days, and he should rest on one this one and seven pattern.

There's there's no indication that God has ever overturned this pattern itself. But the point here is just to say that work should be done within divinely prescribed boundaries, and there are temptations that we face.

To some people face the temptation to never turn off work. Other people face face the temptation to never start working right. For most of us we think that work is only something that happens At a place of employment, and then when you come home.

You're tempted to think that From the time you get home to the time you go to sleep. That's when the recreation is happening right. So most homes today are basically resorts. That are free from productive work.

If you think that that's hyperbole or an overstatement. Then just I would encourage you to look up statistics about phone usage today and screen time today. And I think that you will see that I am I'm not saying anything that shocking there.

But most of us we put work in a certain box that we go to and that our homes are very unproductive. So as I said, I mean there's some people who can't turn work off. There's some people who can't turn work on.

And then we have a temptation to compartmentalize work, and then we have a temptation to violate the divinely prescribed about boundaries of work but it is interesting to see that God worked six days and rest on the seventh and we should follow that pattern and I think that there's a lot more productivity that we can make at times than what we Do and most of us are probably tempted to devote most of our time outside of formal work to The task of entertainment which certainly has its place, but probably not the place that we prescribe it today.

Let's talk about some lies about work. I've given you a basic foundation for work. That I think is coming straight out of the opening chapters of the Bible. Well, let's talk about some lies about work.

Here's perhaps the biggest lie that I was told growing up. And I talked about that at the very beginning is it's the lie do what you love so that you never have to work. What's the problem with that? Think about that for a second because I know that many of you are probably Tempted to think about that too, so you do what you love so you never have to work.

What's the problem? What's the problem there? Didn't that seem intuitive and obvious and normal? I was probably told that hundreds and hundreds of times growing up in school. It's just it was. I was brainwashed into thinking this way.

What's the problem with this? Well Ecclesiastes 2 for 224 says. There is nothing better for a person that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. Wait a minute.

What does that say?

Do what you love so you never have to work. Is that what Ecclesiastes said? I found there's nothing better for a person that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. That seems different when I started reading the Bible in a serious way.

And I was reading through Ecclesiastes one of the things that stood out to me about that a Person there's nothing better that a person should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. What that communicated to me?

Was that my perspective of work was entirely backwards. I Was trying to find some work that I enjoyed to do. But the Bible was telling me to learn to enjoy working. You see how that's the opposite why should I enjoy working.

Well look let's keep on reading a few more Passages about Ecclesiastes and you think about the opening chapters of Genesis. God made man. He put him in the garden to work and keep it. Well first do you think that Adam was like thinking that way Do what you love so you never have to work.

He wasn't thinking that way. He was thinking there's something good to do and like who enjoys gardening. I don't know who enjoys gardening. Maybe some people enjoy gardening, but a lot of what we're trained to think is that's kind of a mundane work, right?

It's mundane work. So if he wants to do something really important with his life He probably doesn't want to do a job that requires him to get his hand dirty dirty. Probably doesn't want to do something that's back breaking labor, right?

Probably wants to do something where he's sheltered from the elements outside and all that but What is what does Ecclesiastes say it says. I found there's nothing better for a person He should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.

This also I saw is from the hand of God. For apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment Ecclesiastes 312. I perceive. There's nothing better for them Than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live and also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all of his toil.

Take pleasure in all of his toil. Does that mean like figure out what kind of toil is easy to find pleasure in? Or does it mean take pleasure in all of his toil? You know that like the reason why you're here today is because You have some basic needs for food and clothing and shelter.

You.

Know that a lot of these things are difficult To do. I Don't know how many of you have have devoted yourself to building houses, but I mean that's hard work. I I've had the advantage of being a pastor.

Who? Coming out of seminary. I've done a lot of blue-collar jobs that are very hard hard physical labor. I mean I worked at UPS for a while when I was in seminary, and I don't know if you know if you knew what happened at UPS you would never send a package yet, but I Stood in a truck and there was a assembly line of boxes coming towards me.

And you had to take those boxes and stack them one after another and it was there was a race against the clock to keep them from piling up because there's so many and I Would say that there's nothing like about that work.

That is uniquely satisfying. I mean it is like going to war you have to get your mind right to where you understand that these boxes are trying to conquer you and You have to refuse By these boxes because they're gonna keep on coming and if they pile up it's gonna be a catastrophe.

It's gonna be a mess, and I would say that there's nothing that is Uniquely compelling about that. But it's a work that needs to be done because people ship things. So if you have the mindset that you're trying to look for something that you and Nick you uniquely enjoy.

Well, there would be no shipping right so but the point here is to say that most of the jobs I've worked at they weren't the kind of jobs that are intrinsically enjoyable. It's not like you you feel like you're you're being entertained why going to these jobs.

They're just jobs that needed to be done, and I know that there was a fundamental shift in my mindset. At a certain point in my life where I read the Bible. I encountered what God said here I realized that work itself was a gift of God and Instead of going to work and counting down the hours until I get out of work because I hate work so much I realized that I'm actually called to love this and you know what you can love it.

It's really not that hard to love work. If you understand God's purposes in work for you if you understand why God made work and You understand that work itself is a gift that he's given to you. You could learn to love The kind of stuff that you probably would think that you would never learn to love.

Like I said III delivered appliances. That's hard physical labor you can learn to love delivering appliances. I worked as a janitor while I was in Bible college. You can learn to love being a janitor.

Why shouldn't you love being a janitor? Bathrooms need to be cleaned don't they do you know what happens when no one cleans? That's not good the point is just to say that yeah, what does the Bible teach about work.

Bible teaches that work is good. It's not do what you love so you never have to work. It's learn to love work. Because God's given you something productive to do where you can contribute to society and make the world a better place and honor God with your time all this is put in the larger framework of exercising dominion over the creation.

You know that this is something the Protestants recovered. What is the reality like the goodness of vocation? It's not just that some jobs are are good like.

So.

The Catholic distortion is like only like ministry jobs are the good jobs, and then all the other stuff. It's just like a necessary evil. You know the Protestant like Protestant doctrine of vocation Recovered the goodness of all work.

This quote is attributed to Martin Luther, and I I couldn't find it Yet, but I I Suspect it. It probably is from him, but someone asked Martin Luther. What would he do if he knew that Jesus was coming back today and His response to that would be that he would go home and cut his grass essentially.

That's what he'd do because he understood the lawfulness of vocation so Point here is to say the Bible's teaching on work is not do what you love so you never have to work. It's learn to love work, and you can love any number of things.

Secondly another lie about work. You shouldn't work a job below your dignity. Growing up in the education system. They the education system treats everyone as if their brains don't they? They treat everyone as if their brains.

We tell everyone that everyone deserves a college education. Despite the fact that not everyone has a brain power for a college education.

And.

Then what do you do in order to make sure that everyone gets that college education. You lower the standards because? You're trying to make everyone feel included. And then when you lower the standards what happens.

You make the thing worthless, don't you? You make a college education worthless because it doesn't mean anything anymore. So what what is the education system. Train people in. It doesn't train people to think what are you designed to do?

And what good works are there to do. And how can we equip you to do those works? Because college the education system as it currently exists treats everyone as if their brains and. And then funnels everything everyone into paths towards jobs that are largely to be fulfilled by people who have higher brain capacity than other people and.

Then the corresponding part of that is if you don't get funneled into one of those paths designed for someone with the brain. Somehow you've failed at life. That's kind of the pressure that current education system is putting on people because it has a myopic understanding of work and then part of that means that As I've described the kind of jobs that I've worked at.

There is a Kind of pressure that the education system puts on people to view certain jobs as below your dignity. But part of the problem is that obviously if no one took away the trash. Then we'd all have trash piled up.

No one willing to be a janitor. We'd all have dirty places.

That we're living in.

No, I'm willing to deliver the appliances. You're not gonna have them in your house. There's no one's willing to build your homes. You're not gonna have a house to be built to live in. I had a guy at my previous church who?