Sabbath: The Christian and Work
Image © Pacific Press
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen: 3:19, Deut: 16:15, Exod: 25:10-30, Exod: 25:38, Gal: 5:22-26, Eccles: 9:10, 1 Cor: 10:31.
Memory Text: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Work is God’s idea. In the ideal world before sin, God gave Adam and Eve the task of caring for the garden (Gen: 2:15). Like their Creator, in whose image they were made, they were to be employed in creative labor and loving service. That is, even in an unfallen world, a world without sin and death and suffering, humanity was to be at work.
In this “in-between time” (after the ideal world and prior to the promised one), we are invited to view work as one of God’s blessings. Among the Jews, every child was taught a trade. In fact, it was said that a father who didn’t teach his son a trade would raise a criminal. Meanwhile, Jesus, the Son of God, spent many years doing His Father’s will in honest labor as a skilled craftsman, perhaps providing people of Nazareth with needed furniture and agricultural implements (Mark 6:3). This, too, was all part of the training to prepare Him for the ministry ahead. The apostle Paul was doing the Lord’s work just as surely when he worked alongside Aquila and Priscilla for a year and a half as a tentmaker as he was on Sabbath debating in the synagogue (Acts 18:1-4, 2 Thess: 3:8-12). This week we will look at the whole question of work and its role in Christian education.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 12.
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I grew up on a dairy farm in New Zealand in the 1950s. Like most family farms of that era, the whole family was involved in the enterprise. Cow-milking started at 5am, chook feeding at 6am, breakfast followed by worship at 7am. Then followed the daily chores of fencing, thistle grubbing, clearing drains, checking sheep. In summer, it was haymaking and fruit harvesting, In winter it was feeding the cows hay. Then at 4pm we had to bring in the cows and milk them, having tea (supper) around 6.30 pm. And mostly it was 7 days a week. Sabbath - the only respite was that while we still had to do the milking, we did not do the other farming chores. All of us were involved in the farm work, and we were unpaid.
I was about 12 years old when we had our first away-from-home holiday to the "big smoke" Auckland, which was only 150km away. The holiday lasted 3 days.
Some folks look back on those times and say we had it tough and while we complained a bit in the way that kids normally complain, we look back on that time with great fondness. Work was part of life and you found enjoyment in it.
It wasn't until I went to university that I started to hear terms like "Protestant Work Ethic" and so on and started to think about how we relate to work and pleasure.
Nowadays my grandsons want $30 to mow my lawns and they will only do it if it does not interfere with their recreational activities. I sometimes wonder if we have lost something in the translation when it comes to work.
It will be interesting to explore Christianity and work in the modern context in this week's study.
Wow, farm life in New Zealand doesn't sound that different from farm life in Germany where I grew up to the age of ten! With three generations in the household, I don't remember a lot of chores until that age, but I do remember sitting in a cellar desprouting potatoes, and my grandma did pay me a little for that. 😉 (It was *not* a fun job!) But I also helped milk a couple of "easy" cows, and I thought it was a privilege, not work!
I must have helped weed the garden, but what I remember most is snacking on berries, fresh peas, carrots, because I was allowed to eat anything fresh from the garden.
As a teen in British Columbia, Canada, besides other chores, I had to pick several rows of raspberries (maybe 60 feet or so total) before I could go swimming at the lake not too far below our house. When I saw others heading down to the lake, I quit dawdling and put on an extra spurt of speed!
In spite of my lack of love for gardening chores in my youth, I now find great satisfaction in growing things. I'd rather spend all day out in the garden than much of it in front of the computer. 😉 Having just moved over 3600 kilometers southeast to a new place, there has been lots of work to do to establish the garden. Hubby does the major rock grubbing and framing of the beds, but from there it's mainly up to me. (In this part of Texas, the soil can be roughly 30% large rocks! In between the rocks, there is black clay that can be coaxed into growing good crops.)
God provided Adam and Eve with work for a blessing even *before* sin entered, as the lesson points out. And I believe that working men and women are still the happiest people on the planet. I doubt that many who work the soil take their own lives, but quite a few with little to do, even though they are wealthy, appear to find so little real joy in life that they give in to despair.
God created us to find satisfaction in a job well done - whether it is outdoors or indoors. That said, I believe we need balance in our lives. Outdoor workers need the balance of feeding their minds and souls by reading and communing with God and indoor workers need to exercise their bodies outdoors as well as spending time with God.
As Christians, one of the ways that we can influence the world is by the way we interact with people in our workplace. The way we conduct ourselves will be the only Bible that some of our co-workers will ever read. We need to contaminate our workplaces with love, positive attitude and being a dedicated worker.
How many times our co-workers come to work depressed and angry? A simple smile or a kind work can change their days. I thought that I had to do bible study with them, but they are watching our behaviors. Let them see Christ through our actions. How many times we fail God in our workplaces? What are the good characteristics of a good worker?
First, he/she has a positive attitude. In I Thessalonians 5:16 - 18 " ... Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus..."No matter what we are going through, we need to always be happy.
Second, he/she is a hard worker. Martin Luther King Jr declared: "“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." Let us take joy in our work. Don't let anyone put you down for whatever work/field that you are in. Do it with passion and dedication. Then, God who sees everything will bless you abundantly. Have a great sabbath and let us continue to work for JESUS who is helping us along the way. Happy Sabbath (Bon Sabbat - Feliz Sabado - Shabbat Shalom)
Well said Thank you!
At first I wanted to, more or less, disagree that one should always 'be happy'. For wrong or right, I'm a pessimist. Then I did a little more research into 1 Thess 5:16. Jude is correct! I would like to add that the 'rejoice' in this verse is a verb, not a feeling. To some this may be obvious but to a pessimist, like me, it may not be so obvious. One has 'to make glad (happy)'. In other words, its up to the individual to turn the frown upside down. The following verse(s) show us how: find something, in all situations, to be grateful for. I pray that God will help me/you with this. Thank you for the reminder/awakening.
Amen
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thy own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge him and I will direct thy path. Prov 3:5-5
The Christian and Work
Leaving the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve leave with three institutions-1. Family and Marriage. 2. The Sabbath. 3. Work. There is a bond among all three. The book of Proverbs explained it more clearly. Will go into same during the week.
Growing up as a child I had several other brothers and sisters. We were not SDA so we work from Sunday to Sunday. When you are not a SDA, the Sabbath and rest means nothing to you. We all had word to do all day.
I was approx 6yrs when we made our 1st move because things were so hard and difficult with my parents(unemployment). Leaving our father behind, my mother and siblings moved to spent just over 1yr by grand parents then we retuned home.
From Monday-Friday some were supposed to fetch water from approx 1 mile away for cooking, washing dishes and for all to shower before school. Some sweep the yard, some clean the house and one took care of the breakfast. We did all of that while our parents went to work. After doing our work, we had to sit and eat then walked appox 1 mile to go to school. We had to be in school for 7:30am. In the afternoon we had school work to do or study for test the other day.
Saturday-Sunday we had to do the same with other things like washing with our hands and hanging out on the cloth line. Being there to pick up the clothing before the rain comes. Washing took place at home or at a creek. Cleaning the garden, watering the plants (if we had any food crops), cleaning the latrine, sunning out our bed, etc. After work, some play or cook the lunch. Rest in the evening and do home-work from School. Holiday(when school closes) we did deep cleaning.
Life was a steady going for us. I was satisfied with the simple things of life because I did not know about anything else.
As I got older things began to change.
My memory of farm life is a mixture of both pleasant and not so pleasant experiences. We were poor, and my parents financial resources were limited.
We had a cow that provided the milk for our family, lots of chicken, and a dog. One day our cow strayed into our neighbors farm and our neighbor got furious and gave her such a beating that she did not survive. No more milk or cheese for us.
One night we woke up as a result of the invasion of huge ants that forced us out of the house at midnight. When morning came we discovered that all the ants were gone. That was the first time I had the pleasure of watching a sunrise.
With my brother and sister we attended a one room church school. One morning we heard the noise of a car driving by, we had never seen one before. All travel was done by foot, horse, or horse carriage. The lesson was interrupted so all the children's could watch the car go by.
I was the youngest in the family, but I wanted to help with the farm chores. We had no money to buy toys, and if we wanted them, we had to make them. Life was not easy, but I have many fond memories of life on a farm.
I am looking forward to learn about the “whole question of work and its role in Christian education.” Doing “ the Lord’s work” is a theme close to my heart.
Yes, Jesus was doing the work of a carpenter, and Paul was doing the work of a tent maker, but I am certain that they did not want to be defined by these occupations.
God called them to work in the fields of Salvation of mankind directly; clearing the ground, tilling, sowing, watching over the hearvest as it grows to maturity and then help to 'bring in the sheaves'.
I suppose, indirectly, whether as carpenter or tentmaker, teacher or scientist, artist or home maker, farmer or store owner, any profession or occupation one is engaged in, the Christian is “working for the Lord”. Engaging in work is honorable and affords one the means to give - giving is more blessed than to receive – Acts20:35KJV.
But there is definitely one work all God's Children can be engaged in – ‘to be about the Father’s business’ – 1Cor.15:58KJV. The Scripture tells us to be steadfast, unmovable, and not to become discouraged “forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”; getting up in the morning until we lay down at night, His work is never done!
I also grew up on a farm with a verity of livestock and row crops that needed attending to starting at 5am, and pretty much consumed the entire day. Lessons and skills learned during these formative years serve me well even today. I feel so blessed for this experience in my life. But that didn’t seem to stop me from doing some really dumb stuff while growing up. I’m sure that many of my elders looked at me and shook their head never expecting that I would amount to anything, and now I find myself shaking my head at some of our youth, thinking pretty much the same thoughts.
I’m reminded of good Christian men unwittingly having a major impact on me, on my thinking, and on the choices I made. We as Christians, living a Christ like life never really know the influences we have on others. We may have different life backgrounds (origins) but our commonality is in Christ, and serving him.
If it is true that work brings a sense of satisfaction and self-worth, as previous comments seem to indicate, what does that say about the impact of hand-outs by the church or the government?
(I understand there are times when people are genuinely "down" through no fault of their own, and they need a hand up. On the other hand, I've lived near areas where generations of people lived on welfare.)
Would it be better to allow people to do some work to earn the money they need? Why or why not?
Inge raises a complicated question of unemployed people. My daughter has only after eight months of tireless searching eventually been hired. During that time she did not qualify for government assistance, so relied on help from family after selling everything she owned. There is an unemployment rate of about 30% in our country, so employers have many applications for every job, and make selections based not only on ability but also on race, age and gender.
So we praised the LORD when He provided her a job.
Accordingly I have sympathy with the many who are willing to work but for whom there are not enough jobs available.
I guess by comparison to all you farm kids, I was a spoiled city brat. ; -)
But I praise God that my parents still expected us to work around the house - dishes, laundry etc.
When I was in junior high (grades 7-9) I was expected to cook supper for the family. I was paid - with a set amount I could spend on my clothes. Not just cash or money to spend on whatever I wanted. My clothes - shoes and everything else- had to come from that amount.
I learned to work and also the value of money. My mother still had veto power over my clothes but some of the middle things in between her opinion vs my desire I was allowed to buy because I budgeted for them.
Daddy was an Usher (like a Deacon) and Momma taught children’s Sunday School and lessons happened at home as well as at school and church. I could have been told to have food on the table when my parents got home ( and I would have done so) and they would have bought clothes for me, but I think they were wise in the way they did it.
And I tried to install a sense of enjoyment if work in my boys beginning at a very young age - “oh, want to help - here’s a dinner knife, will you cut up this banana for me?” or “come stand on this chair and help me wash dishes” (which meant I got to clean the floor up also) on up to “helping” Daddy mow and baking bread at 7 and so on as years and skills increased. And they’re all hard workers today.
Learning to work is education for sure, just not with books.
wow such sad stories.times were hard then.now with the virus around afraid to go about doing the usual.goin to church,,getting groceries an get home. our usually thanks for the WORD.we can spend time reading, studying .
First, I'd like to add to your list, prayer. Often I've thought: all this time that 'Christians' have these days at home should be spent in prayer, requesting God's guidance, courage and intercession.
More than one of the commentary above brought up the concept of fear, for me. Fear of giving someone work around/in our home or workplace (instead of just a hand out) because they might hurt us somehow. Fear of gathering and helping others due to a disease that kills less than 1% of those who catch it. I was reminded this weekend of the difference between the jewish law banning the lepers from being in the general public due to fear of contagion and Christ's willingness to touch and minister to the lepers' needs. Christians are admonished 'not to fear' (Isa 41:10) . . . what can be done to the body (Mark 10:28). Could it be that God's people are being divided so that evil can conquer.
Hard decisions to be made, may God give us discernment and courage.
I grew up in a non-Adventist home in a small town. By American standards we were considered poor. We always had enough food and clothing but other than birthday gifts from family all our clothes were hand me downs and often didn't fit well. As the oldest I had just once used clothes usually but my sister got them twice used when I was done. We all were expected to help with housework, cooking, etc. in rotation and we did it even if we complained. If we didn't we lost our outdoor play time, which was a big deal. We got a dollar a week allowance to spend as we wished if we did all our chores and were obedient, and thought ourselves lucky. We never really thought of ourselves as poor as kids, it was just how life was.
When I got married, my husband introduced me to the Adventist faith and I've never looked back. So our children were raised in an Adventist home. They have always had more than enough, although they didn't always think so. We taught them from a young age to help with chores like sweeping, dishes, laundry, etc. They had cell phones from middle school (flip phone) for safety. Now that they are grown and in college or on their own, two of them are generally responsible and have a good work ethic but one does not. She was strongly influenced by friends whose families were financially well off and did not require their children to help out around the house. Sometimes having more than enough is actually not a good thing; and I wish I'd realized how much my daughter's friends were influencing her in time to counteract with a different approach at home to help her realize that not everyone can afford to not work and be able to pay their bills. Work is definitely a blessing, feeling the satisfaction of a job well done.
I too grew up rurally and see it as a blessing and have sympathy for city kids who miss out on the hard physical labour combined with the reward of fresh fruits ,vegetables and fresh air.Mother taught us(10 subs) that tilling the soil was God’s gift to man and although it would at times be very difficult and painful accept the gift. Daddy agreed in practice rather than in word. Inge ‘s comments about persons on welfare puzzles me .Governments in the west give much more to the corporate elite than to those on welfare. In US the auto industry was bailed out with the result that shareholders were enriched. If my info is correct the internet was created initially with military funding (US taxpayer funds)but today there are billionaires who profit from it not the taxpayers. Welfare as is practiced would not be needed and there would be few if any families living generationally on handouts if society followed God’s plan as set out by Moses.Property and assets were returned the family in year of jubilee.
God is a worker like no other, for by Him all things are made and hold together(consist) and He brings forth food for all creatures. Man, formed in the image of God his Creator, is also meant to have meaning in his life and laboring for good things gives life purpose and reward. Look at what may be accomplished with precise detail with fingers, hands, wrist, arms whether working with tools, playing a musical instrument, planting, harvesting, preparing, eating food, splitting firewood, creating beautiful artwork, or performing a delicate surgery. Man has been designed to work, and useful labor of any type is very fulfilling and if done temperately, will boost our health.
Work ethics is very subjective. Most people even in bible times believe that work is all physical specially in agrarian community. Modern times evolved into myriads of ways to make money as source of livelihood. As a father I evaluate the capacity of my 2 boys to do manual labor but they never were interested in yard work. They are more into computers, internet and video games. They are both college graduates; the older having a masters degree in education but cannot find work and the other a biology major and cannot find work either. So rather than having them work for other employers I hired them in our family corporation to do just what they are good for and eventually take over running the business themselves. People often judge us that we are privileged but I think God has given us opportunities and abilities for His own glory. In our kind of work, people just poured us with fruits and vegetables that we often pass it on to others so we don't even have to do gardening. So does it make any difference in God's view of working for Him?