Life & Relationships
Work can be difficult or drudgery. Discover why work matters and how to succeed in a way that honors God.
Lesson #1: Your Motivation for Going to Work
Why go to work every day? The Bible helps us understand how work brings honor to God.
SUMMARY:
No matter what you do, work can be frustrating. At those moments, people wonder, “Why am I doing this?” Many people work just for the money – to pay off debts or to have the things in life they desire? Some work to support a lifestyle of fun or recreation. Others work to make a mark or gain acclaim, while some work to gain power or influence.
The Bible is very relevant to real life. It has a lot to say about work. It helps us understand why we go to work, and how to do our work. The Bible defines several worthwhile purposes for work.
To provide for your family.
1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV) Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith.
To have something to help others in need.
Ephesians 4:28 (NIV) Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
As important as these reasons are, the ultimate reason for going to work is not money, power, or prestige, but to maximize the full potential of our labor to bring honor to God.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Submit questions
Set Up: Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
What is your initial reaction to this topic? Explain.
Where do you work? What do you like most and least about your job?
Do a quick calculation: what percentage of your waking life do you spend at work? (Hours at work / waking hours x 100)
What is your number one motivation for going to work? What other factors come into play?
What are some ways that a person can bring honor to God at work? (See the entire series to learn more.)
Takeaway: Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
Lesson #2: God’s Highest Purpose for Your Work
Your work has great purpose and dignity as part of God’s original mission for humanity.
SUMMARY:
Work has always been a part of God’s plan for humanity. It goes all the way back to creation as part of God’s original mission.
Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT) God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
The greatest purpose of work is to bring out the full potential of God’s creation. The world God made was very good (Genesis 1:31), but it was not complete. God called human beings to help bring it to its full potential. For example, God made animals. But human beings domesticated animals to make them useful for agriculture. God created minerals in the earth. But human beings mine the ore, refine it into metal, and create implements from the metal.
This mandate calls on human beings to fulfill two roles:
We act in God’s image as his managers. God is creative, and so are humans. God worked to created the universe. Work is a reflection of our likeness to God. Our role is – like a property manager – to care for and nurture the creation God made.
We rule and subdue the raw materials of creation. We have authority to bring creation under our dominion for God’s purposes.
When you go to work – whatever it is you do – you are participating in bringing God’s creation to its full potential.
God put Adam to work in the Garden of Eden. Eden was not just a tropical vacation, but involved meaningful labor.
Genesis 2:15 (NLT) The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
Work is a good thing. Work is what we were created for. Each of us should welcome the opportunity to work. Let’s each find our place and make our contribution.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Submit questions
Set Up: Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
What does it suggest that God gave Adam work to do in the Garden of Eden?
In what way can we say that God’s original creation was very good but not complete?
How does Genesis 1 give dignity and purpose to work?
How does your job contribute to bringing God’s creation to its full potential?
What are some ways that your job does not seem to participate in that larger purpose? Why doesn’t it? (See Work Is Toil After Humanity’s Fall)
Takeaway: Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
Lesson #3: Work Is Toil After Humanity’s Fall
Work is hard because of sin, but it still has nobility and purpose.
SUMMARY:
In Genesis 1, God invented work by giving humanity a noble role in developing the potential of his creation. In Genesis 2, God put Adam to work in the Garden of Eden. But soon work was marred by the entry of sin into the world.
Genesis 3:17-19 (NLT) God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground…”
So work became toil. Work can be painful. It is a constant struggle against obstacles. Work still has results, but it isn’t easy. Work is hard work!
Yet God’s original mandate to humanity was never rescinded. Work is still noble and still has incredible dignity. It still reflects the image of God – his creativity and effort. Many people spend a lot of energy trying to get out of work. But work helps fulfill the design and destiny of God’s creation. It’s just more difficult now.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Submit questions
Set Up: Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
What’s the hardest thing about your job, and why?
How does the fallen nature of the world affect work?
What are some ways that sin affects how human beings fulfill the mandate of Genesis 1:26-28? (See God’s Highest Purpose for Work)
What hope is there for work to be meaningful under the conditions of the Genesis 3 curse?
Takeaway: Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
Lesson #4: Work Hard at What You Do
God is honored by your work when you work hard at what you do.
SUMMARY:
Work is worthwhile because it reflects God’s mandate to humanity to care for his creation and draw out its latent potential. The Bible teaches that we do that by working hard.
Hard work is a virtue.
The apostle Paul set an example of this in his own attitude.
2 Thessalonians 3:7-8 (NLT) You know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you.
The apostle not only exemplified working hard and pulling his weight, but he also commanded it of others.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (NLT) Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.” Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living.
Idleness or lack of effort amounts to sponging off of others. It’s up to parents to consider this when teaching their children to develop a good work ethic, and when providing for their older children’s material needs.
Rest from work.
God set up a balance of work and rest. The biblical pattern is: work hard, then rest fully.
Exodus 34:32 (NLT) You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.
Rest is so important that a day of rest each week was required even during the intensive labor of the harvest season. Some people need to know when to get to work. Others need to know when to take a break.
What about retirement?
Retirement is not about getting out of work. It’s about refocusing work. Even though a person doesn’t have to work for a living any longer, we are still called to be creative and productive (Genesis 1:26-28) rather than idle. But in retirement, we have freedom to labor for other purposes besides just money. We can use our skills and experience to benefit others. Retirement is also an opportunity to do things that advance God’s kingdom.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Submit questions
Set Up: Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
What is your initial reaction to this topic? Explain.
Read 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12. Why do you think the apostle Paul puts so much emphasis on hard work?
Do you have a pattern of rest in your life? What do you do to get quality rest from your work?
“Retirement is not about getting out of work. It’s about refocusing work.” Do you agree or disagree, and why?
What are some ways that retirees can continue to engage in appropriate, God-honoring labor?
Takeaway: Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
Lesson #5: Respect Your Leaders at Work
God is honored by your work when you show respect for those who lead you.
SUMMARY:
No matter where you work, you have to be subject to authority. That’s the way God made the world. On the job, that would be your boss. If you’re a student, it would mean your teachers or the school administration. If you’re a stay-at-home mom, your leader is your husband. If you’re the boss, you still have to answer the authority of the government.
Ephesians 6:5-7 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
The economy of labor is obviously different today from when this was written. But this speaks to anyone who works under the authority of someone else. The phrase “respect and fear” does not refer to physical fear, but is an idiom for showing deference and respect. This has two practical applications.
Integrity: You do your job even when no one is watching you. You work just as hard when you’re alone as when others can see.
Whole-heartedness: You work with enthusiasm. You put your heart into your work.
For Christians, we respect our leaders at work because we aren’t ultimately working for them, but for a greater leader. We’re really serving Jesus by our labor. The respect we show to human leaders is a reflection of the respect we have for Jesus.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Submit questions
Set Up: Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
Who are the authorities in your working life? What do you think it means to serve them “with deep respect and fear”?
Tell a story about someone you have worked with who worked really hard at not working. (No names, please.)
What should you do if a leader is not worthy of respect?
If you are in a position of leadership, what can you do to encourage your workers to work whole-heartedly?
Takeaway: Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
Lesson #6: Cooperate with Others at Work
God is honored by your work when you cooperate with others to succeed.
SUMMARY:
Your work is not just about you. Very few people work in complete isolation. We have to learn to work together with others. Success at work comes from a team attitude, which requires humility.
1 Corinthians 3:5-8 (NLT) After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.
Paul was well known. But he realized he couldn’t do it alone. Apollos was more obscure, but he was just as important and necessary to God’s work. Both worked together toward the same purpose.
Learning to win at work will help you to win at life. God built work into the fabric of the created world. It doesn’t always happen perfectly because of the effects of sin. But generally work has beneficial results in life.
Proverbs 28:19 (NLT) A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies ends up in poverty.
But work is meaningful even if you don’t ever get rich or famous, because you are fulfilling your created design. You are drawing forth the potential of God’s good creation.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Submit questions
Set Up: Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
What is your initial reaction to this topic? Explain.
Describe a time when cooperation with others at work led to a good result. What happened?
What factors make cooperation at work challenging?
Why is humility necessary to experience great cooperation at work?
As you seek to honor God with your work, what are some ways your life might be better as a result?
Takeaway: Write a personal action step based on this conversation.