Work: A Noble Christian Duty, Part 1 (A)

0:00You see, our Christian faith has sanctified every occupation. There isn't any difference between the secular and the sacred. There isn't any at all. The church should remember that Jesus was a preacher for three years, but a carpenter for at least 20. That sanctifies work. All of life is gods. All of it is for His glory. Welcome to Grace To You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Whether you're the employee or you're the boss, whether you grind away in the sun or you sit in an air conditioned office, whether you collect a paycheck or you're a stay-at-home mom who gets paid with hand-drawn cards from your kids, it's all work. And the question is, what makes your job meaningful and fulfilling? What makes it pleasing to God? Consider that as we continue John MacArthur's study,

1:02Wisdom for the workplace. A practical guide to help you find joy and honor God in whatever work you do. So grab your Bible if you're able and follow along as John begins today's lesson. This morning in our time in God's Word, we returned to that wonderful little epistle we've been studying, 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 3. While I was away, I wanted to spend some time and study of the passage in this text because I want to complete this wonderful book. And the text before us in chapter 3 proved to be a fascinating and interesting one to me as I studied it. We're going to be looking this morning, at least initially, at verses 6 through 15, a very, very interesting little section, and in fact quite unique in the New Testament, dealing with the subject of work, work. In fact, I suppose I could title the message, work, a Christian duty. I don't know if you think about work like that, you probably don't.

2:05Some of you think about work as sort of a drudgery that you have to do, whether it's your work at a job that you possess, or whether it's domestic work in the home. It's just something that's necessary and you do it, and it isn't particularly joyous, but it's there and it has to be done. Some of you think about work in relationship to money. You think about work as a way in which you can purchase your pleasures, if you will, purchase the lifestyle that you're after. Some of you think about work as a way to fulfill your ego and achieve what you feel you need to achieve so that you can gain some accolades from the people around you. Some of you think about work as a way to fulfill your ambition, a way to fulfill your gifts and skills, a way to accomplish some meaningful purposeful thing with your life. Some of you think about work as a way to serve people, as a way to make life easier for some folks, as offering a service rendered to them that can be a source of pleasure or enjoyment to them.

3:06There are a lot of ways you can look at work, but I guess if we were really to sort of sum them up, it might be a long time before we ever heard anybody say, I look at my work as a way to serve God. That doesn't seem to be a fairly popular perspective on work even among Christians, and in fact, it should be. In spite of what most people might think, in spite of what most people might feel, work is one of the most honorable and noble things a Christian can do. In fact, in the very beginning, God established that man would earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, Genesis 3.19. Right after the fall, God said, you're going to work. You're going to work to earn your sustenance. On the other hand, Scripture has a lot to say about lazy people. Proverbs says, poor is he who works with a negligent hand. It also says the soul of the lazy person craves, but gets nothing. It also says the lazy person doesn't plow after the autumn,

4:07so he begs during the harvest and has nothing. It says the desire of the lazy person puts him to death for his hands refused to work. And in Proverbs 24, the lazy person says a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. And as a result, he's destitute. What should be the proper view of work? How are we to understand it as regards Christians? Is it a secular thing or is it a sacred thing? Well, if you go back into the history, say of the Jews, the Jews looked at work as a secular thing. The Jews didn't understand the sacred duty of work. They saw it merely as a common, menial sort of human second-class effort, whereas religious duties were first-class, sacred, divine, noble things. The Talmud, for example, has a very interesting prayer and at the Talmud is a codification of Jewish tradition and law.

5:07And it has a very interesting prayer that was prayed by the scribes. Scrib, you remember, was a person who devoted his entire life to studying Scripture. That's all he did in his life, and he was supported by the Jewish community to do nothing but study the law. This is a scribal prayer. Listen to it. I thank the O Lord, my God, that thou hast given me my lot with those who sit in the house of learning and not with those who sit at the street corners. For I am early to work, and they are early to work. I am early to work on the words of the law, and they are early to work on things of no importance. I weary myself, and they weary themselves. I weary myself and profit thereby, and they weary themselves to no profit. I run, and they run. I run toward the life of the age to come, and they run toward the pit. It's really not a very good view of work, is it? People who get up early for no reason, who work to produce nothing,

6:09who run to the pit of death, pointlessly, what a narrow and what a painful view, and what a prideful view, assuming that because you spend your time working on the law of God, you're somehow better, couldn't be further from the truth, and yet it not only pervaded Judaism, sad to say it's even found its way into the church. Any trip to Europe will confirm this to you if you get around to the normal tour of castles and churches, we call it smells and bells, and they introduce you to the history of these places, you inevitably intersect with monarchies and religious orders. You see, Beas started a lot of this stuff in the fourth century, he was an early church father. Listen to what he wrote. There are two ways of life given by the law of Christ to his church. One is above nature and beyond common human living,

7:10holy and permanently separate from the common customary life of man. It devotes itself to the service of God alone, such as the perfect form of the Christian life. It quote, now what you see, Beas was saying, was that the first man or of life is Christian ministry, Christian service, devoting yourself to the service of God alone, and that is the perfect form of the Christian life. Then in a second paragraph, he said this, and the other, the second, more humble, more human, permits man to have minds for farming, for trade, and the other secular interests, and a kind of secondary grade of piety is attributed to them, end quote. What you see, Beas said, is first class Christians are those who serve God alone, second class Christians are those who have secular employment. So if you want to be a first class Christian,

8:12then you must devote your life to serving God alone, and it was that kind of teaching that led to monasticism, that kind of teaching that bred all of those abbies with all of those monks, all of those monasteries, with all of those priests who were in there for decades of their life contemplating their spiritual navel as it were, looking inward and constantly asserting their own humility before God and spending time in this continual study of Scripture like describes had enduedism before them. A visit to a monastery yield, some very interesting things. I visited a number of them, and again, even on this trip, visited more of them. A typical day for a monk was up at 3am for the first service. You say, why at 3am? Just to make you miserable, because there was certain penance and misery. You didn't want to sleep more than two or three hours, you might be thought to be carnal, so they roused them all at 3am,

9:12and they had their first mass, they put them back at four, and they got them up at five. They had their second mass, and before the day was over, they had five more of them in between, they spent their time in prayer and reading the Scripture. And they did that for the years and the decades of their life believing that that in and of itself made them a perfect Christian or an elevated Christian, whereas anyone outside farming or doing a trade or working in a business was a second-class Christian. The idea that works somehow made you second-class, it's secular, useless, lower employment, put you beneath the religious order, found its way into the church so formatively that it never really got rooted out or even began to be rooted out until the time of the Reformation in the 16th century with Martin Luther and John Calvin attacking it. It's still around in Catholicism,

10:14but the Reformation dealt some pretty heavy blows against it. Martin Luther said there is absolutely no difference before God, though there may be before men, between one who preaches the word of God and one who washes dishes. There is no such thing he said as the sacred and the secular in terms of employment. We understand the difference between preaching and washing dishes as it affects men, but in terms of service before God, there's no difference for one could preach the truth of God from an impure motive and God would be displeased and one could wash dishes with a motive of glorifying Christ and God would be highly pleased. Paul faces a wrong attitude toward work in this text. I don't know whether it was because there was Jewish influence in this young church. I don't know whether some of these people had been converted out of Judaism and they were saying, look, in Judaism,

11:15the highest level of spiritual life was to be a scribe and spend all your time studying the law. And so I imagine that's the highest kind of Christianity. So I'm just gonna spend all my time studying the law and I'm not gonna work. It may have been not so much the Jewish influence as the Greek influence. I don't know if you remember this, you surely do, but all of the menial labor in the Roman Empire was done by whom? Slaves. The whole Greek world operated on the basis of slaves and that mentality had found its way into the church no doubt. And maybe there were some free men who now had a problem because before they were Christians they operated in some philosophical school or they taught in some place or maybe they were associated in some business where they did all the dreaming and the scheming and everybody did all the labor and now they became a Christian and they lost their job and they lost their position as teacher or philosopher. And now they're on their own but it's beneath them to work.

12:18They've never worked and now when they don't have the income that came from their prior occupation and they're thrust into the situation where they need to work and they're just above that. They're not about to work. They've always been free men, free men don't do labor, slaves do labor, we won't work. And then you had another problem as if that wasn't enough coming from the Jewish culture and the Gentile culture. Somebody had come to the Thessalonian church according to chapter two verse two and told them they were in the day of the Lord which is the very end time and Jesus was coming very soon. And it may have been that some of them were saying, look, if Jesus is coming, if we're in the day of the Lord and God's fury is about to fall and the Lord is about to return, we don't want to get involved in work, we need to evangelize. We need to do spiritual ministry. Work will just take up our hours and a perishing world on the brink of a returning Christ,

13:19we can't be fussing with that. We need to be evangelizing. And there may have just flatly been some folks who said, I don't like the work. Just plain old lazy. So it may have been the Jewish influence that the really elevated religious people study the scriptures and they're supported for that or it may have been the Gentile mentality that says free men don't work or it may have been the eschatological in times mentality that says, Jesus is coming, we can't be doing work, we've got to be doing evangelism or it may have been some folks who just said, hey, we're lazy. Well, we don't want to work. Furthermore, these people who just flat out lazy would know that the Bible taught that the people who had were supposed to give it to the people who didn't have and they classified themselves as the self-appointed poor and said that we are now your charity cases and you'll take care of us because that's what Jesus instructed you to do. Whatever the reason there were people who weren't working,

14:20it fascinates me that Paul doesn't tell us the reason. You wanna know why? Doesn't matter what the reason is, none of it is valid. I mean, we would immediately reject the reason, well, I'm lazy, I don't wanna work. So meet my needs, it's supposed to take care of the poor. We would reject that immediately. Yes, we know you're supposed to take care of the poor, but that's the poor who are poor because they can't help but be poor. The people who would work but can't find work or who can't work because they're in firm or disabled and we are to meet their needs. But not the people who can work and have opportunity to work, so we would discount that. And we would discount probably the Gentile mentality that says I'm too good to work. We would say those are ignoble excuses. We'll push those aside. We might think a little longer about the other two and say, well, it would be a lofty way to spend your life to just do nothing but study the law. And we are living in the return of Jesus Christ potentially and maybe it is right that we are just dump our job and run out and evangelize. We would give that a little more credence

15:21and say, well, it's a little more noble excuse for not working. But it fascinates me that Paul doesn't tell us the reason. You know why? Because it doesn't matter, they're all invalid. The very fact that he makes no comment is a comment. We don't know why they wouldn't work. We don't know whether it was just flat laziness or eschatology. We don't know whether it was some lofty desire to spend all their time in Bible study or whether it was some passionate zeal to do all their time in evangelism. It didn't matter. These people were a problem. So starting in verse six, look what he says to them. Now we command you, brother, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep a loof from every brother who leads to disorderly or unruly life and in this context it means who won't work. And not according to the tradition which you receive from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we didn't act in an undisciplined manner among you.

16:21Nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship, we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you. Not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you that you might follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone will not work, neither let him eat. But we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life. Doing no work at all, but acting like busy bodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, you're not growing weary of doing good. And if anyone doesn't obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him so that he may be put to shame. And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but it monies him as a brother. Now it becomes obvious that there's some people living in undisciplined, disorderedly life.

17:23And what it comes down to is they're not working. And they're meddling busy bodies fusing around not working and then casting themselves on everybody else to have their food need met. And the apostle is directing this passage at these people who won't work. It is a very unique passage directed for folks and for the church in which folks exist who will not work. You see, our Christian faith has sanctified every occupation. There isn't any difference between the secular and the sacred. There isn't any at all. The church should remember that Jesus was a preacher for three years, but a carpenter for at least 20. That sanctifies work. All of life is gods. All of it is for his glory. Look for a moment with me at Ephesians chapter six and I can illustrate this to you in the inspired text. Ephesians chapter six tells us every job, every occupation,

18:25every work falls within a believer's sacred duty. There's no such thing as a secular job for a Christian. There's no such thing as a secular or anything because everything is to be done to the glory of God. But look at Ephesians six verse five. Slaves or servants, it could be employees. Be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, okay? Work under your employer with fear, that's reverence, trembling, understanding that he controls your destiny, sincerity as if you were serving Christ. Verse six, not with I service, that is just working because he's watching. Not as a men, please, or not just pleasing him, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With good will, render service as to the Lord and not to men. In other words, in your job, you're serving the Lord with your attitude and your effort. Verse eight, knowing that whatever good thing each one does,

19:27this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. Whether you're an employee who's a slave, whether you're a worker who's a free man, the work you give, rendered to the Lord, the Lord will repay. Your service is to him, not your boss. In Colossians three, parallel passage, verse 22, we read the same thing. Employees or slaves. In all things, Colossians 3.22, obey those who are your masters on earth. Not with external services, those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men. Now, follow verse 24, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance. The Lord will reward you. Here's the sum of it. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Your job is not a secular job, it is a spiritual duty.

20:28You are serving the Lord with your attitude and your diligence. You're serving the Lord. You're doing it under His honor and to His glory. You're even serving mankind for what you do provides a service to man that helps them in their life. So Paul is saying to the Ephesians and saying to the Colossians, work is a sacred duty, not a secular one. Work is sacred in the sense that it is done to the Lord. Whether you're washing dishes scrubbing floors, taking care of children at home and maintaining the house, or whether you're in the financial marketplace doing accounting and bookkeeping for a company, or whether you're delivering mail or teaching school or driving a truck, or whether you're operating a business, whether you're working in sales, whether you're developing strategy for marketing,

21:28whether you're some kind of an expert who acts as a consultant in a unique field. Whatever it is that you're doing, it is a service rendered to the Lord. He has gifted you, he has granted you talent, he has given you the power to get wealth, as it says in Deuteronomy through means of that, and he has allowed you the opportunity to provide your sustenance through that talent, ability and experience and capability that you have. But it is to be done as if you were serving him, the one who gave you that as the means by which you can earn your living, particularly is this not true for Christians. Everything you do is a sacred trust. You say you mean to tell me that what I do is as important before God is what you do, yes. You say you mean washing dishes in my house, as under the Lord, as the same as you preaching as under the Lord, yes. Not in its impact for evangelism on men, not in its certain instructiveness in regards to Scripture, not before men is it necessarily the same in kind, but before God it is the same for it is your service rendered to His glory.

22:32That's the point, and the Thessalonians didn't grasp it. Now, frankly, they should have. I mean, go back to First Thessalonians for a moment, chapter four. First Thessalonians, chapter four, and verse 10, at the very end of verse 10, he says, we urge you, brother, into excel still more. You're doing well, what you need to do better. And then in verse 11, he says, why make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, quit running around all over the place, settle down, attend to your own business, stay out of other people's business, and work with your hands. Now, what he's talking about here is work. In verse 12, he says, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. Work, don't be a meddler, don't be a busy body, don't be fussing around with other people's business. Get your life ordered, get it brought into control, attend to your own business, and do your own work so that verse 12, you don't have any needs.

23:34That is very important to the unity of the church, and it is important to see your work as honoring to God. Father, thank you for this wonderful little section of Scripture, which reminds us of the happy privilege and duty of work and gives us clear understanding that there's no secular sacred dichotomy, but whatever we do, we really do to your glory. Father, thank you for reminding us that we're not to be unnecessarily a burden on your people. We're to work and provide for our own needs because this is honorable, because this is right, because you've equipped us to do that, because it's a good testimony. We thank you too, Father, that for those in our fellowship who would work but can't,

24:35either because there's no opportunity for them at all to do anything or there's no ability there or there's illness. Lord, thank you that we can help meet their needs and we do that joyfully. We thank you for the special joy of Christian fellowship. Thank you for the fact that we have each other and that we're so rich because we do, we certainly would never want to be in a situation where we were cut off from each other because we wouldn't work. I thank you too, Lord, for the fact that you allow us to work for many years and because we have much provision by your grace, there comes a time when we no longer need to work the way we once did, but we can then do things in ministry and never be a burden to your church because we have provision that you have granted us

25:37through the years of our labor. Give us the sense of the honorable character of work and help us to even go there tomorrow as we do the tasks around us, whether it be at home or whether it be at a job somewhere with a new commitment that this is a sacred task we do and one that brings you glory in honor and helps others. And no matter how urgent might be the spiritual thing, help us to do our work for which you have given us the ability and the opportunity and to do it heartily as unto you. We thank you for that privilege, which keeps our otherwise sinful lives occupied in Christ's name, amen. All work is an opportunity to serve the Lord.

26:38Motivating truth from today's lesson on grace to you, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur, John's current series is called Wisdom for the Workplace. Well, friend, if you benefited from our broadcasts, would you do us a favor and tell us about it? That will encourage us more than you know and keep in mind the active role you play in grace to use ministry. Every day we are able to broadcast verse by verse teaching into the homes and cars and workplaces of people in communities like yours because listeners like you invest in this worldwide work. Express your support when you contact us today. You can write to grace to you post office box 4,000, Panorama City, California 911-412 or call 855 grace or donate online at gty.org. When you give to grace to you, you help put God's word through radio, television and the internet

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28:41It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.