Working For God (I)

The topic of 'work' is not something I have heard much about from a Christian perspective. I wonder why this has never really struck me as unusual, given that we spend most of our waking hours either preparing for, travelling to, doing, or recouping from paid employment. To be fair, I have often been reminded that following Jesus is about all of life, not just Sundays... but theologically and practially I've encountered very little guidance on what this actually means. How does my work as a student or an engineer relate to the kingdom of God? How does work relate to evangelism, and the Christian life?

Often we live very compartmentalised lives; where work, family, church, and leisure etc, are seperate pieces of the pie which makes up all of our committments. But what does it mean to live with a recognition that Jesus Christ is Lord of everything, including our employment? This was the focus of the recent 'Working for God' conference run by the Christian Union at Canterbury University.

In a moment of questionable ambition, I've decided to try and summarise the content of this intense week-long conference into two (perhaps more) posts. I'm hoping the content of this conference will be made into a more accessable format someday.

Getting the Big Picture

As we come to the Bible with any question, it's important to keep the big picture of the biblical story in mind. In other words, to understand what the Bible has to say about the topic of 'work', we can't just pick a few pieces out and create a theology of work - we have to look at the whole story, from Genesis to Revelation. Too often in discussions about this topic, Christians merely focus on the creation mandate, or some other part of scripture, which then leads to a distortion of theology and practice. A Christian approach will look at the sweep of the biblical narrative, with the death and resurrection of Jesus at the center, and seek to understand how we are to live based on our position in the story. The basic shape of the Bible is seen below:

Creation > Fall > Redemption > New Creation

This is the path which this conference will take in it's approach to work and the Christian. If it is a truly Christian approach to the topic, the cross of Jesus will be at the center, and it will recognise the difference that the gospel makes to how we should understand the age we are living in now.

1. Creation: Working Under God

It's hard to overstate the importance of the opening chapters of the Bible. They show us God's position as creator and sustainer of all things, and set the trajectory for the rest of salvation history.

The first thing we notice about work in Genesis 1-2, is that God is a working God. In many ancient cultures, notably Graeco-Roman society, work was a necessary evil. If at all possible, you would avoid work in order to live a more pure and untainted life of contemplation and relaxation. Accordingly, it was often thought that the ancient gods created human beings to be their servants. In contrast to this, the God of Genesis is a 'worker' from the beginning, and is seen creating an inhabitable and aesthetically pleasing world for humanity to enjoy. It is the scandal and glory of Christianity that God would come to serve rather than be served.

Work is a good part of God's created world, because not only do we see the 'working God' in Genesis 1-2, but also the 'working man'. Mankind, male and female, as the pinnacle of God's creative activity, are created to rule over the earth as God's image bearers. The main thrust behind the idea of 'imaging God' seems to be in their role of having dominion and ruling over creation in God's place - similar to the idea of a Governer General or 'vice-regent'. Dominion, rather than being careless exploitation, is the responsible stewardship of creation in ways which love God and serve others. God commissions humanity to 'be fruitful and multiply' and to 'have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the air..." etc, and so gives us the tasks of raising the next generation, and cultivating God's good earth in order to bring it to fruition. Interestingly, although the garden is perfect and God declares creation to be 'very good', Adam is placed there by God to 'work it and keep it'. And so we see a 'creator-cultivator' partnership in our work; that it is an opportunity to bring God's good creation to fruition, as we image his creative power and rulership over the world. The Christian worldview is not fatalistic. It values aesthetics, productivity, and creativity as a right response to God's provision.

In this, we see that work is indeed spiritual, for it was part of God's gracious purposes for us at the very beginning. We don't see any temple in Eden, or any particularly religious activities - simply mankind living in right response to God's word, working and keeping the garden. We don't see a priest, we see a farmer; and this is spiritual.

At the start of Genesis 2 we are also introduced to the concept of rest. After six days of creating, God ceases his creative activity and rests. Here we see the goal of creation, rest and relationship with God in his perfect world. This idea of rest is not necessarily physical inactivity, but rather the completion and enjoyment of God's purposes, and unhindered relationship with God and each other. The Jewish people were to remember this constantly by Sabbath observance, that work is not the goal of creation, relationship with God is. Now in the gospel, Jesus says to us: "Come to me and I will give you rest".

From this initial study, we can come to several preliminary conclusions:

1. Work has dignity - we reject the Greek view which said work is unspiritual. Work expresses the image of God.
2. Work provides fulfillment - it's part of God's purposes for us
3. Work is not the goal of creation - rest with God is
4. Work is worship (Romans 12:1) - (Luther spoke of changing nappies to the glory of God!)
5. We reject: a) laziness, b) secular/Sacred divide between 'spiritual' and 'unspiritual' activities, c) work defining our identity - our significance comes from who we belong to, not what we produce.
   

"Work is a sharing of God's good gifts in order to promote communities where people care for each other"


2. Fall: Working Against God

Any view of this world which underplays human sinfulness will come to quite a different solution to the one the gospel offers. Utopian dreams of the future which don't account for the condition of the human heart have ended in catastrophe. The account of how humanity turned it's back on God, and the consequences of this event, must be pivotal in forming a Christian view of work. We read about it in Genesis 3.

The character of the fall was one of distrust of God's word, leading to rebellion and rule-making. Often we view sin as breaking the rules, doing naughty things. But more important than this is the idea of rebelling against God - sin is more rule-making than rule breaking; deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong. The effect of the fall was to break relationship with God, with each other, and with creation. It introduced shame and discord, and we were driven from God's presence, away from his rest. The relationship between man and woman was cursed with rivalry and oppression. And the relationship between humanity and the creation was damaged, with the ground being cursed, and toil and pain entering the domain of our work and fruitfulness. God's curse and the angel guarding the entrance to the garden underlines the truth that we can't simply return to Eden. Human effort will not bring back the perfection which we once enjoyed, living under God's blessing.

In the fall, our work has been frustrated. Man's position as vice-regent of creation has been compromised. In particular, we can consider how the fall distorts work.

1. Idolatry not worship - instead of work being a thankful response to God's provision which honours him, it replaces God and becomes workaholism
2. Selfishness not service - we live for ourselves not for others in our work. Why did you choose your particular degree? To enable you to serve?
3. Frustration not fulfillment - we don't experience the fullness of God's purposes in our work
   
4. Rivalry not partnership - man and woman were created to work together, but now they work against each other
5. Exploitation not stewardship - our dominion is now excercised wrongly, not in right care of the environment

Genesis 4-11 illustrates the spread of sin to broader and broader spheres of humanity, until we see the world united against God at Babel. There humanity is working together, in partnership, yes; they rule and subdue by building a city. But the problem with this unity is that it's not based around God, but instead in opposition to him. Babel is a picture of humanity trying to work together to create a better world - which ultimately ends in failure. The solution must come from God's side, not by our efforts to reverse the effects of the Fall. How will our work be redeemed?.

Stay tuned for more on 'Working for God'