Work is a good thing, because it’s God’s thing.

In the Bible, the very first chapter of the first book, Genesis, tells the story of God creating and uses a framework of six workdays to describe its development. Then in Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, we see work, work, work.

[2:1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And 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.
The story of creation from the Jewish scriptures, believed by Christians, is that creation was the product of

God gets right to work from the beginning of time. That’s unique. Many other creation stories in other cultures start with conflict between gods. They say we and our world are products of destruction. But the Christian story says we are products of construction.

When it’s all done, God is satisfied, and can rest. He’s said over and over as he created, it’s good. When he created humans he said it was very good. And then he rested, satisfied he’d done good work.

For the rest of the summer, we’ll be looking at work and rest, and how important they are for followers of Jesus.

And it starts here, with the simple fact that God works, and is still working to provide, care, heal and sustain life for us on earth.

God and Jesus work: in John 5:17 he responded to those who objected to him healing people on Saturday, what should have been a day of rest. He said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

God didn’t stop working forever, he is still at work, including in and through his son Jesus.

Later in John 5:36 it’s clear God the Father has given him work to do…like an assignment.

Finally, work is in paradise. If the Garden of Eden, in creation, we get a picture of heaven on earth, and we see work is meant to be there, not just added in after humans rebelled against god – it was there before the rebellion. The nature of work changed, but it was meant to be there already.

Today we’ve seen, work is meant to be a good thing…something God embraces. Not an evil virus infecting life.

Question: Why is the goodness of work not more apparent in human life? What makes this so hard to believe?

 

Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest

Ryan Sim - April 23, 2013

Tuesday - Study It - Generosity

Matthew 6:1 says “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Jesus began with a general principle: Beware of practising your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. This is one of three examples Jesus uses to illustrate. Look at two others in the next two weeks involving prayer and self-denial. First example, however, is giving: 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus acknowledges that his followers are not the only nice, generous people out there, giving is not an exclusively Christian activity. Says to his followers in v. 2 & 3 "when" you give to the needy – simply assumes you will give to help others. This would be a big part of Jewish society...a box at every synagogue where money for the poor could be placed. Another clue: do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do. Even the hypocrites...whose habit of acting religious Jesus is about to attack quite vigorously...are known to give to the poor. Clearly Jesus doesn’t have to bother commending giving itself, it’s fairly universal. Same today. Jesus’ followers don’t have a monopoly of giving, or niceness. Charitable giving by Canadians was $10.6B in 2010 Some Christian, some not. Giving is widespread. When Jesus talks about giving to the poor, then and today, he’s not claiming that Christians are the only givers, only kind people. What he does want, however, is for his followers to give for particular reasons. More concerned about motivations than money. Wants them to hide their giving from others, hide from self, show to God. Today, we look at hiding it from others He wants his followers to hide their giving from others. Drive a Prius because it’s eco friendly, not for looks. Wants his followers to give generously to others whether the collection is in a basket or a bag, whether by pre-authorized giving or in cash, whether recognized by the charity or not. Wants their motivation to be something other than being noticed by others. Question: How does Jesus expect his followers to give like others, and how does he expect their giving to be different?

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