“The two men sat silent for a little, and then Lord Peter said: “Do you like your job?” The detective considered the question, and replied: “Yes—yes, I do. I know it to be useful, and I am fitted to it. I do it quite well—not with inspiration, perhaps, but sufficiently well to take pride in it. It is full of variety and it forces one to keep up to the mark and not get slack. And there’s a future to it. Yes, I like it. Why?”
“Oh, nothing,” said Peter. “It’s a hobby to me, you see. I took it up when the bottom of things was rather knocked out for me, because it was so exciting, and the worst of it is, I enjoy it—up to a point. If it was all on paper I’d enjoy every bit of it. I love the beginning of a job—when one doesn’t know any of the people and it’s just exciting and amusing. But if it comes to really running down a live person and getting him hanged, or even killed, poor devil, there don’t seem as if there was any excuse for me butting in, since I don’t have to make my living by it. And I feel as if I shouldn’t ever find it amusing. But I do.”
This conversation is taken from Dorothy L. Sayers’ crime novel Whose Body?. I share this insightful dialogue with you because it illustrates the various attitudes people have toward their work. As the passage implies, people work in particular professions for a range of reasons: maybe it is an honorable occupation, perhaps they have a talent for that type of work, or perchance they even gain a sense of satisfaction from it. And if I may add to Sayers’ observations, some people actually feel divinely called to their vocation, others follow in their parent’s footsteps, and still others take whatever job they can to pay the bills. The latter are likely to have the bumper-sticker, “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.”
What is your attitude toward your work? Why do you do what you do? Does your work give you a sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment—or is it something that you loathe, scorn, and despise? Do you look forward to going to work every day or do you wish you could retire right now? Do you love your vocation or do you find yourself fanaticizing about doing something different?
I’ll never forget the day I told my father that I felt God calling me to be a pastor. He wasn’t much of a religious man, and I could see the confusion and doubt on his face. But he finally looked at me and responded, “Son, I have driven a plow truck for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for 30 years and I have hated my job every single day of my life. Now I confess that I don’t really understand why you want to be a pastor, but if that truly makes you happy, I will support your decision.”
I genuinely appreciated my dad’s sentiment. Unfortunately, he only ever experienced the first half of King Solomon’s adage:
What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:22-25)
Like Solomon, I have come to conclusion that the primary reason people don’t have peace, joy, and satisfaction is that God is not foremost in their lives. I also believe the reason why so many people don’t find fulfillment in their vocation is that they do not view their work from a proper theological perspective; they compartmentalize God from their work. When God is disconnected from work, it is no wonder there is such little joy in it.
Today, I would like to help us reconnect God to our work by presenting a biblical theology of vocation. Through sharing a host of Bible passages, my goal is to convince you that your work matters to God, and that what you do, why you do it, and how you do it, makes all the difference in the world.
I. The Divine Rhythm of Work (Genesis 1; 2:1-3)
Where does the idea of work originate? God is the creator of work and he himself is the original worker! The first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The very first thing that God did was work. By his very nature, God is a worker and he did the work of creating the universe and everything in it.
The rest of Genesis 1 describes how God created light, water, land, vegetation, the sun and moon, sea creatures, land creatures, and ultimately human beings. When he had finished his great creation with all of its intricate details, he stepped back to reflect and saw that his work was good. (Gen. 1:31) As he breathed a sigh of satisfaction on the seventh day, he rested from all of his work, and thereby established the divine rhythm of work and rest that he would pass on to human beings. (Gen. 2:1-3)
Did you notice how God’s work in Genesis 1 sets the pattern for our rhythm of work and rest for us? When we break God’s pattern by either neglecting work or worshipping work, we become miserable. I have seen people break God’s pattern in both directions. I hear it in idle comments like “I’m not going to look for another job until my unemployment runs out” and “Shoot, I get more money on welfare than I would if I had a job.” These attitudes of laziness will never be rewarded with a sense of divine satisfaction.
I also hear it in comments like “I haven’t taken a day off in five months.” or “I haven’t taken a vacation in fifteen years.” To people who live like this, I just want to applaud them and say, “Wow, how impressive! You should be very proud of yourself, you have succeeded in completely disobeying God!” It is impossible to experience true satisfaction when you never take time to rest from and reflect on your work. Remember this: A nose constantly at the grindstone eventually feels the pain! When we get out of balance with God’s rhythms of work and rest, we become discontented and dejected!
II. The Divine Role of Work (Genesis 1:28; 2:15)
The second thing I would like us to consider is the divine role of work. In Genesis 1:28, right after he created the first man and woman, he commanded them to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every living creature that moves along the ground.” God gave Adam and Eve a second job in Genesis 2:15—“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
We may say that God created Adam and Eve to be bi-vocational—they were to be both gardeners and governors. Governing, we might say, was their intellectual or mental work; gardening was their physical or manual work. By both of these roles, they would work for their food and sustain their lives. God did not just spontaneously provide them with food, but he created them with the mental and physical abilities to get food for themselves—he gave them brains to think, plan, and manage—he gave them arms, legs, and hands to pick, prune, and plant. God gives the birds their food, but he doesn’t throw it into their nests—the same is true for us.
If God’s very first command to human beings was to work, then work must be one of the most fundamentally God-honoring things we can do! Today we live in a church culture that falsely dichotomizes spiritual work and secular work. Do you think that God wants us to read our Bible’s and pray all day long? Do you think God wants us sit around the campfire and sing praise songs all night? Don’t misunderstand me, the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and praise are certainly important, but that is not the vocation to which God has called most of us. God has created each one of us with unique gifts and talents to contribute to his kingdom. He has called some people to be pastors, preachers, and missionaries—but he has called most to be doctors, nurses, teachers, carpenters, farmers, waitresses, truck drivers, and lawyers (well, maybe not lawyers.)
Martin Luther is credited with saying, “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays—not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
God is glorified through many vocational roles. Consider this brief survey of occupations we find in the Bible: Adam and Eve were gardeners and governors, Cain was a crop-farmer, Abel was a livestock farmer, Noah was a shipbuilder, Abraham was an entrepreneur, Esau was a hunter, Joseph was the vice-president of a large corporation, Moses was a shepherd, Joshua was a general, Caleb was a spy, Rachel was a homemaker, Deborah was a judge, Boaz was a businessman, Ruth was a barley-bailer, David was a king, Ether was a queen, Asaph was a songwriter and musician, Jesus was a carpenter and teacher, the disciples were fishermen, soldiers, and tax collectors, Lydia was a businesswoman, and the Apostle Paul was a tentmaker!
What is your vocational role? What has God created and called you to do?
III. The Responsibility of Work
The third point I would like us to consider is that God has given us all the responsibility work. Ponder these verses from the Book of Proverbs:
- Proverbs 14:23- All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
- Proverbs 21:25- The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.
- Proverbs 31:13-17- She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
Also, contemplate the Apostle Paul’s words from II Thessalonians 3:7-10:
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.
These verses don’t need a lot of explanation. They simply testify to the fact that God has given every man and woman the responsibility of work. He wants us to use the skills he has given us to earn our keep and contribute to his kingdom.
Consider the parable of the man who came across three stonemasons who were working at chipping chunks of granite from large blocks. The first seemed unhappy at his job, chipping away and frequently looking at his watch. When the man asked what it was that he was doing, the first mason responded, rather curtly, “I’m hammering this stupid rock, and I can’t wait ’til 5 when I can go home.”
A second mason, seemingly more interested in his work, was hammering diligently and when asked what it was that he was doing, answered, “I’m molding this block of rock so that it can be used to construct a wall. It’s not bad work, but I’ll sure be glad when it’s done.”
A third mason was hammering at his block fervently, taking time to stand back and admire his work. He chipped off small pieces until he was satisfied that it was the best he could do. When he was questioned about his work he stopped, gazed skyward and proudly proclaimed, “I am building a cathedral!”
All three masons were doing the same job, but only one found satisfaction in his work. I wonder what the difference was?
If you want to find divine fulfillment in your vocation, follow God’s rhythm, role, and responsibility of work!