Genesis 1,2, Colossians 3:22-4:1

When God created the first man – the chap we know as Adam – what was the first thing he did?
Let’s have a look. It’s in Genesis 1 from v27: God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. Adam and Eve and all their descendants were made caretakers of the earth. And these days it has to be emphasised, caretakers serving God, not exploiters serving themselves.

This is repeated in Genesis 2 v8. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed. And v15: Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. What did God do? He gave Adam a job to do; he assigned him work.

We were created to work. We were given something to do from the start. And Genesis 1:31 tells us that God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. He was delighted with what he’d come up with and this included human work. It seems that Adam and Eve liked it too. Why wouldn’t they. Everything they needed was provided. Work was not stressful and it was fruitful.

The fall
So what led to the situation we have today where people despise work, try to get others to do their work? It’s called the fall and we see it in Genesis chapter 3. we’ll take it from verse 17. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God and disobeyed God’s instruction they were punished. God told them, Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed.

Ever since the fall God has been working to restore all things to their proper place. Check out this video, ‘Work for the Common Good’.

Some people say that work is a curse but that’s wrong. Work is a blessing. The curse (that is the punishment) meant we humans had to work harder. We didn’t have everything provided any more. Work became stressful. We keep working but it often feels like things work against us. For many people work is somewhat unrewarding. But imagine what it was like for the slaves Paul was writing to in Colossians 3. They would have felt that they were living in some of the most difficult situations of all. There was a furore recently when the government allowed employers not to give their workers coffee breaks. Hey, slaves don’t get coffee breaks. They probably don’t get coffee. Paul’s challenge was to those then, as it still is to us now, who feel stuck in frustrating, limited work situations.

In vv9,10 the Christians in Colossae have been reminded that their new identity has been established – remade and renewed in the knowledge of their Creator – the one who created us for fruitfulness in the first place. You have put off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.

Just as we were originally commissioned to work for God and not for any human – self or employer – so we are to do that today, and do it regardless of whether we feel we are in the ‘right place’, doing things we love or we feel we are in the ‘wrong place’ doing things that are a drudge. Whether we have a nice boss or a rotten boss doesn’t matter because our real boss is God. Do the job and do it well, because that’s the way God wants you to work.

This is for all of us, not just the ’employed’ people. Retired people are no longer working for money – you get the pension no matter what – but if we do nothing we die. Someone said, “It isn’t really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” good fun but not true. You’re working when you’re living out God’s purpose for you. And that purpose will have something to do with the restoration of all things.

A number of issues and questions come to mind
Can I use the mind and hands God gave me to work with faithfulness and skill to do something that can be offered as worship to God? Can I be involved in God’s programme of restoration?
Have a look at this video ‘Business as God meant it to be’ – Katie is involved in the restoration of economics. Note her valuation of a business in terms of its contribution as a channel for the common good, restoring people, rightness and dignity.

Can I see the people I work for and with in a new light? Can I see them as created, loved, and longed for by God?

Can I work in such a way that reflects the restoring work of Christ – the one who will reward the work we do – because the work we do expresses something of the creator we serve? How do we ensure that we are participating in God’s restoration of all things?
Here’s another example in this video, ‘Gardening to make beauty out of blight’ – Riet Schumack – fall, brokenness, far from God’s intention. When we live with blight we are really broken. Riet and her team are creating beauty in a place of blight. This is what God does.

Conclusion
Godly work is not only done for God’s glory; it is done in God’s strength.
Read from ‘Fruitfulness on the Frontline’ p.95 to the end of the chapter.
Perhaps God is inviting us into a different kind of adventure in our daily living – not just a call to a different attitude, but to a different set of possibilities.

What might happen if we invite God into our tasks – the ones we find difficult and the ones we find easy? What amazing things might happen if we asked Jesus to come into things we already do quite well? Might it be just a smidgen better? Might it be an awful lot better? Might the response of others be much more positive? Might he teach us something? Might he do a miracle?

When God gets involved in our tasks on the frontline, who knows what might happen?

Prayer
Father, grant me this day your wisdom, your strength, your Spirit, to help me do all I do for you, that it may be helpful to others, bring contentment to my heart and glory to your name. Amen.