Divine Work (part 3)

I used to think that people worked to retire. I used to think that work was a horrible thing, a consequence of sin. However, I was wrong. Now, I look forward to opportunities to work. I enjoy being able to work.

God created us to create. Work is in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible (long before Adam and Eve sinned). The Bible says, in Genesis that God worked and saw that it was good, as people created in His image work is good for us too. "God has given us the priveleges of being his creative steward" (Dr. Del Tackett).

There are 7 ecenomic principles related to work:

1.) All things belong to God.

2.) God appointed man to be a creative steward of His goods with ownership rights.

-we are called to manage God's goods.
-as Christians we should be the best, most creative, most desired employee/er. We should be a joy to work with, however, this is often times just the opposite.

3.) Theft and coveting of another's goods is wrong.

4.) Skills and abilities to work come from God.

5.) Work is profitable, good, and to be pursued; laziness is not.

6.) Love God, not your goods.

7.) Be compassionate and generous with your goods to those in need.


We never really read about retirement in the Bible. We never get the idea that we work to quit working. If we are doing something that is characteristic of Christ, that brings glory to God, that enables us to better serve others, why would we want to quit?

If our culture had a Biblical view of work, retirements would not be necessary. As people become elderly there would always be some kind of work for them. However, our culture is too profit, production, efficiency driven.