A Biblical View of Work!

Monday we celebrated Labor Day.  A time set aside to celebrate the rights that have been restored for the American worker through the American Labor Movement and the men and women who do so much to make it a prosperous country through our labors.

Yet, I wonder how many have a Biblical view of work.  Often we hear people talk about how horrible work is like it is a result of sin, yet if we look at the Scriptures Adam was told to tend the garden (Gen. 2:15) and to name the animals (Gen. 2:19) which made for a busy day of work that first day of creation.  Sure sin brought much harder labor than it was before the fall of man (Gen. 3:18-19) but that does not mean we should whine about it. In fact as believers we are told to do all things without complaining or disputing. (Phil. 2:14)

What many do not realize is that all are expected to work.  Even some of our founding fathers used the Biblical principle from II Thessalonians 3:10 “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”  Every able bodied individual (Able-bodied opens a whole new can of worms I cannot address in this short essay…) should be doing their part to provide.  We happen to live in an area Brown/Schuyler County where the unemployment rate is the lowest in the state and likely among the lowest in the country.  If people want to work and have not disqualified themselves through character flaws or laziness, they can find work.  I understand it may not be the most glamorous or enjoyable, but it will put food on the table and some kind of shelter over the head.

The manner in which we work is addressed in a few other places.  For example, In I Cor. 10:31 we are challenged, “Whether therefore you eat or drink do all to the glory of God.”  Even more pointedly in Ephesians 6:5ff those who are working for others are challenged to work “in sincerity of heart, as to Christ:” in other words we work as if Christ is our boss.  In fact it continues “not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service to the Lord, and not to men.”  Just think of how many people work hard if the boss or the foreman are somewhere that they can see them, but as soon as they walk out of sight they go back to being lazy and their production drops.  As believers we work to please God, and I have found that most of the time if my work pleases the Lord then my work will please man as well.  I understand that occasionally there are those difficult bosses that will never be pleased, but they aren’t our concern.  In the end we do not answer to them for our attitudes and actions, but we will answer to God.  And if we are believers we are representing Jesus Christ even in the way we work including our attitudes and actions.  May Jesus Christ be praised by our work ethic!  (This article was first published as the "Feature Preacher" article in the Rushville Times)

The Bully Solution

This comes as no surprise to anyone, but the issue/problem of “bullying” has grown to epidemic proportions. Many are saying “Stop bullying!” or “We need to stop bullying!”, yet they are not addressing foundational principles that will help get to the heart of the issue.  Rather, they are address symptoms and say they are “helping,” which is like saying a Band-Aid is “fixing” cancer.  Please read through the following principles and consider how we need to address the foundational issues of bullying.

What is Right?  We must teach a standard of right and wrong that is unchanging.  Nearly everyone will say that the bully is wrong.  Yet, one must admit is that in the majority of cases the bullied has broken God’s standard of righteousness by wrongfully responding to the bully even before it becomes a “bullying” situation, and usually afterward, as well.  We must bring both parties to the point of recognizing that God sets a standard of right and wrong His standard does not change with society’s whims.  We therefore bring them back to the truths of God’s Word.  Psalm 119:9, 11 (NKJV) “How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word.  Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.”

Who am I?  We must teach individuals that they are created in the “image of God” (Gen. 1:26-27), as the greatest of all of God’s creation.  Our value, therefore, comes from the fact that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Psalm 139:14   My value or worth does not change when someone calls me a name, or makes fun of my clothing.  My value does not change by how smart, good-looking, or talented I am.   These things are all temporary, and will pass away.   The bullied needs to change the way they look at themselves, to see how God looks at them.  The bully needs to recognize that they are attacking one whom God specially created for His purpose, and they will give account to Him for their behavior.

As one created in God’s image, all of us are to be reflecting the character of God by striving to be loving, caring, holy, forgiving, gracious servants of Him.

How do we resolve our conflict?  The majority of bullying situations grow out of unresolved conflict.  This conflict and fighting comes as a result of our own selfish desires (James 4:1). We must learn not to respond to others sin by attacking them.  I must learn to respond calmly (Prov. 15:1).   We must learn that retaliation is never right (Prov.  20:22; Rom. 12:17; I Peter 3:9).  We must know that God has saved revenge as His right and responsibility (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30).  He sees and knows all, and He is all-powerful, and therefore able to deal with the problem.  We must trust Him to deal with the problem through the authorities that He has set up or personally.  It may not always be the response for which we were wishing, but we can be certain God will deal with it.

Our response is to do everything in our power to live peaceably with all men (Rom. 12:18).   This does not mean we can compromise the truth of God’s word, or disobey His

commands, but we can do everything up to that point to bring about peace in our relationships.

The starting point:  In just this short space we have recognized that there is a standard of right and wrong that has been compromised in our relationships.  This “missing the mark” of God’s righteousness is called sin.  And the “wages of sin” is death (Rom. 6:23). That is bad news, but the good news is that the “gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23).  God in His love sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin (John 3:16).  We therefore must recognize our sinfulness and the consequences or our sin and believe that Jesus Christ is the only remedy for that sin.  Are you ready to put your faith in Christ to take the punishment for your sin? 

This bullying problem will continue to increase if we do not teach and train individuals with these truths.  For more help, daily encouragement and more thorough explanations, as well as, other topics such as love and authority: find “The Bully Solution” on Facebook or twitter (@BullySolved) and follow so you get all the updates, or look up www.thebullysolution.blogspot.com to follow our blog.   The bully solution is a ministry of First Baptist Church of Littleton, IL . www.fbclittletonil.org

Faith-based counseling to help those struggling on either side of this issue is available by calling 309-257-2290.

First Word #6 Psalm 119:78

Psalm 119:78 (NKJV) 78Let the proud be ashamed, For they treated me wrongfully with falsehood; But I will meditate on Your precepts.

What is our attitude when someone treats us the wrong way?  What do we spend our day or days thinking about?

It is very easy when something is said or done to us to begin to reflect upon the situation, to replay the conversation or situation over and over again.  But what does this accomplish besides getting us more upset and preventing us from accomplishing what we need to do because we cannot concentrate.   It causes us to lose sleep and productivity.

Let them be “ashamed” or “put to shame” for they treated me wrongfully with falsehood.  This is something that we can trust God to deal with; we don’t have to figure out how to get them back on our own.  We know from Proverbs that a lying tongue is one of the things that the LORD hates (Pr. 6:17).  God will judge he does not let sin go unpunished.

Further the psalmist states that he would meditate on God’s precepts.  A precept is a direction, a regulation a principle instructing to do a certain action, which is to be obeyed by all in same society of the covenant^[1]

When our mind is meditating on what we are to do in obedience to God rather than what someone else did we can more easily trust God to deal with those who sin against us in their evil.

One of the principles regarding those who treat us wrong that we are to remember comes in the book of Romans .  In chapter 12 verses 17-21

Paul challenges us with the following actions as members of the body of Christ. 

¹⁷Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.

¹⁸If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

¹⁹Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

²⁰Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.( Romans 12:17–21)

When we choose to meditate upon how God wants us to respond to others and choose to follow His precepts we can enjoy fellowship with him.  When we fail to meditate upon His precepts and put our mind on how someone has done us wrong we may find ourselves avenging their actions with our own in thereby trying to take the place of God in avenging evil.  Our we so proud to think that we can do God’s job better than He?  We indeed may be at times, but our prayer is that we would walk in obedience as we meditate upon God’s precepts even in light of attacks by others.

Note:  The video format for this is available at www.fbclitteltonil.org/FirstWord.html 

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^[1] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).