We serve God and our neighbor through our work

The Christian life should be lived in service to our neighbor. We don’t have to read far in the Bible before we notice how highly all service to our fellow human beings is valued. We live out this calling in many areas of life, and one of those areas is our work. This is a topic that we talk about too little and too poorly. In Christian contexts, we have an unfortunate tendency to give theological weight only to the work done by employed pastors and missionaries or the service we do in our church. All too rarely do we talk about how our ordinary profession is a service to our neighbor, and thus something that God rejoices in.

In this article, we will look at two things related to the theological value of work:

1. Work is rooted in creation.
2. God works through us.

Work is rooted in creation

The rooting of work in creation is particularly evident in Genesis 1:26–30 and 2:15–20. We will take some important details from these passages.

In Genesis 1, we read that God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (v. 26). Here we should note the relationship between the verbs “let us make” and “let them have dominion.” Grammatically, we can say that the latter unfolds the intention or purpose of the former. We might just as well say: “Let us make human beings in our image, for the purpose of ruling.” Being created in God’s image and the task of ruling, or having dominion over creation, are closely related. God’s purpose in creating human beings was to put them in charge of the earth. We were to tame creation, cultivate it, and put it to use. To work.

We should also note the word “image,” man created in God’s image. In biblical research, it is common to interpret the term “image” in light of the royal ideology of the time, namely that the king was an image of God and thus stood as his representative. It is therefore reasonable to say that the creation of man implies that God places a representative of himself on earth. And it is not only the king who is God’s representative, as Israel’s neighbors thought, but humanity itself, as man and woman.

When we do our work, whether it is paid work or everything else we do during the day, we are engaged in a God-given mission, where we are his representatives and do a job on his behalf.

These observations rule out any idea that this mission gives man carte blanche to destroy and ravage creation. Ruling over creation as God’s representatives means that we must do so in a manner that is in accordance with God’s will and nature. At the same time, this text does not exclude humans from intervening in nature. We refer to this as the cultural mandate. Humans are called to subdue the earth and make use of it—to cultivate it. But this use must be in accordance with the Lord’s will.

This is clearly expressed in Genesis 2:15, where humans are given the task of “working and keeping” the garden (ESV). It is to be worked, or cultivated, but this task is not separated from the task of caring for and guarding the garden. And when man gives names to the animals, it implies dominion. But note that it is a dominion characterized by the animals being given names. It is care and closeness that are at the center, not brutality and raw power.

So let us begin by establishing these truths. This is the task God originally gave to man. It is a noble and beautiful task. It is a service, and we are called to work for the Lord. This is probably also the reason why Paul can write the following to those who are slaves, those who are not voluntarily placed in the job they have:

Even a slave is exhorted to keep the Lord in mind in his work. This does not mean that Paul wholeheartedly embraces slavery; we find hints elsewhere that he does not, but it does say something about how highly he values work and how even the “lowliest” work can be seen as a service to the Lord. Even though work is subject to the curse of the Fall and marked by its destruction, we can still believe that through our work that we are serving the Lord, working with him to promote his goodness in the world.

God works through us

Let me elaborate a little further on the last point, that our work is ultimately about working together with God. This is something Martin Luther emphasizes very nicely in a letter he wrote to a German prince in 1531. He had recently visited him, and during the visit Luther had had time for a thorough reflection on Psalm 147. There he paused at verses 12–14 in a way that I think is important for us to emphasize:

Luther comments in particular on the expression “he strengthens the bars of your gates,” and his commentary is apt and insightful.

The point of this is to emphasize that God works in the world through means, through instruments. God could have worked directly—without intermediaries—as he did when he sent manna from heaven. But that is not how God usually works. To give us our daily bread, God works through several agents:

• The farmer who plows, sows, and harvests the grain.
• The miller who grinds the grain into flour.
• The packer who packs the flour into sacks.
• The truck driver who drives the flour to the bakery.
• The baker who bakes the flour into bread.
• The truck that drives the finished bread to the store.
• The store employees who put the bread on the shelves and operate the cash register.²

The entire economic system is in motion. But none of this could have happened if God had not:

• Sent the needed amounts of sun and rain and temperature.
• Ensured that the ecosystem was maintained with fields, insects for pollination, etc., which ensured the grain had good soil and conditions in which to grow and thrive.
• Protected the grain from all forms of rot, destructive insects, etc.
• Been the source of life that makes everything live, including giving grain the power to sprout.

As Luther says, this is a reasonable division of labor. God works through us. “God milks the cows through the work of the milkmaid,” Luther says elsewhere.

When God works in the world, he does so indirectly. He does not show his face, but wears a disguise, a mask. His disguise is everyone who works and thus serves their fellow human beings. This applies to all work, not just the work of Christians. God is good, and God’s goodness is expressed in the world through God allowing people to serve one another in their work. Even if you do your work solely for selfish reasons, the nature of work is such that you are somehow “forced” to contribute to the community and serve your neighbor. This applies both to your paid work and to the work you do at home for your spouse and children.

When God works in the world, he does so indirectly. He does not show his face, but wears a disguise, a mask. His disguise is everyone who works and thus serves their fellow human beings.

This does not mean that you are saved through this work. For it is not our deeds, but our faith in Jesus that is the way to salvation. God does not need our good deeds. But our neighbor needs them. For we live before God in faith. God has no needs or deficiencies that we can fill. God’s goodness and grace toward us is not something we can earn. It is and remains a gift that God gives because Jesus died and rose again for me and for you. That is the gospel, and we must keep it pure and clear before our eyes. If we begin to believe that we can come to God through our work and ask for rewards, we are missing the mark. Before God, in the matter of our salvation, we are always beggars. Only the empty hand that asks for mercy counts.