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God's Ideal for Work
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Genesis 1:26-31 gives us a good sense of God’s intention for humanity when he created us:
Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”
And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:26-31
In this lesson, Dr. Steve Lennox gives us a good model for understanding exactly what this image of God is. He suggests that this image is reflected in four key relationships: 1) our relationship with God, 2) our relationship with ourselves, 3) our relationship with others, and 4) our relationship with the world.
When God created us, we lived to glorify him. We were in proper relationship with God. Since that was the case, all the other relationships also fell into place. We were at peace with ourselves. We were naked and unashamed. We were at peace with each other. Adam and Eve worked together, side by side. We were at peace with the world, stewarding the Garden.
As far as work. God put us on the earth to do the work that he would have done if he were on the earth in physical form. As Dr. Lennox says, “We were made to glorify God through our work.” Our work was meant to bring God praise and glorify him.
Takeaways
Lennox draws out some very important preliminary observations from Genesis 1 and 2:
- Work isn’t punishment.
Work was not a consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin. Work was part of God’s design for humanity in the creation. We are not being punished when we are workers. Work is not a part of the fall. - Our work was given to us by God himself.
To extend the first point, it was God who gave us the task – indeed the privilege – to steward the creation for him. Work does not come from the Devil. Ultimately, it does not even come from our bosses. It is a sacred charge. - We are all workers.
Work is God’s plan for everyone on the planet. “Humans are a working breed,” as Dr. Lennox says. God did not make the world in a way that either the rich or the poor would not work. God made us to be doers alongside being thinkers and feelers and relates. - Workers are God’s representatives on the earth.
When we work, we are doing work on God’s behalf. Sure, God could command all the tasks of the creation to be done, and they would be done. That’s just not the way God made things. God made us in his image to do his work. - We are to become masters of what we’re working with.
In this context, becoming masters is not about us “lording over” others (Luke 22:24-26). It is more like mastering a language. It is about excellence. We know the world so well that we can do the things God wants us to do. - We use God-given tools to do the work that God has called us to.
The tools that Dr. Lennox has in mind are gifts that God has given to all humanity, although in different measure. To some, God has given great creativity. Others have incredible reasoning or investigative skills. Some have the gift of innovation. 1 Corinthians 12 describes how God has given each of us distinct gifts that we can use to God’s glory.
These are the ideals. However, as we will see in the next lesson, Adam’s sin messed up this ideal. Part of salvation is God beginning to restore us in the area of work.