As everyone goes back to their jobs this week, struggling to not see work as a clear result of the Fall, it's important that we apply a skeptical lens to our efforts and our motivations for them. This short 3-part series hopes to accomplish 2 things: 1.) a thorough debunking of the assumptions we bring to our vocation, and 2.) Infinitely raise the value of work by connecting it to a far greater calling...
We must first ask simply, what is work? Most would define work as vocation, job, or the 8-5 volunteer slavery we participate in Monday through Friday... but is that all? The Bible's answer is a resounding "no." First and foremost, it is an inherited need to create. Genesis 1:26-28 says “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over… all the earth...”
Humanity is made in the image of God. This is unbelievably profound. No other religion in the history of the world makes this claim. This is a claim of profound intimacy and relationship. This is like saying a child is the “spitting image” of his father. When I was little, my Dad and I would joke that I was his “clone.” I loved when he said this because I look up to him. I'm proud of him. I want to be like him. While I would never claim that we are God’s clone, the intent of fatherly love is the same: just like our earthly fathers and mothers, we have also inherited tangible and intangible traits from our Heavenly Father. This statement is deeply affectionate.
Bearing the image of a Creator God explains why we have the innate need to also create. Every human creation from high artistic classics like Van Goh’s Starry Night, Michelangelo’s Sistene Chapel, Mozart’s Moonlight Sonata, and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to modern masterpieces like Jackson Pollack’s work, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and even the St. Louis Arch all stem from the same innate human desire inherited from our Creator. And while art may be the most commonly associated ‘work’ when we discuss creativity, all work is creation in one form or another. Engineers create cities. Bartenders create drinks (my favorite of which is the Single Malt Scotch Ale at Square One Brewery in Lafayette Square). Police Officers create order. Fashion designers create style and aesthetic. Politicians create headaches – I mean – legislation...
But we cannot limit this inheritance to mere vocation. Mothers and fathers create loving homes to raise their children. Husbands and wives create physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy in their marriage. Organ donors create the opportunity of life for others. Neighbors create relationships with each other through a variety of means that may or may not be sparked by the stereotypical borrowed cup of sugar or passing on unused Cardinals tickets. Every time we make an omelet, read a bedtime story to our kids, call the police because our car was broken into for the 5th time in just over a year… no I’m not bitter… we create something. We create culture. We write another chapter in the long story of humanity. Each of us individually and all of us as a community have a creative legacy that will affect generations after we are long gone. Indeed, “work” is only one facet of our call to create.
We live in and are a part of a culture has a very utilitarian approach to work. Most of us see work as valuable only because of what it gets us: status, buying power, or self-fulfillment. It is a means to an end. While this is true, work absolutely helps us obtain valuable things like daily sustenance, personal fulfillment, the occasional trip to the movies, a hot tub to soak in after a 12 hour day at work, etc. we actually degrade work if we stop there. We significantly undervalue it.
In the first few chapters of Genesis, we see that God created us to cultivate His creation and create new creations. He gave us all of creation to cultivate and care for. How amazing is that gift? What do you want for Christmas? How about the universe. There's simply no topping it! Scripture does not say that God created man to accumulate stuff, earn status, pat himself on the back, build his resume, or achieve a high standard of living. Work and creation itself is the express purpose behind God’s creating humanity, not what it gives us. In other words, work is valuable in and of itself, not merely for what it gets us.
If you’re an idealist like me, this is probably refreshing and somewhat exciting. But many readers may have a real problem with how I’m painting this picture. You may have noticed that this description of intended beauty and worth falls disturbingly short in the world around you. You’re right.
This is just the first chapter of the story, the “Once upon a time,” before the big “but one day.” We can’t read this and not discuss what comes next. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve choose to consume rather than create. They swallowed whole the false promise of wisdom told to them by the serpent, just like we consume the false promises of power, prestige, and purchasing power sold to us every time we turn on the TV, drive by a billboard, or crank the volume on our car radio. Very few pitches sell merely the effectiveness of their product, and almost all market an identity that "you too can obtain if you [buy this car or that piece of clothing]." They aren’t just selling a product, they are selling an image, an identity. Good things are twisted and corrupted when we make them into ultimate things. We, as Paul says in Romans 1:25, “exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship the created (i.e. we consume the created for our identity) and it rather than the Creator.” All of God’s creations are good, He says as much at the end of each stage in creating the universe. But the reality is that many of our creations cause pain, suffering, and loss. This will happen when we take any ‘good thing’ and make it an ‘ultimate thing.’
Work was given to humanity before the Fall (no matter how much it may pain you to return to work today), which means it is intrinsically good. The very act of working and creating is intended to be an act of worship. But like any good thing, we can also worship work instead of worshipping God through work. So when we pursue vocation, labor, creation, whatever… in such a way that glorifies God and sees work as a good gift that He has given His children, we worship Him. You do not have to be a pastor for your work or creation to glorify God. You don’t have to go to seminary to have a sacred calling. The work of the pastor, the plumber, and the president can all be equally sacred and holy. However, if we seek to replace God with our consuming, with our work, with our vocation, or with our art… we create idols, false gods to replace the One True God. The work of the pastor, the plumber, and the president can also be equally idolatrous.
The difference lies in why we work, which brings us to the next question vital to understanding a biblical perspective on work. To be continued...
For more info: Andy Crouch's Culture Making is probably the single best contemporary work on the subject of cultural creation and transformation. He stands unabashedly on the shoulders of Francis Schaeffer's Art and the Bible essay, and implicitly so with much of Jerram Barrs' work (who was a decades-long student of Schaeffer's). Also, this series is based on a sermon I preached Labor Day weekend, 2009. You can download it at www.citychurchstl.org, under the "media" tab.
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Labor Day Redux: What is work?
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