LABOR
DR. JIM DIXON
2 THESSALONIANS 3:6-13
SEPTEMBER 4, 1994
On the first Monday of September 1882, Matthew McGuire, a machinist from New Jersey, and Peter McGuire, a carpenter from New York, organized the first Labor Day parade in New York City. Since then, this nation has celebrated Labor Day on the first Monday of every September, and tomorrow will be no exception. The truth, however, is that the overwhelming majority of people in this nation will not give labor a thought on Labor Day. For most people it will be a holiday, another day off. On this Sunday, on this Labor Day weekend, we are going to focus on what the Bible has to say about the subject of labor. Biblically, labor is a command. God has commanded the world over to work, and He has done this for three reasons.
The first is this: We labor for the sake of personal provision. We labor to earn our living. In Matthew 6, where our Lord Jesus Christ gave the Lord’s prayer, He taught us to say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In that same chapter, our Lord used the beautiful illustration of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. He told us that God feeds and clothes the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. How much more does God want to feed and clothe us if we would seek first his kingdom and his righteousness? Because the Bible tells us that God is Jehovah Jireh, He is indeed the Lord who provides.
But all of this is predicated on the assumption that we are a people who are willing to work because, biblically, provision is linked with labor. That is why the Apostle Paul in our passage for today, 2 Thessalonians 3:12, writes, “We command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living.” This is the will of God that we would labor for the sake of our personal provisions. God wants us to take this command seriously, so much so that we have this statement from Paul, “If anyone will not work, let them not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Labor and provision are properly joined.
We live in a nation that does not understand this, and our welfare state has virtually institutionalized unemployment. It has enabled what the Bible calls idleness, institutionalized lifestyles of idleness and unemployment. Sometimes this has been unintentionally furthered by private sector benevolences irresponsibly given. God wants us to understand that provision must be linked with a willingness to work.
One of my favorite places in our country is Santa Barbara, California. I went to school at Westmont College in Montecito, just south of Santa Barbara. I took some classes at UCSB in Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara. I think my favorite place in Santa Barbara is East Beach where so many famous volleyball players have played and worked out. There is a walk along East Beach that leads to Stearns Wharf. On the left you see the ocean and the sand, and on the right you see the beautiful mountains of Santa Barbara. You can walk along a green belt, a pathway that runs through grass.
Just last year, Barb and I walked there. As we walked along the green belt, that beautiful place along the beach, there were many people living there who were homeless. It is a beautiful place, and when the weather is inclement, shelters are provided for them. At numerous places they are given meals every day, three meals a day, and they just hang out there. As you walk along the beach, you see some individuals holding bottles of booze wrapped in plastic bags. Sometimes the people who are living there shout at people who are walking by and use profanity. As Barb and I walked along, one guy was masturbating right by the walkway. We thought, how could this be? But it is their right to be there.
By new California state laws, it is their right to live there. Those laws are given in the name of compassion. They are given in the name of love. But handouts irresponsibly given are not compassionate. Those laws are not compassionate towards the individuals receiving the handouts, and they are not compassionate towards society as a whole. Handouts irresponsibly given are not loving in the biblical sense. They are not loving towards the families that want to walk along that beach. They are not loving towards society. They are not even loving towards the individuals who live there. The Bible teaches labor and provision, the willingness to labor. The Bible does not say, if anyone cannot work, let them not eat. The Bible says, “If anyone will not work, let them not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
I am so grateful for our church. We seek to reach out with the love and compassion of Christ. I am thankful for Manna Ministries. We feed and clothe hundreds of people every week, but we seek to do it responsibly. We screen people. We seek to involve ourselves with them and minister to them. We do not want to enable chronic idleness and lifestyles of willful unemployment. I am thankful for our ministry in the inner city. We care. I am most thankful for our tutoring program, where hundreds of you have gone into the inner city to help inner city children learn basic skills and receive a better education so that they might grow up and enter the labor force to enjoy the dignity of work and earn their own living. You have done this with the love of Christ as you have shared the gospel of Christ. So we have this clear teaching in scripture. This is the first biblical principle with respect to labor. It is linked to provision. We labor that we might earn our own living—personal provision.
Secondly, we labor for personal fulfillment. It is God’s will that we labor for personal provision, but also that we labor for personal fulfillment. If you were to win the lottery, today or any day, when it is at an all-time high, if suddenly you were to find yourself with $20 or $30 million, you would no longer need to labor for the sake of your personal provision. But you would still need to labor for the sake of personal fulfillment. God has made us like this.
At the conclusion of our passage of scripture, indeed at the conclusion of the entire letter, the Apostle Paul states, “May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). That word for peace, the Greek word “eirene,” is very much like the Hebrew word “shalom.” It means wholeness. It means completion. It means fulfillment. There is a sense in which wholeness, completion, and fulfillment are linked with labor. God made us like this. Even as Christians, we cannot find fulfillment when we are chronically idle. There is a dignity to labor, a blessing to labor. God intended it to be this way.
Years ago, Barb and I attended church at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. Christopher Wren, the famous architect, designed and built that beautiful cathedral. The year was 1675 when they began to build St. Paul’s Cathedral. It took 35 years. It was completed in the year 1710. Queen Anne, the queen of England came. She saw the completed edifice. Christopher Wren was there and wanted to know what the queen thought. He went up to her and said, “Your majesty. What do you think?” She looked at the cathedral and said, “It is amusing. It is artificial. It is awful.” Christopher Wren smiled, and it was the smile of contentment. It was the smile of satisfaction and fulfillment. And why was that? Because in the year 1710, those three words were positive words. The word amusing meant amazing. The word artificial meant artistic. The word awful was one of the most positive words in society. In 1710, the word awful meant full of awe, full of majesty, majestic. Christopher Wren was so proud. He had labored for 35 years, and there was satisfaction in that labor.
You have read Genesis. God created the world. You have read the creation account. God created the world in six days. Six days He labored, and on the seventh day He rested. What theologians call the approval formula is found seven times in Genesis 1. The Bible tells us. “And God saw that it was good.” God created. He worked. He labored. He expressed His gifts, His talents, His abilities; and He saw that it was good. Finally, when it was finished, He saw that it was very good. In Hebrew it literally means really very good. God enjoyed fulfillment and satisfaction in His labor.
You are made in God’s image. I am made in God’s image. We have gifts and abilities, and we use them through labor. There is satisfaction there. But this is not true all over the world. Men and women labor and fail to find satisfaction. Despite this blessing that is upon labor, despite the fact that labor reflects the very image of God, somehow people labor and fail to find the fulfillment they seek.
And why is that? Genesis 3 tells us why. It is because of sin. It is because of the fall. The Bible tells us there is a curse upon human labor. God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you. In toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for you. By the sweat of your brow, shall you earn bread” (Genesis 3:17b-18a). Even the labor of women in childbirth is cursed. Labor in the broadest scope has a curse upon it. Blessed and cursed.
People the world over live in this tension. Look at the biblical words for labor. The word “ergos,” the Greek word “ergazomai,” are the words that are translated work. Look at the six Greek words for labor, and you see the curse. There is the word “kopos,” translated labor in the Bible. It is the most common biblical word for labor, but it literally means to strike or to beat. Look at the word “ponos,” translated labor in the Bible. In the Greek world it was the most common word for labor, and it literally means pain and suffering.
Look at the word “cheimoso,” translated labor in the Bible. It literally means storm or tempest. Look at the word “sunathleo,” translated as labor in the Bible. It literally means to fight or to contend with. The word “agonizomai” is translated labor in the Bible. It is the word from which we get the word agony. “Mochthos” is a word in the Bible that is translated labor. It literally means despair and hardship. The curse is seen in the Greek words for labor. All of you, I am sure, have felt both the blessing and the curse of labor. Yet in Christ, in Jesus Christ, labor can find a fulfillment not known to the world.
In the year 1840, William Henry Harrison was elected president of the United States. He died while still in office. Twenty years later in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. He, too, died while in office. Twenty years later in 1880, James Garfield was elected president of the United States. He died while in office. Twenty years later in the year 1900, William McKinley was elected president of the United States. He died while in office. Twenty years later, 1920, Warren Harding was elected president of the United States. He died while in office. Twenty years later, 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president of the United States. He died while in office. Twenty years later, 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. He, too, died while in office.
How could it be? Beginning with William Henry Harrison, in 1840, every 20 years, the man elected president of the United States died while in office. Some historians trace it back to what they call the curse of presidents. They trace it back to the Shawnee Indian named Tenskwatawa, who was called the Shawnee prophet. He was the brother of Tecumseh, the great Indian leader who sought to unite the Indian nations across this continent. Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa hated William Henry Harrison and the alleged immoral treaties he had negotiated with Indian nations. It is said that they placed a curse upon William Harrison and the presidency that every man elected every 20 years would die in office.
Personally, I do not believe in the curse of the president; and even among those who acknowledge it, the curse seems to have worn out. It seems to have been overcome. In 1980, 20 years after John F. Kennedy was elected, Ronald Reagan was elected, and he did not die in office. He was shot, but he did not die. When Ronald Reagan was told of the curse of the presidents, he said he did not believe in it. He said, however, “If there is such a curse, I will trust the Lord to take care of me.”
The Lord Jesus Christ has power over any curse. The Bible says He has power over the curse of sin and death itself. Even this curse on labor is in some sense lifted through Christ. Until Christ comes back, there will be a certain kind of laborious nature to labor. When Christ comes back, the Bible says, painful labor, “ponos,” shall be no more. Even now, in Christ, labor can take on a refreshing kind of nature and bring fulfillment to us that the world does not understand. It was Jesus Christ who said, “Come unto me all you who labor” (Matthew 11:28a). The Greek word is “kopos,” the primary word in the Bible for labor. “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “Anapauo.” Refreshment. What is the key? “Come unto me, all you who labor, and I will give you rest.” Here is the key. “Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me from lowly and gentlemen heart. And you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). Take my yoke upon you. That is the key.
The word for yoke there is the word “zygos.” That was the yoke of slavery. It was the yoke of submission. The clear teaching of holy scripture is this: Unless you become a slave of Christ, unless you submit to the reign of Christ, you will not find fulfillment, wholeness, or completion in life. If you are yoked simply to yourself, you serve yourself. You labor for yourself. No matter what you provide yourself, it will not satisfy you. It will not fulfill. It is only when we are yoked to Christ, for we were made for Him. It is only when we are yoked to Christ that everything takes on new meaning. When we learn to serve Him and when we labor for Him, everything takes on new meaning.
This leads us to our third and final point with respect to labor. We labor for personal provision. We labor for personal fulfillment. Biblically, we also labor to serve others. In our passage of scripture for today, in 2 Thessalonians 3:13, the Apostle Paul writes, “Do not be weary in doing good.” This he says in the context of labor and work. “Do not be weary in doing good.” The Greek word for good there is the word “kalos.” There are a number of Greek words for good in the New Testament. There is “chresto.” There is “agthos.” But this is “kalos.” And “kalos” is the primary word for good works. “Cauliaerga” is the Greek expression for good works. There is a sense in which our labor is not simply for the sake of personal provision or simply for the sake of personal fulfillment; it is for the sake of good works.
If in your employment, if in your job, if in your career, if there is no sense of serving others, if there is no sense of providing good, there is no hope for you of fulfillment. You need to know that what you are doing in your career has a purpose of service before God whether you are making shoes for people or selling computers or insurance. There are many ways to serve, but you need to know, I need to know, that my labor serves. My labor serves goodness. And the primary other that we seek to serve in labor is God. He is the primary other. We labor to serve Him, not simply in our jobs and occupations and careers, but at home and at church.
You may be familiar with the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. (In the Bible, the vineyard was a symbol of Israel and then of the church.) Jesus sent the laborers into His vineyard. If you know the parable, some he sent early in the morning, some at 9:00, some at noon, some at 3:00, and some late in the day. All were called to labor in His vineyard. He said, “Why do you sit idle?” At the end of the day, if they labored faithfully, the reward was theirs. It does not matter when you became a Christian, whether you are young or old. You are called to labor in His vineyard, labor in His kingdom, and His reward will be yours.
The elders have told me that as we move to Highlands Ranch, we are going to need more volunteers. There is not enough money to hire a bunch of people. If ever we have needed Christian volunteers, we need them now—men and women willing to labor for the sake of serving God and serving people. This past week Bob and I met with some of the leaders of the Stephen Ministry. The Stephen Ministers are those individuals in our church who have gone through six months of training to become caregivers. They might come alongside some of you when you are going through hard times or are hurting. And they might tarry with you, walk with you for a time. They have made a commitment to this ministry for 18 months after going through their months of preparation. Bob and I were told that we desperately need more Stephen Ministers, more of you who would volunteer to labor in God’s vineyard. There are so many needs in our congregation; we need more Stephen Ministers.
From time to time, Gene Kissinger comes to me and tells me we need more inner city tutors. There are many children desperately in need of someone to show them the love of Christ and to sit down and work with them each week. We could use hundreds of you if you would be willing to labor in the vineyard in God’s service. Glen Goldie, Sheila, and Kim oftentimes come to me and tell me that we need more Sunday school teachers. It takes 300 individuals volunteering their time to have an effective Sunday school program in this church. Three hundred people. We are in a constant state of recruitment. We need more laborers in God’s vineyard willing to serve.
Louie and Ginger constantly tell us how we need more cell group leaders. We do not have enough cell group leaders. People want to join a cell group, but we do not have new leaders to form them. The cell groups are vitally important to our congregation and its life. They are mini congregations in the church. The cell groups can come together into acts of service, but they need to be formed. We need cell group leaders. We need laborers in God’s vineyard called to labor for the sake of service, not just for provision. The truth is that unless we labor for service there is no fulfillment. We are called to labor for the service of Christ.
Abraham Lincoln once went to church on a Sunday morning in Alexandria, Virginia. He heard a famous preacher preach. When the preacher was done, someone asked Lincoln, “What did you think?” Lincoln said, “The delivery was excellent. It was well outlined, and the content was very, very good. But ultimately the sermon failed.” The person said, “Why was that? Why did it fail?” Abraham Lincoln said, “It failed because it did not call us to do something great.”
It failed because it did not call us to do something great. I would never claim that any sermon of mine is great, but I know that this sermon has not failed for want of calling you to do something great. God is calling you today to do something great. Jesus said, “Who would be greatest among you? He would be greatest among you must become the servant of all” (Matthew 20:26; Mark 10:43). Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).
Today, God, by the power of His Spirit, calls you into service. Labor for personal provision, yes. Provision and labor must be joined. Labor for personal fulfillment, yes. But know that labor is both blessed and cursed. You will never receive or discover the greater blessing unless you are yoked to Christ and labor to serve others, and the greatest other is God Himself. You are called to labor in His vineyard that you might serve Christ in His kingdom. Let us close with a word of prayer.