Sunday 16th November – Work: Wasting time until the end?

Paul hits this topic of work as he speaks to the good people in Theesalonica about the whole subject of how the gospel of Jesus shapes all aspects of our life together in God’s grace as we travel on to God’s end for the world.

I wonder why ‘work’ gets a mention in the huge topic of ‘the end of the world’? Sounds pretty mundane.

Maybe because work is God’s divine shaping of our life in his grace then and now.

At our St Petri staff meetings, we work through a book together most years. This year we have been working through a commentary on Galatians. Last year we worked through a book titled, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s plan for the world’ by Tim Keller.

One of the things I learnt was that work was in God’s plan for our human life on planet earth right from the beginning.

I thought work was part of what we were resigned to do after The Fall. Consequently, I used to see work as “working for the weekend” – what you had to do so you could do other things that were better; like resting and holidaying and spending time in leisure and recreation.

But no. Work was there in the Garden – right at the beginning of human formation. Work then, is God’s shape for us. Work is a divinely created gift.

On first hearing, Pauls words about work don’t sound very grand.

They sound more like your Grandma or your Uncle telling you off for being lazy!

There seems to be a ‘work’ problem in this new community of newly converted pagan people.

There seems to be a significant number of people refusing to do any honest work. It seems that they have become obsessed with the end of the world. So much so, that going to work seemed meaningless, so they stopped working as they waited for Jesus to turn up tomorrow or the next day.

It may be that some people on the bottom of the economic heap were attaching themselves to more wealthy believers. They were basically ‘on the take’ for whatever they could get out of the kind heart of the wealthy believers.

Either way, they were not just ‘doing nothing’. They were masking trouble. The Greek word is not so much ‘idlers’ or ‘loafers’ but ‘unruly’. They were out of shape and out of sync with the rest of the community as they were doing;

“Idle hands make light work’, my Dad said. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop’, I have often heard said too.

So, is Paul just giving these folks a bit of telling off – like we often hear from community leaders when it comes to ‘dole-bludgers’, ‘immigrants’ and ‘young people’?

No. he has a much higher goal.

He is assuming the biblical vision of all good work

1. Work is God’s design for us and work is what God does too.
2. Work is how God brings purpose and joy to our lives
3. Work is how his people love him and others.

God worked for those six days creating everything and us and then rested only to take up his work of creating and sustaining everything again. We are created in his image. Work is a divine pattern of human life ordained by God.

What did God find in his work? Joy.

God worked for the sheer joy of creating and sustaining, not because he had to work. This is his goal for your work. Satisfaction; joy.

Work is what God invites us into, so we know the joy and satisfaction of working with him in his creating and sustaining work in the world.

So, our work is not just a job we do to make money or get self-esteem and identity. Work was never meant to give you your identity. You already have that in your baptism into Christ and belonging in his church. Work was never meant to be about gaining money and control. You are heading for the greatest reward of being loved forever in a global timeless community where cash and control will be obsolete.

Our work is a divine calling to work with God working in his world, whatever our work is at whatever time in life – from youthful Uni student or apprentice tradie to elder retired statesman or woman.

This is not always easy to trust. Especially when you are unable or out of work.

I remember being a recently graduated Year 12 School student very unsure of what my future would be in terms of work. It was OK for about a week. I swanned around doing whatever I felt like. But then all that leisure and recreation was not enough. I ended up going down to the local government employment agency and calling up about a job working in an industrial laundry. I did that for a month until I finally got a place in a Uni course.

Ever since, I have learned that work is not meant to be what you do to do what you really want to do. Work is good in in itself. Work is God’s gift in itself. Loafing around or living off the wealth of others or being so ‘heavenly minded that I am of no earthy help” is not God’s way for us. It is souls destroying.

Avoiding or refusing work when it is there, is such a shame. We become less useful to others and God. We can then easily become ‘unruly’ as we demand this of that, blame them or those, meddle in other people’s work or relationships and etc etc.

Of course, who on earth in the Barossa needs to hear a sermon telling me to work more?! We are very busy people! Our danger is probably more over-working rather than under-working.

Over-working is lethal to soul and body and relationships, just as much as under-work. Over-working will ensure that you don’t experience that rest, that joy, that satisfaction God wants for you.

Tania came to see me. She was very upset. She felt broken. Last night her fourteen year old lad had run away from home. Tania and her husband lived in a very large house in a leafy suburb. She was a nurse, and her husband was an international pilot. He was away a lot. They had two kids. They never ate meals together as a family. Tania and her husband hardly ever saw each other. Dad and son did not connect. How could they? Dad was never around and attentive. But his expectations about achieving high marks at school and being ‘go getter’ were there all the time.

It all came to a head that night and the lad just had to get away.

Things settled down later. The lad went back home. Too much work blew that family apart.

God has a design to avoid this. It is called rest. Sabbath rest. Work and then rest, work and then rest. That is God’s pattern for living between our first resurrection in baptism to the final resurrection at the last with all the saints.

Here’s how Keller puts it:

Easier said than done in our highly connected, competitive and fluid world.

Like so many other things in our lives, we can easily turn our work into how we gain our self-esteem or how we get ahead: like the boss who ratchets down the pay to employees to widen the profit margins at the cost of caring for his staff, or the student who uses Ai to produce A grade work rather than actually learn the subject and help others learn the subject, or the farmer who cuts corners on land management to make more money rather than fulfill his calling to care for God’s land – thereby diminishing the gift of God and reducing work to a transaction to get, not a relationship of love with and for God to give……There goes the joy!

Paul is not telling people to ‘get a job’ and ‘get a haircut’ and etc…. Paul is trying to help those who have lost the gift and the meaning and the purpose of honest work to enter it again as they live in hope of the final resurrection day. He is saying that work is gift and the way God loves the world and we love God.

Work in its rightful place – ‘under God’, builds relationships, families, marriages and so, nations with healthy children who can engage with the word and find joy in the Lord like their parents are in their work and rest and work.

We don’t “become tired of doing right, because work is not wasting time. Work is God’s time well spent.

Better get to work!

DEEPER REFLECTIONS

Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13

Main Points

1. Context of Paul’s Teaching
   • Paul addresses idleness in the Thessalonian church, where some stopped working because they expected Jesus’ return imminently.
   • His instruction: “If you don’t work, you don’t eat” and “settle down and start working for a living”.

1. Biblical View of Work
   • Work is not punishment after the Fall; it was part of God’s design from creation (Genesis 2:15).
   • Work is a divine gift and calling, not just a means to earn money or identity.
2. Purpose of Work
   • Work reflects God’s own creative activity and brings joy and satisfaction.
   • It is a way to love God and others, not a tool for self-esteem or control.
3. Dangers of Misplaced Priorities
   • Underworking: Leads to idleness, meddling, and disruption in community life.
   • Overworking: Destroys relationships and health; illustrated by a family broken by excessive work.
4. God’s Pattern
   • Work and rest in rhythm (Sabbath principle).
   • Tim Keller’s insight: Work is meaningful but must remain subservient to God and give way to joyful rest.
5. Application
   • Work is not wasting time; it is God’s time well spent.
   • Avoid extremes—idleness and overwork—and embrace work as a gift under God.

Work as God’s Gift

1. Opening Question

• When you hear the word “work,” what feelings or thoughts come to mind—joy, burden, necessity, identity?

2. Read the Passage

• 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13
  Focus on Paul’s instructions:
• “If you don’t work, you don’t eat”
• “Settle down and start working for a living”.

3. Explore the Context

• Why were some Thessalonians idle?
  → They expected Jesus’ return soon and thought work was pointless.
• How does Paul respond?
  → He calls them to responsible living and sets an example through his own hard work.

4. Biblical View of Work

• Read Genesis 2:15: Work was part of God’s design before the Fall.
• Discuss: How does this change our view of work as a gift rather than a curse?

5. Purpose of Work

• Work reflects God’s creative activity and brings joy (Genesis 1:31).
• Work is not for identity or control; our identity is in Christ.

6. Dangers of Extremes

• Underworking: Leads to idleness and meddling (v11).
• Overworking: Can destroy relationships and health (illustrated by Tania’s story).
• Discuss: Which extreme do you struggle with more?

7. God’s Pattern

• Work and rest in rhythm (Sabbath principle).
• Tim Keller: Work is meaningful but must remain subservient to God and give way to joyful rest.

8. Application

• How can you embrace work as a calling and gift this week?
• What practical steps can you take to balance work and rest?

9. Closing Prayer

Lord, thank You for the gift of work and rest. Help us to work diligently, not for identity or control, but as an act of love for You and others. Teach us to rest in Your grace so that our work brings joy and reflects Your goodness. Amen.

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