• About
  • Books

memoirandremains

memoirandremains

Tag Archives: Work

Consider the Lilies in Kierkegaard.

13 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by memoirandremains in Kierkegaard, Kierkegaard, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Consider the Lilies, Either/Or, Kierkegaard, Sermon on the Mount, Work

4454804219_a85ffed2c0_o

This is not a comprehensive analysis of Kierkegaard on this point — just a demonstration that one cannot simply quote from one of his books and say, “Kierkegaard” says. In book II of Either/Or, Judge Wilhelm  (Equilibrium) extols work for a man:

The question whether it might not be possible to imagine a world in which it was not necessary to work in order to live is really  an idle question since it does not deal with the given reality but with a feigned situation. This, however, is always an attempt to belittle the ethical view. For if it were a perfection on the part of existence not to have to work, then man’s life would be the most perfect who didn’t have to. Then one could say that it was a duty to work only by attaching the word duty to a sense of dolorous necessity….The duty of working in order to live expresses the universal-human, and it expresses the universal also in another sense because it expresses freedom. It is precisely by working that man makes himself free, by working he become lord over nature, by working he shows he is higher than nature.

Or might life lose its beauty for the fact that a man must work in order to live? We are back again at the same only point: everything depends upon what one understands by beauty. It is beautiful to see the lilies of the field (though they sew not neither do they spin) so clothed that even Solomon in all his glory was not so magnificent; it is beautiful to see birds without anxiety finding their food; it is beautiful to see Adam and Eve in Paradise whether they could get everything they pointed at; but it is still more beautiful to see a man earning by his work what he has need of. (Loire, 286-287).

Now there are number of problems with Judge Wilhelm’s statement. Just to take two, Adam and Eve did have work in the Garden, and the work we experience now suffers from the Curse.  He captures the duty (but misses all else). He also gets the lilies wrong. He treats the lilies and birds, as yes, yes, but the important thing is duty and effort.

In Consider the Lilies, Kierkegaard also takes up Jesus’ observation from the Sermon on the Mount to, “consider the lilies”:

This is how it is with the gospel. The most important thing for the gospel is not to reprimand and scold; what is most important for the gospel is to get human beings to follow its guidance. That is why it says, “Seek first.” In so doing, it muzzles, so to speak, all of a  persona objects, brings him to silence, and gets him actually to being first this seeking. And then this seeking satisfies a human being in such a way that it now becomes true that he simply and solely seeks God’s kingdom.

(Kirmmse, 38). Finally, let us consider the original and ask which Kierkegaard came more in line with Jesus:

Matthew 6:25–34 (ESV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Discipleship Includes Work

21 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, Worship

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

1 Corinthian 10:31, Christian Discipleship, Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, glory, great commission, Hebrews 4:16, Matthew 28:19-20, money, Praise, Work, Worship

G. Campbell Morgan rightly noted that all human effort, common civil work is for the common good, the flourishing of humanity — and thus worthy of commendation. (https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/thank-god-for-the-garbage-man/) A great many Christians may be willing to admit that all proper human work is a good — and that no one task is “better” than another.

Yet when it comes to the matter of discipleship, we something think that discipleship extends only to “spiritual” events. Without godliness, holiness must be present and developed in every Christian, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). However, we somehow fail to realize that if all of our life is under the lordship of Christ and all work has value, then discipleship must encompass our normal work.

Thus, Morgan explains that a first step in discipleship must entail, What can I/should I do? Having undertaken an appropriate task (perhaps suggested by one who knows you well), the work was be learned and performed:

“The disciple of Jesus, recognizing his calling in life as of God, cannot possibly treat it carelessly or with any measure of indifference. Every power of the will must be brought to bear on the application of the mind to the mastery of the subject in hand. A Christian carpenter will master the use of every tool, and lay himself out to embody in his work the very spirit of the Christ. A Christian doctor will leave no department of the great science neglected, or will devote himself with perfect consecration to that department for which God has given him the gift of a specialist. The great advantage of discipleship is to be found in the fact that if I recognize my calling as a Divine one, then I am sure that he who bestowed the gift understands it, and all my personal application to its mastery will be in the spirit of dependent prayer. Christian mechanics, tradesmen, professional men, should be the finest in the world, and would be, if they lived in the power of their relationship to Christ.”

George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.” This is just as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Work thus becomes a great good and a matter of great spiritual and eternal importance. All one’s life becomes deliberately subsumed under the rubric of worship:

“I do it, not as a means of livelihood first, but as part of God’s work, and so I become, down to the smallest detail of everyday life, “a worker together with Him.” Hold but that view of life’s work, and there can be no more “scamping” of work—no, not even to be in time for a prayer meeting.” This will then affect even how I understand my money.

“No disciple of Jesus can amass a fortune simply for the sake of possession. He may be prosperous in his undertakings, but his prosperity must ever mean increased opportunity for Divine service. No disciple can oppress the hireling in his wages. That wage should be, not merely the measure of keeping his servant’s body and soul together, it should include provision for the culture of all that his being demands. A “living wage ” in the common acceptation of that term, is not the measure for a Christian paymaster.”

In making these observations, Morgan rightly explains that discipleship must extend the conscious lordship of Jesus Christ over all one’s life. An all too common understanding of discipleship which extends only to “spiritual” matters fails to recognize the extent of worship, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the value of work and much if not most of the waking hours of a man or worman. Christ promised, in the Great Commission (which sets out the task of discipleship) to be with use always — even at work.

Thank God for the Garbage Man

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in G. Campbell Morgan, Thankfulness

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Common Grace, Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, thankfulness, Work

When we look at the work of others — whatever the work (as long as it something which can do others good) — we are looking upon a gift of God. The people at the store, those who tend to the electrical wires, those who sew clothes, make medicine, play instruments, tell stories, grow corn, fly planes, and so on — all of this great busy industry is itself a blessing from God:

Recognizing the great truth of the solidarity of humanity, that each person is part of the whole, that the whole is incomplete in the incompleteness of any, it is evident that all the great and increasing needs of humanity for this life are provided for by God in the gifts He has bestowed, to every man severally as He will, His will ever being the well-being and happiness of the creature. Every ability to do something which will be for the support of the worker, and at the same time contribute to the legitimate needs of others, is a Divine gift, a Divine calling.

Capacity for brain work, dexterity of fingers, are each and in every variety of application, Divinely bestowed. To dig—whether with spade, or plough, or shaft and machinery for metals—is a calling of God. To construct with wood, or stone, or iron, for permanence or locomotion, is a Divine gift. To see a vision and paint it, to hear music and translate it, to catch glimpses of truth and embody them in form poetic, these and all the thousands of various gifts bestowed upon men are from God.

On every individual some gift is bestowed, save perchance upon those who, in these days of humanity’s sin and sorrow, are from their birth limited in their powers. Not only the preacher, but every man, has a calling of God, and the duty of each man to God, to the community, to himself, is to find that calling, and therein to abide.

George Campbell Morgan. “Discipleship.” Now certainly there are those who use this great wonder of work for evil ends. But the misuse of the good does not deny the good exists. Imagine all the people without farmers and shoe makers and engineers. Look at a place where society and work has broken down — like a refugee camp. What a misery!

And so I can say without any irony, Thank God for the garbage man!

The Word in Acts.3 (Work)

25 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Ecclesiology, Obedience, Preaching, Service

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Acts, Acts 2:22, Acts 2:37, Acts 4:29, Acts 5:17–21, courage, D.L. Moody, Fearing the Lord, Hebrews 4:12-13, Hill of Difficulty, John Bunyan, John Calvin, John Pollock, Moody, Obedience, Persecution, Peter, Philippians 2:8, Pilgrim's Progress, Preaching, Romans 8:28, Service, Spree, Word, Word in Acts, Word of God, Work

17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”[1] 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Acts 5:17–21 (ESV)

In chapter 2, God sends words through the disciples (Acts 2:4). Peter rises and preaches: Men of Israel, hear these words (Acts 2:22). Hearing the words they were cut to the heart (Acts 2:37; Hebrews 4:12-13). In Acts 3, Peter speaks and a man is healed. Peter then preaches (Acts 3:12). An arrest follows, but the word has already done its work (Acts 4:4). When the apostles were released, the church preached, not for ease but for courage to continue to speak your [God’s] word with all boldness (Acts 4:29).

Finally, when the authorities could no longer bear the sight of the effectiveness of the word of God, they arrested the apostles. God then sends an angel to free them. Consider for a moment: God could without question have sent the angel earlier. God could have protected the apostles from trial. Instead, God sent an angel after the arrest.

The angel did not come to protect the apostles from trial, but rather to send them into the lion’s mouth with the word of God:

Speak in the temple. This is the end of their deliverance, that they employ themselves stoutly in preaching the gospel, and provoke their enemies courageously, until they die valiantly. For they were put to death at length when the hand of God ceased, after that they had finished their course; but now the Lord openeth the prison for them, that they may be at liberty to fulfill their function. That is worth the marking, because we see many men, who, after they have escaped out of persecution, do afterwards keep silence, as if they had done their duty towards God, (and were no more to be troubled;) other some, also, do escape away by denying Christ; but the Lord doth deliver his children, not to the end they may cease off from the course which they have begun, but rather that they may be the more zealous afterward. The apostles might have objected, It is better to keep silence for a time, forasmuch as we cannot speak one word without danger; we are now apprehended for one only sermon, how much more shall the fury of our enemies be inflamed hereafter, if they shall see us make no end of speaking? But because they knew that they were to live and to die to the Lord, they do not refuse to do that which the Lord commanded; so we must always mark what function the Lord enjoineth us. There will many things meet us oftentimes, which may discourage us, unless being content with the commandment of God alone, we do our duty, committing the success to him.

 

John Calvin, Acts, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Ac 5:20.

The incident reminds me of Moody’s 1891 trip home Europe aboard the Spree. Moody had recently met with a heart specialist who warned Moody against working too hard:

Clark asked how often Moody preached.

“Oh, I usually preach three times a day. On Sunday four or even five.”

“How many days a week?”

“Six, but during the last winter seven.”

“You’re a fool, sir, you’re a fool! You’re killing yourself!”

 

John Pollock, Moody, 242.

On board the ship, Moody considered the matter and determined that he would slow down and work less: in particularly he would dial back his planned campaign to coincide with the World’s Fair. On the third day, the weather on the Atlantic was very bad. The engine shaft broke and the ship began to sink.

 Pollock writes:

During the long hours Moody wrestled in his soul. He felt seasickness no longer – the accident cured him permanently – and his mind ran clear.

He heard as it were the voice of his Lord:  “Were you ready to let up, to go slow? Then I will take you to Myself. Yu are no use to Me unless you and out and out.”

“No one on earth,” Moody related, “know what I pass through as I thought that my work was finished, and that I should never again have the privilege of preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. And on that dark night, the first night of the accident, I made a vow that if God would spare my life and bring back to America,” the World’s Fair campaign should be undertaken with all the power that He would give me.”

Pollock, Moody, 244. Soon thereafter, the Candian Pacific freighter Lake Huron appeared and attempted to secure the vessels together, but the storm was such that the rope broke, “‘as if he had been cotton thread’” (Pollock, 245, quoting a passenger).  The storm broke in the morning, cables were attached and Lake Huron towed the Spree to port.

It is often hard to remember, that here God does not seek our ease but rather our good and his glory. We can forget this when we read Romans 8:28. We grasp the word “good” and think that means our current ease.[2] For verse 29 defines “good” as “to be conformed to the image of his Son”. Our Lord came:

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:8 (ESV)

Here is our model. Yes, I for one, admit that my life has been one of splendid ease compared to my brothers and sisters throughout the world and throughout the ages. My trials for the Gospel have not be as severe as many (if not most). Yet I must see my present ease as an even greater motivation to work even more diligently. I (and many like me) have no excuse for failing to speak to the people all the words of this Life. May God grant us forgiveness for our past failures and strength for future work.


[1] Larkin writing of the phrase, words of this life: “This phrase captures the truths that by God’s Word the blessed life in covenant relationship is appropriated now, and that beyond death there is a life in which God’s salvation will be fully known forever” (William J. Larkin, Acts (Downer’s Grove, Intervarsity Press: 1995), 91).

[2] God often does provide his people with significant comfort and ease along their pilgrimage. However, we must not mistake the Arbo placed by God upon the Hill of Difficulty for Celestial City (“Now about the midway to the top of the hill was a pleasant Arbor, made by the Lord of the hill for the refreshment of weary travelers” Pilgrim’s Progress, The Third Stage, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bunyan/pilgrim.iv.iii.html ).

Chrysostom: Homily XII on Ephesians

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Church History, Ecclesiastes, Ephesians, Meditation, Preaching, Quotations, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Chrysostom, Church History, Creation, creator, Ecclesiastes, Ephesians, Meditation, Preaching, Quotations, Uncategorized, Vanity, Work

“But a man will say, If all things are vain and vanity, wherefore were they made? If they are God’s works, how are they vain? But it is not the works of God which he calls vain. God forbid! The heaven is not vain; the earth is not vain: God forbid! Nor the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor our own body. No; all these are very good. But what is vain? Man’s works, pomp, and vain-glory. These came not from the hand of God, but are of our own creating. And they are vain because they have no useful end.… That is called vain which is expected indeed to possess value, yet possesses it not; that which men call empty, as when they speak of ‘empty hopes,’ and that which is fruitless. And generally that is called vain which is of no use. Let us see, then, whether all human things are not of this sort” (St. Chrysostom, ‘Hom. xii in Ephesians

Ecclesiastes: Parallels and Contrasts.1

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiastes, Isaiah

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, Isaiah, Isaiah 55:2, Work

Ecclesiastes 2:

22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

Isaiah 55:

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

The Puritan Work Ethic

04 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Puritan

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Calling, Puritan, Vocation, Work

 

The Puritan Work Ethic[i]

            You have likely heard of the “Puritan Work Ethic.”  Unless you have been actually read the original source material – the sermons and the books the Puritans themselves wrote – as opposed to what has been written about them —  you almost certainly have a wrong idea about what the Puritans thought of work.  There are a few accurate works concerning the Puritans, but far more writing about the Puritans – particularly on the matter of work – is slanderously bad, unfair and untrue. Here is an example from a professor at Norte Dame:

The doctrine of predestination kept all Puritans constantly working to do good in this life to be chosen for the next eternal one. God had already chosen who would be in heaven or hell, and each believer had no way of knowing which group they were in. Those who were wealthy were obviously blessed by God and were in good standing with Him. The Protestant work ethic was the belief that hard work was an honor to God which would lead to a prosperous reward. Any deviations from the normal way of Puritan life met with strict disapproval and discipline. Since the church elders were also political leaders, any church infraction was also a social one. There was no margin for error.

http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html

There are so many things wrong this statement it is hard to know where to begin. 

Here’s one from Stanford:

The Puritan (or Protestant) work ethic is a work ethic that was based on the moral values of hard work. It meant that working hard entailed giving service to God. It implies, albeit by inference, that the harder one works, the more moral one is. Hence, having been raised to believe this, some people feel guilty if they are not working hard all the time. It is as though hard work were equated with being a good person, and furthermore, if one works hard enough, one will in all likelihood have a positive result not only in the moral arena, but also in the more mundane, worldly one.

http://stanford.wellsphere.com/brain-health-article/the-puritan-work-ethic-wu-wei-and-is-life-really-meant-to-be-a-struggle/684705

            The Puritans are routinely libeled by academics – even at large well respected universities.  These two quotations are comically untrue.  In fact, the Puritans roundly condemned people who worked just to make money; who worked so hard as to damage their relationships with men and God.  No Puritan would believe that your wealth proved that you were godly.  No Puritan would have even understood what it meant to work hard to become predestined.  Puritans believed soundly in the doctrine of assurance:  Thus the statement that no believer knew whether he were saved is nonsense on silts. 

            Puritans worked for one purpose:  To glorify God by being of service to other men.  Making money to support oneself was a good and necessary part of being of service to one’s family.  However, being rich was never an end in itself. Working to merely make money would be a sin to a Puritan.  As William Perkins wrote:

They profane their lives, and callings that employ them to get honors, pleasures, profits, worldly commodities; etc., for thus we live to another end than God hath appointed, and thus we serve ourselves, and consequently neither God nor men.

Making a lot of money merely meant that you had an obligation to care for more people – particularly the poor – with your wealth.  Wealth was not bad, but the love of money was the root of kinds of evil.

Part One:  A Christian man works to glorify God by serving men.

            William Perkins explains that all things were created to give God glory.  Men were created to give peculiar service onto God.  However, after the Fall, men seemed to be unable to glorify God. Yet God was able to secure glory from men despite their sin.  There are four basic elements of what men must be before God:

1.         Men must acknowledge God as sovereign and be willing to serve God as such.

2.         Since men were created be sociable, men must be of service to others.

3.         To be of good to others, men must belong some place – in some calling in which they can be of service to others.  Even Adam –before the Fall – was called to a particular work.

4.         A man should use his given calling in a holy manner, pursuing his calling in “faith and obedience.”

            Ryken explained that “the Puritan concept of calling is to make the worker a steward who serves God. God, in fact, is the one who assigns people to their tasks.  In this view, work ceases to be impersonal.  Moreover, its importance does not lie within itself; work is a means by which a person lives out his or her personal relationship to God” (27).

            Yet there are offenses which do come:

1.         There are those who have no particular calling in which a man does good for others.  For example, there were those in the Roman Catholic church – such as  monks or wandering friars – who were not good use to society at large.  Other such people would be vagabonds who simply refused to work and sought to live off of the labor of others.

2.         There are other men who have a calling and yet do not fulfill “the main point ….honoring God in the service of men.”

            As can be seen from this introduction, a man’s work was not something which was separate from or annexed or spiritual life – his religion.  Neither was religion something which occupied Sunday and yet which had no bearing upon work.  All of one’s life was an integrated life before God.  Neither saying prayers on Sunday nor building a wall on Monday were more holy  or spiritual than the other.  Painting a barn for pay was a religious duty to give glory to God by being of service to men.  William Tyndale said that if we look externally “there is a difference betwixt washing of dishes and preaching the Word of God; but as touching to please God, none at all.”  

            This means that when thinking of a doctrine of work, it needs to be put into the context of the doctrines of grace: original sin, irresistible grace, predestination, perseverance of the saints.   A Christian at work was a Christian who happens to be making shoes at that moment to the glory of God.  A Christian soldier was a man being of service to his countrymen by fighting in a war – and thus was giving glory to God in being a soldier.  A butcher was no less godly in his work and was no less engaged in the worship of God than a pastor on Sunday morning delivering a sermon.

A.        There is no secular/sacred distinction

            There is an idea which gained great development during the Middle Ages and which still has some weight among Christians today:  Religious tasks are more holy than secular tasks.  Even to make the statement is to support the idea. The concept of sacred/secular does not properly derive from the Bible.  When God creates Adam and puts Adam in the Garden of Eden God gives Adam the task of taking care of the Garden.  The words which are used to describe Adam’s work are the same verbs which are used to describe Levites working in the Temple.

            The sacred/secular distinction was an idea which developed among the religious Jews who did not rightly love their Lord.  We can see some of this attitude in the interactions between Jesus and the religious groups such as Pharisees and Scribes and Priests.  This concept gained even more development in the years which followed.  There are prayers recorded by the Jews in their religious writings of the next few centuries which speak of how much better it was to be a “religious” worker than a secular – worldly – worker.

            This idea gained great development over the next hundreds of years.  As Reformation progressed, this idea of sacred/secular came under scrutiny and then was eventually rejected as unbiblical by the Puritans.

            Unfortunately, I have seen this very idea present even in this church.  When I left the vocation of being an attorney and came on staff as a pastor, I had people tell me that now I was working for the Lord. While it is true that I ultimately work for the Lord —  it is equally true that I worked for the Lord when I was an attorney.  When I spoke with a client or answered interrogatories or went to court I was called to serve God in the exact same degree as when I teach a Sunday School Class, counsel a married couple or pray in a hospital.

B.        Godliness as our primary concern

1.         The doctrine of work is an element of our religious life. Indeed, George Swinock the Puritan pastor in his massive book A Christian Man’s Calling refers to all our life as religious and our religion as our primary concern.  We moderns tend to dislike the word “religion,” perhaps because we don’t want someone telling us what to do.  But Swinock thinks that a regulated life, a religious life is a good and necessary thing.

            He develops this idea from the basis of creation:  All things were created by God for a purpose.  Human beings were created with reason and the ability to worship God:  that is, human beings were created with a religious ability – indeed a religious necessity.  The most unreasonable thing a man could do would be to ignore God:

            “Indeed, atheists are but beasts shaped in the proportion and dressed in the habits of men.  It is impossible for a man to manifest more want [lack] of reason than in wandering from God ….” (3)

2.         Since a rightly religious life accords with true reason, the Christian will be able to live rightly in the midst of the world – no matter what problems arise.  The Christian will not be trapped by the snares of the world:  “Like the moon at the full, being fixed in heaven, they can keep their course, though dogs bark at them here on earth” (4).

3.         If we see our creation and end rightly, we will not snared by this world. This is how Swinock puts it:

            How greedily do men grasp the smoke of earthly vanities, which will wring tears from their eyes, and then vanish into nothing!

            Who can sufficiently bemoan it, that man, who is capable of and created for so high an honor and so heavenly an exercise, as to serve his Maker here and to enjoy him hereafter, should all his time, like a hog, be digging and rooting in the earth and not once look up to heaven in earnest, till the knife is put to his throat that he cometh to die….

            Thus silly are many men; how do they cark and care, toil and moil for this world, which they must leave forever! They waste their time and strength to increase their heaps, when on a sudden all perisheth and themselves often with it.

            Reader, if you are one of those moles who live in the earth as their element, carking and caring chiefly how to exalt self and please flesh, answer God these four questions …. (13)

The four questions have been provided to you for your discussion.

3.         The question of how I see God, myself before God and the myself in the world, will directly affect how I see and perform my work.  If I see myself as created with reason and gifts which make it possible for me to glorify God and enjoy him forever, if I see God as the God of everything in this world and my life, then I will see my work as a necessary element of my life before God.  If I think little of God, then I will think little of God in my work and my work will become an end in itself.

4.         Therefore, my theology will directly affect the way in which I perform my work.

5.         If my theology is right, my work will be an opportunity to grow in godliness, to discipline myself for godliness, and to give glory to God.  Thus, any work can be useful, glorious, joyful because it has an eternal dimension.

6.         Swinock writes:

            “Godliness is an errand about which man is sent into the world; now, as faithful servants, we must prefer our message before our meat and serve our master before ourselves” (37).  Thus, must we live.

            No matter what job we have, no matter what vocation we pursue our real business is the business of godliness:

            “Because he makes it [godliness] his business, his minds runs much upon it, that wherever he is, he will be speaking somewhat of it, if occasion be offered, whereby he comes now and then to meet with such bargains as tend much to his benefit; so the Christian that makes religion his business is industrious to improve all opportunities for the furtherance of his general calling” (42).

            This does not mean that in doing my work I ignore my buying and selling or painting or building or writing.  Rather, I make God a party to all my work:

            “If he – a godly man – be buying or selling he is very willing that God should be a witness to all his bargains; for he prayeth to God as if men heard him and he tradeth with men as if God saw him.  His shop, as well as his chapel, is holy ground” (42). 

            “Godliness is whole in his whole conversation” – that is, everything he does (43).

C.        How to see the whole of life

1.         Our work here has a very peculiar quality when see through an eternal lense.  On one hand, all the work which I perform in this world is bound to perish.  God will destroy the world and the direct physical results of all my work.  Yet, I am called upon to perform this work to the glory of God knowing that it will come to nothing.  Miller describes the Puritan dilemma as follows:

Urian Oaks concludes his sermon on providence with an injunction which was constantly delivered from New England pulpits:  “labor to be prepared for disappointments.” Put beside this was another instruction which was equally recurrent through the sermons of Puritan ministers:  “as the things and objects are, great or mean [low], that men converse withal [have dealings with]; so men are high or low spirited.” Take these two rules together – on one hand, expect nothing but disappointment in this life, on the other, to cultivate a high-spirited frame of mind of mind by converse with the highest objects of contemplation, and between these two poles the daily life of the Puritans oscillated. . . . [This was] the Puritan synthesis:  the fallibility of material existence and the infallibility of the spiritual, the necessity for living in a world of time and space according to the laws of that time and place, with never once forgetting that the world will pass, be resolved back into nothingness, that reality and permanence belongs to things not as they appear to the eye but to the mind. [287]

2.         Therefore, we need to see our work as not an end in itself, but as a means to the only end of this life:  To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Everything is an occasion for godliness or sin.  Every moment is of crucial importance:  there are no unimportant moments.  Thus, work – which occupies the majority of our waking hours (or should) is of fundamental importance.  We will constantly be tempted to

            a.         Take work too seriously, forgetting that all our labor and our wealth will be destroyed.

            b.         Take work too casually, forgetting that all our labor and our wealth belong to God and                              must be used for his glory.

3.         Since work was a calling from God, an opportunity for godliness, it could be susceptible to sin’s effects. As Thomas Hooker wrote (298-299) on the effects of sin:

It brings a curse upon all our comforts, blasts all our all blessings, the best of all our endeavors, the use of all the choicest of all God’s ordinances:  it’s so evil and vile, that it makes the use of all good things and all the most glorious, both ordinances and improvements, evil to us.

Thus, problems which could arise from work: excesses, laziness, covetousness, would the result of sin infecting work – not something inherent in work.  Work was given before the Fall and thus was a good thing in and of itself.  Idleness was condemned, because it was injurious to the one who was lazy, the society which was deprived of the other’s labor, and the glory of God. 

Part Two:  A Christian man has a particular calling

John Cotton, Christian Calling

            Doctrine:  A true believing Christian, a justified person, he lives in his vocation by his faith.

What is means to say that a Christian lives in his vocation by his faith:

A.        Faith draws the heart of a Christian to live in some warrantable calling; as soon as ever a man begins  to look towards God, and the ways of his [God’s] grace, he will not rest till he find out some warrantable calling and employment:

1.         It is a natural result of coming to know the Lord, that a man desires to enter into some suitable/warrantable calling.

                        2.         To be a warrantable calling:

                                    a.         The calling must  be for the good of the public – not merely myself.

                                    b.         The man must have suitable gifts [given by God] to pursue the calling.

c.         God has providentially provided the means by which a man may actually pursue such a calling.

B.        A Christian depends upon God to increase the gifts useful to his calling.

1.         And then if God do breathe in his gifts, he depends not upon them for the acting his work, but upon God’s blessing in the use of the use of his gifts.

2.         The strongest Christian is never more foiled then when he goes forth in the strength of gifts received and his own dexterity.

C.        Having the conviction that in serving God, a Christian serves men; and in serving men, a Christian serves God.

                        1.         So that this is the work of every Christian man in his calling, even then when he     serves man, he serves the Lord; he does the work set before him, and he does it             sincerely and faithfully

            a.         as one who must give an account

            b.         With a heavenly and spiritual sight of the world, using the world as if it                                          were not. 1 Cor. 7:31.

2.         Richard Baxter wrote: 

Choose that employment or calling in which you may be most serviceable to God. Choose not that in which you may be most rich or honorable in the world; but that in which you may do the most good, and best escape sinning.

D.        You must be willing to do all things required of your calling:  even those things which are least dignified or most dangerous: “there is no work too hard or too homely for him”.  Faith remembers what degrading work we were willing to do for sin and Satan and thus is willing to do anything given by God.

            1.         In doing your work, you must be willing to cast all of your cares upon God.

                        a.         Worry about the success

                        b.         Worry about the danger.

                        c.         Worry about the injuries which you may receive.

E.         Receive all the success in your work with moderation.

F.         Resign your calling into the hand of God.  If God calls an end to your employment in some area – whether in a temporary manner of in a permanent manner – a Christian willingly takes it as from the hand of God.

            1.         This contrasts with men of this world:  “A man that in his calling hath sought         himself and never looked father then himself, he never comes to lay down his calling, but he think it is his utter undoing.”

            2.         Not only will you be confident of God’s acceptance, no man can lay a charge against you for wrongdoing in your calling.   

 

Application:

1.         It is evidence of infidelity – lack of true Christian faith —  that you lack any calling.  1 Tim. 5:8.  This does not refer to a man who cannot find work.  This is a man who will not work.  “If thou hast no calling, tending to public good, thou art an unclean beast.”

2.         Choose a proper calling for you:

            a.         Use effort to find a calling – it takes work.

            b.         Only pursue a calling which you can understand and perform.

            c.         Only pursue a calling which you can obtain and maintain by proper means.

            d.         Only pursue a calling which you in which you will cheerfully labor for God.

3.         Always remember the proper end of your calling, so that you lay it down when God calls you to something else: whether an end of work or an end of life.

4.         Remember that no matter what your calling – even if it is something which the world does not honor – that “it was a lively work in the sight of God, and so it will be rewarded when thy change shall come.  Many a Christian is apt to be discouraged and dismayed if crosses befall him in his calling, but be not afraid, let this cheer up thy spirit, that whatever thy calling was, yet thou camest into it honestly, and hast lived in it faithfully, your course was lively and spiritual, and therefore you may with courage look up for recompense from Christ.”

                       

           

 

           

 


[i]  The material for this discussion came primarily from George Swinock, A Christian Man’s Calling, which is found in the volumes 1 -3 of the collected works of George Swinock, published by The Banner of Truth.  I also used material from Perry Miller’s introduction the chapter entitled, “This World and the Next” in The Puritans, rev. ed., eds. Perry Miller & Thomas H. Johnson, vol. 1, particularly the introduction to the section entitled, “This World and the Next” and two sermons included in that section, Thomas Hookers, “A True Sight of Sin” and John Cotton’s “Christian Calling.”  I used the outline of “Christian Calling” as the outline for the second portion of this paper.  Other important sources for this information came from William Perkins, A Treatise of Vocations, 1603, and Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory and Worldly Saints by Leland Ryken – particularly the chapter entitled “Work.”

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Study Guide, Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot.3
  • Study Guide, Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot.2
  • Study Guide: Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot.1
  • Should I Look for Signs to Know God’s Will?
  • What If It Works?

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Study Guide, Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot.3
  • Study Guide, Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot.2
  • Study Guide: Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot.1
  • Should I Look for Signs to Know God’s Will?
  • What If It Works?

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • memoirandremains
    • Join 630 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • memoirandremains
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...