God and Work

[0:00] Thankfulness and reverence, bringing honour and glory to him.! We thought of that text which says, My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

[0:14] And we thought also about God and time and the richness and meaning that he gives to time. We thought about the rhythm of work and rest which is put into this world.

[0:25] We thought about sexuality and the beauty of the way that God has made us, male and female. We thought about how that relates in church and family and how there is order and differentiation in the home and in church and in the whole world of business, although we didn't look into that too much.

[0:47] Our picture for this. Now let's just see. Picture. Yes. Picture of the seven days, one, two, three, four, five, six, the days in which God formed everything and filled it.

[1:06] And we saw that God works, I think we could say in different ways, separating and forming the world, producing order and then filling it and populating it in abundance.

[1:21] And we also saw that man and woman have been made to rule and to fill this world, carrying on from what God did in the beginning.

[1:36] Now, thinking of work. What are the issues of work? Well, people say, I've got too much to do.

[1:47] So I am overburdened with work. Some people say, I am forced to work all hours for little money, which is really the equivalent of the worst of slavery.

[2:01] Now then, I wonder why this is happening. Please bear with me. It may be that this isn't plugged in. Or it may be that it's not switched on.

[2:17] Could you just move the mic? I think perhaps not work. I don't know whether you did actually ask your neighbor about work. Probably something else you asked.

[2:30] But here are some of the issues of work all being well. So too much work. Work which is oppressive. Or on the other hand, there are plenty of people who have no work and find it difficult for one reason or another to find something to be doing.

[2:51] Or people who can't stop working, which is referred to sometimes as being a workaholic. Like being an alcoholic has a lot of alcohol.

[3:01] A workaholic just keeps wanting to work. The issue of how you get on with work. I actually don't like my work. I find it an unpleasant thing to get up on a Monday morning or whenever it is to go to work.

[3:18] Or people for whom they would say, my work is my life. And then you say, well what about, do you have a wife? Do you ever see your wife?

[3:29] Do you have a family? Do you ever see your family? What sort of person are you? Is the only thing that you can talk about whatever it is you do? Stocks and shares and banking and whatever it might be.

[3:41] And people talk about work-life balance. Have you got the right balance of life? And then we could ask the question, well what has God and Jesus got to do with work?

[3:53] And the answer is quite a lot. And here's another thought that some people say, or might have said, I'm fed up of being a, and then you insert whatever it is, plumber, printer, footballer, musician, mother.

[4:08] If only I could work for the Lord. Interesting thought. Now the Bible has something to say about all of those. We're not going to try and say everything this morning.

[4:20] But the plan is to look at work in the Bible. And I've got four headings which you might try to remember. Number one, work as destined.

[4:33] So like Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker, it is your destiny. But we are destined to work.

[4:44] We are made for it. That's what God's plan for us is. In Genesis 3, work is spoiled. So that work is not completely without its problems.

[4:58] In the New Testament, work as restored. And fourthly and briefly, in the resurrection, work fulfilled. So this is all about work in its different phases going through the Bible.

[5:12] So if you have a Bible, it would be helpful to open it up right at the beginning at the book of Genesis. And we'll look at work as destined.

[5:25] And the bit I am thinking of, I'm going to pick out a few bits from the story. And I won't repeat the whole story all over again because we've been doing it these past several weeks.

[5:36] But I'm thinking in Genesis 1 verse 26, where God says of humankind, Genesis 1 verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, over all the creatures that move along the ground.

[6:03] So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number.

[6:18] Fill the earth, subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over every living creature that moves along the ground. So this is God saying what his plan is for humankind, what he wants them to do, what his purpose is.

[6:35] And he makes them male and female. And he makes them to rule. You notice in verse 26, there's a close next door, the two ideas of being in the image of God and ruling.

[6:51] So they're very close to being in the image of God and ruling. So ruling over, well, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the animals, the things that grow on the ground, the sheep, that's supposed to be sheep.

[7:08] And I'm just thinking this includes the mountains and the rivers and the sea and the purpose of human beings to rule over this. As God did, sort of forming things, filling them, to rule and fill.

[7:25] Does that say fill on the screen? No, if there's something that goes wrong with the italics. To subdue the earth and to multiply. So this is a big picture of the mission of humankind.

[7:38] We're humans, aren't we? I think most of us are human this morning, aren't we? Yes, this is what God has said to us. This is why you're here, to rule the earth, to subdue it, to fill it, to make it beautiful.

[7:51] And every time you dust your front room, you are doing what God has said to subdue the earth. Every time you plant something in your garden, you are doing what God has said, you are filling the earth.

[8:06] If God is gracious and kind to give you children, you are filling the earth and carrying on with that purpose. If you are a school teacher, you are bringing up children and part of the process that God put into place right at the beginning.

[8:22] It has the dual aspects, I would say, of subduing and filling, of ruling and multiplying. So, and this is closely linked, closely, closely linked with human identity.

[8:37] Now, evolution will not tell you this. Evolution has got no idea why we're here. If you ask, there was actually a program, I listen to a science program regularly, and somebody was, they were asked, what is the evolutionary benefit of such and such?

[8:52] And they spoke for several minutes and said, actually, we don't know. Because science doesn't, can't answer that question. And if we think it can, we're being rather foolish.

[9:04] But God says, I can answer that question. What you're here for, why you are human, why it is just in the way you are to want to make things beautiful, to do things, to make things.

[9:20] Why you might want to make things with words, even. Why? Because we're made in the image of God like this. Work is part of the way we're destined. If you go into chapter two, work as something that we're destined for.

[9:35] You remember that the ecosystem needed an Adam. There was, do you remember where was it? It was in chapter two, verse five.

[9:47] There were, God had not sent rain on the earth. There was no man to work the ground. That streams came up from the water and watered the whole earth. There was this absence of the man to make it all work as it was supposed to.

[10:03] So the Bible is telling us that the ecosystem has a sort of human-shaped gap in it and that human beings are there to fill that gap. So there's Adam and he's going to work the ground and he's going to irrigate it.

[10:17] So I've given him a spade and a watering can. Although you will appreciate that is anachronistic because probably watering cans hadn't been invented in Genesis chapter two.

[10:28] But I wasn't there, I can't tell you exactly. But the idea of him, he's made from the ground and he's linked to the ground in quite a special way.

[10:43] So that's his link that way, to serve and to keep. Now, where is that? That's in verse 15. So the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

[10:58] So the working is the word to serve, really, to be a servant. I don't think to be dominated by land, but to look after its best interests, to serve it, to work it.

[11:13] And the second word, to guard it, to keep it, it's the word for what policemen would do. They would guard, or soldiers would do, they would guard the land, the garden.

[11:30] And then if you think of the woman, so I'm calling her Isha, because she doesn't get called Eve until later. And if you think that's a little bit pretentious, then I just said Eve in that case.

[11:42] But Isha is linked to Adam because she's taken out of Adam. So there's a different sort of linkage of her being. She's not made of ground, she's made of person. And she is the vital, suitable helper in this mission to fill the world, to subdue it, to rule it, to make it beautiful and productive.

[12:05] And in case you're thinking our helper is a demeaning word, let me just remind you of the quote that we quoted earlier. My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

[12:17] So the Lord is a helper and it's not demeaning to him to be a helper, to give us help. And neither is it demeaning to the woman to be the vital, suitable helper.

[12:31] So we're thinking of work as destined. And I have a feeling my slides have got out of order, but we'll find out in a minute. Let's go into chapter three and work as spoiled because we know that Adam decided that his philosophy of life would no longer be to just trust his creator and follow what he says.

[12:56] Adam says, I want to find it all out for myself. I'm not going to trust God on anything. Particularly the important things where he said I should trust him. And this is a whole departure from the way God made that relationship to be.

[13:12] And Adam strikes off on his own on this. And the result is that the relationship is broken and the lives of, particularly of Adam and the woman are spoiled.

[13:29] So there's Adam and it says in chapter three, verse 17, to Adam he says, because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree which I commanded you, you must not eat of it.

[13:48] Cursed is the ground because of you. And this is what happens now to work. Through painful toil, you will eat of it. So painful toil, I don't think I've got a visual for painful toil, but I have, always I have, I've got some painful toil marks.

[14:05] But it does eat of it. So I've got a visual for eating. So notice the connection. You will eat, but it will be a painful toil process. It says in verse 18, it will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field.

[14:20] So let's put in some thorns and thistles. There they are, spiky, pointy, nasty things. But you will still eat. You will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of it.

[14:32] Now you will eat your food. Well, I've already used up my sort of sweat visuals, so you'll just have to imagine that. But he still says you will eat. So it's interesting that the connection of fruitfulness and the provision for human life, eating, you all do that, don't you?

[14:51] I think most of us eat. very fundamental part of being human. This process goes on, but there is pain and difficulty in all of that process.

[15:08] It also says you'll return to dust, to death. And for the woman, for Isha, there she is, and what it says to her, verse 16, I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing, with pain, with painful labor.

[15:26] You will give birth to your children. Your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you. So both those areas, which were her particular areas of beautiful fruitfulness, in childbirth and in her close relationship with her husband, both of those become problematic.

[15:46] The partnership with her husband becomes one of power conflict, and the fruitfulness of childbearing becomes a painful one. So she too is, has some, yeah, the things that are, that ought to be for her, beautiful work become somewhat spoiled, but they still continue.

[16:11] But fruitfulness of work and life are still God's way. So at this point in verse 20, does get called, she does get called Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

[16:24] So her motherhood still goes on. So I think, no, I don't yet have my, in a minute I have a summary. But let's just peek into the further chapters that might be a little bit interesting.

[16:36] What happens next? In chapter four, Cain and Abel, so are one generation away now, and it says, in chapter four, verse two, Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil.

[16:55] So they're doing the thing that was originally intended. Cain served, or worked, that's the word again, he worked the ground, and Abel shepherded flocks.

[17:09] So it seems quite a compressed narrative, isn't it? Because how did he get to know about shepherding? And I don't know. But that's what he did. So work is continuing.

[17:22] And if you flip over to Noah in chapter five, the word Noah is like the word for comfort. Chapter five, verse 29, or 28, this is Lamech, this is Noah's dad, when Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.

[17:46] He named him Noah and said, he will comfort us in all the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed. It's interesting that Lamech should say that.

[17:59] So it's still ringing through the experience of those early people. he's a dad at the age of 182. Just mention that.

[18:11] And he's saying that this little boy, Noah, will bring us comfort because we're very cognizant. We know that work is painful. And the whole business that God set us on now has pain and toil in it.

[18:26] And we hope Noah will bring us comfort. Interesting thought. So there's a... Oh yes. So here are lots of people. Lots of generations.

[18:37] Painful toil. Digging, irrigating, looking after sheep. Sheep look as though they're kicking them. That wasn't really the idea of that. And Lamech, writing this at age 182, clearly feeling the strain of his irresponsible youth.

[18:55] Strange, isn't it? Because you think, well, you might say that when he was 18 or 19, but he's 182 and becoming a dad. There we are. So this is the world of work in Genesis.

[19:09] Interesting. If we go to Exodus, work is still important because one of the commands is six days shall you labor. Oh, lots of work going on there.

[19:20] Oh, they're still working. Right. Features and issues of work, destined and spoiled. So the work of ruling and subduing, multiplying and filling.

[19:31] And that would include, well, if you use your imagination, all the things that includes gardening, watering, digging, so they'd have to invent spades to do digging, mining, there was gold, you might remember, so that has got to be, you've got to get there, traveling, which probably involves in the absence of GPS, and Google Maps, which they didn't used to have, I don't just point that out, they would have to do maps, they would have to think about transportation, and there were some rivers, so bridges would become quite important, maybe boats, harvesting, because there's that whole thing about eating, cooking, counting would become quite important, wouldn't it?

[20:13] So all sorts of human endeavors, God says, this is what I want you human beings to do, and if you now are involved in gardening, or building bridges, or counting things, or exchanging money, so that these things can go forward, or cooking, or all sorts of things, God says, yeah, that's what I wanted you guys to do, just carry on doing it, because that was what you were destined to be, and if you enjoy your work, you think, I actually quite like doing this, then God says, that's brilliant, because that's what I made you to do.

[20:49] Oh, what else do I put here? Nurturing, training, teaching, organizing, adorning, celebrating, writing poetry, and songs, all these things are part of the human enterprise, I ought to put playing football as well, all these sorts of things are part of what God has made us to do, and can I just point out that manual labor is not to be despised, because Adam was the ruler, he was the king in the garden, and the work of the king was to serve the ground and to look after it.

[21:29] That's manual labor. There's a thing in many western societies which says, doing manual labor is not a decent job, you need to be an accountant or an IT consultant or something like that, and God says, okay, I've got nothing against accountants and IT consultants, but being a gardener is absolutely fine, doing manual labor, making things, picking things up, washing things, that's fine, don't think that your labor is without dignity or value in the eyes of God if you're doing manual labor.

[22:11] It has to be said in Sri Lanka where the whole education system is set up for that top 5% who are going to be civil engineers, accountants, and doctors, and everybody else doesn't count for anything.

[22:22] That's a slight exaggeration, but Christianly, you'd say, no, those people, you don't have to be an accountant or a doctor to be an important in the eyes of God. So the education system ought to reflect that, it seems to me.

[22:36] Manual labor is fit for a king. You've stolen my next point, which is absolutely right. To work is not a curse, it's not a curse to work, it is fulfilling a dignified destiny, and if you're somebody without work, it would be a good prayer to pray, Lord, provide me with something fruitful and productive to do.

[23:03] It doesn't have to be paid, doesn't have to be sophisticated, but working is part of our destiny. Now, it is not without frustration or conflict or pain or effort, but to deprive someone of work, it seems to me, is to reduce their likeness to their creator.

[23:28] We're made in God's image as workers. It's not the same thing as being a robot or a slave, it's a dignified thing, and to prevent somebody from doing that, as some of our UK legislation does in some ways, is to diminish people, which is a wrong thing.

[23:49] So, that was work destined and spoiled, and we'll now go over to the New Testament at work restored. And, when I say New Testament, I'm talking about what Jesus brought in, the difference it makes to have Jesus Christ having come, having died on the cross, having risen again, and calling people to follow him.

[24:16] The difference this single person makes is astonishing. And, I was going to say that as well, Julia. Please don't apologize, you're absolutely right.

[24:30] Our Lord Jesus, we're told, was the son of a carpenter. And, we presume that, while his earthly father was alive, his earthly father would have said to him, come here, let me show you how to sharpen a chisel properly.

[24:46] Or, come here, let me show you how to saw a piece of wood without sawing your thumb off. You know, you put your thumb that way, put the blade next to it so that it doesn't jump over. And, we presume that Jesus himself would have known about manual labor, the son of the carpenter.

[25:09] Jesus' heavenly father gave him work. In John 4, 34, Jesus says, I have food to eat that you know nothing about.

[25:20] My food is to do the will of my father and to finish his work. So, Jesus was a worker. He had a task before him and he worked it through until when he died on the cross he said of his work, you remember the words, it is finished.

[25:40] He finished the work God had gave him to do, his father had given him to do. And, it was food and drink to Jesus to work.

[25:52] And, what I want to try and say, which is really the only thing I want to try and say this morning, is it is a key component in the truly spiritual life for us too. John Murray, who was a Scottish theologian who moved to America, very precise in all his writing and very insightful, says this in one of his books, it is a mark of the faith of Jesus and an index of the fruit of the spirit of Christ that we earn our livelihood and provide for those who are dependent on us.

[26:32] So, he's saying that far from being an irrelevance or a distraction to the spiritual life, broadly speaking, I know there would be exceptions, but broadly speaking, our work life is a mark of the faith of Jesus and an index, a sort of a measurement of the fruit of the spirit of Christ in us as we, the way we work and what we do with the fruit of our work, how we view our work and so on.

[27:06] So, that's what I'd like to enlarge on that thought as we think of work restored. And there are two texts for us to look at and this one is going to be in Colossians.

[27:23] So, if you turn to Colossians chapter 3 and while you're finding it, let me say that when we get there, it's going to talk about slaves and masters and I just say that slaves slavery would be the normal or anormal work arrangement for many people in the New Testament in those times.

[27:52] That was their method of employment. And Paul doesn't stop to criticise slavery as such, but he does say that there's a right way to deal with people at the level of fundamental principle for masters and there's a right way for the slaves to respond and think of the masters for whom they're working.

[28:25] So, I've said that slavery was the normal method. He doesn't stop to criticise slavery. Though the Bible does criticise what it calls man-stealing, which is to forcibly treat somebody as a commodity.

[28:42] But what the Bible does command is fair treatment of slaves. So, it talks about just treatment, fair reward for their labours.

[28:52] And that's the centre of the sort of things the Bible says. Now, in Colossians chapter 3 verse 22, it says, slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything and do it not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour but with sincerity of heart and reverence for, notice, for the Lord.

[29:18] Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

[29:33] It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong. There is no favouritism. Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

[29:54] That's what he says in Colossians chapter 3. So, there is the thought of obedience to earthly masters and it says obey your earthly masters in everything with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

[30:29] So, there is an idea of reverence and doing this before the Lord. Verse 23, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men.

[30:48] and 3.24, you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

[31:01] Christ will value this work and tangibly reward you in the future. Now, I think that there is something quite revolutionary about this way of looking at work.

[31:18] He says, it is the Lord Christ you are serving. In verse 25, he says that negligence, irresponsible, dishonest work does matter and it matters even if your employer hasn't noticed it.

[31:37] Do you see? I think this is quietly revolutionary. This morning's talk work is not a dramatic subject or a dramatic presentation but it is no less revolutionary for that because for many of us work is what we spend most of our time doing and the Lord is saying your work really matters.

[32:13] your work is not the bit of your life when the Lord is miles away and is just useless and pointless.

[32:24] Your work and let's just put it this way is worship. It's something offered to the Lord. So when you are fixing a tap or writing an invoice or delivering a product or preparing your ingredients you are doing it for the Lord.

[32:50] That's amazing. Seems to me that's an amazing thing. It also has implications for the principles of supervision. If you're a manager though your company might say you just get the most work out of your employees that you can possibly do without killing them.

[33:14] The Bible says you give them what is fair and right because potentially you are brothers and sisters in the kingdom. Let's look at the there's another text as well which is worth looking at although it says well because it says more or less the same things.

[33:34] Ephesians 6 5 to 9 which were the verses that Ruth read to us. This is now in Ephesians chapter 6 where it says slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear.

[33:54] So you've still got this idea of respectfulness. That's a difficult one in our society because we don't have a very good vocabulary of respecting an office.

[34:08] So there's like a policeman is a policeman and the policeman also might be Brian Smith. So there's a person and an office and I think the Bible would say you respect the office.

[34:24] Brian Smith the person filling the office you might have different views on but you should respect the office. So we're in Ephesians 6 slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart just as you would obey Christ.

[34:42] Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you but like slaves of Christ doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly as you were serving the Lord not men because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does whether he is slave or free and masters treat your slaves in the same way do not threaten them since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no favouritism with him the argument that your brother and sisters potentially so this respectfulness to the earthly masters as to Christ not just winning favour when they're watching but serving Christ doing the will of God from the soul from the heart it's the will of God in that sense for us to be doing work and when you go to work if

[35:42] God has given you the work of I don't know what it might be a traffic warden that's an honourable thing to do it's the right! people may not appreciate it but it is an honourable thing to do it for the Lord it's the will of God for you to do that in an honourable way and Christ will take it as worship and service to him serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord not men and he will reward you for the good that you do isn't this remarkable so God will look at the patience with which you dealt with those difficult motorists the thoughtfulness the fact that you stood your ground when you were in the right all the things that a traffic warden would have to put up with the things that you you're doing the will of

[36:46] God and the Lord will say well done that was good I reward that and that is true if you're washing cups and saucers if you're clearing up cigarette ends from outside a pub whatever it might do whatever it is you might be doing Lord Jesus in this revolutionary way says you thought you were doing it for Brighton and Home City Council or whoever it was you thought but actually you're doing it for me and that essay that you were doing you're doing it for me says Jesus and that thesis that you're doing and that degree that you're studying for you do it for the Lord and I think this is absolutely revolutionary to our idea of daily work there are all sorts of challenges you notice the not only thing about respect but about whole heartedness what did it say in

[37:51] Colossians did it say cheerfully or did it just say whole heartedly work at it with all your heart there's one place where it says simplicity and I've now got them mixed up in my mind but the idea of not doing work grudgingly and complainingly which is a real challenge isn't it because in many of our workplaces that is just the norm to say see what he's giving me to do now see how little we get paid see how unrealistic these expectations are and of course those things might be true but we're still to work wholeheartedly positively for the Lord Jesus you notice that he said where was it obey your masters even if they're not around not around what's there something about if they're harsh or am

[39:01] I getting myself in a muddle because I've got two references this doctrine is teaching us that

[40:07] Christ is there in the workplace saying whether we heed it or not he's saying this is for me I want you to do this for me I am there watching I am there observing I am there receiving what you're doing and we can use words loosely and sometimes it gets into our heads and we make a mistake worship isn't just singing worship isn't just what we do on a Sunday worship is the way we live and that includes our work which is an offering to Jesus Christ that's what it says so even the most rubbish job as you might see it is turned to precious worship you know I've got to unblock this loo yet again yuck but the Lord says well you can do that for me we're liberated from human approval so the boss might say well

[41:14] I haven't actually seen what you've done you've you know you're doing wallpapering you've wallpapered it over I don't know what was underneath that now Jesus says well I saw it I saw how you did that we're liberated from human indifference I'm doing this for you Lord you've seen what I did we're given a work ethic that is not based on doing as little as possible that would be a very pragmatic work ethic I think it's there in some cultures in a way they say if nobody's watching if nobody's looking if nobody's checking what does it matter but Jesus says well I'm seeing I'm checking it does matter you do it for me we're told to be respectful of our superiors so it does have that idea that there are people who legitimately in God's will are allowed to tell us what to do and I say and I haven't as you can see

[42:14] I haven't got a verse to back it up but I think it is saying despite their character and despite their performance we're still to be respectful towards them and I think that that is justifiably wish to complain to your employer and say this is not the way to treat employees but Christianly we're not allowed to allow that to spill over into belittling our employer and in our minds saying well that's just a stupid old we're not allowed to think that we can say the way I was treated was wrong but we're still to pursue our complaint in a respectful way I think that's very difficult yeah thank you tell us what it is thank you very much

[43:16] David you've saved me yeah thank you very much yeah so this the whole I mean I'm not trying to embark on the whole field of industrial relations but I think we can say that Christianity has a different take on it to just the power struggle of doing as little as possible for as much as possible or getting the most out of my employees and paying them as little as possible and even resolving conflicts in a God honouring way the whole it becomes a huge area for spiritual engagement perhaps we should pray more for one another in the workplace so when there are problems we're to deal with them in a spiritual manner which is not an easy thing to do particularly if we have harsh and unfair management so that was number three the restoration of work and number four the fulfilment of work well the bible doesn't actually have much to say about how our earthly skills and achievements carry on into the resurrection but we are still human in the resurrection that's the point of the resurrection isn't it we don't become disembodied floaty spirits we become resurrected new humanity just as

[44:45] Jesus was resurrected in a physical body so we can presume that work in some sense is part of the world to come I think it might have been Tim Keller or it might have been my wife telling me that Tim Keller might have said this in the city of God we won't actually need evangelists but we will probably need bricklayers because it's got a lot of bricks and stones isn't it it's huge that's a little bit of an anecdotal thought in what way will work continue in the world to come I don't honestly know but there is a promise of reward for good work now so in that sense the work that we have done is recognized and valued and there are glimpses of work in the world to come so Paul says to his to the Corinthians you will judge angels well there's apparently some judging work to be done so we better all line up behind where is to get our law degrees sorted out by the time we come to that the correct legal procedure for judging angels and there's a parable that

[46:09] Jesus told about somebody who's faithful with a small amount given larger work to do you've been faithful in a small thing have charge of ten cities the parable says maybe the things that we're doing now will be equipping us for some fantastic wonderful work in the world to come I don't know exactly but I think we can be confident that something like that is the case so Paul says this in the light of the resurrection always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain perhaps he was thinking of evangelistic work or something like that but I think we're entitled to broaden that out into all the work that we do is for the Lord he says give yourselves fully to it it's not a waste of time it's not a meaningless thing it's not something that eternity will just erase and forget as if it had never happened he says it's not in vain our labor in the

[47:26] Lord is not in vain but wonderfully worth it through Jesus Christ to whom be honor and glory forever and ever we're going to close by singing a song and the song is on the screen and it's this song by George Herbert which he wrote well George Herbert the date I've got is 1633 so it's a little bit it's not contemporary Christian music if you put it that way it needs explaining so I hope the explanation won't be as long as