Let me give you nine reasons why Jesus is brilliant.

Hebrews 1:1 ‘Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son’.

Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever lived and will ever live who has been able to speak about God with unparalleled authority, clarity and finality. Whilst there have been many human prophets who have spoken what God gave them to say, none of them was divine. Jesus was. The incarnation is one of the most extraordinary events in human history. In the birth of Jesus Christ as a man, God pitched up on His planet and spoke.About Himself. And so, whilst there are many who will claim to tell us the truth about God, none of them can do so with any degree of authority. But Jesus can.

Romans 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Jesus Christ is the only person who has lived and will ever live a life of sinless perfection. But he did so, not so much to be admired but to be trusted. His life of moral righteousness has value not for him alone. It’s been transferred to those who follow him. As God now looks at us He sees not our shameful and wicked imperfections, He sees Jesus. And so, whilst there are many who will model for us what it is to live a godly life not a single one of them can actually give us the righteousness that we need. But Jesus has.

1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus Christ is the only person who has given himself to propitiate the Father’s wrath. The language might not be familiar but the concept isn’t. Essentially Jesus swapped places with us. He took our place so that instead of us facing God’s righteous anger on our sinful independence, he did. He took the hit so that we won’t have to. And so,whilst there are many who will make great sacrifices for us. No one will ever put their life on line like Jesus has.

1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Jesus Christ is the only person who has died and been raised to life again such that he will live forever. As a result of his resurrection, death has been defeated. Although our time on this earth may be short and death may bring a premature end, our lives will not end in the grave. Death will come to us all but it will not be the last thing that we experience. It will not have the last word.And so,whilst there are many who promise to comfort us in the face of death, none of them can transform it. But Jesus has.

5.      No one else has given us spiritual rebirth

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Jesus Christ is the only person who can literally reconfigure our essential nature. He’s the one in whom we can experience new birth.  Whilst we don’t want to exaggerate the blessings of the Christian life, because it brings with it hardships and suffering of its own, do you want to have any other life? But nevertheless Jesus promises us a whole new spiritual existence. And so, though there’s no shortage of people promising to transform our lives, all they’re talking about is turning over a new leaf. But Jesus wenables us to start a new life.  

6.      No one else provides us with wise direction for life

Colossians 2:1 For I want you … to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

Jesus Christ is the only person who can provide us with the wisdom we need to navigate our way sensibly through the issues of life. We face a multitude of issues with ever increasing complexity. How do we know what to believe and what to do? In Christ and His word we’re promised all the wisdom we need on all the issues that matter.And so, whilst there are many who write disposable paperback self help manuals promising to reveal the secret of successful living, Jesus alone can make us wise.

7.      No one else is praying for the church at the Father’s side

Romans 8:34 ‘Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus prays for us. It’s not that he simply stands in His Father’s presence as a visible reminder of his mediatorial work. He speaks in His Father’s presence with audible requests. Is that not an incredible thought? At this very moment Jesus is standing in His Father’s presence asking Him to give us everything we need to live for Him. And so, whilst there are many who claim to have the ear of someone who can help us, no one really has the influence that Jesus does.

8.      No one else sent his Spirit to help us live for God

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Jesus Christ has sent us his Spirit. The Spirit is another helper, just like Jesus was. Jesus is a man and he’s in heaven. But he promises to be personally present with us by his Spirit. Jesus is now with us by his Spirit to help us trust him, follow him, obey him and speak about him. And so, whilst there are many who claim to be able to empower us to live the life we’ve always wanted. Jesus has made sure that we’re neither underpowered nor ill equipped to live the life of following him.

9.      No one else promised to return to renew the whole creation

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Jesus Christ will return. And when he does the world will experience a change the likes of which it hasn’t experienced since he first brought it into existence. Whilst we’ll have many questions about the nature of that event, its certainty is undeniable. And so, whilst there are many who hold out the promise of a new future no one can deliver it in the way that Jesus will.

Conclusion

I don’t know how your heart is towards Jesus Christ. That’s information known only to you, to him and to those you’ve chosen to share it. What I’m sure about is that without a heart motivated by passion for Christ the things he requires of us will feel like legalistic obligations. Only Christ can make us willing and glad to serve him in sacrificial obedience. Only he will persuade us to use our time, talents and treasure for his cause. It’s only as we consider all that we have in him our service for him will be joyous rather than dreary. 

We’re thinking about the issue of motives for work. Or, as one article put it, here are some reasons to get out of bed in the morning!

First, here are some preliminary points.

i. God is a worker (Genesis 1:1)

The Bible begins by describing God’s creative activity; His work. Having created the world God didn’t crack open a tinny and settle down in front of the TV. He carried on working. And even now He’s still at work upholding and sustaining His creation. If He weren’t, the whole universe would collapse. As you’ll have detected, my understanding of the physics at this point is somewhat shaky!

Of course, when God became a man, He joined the working class. He got himself a blue collar job as a tradesman. And so God dignifies work by being a worker Himself. To be a worker is thoroughly godly.

ii. God created humanity to work (Genesis 1:26-28 & 2:15)

In Genesis 1 God created humanity in His own image. He did so because He wants us to rule over His creation. We’re an integral part of His plan for His world. The specific job He’s given us is sometimes known as ‘The Creation Mandate’. It has two aspects to it. First, we’re to work in the world and secondly, we’re to work in the home. In the home we’re to be fruitful and raise families. In the world we’re to subdue the earth and take care of it.

So unless He’d created the human race, God’s world would have been incomplete. It would have looked like a student garden. The world needed to be subdued and controlled. And that’s where we come in. Our job is to cultivate the earth on His behalf. And so Adam was a gardener. But he was less interested in landscaping than turning it to productive use as a vegetable patch, more Richard Briers than Monty Don. And so because God has made us rulers of His world we must work to take care of it. Like Him we’re to bring order out of chaos. What this will mean has massive implications. All of our work is involved in some way in subduing the earth. As Graham Beynon has written,

‘Whether you manage the world’s finances, develop the world’s communication systems; whether you care for the world’s sick, teach at a primary school or mend the world’s roads, it’s all part of working so as to rule the earth’.

G. Beynon, jesus@work - Being a Disciple for Christ in the Workplace, 10 Publishing, p13

This has two immediate consequences.

a. Work is good

There’s nothing intrinsically bad about work. It was part of the original creation. It’s what God had in mind for us to do. Therefore we mustn’t despise work. It’s not something from which we ought to find escape. Though we’re also made for rest, we won’t find fulfilment in retirement or in recreation. Often we don’t think like that. Work is what happens in between the weekends. And we live for the weekends. Or we say that work is what we do to pay for our holidays. That’s a thoroughly depressing and dangerous view of work. It neglects the goodness of what God has given us.

b. God values all work

Since God made the world and everything in it there can be no division between the secular and the spiritual. God is concerned with all our life, including our work. As much as we value what we might describe as spiritual work [by which we mean gospel ministry] we must be wary of diminishing the significance of secular work. I don’t think the distinction is helpful or accurate. All work is spiritual. With the exception of work that’s ungodly, there’s no such thing as work that’s unspiritual. And we’re all called to be Christian workers. As Vaughan Roberts writes,

‘We can be made to feel that we are rather wasting our time running a business, working in an office, or doing housework. If we were really spiritual, it is implied, we would be pastors or missionaries’

V. Roberts, God’s Big Design, IVP, p10

Or Mark Greene,

‘Work is not an intermission from the main action, something we do so we can then do other things; it is an integral part of the main action, an intrinsic part of our walk with God’

Mark Greene, Thank God it’s Monday, Scripture Union, p30

It’s not the case that gospel work is more spiritual than secular work. We’ll think more about when we consider the question of where we should work.

iii. God has frustrated our work

When God made the world He was chuffed to bits with what He’d done. There was nothing remotely wrong with it. But in Genesis 3 something happened to turn a good thing into a frustrating thing. Something happened to spoil it. The rebellion of our forefather Adam had massive consequences not only for Him and His wife but also for everyone He represented, namely us.

a. It affects our relationship with God

We don’t want to do what God tells us. We’re not interested in submitting to His rule and direction. We want to do our thing our way. And so work is now viewed through the perspective of our desires and motivations rather than seeing it as an integral part of being created in God’s image. So don’t expect everyone to be playing by the same rules in the workplace. And be wary of being asked to act in ways that are ungodly. For those of us in jobs where the ethical issues are perhaps more evident we should expect to be pressured to compromise.

b. It affects our relationship with others

And so we won’t always get along with our work colleagues. We’ll argue and disagree. We’ll resent their instruction and leadership. We’ll be unable to control those for whom we have responsibility to lead. For those of us in jobs with lots of personal relationships expect this to feature strongly.

c. It affects our relationship with creation

As a result of our rebellion God cursed the ground. And so trying to subdue and shape it is no longer the delightful activity that God intended it to be. Without wishing to personify the creation, it would be fair to say that the ground is no longer compliant. Adam’s attempts to work it will produce ‘thorns and thistles’ for him to contend with. Sin has always tainted human work. Even the best of it is spoiled by injustice, exploitation, immorality, cheating, greed and arrogance. For those of us in jobs where we come up against creation expect frustration as ‘creation’ refuses to conform to our desires.

Theerfore we should expect our work to be frustrating because we’re not able to enjoy our work in the way we would have done if Adam hadn’t eaten the fruit. So we need not only to have a positive view of work, which is what we’d have if all we read was Genesis 1&2. But we also need to have a realistic view of work, which we get when we include Genesis 3. Work will never be what it ought to be. We’ll have to contend with the modern day equivalent of thorns and thistles. They’ll be setbacks, mistakes, exasperation and so on. There’s no such thing as perfect job satisfaction this side of the New Creation. We’re foolish if we were to expect work to provide us with the fulfilment and satisfaction that we want.

iv. God instructs us to work

God instructs us to work for four principal reasons

1. We work so that we don’t scrounge from others (2 Thessalonians 3:7&8)

When he was in Thessalonica Paul worked hard as a tent maker so that he wouldn’t be a burden to the church. If he was to survive then either he needed to work or someone else needed to work to support him. He wanted them to receive the gospel from him rather than him receive support from them. Love demands that we don’t sponge off others. Where possible we should avoid being dependent on anyone else. We’re to work so that we can survive and provide the food, clothing and shelter that we need. On the whole, if we’re not prepared to work then we shouldn’t expect to have any of those things. Obviously we’re talking about those who could work but don’t not those who can’t work but would like to. That’s an important distinction.

2. We work so that we can serve the community (Galatians 6:9&10)

As Christians, God calls us to do good to everyone. And so, we should serve the local community and not just the church community. Sure, we’re especially concerned to look after our Christian brothers and sisters but we’re not to be exclusively concerned for their welfare. God expects us to love our unbelieving neighbours. And so we ought to find a job where we can make a contribution to the common good. The odds are that we already have one but we might not have worked out how it fits into the bigger picture. It’s worth doing. How does your job make the community a more habitable and enjoyable place to live?

Our communities are built on the division of labour and interdependence of many varied jobs. John Stott writes,

‘Even in adult life, although we depend on God for life itself, we depend on each other for the necessities of life. These include not only the necessities of physical life (food, clothing, shelter, warmth, safety and health care) but also everything which makes up the richness of human life(education, recreation, sport, travel, culture, music, literature and the arts), not to mention spiritual nurturing. So whatever our job – in one of the professions (teaching, medicine, the law, the social services, architecture or construction), in national or local politics or the civil service, in industry, commerce, farming or the media, in research, management, the services or the arts, or in the home – we need to see it as being co-operation with God, in serving the needs of human beings and so helping them fulfil his purpose and grow into human maturity’

New Issues Facing Christians Today, p194

3. We work so that we can support our families (1 Timothy 5:3&4)

God reckons that families and not principally the state ought to be caring for one another. I guess that most unpaid work comes under this heading. For those of us that are stay at home Mums this attaches great importance to our work. It may be doing our heads in, but as we nurture and discipline our awkward toddler or we change yet another dirty nappy we’re bringing pleasure to the Lord because we’re doing what He’d have us do. We’re looking after our families. One of the things that struck me is that God’s creative work was unpaid. And whilst we may think there’s a strong correlation between the significance of someone’s work and the financial value that’s attached to it, God doesn’t agree. The free market isn’t always right! God was an unpaid volunteer craftsman and yet you’d be hard pressed to think of a more skilful and valuable work than God’s efforts in the creation of the universe!

4. We work so that we can share with the needy (Ephesians 4:28)

Instead of stealing, the thief is told to put his hands to good use so that he can have something to share with others. Our work therefore, is an opportunity to be generous to others. Whatever our views about the size and role of the Government, the principle of taxation is a right one. One way of looking at taxes is that the Government is ensuring that we fulfil God’s requirement to share with the needy! Does that help? We’re supposed to be working so that we can either earn something or produce something so that we can be generous and contribute to those who need our assistance.

Concluding Observations

Work is what we’re created for and so if we’re idle rather than being active or we’re being destructive rather than being creative then we shouldn’t expect to feel the fulfilment that our work was intended to create.

As Christians we recognise that we have a distinctive view of work.

We work because that’s why God created us. He’s created us in Hi image and given us a job to do. And one day He’ll reward us for our hard labour.

We work even though it’s tough and frustrating. We expect to know something of satisfaction from productive labour as we bring order out of chaos but we know it won’t ultimately fulfil us.  

We work because others are depending on us; our families but also the community. As long as it’s not immoral, every job contributes to the cultivation of God’s creation to make it a habitable and enjoyable place for people to live.

Every job that we do contributes in some way to the common good. John Stott, in his essay ‘Work and Employment’, cites the following illustration

‘The story is told of a man who, while taking a walk down a country lane, came across a stone quarry in which a number of men were working. He questioned several of them about what they were doing. The first replied irritably, ‘Can’t you see, I’m hewing stone’. The second answered without looking up, ‘I’m earning £100 a week’. But when the same question was put to the third man, he stopped, put his pick down, stood up, stuck out his chest and said, ‘If you want to know what I’m doing, I’m building a cathedral’.

J. Stott, New Issues Facing Christians Today, p195

Wouldn’t it be great if we could go to work with that sort of attitude in our hearts? 

‘The average person spends anywhere from 40-75% of his life in work or work related tasks …. He spends another 30% or 35% on his family and personal interests. And perhaps he spends as much as 5% or 10% on church or religious activities. Yet most Christian teaching addresses those areas in precisely the opposite proportions; a very heavy emphasis on religious matters, some help in regard to marriage and family, but little that speaks directly to the workplace’.

D. Sherman and W. Hendricks, Your Work Matters to God, p16

Good point!

The next few blog posts will attempt to redress that issue. God willing, three blog posts will follow in which we’ll deal with three big issues relating to work.

1. Why do we work?

We’ll think about where work comes from, what it’s for and so why we do it.

2. How do we work?

We’ll think about an appropriate attitude to work, to the way we work and to the colleagues with whom we work.

3. Where do we work?

We’ll think about the issue of what work should we do given the abilities God has given us, our opportunities and the reality of the New Creation.

A definition

John Stott defines work as,

‘the expenditure of energy (manual or mental or both) in the service of others, which brings benefit to the worker, benefit to the community and glory to God’.

J. Stott, ‘Work and Unemployment’, New Issues Facing Christians Today, Marshall Pickering, p196

That’s not bad, is it? I guess we could say that work is any productive activity in any sphere of life whether it’s paid or not that’s done to accomplish something that’s required. So whether we’re a city lawyer, a community volunteer, a stay at home Mum or a student in education, we’re all workers.

If we assume that we sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 hours and enjoy leisure activities the rest of the time, then a third of our lives are spent working, whether that’s in the workplace or not. So, if we live to be 90 years of age, then about 30 years will be spent working. That’s longer than some of us have been in existence. We’re going to try and think about those 30 years in the light of God’s wisdom.

Some disclaimers!

I’m not well qualified to talk about the workplace. 

I left secular employment 12 years ago and as my eldest son pointed out on holiday this year, I only work one day a week!

My secular employment was unusual. I had a string of part time jobs throughout my teenage years including landscape gardening, a car mechanic, a farmhand, builder and a belt maker. I got fired from one because of an incident with a mini and had to quit another because of hayfever. Happy days!

My two main jobs since leaving school were a Royal Naval Air Engineer Officer and a Schoolmaster at an Independent Boys’ Boarding School. They’re not exactly mainstream.

I am currently employed as the Senior Pastor of Christ Church Balham. There’s two of us now, and he’s younger. Though some of the things I do will be similar to the things that others do in the workplace, I’m aware that the complete package is quite unlike the work in which most of us are employed. For the record, it’s a great job and though there have been times when I’ve looked enviously at other forms of employment I do not currently wish to be doing anything else.

I’ve found the following books stimulating, helpful in preparation and I’m indebted to them for their material.

• Graham Beynon, Jesus@WorkBeing a Disciple for Christ in the Workplace, 10 Publishing
• M. Greene, Thank God It’s Monday, Scripture Union
• J. Hardyman, Glory Days: Living the Whole of your Life for Jesus, IVP
• J. Stott, New Issues Facing Christians Today,
• T Keller, sermons on work at www.redeemer.com sermon store 
• V. Roberts, ‘God’s Design for Work’, God’s Big Design: Life as He intends it to be, IVP
• Briefing articles by John Woodhouse, David Hohne, James Davidson & Tony Payne
• Evangelicals Now articles by John Benton

I entitled this series of posts ‘Taking Jesus to Work’ because of something I read in one of these books. If we don’t take Jesus to work then he’s just another leisure activity. We may not mean to, but in effect we’re saying that he’s not Lord of our working life. There’s part of our existence in which he’s exempt. But of course, if Jesus isn’t Lord of all, he’s not really Lord at all.