Culture Wars
Work & Worship
This is a thought provoking lesson in the fact that many people (Christians included) don't see the connection of these two words - work & worship. Work is secular, worship is spiritual. If you are retired, please share how you looked at this understanding before, and if you are still working, please share how you might still be wrestling with this connection.
From the opening pages of Scripture, work is
presented as a good gift from God. Before sin entered the world, God created
humanity in His image and entrusted them with meaningful responsibility.
Genesis 1–2 shows us that work is not accidental nor merely a means of
survival; it is part of God’s original design.
God calls His people to steward what He has
made, to cultivate creation, and to reflect His character through faithful
labor. When our work is connected to God’s mission and aimed at God’s pleasure; it becomes an act of worship. Our vocation (wherever God has placed us) is one
of the primary ways we live out our identity as image-bearers and participants
in God’s ongoing work in the world.
Genesis 1:26-31 & Genesis 2:15
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man
in His own image, in the image of God He created Him; male and female He
created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that
moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant
yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in
its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and
to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for
food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold,
it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in
the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
The
Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001
by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Genesis
1:26-31; Genesis 2:15
Discussion Questions
- How does Genesis 1–2 challenge the idea that work is a curse or a necessary evil?
- Why is it important to remember that we are stewards, not owners, of our work and resources?
- In what ways has your view of work been shaped more by culture than by Scripture?
- How does seeing your work as worship change your motivation or attitude?
- What might it look like to view your job, or daily responsibilities as a mission field?
Closing Thoughts
Work Where God Has Placed You.
God has intentionally placed you where you
are — not by accident, but for His purposes. Faithfulness in your work is one
of the primary ways you reflect Christ.
Be Salt and Light Through Stewardship.
Living on mission often looks ordinary:
working with integrity, serving others, and honoring God in daily
responsibilities. When done for His glory, ordinary work becomes extraordinary
worship.
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