Audio Transcript

We talked about holiness and good works last time, and why our holy deeds are not filthy rags. That’s a common myth that needs to die. And we’re back on the topic of purpose, looking at what it means to be successful in our 9-to-5 jobs. That’s because today in our Bible-reading plan we read Proverbs 16:3 together: “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” That makes me think about work. And I know many of you listen to this podcast on your drive in to work in the morning, so this seems especially relevant right now. We’ve focused several podcast episodes on careers and calling, overworking, laziness, purpose and personal productivity — all those things we’ve covered, and for that see the APJ book on pages 67–94.

We get so many questions here because we don’t want to waste our lives. And that means we don’t want to waste our jobs. We invest so much of our lives at work, and it’s a place to pursue excellence. But why? And how? To what level? What does success look like here, on the jobsite and in the office? The question to get us started is from Dylan. “Hello, Pastor John. In Colossians 3:22–24, Paul exhorts his readers to ‘work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.’ Does this mean that any work not done in excellence is sinful? And how do we apply God’s view of work to cleaning our house, writing a paper for school, or working a 9-to-5 job? I have been feeling guilty about the way I handle these things for months now, and I’m not sure if I’m just being lazy, self-righteous, or am I disobeying the Lord?”

The first thing, with regard to his guilt, or feeling guilty, is that the Bible handles guilt in two ways — and both are very important, not just one. One is the blood of Jesus that covers all our sin, including how we do our work (and none of us does our work as well as we could; we’re always falling short of the ideal). One is the blood of Jesus that cancels our guilt. And the other is to resolve to walk and work faithfully before the Lord in the freedom of that forgiveness.

If we try to use the blood of Jesus as a free pass to walk in sin, our conscience will rise up and protest, thank God. And if we try to walk in faithfulness and obedience without relying on the blood of Jesus for forgiveness and enablement, we will either fail in despair or we will look like we succeed and become proud. It’s the two together — the blood of Jesus and the resolve of walking and working faithfully, obediently — that’s the key to the peaceful life of being forgiven before God and being vigilant over our hearts and minds as we go about our daily tasks.

So, what is God’s will for how we should do our ordinary work? And then in particular, what does working “as for the Lord” mean in Colossians 3:23? Let’s get the bigger picture first.

Before the Face of God

In the Bible, God makes a total, absolute claim on our lives, all of our lives — including all of our work of whatever kind. Everything in our lives is to be done before the face of God — in reliance upon God’s grace, according to God’s guidance, for God’s glory.

Listen to these amazing passages. This is Colossians 3:17: “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Isn’t that amazing? Every word, every deed “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Or 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Or Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways” — all your ways — “acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Or Proverbs 16:3: “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” Or one of my favorites, from Romans 14 (just because it’s so amazingly sweeping in calling us to live Godward lives):

The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:6–9)

Amazing. I love it. Oh, how I want to live to the Lord, before the Lord, always with reference to the Lord. All those texts have one basic message: We belong to God. We are not our own. Everything we do, from morning till night, is to be done in a Godward way, before his face — in reliance on his grace, guided by his will, aiming to make him look magnificent and glorious as our all-satisfying treasure. That’s what work is for. That’s what all of life is for.

And I don’t know whether Dylan knows my book Don’t Waste Your Life, but there’s a chapter called “Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5,” which tries to grapple with, How do you go about doing your daily work so as not to waste what it’s for?

How Do We Work?

Now, just a few words about Colossians 3. Here’s the text that Dylan is exercised about. It’s got the phrase in it, “work . . . as for the Lord and not for men.” It goes like this: “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord.” As for the Lord. So, work “as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:22–24).

“Everything we do, from morning till night, is to be done in a Godward way, before his face.”

So, work “as for the Lord.” And Paul modifies this command in five ways so we can know — there’s not much doubt here — how Paul thinks about this. There are five modifiers to what he means by “as for the Lord.”

1. Not to be done with “eye-service,” as men-pleasers: That is, you’re not just angling to impress others when you do your work. God, not others, is the one you have in view. You’re working in a Godward way first, not a manward way.

2. The opposite of eye-service is “sincerity,” he says. In other words, you really mean the good that your work is aiming to do. The work is not to impress others. The work is what it is. It’s for the good of others.

3. “Fearing the Lord”: in other words, fearing displeasing the Lord — having a reverential desire to please the Lord in the way you do your work.

4. Working “heartily”: literally “from the soul” — that is, not half-heartedly but putting your whole self into it.

5. Expecting a great reward from the Lord: Even if man gives you nothing for it, that doesn’t matter in the end. What matters in the end is that you’re going to get totally overabundance — a poured-down, pressed-together, overflowing-in-your-lap reward from the Lord.

Now, all five of those guidelines for how we do our work for the Lord are given to us not because the Lord needs our work. He doesn’t. Acts 17:25: “[God is not] served by human hands, as though he needed anything.” God doesn’t need our work. That’s not the point. Paul gave us these instructions because this will bring the greatest joy to us when we work this way, and it will show that God is our greatest treasure.