The Predicted and Unexpected Consequences of Work: Four Products of Human Enterprise (Part- 2)
In Part One we considered the products of work under two headings:
Outcomes for the neighbour
Outcomes for self
In Part Two we consider the products of work under the following headings:
Outcomes for God
Outcomes for heaven
Outcomes for God
A Voice in the Wilderness
As the door gently shut behind Bruce Simpson, his partner and long-time friend, Brandon O’Malley, looked over the desk and considered how to fit in Bruce’s “urgent” request. With message lights flashing, the unanswered emails running down the full length of his computer screen, and papers all over the office “screaming” for attention, Brandon felt a curious mixture of excitement and anxiety. Bruce’s client, an unsophisticated Korean businesswoman, was about to be evicted by an unscrupulous landlord from the store space at the prestige shopping center after having invested over $1,000,000 in improvements. The familiar sense of outrage about an injustice rose in Brandon and he knew this was a case perfect for his skills as a litigation lawyer and his penchant for the underdog. Yet at a deeper level there was a small voice longing to be heard.
This was year twenty-five in Brandon’s practice, the first twenty spent working for the Colorado Department of Lands and the past five years working as a member of Imago Law Group – a firm of ten lawyers united by their shared Christina faith and their desire to be in mutually supportive and discipline relationships. The son of an immigrant alcoholic father and a very dependent mother, Brandon sought all of his life to prove himself and to care firstly for his mother and siblings and then for others, especially those who were unable to fight for themselves. It fit in well with his theology of Jesus as champion of the poor, homeless and oppressed. Brandon’s accomplishments were impressive: top of his class in his school days and a remarkable trial record as a lawyer.
After years of listening to Bruce’s “gentle” suggestions to leave government and work at a private practice, Brandon had decided to take the risk of starting a practice with the inception of the Imago Law Group. Now, five years later, Brandon had a practice that was bursting at the seams but was struggling financially. He worked of a blend of Bruce’s commercial clients (who usually paid him handsomely for his services) and downtrodden clients (who were often difficult to deal with and who were challenging when time for collecting fees came around). Despite the busyness, making money at the practice was difficult for Brandon because he lacked many of the disciplines essential to be the business side of law. Life was chaotic at most times. Calls would go unanswered. Deadlines would not be met. Bills would not go out on time. Retainers would not be obtained. Always available to meet with his fellow lawyers and staff, Brandon found himself working 12-15 hours a day and many weekends. Rarely did he say no to a request for services, either from a member of Imago or from a needy prospective client. His wife, Ann, and their children had learned to expect little in the way of time from Brandon and were happy with what they could get. At the bottom of the list were personal times of reflection, prayer and recreation. Brandon’s once intimate relationship with God was distant and only occasionally did Brandon sense the call of his Lord and even more rarely did he notice the deep cry of his own heart for “home”.
So it was strange that today Brandon would notice that a voice that raised questions about whether to take on one more case would keep him at the office until midnight and force him to yet again juggle his overwhelming work load. The new case was perfect: a great injustice that cried out for his unique skills as a litigator and negotiator; another chance to speak for the disempowered. So why the unease? Perhaps just indigestion, and yet….
****
The outcomes to work experienced by God are elaborated in Scripture in several ways: First, we can actually work for God. Second, God is the ultimate recipient of our work, at least some of it (Is Brandon’s work pleasing and blessing God because he is doing God work in defending the marginalized?). Third, God is pleased with some work and we will need to ask what makes work pleasing to God (Is it the religious character of the work?).
1. We can work for God.
This is the transformative insight offered by Paul to the Colossian slaves and masters in Colossae. Twice he says to them, “It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Col 3:23-24). Some people have suggested that if Christians shut their mouths for a year (no verbal witness) and simply worked with Jesus as their boss, as Paul says with “reverence,” that more people would be attracted to Christ than the present noisy Christian witness.
2. God is the ultimate recipient of our work.
The Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matt 25:31-46) indicates God receives the products of our work. “I was hungry and you fed me.” “You changed my diapers.” “You represented me in court.” “You designed my cell phone.” “You served a meal to me at my restaurant table.” To these the Master gives the grace of truly entering eternal life. The key to understanding the strange separation of people in the parable is surprise. The righteous who heard the Master say, “I was hungry and you fed me” are truly surprised. They did serve a neighbour by food-giving, whether as alms or in the food industry, but they did not consciously do this thinking “I am not really loving my neighbour; my neighbour is just a mask for Jesus who is really the one I am serving.” In the same way the surprised unrighteous might have said, “I would have gladly fed and clothed the Lord Jesus but did not think that in serving my needy neighbor I was actually serving Jesus.” So behind this affirmed work is gratuitousness – doing something not for the effect gained but for its own sake. The righteous have love in their hearts and work for love, not to gain points and approval with the Master. And the spirituality of work has this purpose: to set people up to be surprised on the last day when we and our work are evaluated.
3. Good work contributes not only to God directly but to the Kingdom of God, the rule of God.
Most people think that Kingdom work is stated Christian work that leads people to know God and enter his forever family. This is obviously good work though it may be done in a bad way and often is done badly. Sometimes ministry is called “soul work.” Some people who have become successful in “body” or this world work – whether in business or a profession - reach a turning point in their lives, usually about half-time, when they want to do something significant, something that will last for eternity – a subject to which we will return. They call it “soul work.” So they go into the ministry. But this seems to imply that “God has a wonderful plan for the second half of your life” when in fact God has a wonderful purpose for our whole lives. In fact we can be doing Kingdom work in making shoes, selling condominiums, building a house, creating a home environment, counselling, driving a truck, giving financial advice and keeping accounts.
The Kingdom of God is the rule of the sovereign and the response of the people. It is a powerful persuasive sway in human affairs and in the world, an influence reflecting the purpose and will of King Jesus. Jesus is the Kingdom of God in his person. And we learn from Jesus that the Kingdom is spiritual, personal, social, economic, and cosmic. The church is not the Kingdom but is mandated to serve the Kingdom as a sign and sacrament. One of the major problems of the church today is that it conceives its ministry as “bringing in the church,” rather than bringing in the Kingdom. So the Kingdom must not be relegated to personal piety, to the best social program society has invented (such as democracy), to the present form of the church or merely to spiritual activities. It cannot be relegated solely to the future since Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God has come, as well as it is coming in fullness when he returns.
Kingdom work creates wealth, brings wholeness or shalom, grapples with powers that are resistant to the life-giving rule of God, embellishes and improves human life, as well as brings people them to embrace the rule of God in their own lives, something which is usually called “ministry.” So all kinds of people doing good work in the world are actually serving the Kingdom of God. Many who know the King do not know this. Some are doing so without even knowing the King. And some believers, some possibly in stated Christian ministry, may not actually be doing Kingdom work!
****
Returning to the case study, we see that Brandon has a Kingdom orientation in what he doing – namely in bringing justice to the oppressed and advocating for the poor and marginalized. He is not motivated primarily by greed. His work has in intrinsic value (as did his work for the government) and, as complex as our legal system is, he intends to bring good out of evil – an essential redemptive activity – the Lord’s work. But Brandon is struggling with the source of his work – his relationship with God. His soul is withered through lack of nurture. His work for God and neighbour has become an alternative to love for God and as such it lacks faith, hope and love. As Jesus “dismissed the crowds” to be alone with the Father (Matt 14:22) Tom needs to limit work, to say “no” and to regard his time alone with God as important as rescuing the downtrodden. Further, the doctrine of vocation, that God calls human beings to a comprehensive investment in life that includes family and relationships, is something which Tom is short-changing. Tom is called not just to be a justice worker but also a father and husband, a friend and a citizen.
Outcomes for Heaven
A Higher Call?
"I'm counting on you, Murray, to set Robert straight and get him to accept his share of the company loan. I know he feels called to the mission field but that does not absolve him from his responsibility to me." As Murray listening to these words in his home he recalled how deeply he cared for both Bill and Robert, and how concerned he was that God's call not divide these brothers. "We are business partners," Bill continued, "and we started this business feeling that God had called us to a ministry together. I know Robert has arranged to see you later this morning and I thought I should see you first. You are a friend to us both and an elder of our church." Minutes after Bill left, the doorbell rang and Robert was on the doorstep. Murray wondered how so much could happen in a few days and why he felt so much "in the middle."
Two weeks before in their regular "discipling" time Robert had dropped the bombshell to Murray: "At the mission conference I got the call--just as clear as my wife's voice--indeed she heard the call too. We are both absolutely convinced that God is calling us to the mission field to do student work in Zambia. For too long I have been doing work that will not last. Now I want to see some eternal souls saved and to contribute to Heaven.” Murray recalled how ambivalent he felt about Robert's call as he invited him in and picked up the conversation again. "My wife and I," continued Robert, "were hoping the church would send us out and undertake a large part of our monthly support. We also would like you to prayerfully consider becoming one of our prayer and support partners. The needs are tremendous." Robert could hardly have known that Bill had just left the home, and he seemed to have forgotten what happened three years ago.
Murray had met with both of them three years ago when they formed a business partnership and company, Widget Electronics, a high-tech assembly operation now employing twenty-five people. Bill, over fifty and much older than Robert, was the major shareholder and had guaranteed 75% of the company loan with his personal residence. Against Murray's advice Bill had not insisted that Robert sign a guarantee for his 25% share of the company loan. So legally Robert could walk away from it--something he felt justified in doing in view of having now a higher call on his life.
"What about the loan?" Murray asked inquiringly.
"We were hoping Bill would take it on--he's so much better established than we are and is well able to do it. This business is like a hobby to him."
"Can you sell your house?"
"We thought we should keep it and rent it so we have something to come back to."
"And the business?"
"I had hoped that it would yield enough to allow me to retire early and do something in the Lord's work--but it's been sheer survival and doesn't look like it will improve."
"Did you know that Bill was just here?"
"No! What did he say?"
"He said that you have 'peace' about all this and he has the 'pieces'!"
"This is certainly not turning out as I had hoped," Robert commented as he left the home.
Moments later the telephone rang. It was Bill asking Murray to set up a meeting with the elders with both of them to resolve the issue once and for all.
****
1. Two burning questions.
First, the case above raises the question of whose work will outlast this world. Will any of our work in this life last into eternity, be present in the renewed creation that is called the New Heaven and New Earth in the last book of the Bible? Will only “soul work” last while making widgets will not last? Do we contribute to the New Heaven and New Earth by what work we do in this life – making are mark on heaven or investing in heaven?
Second, will we be working in heaven or only resting? Do we continue to contribute to the renewed creation of God and the people of God by working after we die.
Implicit in responding to these two questions are some fundamental Christian truths. First, the Christian view of the future is not the survival of the immortal soul but the full resurrection bodily of persons in Christ, a completely embodied future. Second, we are not going to be saved souls in heaven but complete human beings, glorified and renewed in a completely renewed creation. In Revelation 20:6 Jesus says, “I am making everything new.” That includes ourselves, our work and the whole of creation. Third, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the grave (1 Cor 15:20). When Jesus appeared to his disciples he got some fish (we do not know how) and made breakfast for the disciples. The resurrection of Christ is our tangible guarantee of our future and creation’s future.
2. Some work will last for eternity.
First Corinthians states that our work will be judged by Christ in the End. Some people’s work will survive, while some people’s work will perish though they themselves will survive as one saved through fire (1 Cor 3:13-15). Further, in the chapter on the bodily resurrection of believers Scripture affirms that our work “in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor 15:58). That work may be digging ditches, installing software, making a meal or preaching a sermon. It is not the religious character of the work that will make it survive. Scripture suggests that what makes work survive is that it is done with faith, hope and love, in other words, for the Lord (1 Cor 13:13). In First Thessalonians, Paul speaks of “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus” (1 Thess 1:2-3). So it is not the religious character of the work that makes it survive, but our relationship with God. Indeed it is not just “mere” survival for as 2 Peter3:10-13 suggests the end will be a refining process as though raw ore is put in a cauldron and the heat turned up, eliminating the dross and leaving the pure metal. Our work will be, according to Scripture, fire-tested and purged of sin, and will in its renewed state find its place in the New Heaven and New Earth. There is both continuity and discontinuity between this life and the next.
Will a bad computer programme (an obvious one comes to mind) survive the final fire or will it be purged of the curse that this programme is, and find its place in the happy computer carrels lined along the golden streets? We do not know. But we do know there will be no curse there. Even flawed work might be in the New Heaven and New Earth because the future is not the total annihilation of this present creation and our work within it, but the transformation of what God and humankind have done.
Popular belief claims that this whole world is going up in smoke, and all the things we have made will go with it, while people may hopefully have been evacuated from the distress on earth to enjoy a spiritual future forever in a brand new creation wholly made by God. Why would God destroy what he has lovingly made? In contrast with this pessimistic view of work and creation the Christian view of the future is that God refloats this earthly vessel wholly renewed rather than transferring the survivors to another lifeboat.
Second what work will last is a mystery. We have some faith-inspiring hints in Scripture. It is work “in the Lord.” It will be good work. And in some way beyond what we can imagine, decks built, meals cooked, clients heard, buildings designed, experiences created, purged of sin will contribute to the New Heaven and New Earth. But this leads to the second question: Will we be working in heaven? And if so what work?
3. Will we work in heaven?
First, God will be working in the New Heaven and New Earth. God has not stopped working and God will not stop working. In contrast, It is often thought that in this life we human beings worship and missionize but in heaven we will just be worshipping - endlessly singing the same worship songs over and over - hardly a joyous prospect. We have both theological and textual reasons to believe that we will not only worship in heaven but work. The theological reasons have to do with the nature of God and the nature of God-imaging human beings. God, as we find God revealed in Scripture is not only lover, beloved and love itself, as St. Augustine said so long ago. But God is also sender, sent and sending. Thirty-one times in the Gospel of John there is either sending within God or sending by God (for example John 20:21). Simply put, God is always going outside of God’s self, expressing, missionizing, and working. God is not only a being in communion but an ecstatic being - outgoing.
Will God stop being God when the human story on earth has been completed? How could he? Therefore we will expect God to be active in sending, persuading, reaching out and expressing God’s joyous and beautiful being in creating, sustaining and embellishing the New Heaven and New Earth. God will be as creative as God was when he started to make this five billion light year universe.
Second, human beings will be working in the New Heaven and New Earth. In the same way, human beings made in the image of God have as we have seen in Genesis both relationality (“Male and female he made them in his image”) and regency (“rule,” “have dominion,” “take care of”). In the New Heaven and New Earth people will be more human rather than less. People will not only worship (the relational and vertical dimension) but also express regency (the work and mission dimension). Work was given before sin and therefore before the need of redemption. Will we stop exercising dominion? Stop caring for creation? Stop serving our neighbour? That would mean stopping being human! So work must be part of our consummated humanity in the life to come.
Third, there are textual reasons as well for the proposal that we will work in the life to come. Revelation says that the kings of the earth bring their glories into the holy city and the nations bring their glories to contribute (Rev 21:24, 26). What can these “glories” be? The best of culture, crafts, commerce, communication, art, music, technology – all these must be possibilities. The National Museum in Teipei, Taiwan houses most of the treasures of six thousand years of Chinese craftsmanship, it is easy to imagine that incredible jade bowls, ceramics, enamelled vessels and even exquisite calligraphy will be there. Perhaps automobiles, cell phones, hand-made and some manufactured canoes, designer clothing, hand-made quilts, welded picnic tables, wonderful international meals, skyscrapers and tents, and farms will also be there.
“The deeds of Christians follow them” (Rev 14:13) not only in the sense that they survive but in the sense of continuing to do that work. The leaves of the tree of life, by the river of life, are for the healing of the nations (Rev 22:2). We can ask what needs to be healed in the New Heaven and New Earth? Could eternity then, as now, be continuous growth and continuous healing?
Isaiah prophecies that in the age of the messiah people will long enjoy the work of their hands (Isa 65:21-22). Jesus promised the disciples that they would rule with him in the new creation (Matt 19:28). In the Parable of the Talents, an end times parable, the two and five talent persons who did as good job investing their resources received more work to do!
Fourth, work in the New Heaven and New earth will be all that good work is in this life and more. Perhaps what we will be doing is what we have done in this life but without sweat and frustration. Perhaps we will do what we have always wanted to do but couldn’t either through lack of time and opportunity. Frustrated artists will have full scope for their talents. Town planners will have ample scope for design and implementation.
Play and work will be reunited again, as it was with us in childhood. And work and worship will be completely one. There will not only be a return to the whole-life worship and whole-life work of Adam and Eve before the Fall. The future is more than paradise restored. It is creation transfigured.
Our work will be kingdom work. It will be culturally diverse (Rev 7:9). There will be Chinese, First Nations (or aboriginals), German, English, South American, African perspectives on work and workers themselves. It will be corporate work expressing the ultimate relationality of humankind in a fulfilled creation. Globalization will be ultimately realized with a profound interdependence and rich cultural diversity. Work will be personally and complete satisfying, far more than was obtainable in this life - there will be no curse on the work or the workplace or the worker – that is gone completely. It will be consciously worshipful. It will be opus dei.
Some have argued that there will be marketing in heaven since human beings in their uniqueness will produce all kinds of products and services. Meanwhile their interdependence will require sharing and exchange – the heart of business. So people will be needed to help us make the choices!
There are two needs built into us by God, the need for adventure and the need for intimacy. The former seems to be stronger in men and the latter in women. Will these twin needs by met progressively and eternally? Yes.
****
The case study of Robert is too typical of so-called “Christian” mentality, that making widgets does not have any lasting value, while soul-work does. There are multiple issues facing Robert: his covenantal obligations Robert has to his business partner, even though not formally contracted; his desire to raise money for his own mission – a problematic issue today though almost universally practiced by mission organizations; and the individual way Robert clams to be discerning vocation and calling without a corporate discernment by the people of God. But Robert needs both to view his daily work as potentially contributing in some way to the New Heaven and New Earth. The old poem “only what’s done for Christ will last” is true. Work done for Christ lasts, not just religious work. In addition Robert needs to anticipate that after this life is over and he is in the New Heaven and New Earth he will not merely be rejoicing in the people he has had some part in bringing to faith in Jesus, but Robert will be working with head, heart and hands. It would be good to get started now.
Conclusion
So what are we to make of this?
The products of human enterprise bring blessing to the workers themselves – not only in provision but in spiritual growth. They bring blessing to God who is the ultimate recipient of our work. They are a practical way of loving our neighbours through provision, improvement, and adornment. Human work adorns society and is a major factor in developing community on earth, both locally and globally. And human work develops the potential of creation.
Jeffrey Salkin, a Jewish author, tells a story about two workers.
While walking in a neighbouring village late one night, a Hassidic rebbe met a man who was also walking alone. For a while, the two walked in silence. Finally, the rebbe turned to the man and asked, ‘So, who do you work for?’ ‘I work for the village,’ the man answered. ‘I’m the night watchman.’ They walked in silence again. Finally, the night watchman asked the rebbe, ‘And who do you work for?’ The rebbe answered, ‘I’m not always sure. But this I will tell you. Name your present salary and I will double it. All you have to do is walk with me and ask me, from time to time, ‘Who do you work for?’[i]
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