Work Redeemed in the Kingdom of God: An Eschatological Hope for Our Labour in the Lord-Part 1
Work is an integral part of civilization and has been since the beginning of our existence. But in a lot of ways, the current state of work often seems broken, fruitless, and even evil.[1] With the endless demands of a consumerist culture, unjust economic systems, and structures, the intense pace of change and advancement, and the exploitation and degradation of workers—there are a myriad of reasons why work is broken. But what if God offers us redemption and renewal for the present brokenness of work? What if we need a better theology and Christian vision of work that will help us reconcile this seemingly inescapable brokenness? Is it possible for all of us in our work contexts, broken as they are, regardless of industry, field, or practice, to experience our work as an enactment of God’s renewal in the world? My argument is that it is not only possible but a promise that all of us can experience God’s redemption in our work, no matter how tarnished or broken, made possible by Christ’s inauguration of his Kingdom in the world.
I will support my case by giving an overview of work through the arc of the Biblical story, from creation to new creation, focussing on the middle period in which we find ourselves today, the “already-not-yet” Kingdom of God. Following this I will dive into the depths of brokenness, acknowledging its presence in all work, and the pain we must bear as we long for its renewal in the age to come. I will then look at what ascension from this brokenness looks like—an eschatological vision for work made new in God’s Kingdom that begins here and now. I will conclude with our response to work’s brokenness in light of (1) the story of work through the Biblical lens, (2) a descent into the brokenness that is inevitable of all work, and (3) the eschatological vision of the impending renewal and redemption in God’s Kingdom through the work of his image-bearers. By the conclusion of this paper, I will hope to have substantiated my argument that all Christians in today’s world, in any context, can experience work as an enactment of Gospel renewal in the world.
Work in the Biblical Story Arc
Any discussion about work in the life of the Christian must be understood in the context of the arc of the Biblical story, which I describe with four pivotal movements. The first movement begins in Genesis with the creation account. Here we see work in the garden, “work as it was meant to be.” God first gives humanity a vision for the design and dignity of work in his good creation as part of the larger umbrella of vocation—what God has given all his image-bearers to live out as ministry in the world. In the next movement, sin enters the world and work becomes fallen and futile, a toil under the sun, “work as it is.” Here we see work in a fallen world, although still with the opportunity to serve God’s purposes. Following this is the third movement, Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, where we experience “work as it can be.” This is where we find ourselves today with a view of what work ought to be in the Kingdom that Jesus has inaugurated on earth. I will delve more into what this looks like in a later section. And the final movement, the restoration of work, work in the new heavens and the new earth, is “work as it will be.” This ultimate vision of work is based on what the Bible indicates about work in the new heavens and new earth that the Lord Jesus will consummate in the final days.
Work As It Was Meant to Be
The Bible’s story of the world opens with the Creator doing work, creating the earth and the cosmos, and culminating his work by creating man and woman in his image and likeness. Ross Hastings suggests that “in work, we participate in what has already been happening in the Trinity since the creation of the world.”[2] Given that man and woman are made in God’s image, called to be imitators of God, the Bible opening with this scene of God doing the work of creation has important implications for humanity.[3] Darrell Johnson would agree, suggesting that “without the recognition that the Creator created creation, and that he passes on the work of cultivating, forming, and filling creation, it is not possible to make sense of our existence.”[4] God gives man and woman, having been made in his image and likeness, a commission to have dominion, royal rule, over the earth and all that is in it, to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the whole earth.[5] Exercising this royal dominion over the earth as God’s representatives becomes the basic purpose for which God created men and women.[6] This is all intended to function under the blessing and provision of God as the Creation Mandate, in which each of us as image-bearers are invited to participate. God made Adam and Eve as visible representatives of his likeness, authority, and rule to make the world, which was already made good, to be made even better by their work.[7] God does not present his creation as a finished product, asking us to keep it exactly as it was originally created, rather his good creation needs work; he intends us to develop and change it. He creates a work-in-progress world for us to continue to create in.[8] God, in his abundant grace, invites humanity to bring the nature and character of God to bear on all living things in the world. With work built into the created order, any task humanity undertakes in God’s world flows from this Creation mandate. Therefore, all jobs related to stewardship, exercising dominion, and enabling human flourishing—whether that of farmers, engineers, software developers, physicians, judges, teachers, politicians, or managers—can all be seen in relation to our God-given vocation to steward the world.[9] Our work does not bestow on us our identity (God already did that by creating us in his image) but this is the way by which we express our likeness to God as creators, sustainers, and redeemers.[10] In Genesis 2:15 the first profession for humans was gardening. Here human work is shown to have worth and dignity as a service to God and as something that gives purpose to human life. Work is a creation ordinance, a God-appointed necessity for human life.[11]
Work As It Is
But this reality of work becomes woefully tarnished. Sin comes into the world causing the whole of creation to become fallen in nature—including work. Work becomes futile, toil and drudgery outside the garden.[12] The curse sin brought to the world made work become a broken endeavour—a brokenness which resounds through the ages to every man, woman, and child who undertake the difficult tasks of labour in a fallen creation. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened and humanity thenceforth was capable of great evil.[13] Instead of being regents of God’s good creation, humanity began to manipulate it to satisfy their own greed, worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.[14] Humanity lost their stewardship, their efforts were tainted, and work was cursed. God’s world was treated like a means to our selfish gain. Humans tried to find their identity in themselves, in their community, or in their own efforts, rather than in relationship with God.[15] For example, instead of exercising dominion over creation to make it flourish, the builders of the tower of Babel exercised dominion to make a name for themselves.[16] In Scripture, naming implies having a degree of dominion over what is named. In the beginning, God named humans, then God let Adam name the animals. The builders of the tower of Babel worked (exercised dominion) for their own pride.[17] As Jacques Ellul observes, “the rebellious people are tired of being named, of being the recipient of a name. They want to name themselves.”[18] The Babelites wanted to be independent of the God who names us. But despite humanity’s rebellion, disassociating ourselves from the imprint and mandate of our Creator, God still makes a way for redemption.
Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God is patient, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, providing a way to restore his fallen people.[19] With countless opportunities for God’s people to repent and obey him, their work, though fallen, is given the chance to serve the purposes the Creator intended it to have from the beginning. God covenants with his people in Deuteronomy 28 with a vision of the good life so long as they obey him and follow his commands. The Israelites are afforded the opportunity to have life and life abundant, even outside of Eden, and despite sin’s entrance into world. In this covenant, God’s blessing extends to the work his people do. Their work after the fall is still able to bear witness to the character of God displayed in the way his people laboured.[20] In the book of Esther we read the account of God lifting her up to high levels of leadership to serve God’s people in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances. We are also given the examples of Joseph, Daniel, and Ruth, rising to some of the highest ranks of pluralistic, non-believing, secular or pagan regimes. Before Christ came and before the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom on earth, each of them worked for those who did not worship the one true God or seek his Kingdom.[21] Yet these individuals, recognised for their devotion to God, found ways to be faithful in spite of the fallen context they found themselves in. Their stories give us a picture of what it means to seek God’s Kingdom first while working in the government of a kingdom of this world.[22] Joseph’s life is a story of faithful work while suffering for doing good and experiencing God’s blessing interspersed with affliction. Daniel’s life teaches us that even if God does not deliver everyone the way he delivered Daniel and his friends, we should nevertheless be faithful to the Lord who raises the dead and rewards the righteous, in this life or the next, or both. Ruth sought good work permissible by the Mosaic law, worked hard in the service not only of herself but to Naomi her mother-in-law, and worked in such a way that gained her a good reputation among her fellow workers and in her community. What we see throughout the Old Testament is that humanity’s responsibility to work and to image forth God’s character in work was not made void by sin and expulsion from the garden. God still gave himself to his people to help them carry out the necessary task of work. [23] But the story does not end here. Jesus comes along and changes the script. This is the point in the story we find ourselves in today where we experience “work as it can be.”
Work As It Can Be
Christ has come and begun the ultimate work of reconciling all of creation to himself.[24] He came as the priest-king, succeeding where Adam failed, extending his royal priesthood to his people.[25] As royalty, we exercise dominion; as priests, we work and keep. With this identity we receive renewed responsibility, each accordingly apportioned by God, to will and to work his purposes in the world.[26] And what are these purposes when it comes to our work? As a continuation of the purposes set forth in the creation account, Jesus gave us the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, not as a replacement for the Creation Mandate, but as the primary aim toward which the Creation Mandate is worked.[27] God’s mission in the world did not begin with Christ’s commands to love neighbour and make disciples; it began and is grounded in creation itself—to live as image-bearers of the Creator.[28] We reflect his capacity to create, conceptualize, communicate, discern, make moral judgements, and to care. Though these faculties suffer from the fall, we have been given the Holy Spirit to regenerate these which had become corrupted by sin.[29] And so in this way Christ re-invites us to partake in the creation purposes of God, with our work participating in God’s creative, sustaining, and redemptive plan.[30] The work the Lord does not invite us into a vocation to commit or promote sin but into one whose main goal is to accomplish the tasks God gave to humanity at the beginning: to fill, subdue, and rule, guided by the principles of loving God and one another.[31] Here we experience the already coming of the Kingdom of God, and yet into a sojourn towards the not yet consummation and renewal of all things. Because the Kingdom of God has not yet fully come, all of creation is still sojourning, longing for this renewal, and work still remains broken in many ways.[32] Tish Harrison Warren describes this tension well:
We hold two realities in tension; our own labour participates in God’s work of bringing light into darkness, but all human work continues, in the meantime, in the midst of real darkness. We know that work itself is often a place of futility, where we bump up against the wrecked state of the world. We experience what the Scriptures call “toil” (Ecc 2:17-26). We sow and seemingly do not reap. We fail. The Scriptures constantly distinguish between the good work for which we are made and the presence of “toil” in our lives, the literal and metaphorical thorns and thistles that make work itself a place of pain…. Scripture does not mince words about the fact that our work is often disappointing, gruelling, unrewarding, meaningless, and even exploitative and degrading.[33] But that is not the end of the story.
Work As It Will Be
Yet even now, in this already-not-yet Kingdom, looking ahead to our future hope gives each image-bearer the opportunity to experience redemption in work. This hope is the key to unlocking redemption for work today. By God’s mercy and grace, it is possible for us to flourish in fallen futility. The redemption God accomplished in Christ frees us from idolatrous approaches to work and invites us to join God in the restoration of all things as our work and vocations become the arenas in which we fulfil the Creation Mandate, the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission.[34] As Kaemingk and Willson remind us, “the mission of God includes the renewal and restoration of all things; it cannot be limited to the narrow goals of soul-saving or social justice.”[35] Just as important as it is to look back to the beginning of the story, it is equally, if not more important to look to the future. What happens to work after Christ returns to consummate redemption in the new heavens and the new earth? We cannot know for sure, but what we do know is that God will bring to pass the purposes he set out to accomplish when he spoke the world into existence.[36] God will restore all that has been ruined and lost because of sin.[37] What he began in creation, he will bring about when he makes it new. He will make our work new, and we will do new work. This work will involve ruling and subduing, working and keeping, exercising dominion and rendering judgement, all as God’s people in his place and way.[38]
Thus is presented the Biblical Story of Work. And with what hope we continue to work! Part 2 which follows shortly will explore more deeply the descent into darkness and the ascent into wholeness.
References:
[1] Timothy Keller with Katherine Alsdorf, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to
God’s Work (New York: Penguin Books, 2014), 76.
[2] Ross Hastings, Missional Church and Marketplace Mission (Prepublication Manuscript, 2023).
[3] Gen 1:27; Eph 5:1
[4] Darrell Johnson, The Story that Makes Sense of Our Stories (Vancouver: Canadian Church Leaders Network, 2022), 8.
[5] Gen 1:28
[6] Ian Hart, “Genesis 1:1-2:3 as a Prologue to the Book of Genesis,” Tyndale Bulletin 46, no. 2 (1995): 322.
[7] James Hamilton Jr. Work and our Labour in the Lord (Illinois: Crossway, 2017), 21.
[8] Terence Fretheim, Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 15.
[9] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 22.
[10] Ben Witherington, Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 156.
[11] Leland Ryken, “Work, Worker” in The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove: InterVarsity 1998), 966.
[12] Gen 3:17-19, 23
[13] Gen 3:7
[14] Rom 1:25
[15] Paul Stevens, The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 99.
[16] Gen 11:4
[17] Johnson, The Story that Makes Sense of Our Stories, 155.
[18] Jacques Ellul, The Meaning of the City (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 15-16.
[19] Psa 103:8
[20] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 32-33.
[21] Timothy Keller and Katherine Alsdorf, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work (New York: Penguin Books. 2014), 113-124.
[22] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 57.
[23] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 60-67.
[24] Col 1:20
[25] Rom 5:12-19; 1 Pet 2:9
[26] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 93-98.
[27] Matt 22:37-39, 28:18-20.
[28] Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson, Work & Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2020), 49.
29 Johnson, The Story that Makes Sense of Our Stories, 32.
[30] Kaemingk and Willson, Work and Worship, 246.
[31] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 22.
[32] Rom 8:19-25.
[33] Tish Harrison Warren, Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2021), 68.
[34] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 90.
[35] Kaemingk and Willson, Work and Worship, 48.
[36] 1 Cor 2:9, 13:12.
[37] Joel 2:25.
[38] Hamilton, Work and Our Labor in the Lord, 91-98.
