Good weekend my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
In America at least, THIS is a special holiday weekend. It’s called ‘Labor Day’ weekend. Historically this has been a weekend drawing the summer to a close by giving workers a long weekend for rest, reflection and enjoyment, with Monday as a holiday from work. As the Holy Spirit often does, in our ‘Walking with Jesus’ chronological journey through the Bible, we’ve come to a perfect Scripture for this weekend. It’s the 9th chapter of Paul’s first letter written to the Christians in the wild, busy, business city of Corinth, Greece in the middle of the first century. Will you join me there, this ‘Labor Day’ weekend for some fresh insights into this matter of proper remuneration for hard work?
What? Does God speak in the Bible about appropriate compensation for hard work? Yes, does that surprise you? Jesus, when talking about this, said “The worker deserves his wages.” (Luke 10:7) And Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians in Rome: “To the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.” (Romans 4:4) Did you know this issue of appropriate remuneration for work has been a battleground since the days of the Garden of Eden? Why do I say that?
Do you know what God’s very first plan FOR and practical instruction TO Adam was… even before Eve was created? Gen. 2:15 says: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.“ Do you hear God’s plan for both Adam and the Garden? “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘you are free to eat from any tree in the garden but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.'” (Gen. 2:15-17) Do you see God’s plan for Adam to learn responsibility and accountability in his work?
The first man, and every man since then, has been designed by God with a deeply felt need to WORK, to do something with purpose, something that provides for sustaining his life. And do you see God’s compensation plan? Adam was to work, caring for the Garden in which he lived, and in return Adam would live each day on the food the cared for Garden would provide for him.
You see God’s obvious formula for the mutual benefit of a planet designed to sustain human life and human beings with a need for meaningful work, right? If Adam worked the Garden well, he would eat well. If Adam lived lazy, he’d go hungry, because the Garden would not produce well without Adam’s good work. The Bible book of Proverbs is filled with King Solomon’s wisdom about this fundamental principle of work and remuneration. Why? Because our sinful, lazy nature battles with our God given desire to work! Do you see evidence of that in your city?
From Genesis to this day, in every place in the world, this fundamental formula and principle of God is woven into both the DNA of humanity and every society. And in every place, every generation, people are given the freedom by God to evaluate and reason, to determine equity and fairness, when setting appropriate compensation for work… AND appropriate help for those who can’t or won’t work!! But that requires morality doesn’t it? And Godly morality is NOT normal for us humans without the life transforming work of Jesus in our minds & hearts!
Greed, selfishness, pride, manipulation, dishonesty, have all dominated the work environment from the beginning haven’t they? That is evidence of our sinful nature in the workplace. And therefore slavery and labor unions and labor strikes and so many other actions in this battle of seeking fair compensation for work. I wonder what your personal experience has been in your labor journey? Which of all your employers treated you most fairly with dignity and respect? Which employer awakened a desire in you for further skill or leadership development? What employment situation took advantage of you or discouraged you or almost killed your God given self-motivation? And if you’ve been the employer or the boss, how did God help you lead your employees with dignity, respect, compassion and integrity?
In this 9th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth, Paul challenges them to consider what appropriate expectations should be for men and women whose work is teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people. What is this work and how should we compare the effort, the skill, the training required to effectively do this work of teaching the Gospel with excellence, as compared to any other work in society?
What is the value to society of Gospel teaching work as compared to any other vocation? How do we measure the success of helping people grasp and experience the life transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as compared to success in every other compensatable endeavor or work in society? Have you ever wrestled with these work / compensation questions?
In closing today, my friends, I urge you to carefully read what the Holy Spirit led Paul to write about this in 1 Corinthians 9:1-14. Here are three statements you’ll find in those verses and I wonder what you think God wants us to understand from Paul?
1. “You are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 9:2)
These Christians in Corinth were the living evidence of the work Paul had invested in Corinth as he taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and discipled them in learning to live as Jesus followers.
2. “If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?” (1 Cor. 9:11)
Do you see the fundamental, practical question Paul was asking? What is the appropriate practical remuneration for spiritual labor?
3. “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the Gospel.” (1 Cor. 9:14)
Do you see Paul calling us to an equitable comparison of the value of Gospel work as compared to every other type of work?
Oh my, these are powerful, deeply practical questions, especially when viewing these questions from an ETERNAL perspective, aren’t they? I look forward to meeting you here Monday when we’ll look at the remainder of 1 Corinthians 9, but for this weekend, I urge you to very carefully look at these first 14 verses and the “lessons learned” study notes at the link below.
No song today, just deep reflection seeking the Holy Spirit’s perspective on these important questions, and I’ll be here waiting for you on Monday.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Cor. 9:1-14
Choose below to read or listen.
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Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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