Worship and Work (Harvest 2023)

Work impacts worship

I was reading a book recently on worship and work (Kaemingk, Work and Worship). When we normally think of the relation between worship and work, we normally mean that our worship on Sundays should impact our work during the week. So, not only should we serve God on Sundays, but we should serve him every day; and instead of honouring God on Sundays only, we should honour him in our daily work. That’s often the kind of thing we think about when we think about the relation between worship and work.

However, the author of this book wanted to do the reverse. Instead of thinking about how our worship should impact our work, he wanted to think about how our work should impact our worship. So, instead of leaving our work behind when we come before the Lord in church, we should bring our work with us. That is to say, when we come before the Lord in church, we should give thanks to him for our successes at work; and we should seek his help for our troubles at work. We should give thanks to him for our work-related joys; and we should lament before him with regard to our work-related sorrows.

And the author of the book I was reading turned to the Scriptures to show how God’s people did this in the past. We don’t have time to study all the passages he mentioned, but let me refer to three passages from the Old Testament.

Leviticus and Numbers

In Leviticus 23 we have a brief description of the religious festivals which God’s people in Old Testament times had to observe. The chapter begins by mentioning the weekly Sabbath. So, for six days, they were to do their work, but the seventh day was to be a day of rest and a day for sacred assembly when they gathered together for worship.

And the rest of the chapter describes the other religious festivals which they people were to keep annually. And two of them were connected with the harvest. And since most of them were farmers, then that meant these religious festivals were related to their work. So, there was the Feast of Firstfruits which was held at the beginning of the harvest; and there was the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, which was held at the end of the harvest. At the beginning of the harvest, they were to gather together before the Lord and offer sacrifices to him to give thanks to him for his goodness to them. And they were to do the same at the end of the harvest, when all their crops had been gathered in. They would gather before the Lord to give thanks to him for his kindness towards them. So, that’s in Leviticus 23.

And then, in two places in the book of Deuteronomy — chapter 14 and chapter 26 — there were further instructions on what to do when they assembled together. The book of Deuteronomy doesn’t make it clear, but we think the instructions we find in these two chapters are connected with the Feast of Firstfruits. In chapter 14, it says that the people are to set aside a tithe or a tenth of all that their fields produced each year. And they were to eat the tithe of their grain, of their wine, and of their oil and they were to eat the firstborn of their herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord. So, they were to gather before the Lord in the tabernacle or temple and eat a celebratory dinner. They were to have a big party to celebrate God’s goodness to them. If the tabernacle or temple was too far from where they lived, they could exchange their tithe for money and take the money to the place of worship. But once they got there, they were to buy what they wanted for this great feast. It was important that they don’t just bring a gift, but that they celebrate before the Lord.

And they weren’t to keep it all for themselves, because they were to give the remainder of their tithe to the Levites, who served the Lord in the tabernacle and temple. This was to be their income. And every three years, they were to share their tithe not only with the Levites, but with other needy people, such as the foreigners living in the land, and the orphans and widows.

That’s what is says in Deuteronomy 14. Deuteronomy 26 adds a little more detail for us. We’re told that they should put some of what they bring in a basket which they must leave in front of the altar. In this way, they gave a portion of what they had produced back to the Lord. And the worshipper was to declare before the priest that he had come to the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give to them. So, the worshipper acknowledged that the land on which they worked was God’s gracious gift to them. And then the worshipper was to recite a kind of creed or a statement of faith about how their father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt. That’s probably a reference to Jacob, who was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. And, of course, the Israelites went down to Egypt in the days of Joseph. And as part of this creed or statement of faith, they were to say that the Egyptians ill-treated them, but the Lord rescued them — this was in the days of Moses — with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. That’s a reference to the ten plagues which the Lord sent on Egypt and to the parting of the Red Sea. And then the Lord brought them to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and gave it to them.

And the worshipper would then say that he is bringing the firstfruits of the soil, which the Lord has given to them. And so, the gift which he brought to the Lord was a token of his gratitude to God who had saved them from their captivity and who had brought them to the Promised Land. God has been good to them, not only by providing them with a good harvest, but by saving them from their enemies in Egypt and by setting them free from slavery and by keeping his promise to their forefathers to give them the Promised Land to live in. God had been good to them in many ways. And now, as a sign of their gratitude to him, they were bringing him some of their produce.

And the instructions continue in verse 11 by saying that the people and the Levites and the foreigners in the land shall rejoice in all the good things which the Lord their God has given to the worshipper and his family. They were to rejoice together before the Lord by eating and enjoying the celebratory feast which we read about in Leviticus 23.

And the instructions in Deuteronomy 26 conclude with a reminder to share the tithe with the Levites and with the other needy people every three years. When they do so, they’re to confess before the Lord that they have given the tithe in full and have not held back what God had commanded them to give. And they were to pray for God’s blessing.

And so, in these two chapters in Deuteronomy, the people were commanded to bring before the Lord some of what their work had produced. They were to bring the fruit of their work to the place of worship; and they were to use it to celebrate before the Lord and to give thanks to him for his kindness to them in saving them from their enemies and in giving them the land and in giving them their food. Because of their gratitude to God for saving them, they were to bring some of what they produced. And they were to share what they have produced with other people. And so, their work impacted their worship, because they used the fruit of their labour — their grain and wine and oil and their cattle and sheep — to worship the Lord. And since God required them to bring these things with them when they worshipped him, then that tells us that these things were not unimportant to God. He didn’t despise their work or the fruit of their labour. The Lord wanted them to use it to worship him.

Harvest Thanksgiving

In many churches around this island, farmers bring part of their produce into church for the annual harvest thanksgiving service. They bring these things before the Lord; and they give thanks to him for his kindness to them. So, when I was worked in Co. Kildare, a few of the families in the church in Athy and Naas were farmers; and the harvest service was important to them, because they wanted to thank the Lord for his goodness to them. And they brought some of what they had grown into the church so that we could see what God had done for them. And when the weather wasn’t right — if there wasn’t enough rain during the summer when the crops were growing; or if there was too much rain at the end of the summer when they wanted the crops to dry out — they would ask me to include in the prayers a prayer for the Lord to send the right weather, so that their crops would grow and they would have the income they needed for the coming year and everyone else would have the food we needed to live.

Now none of us are farmers. And few of us produce anything tangible when we go to work. You may be doing important work which affects the lives of many people, but you maybe don’t produce anything which other people can pick up and handle. And so, we’re not able to bring the fruit of our labour to church to present before the Lord. And yet, we mustn’t think that our work is not important to the Lord. We mustn’t think that he’s not concerned about our daily work. We must always remember and believe that what we do matters to God; and when we’re struggling at work, we should bring our work-related cares and concerns before the Lord to seek his help. We should seek his help to cope with a difficult boss or with difficult colleagues and with difficult clients or customers or patients or pupils. And those who work at home, raising a family, should seek God’s help with that. And we should seek God’s help to cope with difficult work that challenges us. And those who are retired, should seek God’s help with that, so that you’re able to use your time wisely and not foolishly.

And, of course, we should come before the Lord and give thanks to him for any triumphs and successes at work, because we believe that whatever successes we have come from the Lord, because he’s the one who has given us the knowledge and skill and expertise we need to do our work. Just as the Lord causes the crops to grow in the field, so he causes us to do well in our work. And so, we should always remember to give thanks to him and to offer him our praise.

And just as the Israelites took what they had produced and they shared it with those who were in need, we should also remember to share what we have received from the Lord with those who are in need. The Lord has been good to us; and it is his will for us to do good to others, so that we don’t cling on to what we’ve received, but we share it with others. In Ephesians 4, Paul says that he who has been stealing must steal no longer. Instead he must work, doing something useful with his hands. And then Paul adds: ‘that he may have something to share with those in need.’ So, one reason we work is so that we will have something to share with those in need. And when we share with those in need, it can lead to thanksgiving and praise, as people give thanks to God for what they have received.

Worship impacts work

Having said that our work should impact our worship, it is also the case that our worship, and our devotion to God, should impact our work.

One way it should impact our work is because God hears and answers our prayers. So, when we pray about difficult people in work, or when we pray about other problems at work, or when we pray for work and for a new job, God hears our prayers and he answers them according to his will. And so, if the Lord is willing, those difficult people may become less difficult; and the work may become more mangeable; and he may open the door for us and provide us with the work we seek. Our worship impacts our work in that way, because God always hears and answers our prayers according to his will.

But our worship, and our devotion to God, should impact our work in another way. We believe that we are pardoned and accepted by God by faith alone in Jesus Christ, who has done all things necessary to make peace between God and us. By nature, we are under God’s wrath, because we’re sinners who sin against God continually. However, the Lord Jesus Christ took the blame for us when he suffered and died on the cross. He paid for all our sins by giving up his life for us on the cross. And through faith in him, we receive forgiveness, so that God does not hold our sins against us and he will not repay us for what we’ve done wrong. And not only are we forgiven, but Christ shares his perfect goodness with us, so that God regards us as if we’ve done everything right, even when we’ve done everything wrong. And so, by believing in Christ, we are forgiven and accepted. And by believing in Christ, we receive the hope of everlasting life in the presence of God.

We receive these things by faith and not by our works. There’s nothing we can do to earn these things. We can’t earn God’s forgiveness and we can’t work for God’s acceptance. We cannot earn these things and we can do nothing to deserve them. Instead God gives us these things: he freely gives us forgiveness because of Christ; and he freely shares Christ’s perfect goodness with us; and he freely gives us the hope of everlasting life. He freely gives us these things; and we receive them by faith: by trusting in Christ, who did what was necessary to save us. So, our salvation is God’s free gift to us which we do not deserve and cannot earn by our works.

However, having received salvation as God’s free gift to us, we go back into the world to work for God. And we work for him, not to earn our salvation, because salvation is his free gift to us. But we work for him in order to demonstrate our gratitude to him for all that he has done for us. We should serve him in our daily lives in order to display our thanks for what he has done for us. And working for him means being obedient to him and it means doing all things for his glory and honour.

And so, you work for him in the workplace by respecting your boss, even when your boss is difficult; and by loving the people you work with, even when they are difficult; and by doing your work to the best of your ability, without being lazy or dishonest and without doing anything else which might dishonour your Master in heaven. And, if you’re in school or college, then you work for the Lord by respecting your teachers; and by loving and serving your fellow students; and by doing your work to the best of your ability, without being lazy and without cheating and without doing anything else which might dishonour your Master in heaven. And you work for the Lord at home, by giving each person the honour they deserve; and by loving and serving one another; and by doing all the jobs around the home to the best of your ability and by not doing anything to dishonour your Master in heaven. And you work for the Lord in your retirement, by doing all things for his glory.

After the Lord rescued the Israelites from Egypt, he gave them a new life in the Promised Land. And in the Promised Land, they produced fruit: their grain and wine and oil and so on. And now the Lord has rescued us. He has rescued us, not from Egypt, but from sin and death and from condemnation. And he has given us a new life. And as part of our new life, we’re to produce fruit. Not grain or wine or oil, but obedience to God’s laws and commandments. We’re to work for him in our daily lives, doing all things in obedience to his will and for his glory.

And just as the Lord caused the crops to grow for the Israelites, so he’s the one who enables us to obey him, because he gives us his Spirit to work in us. And it is the Spirit of God who enables us to produce fruit in our lives. He enables us more and more to do God’s will and to work for his glory.

Some people work for their own glory. They work hard so that people will admire them and reward them. And, of course, if we do our work well, then people may well praise us because of it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But believers do not work for their own glory: they work for the glory of the one who loved them and who gave up his Son for our salvation. Believers always want to glorify him by the things we do and by the way we do our work.

And although the workplace and the school and the college and the home have been corrupted because of sin, they can be renewed and restored in a small way at least, when God’s people work for the Lord in these places and do all things for his glory.

Conclusion

And so, our work should impact our worship, because when we come before the Lord in church, we should give thanks to him for all the ways he has helped us with our work; and we should seek his help when our work is difficult. But then, our worship should impact our work, because, having been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, we should go into the world to work for God in order to demonstrate our gratitude for all that he has done to save us from the condemnation we deserve for our sins and to give us eternal life in his presence. We should work for him, because we love him and we want to honour him and to glorify him in all we do and say.