What Work Matters to God?

Three Dangerous Myths

Doug Sherman and William Hendricks

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In many Christian circles, work is considered “secular.”  It has no concern with God.  In many ways, it even becomes an enemy to what God really wants done in the world.  It takes away from worship, prayer, church activity, evangelism, and family life, which are “sacred” categories.  In short, work is something to finish and get out of.  There is no inherent dignity to it.

Of course, few people would articulate this attitude in such a hard-boiled manner.  But I submit that, in the right context, many of us would find ourselves in basic agreement—especially if they were isolated and hidden in a sermon, a book, a devotional guide, or some other religious format.

Many people believe that the only part of life that “really counts” to God is the part committed to religious activities like Bible reading, prayer, church activity, and the like.  Day-to-day work itself has no intrinsic value.  It contributes nothing to the work God is doing, which is of course, the only important work.  If it has any value at all, it is only to meet survival needs or as a strategic soapbox to evangelize non-believers.

You may be like many laypeople I meet who sense that something is wrong in the church’s view of work as being separate from what “really counts” to God, but you cannot quite put your finger on what is wrong with it. What’s wrong is that such a conceptualization of work adopts one or more of these unwarranted assumptions or “myths”: (1) God is more interested in the soul than the body, (2) the things of eternity are more important than the things of time, and (3) Christians should work in secular jobs primarily as a strategy for evangelism. Each of these myths culminates in a distorted, allegedly-Christian view of work. Let us explain.

Myth 1: The Soul-Body Hierarchy

This view assumes that God is far more interested in the soul than He is in the body.  I can understand why.  Relating to God, after all, is largely an unseen thing that takes place in our inner persona.  Consequently, we tend to promote inner activities that nurture that relationship—“soul activities,” such as prayer meditation, Bible reading, etc.

But how does our body fit into our relationship with God?  I am hard-pressed to find many people addressing that question.  In fact, I suspect that many Christians would regard such a question as meaningless or irrelevant.  The majority assumes that God’s primary interest is in man’s soul.  It is this inner life, they feel, that connects us to God and that we must cultivate.

The implications for career are numerous.  Our Christian teachings generally exalt the soul and neglect the body.  As a consequence, we subtly rate careers by the extent to which they contribute to the soul.  Careers in ministry come first, because those workers supposedly give themselves to “the souls of men and the Word of God.”

Then come careers in the “helping professions”—counselors in psychology and psychiatry, doctors, teachers, nurses, social workers, perhaps mothers.  These are not involved as exclusively as ministers in “soul-work,” but they certainly cultivate the inner life more than the third group.

The third group are the laborers and those whose primary goal (supposedly) is money.  The farmer, the truck driver, the assembly-line worker, the repairman.  These people deal with physical things and “work with their hands” (a description that presumes that they leave their minds at home, I guess).  The money people are bankers, brokers, real estate developers, and entrepreneurs who traffic in all that green stuff—and we know how evil that can be! 

This is a seriously flawed way of looking at things.  In particular, it is an extremely sub-biblical view of the nature of man.  It assumes that man is somehow made up of parts, a “soul” and a “body.”  But this is not how Scripture portrays man: “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7).

God does not deal with you just as a soul.  When He created you, He created all of you, as a soul and a body.  Paul urges us “to present [our] bodies a living and holy sacrifice” to God (Rom. 12:1).  Consequently, there can be no hierarchy of soul over the body.  God wants to see the broad range of mankind’s needs met, not just the spiritual.  If God were only interested in soul-work, then He needn’t have created a physical universe.  He needn’t have sent Christ in a human body.  And He needn’t bother to resurrect the body after death.

So, if you work as a clothier, a coach, a physical therapist, a barber or in some other “physical” occupation, you should take heart.  Your work is not spiritually inferior because it concerns itself with the body.

Myth 2: The Eternal-Temporal Hierarchy

Many Christians assume that the things that really matter are the things that pertain to eternity.  In fact, they would say that what happens here and now has meaning and significance only in light of eternity.

Perhaps you’ve heard the familiar refrain: “There are only two things that last for eternity: the Word of God and the souls of men.  Therefore, if you want your life to really count, then you need to give yourself to the building the Word of God into men.”  Or as a hymn puts it:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace.

In light of eternity, this view asks, what ultimate value could there possibly be in working for the “food which perishes”?  To give one’s life to the manufacture of an automobile, or the advertising of toothpaste, or the buying and selling of real estate, is in essence to give oneself to a world that is passing away.  By contrast, a life given to God’s work has intrinsic value because it concerns itself with what ultimately matters.

This concept of eternity and its implications for work are fairly widespread among Christians today.  Yet is eternity what “really counts” to God?  Is it the ultimate reality?  Scripture suggests otherwise.  It distinguishes between a seen world and an unseen world, and calls the seen world “temporal” and the unseen world “eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).  So there are apparently two aspects—two sides to reality.

But the Bible goes on to declare that both time and eternity are very real and very important to God.  The natural universe is just as real as the supernatural universe.  One is not “ultimate reality” while the other is “just reality.”  Both exist with absolute certainty, though of course each exists and operates according to its own set of laws and principles. This is evident from Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Because we start our existence in time and end up in eternity, eternity is our eventual or ultimate destiny.  Knowing that eternity is our destiny, shouldn’t that inform everything we do today?  I think so.  Does “doing everything we can” mean quitting our secular jobs and becoming evangelists?  No.  Such a view is mistaken.  It automatically assumes that holding a secular job isn’t “doing everything we can.”  But in fact, it may be.

If God has created you with a certain design, say as an architect, and placed you in a given opportunity, perhaps in a city that needs buildings, then working as an architect to the glory of God comes far closer to “doing everything you can” than quitting your job to become an evangelist.  I don’t think that anyone would have preferred that Handel or Bach had quit composing music and become evangelists.  Or that Wilber Wilberforce had quit Parliament and become an evangelist.  The work of men like these has surely been used mightily of God to point people’s eyes toward eternity, even though it was not principally evangelistic.

So what does have value?  There remains a question of eternal value.  Why would so many Christians view the work of the architect as fairly insignificant?  After all, he designs buildings that will pass with time. 

As humans we tend to see a strong connection between duration and value.  We feel that the longer something lasts, the more value it has. Suppose the duration of something stretches to infinity.  In that case we would say it has ultimate value, eternal value.  Eternal duration presumes eternal value.

This connection between duration and value seems reasonable.  But if we associate value with duration, then we have to say that God’s work of creation has no value.  Why?  Because it won’t last into eternity (Mark 13:31; 2 Pet. 3:11-13; Rev. 21:1).  He has already pledged to destroy it someday and to create a new heaven and earth in its place.  Hence, if only the things of eternity count, then God’s creation doesn’t “count.”  But that is absurd.

When a salesman dies, the drills, presses or heavy equipment he sells won’t really matter one way or another.  But to say that they have no value is nonsense, because they have all the value they need given the category—time—for which they were created.  Those drills may punch holes in airplane engine parts, and thus help produce transportation for people and goods.  They may put holes in air conditioners used by schools, hospitals, businesses or churches.  It would be wrong to require them to last forever to have value.  They would have to last forever to have eternal value, but not to  have temporal value.

This is all well and good, but don’t we want to give our lives to things that will have great value in eternity?  If I lead some person to salvation, I’ll be able to look on the fruit of my labor for eternity.  But the architect who puts up a building must someday watch that building pass away.  Wouldn’t he rather give his life to what really counts?

I would reply that he actually is giving his life to what “really counts.”  What will ultimately matter in eternity is our faithfulness right now with the resources and responsibilities God has given us.  So the architect who designs buildings to the glory of God, who works with integrity, diligence, fairness, and excellence, who treats his wife with the love Christ has for the Church, who raises his children in godly wisdom and instruction, who urges non-Christian associates to heed the gospel message—in short, who acts a responsible manager in the various arenas God has entrusted to him—this man will receive eternal praise from God.  That is what really matters in eternity.

For within time, what really matters to God is that the various needs of His creation be met.  One of those needs is salvation.  But, we have many other needs too.  Just because many of them are temporal needs does not diminish their importance to God, nor does it diminish the value of the work done to meet those needs.  In fact, God thinks they are important enough to equip a variety of people with various abilities to meet those needs.  Furthermore, in meeting the legitimate needs of people, a worker is serving people who obviously have eternal value.  In other words, the product of the work may be temporal but those who benefit from the work are eternal.

Let’s consider now another myth about work commonly held among believers: the “Strategic Soapbox” model.

Myth 3: The “Strategic Soapbox” Model of Work

This model argues that Christians participate in the mainstream of the culture primarily to set up strategic opportunities to share the gospel message with friends and associates.  According to this view, Christians should work in secular jobs primarily as a strategy for evangelism.  Those who hold the Soapbox view of work and life base their worldview on the Great Commission. 

If you adopt this Strategic Soapbox model for your life, you redefine your job description.  You are no longer a doctor, a teacher, or a salesperson.  Rather, you become an evangelist in the field of medicine, education, or marketing. 

Sounds compelling!  The Soapbox model seems to have come up with a way of life that honors the Great Commission and offers us a meaningful cause, a purpose for living.  And it gets results.  So if you hold this view, you would likely conclude that:

1.  Your secular career is valid, but should be seen primarily in light of its strategic evangelistic value.

2.  You should limit your time at work so as to maximize evangelistic efforts.

3.  All of your decisions about career planning should be on the basis or how they will impact your evangelism of people.

4. Evangelists and missionaries hold the most significant positions in the Kingdom because they give their lives to the very spiritual work of evangelism.

5. The work of God in the world is primarily evangelistic. The only reason God meets physical needs of people is to sustain them so that they can either hear the gospel or share the gospel.

To argue against the Soapbox position appears to be arguing against the Great Commission.  Indeed, to even question it sounds like a devilish, subversive activity.  So let me preface my evaluation of the view by emphatically stating: Evangelism should be a priority!  

But should it be the only priority?  That is, should we regard evangelism as the ultimate issue against which all decisions should be weighed?  Here is where I part company with the Soapbox view.  It is inadequate for three reasons: 1) the Great Commission is broader than evangelism, 2) life is broader than evangelism and 3) work is more than just a platform.

In the first place, the Great Commission doesn’t support this view. Consider the text in full:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matt. 28:18-20, NIV)

The Great Commission is primarily about discipleship and only secondly about evangelism.  The main command is “make disciples.”  Discipleship includes evangelism, but it extends beyond it.  This is clear from the two tasks that flow out of the command to make disciples, namely baptism and teaching.  I would include evangelism under the baptizing part of discipleship.  But discipleship goes on into teaching—into a lifestyle of obedience to Christ. 

This understanding of the Great Commission is borne out by the rest of the New Testament.  Jesus’ disciples and Paul wrote these texts, and what they wrote suggests that this is how they understood the Great Commission.  First, we find them in the book of Acts, principally going and proclaiming the gospel everywhere.  Result: Thousands and thousands were baptized.  Thus the disciples obeyed the first part of the commission.   But Acts also records that, following baptism, the new converts “were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching,” among other things.  What was the context of that teaching?  We find out in the books that follow Acts.

In those books, as in the Sermon on the Mount, we find that obedience to Christ involves every aspect of life (including work which is a major category).  As Paul says in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

Is the Great Commission the greatest of Christ’s commands?  Curiously, when asked what was the greatest command, Jesus replied:

“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40, NIV).

To summarize, then, the Great Commission obviously includes evangelism.  In fact, if we are not participating in evangelism, then we are not obeying Christ.  But we can’t say that our only or even our primary purpose in life is evangelism, because the Great Commission doesn’t say or imply that.  Instead, it tells us to evangelize and teach people to obey all of God’s Word, and God’s Word shows us a lifestyle much broader than evangelism alone.

Your work matters to God.  Work is not something beneath God’s dignity or concern, as some contend.  Nor is work a game we play with non-Christians in order to accomplish a more important agenda, as the Soapbox advocate holds.  Instead, work is a major part of human life that God takes seriously. 

Our day-to-day work is not “secular.” It has intrinsic value. God has ordained work as a means of supporting our families.  He established it as a way for us to earn money to help those in need.  Through our work we meet the market needs of our community.  And, it is a form of worship because in working with all our strength for him, we demonstrate our love for God.

Adapted from Your Work Matter to God (NavPress).  Copyright 1987 by Doug Sherman and William Hendricks.  All rights reserved.  Used by permission. 

After graduating from the Air Force Academy, Doug Sherman served as an instructor in the Advanced Jet Training Program until he left to earn a Th.M. from the Dallas Theological Seminary.  Doug is the founder and president of Career Impact Ministries (CIM) which helps businessmen and women integrate their faith into their careers. 

William Hendricks is a writer and consultant in communication development.  He received a B.A. in English literature from Harvard University, an M.S. in mass communication from Boston University, and an M.A. from Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the former vice president of CIM.