As Christians, we are firstly followers of Christ. Our Lord is meant to be the biggest element of our life. We are to keep Him at the forefront of every aspect of our lives, we are to keep Him at the centre of our thoughts, conversations and interactions. In short, as bearers of His light and word to the world, we are called to dedicate our entire being to Jesus Christ, as an act of Worship.
When I say worship, I don’t necessarily mean the obvious correlation to worship. Worship is more than a song, it’s more than being emotional in the presence of the Lord.
It is interesting to notice that in the account of creation in Genesis, God did not create physical temple buildings. Neither did He assign priestly duties to Adam and Eve, they didn’t have to make ritual sacrifices or practise religious rites. Neither does God call upon Adam and Eve to sing songs of praise. Not that these things are bad. We learn of their importance as we read further into the word of God. But the absence of a physical temple building and its functions makes it clear that God is present within all creation. And today we as temples of the Holy Spirit Worship Him in spirit and in truth, our worship is not limited to religious rites of traditional ministry, our worship extends to doing the work of God in the places He has called us to.
The Lord is calling us into a different dimension and praise be to God this isn’t limited to Sundays only, we can experience this every single day.
Before embarking on the journey of being a marketplace minister through the Worship. Works graduate scheme, like most people, I had the basic understanding that God is present with us always through the Holy Spirit, but I often associated that with the tough moments of life. I didn’t think that an almighty God was interested in the work I do in the secular spheres, not only that, I couldn’t comprehend that he wanted to partner with me in that work. Thus, we ought to constantly hold the word of God as the highest authority – it is truth and contains everything we need that pertains to life – and in doing so, we will be able to bend our will to His own, as He knows what is excellent.
“May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands.”
Psalm 90:17
We are to consecrate every area of our lives to Jesus. This includes our daily 9-5 work that may seem mundane or lacking impact. The Word of God instructs us to dedicate our lives and our work to our God. God asks us to keep Him at the centre of our lives and of our hearts. God asks us to give Him our labours, our time, and our talent. Through this, God can use each of us as an instrument of light to transform the Nations for His glory.
Reclaiming work for the Glory of God
In Genesis 3, we see that sin enters into the picture, the work of man becomes an activity associated with strife, something fundamentally good becomes broken. Man is still mandated to do the work God has assigned to them, but with pain and frustration. Ultimately, however, Christ will redeem and restore the goodness of work amongst other things, saving us from the futility of a broken world.
Glory be to God that we are invited to partake in reclaiming the goodness of God in all creation, even through our work. By doing the work God has assigned to us, we obey, glorify and honour the intentions God has for us.
Work is Good
There are many benefits of dedicating our lives, our work, or anything to God, but it’s important to understand why work is a good thing in the first place. What stands out is that something dedicated to God carries distinction, it is set apart.
Where does the notion of work being good come from? Well, it can be found throughout Scripture, but perhaps most interestingly in the very first chapter of Genesis. In Genesis, we see that God created by speaking the heavens and earth into existence. The Lord’s act of creativity in Genesis is described as God’s “work” (Gen 2:2).Throughout the account of creation, God regularly paused to observe what He had created and stated that it was good —
“Then, admiring all the work that He had done, God “saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good”.
Genesis 1:31
This is great news, but what does this actually mean for us? Being one with Christ in this instance means, sharing our likeness with Christ – we see as He sees and think as He thinks, our whole perspective and interactions must be through the lens of Christ the Son. So, does that mean that because God’s work is good, that the work I am called to shares in that very goodness? Yes! Yes, it does.
Furthermore, in Genesis, we also see that God created man as a unique representative of God, “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). If we are so much like God, this would infer that we are to do as God does as well. This inference is affirmed in the next verse of Genesis. Immediately after creating human beings, God gave the very first commandment of the Bible: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion” (Gen 1:28). For this reason, we as God’s creation are to partner and co-create with him in the work of filling, stewarding, and governing creation, be it in a traditional sense or in the marketplace.
So, to conclude, here are a few takeaways from what I have seen about work as worship:
- We exist for the praise of God’s glory. The core purpose of our lives is to worship God. This includes everything we do, not just our “religious” activities. We can worship him through our work.
- At the point of salvation, we are new creations in Christ, renewed “for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life”. When we do the good works God has prepared for us, we are living for the praise of his glory, we are living in his perfect will for our lives.
- As a last encouragement, Your work is an integral part in God’s eternal plan, the Lord is calling out to you to invite Him into your daily life, this includes your work. Offer your work as a living sacrifice to the Lord and watch how your life will be transformed !
“For whatever is built or rebuilt to stay strong, It must be dedicated to God”
Tom Holladay
Chawanzi Chintu was a Worship.Works Graduate Intern in 2021. To find out how you could get involved, learn more about Worship. Works Graduate Programmes here.