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| ISBN-13: | 9780802866967 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company |
| Publication date: | 05/10/2012 |
| Pages: | 184 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.47(d) |
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Work Matters
Lessons from ScriptureBy R. Paul Stevens
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Copyright © 2012 R. Paul StevensAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6696-7
Chapter One
Good Work—Adam and Eve
When does a job feel meaningful? Whenever it allows us to generate delight or reduce suffering in others. Though we are often taught to think of ourselves as inherently selfish, the longing to act meaningfully in our work seems just as stubborn a part of our make-up as our appetite for status or money. Alain de Bottom, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
As we have seen, the Bible opens with God at work making things —both separating and filling. For instance, God separated light and darkness and then filled them with meaning, calling them night and day. This is a story about something that really happened. It is not myth or parable, but it is written in such a way that the simplest Bedouin nomad and today's most sophisticated nuclear physicist could grasp the point that God is the Creator, that God makes everything beautiful (the meaning of "it is good") and that he himself is the author of work.
Work as an Expression of Covenant
The first chapter of Genesis, however, is placed within the larger story of God's covenant relationship with creation, with people in general, and with God's promised people in particular. Covenant is a relationship of belonging, expressed in the covenant formula, "You will be my people, and I will be your God" (Jer. 30:22). It is like the promises made in the marriage ceremony: "You are mine. I am yours." Covenant contrasts with contract. A contract is an agreement to exchange goods and services upon some predetermined terms. A covenant is essentially relational. So the meaning of God's superlative creativity is that God belongs to what he has made and what he has made belongs to God. The whole of the created order, and of humankind in particular, is an expression of the imagination of God. This is especially true of the climax of God's creativity—a creature that resembles himself (Gen. 1:26) —with the result that humans are an external expression of an internal image. Paraphrasing a statement by the theologian Karl Barth, covenant fidelity is "the inner meaning and purpose of our creation as human beings in the divine image." Instead of work being, as is so often said, part of the "creation mandate" to take care of the earth, work is part of the covenant mandate. It is part of what it means to belong to God, to honor God, and to invest in God's purposes. Work is not a human invention. It is a divine calling and a way of imitating and resembling our Creator. To be made in the image of God means that we are created like God as relational beings and that we are made like God in that we work.
Work is not easily defined. Some have defined it as energy expended purposively, whether manual, mental, or both, but nonetheless it is purposeful energy that brings glory to God and serves our neighbor. This is not a bad definition of "good" work. But unfortunately a lot of bad work in the world deconstructs creation, abuses our neighbor, and does not bring glory to God. But what God had in mind when he called and commissioned his creatures, both Adam and Eve, was certainly for them to engage in good work: "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Gen. 1:28). God said this to human beings in the context of blessing: "God blessed them and said...." And afterwards his first offer of something good to the mandated human beings was the gift of food. God saw everything that he had made and said, "Beautiful."
Filling the Earth and World-Making
The human calling in Genesis is not merely to work but that calling has three dimensions: to commune with God—the sanctuary garden; to build community—"male and female he made them"; and to co-create with God. This is the covenant mandate. Adam and Eve soon messed this up but not irrevocably, as we shall see. Even though human beings have fallen, even though the "image" has been distorted, and even though, from the perspective of the New Testament, substantial redemption has come in Christ—though it will not completely come until the new heaven and new earth—nonetheless, work can be good. So what does all this mean for our understanding and practice of good work?
First, good work is a means of spiritual growth. People often think that work is a hindrance to spiritual growth. But work is itself a spiritual discipline. The first challenge to Adam and Eve's spiritual growth, in this case the test to see whether they would eat from the tree of autonomy (called "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" in the Bible), took place in the context of work—harvesting fruit. In a rare volume on the biblical doctrine of work, Alan Richardson reinforces this point. The human being "is so made that not only can he not satisfy his material needs without working but also he cannot satisfy his spiritual needs, or fulfill his function as a human being." As a calling from God rather than a human invention, good work is inspired by the goodness of God and directed to the pleasure of God.
Second, good work is communal. It is a means of building community and serving our neighbors. We are called to work together, in partnership. Work and its organizations impact social structures and the social order. We become who we are in relationship. We are full-time husbands and wives, full-time daughters and sons, full-time neighbors and full-time siblings. Human relationships and society become more fully realized through work. A "company" is literally a way of sharing bread—cum pane, that is, "with bread." This is true whether we are involved in making a meal, or making a deal; whether we are breaking ground for farming or inventing a new tool; whether we are teaching children or inspecting the town's water supply; whether we are building an office culture or creating a family. Good work is for the commonwealth, in the sense of the old English word that means for the "common good." Kenneth Kantzer notes how business is implicit in the creation of humankind as male and female: "By creation, human beings are social beings, never intended to live alone. Because of our social nature, we are specialized (each person is in one sense unique), interdependent and, therefore, necessarily dependent on exchange. Exchange is built into our very nature. And this is business."
Third, good work unfolds the potential of creation. The best word to describe this is stewardship—that rich idea that we do not own anything but have been trusted with its care and development. I stress "development" because God never intended the entire globe to be kept as pure wilderness everywhere, as much as I love to canoe in the Canadian wilderness. The appointment of humans to "rule" (Gen. 1:26), given in the covenant, does not mean we can rapaciously exploit creation but it does mean that we have a limited sovereignty accountable to our Creator for our "care" of creation (2:15). We do this by making "worlds"—tools, culture, communities, beauty, homes, comfort, music, meaning, transportation, toys, accounts, communication, images, machines, health, gardens, research, and meaning. This is joint work with God—entering into God's ongoing work of creating, sustaining, transforming, and consummating, aptly expressed by Eve when she said, "With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man" (Gen. 4:1). We are truly "conservatives." That word, which means to "serve jointly," suggests that the earth and living things serve us and we serve the earth and living things.
So listen to the story of Adam and find your story making sense within the grand story of God's creative purpose. Good work is energy expended purposively, to be distinguished from play, leisure, and Sabbath, whether that energy is manual, mental, or both, that brings glory to God, is a means of spiritual growth, builds community by serving our neighbor, and unfolds the potential of creation. In due course we will explore other stories in the Bible that elaborate what this work means and how we can undertake it.
For Discussion and Reflection
Review in detail the work you most commonly undertake, whether or not that work is paid. How do you go about it? With what materials do you work? How is this work a service to others, whether your neighbor is visible or not? In what ways do you see this work as entering into God's work?
Chapter Two
Degraded Work—Cain
Work, for most of mankind, is something to avoid if possible. Not merely avoid but, if you are powerful enough or have money enough, arrange for someone else to do for you. Work always has to be done. Among those working people at the bottom of the labor heap, trapped in drudgery and perhaps powerless to escape, getting "promoted" to an easier job is never far from their minds. Reg Theriault, How to Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work
Work is hard. Most of the time we do not find our work ecstatically joyful or our workplaces particularly enriching. We encounter not only difficult people and complex ethical problems but also invisible forces that attempt to control us negatively, the "principalities and powers" of mammon, greed, predatory competition, systemic unemployment, and the market. Even Scripture does not promise complete satisfaction until the eschaton when the realm of God fully comes. Why is this so? Something has happened —something that affects the worker, work, and the workplace. The story of Cain and his parents is critical to understanding this.
Adam and Eve, Cain's parents, were placed in a sanctuary garden and were given a choice. They could live autonomously, seeking work and the pleasures of the garden for their own sake and without any reference to God. Or they could live in loving obedience and communion with God in daily life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (see Gen. 2:17) represented the possibility of having provision ("good for food"), pleasure ("pleasing to the eye"), and power ("desirable for gaining wisdom") without God (Gen. 3:6). They chose "freedom" from God, only to discover bondage. And the results were extensive, both personally and relationally: loss of intimacy ("they realized they were naked" [3:7]),mutual blaming and shifting of responsibility ("the woman you put here with me, she ..." [3:12]), and the politicization of relationships ("[your husband] will rule over you" [3:16]). But work was also affected. According to Genesis 3:16, work would now become sweaty and hard with the workplace infested with thorns and thistles, a poetic way of describing the troubles every worker in the world encounters. And with Cain, Adam and Eve's oldest son, the problem of the worker, work, and the workplace gets ratcheted up.
There Were a Man and Woman with Two Sons
In this descriptive account, the primal couple had two sons, Cain and Abel, each with a different skill. Already we are beginning to see the diversification of talent, gift, and calling, which tells us that all human life is based on relationship and exchange. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a herder. Still, they needed each other, just as punch press operators need grocers and university professors need auto technicians. In spite of their now dysfunctional family, the two offspring still wanted to combine work and worship—something anticipated in the Hebrew word for work, which also means worship. They offered the firstfruits of their work to God. There was nothing wrong with offering grain—Cain's offering —instead of meat—Abel's offering. But there was something wrong in Cain's heart. Scripture does not tell us what was wrong until we get to the New Testament, where the author of Hebrews 11:4 reveals that Abel brought his offering with faith, that is, as an expression of God-ward dependence and gratitude, all in the context of a relationship of loving awe that demonstrated his integration of work and spirituality. Cain, in contrast, did not make his offering "with faith."
God's approval of Abel and disapproval of Cain led to the pollution of Cain's work and the destruction of his relationship with his coworker, Abel. He was consumed by jealousy and anger. So he decided to eliminate the competition, just as Joseph's brothers were later to try to eliminate Jacob's favorite and privileged son Joseph. Competition in business and the workplace is not in itself evil or wrong. In fact, it can be a stimulus to creativity and initiative. But predatory competition is destructive because one's identity becomes wrapped up in eliminating the competitor. And that is precisely what Cain wanted to do.
Enter a gracious God. God pleaded with Cain that "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:7). God offered Cain a way out, a way of acting righteously, a way of acceptance and approval. But Cain would not be persuaded—even by God. He refused to repent—even after he slaughtered his brother like one of Abel's cows; he would not be responsible —even after God graciously called to him, "Where is your brother?," reminiscent of God's call to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:9. To God's question Cain replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. 4:9). As a result of his insolent reply, Cain was cursed. The ground would not yield its fruit; work would become frustrating. And Cain, the original individual who owed no responsibility or duty to anyone other than himself, became a wanderer on earth, the prototype of all homeless and lonely people.
But once again, God was gracious. God gave Cain a mark of protection so that anyone trying to kill him would suffer vengeance seven times over. Cain's descendant Lamech ups the ante and says that if Cain is avenged sevenfold, Lamech will be avenged seventy-seven times (Gen. 4:24). But from Cain's descendants also came civilization as we have come to know it: commerce —"those who live in tents and raise livestock"; culture—"all who play the harp and flute"; and crafts—"[those] who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron" (Gen. 4:20-22). All this good creativity and unfolding of creation's potential—something to which Adam and Eve had been summoned—is laced with frustration, predatory competition, soul—deadening sin, and people-destroying work environments. At the beginning of his well-known book on the nature of work in the American context, Studs Terkel said:
This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence—to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents ... about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is, above all (or beneath all), about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.
The Globalization of Thorns and Thistles
The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought new "thorns and thistles." The unwelcome byproducts of that "revolution" have included narrowness and monotony of tasks; the inability to see an overall purpose in one's isolated task; the denial of satisfaction that comes from the complexity in work; the depersonalized and anonymous nature of work; and the lack of a sense of participation and pride in one's work. All too familiar in the workplaces of the world are power struggles, exploitation, and injustice. The Information or so-called Creativity Society has brought its own challenges: information overload and rapidly escalating pressure to be continuously creative. But today, with the added dimension of globalization, the thorns and thistles have grown out of control. Or so it seems.
Globalization can be defined as the intensification of worldwide social relations, which links distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. International development philosophies demonstrate this, and globalization is represented in the World Bank, the International Money Fund, and the transfer of weaponry and war technology. It is then disseminated by information technology through the Internet and the globalization of pop culture, all too often from the West. All of this is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, God intended the earth to be filled with a grand international and intercultural community of peoples. But instead of a rich unity through diversity a homogenization of culture and commerce has arisen, of which the Tower of Babel is the biblical symbol: all speaking the same language and making a name for themselves. So God's descent to the city to confuse the languages and scatter the people (Gen. 11:1-9) was both judgment and fulfillment: judgment for their arrogant and autonomous pride, and fulfillment in forcing them to "fill the earth."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Work Matters by R. Paul Stevens Copyright © 2012 by R. Paul Stevens. Excerpted by permission of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Foreword Don Flow vii
Introduction 1
Part 1 God-Given Work
An Introduction to the First Five Books 9
1 Good Work Adam Eve 16
2 Degraded Work Cain 21
3 Virtuous Work Jacob 27
4 Vocational Work Joseph 33
5 Spirit Work Bezalel 40
Part 2 Stewardship Work
An Introduction to the Historical Books 49
6 Survival Work Ruth 54
7 Royal Work David 59
8 Shrewd Work Nehemiah 66
9 Providential Work Esther 72
Part 3 Soul Work
An Introduction to the Wisdom Books 81
10 Wild Work God Job 86
11 Slothful Work The Sluggard 92
12 Entrepreneurial Work The Businessperson 97
13 Enigmatic Work The Professor 102
Part 4 Just Work
An Introduction to the Prophets 109
14 Imaginative Work Ezekiel 114
15 Exilic Work Daniel 120
16 Missionary Work Jonah 125
Part 5 Kingdom Work
An Introduction to the New Testament 133
17 Contemplative Work Martha 140
18 Tent-making Work Paul Aquila Priscilla 147
19 Lasting Work Paul 154
20 Heavenly Work John 161
Epilogue: How Then Shall We Work? 169
Selected Bibliography: Theology of Work 172