HONOR IN WORK

This two-lesson series discusses scriptural basis for work ethic among Christians. Each lesson on “Work” was presented by Travis W. Lewis on the date indicated below the lesson title.

The photo at heading of this lesson shows Nathan Lewis working in a hay hauling project near Harmon Creek in Henderson County on May 21, 2016.

LESSON 1 OF 2

WORK – FOR WHOM

By Travis W. Lewis

JULY 31, 2005

1) INTRODUCTION

a) I began my obligations as a hired employee with assigned shifts of work in September of 1963. During the following fifty-four years, I would change careers twice prior to retiring from regular employment in 2017.

b) As many as review this series can relate to one of the more noticeable and prevalent changes in the workplace over the past several decades has been that once many folks get the job they have chased – they tend, possibly ever so gradually, to cease wanting to work.

c) Folks will often extend themselves to great lengths to get a job, which reminds me of the story of a young Tennessee father named Etherlee who, in the late nineteenth century, had become desperate for work in the poverty-laden hills where he had been raised.

Etherlee was a wiry, short-statured, young father who at first glance would appear rather frail. Finding himself unemployed, and as a last resort to support himself and young family, Etherlee decided to travel to the sweltering logging camps in southern Louisiana in search of work. On the morning of his arrival and following an inquiry about a job, he was referred to the burly, rough-shod camp boss. Being in the nineteenth century when tree-cutting was still being done with crosscut saw and broad-axe, Etherlee would not at first impress as being a prospect for a lumberjack.

Though with skepticism, the boss handed Etherlee a broad-axe and pointed to a nearby grove of trees, then ordered Etherlee to show his stuff at chopping down trees. And that Etherlee did, as he quickly shucked off his shirt, which displayed his frailties even more with his prominent rib cage, shoulder blades and backbone appearing as being draped with only a layer of dark brown skin. At once, the swinging ax took on the near appearance of a buzz saw, sending huge chips and splinters flying non-stop in every direction. Within only a few minutes the tree fell along the precise path which the boss had demanded.

Approaching Etherlee, the brawny boss asked, “Son, I’m gonna’ hire ye, but, where’d ‘ju learn to chop like’at?” Etherlee replied, “In the Sahara Forest.” “In the Sahara Forest? I always thought the Sahara was a desert.”, retorted the boss. Grinning with the assurance of having secured a job that would support his family, Etherlee replied, “Yes Sir, it is now.”

d) Nevertheless, comparatively seldom does eventual performance match the qualifications initially projected by the job applicant.

e) Many folks eventually see their jobs as a necessary evil. We use the term, “I’ve gotta’ go to work.” “I can’t get off that day; I’ve gotta’ work.”

f) On the other hand, others, even Christians, often allow their work to literally dominates their lives.

g) To some degree for what may have been short periods of time, I experienced those phases myself, and each one of those outlooks indicates something outside the Biblical perspective on work.

h) The focus of our lesson today is on work – how we inculcate what we profess on Sunday, what we discuss in church, what we absorb from lessons and sermons that we study and hear – how we should internalize those principles and take them into the workplace as part of our daily lives.

i) Scriptures are filled with teachings about work; Paul addressed the subject in his letter to the Christians at Thessalonica, where he had spent a few weeks before being forced to leave town. Folks from all walks of life in Thessalonica were being converted, which had prompted the Jews in town to hire witnesses to testify that Paul was proclaiming Jesus to be king instead of Caesar.

j) So, Paul left Thessalonica, yet had subsequently sent Timothy back to visit and to report how the folks were faring. In summary, Timothy reported that the relatively new Christians were withstanding persecution and temptation, but there were two issues, very much Christian issues, that needed some clarification. Soon after receiving this Timothy’s report, Paul received further information which God obviously used to prompt him to write yet another letter giving both these issues even more attention.

k) Of these two issues that concerned Paul regarding these Thessalonian Christians, was confusion about Christ’s second coming, and the other was a tendency of some new converts not being productive – either not working at all, or that their daily way of life was being governed by principles contrary to those of Jesus.

l) So, let’s begin in 2 Thessalonians 3:1, and focus on what Paul had to say about how Christian principles should be inculcated into our work ethic.

[CLASS READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3:6-9.]

⁶Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. ⁷For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; ⁸Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: ⁹Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. ¹¹For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. ¹²Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. ¹³But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. ¹⁴And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. [1][2]

2) CONTINUE TO DO GOOD

a) As Paul drew toward concluding this second letter to the church at Thessalonica, he expressed confidence that God would strengthen and protect these believers against the evils by which they were being tempted.

b) His prayer was that God would keep them reminded of the things he was commanding them – some things they ought to do, along with some things they should be on guard against.

c) Of all people, Paul understood the subtleties of Satan, and as he ended this letter, he gave a final caution in the passage we just read.

d) EXERCISE: When you think of sins to be on guard against, sins that constitute a “disorderly walk”, what sins first come to mind? Possibly – adultery, theft (stealing), cursing, alcohol or drug abuse, etc….

e) I think it’s really notable that those temptations and sins that Paul articulated were not those which may first come to our minds when we think of sin; yet, these were sins that Paul articulated that were to be considered with others as being “disorderly”.

f) The term “walk”, refers to how one lives, his or her behavior or way of life; and “disorderly” derives from a Greek adverb meaning, “unruly”, or “irresponsibly”.

g) So the term “walking disorderly”, generally describes an irresponsible or unruly way of life; an irresponsible or unruly behavior.

h) Paul’s approach in this second letter was somewhat more straightforward and blunter than found in his first letter, which is indicated by his use of the term, “command”.

i) His mild admonitions in his first letter had failed, and now he was saying, “You must do it.”

j) He wasn’t asking or commanding that the church treat the offenders as non-Christians, but what he was telling them, and us, is that if we are to expect to grow and prosper spiritually, we must withhold close fellowship from those who continually disregard some basic Scriptural principles in their everyday lives.

k) And, as a reminder, we might notice that Paul did not qualify his command by saying, “Now, keep in mind that you ought to watch what family this ‘disorderly walker’ comes from, or how much he or she contributes to the church.” It was to be done indiscriminately, and in a manner that would unmistakably reflect the attitude of Christ.

l) Though Paul’s letter was one of love, he wrote with firmness and authority in which his love is still seen in the manner he addressed all his readers as “brethren”, including those whose behavior he condemned; and from the majority, Paul was asking them to exercise discipline in dealing with the stubborn minority.

m) It’s certain that Paul was including those sins that we often consider as being “gross” sins – the theft (whether white collar, blue collar, or no collar), the sexual atrocities, and all the others, but…

n) QUESTION: What specific sin was he homing in on? The sin of loafing, of being idle, of being lazy, of being non-productive when they had the ability and opportunity to work and to be productive.

o) He refers to this same problem throughout the passage, so this was the heart of the “disorderliness” in the church at Thessalonica.

p) Why? Because the sin of willfully becoming non-productive had, as it invariably does, led to another sin – the sin of being busybodies, always dabbling unnecessarily with the affairs of others.

q) The sin of willfully becoming non-productive almost inevitably leads to the sin of being destructive; and, it was the sin that was eating away at the life of some of the church members at Thessalonica. It may very well be the most destructive one in both our society and congregations of churches today.

r) In truth, one’s sin is primarily the responsibility of the individual, however, failure of the church to deal with it, especially after having reached its fermented state, sends a signal of acceptability, and subsequently exacerbates and intensifies the problem.

s) And, in my view, what has happened is that the stereotypical political principle of the government doing for us what we should be expected to do for ourselves has been largely accepted by individual church members and subsequently by the congregation as a whole.

t) Many contemporary church members accept the ploy of the politician to render them obligated to him or her, thus allowing the government, to one extent or another, to be an overseer and caregiver from cradle to grave in exchange for a vote at the ballot box. Yet seldom do we hear Paul’s alarm parroted from pulpits any longer.

u) The same problem which is rampant in our own society is the exact same as that which Paul was addressing here; for whatever reasons, not finding themselves in gainful employment, they were being pulled by Satan into the cesspool of idle, harmful gossip.

v) It appears to be only a comparable few in our society that can’t be producers in some way.

w) Admittedly, every generation has the elderly, afflicted, and terminally ill – but these are in such a minority that they would be no burden for the producers to gladly take care of. [3]

x) Paul was saying, “During the short time I spent with you, I didn’t expect you to take care of me, though, if I was delivering such a precious thing as the Gospel, it would have been right for you to have supported me…. but I worked and made my own way with one main objective, and that was to set an example that each of you also ought to be responsible to support himself or herself if possible…. And, if you do that, there’ll be plenty to take care of those who truly can’t support themselves.”

y) Yet, the word of contemporary society seems to be , “If there’s a government program that’ll pay off without me having to work, I’ll jump on it.”

z) Additionally, though some instances involve legitimate claims, I’m amused at times by folks even at young ages applying for disability, or often suing their employer for damages resulting from carelessly injuring themselves; appeal after appeal portrays them as injured or maimed or homebound or barely able to survive.

aa) ) Though not without exception, it’s often plain – we know when the court-assessed damages have been paid, or the disability has been approved; away goes the neck brace or the walking cane, and soon they appear driving a later model SUV, or new furniture appears in the house or a new boat in the garage.

ab) In our scripture today, Paul used an interesting term, “busybodies”.

ac) QUESTION: What does that term mean to you?

ad) Paul described these problem folks as “not working at all”, ergazomai

ae) He said they are not ergazomai, not working, but are peri-ergazomai, meaning not busy at their own work, but busy taking care of (????) the business of others – i.e., busy taking care of everybody’s business but their own.

af) With time on their hands, a considerable amount was being spent probing into the business of those who worked. Why were they not working?

i) In this case, it appears many had become convinced the Lord was returning right away.

ii) Though it’s plain that is not the most widely used alibi of today, Satan is ever ready to offer excuses for not being productive, such as:

(1) “I can’t find a job I like.”

(2) “I’m too qualified for jobs that are open right now.”

(a) In other words, “Jobs that are open are beneath my dignity.”

(b) The contention of this lesson is that the only position “beneath the dignity” of the able, yet unemployed, is that of being unemployed.

iii) At time of this editing, Help Wanted notices are plentiful, though vote-hungry politicians have emplaced programs that financially render unemployment preferable to many of the vacant positions which employers clamor to fill.

iv) However, facts remain stubborn things – it is dishonorable to God and to the Christianity that we claim to hold dear for an able-bodied person to be found idle because of laziness or to succumb to some “government program” which makes it financially expedient to remain unproductive.

ag) Then Paul went on to speak of how such things should be dealt with among church members.

[CLASS READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3:14-15]

¹⁴And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵Yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother.

3) DISCIPLINE

a) Paul called on the workers in the Thessalonian church body to show the idlers that they were not in good fellowship. It was to be an approach like, “Hey, the rut you’ve fallen into is one that falsely reflects our Christlikeness and brings shame on the life we try to exemplify to others.”

b) The goal is not to be vindictive, but to alert the person of the wrongness and seriousness of his actions. It’s never intended to punish but to redeem; not make him as an enemy, but to admonish him as a brother.

c) Church congregations have a responsibility to take a stand against members who habitually bring reproach on the body – it’s called ACCOUNTABILITY!

d) Even though sermons or discussions such as Paul mentioned to the Thessalonians and are noted above are seldom heard from pulpits or teaching desks, the apostle’s admonition may possibly be more applicable today than when Paul voiced his concern two-thousand years ago.

e) So, it behooves each of us who minister to reprove for whatever laxity in being productive which may have crept into the lives of our brothers and sisters; for, if we fail, then someday we will surely be called into account for having failed to sound such an alarm. Ω

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This two-lesson series discusses scriptural basis for work ethic among Christians. Each lesson on “Work” was presented by Travis W. Lewis on the date indicated below the lesson title.

LESSON 2 of 2

THREE RULES FOR WORKING SMART

By Travis W. Lewis

June 8, 2008

[CLASS TURN TO PROVERBS 6.]

1) INTRODUCTION

a) I suppose we are all aware that most of our prime, productive hours throughout life are spent outside the home and in pursuit of what we describe as a livelihood. We often call it our “WORK”.

b) Regardless of the nature of the pursuit that we call “work”, we all have the need to feel that we’re making a meaningful contribution in life.

c) We like to feel (at least, we should like to feel) at the end of the day that, because of the efforts and choices that we have made during that day, either we ourselves or somebody else are better off than when the day began.

d) Some days are better than others.

i) Some days, it seems that everything just goes “right”; nobody’s fussing; everybody’s in a good mood and pulling in the same direction; some customers are calling with orders; others are calling wanting information that will certainly lead to more business. You’re planning on a few days off, and as soon as you return to work, there’s an opportunity to make more money than you’ve ever made before in your life, or, you’ll begin the new position that you’ve planned on and worked toward for so long. “Everything’s goin’ my way.”

ii) Then there comes along “one of those days”….

Beth wakes up and notices that it’s 6:00, and she just remembers that it’s the morning that she’s supposed to meet the boss at 7:00, and with all she has to do before that time, there’s no way she’ll make it on time. So, she hits the floor, yelling at Bob to get up and make coffee and start the kids some breakfast. Down the hall she trots as she yells for the kids to get up; she gets her hair done, lays out the kids’ clothes (including Bob’s), and notices that they still aren’t up, and neither is Bob. So, she runs by their rooms again, yelling for them to get out of bed and to do it on the double. She rushes into the kitchen, dumps some cocoa puffs into two bowls and turns on the TV; that way, she can rot their minds and their stomachs at the same time. She can’t find but one shoe from the pair that she wants to wear that day, so she has to spend time searching for it. Then out the door she goes, at once discovering that her car has a flat tire, and as she starts to run back into the house to get the keys to Bob’s truck, she stumbles and falls and rips a hole in the knee of best suit…. And immediately she knows that it’s not going to be a “good day”.

e) Well, we’ve all had days like that. They come and go; they just happen.

f) The writer of the Proverbs puts up some immutable signposts to guide and govern our lives when we would otherwise pick our own way and inevitably wind up at a destination where we never intended to be.

g) And, often it’s not easy to read or remember some of what these unchanging guideposts tell us, especially about work.

h) Satan would have us look at our work as a “dog-eat-dog world”, where it would seem reasonable that we must get as dirty as those whom against whom we compete if we hope to succeed.

i) Yet, whether we’re in business for ourselves or working for someone else, or even if we’re retired, there are still some very basic axioms that are just as valid today as they were three-thousand years ago when they were first written.

j) In this lesson, we will focus on just three of those..

i) Be Wary Of Foolish Entanglements.

ii) Be Wise In Your Work Ethic.

iii) Be Warned About Wicked Dealings.

k) Hopefully, this lesson will help identify those damaging attitudes and actions in our work as we commit to be a little wiser and to internalize these proverbs into our daily routines. So, let’s begin by looking at being wary of foolish entanglements.

[CLASS READ PROVERBS 6:1-5.]

¹My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, ²Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. ³Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. ⁴Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. ⁵Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. [4]

2) BE WARY OF FOOLISH ENTANGLEMENTS

a) One of the great excellencies of the word of God is that it not only provides divine wisdom for the world to come but prudence as we function in this life as well.

b) Especially mentioned in these verses are two entanglements; one is to avoid security for your friend or neighbor, and the other is making an agreement with a stranger.

c) I realize that, especially in the western world, a very important cornerstone in our economy is credit – one party loaning something of value to another with some type of assurance that the recipient of the loan will repay, and that the lending party will be rewarded by being repaid more than was loaned.

d) QUESTION: Is there either of us here that have never loaned any money to a friend – or relative?

e) QUESTION: Is there anyone who had regrets for having done so?

f) One of the special warnings in Proverbs is a prohibition against covering someone else’s loan – cosigning a note that essentially says, “If he doesn’t repay you, I will.”

g) And the point of the writer is that it’s not wise for one to jeopardize his own credibility by relying upon the credibility of another, for in so doing, Solomon is saying that we’re loaning our own credibility to another, as well as voluntarily placing our own credibility under the control of somebody else.

h) Solomon cautions against becoming entangled in such an arrangement with a “friend”; and his cautionary advice seems to be even more poignant when dealing with a stranger.

i) Solomon’s advice is to never partner with anybody unless we’re ready to assume the whole load alone. Be assured that he’s referring to verbal commitments as well as those that are written.

j) But the part of wisdom to which Solomon refers is the heavy weight that we should place on our credibility, and if it is in jeopardy, such a liability progressively becomes burdensome and begs for release.

k) Once bound, Solomon advises us to lose no time nor spare any pain as we get out of the snare and set our affairs into a better posture – first before God, then before man.

l) The following story has been told to point out the importance of credibility:

A pastor once met one of his church members on a downtown sidewalk and immediately discovered him to be drunk. The man was weeping and explaining how he had lost his job which had cost him his marriage and that his creditors seemed to be swarming every day for payments that he could not make. The pastor led a short prayer that asked for guidance, then proceeded to follow an impression he was feeling. Being asked by the weeping, inebriated brother for advice, the pastor responds, “Go home, take your Bible in hand, and with your hands covering your eyes, open it, then, still in darkness, place your finger on one of the pages. Then, open your eyes and the words to which your finger is pointing, follow its advice.”

Several months passed before the pastor encountered the church member again, at which time as he had parked and was leaving his car alongside another downtown street when his friend darts into the parking space next to the one he had just occupied. As he steps out of an almost new Mercedes car, the pastor immediately notices his expensive three-piece suit, alligator boots, on his left wrist is a Rolex watch, and on each hand are two rings, all appearing to be set with diamonds. The long-absent church member greets his pastor with a hearty hug and a handshake, after which the pastor asks, “Tell me, did you take my advice to start reading from your Bible?” “Yes, I sure did!”, came the reply. “Well, I have to ask what were the words you saw when you first opened your eyes?”, the preacher asked, with apparent excitement; however, his new-found joy was dampened by the reply, “Chapter 11.”

m) That was obviously not the answer the pastor had hoped to hear, nor is it often the best solution to a credit entanglement.

n) Credibility involves being depended upon to do what we promise to do, or being able to do what we say; credibility involves dependability and dependability involves truth.

o) From his caution regarding foolish entanglements, Solomon goes on to teach about our work ethic.

[CLASS READ PROVERBS 6:6-11, 20:4]

⁶Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: ⁷Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, ⁸Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. ⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? ¹⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: ¹¹So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. [5 ^{PROV. 20:4 4}The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. [6]

3) BE WISE IN OUR WORK ETHIC

a) There was a CNN survey for the year 2005, researchers found that the average employee wastes over two hours out of eight in non-productive time.

b) Internet usage, socializing, personal business, phone calls, arriving late, leaving early – spending over 25% of the time they were being paid to produce something while actualizing nothing of value to the employer. [7]

c) Folks, there’s a Scripture-related word for the act of getting paid to be productive, then voluntarily being non-productive. The word is – STEALING.

d) Then there’s that person that seems to be just naturally LAZY – born tired and never rested; he, or she, wastes time by convincing themselves that they feel bad; they have other things on their minds that draw their attention away from what they’re accepting pay to do – when actually they’re not interested in making the employer richer, which is what they accepted the job in order to do.

e) Solomon was apparently very concerned with time management as well, as he uses this simple parable of the ant – the ant – absence of intelligence, no guide, no supervisor – just driven to do something without knowing that he’s doing it for his own survival – yet it keeps on keeping on.

f) Watch the ant –

i) It has an instinctive work ethic.

ii) If an ant were the size of an adult, it would run as fast as we can drive a car; that’s how fast they move.

iii) It is conditioned by work to the point that he can lift 20 times its own body weight; for me, that would mean that I could snatch up a pickup truck, hoist it over my head, and hold it there while you changed its oil.

iv) And when the ant finds food, it secretes a scent so other ants in the colony can find a trail to the same source.

v) Then what does the ant do when its day is finished? It goes home and normally sleeps for about seven hours – virtually every day of its life. Do you? Think of the reason the ant has no trouble sleeping – he’s tired; he’s designed to rest, to refurbish his body for another day of productivity.

g) The rise of western society has been predicated on the work ethic – and on the freedom to work, produce, and expect a personal reward for having done so.

h) And I truly believe that the fall of western society as we know it is inevitable because we often assume we have found new ways to “make it” without producing anything.

i) Then Solomon warns about wicked dealings.

[CLASS READ PROVERBS 6:12-15.]

¹²A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. ¹³He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; ¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. ¹⁵Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.[8]

4) BE WARNED ABOUT WICKED DEALINGS

a) Notice that our common use of the Hebrew term that the KJV translated “naughty” means “worthless”, a person of no purpose, worth nothing to either themselves or to others. (Note the root word, “naught”, meaning “nothing”. )

b) Solomon warns that this person who has no purpose usually comes in possession of a heart filled with wickedness, one who would plot evil.

c) And he paints a rather lively picture of this person …

i) He speaks dishonestly, leading his hearers on by what he says and makes promises that others initially accept as being credible.

ii) Then he uses those relationships he has built when he moves in for the kill.

iii) His values are perverted, and, without exception, he brings calamity not only to himself, but to all the others who have been duped by his cleverness.

v) Summarizing, “A good deal can’t be made with a bad man.”

CONCLUSION

• • The truth is that God truly desires that we have productive and healthy work.
  • He truly desires that we be wary of foolish business entanglements.
  • He admonishes that we have a strong work ethic and that we not be lazy, and, at the same time, not become slaves to our work.
  • And then finally, He strongly desires that we deal honestly with people, and always watch out for those who deal dishonestly with us.
  • And, in so doing, they see Jesus in us!

[1]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

[2]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

[3] Many reach the point in life when direct, physical productivity has been replaced by past investments reaping monetary proceeds by producing jobs for the more able-bodied. This is an admirable status in life to have reached – when past planning and investments render one more independent of public support. This is when one’s investments are producing long past the nearly inevitable period in life when physical or mental faculties have failed.

[4]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

[5]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

[6]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

[7] Another interesting part of that same survey showed that older workers wasted less time on average than younger workers.

[8]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.