Work in Him

My Father is working until now, and I also am working

Creation takes work and time. God’s work over six “days” changed the formless and empty into something He deemed good. A change of state requires work.

And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done. God saw that it was good. 

We share with God the desire to create and the desire for a better state. Creating a better state takes work. 

We can work with a heart toward God. That will bring guidance, satisfaction, intimacy, and trust in the One who indwells us. Our work and responsibilities are such a great part of our lives.  Cultivating His presence in daily duties is a simple and effective practice. If you haven’t read Practicing His Presence by Brother Lawrence, it’s a classic that draws attention to the practice of bringing awareness of God into our work. The book made a deep impression on me as a young believer.

In Genesis, God assigns a job to man in Eden. The ground of Eden needed to be worked on. 

Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the ground. 

Man’s designated workplace was Eden. 

And Jehovah God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

God created not only a place to live, but also a place to work. He waited to send rain until there was a man to work the ground.

Genesis establishes the sacredness of work as a part of His will and His design. The necessity of work for survival or self-expression is not all there is to it. Adopting the view – I am here to till the ground so that God may send rain – would be a very healthy and scriptural mindset. We can do all things to the Lord with such awareness.

After the fall, man was sent out of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. This event changed man’s dwelling place and workplace. Adam could no longer live or work in Eden. He had to till the ground from which he was taken, instead of keeping the garden of Eden. This is the first instance of a displaced worker. The new workplace was going to be hard, producing thorns and thistles and requiring much sweat of the brow.

Losing the divinely appointed job has been rough on the man. It has also limited God for a time. Man lost his job, and God also lost His worker. Without a man to till the ground, rain cannot be sent. God’s work was limited until Christ took on the Father’s work on this earth. After the completion of Christ’s work, the rain of the Spirit is sent. What was lost in Adam is recovered in Christ with respect to work. 

Noah shows us a pattern of someone responding to divine revelation and instruction. He worked against the tide of that age. The ark is a type of Christ as the vessel of salvation.

With the Hebrews in Egypt, we see work in the context of enslavement. 

And the taskmasters pressed them saying, finish your work. 

Deliverance from Egypt aims to change the nature of work for the Hebrews. There is a change from making bricks for Pharaoh’s building in Egypt to building God’s dwelling in the Good Land. 

Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. 

The building work is done according to God’s design for God’s dwelling. 

We see in Genesis that divine thought encompasses both life and work. In Exodus, both slavery and freedom relate to life and work. In Egypt, life is tough, the master is a tyrant, and the work is unproductive. The promise of the Good Land addresses all three aspects.

Moses was powerful in his words and works. His life shows us another pattern of someone who worked together with God. He did so in the second part of his life, after forty years on the backside of a mountain tending sheep. His work is based on revelation and leads to one nation under one God, living unto God and serving God. 

Christ, as the Son of Man, takes on the Father’s work. 

My Father is working until now and I also am working. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. The work which the Father has given me to finish… The Father who abides in me does his work. I have glorified you on Earth, finishing the work which you have given me to do. 

There is no other concern and no other work besides the work appointed by the Father. Christ, as a man, completed God’s work and became Lord of all. In contrast, Adam, as a man, lost the position to work for God. 

Christ sees a need for workers in the divine enterprise. 

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 

God is hiring workers for the vineyard. There is a need to send workers out to gather the harvest. 

Apostles are set apart for the work to which I have called them. Man is called to work not for the food that perishes but the food which abides unto eternal life. 

There is not only worship, but also work.

Apostles see the believers as fellow workers and as vessels prepared unto every good work. We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works. 

Good work is that which originates from God and is empowered by Him. 

Present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman. Always abounding in the work of the Lord.

The work of God that began with Eden culminates in New Jerusalem as the holy city whose Builder and Architect is God. This city is also a bride adorned for her Husband. The city-bride represents the eternal dwelling of divinity in humanity. This change of state from man as God’s creation to man as God’s dwelling place is realized by work! The thought that a man in Christ can work in cooperation with God is a clear and consistent feature of the gospel. 

These highlights show a progression in the matter of work. God’s work of creation, man’s work to till the ground and care for the growth of life, loss of divine appointment to a place of hard work outside Eden, Noah’s work of building the vessel of salvation, Hebrew’s delivered to make a journey to a place chosen by God to build a sanctuary for God’s dwelling, the work of Moses with revelation and divine presence to form a nation that serves God, Christ doing a finished work that God fully approved, the expansion of that singular work by fellow workers that present themselves and finally the emergence of the city that comes down out of heaven from God. The theme of work threads it way through the Bible. 

The nature of work is closely tied to its reward and outcome. Paul speaks of works borne of a sinful nature. 

Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me. Works of the flesh are manifest. Do not participate in the works of darkness but reprove them. 

Hebrews speaks of being purified from dead works to serve the living God. 

So, there is a negative nature from which work can proceed. A change in the nature and source of work is needed. 

The reward is according to the nature of the work. Our calling is not according to our work; however, what God renders to each as a reward is according to his works. 

The work is a building work. The material to be used is not wood, hay, and stubble but precious materials. Work must be built upon Christ as the foundation with precious materials. 

The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.

The work of Christ is by the divine nature and according to the divine will. It is blessed, approved, and multiplied by God. It is a work that endures. 

Not all work is acceptable to God. Works of power in His name may be lawlessness. Knowing Him and doing His will is required for entrance into the kingdom. 

A believer’s work is in keeping with the principle: 

For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. 

Christ speaking to the churches in Revelation references their work. 

I know your work and your labor…I will give to each one of you according to your works. I have found none of your works completed. 

The divine view is not only toward our life, but also our work and an evaluation of that work. 

Work is a vital part of the relationship between God and man. God Himself works, and He desires man to work alongside Him to fulfill His heart’s desire. The work involves building a place for God to dwell with His people. Adam lost the ground to serve God, but in Christ, a new foundation has been laid for us to build upon. Participating in the divine nature also transforms our work, giving it lasting value. Our reward depends on the nature of our work. 

In Adam, man lost his God-ordained role and became a displaced worker. In Christ, who is now enthroned, man can serve the living God by being one spirit with Him. Work is a part of how we relate to God. We have a working relationship in the deepest sense. The union of God and man is not only in life and love. We work together as one. It is a union of work.

As we work with Him, He works Himself into us.