Work as Redeemed by God
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข What is your dream job? Why?
โข What do you think makes a job fulfilling?ย
โข Think of someone whose work ethic you admire. What qualities or habits make this person inspiring to you?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต,โ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ; ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ.โ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ:๐ญ๐ณโ๐ญ๐ด
Work is a blessing from God from the very beginning. However, when humanity broke faith with God and rebelled against Him, sin entered the world and brought a curse upon creation. As a result, work became marked by frustration, toil, and suffering. Our relationships also became broken, making it more difficult to work with others. But Jesus came not only to save us from our sin. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He is restoring what sin has broken and making all things new. What does this mean for our calling and purpose in work?
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐, ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ.ย
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ญ๐ฌ
Those who believe in Jesus are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Through the Holy Spirit, God is restoring His image in us and renewing us to become more like Christ. This redemption includes our work. Although work is still marked by the effects of the Fall and often involves frustration, toil, and suffering, we no longer work without hope or purpose. In Christ, God has created us ย ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด that He prepared in advance for us to do. As we faithfully carry out these good works, we reflect Godโs image to the world and bring Him glory. What does Galatians 6:9โ10 teach us about our attitude toward doing good?
๐ฎ. ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐, ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ.ย
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฏ:๐ฎ๐ฏโ๐ฎ๐ฐ
Because of the Fall, work often became driven by selfish ambition, pride, fear, or mere survival rather than joyful service to God and others. But in Christ, our work takes on a renewed purpose. Whatever we do, we ultimately serve the Lord Christ, who alone deserves our wholehearted devotion and our best efforts. As we work faithfully and with excellence, we not only honor God but also bless others through the gifts, abilities, and opportunities He has entrusted to us. In this way, our work becomes one of the means by which God brings His goodness, care, and restoration into the world. According to Colossians 3:24, who is the One who will reward our faithful work?
Because God has redeemed us and our work in Christ, we have the opportunity to continue Godโs original design for usโto reflect His character and goodness throughout the whole earth. Our work then doesnโt just become mere opportunities for us to advance our own agenda or personal success. Work becomes the way we participate in the advancement of Godโs kingdomโbeing channels of His goodness, care, and restoration to the rest of Creation. In light of this, we are not working only for personal gain, but because we know what we do matters and has eternal significance.
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข What do you think are the good works that God prepared for us in advance? Think of a practical way you can pursue this good work this week.
โข Do you think you are working with a purpose greater than the worldโs ideals? How may your work and your motivation be more felt by others, so that they may benefit with the work God has entrusted to you?ย
โข Starting today, how may you constantly remind yourself that work is a blessing from God, can be worship unto God, and can be used to reflect His image and goodness to all the world? Who may you also encourage with these truths?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God that in Christ, work is not just for our survival but so that we can thrive and enjoy His creation as His image-bearers. Pray that you would work with renewed purpose and strength every day.ย
โข Ask God to help you become more excellent as you worship Him through your work. Pray that you would also walk in the good works that God has prepared for us in advance.ย
โข Pray that you and your small group would grow as Godโs image-bearers to be channels of His goodness, love, restoration, and freedom. May you see the flourishing and cultivation of the rest of creation.ย