For our 40th show, Pastor Brito interviews KC contributor Pastor Dustin Messer concerning his recent piece published at the Theopolis Institute entitled Sacred Work in a Secular World. The discussion begins with a false distinction between “full-time Christian ministry” and “secular work” so mistakenly proclaimed in the evangelical church. Dustin traces the history of vocation in the work of the Reformer Martin Luther and articulates a fuller vision of vocation based on the creation account of Genesis. Messer concludes by discussing how he would encourage a young person who is uncertain about what vocation to pursue.
“Most folks start in Genesis 3 to think about vocation…but if you start with the Fall explaining what’s wrong with work you can lead people to believe that work is just a necessary temporal good… We should go to Genesis 1 and ground your view of vocation in the creation of the world.”
“God is ruling over all creation through mortal humans and he has chosen a church for his mission so that what you do has real meaning and value.”
Several weeks ago, a picture of a man working at Trader Joe’s went viral. At first glance, it was hard to tell what was worthy of note in the picture—a man simply standing near a cash register. It turns out, the picture went viral not because of what the man was doing, but because of who he was: Geoffrey Owens, who played Elvin Tibideaux in the Cosby Show. Once the picture brought Owens back into the spotlight, he addressed the phenomenon on Good Morning America:
“This business of my being this ‘Cosby’ guy who got shamed for working at Trader Joe’s, that’s going to pass. … But I hope what doesn’t pass is this idea … this rethinking about what it means to work, the honor of the working person and the dignity of work…There is no job that’s better than another job. It might pay better, it might have better benefits, it might look better on a resume and on paper, but actually it’s not better. Every job is worthwhile and valuable, and if we have a kind of a rethinking about that because of what’s happened to me, that would be great.”
Is Every Job Sacred?
I’m not sure anyone who heard Owens’ remarks doubted that they were beautiful; the question is, are they true? Is every job really worthwhile and valuable? Is there something about the nature of working itself that carries with it inherent meaning and dignity? To answer that question, it might be helpful to back up a little and ask, “Where does the idea that all work is sacred come from?” Cambridge professor Owen Chadwick points to the 16th Century:
“The Reformation made all secular life into a vocation of God. It was like the baptism of the secular world. It refused any longer to regard the specially religious calling of a priest or monk as higher in moral scale than the calling of a cobbler or of a prince. Christian energy was turned away from the still and the contemplative towards action. The man who would leave the world turned into the man who would change it.”
Anyone familiar with Martin Luther will be sympathetic to his portrait of the Reformation. It was Luther, after all, who claimed that the milkmaid’s milking was a service to God just as the preacher’s preaching was a service to God. Of course, this only kicks the ball down the road; we’re left now asking of the Reformers the same question we were asking of Owens, namely: why is it that every job is sacred? To answer that, we have to back up even further, as far as one can back up, in fact—to the creation of the world.
In Genesis 1:1-2:1 we’re given an order to creation: day 1, night and day; day 2, the sky and sea; day 3, land and vegetation; day 4, the sun and the moon; day 5, sea creatures and birds; day 6, animals and humans, and on day 7, God rests. At first glance, this ordering seems strictly historical: Moses lists the creatures in the order in which they were created. On a deeper reading, which by no means necessarily negates the first reading, Moses is giving an order to creation that goes beyond the history of reality and touches on the teleology of reality.
Let me explain: days 1-3 are spheres, days 4-6 are corresponding sovereigns—night and day (day 1) are “governed” by the sun and moon (day 4), the sky and the sea (day 2) are governed by birds and fish (day 5), and land and vegetation (day 3) are governed by animals and, most importantly, mankind (day 6).
It’s by examining this passage that we can finally understand the inherent dignity of work. It’s here that we see (1) God rules over all and (2) he rules through us. (more…)
In Mark 6, Jesus begins teaching at the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. Many people are “astonished” at his wisdom and the mighty works performed “by his hands” (6:2). Yet instead of being enamored with Jesus, the crowd is offended at him (6:3). The Greek word translated as “offended” is skandalizó, which means to “scandalize” or “cause to stumble.” The crowd doesn’t respond to Jesus in faith and devotion, they respond with suspicion. They seek to discredit him. Nazareth’s offense lies at the center of verses 1-6:
A. Jesus arrives to Nazareth; teaches in synagogue (vv. 1-2a)
…B. Many are astonished by Jesus (v. 2a)
……C. Mighty works are performed by hands (v. 2b)
………D. Carpenter; Mary, Brothers, Sisters (v. 3a)
…………E. “They were offended at him” (v. 3b)
………D’. Prophet; Country, Relatives, House (v. 4)
……C’. No mighty works, except a few by hands (v. 5)
…B’. Jesus marvels at Nazareth (v. 6a)
A’. Jesus goes to the villages, teaching in a circuit (v. 6b)
In their astonishment, the crowd asks, “Is this not the carpenter?” Here we have a vocation attributed to Jesus. This is the only story in the Bible that alludes to Jesus’ vocation, or him having one at all (cf. Mt. 13:55). Though Scripture never confirms this to be Jesus’ vocation, we have reason to believe the crowd. They aren’t wrong about Mary being his mother (Mt. 1:16) or of him having siblings (Mk. 3:32-35). They have an adequate knowledge of Jesus’ life, so much so that they presume to know the names of his brothers. It’s reasonable to conclude that the crowd would also know Jesus’ vocation. (more…)
I have heard it no less than several hundred times in the past ten years. No doubt, it is always well-meaning and well-intended, and comes from a multitude of choruses, but the assertion leaves me a little perplexed, and, truth be told, somewhat discouraged. The refrain usually sounds something like this: “Todd, you missed your calling. You should have been” – then comes the rich and variegated occupations – pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, columnist, narrator, network anchor, broadcaster, politician, high school football coach; yes, even at times, nouthetic counselor, one that really puzzles me. Yet for the past twenty-two years, outside of four years as a Scout Platoon Leader in the United States Army, I have worked in some form of educational sales, marketing, and selling everything from textbooks, class rings, graduation cap and gowns, to varsity letterman jackets. Not exactly high glamour! The logical and difficult question thus becomes: Have I missed my calling? While I’m certainly no relativist, the answer is a bit more complicated and nuanced than what might appear on the surface and what I might have answered ten years ago. It goes beyond a simple yes or no, but I believe when we carefully understand the biblical basis and ground for work, the nature of primary and secondary callings, and the future orientation of our work, not only have I not missed my calling, but perhaps have come to understand it more completely and appreciate it more fully.
Learning From Kuyper and Luther
Sadly, most Christians in our contemporary culture today have little if any theological framework for a doctrine of work. The secular culture lives for the weekend, and many Christians have adopted much of the same mentality. The famous cliché that we “work at our play, and play at our work” may be a cliché, but a truthful one at that. Many view work as a result of the fall, coming as a sort of punishment for man’s disobedience and rebellion. Pastors have, sadly in my estimation, failed the Church in this area by their failure to fully ground the doctrine of work in the “very good” declaration of Genesis 1. In Genesis 1:26-28, popularly described as the Cultural Mandate, God establishes His first command for Adam and Eve to take dominion over the earth, for His glory, and to be co-laborers in establishing his Kingdom over the vast expanse of the Cosmos. Kuyper’s famous declaration of the Crown Rights of Christ over every “square inch” of creation was a restatement of God’s original plan, one that most certainly involved work, and physical work at that. Post-fall, that command has not been rescinded, but given a new orientation and direction, as I shall briefly explore shortly below. This concept gives immense dignity and meaning to every legitimate and moral enterprise; thus the great Reformer Martin Luther could declare: “God Himself will milk the cows through him whose vocation that is. He who engages in the lowliness of his work performs God’s work, be he lad or king.”
The Difference Between Calling and Vocation
While every legitimate vocation may have worth, we must go a step further and delineate between calling and vocation (by which I mean the work we are employed to do), something many in the Church fail to do and which engenders much disagreement. Over the years, I have examined the notion of “vocation” and “calling” from a multitude of angles, and while I used to hold firmly to the belief that both held much the same meaning, careful study has led me to cautiously make a distinction between them. Hugh Whelchel, in his marvelous book, How Then Should We Work, distinguishes between our primary calling and secondary callings as Christians. Our primary call is to follow Christ and receive the gift of salvation; many secondary callings flow out of this one primary calling. While certainly not setting up any kind of dualism between the sacred and the secular, something the Reformers vehemently opposed, this framework recognizes our secondary callings in the realm of family, church, and society. We are called to be husbands, fathers, elders, deacons, and into vocational work that glorifies God and serves the common good. With regard to the last, Whelchel labels this secondary calling ourvocational calling and says this: “A Christian’s work is not a specific type of occupation but rather an attitude that sees work ‘not, primarily as a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do…Work is, or should be, the full expression of the worker’s gifts, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.’ Under this definition you may have different careers and jobs at different points in your life, but your vocational calling from God will stay constant.” There it is! Many jobs may come, but the God-given passion and skills uniquely granted by the Creator and refined through years of discovery will remain and be brought to bear upon whatever vocational task that may constitute one’s “career path” for a particular season. In short, your job may not fully harmonize with your “calling” but the thoughtful Christian will constantly be seeking to integrate them as fully as possible. For some, this task is much easier than others, as there is more coherence and unity between the two. I think about many of my friends who have a passion for teaching and actually make their living doing it; the pilot who loves to teach and serves as a flight instructor; the skilled artisan who has a passion for restoration and runs a paint business; the astute and savvy business-minded friend who loves legal documents and research and supervises operations and title search at a major title company. For that matter, I think of my wife, a woman who loves numbers, finance, data, and spreadsheets and works as a CPA out of our home, and a great one at that! For most of us, however, the landscape is a bit more uncertain and requires that we constantly evaluate how our talents and treasures are brought to bear upon our vocational endeavors.
Work has Eternal Significance
Finally, work must be done with a view toward God’s overarching plan to unite all things in Christ, “things in heaven and on earth,” as the Apostle Paul states in several places in Scripture. When we are tempted to despair, and fail to understand in any remote manner how what we do from day to day has significance and meaning, we must remember that God has redeemed us, and thus, by extension, our vocational pursuits, and has promised to bring the best of those efforts and undertakings into the New Heavens and the New Earth. With redemption comes a new orientation for all of our efforts; we know that “our labor is not in vain” and that if the Kings of the Earth will bring their glory into eternity in some sense (Rev. 22), then what we do now, no matter how trivial and miniscule it might appear to us at the time, carries with it some transcendent and eternal purpose which is known perhaps only to God and which will find its way into the Consummation.
Several years ago, I had the privilege of hosting Pastor Greg Strawbridge in my home, along with ten other men, for an evening of theological discussion. He began the meeting by asking each man present what he did for a living. When he heard my response, he said, “so you work in the glory business.” It left a deep impression on me, for I had never really thought of it in those terms before. From that point forward, I began to see, sometimes more so than at others, the profound difference that the products I provided made in people’s lives. I also began to see how all of the unique skills, like those of speaking, teaching, motivating, and narrating, were employed in my vocational calling. I’m not sure how a class ring or a cap and gown will find its way into the New Heavens and the New Earth; most likely it won’t! What I am certain of is that it will be a place full of Glory where wise stewardship will be called for, where unique gifts will be employed in the service of the King for all eternity, and where God’s original purpose for man will be fully and finally realized. Perhaps, just maybe, what I’m doing here is but preparation for what I will forever do there. I can think of no better reason to work!
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Todd Leonard has worked in Educational Sales for the past eighteen years and was previously a Scout Platoon Leader in the U.S. Army. He is married to Trina and the proud father of six children. He is a recreational triathlete who loves the pursuit of the strenuous life. He is also the leader of Micah 6:8 ministries, a member of Providence Church in Pensacola, Florida, and blogs at micahmandate.blogspot.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @micah68min.
There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’Abraham Kuyper
