4. The Creation of Work
- Daniel Fahringer
- Jun 23, 2023
- 9 min read
Updated: Nov 11
83,200 Hours.
4,992,000 Minutes.
299, 520,000 Seconds.
That is the time one would spend working if one worked for forty years, working forty hours every week of the year.
Work is a constant reality of life. We work tirelessly either for a living, or out of love and joy for someone or something. Work is essential to life and unavoidable. The attitudes toward work are wide-ranging across the world. From seeing it as the path to a livelihood and future to seeing it as a necessary evil, it is approached in many ways. So how should work be viewed? How is work to be done? What is the purpose of work? Genesis two provides answers.
"Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it." - Genesis 2:1-3 (LSB)
God Works
The truth must not be overlooked that God worked. The Trinity was active in the work of creation. God the Father didn't pass on the work of creation to God the Son. The Godhead was fully active in the work of creation. God's work of creation was complete after the sixth day. Creation was finished, fully, and perfectly by the Triune God. God's creation had no issues, because it was a perfect and complete work according to His good design, will, and pleasure. After God perfectly and completely finished His work of creation, He rested.
God Rests
God sanctified and made the seventh day holy, by resting on that day. What was the purpose and reason for doing so? Did God need to rest? God rested to establish the seventh day for man and woman as a day to specifically rest, delight, and worship the Creator.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates.
“For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. - Exodus 20:8-11 (LSB)
The command to remember the Sabbath was tied back to the creation account. When God rested on the seventh day it was not a suggestion. Rest was an established reality from creation. It is a command that has been greatly rejected and disobeyed today. Labor in six, and rest on the seventh day. It isn't just a day to veg and relax; the day has much more significance. It is a sabbath of God and a holy day. It is the Lord's Day.
Cease Work, Fervently Worship
We are to cease the strife of work on one day of the week and worship the Lord fully with all the strength, vigor, and energy the Lord has bestowed on us. All work is to be worship, but a day is given to use all the energy normally given to our work, to be used for the Lord.
The Lord's Day now starts instead of ends the seven-day cycle because of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week. So we are to give the first fruits of all our energy and strength to the Lord for deep worship of Him through: corporate worship, fellowship, and rest. We have no excuses to avoid worshipping the Lord fervently on His day because we are not working. The first fruits of our strength and energy every week are to be given to the Lord in our worship of Him. May the energy and effort we give to our work never supersede our passion and energy to know and worship the Lord. As we worship the Lord on His day, we must remember that all of our strength and energy comes from Him. It is not by our strength that we live and work. It is only by His grace that we live and labor.
Why Did God Rest?
When God rested from His work, it sanctified the seventh. The almighty, all-powerful, Creator, sustainer, and ruler over all things rested on the seventh day. God had no need to rest, not then and not now.
"Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will not slumber and will not sleep." - Psalm 121:4 (LSB)
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Does not become weary or tired." - Isaiah 40:28 (LSB)
God has no need for sleep. He does not become tired or weary, like humanity. He had no need for rest and will never need rest. He is God and only rested to lay out this example for His image-bearers. It truly is a holy day that the Creator who created everything and needed no rest, rested as an example for us.
Created to Cultivate
"These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven.
Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being.
And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed." - Genesis 2:4-8 (LSB)
God's most special work in creation was His creation of man. He spoke all creation into existence, except for when He created of man. God created man from the dust and breathed life into him. It was personal work when God created man. Man was created to carry the image of God, represent God, and have a relationship with God.
One of man's purposes for being created in God's image was to have dominion through cultivating the ground. God established a garden in Eden, and man was placed in it to cultivate and keep it.
A Garden Given
"And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is a Tigris; it is the one that went east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
- Genesis 2:9-15 (LSB)
God blessed the man with a glorious garden to work in and enjoy. The garden was to be beautiful and beneficial to the man. The trees were good in appearance and good for the appetite. God created the trees to be beautiful and beneficial by orchestrating them to provide food. He gave water to feed and nourish the garden through a river that divided into four rivers after Eden. Those rivers help identify the location of the garden. It wasn't a hypothetical location or fairy tale it was a real place, where God planted the man to cultivate and keep it. Although our coordinates aren't in Eden we are still called to cultivate and keep wherever God has placed us.
Cultivate and Keep
If you have ever had a garden, it is easy to understand the idea of cultivating and keeping. A fruitful garden requires faithful cultivation and current keeping. The soil needs to be tilled and compromised of essential minerals so that plants can grow. Weeds grow consistently and hinder the garden if not dealt with. Animals succeed at enjoying the harvest before man if the garden is not properly protected. The garden needs good sunlight and water to thrive and produce a fruitful harvest, so it is with all of our work. All of our work needs to be properly cultivated and kept, without it expect underwhelming results.
Whatever type of garden we work in, wherever our garden is located may we cultivate and keep it so that beautiful and beneficial results ensue from our work. Whether in the field, the home, the nursery, the kitchen, the office, the cubicle, the garage, or the construction site may our labor be a beautiful testimony that shows the glory and character of God. May we image our God whose works are wonderful, beautiful, and a blessing to man.
Blessings and Dangers in the Garden
"And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat;
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” - Genesis 2:16-17 (LSB)
God graciously gave the man a garden to cultivate and keep. As he cultivated and cared for the garden there were glorious delights and real dangers. God sovereignly created a glorious garden that was beautiful and beneficial to man. The man was to labor in the garden and enjoy the fruits of his labor. God commanded the man to eat the fruit, but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as death would ensure if he dined on it. He enjoyed great blessings as he worked, but also was in the presence of a tree that would bring death if delighted on. God's commands to man were simple. Enjoy the fruit from faithful labor and do not eat the fruit of the one tree.
Blessings and Dangers in our Garden
The blessings and dangers that were in the Garden of Eden are also in our own garden. The danger in the first garden was not avoided; sin invaded the garden and every other garden. That first sin brought sin and death to all men (Romans 5:12). Every garden that man works in now is affected by sin. There are great blessings in our garden to pursue and paths we must avoid as we work.
In our work, we must remember the One we are to image. The work we do should be beautiful and beneficial to men like the garden was. We are to image our God whose works are wonderfully marvelous, by glorifying Him, giving thanks to Him, and giving our lives to Him in all things.
"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." - Colossians 3:17 (LSB)
Our labors should faithfully and fully show our love for our Lord. We must remember that we are working for the Lord, not man (Colossians 3:23). Our boss is not ultimate, but the Lord is and sees everything including all our labors. May our work be fervently faithful to the Lord, and every endeavor in accordance with His Word.
May we commit our work to the Lord, and realize that all ability to work is from His hand. (Proverbs 16:3) (Acts 17:28)
May our work be done with joy in our hearts. (Philippians 4:4)
May our work be done with thanksgiving in our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
May our work be accomplished vigorously, completely, and thoroughly. (Colossians 3:23)
May our work be done with diligence and faithfulness. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
May our work be free from bitterness, gossip, and anger in our work. (Ephesians 4:31)
May our work be free of slothfulness and sloppiness. (Proverbs 15:19)
May our work be free from deceit and lies. (Ephesians 4:25)
May our work be free from theft. (Ephesians 4:28)
May our work cause others to be built up through the words we speak. (Ephesians 4:29)
May our conduct at work be full of kindness and forgiveness. (Ephesians 4:32)
May we enjoy our work and delight in the blessings of it. (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)
May we rest well from our work and worship the Lord faithfully at all times. (Exodus 20:8-11) (Psalm 34:1)
May our work cultivate and keep a faithful witness of our Lord. May our work be done with excellence and beauty to image the glorious God we serve. May God be proclaimed through our witness and by our work. Our work will testify to who our Lord is. May our work be found faithful in God's eyes, and may it image and glorify our God who does marvelous works beyond our understanding.
Works Cited
Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.
