When we think of the church's first principles, we often look to Luke’s church birth and early history in Acts. Or to the letters from Paul to Titus, Timothy, the Corinthians, Thessalonians, and Ephesians. And rightly so. Likewise, this message in Revelation 2:2 to the angel of the church in Ephesus hammers home the importance of the principle of Christian hard work. The message was to the church in Ephesus is also to the entire body of Christ for all time (2:7, 11, 17, 23; 3:6, 13, and 22). Jesus expects us to hear Him here and to put our faith into action. Hard work.
Hebrews tells us that “it is impossible to please God without faith” (11:6). But how is that faith shown? By obedience and hard work. James plainly states that the key for the faithful servant of Jesus Christ, like Abraham, is that our faith and actions must work together. That is, our actions make our faith complete (James 2:22).
Jesus sees our effort, nay, He knows all the things we do. My wife and I sometimes joke that America is the ‘no vacation nation’ because compared to other cultures employers give employees very few days off work. And that’s true. But hard work is not so much about vacation vs. workday, but rather what we do as people of God with all of our time - how we are putting our faith into action. What effort are we putting in to serve God? What planning and intentionality do we use and how deliberate are we in what we do and what we are willing to tackle? Many of us talk a good game, but we really aren’t in the game at all. Jesus sets the standard here that the Churchman is to be a hard worker.
We are to be hard workers. We are to set an expectation for ourselves and for those in our household, as the early church did. Paul put it this way, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: ‘Those unwilling to work will not get to eat’” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Everyone must contribute. That’s the standard.
How did we get so far off? How did we end up with celebrity pastors and thousands watching and doing little? We must go back to first principles. As in every generation (just like Jesus was teaching in this passage shortly after the church’s birth) we have to turn back to Jesus and love Him completely. And we must show that by what we do. No freeloaders. No willingness to allow mobsters to steal from the flock and pretend that it is okay. Do not suffer fools lightly. Similarly do not suffer lightly those who will not work hard. Good leaders go to extremes to recognize the work of the team, not steal from the team. Jesus empowered His disciples to go out and work hard. And that is just what they did. He equipped them as He equips us. We have everything we need to succeed. Now we have to work hard.
If you want your organization to thrive get rid of the bad apple that refuses to work hard. It is not that hard to figure out who they are. The example starts at the top. Hard work and the great environment it creates are contagious. When we look at the example of great leaders of the past they have in common a hard work ethic.
Go the extra mile and be the one in your marriage to outwork your spouse. Don't keep score. Just serve your wife guys. It will bless your marriage and your life. We’ve been married for over 31 years now, but about 20 years ago we went to marriage counselling trying to improve our marriage. We are both extroverts and the counsellor was asking us a bunch of questions that really helped us understand each other better. Despite being extroverts we needed time alone. That’s hard to do with five little kids running around. I took the counselor's advice and started getting up an hour or two before everyone else. It was a game-changer. Try it. It will put gas in your tank. What you lose in sleep you will gain in time with God and time to reflect and to plan.
I’m so proud of my wife for the example she sets for our family as a hard worker. She is an industrious Proverbs 31 woman. Likewise, my daughter and son-in-law are hard workers. They are doing a great job raising their four sons. It takes hard work. In addition to Tyler’s work in the Army, they are leading their small group at church. And they have small businesses on the side and they work hard to improve their home. Likewise, our four sons are hard workers. I’m so proud of them for how humble they are and how hard they work. Our youngest is still in university (and he works part-time on the side to pay the bills) but the older three knocked out university degrees by working construction jobs and other jobs to pay for college. None of them have a dollar of debt. That takes hard work. (Now if they'd only start working hard at finding wives!)
The funny thing about hard work is that it is so much more fun than the alternative. If I think back over my life, especially the time on the farm and the time in big national law firms. I can honestly say I loved the hard work. Give me the hill country. I’d much rather be in the game than sitting on the bench. There is no comparison. When we look at the examples of faith in Hebrews 11 we see the incredible things God achieved through them via their hard work.
Commit to upping your game. If your job is not hard enough, find another. Find places to serve. If you are a ministry leader encourage people to go and lead and serve. Say yes. Open doors. Stop controlling and start enabling. Work hard. Volunteer. Step in. Be a leader that works hard and encourages others to work hard. Jesus sees all we do. The way of our King is to put our faith into action and work hard.
Help us to give You honor by working hard today, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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