Our Work, And The Work Of God

Much of life is about striving, working; working for safety, significance, success.  But we’ll never be able to work hard enough to achieve ultimate happiness or salvation.  Ultimate happiness/salvation is only found through the work of God.   And so David admonishes in 1 Chronicles 28:  “Be strong and courageous, and do the work…”  (1 Chronicles 28:20). But not in your own strength; no, be strong and courageous in the Lord -- for “….the Lord God, my God is with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work…is finished…” (1 Chronicles 28:20).

What a great promise:  God will strengthen us, empower us, to do the work we must do.  For in God, through Christ, is an inexhaustible storehouse of resources, flowing from greatest work ever done, the work of Jesus on the Cross and on Easter Morn.  Why from that effort, that industry, has come the greatest productivity ever achieved:  forgiveness for all sin, wisdom for all circumstances, and hope for all seasons, both today and tomorrow.  And so as you work, do not work alone, on your own merit.  Draw on Christ’s merit – His amazing, cleansing grace and amazing, startling resurrection power.

In 2009 John Ortberg faced a dismal task.  Easter was coming but his congregation was depressed.  And for good reason:  Ortberg’s congregation was located in California’s famed Silicon Valley and the great recession had taken it’s toil on the livelihood, the work, of a majority of his flock.    How could he motivate them, encourage them, to keep-on striving, to keep-on working, nevertheless?   And then it dawned on Ortberg:  the answer was in the work of Jesus; in Easter! And so John Ortberg ended his Easter sermon with these words:  “Nobody…wants a season of hard times …but when [hard times come] they… [make us]…ask: ‘what am I…building my life on… [Well, Easter tells us there’s but one thing: the work of Christ.  For Christ] …is the only hope [that can sustain us] through -- [anything].  [And so] people have not gathered [on this day] for…2,000 years to say: "The stock market has risen; it has risen indeed!"… "The dollar has risen; it has risen indeed." Or, "the employment rate has risen" – or "the gross domestic product has risen." -- or "General Motors has risen." -- or "the value of your 401(k) has risen."… [No, for two millennia -- people from every culture and continent] have gathered on this day – [whether facing]…poverty – disease – pain – hardship -- [or] death itself – [to say one thing]: "Christ is risen; He is risen indeed."

Christ is risen; He is risen indeed!  God’s work is alive and well and operating in the present tense -- empowering us to do our work in the present tense -- with persistence, effort and great productivity! 

And so “be strong and courageous, and do the work…”  (1 Chronicles 28:20), to quote David.  But not in your own strength; be strong and courageous in the Lord -- for “….the Lord God…is with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work…is finished…” (1 Chronicles 28:20).