THE BIBLICAL WORK ETHIC

By Rob Cosby

We live in a day when people of are seeing how little they can do. Everything is centered on the quick easy buck. Our industry's are made up of unions where in people arrange things to where they can work as little as possible for the most possible money. There is no care given to success or doing a good job, the only issue is how much money will they have when they turn 60. Our schools are set up around the idea of students being average, people that strive for excellence are torn down and the bottom line is no one cares. And Christians many times, are the worst. So lets look at what the Bible has to say about our work effort. Our text is Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

I. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do.... We want to see several things in this phrase first;

1. It must be good to do. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things. It should go without saying that we should only strive to do well those thing that are right to do, and not do those things that are wrong to do. And while there are many things that are obviously wrong, too often Christians get caught up in doing things that they think are right but in reality are not. The purpose of this sermon is not to establish what is right and what is wrong, but just to establish some principles of what to do with that which is right. Most of those things have to be established between the person and God through God's word. But you do need to make sure that what you are doing is right.
   

2. If it is worth doing it is worth doing right. So often we have a tendency to that which we you like to do, well, but if we don't want to do it, we don't do it well. We can't prioritize things based upon our likes and dislikes. Our passage says " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do." We also can see in 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Paul emphasize this point bring the down to the most basic things that we do eating and drinking. We must do everything to the glory of God. If we consider it important enough to take our time we should consider it important enough to do it right. Once we are focused on whatsoever then we can;
   
   

II. Do it with thy might. Now that we have established what things we are to do with all our might now let us look at how. The first thing we see is that

1. Our strength comes from God. Without the strength of God we are helpless to do anything Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.
   Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
   30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
   31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
   
   Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
   We see in these passages that our strength comes from God. That we can labor in our own strength all day long but without him we can do nothing. The next thing we've look at is
   

2. People will not listen to our words if our actions are lazy.
   There's an old saying, "your walk talk and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than you are talk talks." You can go out and preach and witness, and plead and beg with people, but your actions are lazy your words are useless. There are many examples of this and each of you have seen several. But I would like to look at two that really show this. The first involves a couple of guys that I used to know. The first one got a job working at a warehouse he was a hard worker and well respected by those around him. In time the other guy came to him looking for a job. The first guy recommended the second one and got him a job at the same warehouse. As time passed though the second man spent more time trying to witness to the workers around him that actually working. I remember to use to come to bible studies and constantly request prayer for his coworkers. All appearances were that he had quite a ministry with these men. But after awhile I was informed that because he was spending so much time working he wasn't getting his job done, and since he was union he could not be fired. As a result no one was listening to him. In fact the other friend actually even lost some credibility because he was the one that had recommended the other man. But while we see in the story how it shouldn't be done I heard about another man who had a different way of doing things. He had a ministry to ranchers. Anyone who has spent much time around ranchers knows that if someone just goes up to the average rancher and starts trying to preach at him he will get nowhere. But this man would go around and hire on with the ranch and work absolutely at hard as he could and once he had won the respect of the rancher he would then witness to him and God rewarded his diligence many, many times. Now although we have primarily looked at work no matter what we do in anything we should do all with all our might. If it is worth doing it is worth doing right. This brings us to our next point.
   
   

3. Although our strength comes from God we must use it and we not hold back. We have seen that our strength comes from God and that if it's worth doing we should do it right. A lot of times though these two principals can cause confusion. On the one hand because we can do nothing without Christ and what ever we do is in vain without Christ, we have a tendency to let him do everything. On the other side because we are commanded to work hard, we forget to let him work through its and try to do everything in our own power. When reality it proper position is in between, we must work as hard as we can in his will. We have several examples of this in the Bible we will examine a couple of them here the first one is the;
   

A. Parable of the talents. Let us turn in our Bible to Matthew 25:14 and will see some men who handled the talents that God had given them in different ways. Because remember it's not talents that we have been given, but what we do with those talents. So let's look at the passage.

Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We see here that two of the men took what they had been given and did everything that they could with what they had been given. While the third man did not even use what he had been given and because he did not use it, it was taken from him. In contrast to this story we have that of the widows mite where the woman with little gave everything and was praised above those with much who gave little even it was more than what the widow gave. We see here that had the man with the fewest talents given everything that he had he would have been praised above those who had been given much. In the story of the widows mite though the roles were reversed he with much although gave much did not give everything. While a woman with little although couldn't give as much as the rich man gave everything. So from these two stories we can see that no matter what we have been given, we should give it all. This brings us to another the Biblical example;

B. David’s mighty men. In 2 Samuel 23:8 we are given the story of David's mighty men these were some and who against incredible odds gave everything they had. They didn't compare themselves to others and say well on doing more than he is so therefore I am fine, they just gave everything they had at all times.

2 Samuel 23:8 These [be] the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same [was] Adino the Eznite: [he lift up his spear] against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:

10 He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.

11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.

12 But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.

13 And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.

14 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!

16 And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.

17 And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.

18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among three.

19 Was he not most honourable of three? therefore he was their captain: howbeit he attained not unto the first three.

20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow:

21 And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.

As they read through these accounts we see men in each case where would have been so easy to give up. No one would have looked negatively on them if they had ran instead of fighting, since what they did, did not seem possible. But they fought anyway because they had a job to do at that time. The final Biblical example we want to look at is the story of;

C. Joash and Elisha. In II Kings 13:14 we have an interesting story.

II Kings 13:14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.

5 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.

16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.

17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.

18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.

19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

Here we see story of a man that had he just smote the ground with the arrows with all this might his problems in battle would have been over, but it wasn't something he wanted to do, so he just halfheartedly did it. Which left him in the same mess that he had always been in. For the final the illustration of this point I want to look at the;

D. Sports world. Now there is not much than I enjoy more than sports so it only figures and I would use a sports illustration. Anyone who follows sports closely have seen this principle. One thing that you learn in sports quickly is that natural talent only gets you so far. The great players are obviously there because of great talent, but the thing that separates the great players from the average players his how hard they work at it. Over and over you see people with incredible talent, but because they can beat most people with their talent alone they never put the extra effort in to make themselves great. While at the same time there are people that reach high levels not because of their great talent, but because they work harder than those with more talent do. But the bottom line in each of these examples is; if we are going to do it we should do it with all our might. Which brings us to our final point.

III. For [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. An axiom from the sports world is to leave it all on the field. Which is a contemporary example of the above verse. It simply means that you can rest when its all done. We can go through life trying to conserve energy, but that conserved energy is useless in the grave. In Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. and John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. we see this principle taken out further in Revelation 14:13 we see that we will be able to rest from our laborers one day and our works will follow us. We will be judged according to our works. The people that try to say that the only thing that matters is our salvation are wrong. Yes our salvation is the only thing that is needed to get to heaven, but where we are in heaven will be based upon our works. And as it says in John 9:4 there will come a day when it is too late to work. In other words once there if you didn’t get it done on earth it will be to late.

In Conclusion there is a few things don't like this to see:

If God is to use us we must be completely surrendered to his will, but then we must fight with every thing that we have. In of Joshua 10:7 we have an excellent example of this

Joshua 10:7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.

8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.

10 And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.

11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

12 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.

We see here the Joshua first made sure that he was in the will of God, And when he had the assurance of the Lord he did not hold back in his fight. He did not say because God has guaranteed me the victory I don't have to fight instead it encouraged him to fight harder. And yet ultimately God still received the glory.

If we will surrender ourselves to God and then give everything we have then God can use us and glorify his name through us.