Why Work?
Today is the third Principle of work from the booklet
published by
Ministry in the Marketplace, Inc.
PRINCIPLE 3
There is no Intrinsic value in the Product of our Work
published by
Ministry in the Marketplace, Inc.
PRINCIPLE 3
There is no Intrinsic value in the Product of our Work
The word to underscore in this axiom is product. The product of work may have utilitarian value, but it has no intrinsic value. It may have value in helping someone do what he wants to do, but the object has no value in and of itself. An automobile, for example, has value in that it helps one get from point A to point B, but there is no intrinsic value to the automobile. It is nothing but a piece of metal that will eventually rust and be relegated to the junkyard. Peter reminds us that this is the fate of all “things” in his second epistle.
“The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up”.
2 Peter 3:10
The act or process of work, however, assuming a proper focus, does have value in that it is used by God to determine reward in heaven. We see this in passages such as this:
"If any man’s work abides which he hath build thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
1 Corinthians 3: 14-15
So also God may assign value to what a man does because of a love relationship that exists between them, but this does not mean there is any intrinsic value in the product produced. For example, when my children were young, they brought home their artwork in varying colors. After talking about them, they ended in the same place I am sure your children’s drawing did—on the refrigerator door. Here they were in prominent view for all who passed through the kitchen. They were exceedingly important to my wife and me because our children drew them. But they would never qualify for the National Gallery of Art, and we would get nothing for them if we included them in a garage sale.
So it is in God’s relationship with His children. Because He loves them, He may assign value to what they produce, but that doesn’t mean that the things produced have value in and of themselves. They are all going to “burn”.
Labor’s value as viewed from the worth of the product is equal in importance for all people from God’s perspective. Since the product is going to burn, it is the focus of the labor that is important to God. The product of the coal miner is as important as the product of the architect. The man in the gulag in solitary confinement for his faith is as productive for God, if the focus of his life is correct, as the great evangelist. It is one of the great equalizers of the human race.
Man’s labor may be directed toward creating wealth, such as the farmer in the field or the bricklayer constructing a building. It may also promote self-improvement, such as the mastering of a skill or the learning of a language. Such accomplishments receive recognition from man, but note the apostle Paul’s evaluation of his own accomplishments:
So it is in God’s relationship with His children. Because He loves them, He may assign value to what they produce, but that doesn’t mean that the things produced have value in and of themselves. They are all going to “burn”.
Labor’s value as viewed from the worth of the product is equal in importance for all people from God’s perspective. Since the product is going to burn, it is the focus of the labor that is important to God. The product of the coal miner is as important as the product of the architect. The man in the gulag in solitary confinement for his faith is as productive for God, if the focus of his life is correct, as the great evangelist. It is one of the great equalizers of the human race.
Man’s labor may be directed toward creating wealth, such as the farmer in the field or the bricklayer constructing a building. It may also promote self-improvement, such as the mastering of a skill or the learning of a language. Such accomplishments receive recognition from man, but note the apostle Paul’s evaluation of his own accomplishments:
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."
Philippians 3:8
If this principle is not clearly understood by the believer, he will labor for the temporal rather than the eternal. It is the thing Jesus warns against in John 6:27. He will perceive greatness in terms of what he is able to create or accomplish. Feedback in terms of recognition and the accolades of men encourage this tendency, and his focus becomes riveted on temporal rather than eternal values.
There is an unequal distribution of gifts and opportunities in the world. Some people are marginally gifted; others are multi-gifted. Some are able to labor in God’s vineyard for many years, others for only a short period of time. Thus, it is not the amount of fruit that an individual produces that pleases God but the degree to which he is faithful to the opportunities God assigns him. All of this is blurred if Christians do not have a firm grip on the fact that there is no intrinsic value in the product of work.
There is an unequal distribution of gifts and opportunities in the world. Some people are marginally gifted; others are multi-gifted. Some are able to labor in God’s vineyard for many years, others for only a short period of time. Thus, it is not the amount of fruit that an individual produces that pleases God but the degree to which he is faithful to the opportunities God assigns him. All of this is blurred if Christians do not have a firm grip on the fact that there is no intrinsic value in the product of work.
To read each Principle in it's entirety - Click on the Principle below.
| Principle 3 There is no intrinsic value in the product or your work |
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