Labor Day: 8 Biblical Principles of Work: James Eckman

James Eckman @ http://www.christianity.com outlines 8 principles that outline God's view of work:

1) Work is ordained by God. It was His creative invention from the beginning. The Bible declares that God worked (Gen. 1-2). By working we resemble God. Like God, you have the ability to work, make plans, implement them, and be creative. Additionally, God gave us the task of ruling over and taking care of His creation (Gen. 1:28, 2:15).

2) Work is for a lifetime. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground (Gen. 3:19). God intends that humans are to work as long as they live. Meaningful activity plays a critical role in being a human being - whether paid or volunteer. The magical age of 65 shouldn't end meaningful, purposeful work.
3) Work is not a punishment. God did not create work as drudgery, but as a gift of fulfillment to life. A human being can do nothing better than...find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment (Ecc. 2:24-25)?
4) Work has three purposes: to provide money or resources to supply the necessities of life; to provide for a quality of life in the satisfaction of doing a job well; and to serve God.
5) Work calls for obedience. Even when the boss isn't looking, a good worker is consistent and diligent to the task and loyal to the organization (Col. 3:22, 24). The real boss is Jesus Christ. See your job as service to Him - not simply your employer. Employers should treat employees with respect and fairness.
6) Work should be done with excellence. You are to render service, as to the Lord, and not to men (Eph. 6:6-7); not to be men-pleasers but God-pleasers. God's standard of excellence needs to be the human standard.
7) Work is honorable. All professions and all kinds of work, assuming they are legal and biblically ethical, are honorable before the Lord. There is no dichotomy between sacred and secular work. All work brings glory to God and fulfillment to you, if it is done to God's glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
8) Work provides an opportunity for witness. You manifest a powerful message, both verbal and nonverbal, of a supernatural approach to work. The world today needs this powerful witness to the reality of Christ and the difference that He makes in His followers. (Matthew 5:16)

John Piper - The Protestant Work Ethic

"Greatness, Humility, Servanthood"
Mark 10:32-45

Spiritual Disciplines:

Mark Driscoll has begun a series on work@http://theresurgence.com

Sabbath & Work, Part 1

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. (Exodus 31:15)

He covers:

Sabbath

To Sabbath is to rest from one’s labor. The first Sabbath day was a Saturday: “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Genesis 2:2). The first recorded command for humans to Sabbath is in Exodus 16:23, and the Sabbath is listed as the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8–11.

Saturday or Sunday?

In regards to the day of the Sabbath, some have maintained that it should be celebrated on Saturday like the Hebrews did, the final day of their week. However, the early church abruptly changed the day of worship to Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus from death (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1–2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1) on that first day of the new week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). Sunday remained a work day in the early church until Emperor Constantine instituted it as an official day of rest in AD 321. In America, there was a debate as to whether the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday or the Christian Sabbath of Sunday should be recognized and the compromise was to keep both, which is why we have two-day weekends.

The True Sabbath

Legalistic attempts have been made to rob the Sabbath of its worship and joy by carefully mandating what can and cannot be done. However, Jesus seemed to have intentionally lived in public view to serve as a contrary model of the Sabbath than that given by other legalistic teachers. For example, Jesus healed on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1–14, John 9:1–17), taught on the Sabbath (Mark 6:1–2), and promoted evangelism on the Sabbath (John 7:21–24). Jesus demonstrated that the Sabbath is not to be enforced legalistically, but that it exists for worshipful fun and rest. Furthermore, our true Sabbath is not in a day but ultimately in a saving relationship with Jesus where we can rest from trying to earn our salvation and rest in His finished work (Matthew 11:28–30; Romans 4:5; Colossians 2:16–17). Therefore, the Sabbath is not a law for believers to obey, but instead a grace to enjoy.

His conclusion of part one:

In conclusion, by setting aside a day, we are showing that we are a people who are set aside (holy) and who rest in Jesus. Worshiping is our primary objective and our weeks are purposefully ordered around worship. Then, our worshipful work can be rightly undertaken.

Part Two:

Work

Work is laboring well as an act of worship that glorifies God. Subsequently, the father who goes to work, the mother who stays home to care for her young children like the woman in Proverbs 31, and the student who heads off to school are each called by God to labor in their work. Each has sacred tasks that God has appointed for them to capture as opportunities to worship Him.

Both the Old and New Testaments have much to say about work. For example:

• The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work… (Genesis 2:15)
• Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. (Exodus 31:15)
• In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. (Proverbs 14:23)
• Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. (Proverbs 18:9)
• The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. (Proverbs 21:25)
• So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work… (Ecclesiastes 3:22)
• Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23–24)
• If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
• But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

The Scriptures are clear that God made us to work and that despite the curse which makes our work all the more difficult, it is good and honorable for us to labor as unto the Lord Jesus. Then, as we have examined, we can enjoy a restful Sabbath as God intends. Sadly, however, this sort of balanced lifestyle is sorely lacking in our culture.

Overwork

Working out a Theology of Work

Justin Taylor @ www.boundless.org discusses working out a Theology of Work. In it he notes:

Building Blocks for a Theology of Work

1. God works.

2. As God's image-bearers, God calls us to be subduers and rulers.

3. The fall frustrated all of our labors.

4. God is transforming us into the image of His Son.

5. God calls us to our vocations.

6. God commands that we work quietly and honestly in order to provide for ourselves and others.

7. God calls us to work unto His glory.

Thank God for Work

Justin Taylor has a great series on work @ http://newattitude.org. From Leland Ryken's bookRedeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work and Leisure, he identifies six dimensions of work. (I’ll number them in case you, like me, find that easier!) “Work (1) provides for life’s needs and wants and is (2) a means of economic production. It carries with it (3) a constant possibility of being a curse or drudgery, but positively it has the potential to supply a sense of (4) human achievement, (5) psychological satisfaction, and (6) service to humanity.”

He then presents:
A Biblical Survey of Work
When thinking about our own work, it’s helpful to take a fly-by look at redemptive history. There is so much more that could be said, but this will at least give us a glimpse at a few important points:

1. God himself is a worker. Gen. 2:2 says that “on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.”

2. Man was created in the image of God the Worker and was created to work. A lot of people think work was only the result of the Fall, not something from the beginning. But that’s not true: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (For an advanced defense of this translation see this paper by Gordon Hugenberger.) This divinely commanded and divinely blessed role of working was tied in to God’s image-bearers filling the earth, subduing it, and having dominion over it (Gen. 1:28).

3. Man brought about a curse upon the blessed task of work. See God’s pronouncement in Gen. 3:17–19. It’s interesting to note the role of food in the fall. God set forth a banquet of fruit for Adam and Eve to eat—every food was permissible (with just one exception). But by eating of the forbidden tree, the ground became cursed. The act of eating—so easy and so pleasurable—would now come about “in pain” and “by sweat.” Ruling over the creation would now be met with resistance (“thorns and thistles”). We should think of the effects of the fall when we think about the struggles we experience at work—it started in the Garden.

4. Jesus had a vocation prior to his public ministry. It’s amazing to think that Jesus spent most of his life working a common trade. If he began a carpentry apprenticeship under Joseph at age 12 then he probably spent at least 20 years (!) as a carpenter before he was baptized by John and began publicly declaring his messianic message. Think of it—six days a week, year after year after year, getting cuts and blisters on his hands, wiping away the sweat mixed with sawdust from his brow, carefully measuring and cutting and filling orders, etc.

5. Christian freeloaders are worse than unbelievers and should starve instead of receiving handouts. Now some of you may think that’s unkind to say—not to mention unbiblical! But I’m just paraphrasing the apostle Paul, who wrote, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living” (2 Thess. 3:6–12). Working is that important!

The Church’s View of Work
Quoting Alister McGrath, in his Reformation Thought: An Introduction, he concludes:

“For Eusebius of Caesarea, the perfect Christian life was one devoted to serving God, untainted by physical labor. Those who chose to work for a living were second-rate Christians. To live and work in the world was to forfeit a first-rate Christian calling, with all that this implied. The early monastic tradition appears to have inherited this attitude, with the result that work often came to be seen as a debasing, demeaning activity, best left to one’s social—and spiritual—inferiors. . . . A spiritual aristocracy appears to have developed within early Christianity, with . . . negative and dismissive attitudes toward manual labor. . . .”

---

Justin Taylor in the second article list:

How to Work to the Glory of God
John Piper, in an excellent chapter of Don’t Waste Your Life on glorifying Christ in work, writes about the essence of God-glorifying human work: “it is done (1) in conscious reliance on God’s power, and (2) in conscious quest of God’s pattern of excellence, and (3) in deliberate aim to reflect God’s glory” (p. 141, my italics and numbering).

Let’s look at these one at a time:

Relying on God’s Power
All forms of serving should be done “by the strength that God supplies” (1 Pet. 4:11). Paul himself was a very hard worker—in fact, he candidly said that he worked harder than any of the other apostles. But he added: “though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

Seeking God’s Pattern of Excellence
God’s Word tell us that he is “wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom” (Isa. 28:29) and that we are to be “imitators of God” (Eph. 5:1) and are to “approve what is excellent” (Phil. 1:10). Christians in the workplace should not be known as “the super nice-guy who is average or below average in his field but who avoids cheating and backstabbing and dispenses good advice around the water cooler and occasionally leaves a gospel track in the bathroom for someone to find.” Rather, Christians should seek to imitate God’s pattern of excellence, working hard to excel in their field.

Aiming to Reflect God’s Glory
We all know 1 Cor. 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” I think one of the reasons Paul listed eating and drinking is because they are things we do day in, day out, a number of times each day. The sort of things we hardly think about and just do automatically. If even drinking a can of Coke (or, my preference these days, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi) should be to the glory of God—how much more so are vocations where we spend 40-50 hours per week?

How to Determine Your Calling
ask:
• Am I fully persuaded that it is right? (Rom. 14:5, 14, 23)
• Can I do it as unto the Lord? (Rom. 14:6-8)
• Can I do it without being a stumbling block to my brother or sister in Christ? (Rom 14:13, 15, 20-21, 22)
• Does it bring peace? (Rom 14:17-19)
• Does it edify my brother or sister? (Rom. 14:19)

(These questions are suggested by the Feinbergs in their excellent book, Ethics for a Brave New World, pp. 44-45.)

Integrating Faith and Work
What we need to be doing in order to integrate the faith and work:
• First, [Christians need] theological education about how to ‘think Christianly’ about all of life, public and private, and about how to work with Christian distinctiveness. They need to know what cultural practices are ‘common grace’ and can be embraced, what practices are antithetical to the gospel and must be rejected, and what practices can be adapted/revised for use by believers.
• Second, they need to be practically mentored, placed, and positioned in their vocations in the most advantageous way. They need cooperation with others in the field who can encourage, advise, and advocate for them. They need help to do their work with excellence and in a way that really helps others and strengthens social cohesiveness rather than weakening it.
• Third, they need spiritual support for the ups and downs of their work and accountability for living and working with Christian integrity.

Conclusion
One final clarification: your “vocation” (or calling) is not necessarily for life. As we get older we sometimes add and sometimes change vocations. (For example, one of your vocations now might be a daughter—and then you will add the vocations of being a wife and then a mother someday.) The most important thing to remember is that no matter your age, and no matter your vocation, the biblical command remains the same:

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:23–24)

Further Reading
_Leland Ryken, Redeeming the Time
_Gene Veith, God at Work
_John Piper, “Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5,” in Don’t Waste Your Life
_J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom, Guard Us, Guide Us: Divine Leading in Life’s Decisions

Work: A Holy Calling

Author: Jerram Barrs @http://theresurgence.com

Whatever job you do, it is a holy calling, a sacred calling, a responsibility, given to you by God to serve Him there. Too often we think of our work, if we are not working specifically, for the church, as being secular, second-class, having nothing to do with true spirituality, and little to do with being a faithful Christian. You can think of all the incorrect expressions we use to mark this division between the sacred and the secular: We speak of people who are in "full-time ministry" as it only they are "full-time Christians."

We have a heritage in many churches which devalues ordinary work and sees it having little importance in the Kingdom of God. Why is that? Partly because there has been a retreat by Christians from the general culture: "The world is so worldly," we say, "so what really matters to God is what we do in the church." We can tend to fill up our lives with lots of meetings so we will feel more spiritual, as if it is those meetings that are spiritual. This is a very serious misunderstanding of what Scripture teaches.

Perhaps another reason for our low opinion of our work is that we think that only evangelism, only preach¬ing the Gospel, only teaching the Word is of real importance in the Kingdom of God—everything else is secondary. And I am sure you have heard sermons and Bible studies in which you have basically been made to feel that if you were really dedicated to God, you would immediately apply to a mission board or register at a seminary and start training for the ministry. But that simply is not Biblical. God does not call people to proclaim His word—He's called me to do that. But he has equally called people to be in other work and to honor Him, whatever their occupation.

The Value of Work
What is it that gives our work value to God? Is it simply that when we work we earn money so that we can give a tithe to support the ministry of the Word? Is that alone what gives our work value? No. It is true that we are called to support the ministry of the Word; Scripture says so quite clearly. But that is not what ultimately gives our work value.

Is it that in our work-places we have the opportunity to be sort of mini-missionaries, to share the Gospel with the people we work alongside? Is that what gives our work value? NO. While we do pray that God will give opportunities to share His truth because people need to hear it, that is not what primarily gives our work our value.

Is it simply that we have to work to earn money to support ourselves so that we can get on with the "real work" of being active in our churches—that what we do in our workplaces is not very important, but what we really do that's important is when we are a deacon in the church, when we teach Sunday school, or when we lead a Bible study? Is that what gives our work value? That is not true either.

What is it, then, that gives our work value? It is simply that God Himself declares it to be important, that God desires our service in the whole of our lives, and that we are to present everything to Him in order to serve Him. Paul says this so strongly in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men…" "Whatever you do," Paul tells us that it is the Lord Christ you are serving. God has declared our work to have value. It doesn't need some other means outside itself. God's word gives it value.

Secondly, our work has value because we are to offer it to the Lord. Your work and my work is to be holy. That means we are to set it apart so that we may honor God in what we do. Now that's just as true for you if you are running a business as it is for me teaching the word of God. It is not the job itself that is holy, it is offering it to God as service. I may preach the Gospel in a way that is totally unholy, and you may be a person engaged in business in a way that is completely holy. It is a questions of whether you dedicated you work to God and whether you serve God righteously in what you do that makes your work holy.

The implications of work being a service to the Lord are many. Two prominent implications relate to both integrity and interpersonal relationships.

Integrity in the Workplace
Regarding integrity, Scripture calls us to such a high standard in the workplace because we are working for the Lord. When I go to my place of work, my first thought should not be, "What does my boss think of me?"—though I should certainly desire to please my boss. My first thought should be that I am called to work, serving God with integrity. It is important that we please those for whom we work, but we are going to have mush more important accounting to give one day. Christ Himself will ask us how we worked. Were you faithful? Did you work hard? Are you someone who just worked to please other people or did you work with genuine righteousness? That is the challenge to all of us in our work, and in every area of our lives.

Treatment of Co-Workers
Serving in the workplace as unto the Lord also has implications upon our interpersonal relationship. As we serve the Lord, how we treat people should be reflective of the God we serve. Paul tells us that if we have people over us, we are to treat them with respect and honor even if they don't deserve it. That is very difficult. Many people work for those who are very demanding, who create all kinds of unreasonable burdens, who never say "thank you," who do not show appreciation, who take people for granted. Scripture tells us that even if we are in such situations, we are to continue to work hard, to work respectfully, and to give honor. Of course there are times when the Christian has to draw lines. If I am asked to do something which is against the Word of God, I have to obey God first. But I must still show respect. Sometimes it may be necessary to way, "Stop treating me like a doormat," but we must continue to work hard and respectfully. We have to pray for wisdom to know when it is right to do that. But generally speaking, we are called to be faithful, submissive, and respectful even in difficult situations.

We are also to treat those under us in a way that pleases God. We have a Master in heaven and He will judge us for the way we treat people. Jesus says in Matthew 20:25-28, "….whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Christ is to be our example. If you are in a place of authority and have people who work for you, you are to be their servant. Christ is the Lord of the Universe, but he became a servant. He served those who were under His authority. He served you and me, even by dying for us. He serves us everyday by caring for us and all of our struggles and our needs, and being our Friend, Counselor, and Comforter. And we are called to be like him. We are called to be servants of others. What you should be asking is, "How may I serve those above me, under me, around me? How may I look to their needs? How may I become their friend, support, helper?"

Full Worship of God
We need to get God's mind about matters in the workplace. Often times on Sunday people feel like everything they have done during the week really does not matter the Bible says we are to worship God in everything, and what we do on Sunday morning when we come to praise Him with our lips is simply bringing the whole of our week to declare His praises together as His people. There should be a seamless robe, if you like, between our workweek and our Sunday service—all of it is the worship of God, and all of it is to be holy. We need to honor that conviction in the way we pray for people in our churches and in the way we commend people. We should praise God for people in business who are righteous in what they do and who serve God in their places of work, or praise God for lawyers who are for widows and orphans. May we really learn to offer our work to God and to honor those who do so.

That is the challenge of God's word to us. As we consider that our work is to be done as unto the Lord, let us be shining lights of integrity, dedication, humility, service and love.

Worship While You Work

Charles Drew:

It is not always easy to worship while we work. Thanks to the fall, there is no job—whether it is raising children, running a bank, or working as a carpenter—that does not have its dreariness. Nevertheless, God made us for work, Jesus is present with us in our work, and Jesus will one day completely fix work. For these reasons, we should seek occasions to thank God for and in our work. Simply to be given something to do that brings order into our life is cause for thanks. If we get paid for it, all the better. Work often presents us with people to love—and this is good for us (especially when it is hard). There are, or course, those occasional jobs (or occasional tasks within a particular job) that we actually enjoy doing—for which it is only right to worship God. Then there is the recollection of how much worse work might be for us if we lived at a different time or under different circumstances—a recollection that should train our faith to see the hand of the Redeemer at work, and to thank him. Finally, there is the promise of consummation—of a coming world in which all toil will finally be taken from our work—and for this hope we worship God (especially when we are acutely aware of the toil in what we are presently doing).

You can read the whole interview or look at his recent book.

Veith on Vocation

BY Justin Taylor

One of my convictions is that the church needs to do a better job of adopting and advancing the Reformational doctrine of vocation.

Tim Keller points to the need and begins an introduction to this important topic in Redeemer's Vision Paper #5:

Churches must equip believers to integrate their faith with their work. Most American Christians have been taught to seal off their faith-beliefs from the way they work in their vocation. The gospel is seen as a means of finding individual peace and not as a ‘world-view’--a comprehensive interpretation of reality that affects all we do. But the gospel has a deep and vital impact on how we do art, business, government, media, and scholarship. Churches must be highly committed to support Christians’ engagement with culture, helping them work with excellence, distinctiveness, and accountability in their professions and in ‘secular work.’ Developing humane, yet creative and excellent business environments out of our understanding of the gospel can be part of the work of restoring creation in the power of the Spirit. Bringing Christian joy, hope, and truth to embodiment in the arts is also part of this work.

Learning to integrate faith and work is a tall order. Christians need at least the following from their churches:

• First, theological education about how to 'think Christianly' about all of life, public and private, and about how to work with Christian distinctiveness. They need to know what cultural practices are ‘common grace’ and can be embraced, what practices are antithetical to the gospel and must be rejected, and what practices can be adapted/revised for use by believers.
• Second, they need to be practically mentored, placed, and positioned in their vocations in the most advantageous way. They need cooperation with others in the field who can encourage, advise, and advocate for them. They need help to do their work with excellence and in a way that really helps others and strengthens social cohesiveness rather than weakening it.
• Third, they need spiritual support for the ups and downs of their work and accountability for living and working with Christian integrity.

There are two books I'm aware of that deal with this issue: (1) Gene Veith's God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (contents and intro available at the link); and (2) Os Guinness's The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life. (I've read the former but not the latter.)

This weekend on Scott Moonen's website I found a number of good resources on the doctrine of vocation. He points to this six-part series of articles that Veith wrote in the Lutheran Witness in 2001. (All the files are in PDF.)

This should serve as a helpful intro.

• God at work (part 1)
  [Every Christian has a particular calling from God]
  

• The masks of God (part 2)
  [God works through you in your vocation, whatever it may be]
  

• Family vocation (part 3)
  [God works through us in our callings as parents, spouses, and children]
  

• Calling (part 4)
  [We don’t choose our vocations; God chooses us for them]
  

• Citizenship (part 5)
  [America is caught up in feelings of patriotism and national unity; Is it really OK to “wave the flag”?]
  

• The gospel and the local church (part 6)
  [Christians, both laypeople and pastors, have a vocation in the church]
  

Labour for the Lord

This excerpt is from Light & Truth Vol. IV - The Lesser Epistles, 1870, and in it, Bonar tells us how God’s people should look at labouring for the Lord: working to be spent for Him.

Abound in the work of the Lord! Our whole life is to be filled up with this, like a vessel filled to overflowing with water. Our lives are to be like trees all covered with leaves and fruit; like fields and hills all clothed with grass; like streams all filled with water.

Our ‘labour’ (not work merely, but toil, however great) is not in vain. This we know. We are assured of this; and being thus assured, we labour. Vain labour is a hopeless thing; producing heartlessness and indifference. Labour that is sure of success and recompense, stimulates and cheers. That which makes our labour not in vain, is its connection with the Lord. That which makes our reward so sure and blessed, is its connection with the Lord. Our whole life, service, suffering, toil, are connected with Him; and it is this that prevents them from being fruitless or useless; it is this which ennobles them, and elevates them. Human labour is often fruitless, this never.

Be not weary in well-doing. Persevere; press on; endure hardness. Toil on, however rough and hard the work may be. First be a believer, and then a worker. Work diligently. Do thine own work, with thine own talents, and according to the measure of thine own gifts, whether these gifts be great or small. Thine own work is the work of the Lord. It is not the work of the flesh, or of self, or of man, or of a sect. It is the Master’s work; do it well and thoroughly; He will see to the success, and to the reward. Do it bravely and boldly. Do it independently of human help, or earthly applause, or the stimulus of ‘public opinion.’ Do it not as one of a multitude, not as part of a great and imposing organization; but as alone, with only the Master to lean upon, to guide, to cheer. Be not the hanger on of a party, or the slave of human rules, or the drudge of a committee, or the ‘right-hand man’ of a Diotrephes. Quit yourself like a man, like a Christian man, with a personality and responsibility all thine own.Follow the Lord.

Let thine eye be single; thine arm unhampered; thine heart uncramped; all thine actions and words simple and bold and free. Be the servant of no man; but listen only to the voice which says to thee, ‘Follow me;’ ‘always abound in the work of the Lord.’ There is no master worthy of being followed but He who bought us with His blood.

The following hymn appeared in Bonar’s Songs For The Wilderness, 1850. While it needs no explanation, it must be said that it certainly described the life of its writer, although it was not meant in any way to be autobiographical. Bonar worked tirelessly in the fields of the Lord, knowing that the day would come when his Master would surely say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Labour For Christ.

Go labour on! spend and be spent,—
Thy joy to do thy Father’s will:
It is the way the Master went,
Should not the servant tread it still?

Go labour on! ’tis not for nought,
All earthly loss is heavenly gain;
Men heed thee not, men praise thee not;
The Master praises! what are men?

Go labour on! enough, enough,
If Jesus praise thee, if He deign
To notice ev’n thy willing mind,
No toil for him shall be in vain.

Go labour on! thy hands are weak,
Thy knees are faint, thy soul cast down;
Yet falter not,—the prize is near,
The throne, the kingdom, and the crown.

Go labour on,—while it is day,
The long dark night is hastening on;
Speed, speed thy work,—up from thy sloth,
It is not thus that souls are won.

See thousands dying at your side,
Your brethren, kindred, friends of home;
See millions perishing afar,
Haste brethren, to the rescue come.

Toil on, toil on; rebuke, exhort,
Be wise the souls of men to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Intreat, compel them to come in.

Toil on, toil on; them soon shalt find
For labour rest, for exile home;
Soon shalt them hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight peal, “Behold I come.”

[Excerpts taken from The Life and Works of Horatius Bonar CD-Rom]