Sermon for Sunday evening, September 1, 2024 at Unionville Presbyterian Church, BPC
Scripture reading:
[1Ti 5:8 ESV] 8 But 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.
Introduction
The subject this evening is “the necessity of working hard.”
I could have chosen passages like 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
Or Proverbs 20:4 – The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
Or Genesis 3:19 (where it all started) – By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
And these would be good passage to use on the subject. They all emphasize TO EAT REQUIRES WORK. And that is an ultimate necessity of working hard. Ever since man fell into sin, it is only “by the sweat of the brow” that we can sustain ourselves. Fruit doesn’t grow without thorns and disease like it did in the Garden of Eden. We must work hard.
But I chose as our Scripture text this evening 1 Timothy 5:8 – But 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.
Here we find something different about the necessity of hard work. It is not only for providing food for ourselves, but for providing for others, especially relatives, especially members of your own household.
In the context, 1 Timothy 5 is about charity; instructions for the church on taking care of widows. Widows are not only women whose husbands have died; but in the context, women who are too old to work at a capacity that can sustain their needs for food, shelter, etc.
Presumably elderly men (and injured men) could be included in the provision as well.
I. Work hard to provide for yourself, your family, and for others.
In either case, the point is clear: work hard so that you can provide for yourself, for your family, and for others.
This is so contrary to the world which says “work hard, party hard.” That was an unofficial slogan I remember hearing at college at the University of Michigan. “Work hard, party.” Work so that you can treat yourself to many luxuries. Work hard so that you can be “above” others in “class.”
But the Christian view contains something often overlooked by the world: work hard so that you can provide for others. You are to think of it as a great blessing to GIVE of your abundance; for whose abundance is it really, but the Lord’s? To receive of the Lord willingly, but not willingly give is hypocrisy and cruelty, lacking love.
There was a time when the value of working hard was well-known in the Christian world. It has been called the Protestant Work Ethic. Max Weber, writing in 1905, noted that in Protestantism even the “lowly” workman has a noble vocation; it is not just the monks who work for God, but all of us, and so we are motivated by our service to God to be productive.
Probably no greater evidence of the Protestant Work Ethic can be seen than in the difference economically between historically Protestant and historically Catholic countries. It is generally conceded that Protestant nations are wealthier than Catholic ones. Now this may be attributed to various factors including how the society is governed, but it also may be related to this Protestant Work Ethic. Protestants work FROM the joy of salvation to serve God, while Catholicism teaches more of a work FOR salvation. It turns out joy is more motivating than fear!
The “Protestant Work Ethic” was emphasized here at Unionville in a sermon from January of 1864.
This is one of the sermons I have in my office. Rev. Henry Frost Wadsworth, the pastor of this church in 1864 gave a sermon on Romans 12:11 “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
In that sermon Wadsworth encouraged this church:
“Be diligent in business. … while our daily business is largely secular and much of it may seem to others trivial still it is necessary for ourselves and those who are dependent upon us for a living. So that industry is not incompatible with Christianity.”
“The earth is in constant motions. So are the heavens above us – the sun, moon, and stars. Indeed, activity seems to be natural to man. He does violence to his own natural and physical being and nature when he seems not to be in accord with the other works of God.”
He was quite poetic:
“As the roots of the oak reach down and out in the soil to the very end so the strength of character is found in those small and unseen acts of life that run through the hours and moments of each day.”
So our text teaches us to work hard to provide for yourself, your family, and for others.
And then it teaches us that “it is a sin NOT to provide for others if you are able.”
II. It is a sin not to provide for others if you are able.
[1Ti 5:8 ESV] 8 But 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.
WOW! Worse than an unbeliever. You see, an unbeliever can at least know that they should work. That is part of the nature. A natural ordinance. Our very constitution, the fiber of our being, says we need to take care of family. So for a Christian not to do this is to be against nature as well as against the command of God.
Sins, we know, can be of commission and or omission.
Most sins we think of are of comission. Murder, theft, adultery are things that are done which break the law of God.
But then there are things which you should do; and if you DO NOT DO THEM, then the law is broken. These are sins of omission.
And among THES sins is that of not working when you are able to; and not providing for others.
A person who does not support his family is living in sin.
And I see this circumstance frequently, especially when one spouse takes advantage of another.
I’ve known people not to work simple because their spouse does that.
And I’ve know hikers, traveling across the land, when they have children to take care of back home. A great sin it is to not be providing for family.
And it harms others; as a good uncle or grandparent will have to take the financial burden when there is a “dead-beat” parent.
So we are called to work hard and provide.
This is not to say that all people must be wage earners.
And it is not to say that women shouldn’t be home makers. In fact, I’m greatly in favor of women being homemakers. But look at that word “home MAKER” not “home SITTER.” It is good and necessary to be productive.
Now, this sin, what is the sin called if you do not work? It is slothfulness.
The Old Testament calls such a person “a sluggard.”
Sloths and slugs move, but just barely.
They might be able to move their own weight, but there’s nothing left for them to carry any additional burden.
So we are not be sluggards.
Our family friend Judy Rogers sings about sluggards.
“Sluggards do EVERYTHING — if they do ANYTHING–
Very lazily, quite lackadaisically!!
They make excuses for all they can’t do-
Blame it on this or that –blame it on me and on YOU!!”
This is quite fascinating; there are some people work HARD at NOT WORKING! That is a travesty.
And it is a sin we often overlook in our age. “I’m just minding my business” one might say. But if you have children, they are your business. And if you have parents, you are to honor them; provide for them. And if you have neither children nor parents, what a great opportunity you have to bless others outside of your family. Work so that you may bless others.
What is the opposite of the slug, in the Scriptures. It is the ant!
[Pro 6:6 ESV] 6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
And what do ants do? They work. And not only for themselves, but for the colony.
This is not to advocate socialism, but to advocate Christian generosity.
Socialism is more like “forced generosity” which isn’t generosity at all.
But Christians GIVE from their abundance to take care of those who cannot work.
III. Work with a purpose.
Now, one final point that we should address.
Let us “work with a purpose.” Or as sometimes is said “redeem the time.”
What is the purpose of work? Is it “get to Friday?” Or solely to make money? Money is one purpose of work, but it is not the sole purpose.
Like everything, our purpose is to glorify God.
So we work hard to give him glory.
We don’t work so hard that we burn ourselves out; for that would not be good stewardship or God-glorifying.
You know we often talk of the sabbath rest; but note that the passage in Exodus speaks of 6 days that we labor, and only 1 that we rest! So, perhaps we need more sermons on labor!
[Exo 20:9-10 KJV] 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:
There is a necessity of working hard that comes from the fall of man and the curse.
But, Solomon tells us that work is good.
[Ecc 3:22 ESV] 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
You see, there always was work. Even before the fall. But work — tending the garden — was a lot easier and more easily enjoying before the curse.
So work has purpose in itself.
Then we see it also has the purpose of providing for ourselves and for others.
But ultimately, to give glory to God.
Thus all work is good work. (so long as it is moral). There is not job that is “below” you if it provides.
It is far better to wash dishes than to not provide for your family.
Then Hebrews 13:2 tells us that “by showing hospitality to strangers” “some have entertained angels unaware.”
That is how we should work — in all fields — as if our customer were the Lord himself. We are to work for the Lord, and His glory.
So what a good and glorious thing work is.
It is provided for us that we may provide for ourselves and others, and give glory to God.
It is what we do more of than anything else – except perhaps sleep. (maybe I need a sermon one day on sleep!).
So as we work, let us work hard, and do all things for the glory of God.
Let us pray.