Can You Really Worship As You Work?

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As a pastor, I often hear something like this: “What I do at work is—work. What I do at church is for the Lord.”

Is this the right attitude? What does the Bible say about our work?

In Genesis 2:15, the Bible connects our work to something bigger—worship. The Hebrew word for “work” comes from the same root word as “worship.” So, Adam worshipped God not just by staying away from those out-and-out sinners (there were none — yet!) and reading his Bible (there wasn’t one — yet!), but he worshipped God by doing what God told him to do—work in the Garden.

Isn’t it also telling that 39 out of the 40 miracles in the book of Acts happened outside the walls of the church gathering? Or, that most of Jesus’ parables dealt with workplace environments?

Let me ask you: Do you see your work as worship? Is it possible to clean toilets to the glory of God? Or make sales calls to the glory of God? Or build a building to God’s glory?

Yes, everything and everyone is being put to work for the glory of God. Whether you know it or not. To do the work of the Lord for the glory of “self” is not an inferior approach; it is a stab in His back.

Let me offer you four ways that work can be worship and apply this practically:

First, work can be worship because it accomplishes God’s intention for you in creation.

Remember, Genesis 2:15 happened before sin entered the world. Work wasn’t a part of the curse of sin—it was part of God’s plan from the beginning. The word used for work in Genesis 2:15 also can mean “develop” or “prepare.” We take the “raw goods” (literal and figurative) of the earth and cultivate them for God’s praise and the profit of other people.

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But, yes, it is true that God cursed the ground and made work toilsome (Gen. 3:16-20). Pastor Tim Keller summarized it well when he said, “The Fall means, we should expect to be regularly frustrated in our work even though we may be in exactly the right vocation.”

So, what do you do if you hate your job and it’s toilsome and it’s not what you want to do?

Stay faithful as an act of service to God and to benefit others. There can be pleasure in it.

Remember: Paul made tents (Acts 18:3). His call was to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46-47). Making tents wasn’t his call – but he did it to advance God’s kingdom.

Second, work can be worship because it aims for the top integrity.

Indeed, workplaces aren’t always known for being places of truth and morals. However, as Christians, we can treat work as worship because we seek to display and handle every situation and interaction with the highest standard of justice and integrity before God. Our faith should be reflected in how we handle ourselves.

Proverbs 11:1 says, “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.”

To truly worship as we work, we must remember that we shouldn’t settle simply for the company’s ethics, but should go even higher—because God’s truth is higher than all (John 17:17). As Christians, our job is to live for God and to die for God in how we handle ourselves.

Third, work can be worship because we seek to do all things with distinction as ambassadors for the Gospel.

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Every area of Christian living––our worldview, worship, walk, work and witness––is dependent upon the right knowledge of God.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord” (Col. 3:23). If a slave can transpose his work into worship, you can to!

“In the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Living for Him, in every vocation, is the only non-waste of time in all this world.

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“Take this job and shove it,” then, must not be the attitude of Christians in the workplace. Our jobs are mission opportunities. When we’ve understood our calling to serve the Lord in whatever vocation we find ourselves as a light to the world, Mondays will be a joy. And doing those routine, rote, and menial tasks will be a joy, too!

Finally, work can be worship because it is all about blessing others.

Before you complain about your employer, be grateful you have one. Not only does our day of rest and worship distinguish us from the world on Sundays, but it leads to a distinct work ethic on Mondays. Working hard for your employer is a part of your calling, and when you do, unbelievers will ask, “What is this hope within you?”

If you own a business, this may mean that to glorify God you don’t ask, “How much money can I get out of this?” but, what’s more, “How is our business advancing God’s kingdom?” And it may require that you give away a lot of extra money earned for Christ’s kingdom. After all, isn’t this what our Savior did for us (2 Cor. 8:9)?

One last word of caution: Worship the sovereign, triune God—not your work! Don’t make work your security. Since Christians are hidden with Christ in God, to be a Christian is to be as secure as Christ is. If you have “put on Christ,” you are as secure as He is.

Friend, work is where you will spend most of your time on earth. Work really counts for something to God and God really matters for your work.

Do you view your work as just work—or as worship to God?

Worshiping The False God Of Football

Picture this: People gathered together each week for one cause — clapping, singing, worshiping. They donate their hard-earned money, and their time, too, knowing they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Heaven, they believe, surely will be something like this.

Were you picturing a church? It’s actually a football stadium – and it happens each fall and winter in cities across America.

What happened that caused us to misplace our worship? We go to church and sing a few songs, check our watches waiting for the preacher to be done, and then rush home and cheer on our favorite team. And if our team loses, our world is shattered. Sadly, for so many Americans, football has become an idol.

The most-watched television event in U.S. history is … a football game. When Seattle defeated Denver to win the 2014 Super Bowl, 111.5 million Americans watched, placing it at No. 1. Second place on the list? A football game. Third place? A football game. In fact, Super Bowls account for the 21 most-watched events in American television history.

So, what about cable television? After all, Super Bowls are only on broadcast TV. Well, the most-watched event in cable TV history, too, is a football game. When Ohio State triumphed over Oregon this year in the college football national championship, 33.3 million Americans watched – a cable record. The semifinal games drew an average of 28 million.

And we didn’t even mention television contract rights. ESPN pays $1.9 billion each year to televise NFL games, FOX $1.1 billion and CBS $1.0 billion.

How did we get here?

There is nothing wrong with football, but we somehow have shifted from enjoyment of a good thing to the making of a false god. We now derive our joy and value from whether our team wins or loses – and not from the God of the Bible.

In a word, we now commit idolatry in the name of fandom. That’s what sin does; it takes something good and distorts it into something else, drawing our eyes off of God. It is the very thing Satan did in the garden with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-5).

Cotton Mather once said, “Faithfulness begets prosperity, and the daughter devours the mother.” What did he mean? Faithfulness can lead to prosperity, but prosperity will cause us to become complacent and to replace a desire for faithfulness with a desire for more prosperity — and we will sacrifice faithfulness in the name of prosperity.

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Football is a child of American prosperity. Billions are paid in advertising, each team builds a new stadium in an attempt to out-do the last team that built a new stadium, and player contracts are astronomical for the sake of entertaining the fan and winning games. This is all possible because football is extremely profitable.

Where it gets personal, however, is when we realize football’s prosperity is due to us. Football makes billions because we have elevated it to a God-like status.

The first commandment God gave Moses read, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). When we elevate something to a level that it receives the affection that only God deserves, the praise that only God deserves, and the attention that only God deserves, we break the first commandment and sin. When we allow a game and our team’s performance to affect our mood while being indifferent toward the work of God in our lives and the lives of others, we break the first commandment. When we neglect our time with God and His people for the sake of something temporal, we break the first commandment. When we care more about the advancement of our team than the advancement of the Kingdom of God, we break the first commandment.

It would be bad enough if it ended there. But there is a more insidious thing that happens when we establish a lifestyle of obsession over something other than God: We teach others to do the same thing.

Truth is, you are always preaching – whether it is with your words or your actions. There are always eyes on you and ears listening to you … and sometimes those eyes and ears are very impressionable. Perhaps they are your own children.

Moses told the Israelites, “You shall teach [God’s law] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7). When we obsess over football, we are doing just the opposite, teaching our children that idolatry is an acceptable way of life.

Please understand: Watching football does not equal idolatry. However, when football (or any sport for that matter) becomes something that defines you, affects you, consumes your thoughts, and controls your wallet – then it is bordering on idolatry.

What if we cared as much about the advancement of the Kingdom of God as we do about our team advancing the football down the field? What if we showed the same heartfelt elation over the worship of God as we do cheering for our team?

As the Super Bowl approaches, consider putting football in its rightful place: a good thing to be enjoyed, but not a god thing to be worshiped. We were made to worship. The question is: What will you worship?