Page 2 - God's WORK Ethic

GOD’S WORK ETHIC Good News Magazine – Apr 1981
Prepared by Richard H. Sedliacik
Instructions: The format of these mini studies is similar to that of the Bible On-Line Study Course. Look up and read in your Bible the scripture references given in answer to the questions. Comments following the questions further explain the scriptures just read. That’s all there is to it! (These studies are based on the King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise stated.)
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God desires that Christians prosper both spiritually and materially. He wants us to enjoy life. Christ Himself said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
“I wish above all things,” says God through the apostle John, “that thou mayest prosper and be in health” (3 John 2). But in order to begin experiencing this kind of life, we must practice the way of life that will produce it. This includes keeping God’s commandments and following the principles of Christian living and working that God reveals in His Word.
Let’s look into the Bible to learn what kind of an attitude and approach God’s Spirit-begotten children should have toward work.
1. When God Almighty put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, did He put man to work? Gen 2:15. What was to be the continuing task of the human race? Gen 1:26-28.
In the first two chapters of Genesis, God reveals Himself to us as a worker. Within six days His creative work unfolded. And when He created the first human beings in His own image, He made them workers, too.
God told our progenitors to subdue the earth – to produce from, develop and care for their environment. Then when God planted the garden in Eden, He put the man into the garden in order to cultivate and beautify it.
2. Does the commandment to rest on the Sabbath have another side? Ex 20:9.
Though many have not realized it, the Fourth Commandment also instructs mankind to labor during the rest of the week. That part of the command is just as important as the part requiring man to rest on the seventh day of the week, the day God made holy.