God’s Perspective on Labor

This is a thought from John Piper to go along with the “musings” section of my last post:

“Nowhere does Jesus show contempt for work. He said of his own disciples, as he sent them out, “The laborer deserves his wages” (Luke 10:7). He intends people to work and to provide for their own and others’ needs. St. Paul taught the same thing. “If anyone will not work, let him not eat,” he says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10. In Ephesians 4:28 he says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those who are in need…

Jesus does not mean stop working for a livelihood, but rather, in your work set your eyes on something other than the “food that perishes(John 6:27.)” Perhaps the best parallel is Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” Don’t seek the “food that perishes.” God will supply that. You seek the kingdom; seek the bread that endures to eternity. Don’t expend the effort of your mind and your will and your body to try to satisfy yourself with things. Expend your effort instead with a view to finding Christ exalted and satisfying in all you do…

Jesus calls us to be aliens and exiles in the world. Not by taking us out of the world, but by changing at the root how we view the world and do our work in it.”

Excerpt from “Do Not Labor For The Food Which Perishes” sermon on Desiringgod.org