Does work have a purpose beyond making a living? As followers of Christ, surely our theology of work goes beyond Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonian church, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). While there is certainly more than one purpose for our labors, is there a significant purpose of work that is often neglected? I think there is.
In this article, I want to suggest three things. First, Paul gives us an often-overlooked purpose of work that goes beyond self-sufficiency. Second, Jesus promises that living this way brings a greater blessedness and we will see why.
Paul and the Purpose of Work
34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:34-35)
You’ve likely heard that Paul was a tentmaker[1] or that he had a trade which he would use to provide for himself during his missionary journeys. But are you as familiar with the reason he offers for why he did this? In addition to providing for his and his traveling companions’ needs, he wanted to set an example that “by this kind of hard work we must help the weak.”
Why do followers of Jesus work? You might say, “We have to slug out a living.” Yes. But if that is our only purpose, it has nothing to do with my neighbor. It echoes Cain’s question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Paul is telling us that we work for our neighbor too. We work because we are our brother’s keeper. We work to give.
Paul is telling us that we work for our neighbor too.
So one significant answer to the question, “Why do we work hard?” is “to help the weak.” The word translated “help” carries the sense of “committing oneself wholeheartedly to” them. That involves even more than, but not less than, material help.
A Promised Blessing
Paul said, “by this kind of hard work we must….” Too often this is replaced with, “It’s better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.” But Jesus didn’t say it is more blessed to teach than to give.” He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Jesus did not replace giving with empowerment. Whatever form our help takes, it must flow from hearts willing to sacrifice for others.
When we live generously to help others, we are also teaching them by example to live generously to help others. If you live as your brother’s or sister’s keeper, you show by example how they too should live.
Paul tells the Ephesians elders the reason we are to work hard so that we can help the needy: “remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Think about what Jesus said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Jesus is saying that generous, sacrificial giving is more blessed than receiving great wealth. Either Jesus knows something we do not, or His words are absurd. There is little middle ground. However, this kind of thinking requires a total transformation of our value system.
But why is giving more blessed than receiving? To answer that, let’s look at something Paul later writes to the Ephesian church. There he expands on why helping the poor is a significant purpose of our work.
Is it Enough to be Self-Sufficient?
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. (Ephesians 4:28)
Too often we stop either reading or thinking in this verse after the “stop stealing but work with your own hands.” As if the whole point is to work and not steal. But according to this verse, what is the goal of stealing no longer? Is it so that we work and do something useful? Sure. But it must go much further.
We have not fully moved away from stealing until we have begun sharing with those in need! If we can earn more than enough, within the six days God has given for work, it is our responsibility to work hard to share with those who do not have enough.
Conversion, in this case, means moving from being a taker to becoming a giver!
We have not fully moved away from stealing until we have begun sharing with those in need!
Paul’s reasoning might sound familiar. In the Sermon on the Mount (SM), Jesus repeatedly moved beyond the minimum requirement of the law to reveal God’s deeper intention. In a similar way, Paul doesn’t stop with, “Don’t steal.” He continues to the positive goal: work so that you have something to share.
To have more than we need while others lack necessities and not share is theft. John Calvin’s teaching, following Aquinas, is described:
The law of equity is so demanding for Calvin that he often states it in terms of a subjective right. Thus he can say that one is defrauded not merely when something that is in her possession is taken from her but even when a need that she has is not satisfied by one who has the power to satisfy it…. Calvin [insists] that the poor have a higher right to have their basic needs met [than those who claim autonomy over their own possessions].[2]
What does this have to do with why becoming a person who gives generously will bring blessing? If we answer with, “Because if we give we will receive even more,” then we are just changing what Jesus said. We are talking as if what He said was, “It’s more blessed to receive more than to merely receive.” But that isn’t what He said.
One reason it is more blessed to give than to receive is that humans were made in God’s image and blessed (Gen. 1:26-28). That blessing is what produces life and flourishing. Following the Rebellion in the Garden, God’s image in us was distorted and people increasingly moved away from blessing and toward death.
When we give because we value the person in need more highly than ourselves (Phil. 2:3-4), we are being formed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. We are being restored more fully into the image and likeness of God for which we were created, and therefore we are entering the realm of the blessings promised to God’s image-bearers in the world.
It’s not enough to be self-sufficient. What would the Gospel Story be like if it was about the God who provided for Himself but not for others? Awful. Is not the glorious truth of the Gospel centered in the God who made Himself nothing and took on the very nature of a slave, and became obedient all the way to the point of death (Phil. 2:7-8) while maintaining his trust in God and love of even those who crucified Him?
What would the Gospel Story be like if it was about the God who provided for Himself but not for others?
Is there anything more blessed than to be conformed into the image of Christ?
Conclusion
Does work have a purpose beyond making a living? Yes indeed. Work is one of God’s primary means of shaping us into generous image-bearers who reflect the self-giving love of Christ. We labor not only to provide for ourselves, but so that we may become people who freely give to others. Conversion means moving from being a taker to becoming a giver. As we make this transition, we discover the truth of what Jesus said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
[1] The word used to describe Paul’s trade as “tentmaker” was not that specific and it is likely, given the context in which it is used, referring to something involving greater skill than merely making tents.
[2] Matthew J. Tuininga. Good News for the Poor: An Analysis of Calvin’s Concept of Poor Relief and the Diaconate in Light of His Two Kingdoms Paradigm. Calvin Theological Journal, Vol. 49 (2014) 227.
