Our Work: an Aspect of Worship

I want to greet you in Jesus' name. It's a blessing to be here this morning and worship together and feast on the Word of God.

For a message, I was thinking about our work, the things we do, our work, and some things I had read and been thinking about. I felt like this is what the Lord wanted me to share.

For a title, I was thinking our work and aspect of worship. And I'm thinking our work, I'm thinking just the practical things we do, our jobs, the way we support ourselves and others, our families, what we do to make ends meet and to pay our bills.

I thought of asking it as a question, is our work an aspect of worship? And later, as I thought about that, I thought, really, our work is an aspect of what we worship.

I had to think of a verse that often comes to my mind about that. It's in Ephesians 4:28. The end of the verse there, it says, "Let him labor," was talking about the thief there that stole. And it says, "But rather, let him labor working with his hands, the thing which is good, why? That he may have to give to him that needeth."

That's the purpose of our work in Ephesians. That's so that we can have to give those in need.

I'd like to turn to Colossians 3, and I think I'll read the whole chapter. There's a couple of verses in there that our work is often intertwined with a lot of other things, with practical living and how we live our lives. I'd like to especially look at verses 17 and 23. I'll read those two first, and then I'd like to read the whole chapter.

Verse 17 in Colossians 3 says, "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." And then verse 23 says, "And whatsoever you do, do it heartedly as to the Lord and not unto men."

Those were kind of the verses that referred to our work.

And I had to think of the devotional about our words adding value to our conversations. I had to think, does our work I think our work should be such that adds value to society or to humanity.

Colossians 3, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things in the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concubiness, and covetousness which is idolatry.

For which things' sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience? In which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. For there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. For bearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity which is the bond of perfectness.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartedly as to the Lord and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.

But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons."

So how can our work be an aspect of worship? And I think what we work and what we do, how we work or what we do with how we do it soon shows what we worship. Is it ourselves? Are we trying to make ourselves a name? Or are we glorifying God? I had to think of the verse in Psalm 127 where it says, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." And I think that word house could be used for our lives or maybe even just if we're building a house or a practical building or a shed or something.

If we're not doing it for the Lord, it's in vain. We might as well not be doing it.

The idea of worshiping something or being passionate about what we do, or is it just because of I enjoy it, or is it to glorify God?

It's good to work hard. It's good to put our hearts into it and to do a job. And I think God put us here on this earth to work and to be productive, to produce.

And it's good when we can enjoy our work. There's always aspects of pretty much every job that are not as ideal, but it's good when we can enjoy our work. Right now, we're getting the salt we get for our cows that we give to them has this they have some advertisements on the bags. And then there's this circle, and out around the circle, it says, "Eat, sleep, farm, repeat." So eat, sleep, farm, repeat. And then in the middle, it says, "For the love of it." And I looked at I was like I was trying to I think about that, and I see that all the time. And is that why I do my work? Is that why I because I love it?

And there are aspects of it that I do like, but a lot of aspects of it. But it doesn't always there are times when it's not ideal.

And when I see that circle, I was thinking of a hamster running in their wheels when I was growing up. When at home, we had a hamster, and he would get into this wheel. And I think they often did it more at night, but he just runs for all he's worth and sometimes gets out and eats and drinks a little bit. And then he runs again and just on and on and on and stops and looks around, looks out, see if he got anywhere, then just goes at it again. And is that how our work is? There are days when we work, and it almost feels like we spun our wheels all day. Nothing we almost father back than when we started out.

But I think our work should be more than just so we have something to eat just because we love it, but it's to worship our creator.

And in what way do we worship him? I had to think of Adam in the garden there. It says before the fall, it said that God put Adam and Eve in the garden, and they were to dress it and to keep it. They were to take care of it. And I wondered what that was like or what did they do?

Were there weeds to pull or was there things to plant? God had in some ways made all the plants and everything there, but apparently there were things for them to do. He was to be productive. He was to take care of this garden.

I'm sure it was very different before the fall than it was after the fall because we know that after the fall, God told Adam that the earth isn't going to bring forth like it used to be, and he cursed the ground for Adam's sake. It said it's going to bring forth thorns and thistles, and he's going to work in the sweat of his brow to get enough things together to live on.

And just thinking about that, I was thinking of just something like rain. I enjoy a rain in the summer, a nice rain that just really revives everything or a nice thunderstorm. But in the Garden of Eden, they didn't have rain then. It just said a mist went up from the earth, watered everything.

Rain can really interrupt our plans or if we want to do something or then a storm comes up, and sometimes it can be destructive. In the Garden of Eden, he didn't have that. So his work was, should we say it was easier, but God still gave him something to do. He was to dress it and to keep it. He was to be productive. And I think that was part of his worship to God.

And over the years, talking with different people and why they work or what makes I've had people tell me, "Well, I need a job because I have bills to pay. There's things I want to do," or it takes money. And so this is the only reason I do this job is so that I need to make some money because I need a place to live. And I think that's kind of a sad way to work just because I have to. We don't want to do more than we have to. We just do the minimum.

But I think we should be productive. We should be producing.

I had to think in the Old Testament as well, God very detailed the children of Israel. Their sacrifices and ties were part of their worship to God. And he in very detailed ways told them how much they were to give to him, like the first fruits, the best. They were supposed to bring to God and sacrifice it to him or give it to the Levites.

And I've wondered how that would be already with raising animals and say it's the time of the year to sacrifice now. So I would pick out my best cow, and we'd offer it up as a sacrifice to God, part of our worship.

We call out cows out of our herd that are not doing so well. Maybe they're lame or not very productive anymore to take our best cow out. And I had to think if I had grown up doing that always, if that would have always been my my dad would have done that, maybe that would just be a part of life. In the New Testament now, everything is God's.

So does that mean now that I don't need to sacrifice anymore? I'm just being a steward taking care of God's what God has given me. I think part of our worship, the way our work can be part of worship is when we serve others with what the Lord has blessed us with. I came across a story here. It's in one of Christian Aid's letters, newsletter. Well, it's not the newsletter. It's another mailing that they mail out. And I thought this is just a story that someone wrote.

It said, "This story, although hypothetical, was written to teach diligent work as an aspect of worship and stewardship." And the title is The Doctrine of Work.

The night was violent. The wind was driving granulated snow against the siding and scoring the windows. The boy stood and moved the lamp closer to his grandfather, watching as his work-worn fingers rolled the new wooden spoon between his fingers and scraped it smooth with a piece of broken glass. In the corner, his grandmother sat knitting a scarf, taking form between her slender knitting needles.

He was so engrossed that he almost didn't hear the knock on the door when it came. His grandparents had not heard it at all, but the lad sat up, brow furrowed, and listened. There it was again, faint between the wind's moaning outburst. "Is someone at the door?" he asked.

His grandfather stopped scraping and listened. "Well, if you think there might be, you'd better check," he said. The boy rose and lifted the latch, and something little and white stumbled in, followed by a small drift of wind-blown snow. The knitting needle stopped, and the wooden spoon clinked to the floor beside the bit of glass as his grandfather rose. "It's a child."

It was a child, needled with snow, its face white and bloodless. "Why it's one of widow Mary's children," he heard his grandmother say. "A child, what brings you out on a night like this? Bring him over to the fire. The child is freezing." The boy watched as his grandfather carried the child to the hearth, and his grandmother unwound the snow-needled scarf. "Why did you come out on a night like this?" his grandmother asked again, but it was a few minutes before the child could talk. "Mama is sick, and we're almost out of wood," he stammered. "The house is cold, and so I came."

Ten minutes later, the bobsled was at the door, and his grandfather was dismounting by the woodshed. "Help me carry wood," he said as the boy came from the house, still wrapping his scarf around his neck, and hurry," his grandfather added, "before those children freeze."

They carried wood until the boy felt numb and lost track of his trips from the shed to the growing pal in the sled box. Twice, he tried to stop pointing out that the pal was almost gone. But at a grunt from his grandfather, he held on. At last, when it seemed the shed was nearly empty, his grandfather stepped onto the sled runner and nodded toward the door. "Tell your grandmother to bring the child," he said as he unwound the icy reins from the post. "If he is warm enough to travel, we'll head over there now."

The boy never forgot the pathetic sight of those children huddled puppy-like around the last dying embers of the fire, nor the look of gratitude on their mother's face as she lay too weak to rise when they clattered in carrying the child and the first armloads of wood.

In later years, that smile would warm his heart on long winter evenings, but tonight, something else was bothering him. "But grandpa," he protested as they came back into the warmth of their own kitchen, "you gave them almost all of our wood."

His grandfather settled down on his seat, picking up the nearly finished spoon he'd been working on. "No, son," he said, "we still have a whole woodlot full. We have enough to last till the weather breaks," and "Yes, but I split the wood for us," the boy was aggravated, remembering the blisters he had worked into his hands splitting the pal now stacked in widow Mary's shed. "It wasn't our wood anyway," his grandfather said, bending down and hunting for the shard of glass and the shavings at his feet. Finding it, he sat up and leaned back in his chair. "Everything is God's, you know. We are just his stewards.

Our job is to work, to produce. Sometimes we produce for our own livelihood. Sometimes we produce for others. God put us here to produce for him." "It is," he said, lifting the bit of glass to the nearly finished spoon. "It is our act of worship."

He nodded twice and resumed his work. The boy sat watching the shavings curl from his spoon's smooth surface, listening to the click of his grandmother's knitting needles and hearing again the swish of the snow against the window panes.

Then it has the verse there, "Let him labor working with his hands a thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth."

Here they gave to a need there. They hadn't really planned for that, but there was a need, so they supplied that need.

Our work as part of a worship, an aspect of worship. It's part of worshiping God. And here in Colossians chapter 3, it talks about seeking things above, seeking things, setting our affection on things above and not on things of the earth. And then the things that we own are God's.

We had a neighbor a number of years ago, an older man, and he had farmed most of his life. And he had sold the farms and bought the place beside us there. And he was well off, had plenty. But when you talk with him, he talked about my property and my equipment. And he didn't want to let people on his property because it was his property.

Someone had shot a deer on our land once, and it went over into his woods, and they asked him if they could go over there. And he's like, "No, you're not going on my property." So that was a barrier there. You weren't allowed on his property because it was his.

And today, he's not living anymore. So what happens with all these things that he accumulated, worked so hard for, managed so well for?

Now it's someone else's.

But while he was alive, it was his, and he was very possessive of it.

So why do we work? Are we just fixing it up for ourselves?

I had to think of Solomon. Solomon was king when Israel was at its high point. And I think he got—well, I know that God blessed him with wisdom, gave him a lot of—he knew how to manage well. He knew how to keep his servants happy.

I like to look at First Kings chapter 10 when the queen of Sheba came to see. She had heard about how prosperous things were there. And so she came to check that. She came to look at it or to see that. First Kings chapter 10, first part of the chapter there.

And when we see someone managing well, we see doing a good job, we look—we admire that. And I often wish I could do that a little more.

First Kings chapter 10. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, so if we notice here, apparently she heard of the fame of Solomon, but it was concerning the name of the Lord.

Somehow, God was being glorified in what he was doing. So she came to him. She came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him all that was in her heart.

And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's wisdom in the house that he had built and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel and his cuppairs and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, "It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believe not the words until I came.

And mine eyes have seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.

Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighteth in thee to set on the throne of Israel, which delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made he thee king to do judgment and justice."

But I'd like to notice here is the people that worked for him were happy. They liked working for him. And apparently, he treated them well. And then in verse 9 there, that caused her to bless the Lord. She said, "Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighteth in thee."

And when people observe our work, does it remind them of God? Is our work part of our worship? Or do we worship ourselves?

And then I'd also like to look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2. I'm not sure.

Here we see Solomon's work, and it caused people to think of God and worship the Lord. And I don't know if here in Ecclesiastes, if he was getting kind of tired of it or if he was starting to wonder about the future, maybe he was starting to become a little selfish.

He talks about all the things he did here. And let's just notice what he says about it. Ecclesiastes chapter 2, he says, "I said in my heart, go too now. I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. And behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad. And of mirth, what doeth it?

I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom, to lay hold on folly till I might see what was that good, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. Notice what he did. I made me great works. I built me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens, orchards.

And I planted trees in them of all kinds. I got me servants and maidservants and maidens. And I had servants born in my house. Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me.

I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of the kings and of provinces. I got me men-singers, women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me.

And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy. For my heart rejoiced in all my labor. And this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on the works that my hands had wrought and on the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit.

And there was no profit under the sun.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly. For what can man do that cometh after the king, even that which hath been already done? Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness.

A wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness. I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

Then said I in my heart, "As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me." And why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, "That this also is vanity. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool. Forever, seeing that which now is in the days to come shall be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man as the fool?" Therefore, I hated life because of the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Yay, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me. He couldn't keep it. It wouldn't always be. Someone else would take it on.

And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yet, he shall have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

Therefore, I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity. Yet to a man that hath not labored therein, he shall leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what hath man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart wherein he hath labored under the sun? For all his days are sorrows and his travail grief. Yay, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This also is vanity.

He's looking at all the labor that he did, and it says his heart didn't take rest during the night. And usually, a person that has a lot of things going or trying to manage a lot of things, it often has to think about it and try to keep things straight and try to keep things in order. It takes asleep from him. And all these things that we think if we would have it, we'd be happy. A lot of times, it turns around and it tends to bring more grief, and it doesn't bring the happiness that we thought it would.

But here in verse 24, I like what he says there. There's nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink that which he and that which he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. I think God wants us to enjoy the work of our hands.

If we build a house, we can live in it and enjoy that. We can have food to eat from the labors which we have done. And he said, "This also I saw that it was from the Lord. For who can eat or who else can hasten here to more than I?" He had gotten there. He was wondering who did it more than I did. "For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy."

And notice what he gives to the sinner here. It says, "But to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give it to him that is good before God." This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

It says, "For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner he giveth travail." And I think that travail comes from he's gathering things together. He's heaping it up for, I don't know, for retirement or for some time when he might need it.

But then he doesn't enjoy it.

It goes to someone else. And that just happens again and again. A man gathers things together and wants to be secure. But if our security and if our worship isn't for God, if it's just for our own benefits, if we're not being productive for others, it's just vanity and vexation of spirit.

And it's good to work. It's good to be busy. It's good to be productive. And there is a verse in Ezekiel that talks about the sin of Sodom.

We know there was a lot of immorality there, but Ezekiel, he was talking about the children of Israel there. And he said, "Your sister Sodom." He likened them to that. But the sin that was theirs, it says, "Behold." In Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 49 says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor needy."

And here in the States, it's pretty easy to be in that position. He calls it iniquity. He calls it sin. Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her. And neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor needy, talking about Sodom there.

If we're not careful, we could get to that point too. Most of us probably have freezers that are full and running over. We can get more and more. Are we strengthening the poor and the needy? Are we watching for opportunities to help those with needs?

Or do we just keep piling it up for ourselves? That's a dangerous position to be in.

Jesus said in John chapter 6, "Labor not for the meat that perisheth." Everything we do here on this earth really doesn't have any eternal value unless we use it to glorify God, to worship the Lord. If we just pile it onto ourselves, we should be. And thinking of our work, thinking of we need to hold these things with an open hand and be a channel that it can flow through. We often think of God's grace as flowing through us, God's word flowing through us to others as we receive it from God. But I also think that can also be our money, the things we have. Am I a channel that could flow to God's blessings can flow through me to others?

Or does it dead end with me and then it becomes stagnant and

doesn't do anyone any good?

In John chapter 6, Jesus was telling his disciples or telling the people there that he had just fed them with the five loaves and two fishes, and they had gone somewhere and more people had come. And he was, "Are you coming to me because of the bread?" In John chapter 6, verse 26, Jesus answered them and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you need eat of the loaves and were filled.

Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed."

And then they asked him, "Well?" Then said they unto him, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent."

Now, Jesus said, "If you love me, we are to keep his commandments. And in keeping his commandments, we love our neighbor as ourself."

It's not good to be idle. It's not good to have just a lot of idle time because there's a saying it's not in the Bible, but idleness is the devil's workshop. And it bothers me when I hear people say that life is boring. There's nothing to do, nothing exciting.

And when I was growing up, that was something my mom and my parents, if we got bored or something, there was always something they could, some work they could get us to do to take care of that boredom.

And so we tried pretty hard not to get bored, which in some ways I've wondered if that made us somewhat productive on our own too because we didn't want to just go fuss to them that there was nothing to do and we were bored because then they would tell us what to do. So we tried to, us boys, we had different, we built tree houses and made things in the shop and did different things just to be productive. But there's lots of opportunities to serve.

If I think life is boring or what's the purpose? Start thinking like Solomon did. All these things that I've done, there's no point in it. It's just vanity in it. It vexes me now.

We want to work harder and make more money and to have more things. And for me, it's so I maybe have more cattle. Then they get out and then there's too many around. They eat a lot of feed. And these things that I think would make me happy, now they're vexing. They're a vexation.

But we don't want to eat the bread of idleness. I had to think of the Proverbs 31. There talks about that the woman there, that virtuous woman, it says she eateth not the bread of idleness.

We don't want to eat the bread of idleness.

But if we just lay it up here for ourselves, we're selfish and it doesn't bring us any happiness. I guess it often amazes me how even people that we think might not have much, I had to think of the widow with two mites. She put two mites in the offering there when Jesus was watching her there and he said she put in more than the others.

And if you visit in a foreign country and Americans are considered most parts of the world as rich, we have a lot. We don't really need anything. But often these people want to give you something. They don't have much, but they want to give.

And there's something, I think it's something that's learned. It's something that grows on us to give. And it's amazing how the Lord can bless our five loaves and two fishes that we give to him. He can multiply that when we give it to him.

But when we just consume it for ourselves, then it doesn't multiply. It actually becomes less and we start losing. And we become vexed with the things that we have.

Our work should be worship and we should work to produce, but it's part of worshiping the Lord. Worshiping the Lord isn't just when I have my, when I pray or when I read my Bible, but it is when I work as well.

It should be worship. I'd like to look at Matthew chapter six yet, the end of the chapter six there where he talks about not laying up treasures on earth because there's a lot of things here that can corrupt that. And I find it kind of fascinating to explore properties or see places, castles that people have built because they had the means to do it and were very extravagant with it maybe quite a few years ago. Now it's kind of in ruins. It's kind of, they're gone. They're not there anymore. But at one time, someone, this had really meant a lot to someone.

They put a lot of money into it. They put a lot of time into it, put a lot of thought into it. But then they were not here for always. They die. And then if the next person doesn't have an interest in it, it just kind of falls apart.

And Solomon thought about that. With his wisdom, he was thinking, well, the person that's after me, is he going to take care of all these things that I, he worked hard to get all these trees planted and everything. Is the next person going to take care of it?

He was worried about that.

But if we truly want the treasure that lasts forever, that doesn't decay, that doesn't get old as we get old, but lasts for eternity, when our work is part of worshiping God, then I think our work can have eternal value. Let's see what Matthew six here says about that. Matthew six starting at verse 19 says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doeth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doeth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." It's not just there might your heart be, but that is where your heart will be.

The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment? Behold, the fowls at the air, for they sow not.

Neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin.

And yet I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass at the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

So I don't think it's really a question whether our work is an aspect of worship or not. It is an aspect of worship. So what are we worshiping? Are we worshiping an eternal God? Or are we worshiping ourselves? Or are all our treasures just here on this earth where they corrupt? Thieves break through and steal.

Do I do my work heartedly as to the Lord and not unto men?

Do I work so that I can give to those in need? Or does it all just stop with me? Do I consume it, just make myself comfortable and get the things I need or think I need? In Isaiah chapter 2, verse 8, it says, God talking to the children of Israel, he says, "Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made." We don't want to worship the things that we make, the things that we do.

Except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that build it. And on Father Down in 127, there it talks about being vain to rise up early and to eat the bread of sorrows. But when the Lord's building our house, it's worthwhile building it.

I want to end with a verse in First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 58.

First Corinthians 15, verse 58.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Does anyone have any comments or thoughts you'd like to add?