Summer Preaching Series August 30-31, 2025
“Work” Colossians 3:23-24
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” That question has been asked of children and youth and high school students and others at various points in life. I wonder how many different times does that question change in life?
My younger brother from Phoenix was in town this week. At lunch on Monday he spoke about his recent retirement and about his work life. He started out doing one thing with electronics and technology and due to being “canned”, “downsized”, or “let go”, numerous times in his 40 years of employment, he had to change what he wanted to be many times over. I’m not sure what he wants to do when he grows up, but I think it includes playing lots of golf.
Maybe you are in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and you don’t yet know what you are going to do when you finally grow up!! But there is a bigger question today than what you want to be, it is how you want to be. That is what we read in our Colossians reading.
This is Labor Day Weekend and the final sermon for this summer preaching series was suggested to me by one of you. Their translation of these verses was “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than people.” (New Living Translation)
Some people don’t like work. When the whistle blows, when their phone reads 5:00, it is the best part of their day. But work is actually a gift from God to us. The first call for work was in the Garden of Eden before the fall into sin. Before the curse was given we read, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) He was given a responsibility, a duty, a calling, a purpose. Work is God’s design for our life. In chapter 1 of Genesis the call for Adam and Eve was this, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) That was going to take some work!!
“What do I want to do when I grow up?” That is a big question. Sometimes young adults, 15-16-17 years old, have to make some type of choice about what might be next for them. What they study in high school may set them up to answer that question of “what” clearly.
But the bigger question is not “what”, it is “how”. A month ago I was shopping, and I found something that I wanted to purchase. When I went to check out, I quickly found out that the person at the register either didn’t like me, the choice of my purchase, or their job. They made no eye contact. They spoke no words to me. No “hello”. No “thank you”. “Take your tee shirt and leave” is what they said without even talking.
It isn’t just what you do with your life, it is how you live out that life. Our section from Colossians had a unique audience in how they were to do their work. Paul was writing to slaves. “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
A slave in that society was not considered a person. They had no rights. They were a piece of property. This could have made them quite hostile to their masters, their “owners”. How they did their work could have been with resentment. Their attitude could have been filled with anger and noncompliance.
But something had changed in their life. They had heard about a man who had come from heaven and who had been whipped and beaten and tortured and who spoke no evil to His attackers. He suffered without opening His mouth. He had a greater purpose than the protection of His own life. They heard about Jesus and now their life and how to live it had changed.
They worked not just when they knew someone was watching them but even when no one was watching. They worked with sincerity and integrity.
How we work tells the world of who we are and whose we are. If the only reason why we work is for money then we have lost a higher calling to why we do what we do. Yes, we work and we get paid for that work. And with that money we pay the bills and enjoy life, but if that is the sole purpose for our work we have settled for far less than what God calls us to do. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
There is a word that I’ve been paying attention to recently, it is called “vocation”. It is much more than simply “What do you do?”, it is “Why do you do it?” Vocation means that we have a calling from God in the things we do in life because first, those things serve our God; and secondly – they serve our neighbor. Our vocations may receive pay but they may not. My mother had a vocation, a holy and high one, one that was hard and took everything she had to give – she was a mother, staying at home to raise the family. No pay. But she had a wonderful purpose. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
Vocations are being a good neighbor to the handicapped kid down the road, lending a helpful hand to the person next to you at work, serving as a volunteer at a food bank. Such attitudes and actions are natural outcomes for those who know the mercy that Christ has for the entire world. As Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)
We have a higher purpose in our occupations or the positions we hold in life. In everything we do we are a witness to God’s place in our life. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) Ecclesiastes, one of the books in the Old Testament, from the section of wisdom literature, says, “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is a gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)
You have a high calling, a godly and good purpose in life. It isn’t just what you do, it is how you do it and why you do it.
But if you really want to learn what work is like than look at the life of Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame…” (Hebrews 12:2) His work was our rescue and forgiveness and bringing us to salvation. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (I John 3:8) Look at the how and why of Christ’s work for us, “Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)
There is joy in work. Think back to what you put your hand, or mind or back to. Something good happened. Something beautiful now exists. Take pride in your work. How good.
God’s work in you through Jesus is wonderful. You, God’s chosen are a new creation. You have faith in Jesus that is steadfast and unmovable. You know that you will be in glory, forever, when you die.
And now, your work is blessed. You have a holy calling. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Amen!!
