What Labor Day Means to Those at Rest in Christ
The years 2020 and 2021 proved to be strange labor markets. People disappeared from many workplaces, and some believe that many of them will never return. The ensuing labor shortage helped fuel the hyper-inflation that plagued everything from lumber to ramen pot noodles.
Labor Day is an American holiday that places focus on the American worker. It marks the end of summer and the commencement of activities that will continue for the subsequent nine months until the cycle repeats.
Work is part of who people are, made in the image of God, who works. When Jesus came into the world, He worked. In fact, He worked the works of God because He was God enfleshed (Jn 1:14).
With the development of specialized labor, people became experts in small areas of knowledge or in particular skill sets. This created a significant interdependence in ever-more-sophisticated economies.
The church is no different from the world in this respect. As churches grew numerically in size, one pastor could not manage all that was now going on. Churches became complex enterprises requiring more and specialized laborers. Successful church operations demanded the same things as corporations. Church is big business, today, in America.
Educated and specially trained church laborers attend the same leadership conferences as their corporate counterparts. Preachers are taught to sell Jesus as a product to be “bought into” by would-be consumers of salvation. Slick marketing is added to the mix, and the programs, especially the carnivals must deliver results, otherwise, savvy church shoppers will find a better show in town.
In the frenzy of all this labor, one must inquire whether this is true Christianity. When Jesus called His sheep to come to Him, His promise was to give them rest, not vain labor.
In the fall of man, work became a toil, a burden (Gen 3). The ground was cursed. In addition, Satan took man’s dominion and enslaved man. In order to cope with drudgery, monotony, and unfulfillment, the devil devised endless schemes of amusement, entertainment, and sensual pleasure. Easily enticed, man became an addict, even to work itself. One reads Ecclesiastes and the timeless labor report is not good.
Further, when God revealed the Law, the standard of righteousness was not ever attained by sinful man. The devil chided man to work harder to try and reach the elusive level of obedience that merited God’s favor. Man failed and it was right back to coping addictions. The cycle is endless until death.
Salvation by works is a failed endeavor. No favor nor righteousness is achieved by sinners. In other words, there is nothing man can do to have right standing with God. His efforts are futile and often lead to further sins of a different kind.
So, man labors because he is made in the image of God. Man’s labors, however, have zero bearing on the judgment executed by the righteous judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25). Man toils in order to eat his daily bread, but his works are filthy rags when it comes to what matters most…eternal life.
Those who have entered into Christ have done so by the grace of God. The grace of God is His work on behalf of helpless, hopeless sinners. God’s grace makes salvation a reality, for those whom He has appointed to eternal life and transferred into His Son’s kingdom — the Spirit-filled church (1 Cor 12:13; Rom 14:17; Col 1:13).
The Bible is rich with this imagery of another working on behalf of the beneficiary. The branch is grafted into the vine by the Vinedresser. The blind receive their sight from someone else. Salvation, on the appointed day, comes to a particular house (think Zacchaeus). Heirs receive their inheritance by the One who left it to them upon His death. Clay is worked by the Potter’s hand, to become whatever He wants. The dead are raised to life by the work of another (think Lazarus).
In none of these biblical analogies of salvation is the beneficiary consulted for an opinion, a choice, a decision, or any other kind of work to facilitate salvation in any way. God the Father did the work in determining who would be saved, that is, whoever He appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48). God the Son did the necessary work of particular redemption, when He was crucified as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29), Himself elect to be the substitute sacrifice in the stead of those given to Him by the Father (Jn 6:37; 17:2, 6, 24; 1 Pet 2:24) and whose names were written in the Lamb’s book before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8; 17:8).
Finally, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to effectually call the elect, redeemed to come to Christ. These are baptized by the Spirit and added to the body of Christ, having been regenerated, that is, made alive in the Spirit by His permanent indwelling of the saints (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:38; 10:47; Rom 8:9, 11; 1 Cor 12:13; Eph 2:5; Col 2:13).
The Gospel of salvation is preached to all (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15), and it is believed by those who have been born again by the Spirit of God (1 Pet 1:3). All of the spiritual blessings are for the saints in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3), including rest from all of their labors to merit favor with God. Resting in Christ’s righteousness, achieved by Him alone, means the saint’s everlasting rest has begun in time.
Sanctification by the Spirit is the Christian’s walk of faith, in the power of the Spirit, who is directing the steps of the child of God, who labors as unto the Lord, in the good works prepared beforehand for him to walk in (Eph 2:10). The heir of God is liberated to labor in love for the Lord. His yoke is easy. Our Lord accomplishes what concerns us (Ps 57:2; 138:8). This is true rest, and God gets all the glory for all the work that is done. Happy Labor Day! Give thanks to God for all His works finished before the foundation of the world (Heb 4:3).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
September 6, 2021
