Work in Heaven!

Ministry, like life itself, is full of odd coincidences.  The lines of our lives, interests, or efforts intersect in strange and wonderful ways that often surprise.  I love to be surprised in my work – if the surprises are nice, anyway!

This past week in my preparations for Sunday’s ministry I have been studying two different texts: Ephesians 6:9 and Revelation 14.  I don’t follow lectionaries or calendars – I practice the old custom of what is called lectio continuo – a continual reading.  This means that I preach and teach through whole books of the Bible – currently Ephesians in the morning worship service and Revelation in the teenage Sunday School class.  And those two readings had a neat, serendipitous intersection this week – concerning work.

In Ephesians 6:5-9 we see a context of struggle – socio-economic differences are emphasized, tendencies towards half-hearted work, threatening bosses, and workplace favoritism are assumed.  We are called as Christians to rise above such secular norms.  In Revelation 14:13 we read that the Holy Spirit himself declares that those who die trusting in the Lord will “rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”  And in studying both of these texts this week, I was encouraged by a wonderful thought from a godly nineteenth century minister – Charles Spurgeon.[1]

Work is good.  Adam and Eve had work to do before sin brought the curse of toil, thorns, sweat, and ultimately death itself.  And we will certainly be active in heaven – we will be working at something!  But as Spurgeon points out, from our “labor” we will rest.  That word in the original Greek of the New Testament is kopon, which means “wearisome and painful striving.”  And it is this difficult and tedious aspect of work from which we will rest.  Spurgeon offers three particular areas of rest:

• We will rest from the toil of labor.  As a result of being fallen creatures in a fallen world, the fields of our work are full of stones and thorns (Genesis 3).  Not so heaven!  Our fields will be level and our work will be pleasant.

• We will rest from the faults of our labor.  None of us does our job perfectly.  Our sinfulness spoils every aspect of our work.  Our attitudes are imperfect, our efforts are imperfect, and our production is imperfect.  We make honest mistakes, we deliberately cut corners.  We are inconsistent, sometimes belligerent, often frustrated by our own selves. But!  The day will come when we are finally free from the remainder of sin and God’s work in our lives is complete (Philippians 1:6).

• We will rest from the discouragements of our labor.  We all have our critics.  Not simply because our work is imperfect, but because people love to complain and argue.  Even when you have done your best there are those who will find fault with who you are and what you have done.  You may count on it: on this side of heaven there will always be those who think you are not very good at x, y, or z. Perhaps you aren’t!  But perhaps those critics are profoundly unjust and wicked in their judgments.  Both of these statements could be true.  Isn’t it wonderful that there will be no complainers and “arm-chair quarterbacks” in heaven, and we will no longer have to be constantly guarding ourselves against discouragement?

If you know his story, you know that Spurgeon himself had a very difficult career.  This is not the place to tell his story – I like to keep these notes brief!  But imagine Spurgeon now.  Doing whatever work the Lord has set before him without any of the burdensome liabilities that suck the joy out of our hearts as we try to serve the Lord and others.

Yes, there will continue to be difficulties and challenges in all of our socio-economic relationships here and now.  We will struggle with “mailing it in.”  We will be subject to both sides of favoritism and cronyism.  We will not be dealt with according to justice and equity.  But can you see the light at the end of the tunnel?  The day will come, dear Christian, when your work, whatever your work might be, will be unalloyed joy and you will be free from the burden of your labor.  Until that day, may we be faithful in doing whatever work God has set before us in a manner that anticipates the smile of our Savior and the reward of heaven!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image is cropped from Vincent Van Gogh’s oil painting “Workers.” If anyone can tell me more about this painting, I would appreciate it!

[1] I am indebted to Richard Phillips for his citation of Spurgeon’s sermon on Revelation 14.  Phillips, Revelation: Reformed Expository Commentary (P&R Publishing: Phillipsburg, 2017), p. 414.