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Hello and welcome to the Reach Australia podcast. I'm Madeline Gullier and today's episode is a recording from the 2022 Reach Australia National Conference and the speaker is Peter Orr who lectures at Moore Theological College. And thanks everyone. Why don't we pray and ask the Lord for his help. The psalmist writes, The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

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Our Father, we pray that as we look at your word now, you would revive our souls. You would make us wise, and you would give us joy. And we ask it for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the most recent edition of Christianity Today discusses the causes of pastor burnout. And they examined two surveys, one by Barna and one by Lifeway. And both surveys found that the greatest cause of frustration amongst pastors, at least in the United States,

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was in the conclusion of Barna, lack of commitment among lay people. and in the conclusion of Lifeway, people's apathy and lack of commitment. Lack of commitment, as we think about mobilizing people in our churches for gospel ministry, that, I guess, is what we want to overcome, that lack of commitment, that apathy. And what I want to do in this session is just look at a very, very kind of narrow aspect to that problem

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is to help people think clearly about work, to think clearly about their own work as people in our churches with secular jobs, but also the work of the gospel. This talk really is a summary of an article I wrote for Themelios, and I know it's after lunch. We're going to be looking at Colossians closely. So just to focus your minds, one comment, I know I shouldn't read the comments,

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but I did. One comment on the internet in response to this article, someone said, this is entitled garbage. So you can just keep that at the back of your mind as I go through the talk, is this entitled garbage? So I want us to think about work as we look at Colossians. Evangelical theology in our practice as well, we've moved away, I think, from making value

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distinctions between what we might call Christian work and secular work. There is a recognition that all work, and we'll see this in Colossians, can and should be done for God's glory. And whereas earlier generations of evangelicals perhaps lacked material to help them navigate life as a Christian at work, we're well served, I think, now by a number of helpful books that do that. But I want to examine Paul's letter to the Colossians. It's a letter in which he says

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a surprising amount about work, and which I think he provides a paradigm for thinking about the between two different types of work. What we'll see that while Paul does affirm the theological and even eschatological value of all work that Christians do, he nevertheless also distinguishes between two different types of work. The distinction is not sacred, secular, or much less

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important, unimportant, but what we might say general, specific. Paul affirms that all work has intrinsic theological value before God, but not all work is the same in relation to the kingdom of God. All work done by a Christian can and should be done to God, but only some work is done for the kingdom of God. That distinction, I think, helps us to be clear that there is a distinction

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between, for want of a better word, ministry and non-ministry work. That is, while all work done by a Christian is glorifying to God and has intrinsic value, and we'll see even intrinsic eschatological value, not all work is kingdom work. The latter category is a narrower, distinct type of work. quick look at this letter. As I said, the letter of Colossians contains a high frequency of words related to work. Following his greeting, his thanksgiving, Paul prays for the Colossians.

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What does he pray? Chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will, that they might bear fruit in every good work. He describes their pre-Christian state, chapter 1, verse 21, when they were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil works. So, an essential difference then between the Christian and the non-Christian is the character of their works. Later, he kind of expresses the whole of the Christian life in chapter 3, verse 17,

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whatever you do in word or work, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God. Paul also uses that same work language to refer to his own ministry of proclaiming Christ. Chapter 1, verse 28, warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present, everyone mature in Christ. That's the end to which, verse 29, he toils, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully

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works within. That language of toil is one that Paul particularly uses as here to refer to the work of ministry. And it's something that he reflects on chapter 1 verse 24 as he works to fill up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. So that's kind of his own work of ministry. Later in the letter, chapter 4 verse 12, he talks about Epaphras struggling on your behalf.

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in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. And as such, the next verse, Paul tells the Colossians that Epaphras has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Heropolis. In other words, as he struggles in prayer, he is working for them. So work language, very quick survey. Work language is used throughout the letter, and it seems to encapsulate everything that a Christian might do.

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From the good deeds done because they're a Christian to the labor they do because they live in the world through to specific ministry labor, whether done by Paul or others. However, I want us to examine two verses more closely and I think we can see a distinction emerge. Chapter 3, verse 23, he tells the Colossians that whatever they do, they're to work heartily. Well, this is to be done as for the Lord and not for men.

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Now, we'll examine the details of this verse just in a minute. But at this stage, we can note that all work is to be done for the Lord. It has theological significance. It also has eschatological significance. Since, verse 24, Paul tells them, from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. you are serving the Lord Christ. Okay, so all work done to the Lord, it will receive an inheritance.

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But we also see another type of work, chapter 4, verse 10. Paul gives greetings to the Colossians from Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus, who's called Justice. Then he identifies these as, chapter 4, verse 11, the only man of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God. Now, we'll think about this a little bit more in a moment, but it's enough to note, I think, at this point, the distinction between work for the Lord, chapter 3, verse 23, and work for the

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kingdom of God, chapter 4, verse 11. All work is for the Lord. Whatever you do, you are serving however only some work only some people were doing it only some work is for the kingdom of God all work is for the Lord some work is for the kingdom let's just think about those two a little bit more detail so we saw in Colossians 3

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that all work has theological significance if it is done verse 17 in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him. 3.23, that work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. And so such work, even the work of a slave, can be done with the knowledge that from the Lord, verse 24, you will receive the inheritance as your reward since you are serving the Lord Christ.

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as the Lord, verse 23. You are to work for your earthly master as you would work for the Lord. And Paul continues in the following verse to show the effect, the motivation there to have working for the Lord in that way is to know that they will receive an inheritance as your reward. slaves did not inherit. Actually, Paul makes that point in Galatians 4, Romans 8,

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we're sons and daughters, we're not slaves, therefore we share in God's inheritance. But here, he's kind of applying that idea of inheritance and saying, even if you work as a slave, you'll receive an inheritance. What does he have in mind? Well, he's already used the language of inheritance back in chapter 1, verse 12, when he gave thanks that God had qualified the Colossians to share in the inheritance of the saints in life. And the nature of that inheritance is expanded. Chapter 1, verse 13,

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our God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son. So if we put those two verses together, which I think is legitimate to do, the inheritance that he talks about here in chapter 3 is participation in the kingdom. And that connection between inheritance and kingdom is something you see throughout Paul's letters. So understanding the inheritance as the kingdom means that slaves who work faithfully for the Lord will inherit the kingdom as a reward for their

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labor. Now this is not salvation by works through the back door, but it's a dignifying, a profound dignifying of their labor. We've said again that slaves did not receive an inheritance, but Paul is saying if you work in this faithful way, this work will show the authenticity, reality of your faith, and you will share in the kingdom forever. Done in faithfulness, this labor ends in the kingdom of God, even if on earth slaves would have no inheritance.

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and so any work, even work done by a first century slave is work of deep significance. It has theological value. It is work done, chapter 3 verse 17, in the name of the Lord Jesus. It is done, chapter 3 verse 23, for the Lord with the worker, chapter 3 verse 24, serving the Lord Christ. It is theologically significant. And it also has eschatological value,

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since the one who works faithfully this way will receive an inheritance from the Lord. I had a phone call from someone a couple of weeks ago just checking that I hadn't changed my view on eschatology. I won't say who it was. He's a pastor of a large church on the Central Coast. name is Andrew, but I'm not going to say who it was. And just concerned that I changed my view on eschatology, and I haven't. So, this sort of idea that our work that we do sort of continues

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into the new creation, which some have kind of used that idea to show the value of all labor. I understand why they do that. I don't think that is taught by Scripture. The eschatological value here is very much because the person themselves is a child of God, what they do matters. It's not so much kind of that the essence of the labor itself. So that's kind of all work, but let's

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think of this other type of work, work for the kingdom of God. Turning to chapter 4, verse 10 and 11, Paul tells the Colossians that Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus, called Justice, are the only men of the circumcision among Paul's fellow workers for the kingdom of God. What does he mean that these are his co-workers for the kingdom of God? Well, back in chapter 1, Dan read for us, verses 13 and 14, we've seen Paul has already spoken of God delivering people from the domain

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of darkness and transferring them to the kingdom of his beloved son. And that's experienced in verse 14, redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So I think if we read chapter 4 verse 11, working for the kingdom of God, in light of what he said about the kingdom earlier in the letter, it would seem that it involves work that brings people into the kingdom, work that is connected with the proclamation of the gospel. And in Acts 20 that Andrew spoke to us from earlier,

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notice that Paul talks about proclaiming the kingdom. And Paul can speak about God calling people into his kingdom. These fellow workers, I think, are involved in the work of the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. That's not necessarily their only occupation anymore than it was always Paul's only occupation, working as a tent maker as well. But they engage together in the labor of the proclamation of the gospel to an extent that they could be identified as co-workers

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with Paul for the kingdom. But let's think a little bit harder. If they're the only kind of co-workers for the kingdom, only Jewish co-workers for the kingdom, what does it mean that, what does that actually mean, that they were the only workers of the circumcision for the kingdom of God? Were they the only people working alongside Paul for the kingdom of God? What does that mean for every other Christian in relation to the kingdom of God? And to help answer that question, we need to,

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I think, go back to the beginning of the letter. And I think that's what we're seeing, that the beginning of the letter really Paul sets the agenda. And so that's where we go back to answer some of these questions. And his prayer in verses 9 and 10 of chapter 1. Now Paul describes his constant prayer for the Colossians that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

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Up until sort of end of the 20th century, it's very common to say Colossians didn't have much of an Old Testament background. One commentator and author, Greg Beal, I think has done a lot to help us to see that actually Colossians is suffused with Old Testament imagery. And for these verses in verses 9 and 10, he observes the parallels back in Exodus 31 and 1 Kings 7. And he notes that these are the only Old Testament texts where you get this language of spirit and filling and wisdom

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and understanding and knowledge all together. And in each case, it talks about the effect of the filling being doing God's will in every good work. So you have this very strong resonance with these texts in the Old Testament. What are these texts about? Well, Exodus 31, 35 is about the building of the tabernacle. 1 Kings 7 is about the building of the temple. and so and this is Beale's argument I think it's it's very helpful this reference to every good

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work in Colossians 1 10 set in its kind of context with all this Old Testament language evokes this idea of tabernacle and temple building and it suggests that Paul is praying that the Colossian believers might take their part in building up the body of Christ the new spiritual temple. Broadly understood, we can view this as a prayer that all of the Christians in Colossae do work that is equivalent to work for the kingdom, that advances the gospel

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of the kingdom. I think we see a similar dynamic in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, devote yourselves to the work of the Lord, and yet in the very next chapter, he can talk about the household of Stephanas, and he can describe them as his fellow workers and laborers. So in other words, everyone's to do the work of the Lord and yet there are certain people who, because they sort of give themselves to that full time, they can be described as fellow workers. Same thing in Colossians. Everyone, I think, is to give themselves

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to the work of the kingdom, even though we can speak of some people because of their kind of the time that they devote to it as particular workers. every Christian can do fruitful work for the kingdom of God. Every Christian can do kingdom related work and some Christians activity is so dominated by this type of work that they can be described as co-workers for the kingdom of God. Those Christians whose time is dominated by other activity, slaves in the first century, still work for the Lord even though their service of their

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earthly masters is not work for the kingdom per se. So conclusions and implications. There is in a lot of writing a lack of precision with regard to this kind of distinction, I think, in popular writing on work. Often the distinction between work done for the king is collapsed into work done for the kingdom. For example, I'm going to put some quotes up and this is not to sort of

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of the books in question, I just think on this point, it's just a little bit unhelpful. So Ben Witherington, I think it's the first quote on the slides, certainly one of the most miserable things a human can experience is the feeling of not knowing what she ought to be doing with her life. To avoid this feeling, we must grasp that our God-given purpose has a goal, a telos, to use the Greek term, not merely a terminus, to use the Latin term, and it most certainly involves us working, indeed working hard for the kingdom. Okay, so that's that idea, or perhaps more directly

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the next slide. The truth is that even when work seems like drudgery, if it is done to God's glory, it is good in character. And if it is done for the edification of others, it is at the very least divine drudgery, not mere toil, not mere activity. It has meaning, purpose, direction. It is kingdom bringing. And so Witherington argues that the sacred, secular dichotomy doesn't work when it comes to defining Christian work. Any work that is good and godly, any work worth doing, can be done

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to the glory of God and for the help of humankind. And while we're at it, any such work is full-time ministry. Similarly, Miroslav Volf suggests that Christians do their mundane work. The Spirit enables them to cooperate with God in the kingdom of God that completes creation and renews heaven and earth. So the sentiments behind these quotations, I think, are entirely commendable. They reflect a right desire to remind Christians that their work has dignity,

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that it's not a waste of time. That is a good and right desire. However, I think those writers are trying to find the dignity in the wrong place, namely the kingdom of God. Paul sees work for the kingdom of God, though, as specific work. So what I hope we've seen is that Paul can talk about work two ways. A general sense in which all work that a Christian does is done to the Lord. And there is a more specific, narrow sense in which work can be done for the kingdom of God.

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And I think as we seek to teach people in our churches, we want to help them have that clarity Yes, the work that they do, 9 to 5, has tremendous value because they have value as a child of God. What they do matters. But we can also help them to see and to pray for them. The language of chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, that they want to be producing the fruit of good work as they engage in that kingdom work.

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So the language of sacred and secular work, I think, is ultimately not helpful. Because a Christian is sanctified, all legitimate work they do is sacred. However, perhaps with Paul, I think we can distinguish work done for the Lord and work done for the kingdom. Or maybe that's just all entitled garbage. Let's pray. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled

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with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Our Father, that is the prayer that we have for ourselves, that we would bear fruit in every good work. We would increase in our knowledge of you. And it is our longing for those in our churches that they would bear fruit in every good work

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and they would increase in their knowledge of you. And we pray for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. weeks. After that, look out for a series on preaching with Gary Eastman and another series