Living Biblically: Practical Application

Work as Worship

When Christians think of worship, their paradigm is usually confined to what transpires in a church building or cathedral on Sunday morning. For most traditional denominations, worship is expressed in two dimensions, the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the sacrament. For sacramental churches, the focus is on the Eucharist, a fact underscored by the centrality of the altar in their sanctuaries. For others, the emphasis is on preaching/teaching which is demonstrated by the centrality of the pulpit in their buildings.

Unfortunately, practices that isolate worship to what occurs in church buildings either on Sunday, Sabbath, or other days of the week have robbed believers through the centuries of significant opportunities for exercises that God considers worship. They represent a departure from the Hebrew foundations of Christian faith and the adoption of the dualism of Greco-Roman philosophy that compartmentalizes life in either spiritual or secular realms.

The first heresy to challenge the earliest church was Gnosticism, the philosophy that considered the material world evil and the spiritual world good. Though it was denounced by the earliest fathers of the church, this philosophy has impacted the church in ways that continue unabated to this day.

The advance of dualism in the church has made it possible for everything secular to be looked upon as less than spiritual. With this view, only those who have been called to formal ministry are considered to be doing God’s work. In some denominations, they are even considered to have been elevated to a higher state of holiness. They have also become ipso facto the spiritual heads of the families in their congregations.

For this reason, there is a high incidence of absenteeism of males from the life and ministry of the church. Most men simply do not see themselves as fulfilling spiritual roles because they are secularly employed. In the best case scenarios, they look to their pastoral staff for the spiritual leadership of their families. In other situations, they simply refuse to be involved in "church."

This is not the case in the Jewish community, where a healthy biblical holism underscores that every activity of life is a spiritual exercise and that everything from the mundane to the sublime is theological. God said it when he created everything: "It is good." Nothing is evil of itself, nor is anything purely secular. Paul stated it succinctly: "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" (Colossians 3:17).

This applies to work. When one is engaged in physical or mental activity that provides a means of livelihood for himself and his family, he is accomplishing a spiritual exercise. He is fulfilling the commandment: "Six days shalt thou work" (Exodus 20:9). Whether it be as a minister, doctor, lawyer, builder, electrician, ditch digger, or street sweeper, all men’s (and women’s) work is an act of worship.

This truth is underscored by the fact that the Hebrew word for work and worship are the same. (Abodah) essentially means service and applies equally to both the spiritual exercise of worship and to the physical exercise of labor. This is especially true when work is a fulfillment of God’s command.

The truth is that in earliest Christianity as well as in its antecedent Judaism, the locus for spiritual development was the family. The synagogue was merely an extension of the family, an exercise in congregational life and corporate worship of activities that were already carried out in the family setting.

A full restoration of this important part of the Christianity’s Hebraic heritage would have a resounding impact on the church. Every head of household would assume the God-given role of priest in the home, leading the family in worship and teaching the Word of God in the intimacy of the home. Each man’s work would be seen as a spiritual act of worship, fulfilling God’s commandments, allowing men to be spiritually actualized without being a part of the clergy. Men would recover from the emasculation they experienced when they abdicated their biblical roles and surrendered them to the professional clergy. And families in particular and society in general would profit from greater security and productivity.

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