Craig Smith • The Dignity of Work • March 2, 2025

God is a worker…

By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. (Gen. 2:2-3)

“My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too, am working.” (John 5:17)

God created our work with dignity…

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along ground.”(Gen. 1:26)

Work is

…

So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. (Eccl. 3:22a)

Wisdom teaches you to be…

•

Reveal Answer

in your work – “The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight.” (Prov. 11:1)

• Industrious with your

Reveal Answer

– “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.” (Prov. 12:24)

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!” or, “I will be murdered in the streets!” (Prov. 22:13)

• A blessing to your

Reveal Answer

– “He who tends to a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored.” (Prov. 27:18)

•

Reveal Answer

with your productivity – “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” (Prov. 13:4)

•

Reveal Answer

with reward – “Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.” (Prov. 20:17)

• Working for

Reveal Answer

– “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (Col. 3:23)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Cor. 15:10)