THE REWARDS OF LABOR

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. 
The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on.

One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.

The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.

Proverbs 12:11, 14:4, 14:23, 15:19, 16:26, 18:9, 21:25

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I had two parents who taught me the importance of hard work and I have tried hard in my life to model their ethic. Through it all, I have come to love and embrace work for there’s something rewarding about being productive, about seeing the fruits of your labors blossom.

Of course, this love of labor and application of dedicated effort toward accomplishment would be misdirected if it were only for my gain or the gain of my family. I’m not saying that this isn’t important but if that’s all there is to our life, then we’re missing out on work far more critical and important.

I say this because there is a work far more rewarding and fulfilling than any work we could do for a wage. It’s the work we do for the Lord in helping others find a relationship with Jesus, gaining the accompanying salvation that comes with it. And we should be putting as much, if not more, effort and exertion into this than we do in our pay-earning job.

So do we? Do we put as much devotion and emphasis on our call by Jesus to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) as we do to bring home a paycheck? Do we have our priorities set in the right place?

Unfortunately, I am afraid we underachieve when it comes to the effort that Jesus expects. Caught up in the world’s temptations and trappings, we invest our time and talent in areas that do anything but seek to save souls. It’s little wonder that Jesus had the following lament:

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Matthew 9:36-38

Friends, this should be part of our daily prayer, that the Lord would send out workers, and especially us, into His harvest field in order to sow and reap for His kingdom. And when we pray this, we need to be ready to go and baptize and teach just as Christ commanded. In other words, don’t pray for the Lord to guide you into His work and then reject that call when it comes. Know and trust that when you commit yourself fully to the Lord’s work, you will always be full time employed with lots of overtime. And we should rejoice in this, that the Lord would want to use us in special ways to help others to salvation and life everlasting for the true rewards of labor come in this.

Solomon wrote about the matter of labor in the following half dozen proverbs. Let’s examine them now:

1. Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense. Proverbs 12:11

The world would have us chase fantasies, aspirations that may yield treasures on earth but never treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). What we find is that the treasures of earth never leave us truly feeling fulfilled. Jesus on the other hand guides us to work in His harvest field that will always render an abundance represented by those who He uses us to bring into a relationship with Him. When we do this, when we allow Jesus to lead us into the harvest field and labor for Him and others, we will always find ourselves filled, not by worldly food, but by the spiritual bread of life that we receive from the Lord, the bread we pray for in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray (Matthew 6:11).

2. Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests. Proverbs 14:4

On the surface, this could looked at simply as a person needs an ox in order to harvest. But there’s more to this verse than that. An ox is a beast of burden, an animal that tirelessly works without complaint to help its owner yield a harvest. No hard working beast, no harvest.

The Lord needs hard working “oxen” in His harvest field, beasts of burden willing to get down and dirty, unafraid of laboring hard to ensure that their “owner”, the Lord, has a ripe and plentiful harvest, a rich reward of souls from the labors expended.

Are you an ox?

3. All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23

Talk is cheap. That’s the theme of this proverb.

A lot of Christians talk a good game. They say all the right things about working for the Lord but they really aren’t ready to back up their words with action. Their rhetoric is simply mere talk and the end result is that spiritual poverty results as they fail to produce a harvest for the Lord. There are no rewards of labor for the Lord if you don’t labor, plain and simple. Conversely, when you are working hard for the Lord, you will always gain a profit as He will never lead you somewhere that does not produce gain.

4. The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on. Proverbs 16:26

Choosing to serve the Lord and reap the real rewards of labor requires initiative and drive. All Christians should have an unquenchable appetite for doing the will and work of the Lord, driven to it by their hunger. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). When we seek His righteousness, He will lead us in the ways that are right and those ways will always take us out into His harvest field where we will help others find their hunger and thirst relieved through Christ Jesus. In the end, they will be blessed as will we as the harvest will have been increased by one.

5. One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. Proverbs 18:9

The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. Proverbs 21:25

Proverbs 12:6 spoke about the importance of initiative, of being driven with a hunger to labor. And when we have an appetite and craving for the Lord and His will, then we will find ourselves reaping an abundant yield of disciples for Him, bringing life where there was once death.

Proverbs 18:9 and 21:25 show us the consequences of laziness when it comes to answering the Great Commission of Jesus. Doing nothing produces nothing. It’s as simple as that. No new life in Christ results, only destruction and death as salvation is not promoted or advanced.

As I close this devotion, look at this parable Jesus taught from regarding the effort He expects from His servants:

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’”

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’”

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’”

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”  Matthew 25:14-30

So which servant are you?

Are you the wicked lazy servant, receiving the gifts Jesus has given you and choosing not to put them to use?

If so, ask yourself if it’s worth the kind of response that your Master Jesus will bring you, a response that will result in you receiving His sternest rebuke and even worse the removal of your gifts to be passed onto someone who is willing to use them.

Is there anything worse than being called worthless by the Lord?

I pray this isn’t you.

Rather, I pray you are the one who is obediently answering the call of Jesus to enter the harvest field, using the gifts He has given you to reap the rich rewards of labor that come in helping others to salvation.

It’s not only what we were called to do but there’s really no better or more rewarding place to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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