Labor Day - 2026
- Word Of Life
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
Labor Day
Q: Is work something to celebrate?
There are
-Secular Answers
-Biblical Answers
Is work something to celebrate?
Secular Answer
Yes
(Work-a-holics, Those who like their job, Paycheck, etc)
Is work something to celebrate?
Secular Answer
No
(Lazy people, People who don’t like their job, People who “Play the system” of government assistance, etc.)
Is work something to celebrate?
Biblical Answer
Yes
(It was God’s idea)
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to WORK it and take care of it.” [Before the Fall]
-Genesis 2:15
BUT, one chapter later… Genesis 3
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock…You will crawl on your belly… 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he [Jesus] will crush your head, [Cross] and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman [Eve] he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor [Labor] …17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil [Work] you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow [Hard work] you will eat your food…”
-Genesis 3:14-19
Sabbath Rest
But the Jews made the Sabbath hard Work.
Rules and regulations had grown up around it. Thirty-nine basic actions were forbidden on the sabbath - sowing, plowing, reaping, threshing, grinding, baking, shearing, washing, weaving, tying and untying, trapping, slaughtering, bearing a burden, building or tearing a building down, starting a fire, stopping a fire, hitting with a hammer, etc.
Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man,
[Not against]
not man for the Sabbath.”
-Mark 2:27
“Work” is at the heart of the Gospel.
(God’s work , not ours)
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiWORK, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
-Ephesians 2:8-10
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
-Colossians 3:23
"Balance, Balance, Balance"
Jesus said; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
- Matthew 11:28
An enemy that tempts us to hate WORK
“Perceived unfairness.”
It will always lead you towards Imbalance.
Matt. 20:1-19
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out EARLY in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About NINE in the morning…” 5 … about NOON and about THREE in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About FIVE ……8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going first.” 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to GRUMBLE against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the BURDEN of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” 17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and CRUCIFIED. On the third day he will be RAISED to life!”
- Matthew 20:1-19
Work Hard at:
*Not complaining/arguing.
*Not being negative.
*Shining like a star
*Being Jesus
“Do [Work] everything without complaining or arguing… shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” [Living Christ-like lives]
- Phil 2:13-16
Sometimes God calms the storm.
Sometimes God lets the storm rage
and calms you [His child] instead.
Q: What storm are you caught in?
Come to me… I will give you rest.
“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure . . .”
-Psalm 16:8-9
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken”
-Psalm 62:5-6
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty”
-Psalm 91:1
“Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you”
-Psalm 116:7
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it’”
-Isaiah 30:15
“I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me”
-Psalm 3:5
Rest in these things as well
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety”
-Psalm 4:8
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work”
-Genesis 2:2
“But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’”
-Luke 10:40-42
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”
-Matthew 11:28-30
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”
-John 14:27
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
-Philippians 4:6-7
“Come to me, [Holy Communion] all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
- Matthew 11:28
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