Focus: You Have Work To Do

Text: 1Tim.6:18

"That they do good, that they be RICH IN GOOD WORKS, ready to distribute, willing to communicate."

Man is put here in the earth to work. The earth is man's workplace. God gave us seven days of the week, and six out of the seven is devoted to work.

Moses writes that in the course of creation "there was not a man to TILL the ground… And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to DRESS it and to KEEP it." Gen.2:5,15. Even after the man had sinned against God, we read that "the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to TILL the ground from whence he was taken" - Gen.3:25.

People of God, we have work to do for our God.

From creation we come to redemption. Paul writes, "For we are his workmanship, CREATED in Christ Jesus unto GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" - Eph.2:10.

In creation God made us for work and in redemption God recreated us for good works. We are wired for work and rewired for good works.

From our text, Paul exhorts us to be rich in good works. God wants us to pile up good works. Make eternal wealth out of the business of good works. In Paul's writings, he speaks of the "work of faith," "labour of love," and "patience of hope" - 1Thes.1:3.

He says in Rom.16:6,12, "Greet Mary, who BESTOWED MUCH LABOUR on us… Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who LABOUR in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persia, which LABOURED MUCH in the Lord."

Many have labored for God in the past; now is our time and turn. The divine mandate is upon us now. Let us labor IN the Lord, labor WITH God, and labor FOR God. I beg us, while we live, and for as long as we live and have time, let us serve God, do his biddings, be a blessing, get preoccupied with and occupied for God. Waste not your life. Be rich in good works.

I join a sage of the past to say to you:

"Do all the good you can,

To all the people you can,

In all the places you can,

By all the means you can,

As long as ever you can,

For the sake of Jesus Christ." Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter