“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
The way the New Testament expresses the doctrine of labor is absolutely wonderful and it’s quite liberating. It appears in several places, but let me give one, and that is Ephesians 2:10. We’ve got to read what comes before, because it is in this context that the doctrine of work soars with hope, and with meaning, and purpose:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Saved by Grace, Created for Good Works
We cannot redeem work unless we are redeemed. The joy of labor, the meaning, the purpose — all the good things that human labor brings — begins with a redemption from a curse associated with labor. We are saved by God’s grace, not by works. And we are created out of grace unto something: we are to do good works. Redemption is always the starting point for the transformative life in Jesus Christ.
Not only this, but we see that we were created to work. That work is good. It’s redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. His life lived for us, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the grave — this changes everything — including work. It’s sort of a down payment. It’s sort of a prelude to a new heaven and a new earth that we get to enjoy work today.
Good Works Prepared Beforehand by God
Before the foundation of the world, almighty God foresaw, foreordained, designed you with certain gifts, with certain experiences, to enjoy a certain education, or a mentorship, or an apprenticeship.
The experience, the education, as well as the intuitive desire that God has put in you for something is how we know where to go to work in the morning. It’s how we know the trajectory of our life, humanly speaking. God created beforehand how we should walk towards good works. We were saved for good works.
Internal Call and External Call
In the ministry, when someone is called, we say there must be an internal call and an external call. The internal call is invalidated unless there is an external call. (In a similar way, one may have an external call, but no internal call.) Maybe you’re teaching a Sunday school class, maybe you’re an officer in a local church, and after Sunday school, maybe a little old lady comes up to you and says, “You know, we so appreciate your teaching Sunday school. Son, have you ever thought about going into the ministry? Because we here in our class sense that God is working in you.” Now, if that statement comes to you, and you have been increasingly burdened by a call to ministry, then we’re seeing the coming together of an external and internal call.
In a similar way, if you have been good at carpentry your whole life, and because you’re good at it, you’re drawn to it — God has put something inside of you, and you’re going to do that! You may decide to do some other things, but you will always be drawn back to how God made you, what God put inside of you, the internal call that you were born with, or that God gave you through experience. You will always go to that “true North” call.
So what do you do when someone says, “Son, you know, you’ve been fooling around with carpentry and building things. Have you thought about being a carpenter?” Do you say, “Well, no, my daddy wants me to be a lawyer.” Or do you say, “My mom had always hoped that I’d be a minister like her father, but I love carpentry.”
But wasn’t Jesus a carpenter? And Joseph?
All Vocations are Sacred
One of the great themes of the Reformation was the priesthood of all believers. Underneath the heading of the priesthood of all believers is this wonderful truth that all vocations are sacred. And if all vocations are sacred — and they are — the teacher’s work is no less sacred than mine. My work is no less sacred than an evangelist. A carpenter, a plumber, and a computer technician have divinity intermingled in their work, and they can do their work for the glory of God.
God created work pre-Fall, but that work itself became subject to the curse, subject to the penalty of sin. In Jesus Christ, work is redeemed. This doesn’t mean that the briar and the thistle exist no longer. But it does mean this is a down payment on a new heaven and a new earth. It means the trajectory is set. We are all headed toward something that’s glorious and beautiful through Jesus Christ. The redemption described in Ephesians 2:8-9 leads to the good works described in Ephesians 2:10.
What is My Calling?
And you say, “Well, what are the good works that God has prepared beforehand for me?” And I would say to you, “You already know what it is, because you’re doing it.”
If you look back over your life, you will find that you’ve been doing it all of your life, whether it’s carpentry, whether it is a collection of passions and inclinations, proclivities that you can observe expressed. The calling may be tied up in the gifts and graces themselves, not necessarily the ultimate expression of those gifts and graces. It takes time to discern.
I’ve done a lot of vocational counseling and establishing Ephesians 2:10 is most often where we need to start: “You were created in Christ Jesus for good works. Let’s look at the pattern of that through your life. Now let’s see where those are best expressed, and that is where you will give glory to God because God says he created you like this to walk in them. For good works, not for self-satisfaction. You’ll get that. You’ll get self-fulfillment because you’re being the person God made you to be. How I long for you to experience this, because it is such a remarkable joy!”
Fall. Redemption. Creation. It all sounds familiar — and it is — and it is applied in the context of your work. Faith and work are not separated by the sacred and the secular. It’s all sacred. It’s all for the glory of God and for the good of others.
What is it that God has called you to do? You’re already doing it. It’s inside of you needing expression. I pray that you will be given wisdom from God to express that gift of God within you, unto good works, and walk therein.
About the Author
Dr. Michael A. Milton is a Presbyterian minister, author, educator, and singer-songwriter in North Carolina, the founder and President of Faith for Living, Inc., Dr. Milton is the Provost and James Ragsdale Chair of Missions and Evangelism at Erskine Theological Seminary where he also serves as the Director of Chaplain Ministries, and President of the D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership. Maintaining an active parish ministry, Dr. Milton is Pastor-in-Residence at Church of the Redeemer (PCA) in Wesley Chapel, North Carolina.
Acknowledgements
Featured image photo by Andrew Ruiz on Unsplash