It can bear repetition here that the original plan of God was for his sons to tend the family estate, the Garden of Eden, as a loving contribution to the sustenance of the family heritage. Work as we know it today, that is the work-to-eat, work as a means of “putting food on the table” and “getting the good things of life” was not God’s original intention for his children. It came with the original curse and which was only further expounded in the curse of the law. Recall that it was after our forebears, Adam and Eve, had eaten of the forbidden fruit that God handed Adam the punishment of having to work for a living.
We have seen from the Bible that God’s kingdom on earth is one of sons, not servants or slaves. We have seen that God has not called upon his sons to serve him in order to “earn their keep.” This was clearly demonstrated by the story of the prodigal son, who did not lose his status as a son to become a servant, even when he had claimed and wasted his inheritance. We have read that God does not approve of the rat race to fend for ourselves, preferring instead that we “seek first the kingdom.”
Many of us might already be wondering: how working to provide for my family is the rat race? Am I supposed to seat idly by and watch my children go hungry? Not even ministers of God do that! This is a legitimate issue to raise, and it is possibly the best place to continue our discussion today.
First, let me explain what the rat race is. A basic dictionary meaning of the phrase is, “fiercely competitive struggle for position, power, etc.” Another meaning is “the endless and futile attempt to achieve something that is unachievable and the competition with others involved in that futile attempt.” A third meaning is “an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit”
It has its origins, according to an online source, in “the traditional image of rats being used in laboratory experiments such as placing them in mazes or on treadmills in order to test their learning ability or measure their energy under certain conditions, respectively. The poignancy of this lay in the fact that whatever series of activities laboratory rats might engage in, it gets them nowhere. Wikipedia puts it like this: “It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape whilst running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually.”
Two things stand out here, among others – competition and futility. That these two are not of God is borne out of the truth that in a kingdom of sons, there is no room for competition, only cooperation. The futility is underlined by the word of God in Matthew chapter 6 which says in verse 27: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”
It can bear repetition here that the original plan of God was for his sons to tend the family estate, the Garden of Eden, as a loving contribution to the sustenance of the family heritage. Work as we know it today, that is the work-to-eat, work as a means of “putting food on the table” and “getting the good things of life” was not God’s original intention for his children. It came with the original curse and which was only further expounded in the curse of the law. Recall that it was after our forebears, Adam and Eve, had eaten of the forbidden fruit that God handed Adam the punishment of having to work for a living.
The relevant passage of the Bible reads: “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return ...Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken (Genesis 3:17-19,23). Some other translations of the Bible render the core verse(s) this starkly: “…you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk…” (The Message); “You will have to sweat to earn a living…” (CEV); “By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat…” (GW); and “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat…” (NLT).
It can also bear repetition that one of the “finished works” of the Lord Jesus is the reversal of the curse and return to status quo ante, the state we were before the curse. That is the reasonable, not to say, revelational import this declaration of Apostle Paul in chapter 3 of the book of Galatians: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree… (verse 13).
This derives from the Jewish law as recorded in Deuteronomy 21:22 & 23 as follows: “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
It is not generally appreciated that God could have permitted some other ways for Jesus to die besides hanging on a tree, as crucifixion became known. But if he had, and his body never hung on a tree, Jesus’ death and resurrection might have met the conditions for other components of the salvation package, but the curse would have remained. It is this critical factor that was also responsible for God’s acquiesce, as it were, with Christ’s crucifixion outside the city gates! These were both requirements for cleansing the Jews from the repercussions of sin by anyone of its condemned citizens, and it was made applicable to taking away the curse.
These are all truths of Scripture that all of us need to acquaint ourselves with, meditate upon and appropriate. But it’s really up to us. We need, as individuals, to settle in our heart whether we still live under the curse or not. This is an important question because once answered, it would affect our attitude to what our hands have found to do. It would determine whether you are working for a living or serving your father. It would be a good indication of your understanding of your status in Christ - slave, servant or son.
I am certain that the question on many lips, at this point, is how do I take care of my needs if I am not supposed to work for living? And that precisely is the problem: we live under the illusion that we are responsible for providing for ourselves; whereas that is not true. You are no more able to meet your needs than a field of lilies is able to clothe itself! That is what your Father said in St Matthew’s gospel. He says it is his duty to provide for you and he’s not about to shirk his responsibilities to you. He says you should mind your own business, which is seeking the Kingdom and all its righteousness. He says once you do that, those things that you are preoccupying yourself with will pale into insignificance; you’ll discover that they are additions or “jara” as my Hausa brothers would have put it. They are the icing on the cake.
So, each time we go on our knees to pray and we start and end with those so-called needs with the fervency of a servant pleading for a raise, we call God a liar. Each time we inundate heaven with prayer for sustenance, we are wasting time and energy on the puny things and leaving the real things unattended to. The kingdom is our assignment. The focus of our prayer should be that he reveals to us the department of the Father’s conglomerate he has posted us and the equipping we need to serve productively in that duty post as his loving children. God is calling us to a higher level in every area of our walk with him; away from mundane Babylonian pursuits and methods. (CONCLUDES NEXT WEEK)
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