1) The pattern of God who worked 6 days and rested the 7th, and commanded the same from us.
2) The pattern of traditional American middle-class jobs to work 9-5 Monday -Friday, then rest Saturday and Sunday.
3) That the advancement of the Kingdom should be pursued at all costs, which happens to also be the charge of my job as a pastor.
4) I have been given the responsibility for raising my daughters to know and love God and people.
So where do we draw the lines?
Clearly if we work 6 days dusk to dawn, the 7th better be one of complete rest (that means no chores, honey!)
If our work week is 40 hours, then Biblically, I don't think we are given the freedom to vacation the rest of the remaining time in our week.
If we have the choice to stop at 40 hours, or work more, SHOULD we stop? or did God expect more from us with the example HE set?
As a pastor, in addition to my work week, should I build in "volunteer" time as I encourage the rest of my congregation to?
I really have no answers, but would like to get this all figured out at some point!
HELP?!!
Sorry for the long reply.
ReplyDeleteI think it all depends on how you define work and Kingdom. If work is simply the 40+ hours you devote to earning a paycheck, then you have a problem. But if you view work holistically as involving all your efforts to support and provide for your family and flock, then I don't see any tension. For example, when I leave the office, I leave one of my roles, but enter into another role at home; both are equally work. Providing for your family goes beyond earning a paycheck and it is work to provide for the spiritual, emotional, relational and social needs of the family. Is there a reason why playing with your children, providing training and discipline for them and meeting the various needs of your spouse cannot be considered "work" in the biblical sense? I don't think there needs to be a strict limitation in the definition of work to mean only that which you do to earn a paycheck.
In the same way, I don't think we need to separate Kingdom from work and family considerations. Kingdom living is something that in my view infuses work and family life, as well as every other aspect of life. It cannot be separated into a category on its own. Kingdom living takes place at work, at home, at play; it is living life, this life, with a keen awareness and understanding of God working in us and through us to accomplish His will. Working the 40-hour job (be it professional ministry or secular job), raising your children, providing for the various needs of your family, flock, etc., is part of advancing the Kingdom.
Kingdom life is not some lofty ideal, but it is recognizing and opening oneself to the reality of God in the very realness of life. It is lived out in the mundane and the ordinary, in the trenches of dirty diapers and endless chores, in serving spaghetti and tutoring kids, in reading Winnie-the-Pooh stories to your kids and volunteering in your community. In other words, the Kingdom gets lived out and advanced in our very real work, family and community obligations and duties, not in some separate sphere of alternate reality.
That is why we need rest. Because we get tired while living the Kingdom in real life, and when we’re tired it is easy to lose focus. Rest is not simply doing nothing for one entire day (kids still need discipline, oxen sometimes fall into ditches and need pulled out, etc.), but it is intentionally recharging our bodies and refocusing our Kingdom eyes—seeing God advance his Kingdom in the mundane and the ordinary cycle of our days and weeks and months and years.