1. Work Gloriously You have got to be joking!

2. 1.Work is a Good Thing Work is one of the first ways in which we represent God and imitate Him: Creative Imaginative Active Intelligent Diligent Productive

3. Genesis 1:26 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

4. Genesis 1:27 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

5. Genesis 1:28 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

6. Genesis 2:8 & 15 8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

7. 2.Work has been messed up The fall has distorted what work is meant to be:

8. Genesis 3:17b-19a “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil 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 you will eat your food...”

9. 2.Work has been messed up The fall has distorted what work is meant to be: What should be creative, imaginative, intelligent and productive has become frustrating, draining, boring, mundane. It is a painful struggle.

10. 3.Work must be reclaimed and restored. Work had to be redeemed from mindless, soul-destroying toil. People had to be more than units of energy, more than just labour.

11. 4.Work Must Add Value and Preserve Good 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Work it – Cultivate, release potential, add value. Take Care of it – Preserve, nurture, watch over and protect.

12. 5.Work v. Spiritual Sponging When Jesus tells us to look at the birds of the air and the flowers in the field (who don’t work and don’t have to either) he is not dismissing the place of work within God’s Kingdom. He is removing fear and “survivalism” as reasons for work. We have been made for so much more!

13. 1 Thessalonians 5:6 6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the pattern you received from us.

14. 1 Thessalonians 5:10 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

15. 6.Money is not worth working for Money has never been something worth living for... Therefore it is not worth working for either!

16. 6.Money is not worth working for Money has never been something worth living for... Therefore it is not worth working for either!

17. So serious question... What are you working for? “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?” Isaiah 55:2a

18. 7.Work is not just... A place to evangelise. Shine for Jesus. (For the shy Christians) Be ethical. Wait for Sunday!