OK, we have established that work seems to be Biblical and we should do it. And, we have seen some pretty good reasons to work. We have even seen that there are times not to work. But is there any instruction about HOW we should do our work? Let’s go back to the owner/operator manual and take another look.
Prov 18:9, Prov 21:25, Prov 24:12,29, Lam 3:64, Prov 12:24, Prov 10:4, Prov 13:4, Prov 14:23; 1 Cor 3:8 _________________________________
Prov 13:11 ______________________________________________
Jer 48:10 ________________________________________________
Phil 2:12-16; 1 Pet 1:17-20 ___________________________________
Col 3:22-24 _______________________________________________
1 Thes 4:11 _______________________________________________
2 Thes 3:11-12 _____________________________________________
1 Tim 5:17 _________________________________________________
Ps 104:23 ___________________________________________________
Deut 30:8-9 ________________________________________________
John 10:31-33 _______________________________________________
1 Cor 3:12-15 ________________________________________________
I have titled this session “Work and Welfare” but when I looked for the word “welfare” in the Bible (my Bible uses the word 20 times), the context (and you know what your pastor always says – “context is king”) always seemed to indicate a state of well being That’s not what I expected to find. The word “welfare” means something entirely different in this day and age. So I looked it up in the dictionary. Welfare (according to Webster) = n “State of faring, or doing well; esp., condition of health, prosperity, etc; negatively, exemption from evil or calamity. The dictionary seemed to agree pretty well with the Bible.
So, now what? Not being one to give up easily, I thought I would check out the ultimate source. You know what that is……Right…….”Google”.
When I typed in the word “welfare”, the first hit was an encyclopedia article entitled “Welfare”. So OK, here it is. It said “Welfare – programs aimed at helping people unable to support themselves fully or earn a living. Welfare recipients include elderly people (of which I am one), people with mental or physical disabilities, and those needing help to support dependent children. People in the United States most commonly use the term welfare to refer to government-funded programs that provide economic support, goods, and services to unemployed or underemployed people. Professionals in the field of public policy and social work use the term social welfare to describe a broader range of programs, both privately and publicly funded. Social welfare programs are structured to help a broad range of people – not only the unemployed or underemployed – to function more fully in society.
All developed nations maintain a variety of social welfare programs. Countries offer many such programs as rights of citizenship. [And here it is. Here’s the reason.] Governments establish welfare systems to provide a so-called safety net to prevent people from suffering the effects of poverty. However, many people believe that welfare encourages its recipients to become dependent on government support and remain unemployed. As a result, welfare programs have always aroused heated public debate.”
As Christians, trying to live the Christian life, how do we deal with what appears to be a secular issue? Come back next week and let’s pursue this issue further.