Nebraska City Church of Christ's Podcast Nebraska City Church of Christ

Labor Day is set aside to celebrate the value and dignity of work. The Bible has some concrete things to teach us about work. Work is not a curse, but part of our created purpose so that we can serve God. The curse is increase hardship, not work. In fact, work is a reflection of the God who has been working from the beginning. By design, work brings various benefits to others and us. This does not mean that rest is bad. Idleness is bad but rest is good, endorsed, and even instructed by God.

Mt 5:6: Hunger can be a blessing, especially when it is a true, powerful hunger for righteousness because this is a hunger that drives us toward God, who is the only one that can truly satisfy, unlike the things of the world which leave us starving all the more even if we can't feel the starvation.

Mt 5:5 - The blessedness of meekness is for those who are meek even in their anger because their disposition is controlled by God, not by self-centeredness. As a result, meekness serves others with gentle humility because it knows that blessedness comes not from what you can aggressively grasp for in this earth, but from the inheritance God has promised to His people.

Mt 5:4: Even though Christians mourn, they have blessedness even in their mourning because they will be comforted through the Lord. Whether mourning is caused through affliction, though the world's estrangement from God, or from one's own sin, God extends blessedness. This challenges the belief that Christians are to always be happy, even God himself mourns.

Mt 5:3: According to the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, one of the characteristics of living under the reign of God is the blessing of poverty in Spirit. This goes beyond mere humility and refers to recognition that one is nothing and depends on God in all things.