Theology Thursday
by Dave Holzhauer
If you’ve been working in Boston for very long, you’re likely very familiar with people becoming dissatisfied with their earnings or wages. That brand new job or that promotion with its fancy new title and fancy new salary seemed so nice and so agreeable at first. And as time went on, you likely found yourself saying “I don’t get paid enough for this.”
I find it fascinating that the Bible addresses this same subject. “But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6: 21-23, ESV).
I think it’s important to clear up two things quickly. Having worked on a farm while growing up, the phrase “what fruit were you getting” sounds a lot like harvest, or when the farmer gets the payoff, since you don’t get paid until the crop is in the hand of the purchasers. Secondly, it probably sounds a bit crass when talking about wages or payoff when it comes to God. If you’ve been a Christian or around christian culture for very long, you will likely know that Christians are supposed to be unselfish and others focused. So it seems more than a little mercenary or self-interested that we would work for a wage from God. But, the trip up might be in how wage is defined. Author and economist Milton Friedman puts it this way “Self-interest is not myopic selfishness. It is whatever it is that interests the participants, whatever they value, whatever goals they pursue. The scientist seeking to advance the frontiers of his discipline, the missionary seeking to convert infidels to the true faith, the philanthropist seeking to bring comfort to the needy - all are pursuing their interests, as they see them, as they judge them by their own values.”
In essence, this passage in Romans tells us that whatever work we do, whether for God or not God, we will receive wages. The claim is simply that the wages God pays are better and will actually satisfy you. As Jesus says to the crowds: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6: 27).
[Thank you for reading! If you are looking for a church in Boston or churches in Boston please consider giving Renewal Church a try!]