I was asked the following question the other day: “Please tell me more about why you think that Christianity and its work ethic is being thrown out?”

My thoughts are that Christianity is being thrown out of our culture and thus various aspects of Christianity, such as its work ethic, are being thrown out as well, though perhaps all are not being discarded evenly.

How would one define a Christian work ethic? First one must define what would be Christian (Christianity) in general. While there are many out there who make some claims on defining these terms the Bible, in 1 John, gives us several parameters. The first item is a belief and confession that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh. This includes his pre-existence, his conception, his teaching and miracles, his death on the cross, his burial and his resurrection, concluding with the understanding that he is now ruling the universe until he should return again as judge of all mankind. This is the hope of the believer, every part of it. The believer believes that Christ is the only way and the only hope of any one ever approaching and being accepted by God. Christ is what each individual needs to stand approved before God.

Holiness or obedience is the second aspect. God is described in 1 John as light. Since he is light we have fellowship with him only if we are also walking in the light. Further, if one is claiming to know God yet is not walking in the light he is a liar and does not know God. This is a bit complicated because no believer is ever perfectly obedient. So what is looked for is: 1) the power of sin has been broken in a person's life. He or she is no longer a slave to sin. And 2) the power of God is seen in a person's life in producing real and true obedience to God's Word.

Both of the above elements are essential. It is true that some might do deeds that appear to be obedient to the Bible. Yet if these deeds are not done accompanied by the confession in Christ, than one is not a believer, not a Christian. Part of the reason for this is that even our obedience is tainted with sin. Our confession is that Christ is what we need to be pleasing to God.

A third point that is mentioned in 1 John is that of loving other believers. This is far deeper than a person having a Christian for a neighbor and being neighborly to this Christian. Believers' love for each other is to be like that of Christ's love for his people. Needs of fellow believers are to be put ahead of one's own interests and desires. If this is not seen in one's life than John declares that one does not love God. Here again no believer will love perfectly as Christ loves his people, yet nevertheless, love for fellow believers will be in the true believers life.

Therefore, we must conclude that many people who claim an interest in Christianity are probably lacking because they are falling short in one or more of these areas. There are some, however, who do stand as true believers. None of these people will have a work ethic that is perfectly Christian, but there should be some effort on the part of the believer to think about this issue of work and then to apply Biblical teaching to the work place.

God himself is our first example of one doing work. (See Genesis 2:2,3 as well as 5 and 15) God worked over a period of six days to create everything that is-not-God. He is seen as working efficiently, consistently and well because in the end he was pleased with it. God expected man, as a being in his own likeness, to be a worker. The above verses mentioned this work. One should note that this work was spoken of before sin had any mark upon man or the world. After the entry of sin than work is seen as being necessary and also encumbered with much hardship.

The New Testament teaching regarding slaves serving their masters has a great deal of input for our topic. I will summarize.

Work first and foremost to please God.

Complaining in not to accompany work, and neither is sloth.

Honesty is of great importance, including the use of one's time, for all that is done casts a reflection on the God we claim to serve.

One is to seek the betterment of his employer.

Work is not solely for one's own profit. Support of oneself and family is good, but work is to be done so as to share one's own income and profit with those in need. (I would point out that this is a far different scenario than one in which the government taxes income and funnels it into a government run, or even private run, charity.)

Here are some questions one might explore as indicators of the influence of Christianity in general upon and in our culture.

Poll elementary aged students, or college students or adults, regarding the following:

Which holiday is the most important: Christmas, Easter or Halloween or 'other'?
(Christian answer: Easter)

Which holiday do you enjoy the most: Christmas, Easter or Halloween or 'other'?
(Easter)

Who were our first parents?
(Adam and Eve, made directly by God.)

Where did sin come from?
(Adam disobedience)

If someone doesn't work what should they eat?
(Nothing)

If one has family members in need who should take care of them?
(The family, then a neighbor)

To whom is one accountable?
(God: our Creator and Judge)

Who is Jesus Christ?
(The eternal Son of God come in flesh.)

Of what importance is Christ's death on the cross?
(It fulfills prophecy in the manner he died and also in that he appeased God's wrath by dying for God's people and then credited these people with his own obedience. God would be approached through the death of His Son, and only this way.)

Why is Easter so important?
(Without the physical resurrection of Christ all other points of Christian faith are null and void.)

Do you plan to retire, and if so, how do you envision yourself during these years?
(I would desire to always serve God, rather than to just seek my own pleasure, even when I start to get old and slow down.)

While such Christianity has not disappeared from America it is becoming less known. There is a pseudo Christianity claiming great tolerance in the name of love for other 'belief systems', life styles and anything that is not absolute. This willingness to grant validity to both the high road and the low road is actually a display of great hatred against the one way that God has provided.

Our culture is showing specific hatred against the God-who-is as it adopts other policies than ones based upon his revelation. Why work? Why do our work in a certain manner? What motivates our work? What shapes our policies respect non-workers? Who supports them and why? Is the Bible the authority our lawmakers turn to for light respecting the issues before them?

Even many Christians do not think about work as a service unto God, it is just something we have to do to support ourselves so that we can have fun at other times. The God of Christianity places demands for absolute serve, along with demands for absolute contentment and trust, upon each of us for He is our Creator and our Judge.

Americans would be pleased to find another god(s) who will serve us.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17 ESV)