Labor Day has been celebrated in America from the 1880s. The thought behind such a day was that it would be good to commemorate the tremendous contribution of working men to the prosperity and progress of this nation. In the first celebrations of Labor Day great parades took place, but as time passed the notion of parades had to give way to speeches by union officials, industrialists, government officials, and educators which were given coverage on radio and television. Now it is, in most parts of the land, just a holiday.
The summer holidays are seemingly marked, as if by bookends, by Memorial Day at the beginning and Labor Day at the end. In many states tomorrow will be the last opportunity for parents to take off for a weekend with their children before they start back to school or go off to college. Still, this week-end may be an opportunity to think about man and his labor. That God intended man to work is plain from the account of the Garden of Eden. If Adam and Eve had not sinned they would have merely had to cultivate and keep the garden, but sin caused God to say that man would, from that time on, have to toil and sweat in order to subsist (Genesis 3:17-19).
Paul talks about physical and spiritual labor. He encourages any Ephesian who used to steal to “steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need” (Ephesians 4:28). Paul was not afraid of hard physical work which he often performed to earn his own keep so that he could preach the gospel among the unbelievers free of charge. Preaching and teaching are, in themselves, physically taxing and the apostle speaks of this activity as “labor” (see 1 Corinthians 3:8, for instance).
The Christians in Thessalonica are praised for their “work of faith and labor of love” (1 Thessalonians 1:3) so that they had become “an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything” (1 Thessalonians 1:7-8). The preaching of the gospel and the example of faith toward God constitute the admirable work done by these early Christians.
Paul’s great exhortation to the Corinthians is: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). As we look forward to tomorrow’s holiday which celebrates labor, let’s remember that our true work in this world as servants of Jesus Christ, is to declare his gospel through our words and our actions. That’s labor which is not in vain.