Genesis 1.1 and Work

I have finally got around to beginning some notes on Work. It's been a busy couple of weeks here in Nebraska, but I have a weekend at home this week. We shall begin with a contemplation of Genesis 1, but it seems wise to start with a look at Luke 10, in order to put some of the rather polemical themes of my thinking into proper perspective.

In Luke 10:40-42, Jesus speaks to Martha about Mary:

Luk 10:40-42
(40) But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."
(41) But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
(42) but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

The tendency of many sermons I have heard from this passage is to treat with this word from Christ as a general principle: it is better to "sit at Jesus' feet" than to work. Or, true worship is best expressed in a meditative experience of quiet introspection of the Jesus within... that might be overstating things slightly. However, I think that it is plain that, for many, 'work' has become the antonym of 'worship'. Genesis 1 ought to color our interpretation, methinks.

Gen 1:1
(1) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

God, in creating the world, shows that, though he was glorious without any material creation and perfectly happy in Triune fellowship, yet he glorified himself in creating. Mere contemplation of his own excellencies was now complemented by the beauty and might of his deeds in the creation. Matthew Henry articulates six aspects of the glory of God's creative acts in his commentary:

In the visible world it is easy to observe,
[1.] Great variety, several sorts of beings vastly differing in their nature and constitution from each other. Lord, how manifold are thy works, and all good!
[2.] Great beauty. The azure sky and verdant earth are charming to the eye of the curious spectator, much more the ornaments of both. How transcendent then must the beauty of the Creator be!
[3.] Great exactness and accuracy. To those that, with the help of microscopes, narrowly look into the works of nature, they appear far more fine than any of the works of art.
[4.] Great power. It is not a lump of dead and inactive matter, but there is virtue, more or less, in every creature: the earth itself has a magnetic power.
[5.] Great order, a mutual dependence of beings, an exact harmony of motions, and an admirable chain and connection of causes.
[6.] Great mystery. There are phenomena in nature which cannot be solved, secrets which cannot be fathomed nor accounted for. But from what we see of heaven and earth we may easily enough infer the eternal power and Godhead of the great Creator, and may furnish ourselves with abundant matter for his praises.

So, God's work in creation is seen to be a means of glorifying himself. In fact, it is eventually one of the chief means of furnishing his creatures' minds with “matter for his praises.” God did not think it unbecoming of himself to start making the heavens and the earth; he did not think that such work was mere busy distraction, and choose instead to stop and think about himself. He chose to create, and glorified himself in that creation.
To bring this back to the "Work vs. Worship" discussion, we see that it is wrong to think that work is meant only to provide our most basic needs, as a radical Stoic might profess. It is wrong to think that work is a means merely to keep us alive in order to worship at Jesus' feet more fervently. Rather, God, who needs nothing, glorifies himself in this awesome work of creation.

As Mike Rowe might say, "Work is not the enemy."