Do you work for your bread? Or why I'm afriad I may not be paid after this sermon. (Proper C28)

Does the call for action in the New Testament text indicate a works-righteousness? My Lutheran friend, Ray, posed this question. Jesus tells them that by enduring they gain their souls. Paul says that we should do… not practice idleness.

Does God's reward depend on our work, or is it by his grace alone? For that mater, is God egotistical to want our worship? I would say that worship and our doings are commands not simply from his lips but shouted by his very nature. It isn't that he tells us to worship, but all that he is demands it. The same is true of what we do. All that he has done demands that we respond in kind.

Paul has said that in all that we do we should do it unto the Lord. It isn't that taking a day off, or painting, or gardening, or anything else is idleness, but we should do them as worship in response to God's doing. We shouldn't rely on other people's experience and response for our bread, spiritual or physical.

Mmm… Bread. This is good stuff. Are you hungry?