Work That Lasts Forever

Recap

We've spent the last few weeks exploring what heaven will be like - that it's a physical place, a renewed earth, where you'll still be you. But this might raise an important question for you: If God is going to perfect everything anyway, why does what I do now actually matter?

It's a fair question. If God's going to make all things new, why bother? Why invest in this world? Why do good work if it's all going to burn up anyway?

The Question Behind the Question

First, let's address the assumption in that question. We often think God is going to destroy everything and start from scratch. But as we saw in episode 62, that's not what the Bible says. God says "I am making all things new" - not "I am making all new things."

He's renewing, not replacing. And that difference matters.

When we think back to what we read about Jesus' resurrection body, He was recognisably Jesus, but glorified, resurrected. Yet He still had his scars. That means that His past mattered, His story mattered. It wasn't just erased.

If Jesus' earthly experience left marks that continued into eternity, doesn't that suggest our earthly work might also continue in some form?

Four Reasons Your Work Matters

Let me give you four reasons why your work - and by work I don't just mean your job, I mean everything you do - matters eternally.

First: Obedience and Worship

We work because God called us to. From the very beginning, before sin entered the world, God gave humans work to do. Genesis tells us He placed Adam in the garden to work it and take care of it, to name the animals, to exercise creativity and stewardship. To rule.

So let’s be clear: work isn't a punishment for sin - it's part of being made in God's image. God is a worker, a creator, and we reflect Him when we work well.

So even if we couldn't see any eternal outcome from our work, it would still matter because God called us to it. When we do our work well - whether that's parenting, or teaching, or building, or serving, or creating, whatever it is - we're worshiping God. We're actually being obedient to His call to steward creation.

I know it’s easy to think that work only matters if you get good results, or obedience must always lead to something great, but actually obedience is the prize itself. It’s the opportunity to live in line with God, doing what He wants, where He wants us to do it, and trust Him with the outcome. Which also stops us being in the wrong place, doing the wrong things, that actually aren’t great for us.

Second: Formation

Our work is shaping who we're becoming. Remember what we clarified last week - you'll still be you in heaven, and I’ll still be me, so who we're becoming now matters.

Work teaches us things, doesn’t it? Patience when a project takes longer than expected. Perseverance when something is difficult. Creativity when there’s a problem to solve or something to design. Humility when we inevitably fail at some point. Collaboration when we work with others.

Patience, perseverance, creativity, collaboration, they aren't just workplace skills - they're part of our characters that we’ll take with us into eternity. Which means that our faithful work now, even when it feels small or unnoticed, is forming each of us into humans fit to rule with Jesus forever.

Third: Continuity

Here's where things get a bit mysterious. The Bible hints that our work somehow carries forward.

We don't know exactly how this works. The Bible says culture and nations continue into the new earth. Revelation 21 tells us the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into the New Jerusalem.

If nations continue, that means culture continues. And culture is made up of human creativity and work - art, music, stories, inventions, systems, relationships. The good things humans have made aren't obliterated; they're purified and brought into the new creation.

For example, the wheel exists on earth. So why would we literally have to reinvent the wheel in Heaven? Our work somehow carried forward into the new creation.

There’s a famous story that illustrates this. A dad and son were creating a new rocking chair together. They were nearing the end, putting the paint on. The son's brushstrokes were super messy. The dad has to go over them, improve them, fix the mistakes, like he’s been doing all along. But the son's work still matters. It becomes part of the finished product. The son can honestly point to that furniture and say, "I helped make that."

That's us with God. Our work is imperfect, but it's real work that contributes to what God will perfect. I’m kinda looking forward to getting to Heaven and hopefully pointing to a few things where I can say “I helped make that”. 

Fourth: Faithfulness

Jesus told a number of different parables about people being trusted with small amounts, and if they proved themselves to be trustworthy, they could look forward to being trusted with bigger things or greater things. 

A lot of Jesus’s parables spoke to the reality of the Kingdom of God, and apparently this is one of those realities. Most of us would like to be given the big things to be trusted with straight away, but God often tests us with a bit first. And if we prove faithful, we’re trusted with a bit more.

But it’s so easy to miss those small things we’re being tested with, and instead choose to delay our faithfulness until we get the big thing. It might look like saying, “I’ll be better with my finances when I actually have more to manage” or, I’ll start taking responsibility for how I live my life and the decisions I’m making when I finally have a family who are affected by those decisions” or, “I’ll actually try my best at work when I get a job I like”. 

But the little that we’re being trusted with here on Earth, isn’t just a test of our faithfulness here, it’s a test of what we can be trusted with in the new creation. Let me remind you that we will be fully satisfied in the new creation. But what we do there will be influenced by what we are doing here on Earth. Some people will govern a city, some will govern ten cities. 

Dallas Willard suggests, "Perhaps it would be a good exercise for each of us to ask ourselves: Really, how many cities could I now govern under God?" This isn’t a question about how good we are at governing or administration or making decisions, it’s a question about our faithfulness. 

If I were to ask myself the question, it would mean getting honest and asking, “Am I really being faithful with what God has given me, stewarding it the best way I know how with the purest intentions possible, or am I delaying my faithfulness, wasting the things I’ve been trusted with?” 

And then, if I wasn’t happy with my answer, I’d ask why? What’s stopping me from living humbly, obediently, pursuing God’s will in all things? Not so I can be harsh on myself, but so I give God another part of me that’s broken and ask Him to fix it. 

I want to be fit for heaven, not because I won’t be allowed in if I’m not, but so I can take the place God has for me in his Kingdom.

An Example of Trusted With a Little

Randy Alcorn tells a story in his book Heaven that highlights my point. He says:

I once gave one of my books to a delightful hotel bellman. I discovered he was a committed Christian. He said he'd been praying for our group, which was holding a conference at the hotel. Later, I gave him a little gift, a rough wooden cross. He seemed stunned, overwhelmed. With tears in his eyes he said, "You didn't need to do that. I'm only a bellman." 

The moment he said it, I realised that this brother had spent his life serving. It will likely be someone like him that I'll have the privilege of serving under in God's kingdom. He was "only a bellman" who spoke with warmth and love, who served, who quietly prayed in the background for success of a conference in his hotel. I saw Jesus in that bellman and there was no “only” about him. Who will be the kings of the New Earth? I think that bellman will be one of them. And I'll be honoured to carry his bags.

Isn’t that such a refreshing perspective?

What This Means Practically

So what does this mean for how you live?

It means your "secular" work isn't just paying bills until you get to Heaven. You're not killing time, you're practicing for eternity and contributing to what God will renew.

Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “they were so heavenly minded they were no earthly good”. But the opposite is true. When we know our work has eternal significance, we work better. We care more. We invest deeply because we know it matters forever.

C.S. Lewis wrote: "If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next."

That’s the kind of follower of Jesus I want to be.

This Week's Challenge

This week, what would it look like to approach your work - whatever that is - with a heavenly perspective?

Maybe you're a parent. The patience you're building, the love you're modelling, the stability you're providing - is eternal work. Because you're shaping a soul that will live forever…and it’s worship.

Maybe you work in business. The integrity you show, the value you create, the people you serve - that matters. Excellence in your work is worship.

Maybe you're an artist or creator. The beauty you make reflects God's creativity. So create boldly, knowing it matters in eternity.

Whatever you do, do it as practice for eternity. Which basically means do it as worship. Do it knowing it matters, even if it feels like it doesn’t.

An Eternal Perspective Changes Everything

Paul Helm writes: "The goal and end of a person's calling does not terminate in this life, but it makes sense only in the light of the life to come. The basic fact about the present life is that it is important and valuable in all its aspects because it leads to the world to come."

The world to come is what we were made for, and it gives shape and meaning to our present lives.

Prayer

Father, forgive us for treating our work as merely earning money or passing time. Thank you that you've given us meaningful work to do, work that matters eternally. Help us to see our daily tasks through your eyes. Give us creativity and diligence and joy in our work. Shape us through it. And use it in ways we can't yet see to prepare us for ruling with you forever. In Jesus' name, amen.