Work… A theology?

I’ve chatted to some people recently about work and been unsure of how to understand it. Usually the Christian position is to try to be ethical and use the time at work to share the gospel. This is a good appraoch but it almost seems unethical to use company time to be sharing your life/faith. Of course there are appropriate ways of sharing your beliefs on company time but I’m asking a bigger question. Is work neutral as long as it’s not unethical or can it, in itself, be good?I’ve just listened to the talk that I’ve linked to below.
Here are the main points

1. We are to work as those who are designed by God to reflect the character of our Creator. In everything I do, people are to see the likeness of God. People should look at me as I work and see God’s character of love, of justice, of faithfulness and of integrity displayed in my life.

2. We find fulfilment as we develop body, mind, heart and will in our daily tasks. God has called us to exercise to develop everything about our humanity. (Eric Lidell, in the film Chariots of Fire says: When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.)

3. God designed us to serve one another, working to bring blessing to the human community. We do not work simply for ourselves. Work is fulfilling, yes, but we work for others so that other people may look at what we do and say this is good, just as God looked at what he did when he created the world and said “this is good“.Calvin says: Men were created for the express purpose of being employed in labour of various kinds. No sacrifice is more pleasing to God than when every man applies diligently to his own calling and endevours to live in such a manner as to contribute to the general advantage.

4. As we work we bring this earth increasingly under our dominion as God’s stewards. Genesis 15.

5. Now the world is under a curse, because of the terrible reality of the consequences of sin,our calling in all of our work is to set back the boundaries of sin and its impact on the world and on human life. Francis Bacon: The arts and the sciences are there to about the restraining of the Fall.

This is also known as the Cultural Mandate.
Some would say the great commission has priority over the cultural mandate and therefore the prupose of our work is to tell people about Jesus and to earn cash to pass onto other people that have been called to something ‘better’. This argument can make sense because due to the fall our fundamental need is for redemption and the restoration of our relationship with God. Some even go so far as to say that the great commission now takes the place of the cultural mandate.
However the cultural mandate is repeated after the fall, just after the flood and it is celebrated in Psalm 8.
Do they sit side by side as two equal and completementary callings, as it seems there is no biblical jusitfication for downplaying either?
But they are both subsidary to the most concise summary of God’s command and our calling. What is the greatest commandement the pharisees asked Jesus: Love God With all soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. These require me to be obedient to the cultural mandate and the to great commision. Both are also part of what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.

So any action to help the poor or any effort in social causes comes under point 5 above. We should be working to set back the impact of the fall. This means dealing with evil in our lives (sin) but also dealing with poverty, famine, war, unwanted pregnancy etc..

Get the full talk here.