Christ Church Leavenworth
WLC 138: Diligent Labor in Our Callings
June 22, 2025
Diligent Labor in Our Callings
INTRODUCTION
This morning we are continuing our study of the ten commandments by returning to Q:138 of the WLC which asks, “What are the duties required in the Seventh Commandment?” Last week, Dr. Bray discussed the duty of “cohabitation.” This week, we will look at the next duty listed, which is “diligent labor in our callings.” Putting those two duties together, we see that married couples must live and work together in harmony. Harmony requires distinct roles and a common goal. If you both sing the same note, you won’t have harmony. If you sing different notes, but you’re singing separate songs, you won’t have harmony either. So, in order to have marital harmony, each spouse must work hard in their callings for a common goal.
THE TEXT
Proverbs 31:11, 27-28
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her.
The excellent wife King Lemuel’s mother famously describes in Proverbs 31 looks well to the way of her own household. Her husband trusts her and her home prospers. She is not overly interested in the homes of others. She may, from time to time, ask others for advice, of course, but that is because she is interested in taking care of her own people, not because she’s trying to get the scoop on someone else’s. She knows that the gold medals of marriage and motherhood are not other people’s likes online, but the praises of her own people back at home.
So, the excellent wife is busy with her own beeswax. This means cooking in her own kitchen instead of stirring up trouble in someone else’s. She also avoids the trap of staying up late on her phone envying the productivity of others. Instead, she gets up early to get things done in her own house… and her children grow up noticing: they watch her fold their laundry, make their meals, and clean up their messes. They are the ones being blessed, and yet according to the text, she is the one they called blessed. Why is that? She is blessed because she is doing what she was made to do; and everyone can see it. She is working hard where she was made to work. Her kids see that and think, “She is happy here. I want that.” Her husband sees it as well. He praises her for all her hard work and makes sure that the kids can hear him. How does all this combat adultery? Well, as Dr. Bill said last week, “a contented spouse is not looking for another spouse.” And now perhaps we begin to see the wisdom of the Westminster divines in commending this duty.
Titus 2:5 tells older women “to train the younger women to work at home so that the Word of God may not be reviled.” It is easy to assume that women in the workplace is a modern problem, but there it is, being addressed in the 1st century by the Apostle Paul. The stakes are the same today as well. The Word of God is reviled when we are wise in our modern eyes. Diligent labor is not enough. It must be “diligent labor in your calling.” If you only work hard outside of your calling, you may make adultery more likely, not less. Boss babes , no doubt, get up early and work hard all day, but they spend their energy helping other people’s husbands reach their goals instead of helping their own obtain his. Many ambitious women begin by wanting a career, a marriage, and a couple of kids, but end up with a mid-level management position, a divorce, and a couple of cats. They worked hard for the wrong people in the wrong place. And that was a recipe for adultery.
Adultery is a luxury. People engaged in productive work for the right people do not have time for it. Sexual temptation is the friend of slackers. This is particularly true for young men. There are few things more dangerous than a young man with too much time on his hands. A young man with nothing better to do often finds something worse to do. The glory of young men may be their strength, but when they get restless or bored, that strength often leads them astray.
Before King Lemuel’s mother described the godly wife, she gave him some advice: “Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.” (v3) Young man, you were made to chase God, not girls. Do not waste your God-given strength on strange women. Chase God and a good woman will want to come along for the ride. Chase girls and only the bad ones will let you catch them.
Lamentations 3:27 says it this way, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” So, young, single men. Get to work and wear yourself out. Give your strength to productivity and study. Do hard things and know that the reward for hard work is harder, better work. Convincing the father of a good woman to give you his daughter will be hard work and you won’t be able to do that if it’s the first hard thing you’ve ever tried to do. If you cannot carry your own load, you should not be offering to carry the loads of others. But, if you have a Bible that you read and a job that you go to, you are well on your way to earning the respect of respectable men. Not to mention, you will attract the attention of the kind of woman your parents want for a daughter-in-law. In addition, working hard will help you sleep well at night instead of being awake and bored with nothing but bad things to think about or do. A busy man has no time for fooling around, so, if you are tempted to whine and groan about how hard things are, that just means you need more weight in your wagon, not less. A heavier load will help you ride more smoothly and keep you from veering off the path of sexual purity.
Married men, the work, as you well know, does not stop once you get the girl. Marriage is not a mission accomplished, it is merely part of the ongoing mission. Your wife is not your mission. She is your helper. So help her help you by staying on mission. She was made to help you do what you were called to do. She is not your calling. In her weaker moments, she might wish that she was your mission, but in the end, she does not want a man who can be worked over by a woman, even if she is the one doing it. She will find herself thinking, “If he cannot protect himself from me, how could he protect me from something else?” So, husbands, serve your wives by leading them and protect your marriage by staying on mission.
God made man to tend to the garden and He made woman to tend to the gardener. The more each of them diligently works in their respective callings, the more sure they are to keep their covenant vows. So, work hard where God has placed you. Drink from your own fountain and plow in your own field and you will avoid the pitfall of adultery and protect your spouse from falling into it as well.
CALL TO CONFESSION
Well, since we often stumble in our own callings and cause others to stumble in theirs, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, whether they be these or others. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.
CORPORATE CONFESSION
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Cleanse me, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
DECLARATION OF PARDON
Saints, arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from 1 Corinthians 6:11. I’ve included part of verse 9 in order to put it in context. “The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God… And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Christian, whatever dirt the devil may have on you, it has been washed clean by the blood of Christ. So, lay aside every weight and every sin which clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before you, and look to Jesus, because in Him your sins are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!
Now, let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise.
