Was "if you work hard, you'll go to heaven" the narrative in the Middle Ages?

[darklordoftech]

Did the Catholic Church and feudal lords tell serfs that if they worked hard, they would go to heaven?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I'm not a medievalist, but not really. Idleness was considered sinful, but AFAIK there wasn't a concept of 'hard work' being good in and of itself.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

That's more of a Puritan idea. The position that one could 'earn' salvation by good works was condemned by the Council of Carthage in 418; the leading advocate for this view, Pelagius, was burned as a heretic. The consensus in Western Europe throughout the Medieval period was that justification derives only from obedience to God; technically, man is incapable of living without sin after the Fall, but God will accept a good faith effort from those who attend Mass and receive the sacraments. Not until after the Reformation would there be an explicit connection drawn between industry and Godliness.