Being a Christian (7)
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Introduction
Introduction
Ukraine Video from Ridgecrest Baptist on KY3 (we raised $8,689 on Sunday!)
Scripture reading
Prayer Requests
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The Gospel and Your Work
Work can often be viewed as a negative thing that people look at as something that they have to do. This idea has been popularized in modern culture to argue that work is something that should be looked down upon and that you should do whatever you can to avoid it. Almost as though work is a bad thing.
On the other end of the extreme, the Atlantic shared this quote about 2 years ago, “The best-educated and highest-earning Americans, who can have whatever they want, have chosen the office for the same reason that devout Christians attend church on Sundays: It’s where they feel most themselves.”
We know that our desks were never meant to be our altars. Many people treat work as a bad thing or work as something that simply defines them when in reality we as Christians know that our identity is ultimately in Christ and that we use our work as a platform to glorify Him and make Him known! We read in Scripture that work is a good thing and we’ll be studying that truth this evening.
Can you think of a time where work was difficult or frustrating?
YES! There are times where we have a plan for work or we think that we know how things will go only to find out that things don’t go the way we wish they would. Further, there are times where we are opposed at work or we have people distract us whenever we have something that we really need to get done ASAP.
Why is it so difficult at times to serve the Lord at work?
Because we view our work as a means to an end - a paycheck and nothing more. We think that we only serve the Lord on Sunday or at church and that our work is where we do what we need to do or what we want to do. In other words we are tempted to separate the two and often fail to serve Him from Monday-Saturday as we do on Sunday.
Why is there a temptation to separate our spiritual life from our secular life?
Because we naturally compartmentalize things as humans - especially men. Psychologists say that men have the ability in their brains to “put away” certain subjects and not return to them for weeks, months, or longer! In the mean time, men jump from one box to another to another until they arrive at a box called the nothing box. We compartmentalize our lives into tiny boxes - we’ll have a box for school, work, home, sports, music, church, Bible study, and so on and so forth and they’re often unconnected. This is natural but it’s not the way that it has to be… Further, as we’ve been studying, the Gospel has to impact and change every “box” we have because the Gospel brings about life transformation from top to bottom!
Lesson Video
Recap:
How does the Gospel inform my work? Or, does the Gospel inform my work?
Just as there were work questions during the onset of COVID19 2 years ago, there are serious questions concerning money and work today as we look around the world and see economic uncertainty!
Between the Garden and the New Heaven/Earth is the here and now - where we have to find out what God wants us to do from a work standpoint
Middle Ages w/ Catholic Church:
God preferred priests to butchers/banker
Clash between the two classes (laity/clergy)
Luther/Calvin/others: This is unhealthy! We all must honor/glorify God!
Everyone has a context/purpose for the glory of God!
“What will you be when you grow up?”
Uncommon question in generations of the past because you’d often follow what your dad/grandpa did
Industrial Age changed things as people moved to cities
Many people work in jobs not because of calling but because the job provides for themselves/family
Key: Undertake work as something that you use to glorify God as you provide
Do work as unto the Lord!
Cultivate productivity in life
Give God Glory through works!
Follow-up Questions
In times where there is stress at work, what is a helpful reminder?
Work is a result of the fall
Work is a part of God’s plan for us
Work is present before the fall
We know that the answer is B and C! Work shows up before the fall and it’s clear that God has given us work as a good thing
Do only some types of jobs matter to God? How can you view your job as a mission field?
No! God’s people have had lots of jobs since the Old Testament: farmers, kings, soldiers, tent makers, carpenters, priests, teachers, and servers. All of these jobs are important!
Page 87 hits on the truth that God calls us to our job/vocation with a purpose! There shouldn’t be a debate on one job mattering more or less - all jobs matter in the Kingdom and God calls us respectively to our vocation.
If you’re a teacher, you’re not just a teacher to hear yourself teach… You’re not just a teacher to help students out… You’re not just a teacher to earn a paycheck… You’re a teacher for the glory of God and you’re a witness for His Kingdom in your school/job!
Matt Perman is a Christian author who has written several books on productivity and how the Gospel should change the way that we think and get things done. He wrote a book entitled, “What’s Best Next” and shared this concerning how Christians should think about productivity
What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done Thinking Christianly about Productivity
A Christian perspective on prayer makes sense, but what about a Christian perspective on getting things done? How can that even be?
The brief answer is that, as Christians, our faith changes our motives and foundations but not necessarily the methods we use.
For example, a Christian doctor and a non-Christian doctor will likely go about heart surgery in the same way, using the best practices they’ve learned from their training and experience. Both will also seek the good of the patient rather than their own ends. But the Christian has an additional motive: loving God and seeking to serve him. This is a difference that is fundamental but that can’t necessarily be seen.
That’s not always the only difference—sometimes there are variations in our methods (for example, the Christian doctor will likely pray before the surgery)—but it is the main difference.
Another change our faith makes is that it puts our work on a different foundation. We look to God for power to do all we do, including our work, and act not out of a desire to gain his acceptance, because we already have it in Christ.
With the issue of productivity, then, we will likely utilize the same best practices as non-Christians in things like processing workflow and emptying our email inboxes. But when it comes to the motive and foundation of our productivity, the gospel brings in some radical transformations
God wants us to be productive in our respective position! He wants us to be light in the darkness as we studied on Sunday
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
God wants us to do whatever it is that we do for the good of others, for the glory of God, and for our joy! Whether you’re a doctor, teacher, bus driver, farmer, businessman, scientist, pastor, or secretary, your job and how you do your job matters to your God!
Page 84 talks about the difference between work and toil. What do you think is the difference between these terms?
Work originally was good but because of the fall, work now involves toiling and difficulty. Work now is often uncomfortable and tiring but originally it was something beautiful.
Has your view of work changed as you’ve grown in your walk with the Lord?
Hopefully! As we grow to be more like Jesus we begin to realize that work isn’t a bad thing - it is something given to us by God in order to minister to others and to be salt and light in our world
As we mature in our walk with Christ we long to share His Gospel with more and more people and the more people see Him at work in us. As a result, we view work in a Christocentric lens instead of a self-centered one. We desire to see Christ glorified and people come to know Him.
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
How can we live this verse out?
Page 89 shares with us that what truly matters is not where we work but why we work. We don’t look specifically at the occupation as we do the Creator who has called us there
Many of us are creatures of habit - how can distractions disrupt our work environment?
Love Gabriel but an 18 month old child can distract you from getting assignments turned in and projects done
Whenever I was in college I was on a relatively consistent schedule throughout the school year as I’d get up around 7-8 most mornings (save Friday’s) and go to bed around midnight/1am. But whenever the school year would end and summer began my schedule was completely different! This led to some changes in my productivity and some added distractions to my schedule. Instead of falling to sleep around midnight to get up for an 8am class the next day, I’d stay up watching TV until 2-3 am some days and sleep until 10am. This led to some problems in being productive the next day as I’d have job responsibilities in the early afternoon and I’d find myself still trying to fully wake up!
23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people,
24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.
Does Colossians 3:23-24 tell us to please others or God?
God!
We work unto the Lord - His thought/opinion matters the most of all!