Faith & Work
Series: The Ministry of Vocational Work
9-8-13
My purpose
today:
ü
Remind you of our two focuses as Christ
followers.
ü
Show you the value and work of vocational work
in the Kingdom of God.
Introduction
What would
you compare the Church of God to? What
is it like?
Doug Spada gives us an analogy of
the church that I think is pertinent for us.
Often we think of the church as a cruise ship—once we are on board life
should be good—that God wants us to be relaxed, or even physically rich. Reading Acts and other scripture, I think it
is clear that is never what God intended for the church. Rather a better analogy is seeing the Church more
like an aircraft carrier. On an aircraft
carrier, they have one collective purpose.
Everyone on the ship has a purpose, or else they wouldn’t be there! They recognize they are far from home and
have a job to do.
As God’s Church, we are far more
like an aircraft carrier. We have a
collective purpose to work towards God’s kingdom. We are not home yet, but we all have a job to
do. Everyone has a purpose that they
have been called to.
We need to have a renewed view of
vocational lay work in the eyes of God. Last
week we talked about how the daily work of our hands has value in the eyes of
God. Even when it is not directly
kingdom building, God honors our efforts done with His glory in mind.
Eric Liddell, the man the movie
“Chariots of Fire” was written about, was a British runner in the twenties, and
a rather successful one. He once said, “God
made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” In other words, He knows God loves it when
Eric simply used his ability to run. It
is the idea that God smiles on us when we use our gifts, especially with his
honor in mind. And God smiles on us when
we find simple joy through our gifts and abilities.
But we also need to know that our
personal work HAS a part to play in this big picture kingdom work. We often struggle integrating work and faith,
as if they are something that don’t naturally integrate—as if they are
opposites. But we see that is not true
when we look back at what God called us to.
Called to Two
Purposes
Throughout history God has given
man a task to do. Adam was given the work in the Garden,
and then the work of the ground. Think of all the other people of the Bible—they
were giving a task to do, from Abraham to the Prophets, from Jesus to the disciples.
God gave the disciples a distinct
task to do.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to
them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age."
We are also called to grow the
kingdom! In one of the many
opportunities Jesus had to speak to the crowed, he taught them a very simple
and important concept.
Matthew 6:31-33
31 So do not worry,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
all these things will be given to you as well.
Jesus puts it quite simply.
We are to seek his “kingdom” and his “righteousness.”
We are to seek His
“Kingdom”
We as followers of Christ are
called to seek His Kingdom, first in our acceptance of Christ. But it means more than that. Seeking His kingdom is not just becoming a
believer, but to grow His kingdom by helping others to do the same. God has called us to join a great team and
endeavor!
We are ALSO to seek
His “Righteousness”
We are to focus our lives on Him
and living righteously.
Psalm 25:8-14 NIV
8 Good and upright is
the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in
what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving
and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of
your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, is
the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. 13
He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the
land. 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known
to them.
Above we see a Part we play, and a
part God plays. Those who believe in the
Lord and fear Him (who recognize His authority), will follow His
commands. Because God is good and upright,
so also we need to follow in an upright way.
His part includes teaching us daily
to trust him and live in Him! God will
make himself known and honor what we do.
2 Peter 1:3-11 NIV
3 His divine power has
given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him
who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us
his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate
in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil
desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness,
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does
not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been
cleansed from his past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager
to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will
never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If we are not living righteous
lives, we are “near-sighted and blind.” We
are letting our past sins and sinful nature control us. Now we need to choose to live righteously. The
by-product of living righteously is your serving effort to build His kingdom
spiritually. When we live righteously,
we will love people, tell them about Christ, and inevitably build the kingdom
Again from Paul
These two concepts are reflected in
2 Timothy chapter 2.
2 Timothy 2:15 & 20-21 NIV
15 Do your best to
present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be
ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth….
20 In a large house
there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some
are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from
the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to
the Master and prepared to do any good work.
We are to live in a way in which we
would not be ashamed–to live righteously.
And then God will give us noble purposes in His Kingdom work.
Righteous Living =
Kingdom Building = Righteous Living = Kingdom Building…
Have you caught the above repeated
concepts? Our righteous living will lead
to Kingdom building, and as we build God’s kingdom, we are then living
righteously! It is a never ending
circle. They work together more than we
probably know.
Now, how does this correlate to our jobs? Well, let’s ask:
What does a righteous
person look like in our Community?
This person has a right
relationship ‘UP’ to God by their humility.
They have a fear and respect of God, and know all that they have is
because of Him. They have this right
relationship by their kingdom perspective in their work—they see God at work in
them in their daily relationships.
Thirdly, they have this right relationship by finding fulfillment in
working for God. They find fulfillment
in Christ and living for Him in all they do, and not in idolizing their work.
This person also has a
righteousness ‘IN’ their heart. They
have a purity of heart in mind and in action.
They are constantly “putting off the old self” in order to follow their
Lord. And they care about what God cares
about and has compassion for others.
Finally, this person has a right
relationship “OUT” to those they work with, and for whom their efforts
currently and eventually affect. They
honor God by building healthy relationships with others. They make sure they are being only a righteous
influence to others in their daily behavior.
And they regularly consider the physical and spiritual needs of others,
and effect change to show their value.
Do we look like this in our daily
life and community? Which part are we
missing—or weakest on?
The above is also a warning that some
tend to make their lives work-based and don’t see God using them elsewhere. Some see the difficulty of the task as
impossible and refuse work as a mission field for building the Kingdom. These people are missing an extremely
important part of their relationship with God and their rule in His kingdom!
So how does our Faith
and Work Naturally Integrate?
David Miller suggests four pathways
in which people integrate faith and work.
These four ‘quadrants’ are commonly used, so let’s talk about each.
To Experience
work as itself having intrinsic value in the kingdom of God.
This is what we talked about last
week. This is similar to the “UP”
relationship we have with God. We see
work as from God and being blessed by God.
It helps us to find a fulfillment from our work, and keeps us from
seeing our work as an enemy or waste of time.
(See last week’s message to elaborate on this concept).
Bring Ethics
to the workplace in the decisions you make
This is the “IN”—letting our faith
affect the heart of who we are in all walks of life. What behavior decisions do you have to make
at your Job? What could you choose to do
right or wrong at your work place?
R. Paul
Stevens and Alvin Ung give us a powerful chart in their work “Taking Your Soul
to Work.” They talk through the 9 Deadly
Sins, and quite effetely relates them to our work life. (Often the church has talked about the 7
deadly sins that are popular in catholic traditional teaching, however I agree
that there are really 9 categories that sin can be divided into.)
These are sins that we need to first
recognize and then be careful to avoid in order to continue our
growth in the Lord. These essentially
are the virtues that God calls us to. They
are NOT vague or “grey-areas” as some might suggest.
Pride - Being
imprisoned within yourself as No. 1
Greed - Inflaming
the passion to possess more than you have
Lust - Imagining
how people can be used for self-interest
Gluttony - Looking
for satisfaction through excessive consumption
Anger - Using
passion to manipulate and control people and circumstances
Sloth - Doing
minimal or the least important work and loving ease
Envy - Feeling
pain because of someone else’s advancement or possessions
Restlessness - Thinking
and feeling that there’s always something better somewhere else
Boredom - Having
insufficient passion or interest to give yourself heartily to work and life
Often we see people get so caught
up in their secular vocation, that they are drawn away from their relationship
with God and living righteously. But it
is not the secular work in and of itself, but rather it is the individual
succumbing to the above sins. I want you
to be warned and aware of ways the devil, and our sinful nature, keeps us
nominal in kingdom work. Then I want to
give you ‘tools’ to protect yourself.
We are going to actually talk about
EACH of these areas in coming messages this fall. We want to see how these sins pop up in our
lives, especially the work place.
However, ask yourself, just after reviewing the above list, which do you
see as your most difficult area?
Cultivate friendships
with coworkers towards the effort to Evangelize
This is the “OUT” of our
relationships with others. How is evangelism
possible in the work-place? There are
three areas that I have identified.
- By Example
- Righteous
behavior and decisions—causes others to wonder the differences
- Joyful
spirit—causes others to desire the outcome
- By Loving
Relationships
- Serving Them
- Taking interest
in the pains of others
- Taking interest
in the joys of others
- Showing Mercy
and Forgiveness
- By Direct
Communication
- Tell them why
you believe what you do
- Tell them the
simple gospel message
- We will talk
about this in a coming message
Gain spiritual
transformation through Enrichment
David Miller gives this as the
final pathway for ‘Faith and Work.’ This
has implications both for the “IN” and “OUT” relationships. This is to lean on faith to make decisions
and grow more spiritually. As we come up
against conflict, we turn to our faith to make the decisions. This is more than just avoiding sin, this is
allowing God to give wisdom to our world.
Much of the ‘business wisdom’ out there that works, is actually concepts
introduced in scripture thousands of years ago.
Conclusion
Could you see yourself doing some
of these things? I encourage you to commit to doing something. In your small daily efforts with the help if
the Spirit, you could greatly see the kingdom of God growing right in your work
place!
