Well, good evening, friends. Good to be here with you tonight.
You should have a sermon outline.
That'll give you some sort of an idea of the direction that we're heading
as we kick off this series on work.
This one is laying the groundwork and a fairly broad foundation,
if you like, for the next few weeks.
Let's pray.
Gracious God, as we come to your word now,
we pray that you would give us wisdom and insight,
and we pray, Father, that particularly that you would help us to connect
what we do here now and in our Christian walk
with what we do from Monday to Saturday in our life.
I pray, Father, we would not have that separation in life,
but see it all under your sovereign hand,
knowing that there is not a square inch in this universe
that is not subject to the Lord Jesus.
And so help us to see what we do in our works subject to him.
And we pray for your glory. Amen.
Monday morning feels so bad.
Everybody seems to nag me.
Coming Tuesday, I feel better.
Even my old man looks good.
Wednesday just don't go.
Thursday goes too slow.
I've got Friday on my mind.
Going to have fun in the city and be with my girl.
She's so pretty.
She looks fine.
She's out of sight to me.
Tonight I spend my bread.
Tonight I lose my head.
Tonight I've got to get to bed.
Monday I've got Friday on my mind.
They are some of the lyrics from the song Friday on my mind,
which was released in 1966 by the Easy Beats.
And what's more, it sits at position number one
on the list of Australia's all-time favourite songs for 47 years.
That's pretty astounding.
And it probably sits there because it says something about our psyche.
From the day I start working, I'm looking forward to knocking off.
We are the land that is known as of compo claims, false compo claims, sickies, days off,
weekends, long weekends, annual leave.
I was sitting with someone in Hong Kong a few weeks ago at a table,
and part of this gala dinner thing that they were doing was they were auctioning off 15 nights accommodation
in this resort in Thailand.
And the American leans across to me and says,
who gets 15 days annual leave a year?
Oh, well, I do.
And then a few extra.
From the day I start working, I think about the day I stop working.
Early retirement in our culture is the ultimate to aspire to.
It's an idol even, because anything better is better than having to work.
And so that means, if that's the kind of culture that we're marinating in,
it means that we've got some work to do when we come to this series of work.
The dominant mentality in our society is that you work to live.
You work in order to live.
That is, work is a means to something else.
It's not a purpose in itself.
And so the 90,000 hours the average person will spend in paid employment in their life
is a means to something else, not a purpose in itself.
90,000 hours of just purposelessness.
So what does God think about the large portion of our time spent working?
That's what we're going to do, look at in the next five weeks.
Let me tell you straight up, in the last year,
I've had a very steep learning curve on this issue of work.
I was discipled as a young Christian with the thinking that because the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the greatest thing in all the universe,
then serving the gospel is the greatest thing.
And particularly to be able to serve the gospel in full-time vocational ministry
is the greatest thing that you could do with your life.
And so subconsciously, unintentionally,
it meant that every other job wasn't as important to God as my vocation.
I'd say that my overall view of work was simply unthought through.
The sense that ordinary work is second class,
spiritually particularly second class,
wasn't so much believed and taught by me,
because I always sat a little uncomfortable with it,
but it would certainly have been caught from me.
That is, you've never heard anything from me
that suggested that God approved of secular work.
We've had commissioning services for people going on short-term mission trips,
for missionaries.
We've had prayers for people in full-time ministry.
We rejoice when someone goes to Bible college,
but I've never conducted a commissioning service for teachers,
for business people, for lawyers, for cleaners, for parents, and for chefs.
Never done it.
With the best of intentions and sincerity of heart,
I have discouraged others with some faulty ideas about faith and work
and how they connect.
I've wrongly viewed some kinds of work to be more important than others.
I have had a hierarchy of work,
and I've had a narrow view of how the gospel transforms our work.
I have given minority attention to what is, in effect, our majority activity.
I've either failed by devaluing and ignoring your work,
or I've failed by not helping you to see a more biblically robust and rigorous
and God-honoring outlook on your work.
And that has all sorts of complications and implications that flow from that.
And so right as we kick off this series, I want to say I'm sorry.
I failed in that.
And I'm hoping that what we do in the next few weeks
will recapture something more of a God-honoring view
of what we spend most of our time doing.
And particularly, I'm hoping that at the end of these five weeks
that you'll be able to connect what you do on Sunday
with or even what you do in your own personal spiritual devotional life
with what happens with you on Monday through to Saturday.
I think that it's so essential
because we are now working harder and harder and faster and faster
for that which is seemingly more and more meaningless.
And if we could truly believe
that what we do is part of God's good and eternal purposes,
I think this would be a tonic more invigorating than a Red Bull
and a triple shot espresso.
It may even result in us waking up.
And I'm not sure this is going to necessarily happen in the next five weeks,
but it may result in us being able to get up on a Monday morning
and instead of thinking on Friday,
be able to say, thank God it's Monday.
Let me just pause there and plug one resource.
And that is this book,
Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller.
This is astonishingly good.
I didn't start my thinking here,
but it has formed a lot of my thinking.
So I am unashamedly ripping off Tim Keller.
If you're going to rip anyone off,
Tim Keller is a good guy to do it with.
And so I'm unashamedly ripping him off.
I'm still in the learning process in this.
And what I'm doing in my couple of talks today and next week
is I'm taking some of the ideas from here.
But if you want a fuller picture,
and particularly a fuller biblical picture,
because I frankly haven't got time to do what he does
in the times that we're going to be meeting together.
You want a fuller and a more robust theology of vocation,
work and jobs and stuff,
read this book.
Get it, read it, digest it.
It is awesome.
There's two or three at the back.
Two at the back.
And this is the third one that's there.
So buy it tonight.
Don't all rush over just yet,
but be quick at the end of the service.
Okay, let's kick off.
The Bible begins, interestingly enough,
about talking about work
as soon as it begins talking about anything.
That is how important and basic it is.
We just had it read out there in Genesis 1 into Genesis 2.
The Bible begins talking about work
as soon as it begins talking about anything.
Genesis describes God's creation of the world as work.
It's what God does.
And then it shows us human beings working in paradise.
So God creates the world.
He works to create the world.
And then it says,
a little bit further down in chapter 2,
that there was no one to do work in the garden.
So he created man.
It's remarkable,
at the end of Genesis 1,
God not only works,
but he actually finds delight in his work.
Have a look at it there in verse 31.
God saw all that he made,
and it was very good.
So God finds what he has done as beautiful.
He stands back,
takes in the whole creation that he has just made,
and goes,
yeah, not bad.
Not bad.
That's good.
Like all good and satisfying work,
the worker sees himself in the work.
So a friend of mine came and stayed last night,
and we were walking around outside,
and he walks on this deck
that we got out the back of the rectory,
and he's going,
oh,
see,
this is pretty solid.
This is good work.
And I'm like,
I did that.
I made that.
And while we're at it,
see this chair?
I completely renovated this chair as well.
It's something that you do.
I mean,
it's a bloke thing as well.
You cut the grass,
you pack the dishwasher.
Did you notice what I did?
You did a good job,
Steve.
Even my girls learned to do that.
You know,
Izzy comes along,
Daddy,
you cut the grass really well.
She's going to be a great wife one day.
She's just fantastic.
Genesis 2,
there's more to being a great wife
than just,
you know,
propping up your husband's ego.
I can say that.
Genesis 2 goes on to show
that God works
not only to create,
but also to care for his creation.
God creates human beings
and then he works for them
as their provider.
So in verse 7 of chapter 2,
he forms the man,
he plants a garden for him
and waters it in verses 6 to 8
and fashions a wife for him
in verses 21 and 22.
And the rest of the Bible
tells us that God continues
to do this work of providing,
caring for the world,
by watering and cultivating the ground.
For instance,
in Psalm 104 verses 10 to 22,
giving food to all that he's made,
giving help to all who suffer
and caring for the needs
of every living thing,
according to Psalm 145 verses 14 to 16.
But we also see in Genesis
that not only is God working,
but he's commissioning workers
to carry out his work.
That's the point there in,
I forget which verse it is,
where God says,
there's no one to do the work.
He wants someone to do the work
to carry out his work.
And so in Genesis chapter 1 verse 28,
he tells human beings
to fill the earth
and subdue it.
And so that command there
is a lot more than just have babies.
A lot more than just have babies.
And great reformers like Luther and Calvin
have specifically expanded upon that
and what it means to feel and subdue the earth.
At the very least,
the word subdue indicates
that though all that God has made is good,
it was still in a great degree undeveloped.
And so part of the work of people
is to develop God's ongoing creative work,
to develop further,
to grow it,
to expand it,
to make it good.
God left creation
with deep, untapped potential
for cultivation
that people were to unlock
through their labor.
You'll see in Genesis chapter 2 verse 15
that he puts Adam and Eve
into the garden
to work it
and to keep it.
And so while God works for us
as provider,
we also work for him.
He works through us.
And so the book of Genesis
leaves us with a striking truth.
Work was part of paradise.
God's good plan
and creation
always included
human beings
living in a constant cycle
of work and rest.
Work and rest.
It was part of God's perfect design
for human life
because we are made
in the image of God
and part of his glory
and happiness
is that he works.
As does the Lord Jesus
who says in John chapter 5 verse 17,
My father is always
at his work
to this very day
and I too
am working.
So it's startling
to think that God
made work part of paradise.
Many people
make the mistake
of thinking that
work is a curse
and that something else,
leisure, family,
spiritual pursuits
is the only way
to find the meaning of life.
The Bible, I think,
exposes the lie
of that idea.
Work wasn't introduced
as part of the brokenness
and the curse of sin.
Work is part of the blessedness
of the garden of God.
Work is much
a basic human need
as food
and beauty
and rest
and friendship
and prayer
and sexuality.
It is not simply
medicine,
it is food
for the soul.
According to the Bible,
we don't merely
need the money
from work
in order to survive.
We need the work
itself
to survive
and to live
fully human lives.
So rather than
working to live,
which is the dominant
marinade,
if you like,
of the culture
in which we're soaking,
we live to work.
Instead of
working to live,
we live to work
is closer
to the biblical idea.
And I think
that's what the Apostle Paul
says in 2 Thessalonians
3.10
where he says,
if anyone
is not willing
to work,
let him not eat.
He makes
the issue
of work
a life and death
matter.
If you don't eat,
you die.
Paul does not
rebuke those
who can't work
for whatever reason,
but he does say
an unwillingness
to work
is not
a trivial thing.
For anyone
to refuse
to work
is a fundamental
violation
of God's
creation design
for humanity.
But of course,
what the Bible
does is it
stops us
from falling
into the opposite
mistake,
namely that work
is the only
important human
activity.
Work is not
all that there
is to life.
There is more
to life
than work.
You will not
have a meaningful
life without work,
but you cannot
say that your work
is the meaning
of your life.
If you make
any work
the purpose
of your life,
even if that
is church
ministry work,
you create
an idol
that rivals
God.
Your relationship
with God
is the most
important foundation
for your life
and indeed
it keeps
every other
factor within
balance,
your work,
your friendships,
your family,
your leisure,
your pleasure,
keeps all
those other
factors from
becoming so
important to
you that
it becomes
addicting
and distorted.
So work
is something
that God
does and
it is designed
and created
by God
for us to
do as
his image
bearers.
Now I think
I should just
pause there for a
moment and
explain what I
mean by work
otherwise
those who
are retired,
the unemployed,
the students,
the children,
the stay-at-home
mums or dads
are just going to
switch off for
the next five
weeks and go
this is not
for me.
The biblical
and I want to
say it is for
you so listen
it is for you.
The biblical
idea of work
has its meaning
in the word
vocation.
Unfortunately
the classical
understanding
of vocation
has been
mostly exchanged
today for
what is
essentially
amounts to
skills training
for specific
jobs.
The idea of
vocation is
gone.
One of the
major differences
between a
vocation and
a job is
that someone
calls you to
a vocation.
That's what
in fact the
word means.
The word
vocation means
a calling.
So when I
talk about
work I
mean calling.
I mean
vocation.
That's what I
mean.
I don't mean
a job.
I don't mean
nine to five
job sort of
thing.
So understood
in a correct
way in a
biblical way
Christian
vocation is
centered in a
sovereign God
who calls us
to embrace the
gospel of the
Lord Jesus
Christ and to
follow him in
the power of
the Holy Spirit.
And so our
first and
primary calling
is to Christ.
We're being
called by God
into relationship
with himself
through the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
So if you're
Christian that
is your primary
calling and
that governs
every other
calling in
life.
But under
that we all
have secondary
callings.
A secondary
position in
life in which
we live out
our primary
calling to
Christ.
And even
though it's a
secondary calling
we must not
minimize or
devalue it.
What makes the
secondary calling
significant is
that God is the
one who has
called us to a
life of service
and contribution
to society.
That's basically
the idea of
1 Corinthians 7.
So first and
foremost work
vocation is
not about
economic exchange.
It's not
about financial
remuneration or
a pathway to
the Australian
dream but
about God
honoring activity
and contribution
and the
building up of
society.
That's vocation
under God.
Our work, our
vocation, our
calling, our
position in
life, whatever
it is, whether
we are paid
for it or not,
is our
specific human
contribution to
the ongoing
creation and
to the common
good of
society.
Tim Keller, I'm
not sure if he
says it in the
book, I don't
recall him saying
it there, but he
certainly said it
at the conference
we're at, that
his view is that
work is everything
in your life
except your
Sabbath rest and
your leisure.
It's everything
else.
Including me
cutting the
grass.
depending on
whether or not I
regard that as
leisure or not.
And I think
this is the
point here in
1 Corinthians 7
17, the word
called is used
eight times.
What is primary
there?
It is God who
calls.
Being called into
relationship with
God.
And the second
thing that flows
out from that is
that God who
calls us into
relationship with
him and it is
God who assigns
us certain
positions in
life.
And he says
they're be
content with
those positions
in life.
So Martin
Luther's idea
that there is
no hierarchy.
There is no
hierarchy in
your calling in
life, in your
assigned positions,
because God is
the one who
gives it.
And so over
the years,
however, the
primary and
secondary callings
have been,
if you like,
unhelpfully
separated.
And we
have put a
hierarchy in
place.
In its
early historical
development in
Christian theology,
vocation was
understood to
mean that
everyone is
called by
God into
salvation and
a life of
service through
the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Everyone.
There's no
separation between
clergy and
laity.
Eventually, the
theology of
vocation was
distorted by the
early 300s.
vocation was
applied primarily
just to
clergy.
Clergy were the
called ones.
Everyone else
kind of wasn't
really.
The most
influential thinker
in Western
Christianity in
the 300s was a
guy called
Augustine of
Hippo.
I knew someone's
going to smile
about that,
Hippo.
It's a really
unfortunate name.
It's where he
was from, not
the size of him
or anything like
that.
It wasn't
Augustine the
Hippo, it was
Augustine of
Hippo.
Now, he
distinguished between
two main aspects
of life.
He called the
active life and
the contemplative
life.
The active life
was all the
ways that people
serve one
another, farming,
crafting, trading,
raising kids.
That was the
active life.
The contemplative
life over here
was a life of
prayer and
worship and
spiritual
disciplines.
And while he
said both aspects
of life were
good, he says
the contemplative
life was the
best and
the most
important and
the bit of
life which was
the most
pleasing to
God.
The spiritual
life.
And so if
you, so in
those days what
it meant was to
have a vocation,
a calling from
God meant that
you were a
minister or a
monk.
That's basically
it.
And the
separation of
the physical,
spiritual, the
active,
contemplative life
was further
distorted and I
think to its
ultimate degree
in the 11th
century when
clergy were
mandated to
celibacy and
therefore separated
from ordinary
life activity,
the life of
family and
business and all
that sort of
stuff.
Kind of got
locked away in
a room and
prayed.
That's kind of
it really.
That's the
ultimate distortion.
creation.
The key
development in
understanding work
happened in the
6th century through
Gregory the Great.
As I said this
morning I've got no
idea why he was
great but that's
his name.
Gregory was a
monk and as a
monk he really
valued the
contemplative life.
And his whole
life went into a
bit of turmoil when
he was called out
of the monastery
in the contemplative
life and thrust
into the papacy with
all the administrative
duties that went
with that.
He was Pope and
so all of a sudden
his life's in
turmoil.
I've got all this
activity but I
value the
contemplative life.
And so his
thinking developed
through the
scriptures where he
actually saw that
there ought not
be a distinction.
His own personal
journey helped him
to see that the
active life of
service to others
was not a
distraction to the
spiritual life.
he concluded
that in fact we
need times of
contemplation but
also times of
action.
He says both of
those things are
needed if we are
going to love
our neighbor, if
we're going to
fulfill the mandate
of Matthew 28 to
use our God-given
gifts for the glory
of God.
And even the
activity life, the
life of action,
drives us back into
contemplation where
we give thanks to
God for his
activity in the
world and we cry
out to him for the
frustrations that we
feel about the
active life.
He says they both
need.
It's a cycle.
That is, he
connected every
aspect of our life
in a unified
whole.
The contemplative
life equipped us
for an active
life of service.
The contemplative
life grounded us,
if you like, in a
life of love of
neighbors, and the
active life kept
us from floating
off into a
bizarre spiritual
world of spiritual
pride and irrelevance
where we saw
ourselves as better
than everyone else.
Now that bit's
crucial.
He saw that those
who live the active
life, and
especially things
like feeding the
hungry, caring for
the sick, teaching
the ignorant, humbling
the proud, he saw
those who pursued
the active life in
faith as being
better equipped to
experience the riches
of the contemplative
life than those who
absorbed all of their
life in spiritual
pursuits.
And so what he does
is he connects my
life of service with
my spiritual life, my
life of faith.
He connects my work
with my faith.
And he goes as
far as to say
that a life of
spiritual pursuits
without an activity
life of loving
neighbors and serving
people is actually
spiritual immaturity.
I would go as far as
to say that your
all-Christian education
ought to lead us to
humble hearts and
activities of love to
people.
And if it doesn't,
it's distortion.
The impact of
Gregory's work was
that in the Middle
Ages, Pope Benedict
came along, loved
what he said, and he
made manual labor the
duty of every monk.
Doll!
He said, you
blokes have got to
start working.
And so, you know,
the monasteries became
orphanages, some of
them became hospitals,
and they started
brewing beer.
Not sure what the
connection is, but
that's kind of what
they did.
I suspect that we're
in the danger of
propagating this
historical, sacred,
secular divide.
It is easier to
class what we do
right now as
worship, but much
harder to class what
you're going to be
doing this time
tomorrow or earlier
tomorrow as
worship.
It is easy to see
this is spiritual and
that is unspiritual.
And we only do it in
the end because we
need to do it to
live.
Without a real sense
of calling from God,
our motivation to get
out of bed tomorrow
morning will be little
more than I owe, I owe,
it's off to work, I go.
Faith in the Lord Jesus
helps me to see the
dignity of all work.
That's the point,
Martin Luther's point
in 1 Corinthians
chapter 7.
Work has dignity
because it is
something that God
does and because we
do it in God's
place as his
representatives.
The plants and
animals are called to
simply reproduce, but
God gives a specific
job to us in
Genesis 2.
We are called to
subdue and to have
dominion or to rule
over the earth.
So not only does
work have dignity,
but Martin Luther
particularly, and
John Calvin's
exegesis of 1
Corinthians 7 and
a couple of other
bits of the New
Testament, says that
all work has
dignity.
even unskilled
simple work, as
Tim Keller has
written in this
book, no task is
too small a vessel
to hold the
immense dignity
of work given
by God.
Luther particularly,
I think, was
helpful in this
point.
Luther looked at
lots of places in
the Bible that
says God is a
God who continues
to provide.
He feeds every
living thing.
And Luther sees
this as a promise
that God fulfills.
And how does he
fulfill it?
He feeds you
through the farmers
who grow the wheat
and the truck driver
who delivers it to
the silo and the
trader who sells it
to the baker and
the baker's assistant
who makes the bread.
That's how he sees
God fulfills that
point, that he's
promised to feed all
his living things.
He says that the
people who do the
simplest kind of work
are the fingers of
God fulfilling his
promises to you.
So when I go to a
restaurant, the
waitress who brings
me my food, the
chef in the back who
prepares it, the
delivery driver, the
wholesaler, the
workers in the food
processing factory, the
farmer and all the
accountants and lawyers
and business people and
cleaners and stuff that
are connected in that
whole network that is
the economic food chain
are all being used by
God to answer my
prayer, give me this
day my daily bread.
All work has
dignity.
So God is loving me
through the work of
other people.
All work is God's way
of caring for his
creation.
And I think this is
really crucial for us
to come to terms with.
There is no biblical
foundation for elevating
doctors over shelf
packers.
No biblical foundation
for it whatsoever.
Luther gets that from
1 Corinthians 7.
That ought to impact
our attitude when
you're pushing the
shopping trolley on a
Sunday night trying to
dodge those people in
the aisle.
Notice in 1 Corinthians
7 that God calls
people to different
positions in life and
roles in life.
He assigns it to them.
It's dignifying because
God is the one who
does the calling and he
calls us to be content
with it.
So be careful of
participating in the
sneering attitude of our
culture has towards
people who do simple
jobs.
If you lived in
Seville in February
this year,
you would appreciate
garbage collectors
because when they
went on strike for a
few days,
it almost brought the
whole city to a
standstill when
6,000 tons of
rotting waste was
left on the streets
and no one knew
what to do.
The whole city nearly
came to a standstill.
It's in those moments
you appreciate the
dude who drives you,
wakes you up in the
early hours of the
morning with his
truck,
emptying your bins.
Whenever Luther talked
about vocation,
he deliberately used
the simple and the
mundane in order to
elevate the significance
of everything.
The father washing
nappies,
the maid sweeping the
floor,
the brewer making
good beer.
By doing our
appointed work in
society,
we become means or
agents of grace
through which God
serves others.
So friends,
traditionally we have
used the language of
Christian work to
refer to basically the
sort of stuff that I'm
doing right now,
to missionaries,
to parachurch
callings.
This distorted
understanding exposes
an inadequate grasp of
the biblical understanding
of vocation.
It will be Monday
again tomorrow,
and if you're a
Christian,
then you're about to
embark on a week of
Christian work.
Paid or not,
it's irrelevant.
And what will that look
like for you in the work
that you do?
Depending on your
theological position,
you might say,
Christian work,
the way to serve God
at work is to work
with a grateful,
joyful,
gospel-centered heart
through all the ups
and downs.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to do
whatever gives you the
greatest joy and
passion.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to
make as much money as
you possibly can so
that you can be as
generous as you
possibly can.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to
further social justice
in the world.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to
personally be honest
and to take every
opportunity to get
Jesus into every
single conversation
and lead my
colleagues into
prayer of sinners
repentance.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to
do skillful,
excellent work.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to
create beauty.
Or the way to serve
God at work is to
work from a
Christian motivation
to glorify God,
seeking to engage
and influence the
culture to a
positive end.
I would probably
say now that
Christian work is a
mixture of all
those things.
at any time.
It could be a
mixture of all
those things.
I love the story
of Charles Spurgeon.
Once upon a time,
you would have
interviews to become
members of churches
and particularly in
the Baptist church.
And so Spurgeon,
the great old preacher,
would sit there with
his elders of the
church and he'd
interview each person
individually.
And one day there,
he's sitting there
interviewing a person
wanting to become
member of the church
and he says to
them, a young
lady says to
them, give us
evidence of the
transformation of
the gospel in your
life.
Why should, and
without that evidence
we're not going to
give you membership
of the church.
And she was a
cleaner.
And she said,
well, ever since I
have become a
Christian, she said,
I no longer sweep
the dust under the
mat.
I actually clean it
up and get rid of
it.
And Spurgeon said,
give her entry to the
church immediately.
You see, the gospel
has impacted what she
does Monday to
Saturday.
And so if you're a
Christian airline pilot,
what does it mean for
you to be a Christian
airline pilot?
Does it mean you hop
on the plane and you
use the intercom
opportunity to captive
audience to share the
gospel with them?
Ladies and gentlemen,
we're just in route to
LA.
We've got 16 hours
together.
Let me just share a
few thoughts with you
or put two ways to live
on the screen.
I mean, is that?
I think most basic and
fundamental to be a
Christian airline pilot is
to land the plane and do
it smoothly.
Think about the people
in the plane.
The most basic thing,
do your job well.
And if it means that you
get an opportunity to
witness to people, most
likely when the plane's
going down, there's a
good opportunity to do
it.
Do your work well,
honours God.
Billy Graham's wife, the
great evangelist, had a
plaque above her kitchen
sink which read,
divine services conducted
here three times daily.
She got it.
Ironing your child's
school uniform and
changing a nappy that
overfloweth or mowing
your lawn are not
simply jobs when they are
done for God.
God calls us to exercise
dominion over the
created order for the
good of society.
If I do not cut my
grass, do you think my
neighbours would be happy
with that?
Is it loving my
neighbours if I choose not
to cut my grass and let
all the rats and the
snakes and the junk to be
dumped in there and it
looks like an absolute
schmuzzle?
Is that loving my
neighbour?
When you do it for God,
you do it to love your
neighbour and so you cut
your grass.
You deal with the
weeds.
It's not just simply a
job.
It's my calling for the
good order of society
and for the dominion of
creation.
Is there one that the
Bible teaches us in
Colossians 3.23?
Whatever you do, work at
it with all your heart as
working for the Lord, not
for men, since you know
that you receive an
inheritance from the
Lord as a reward.
It is the Lord God that
you are serving.
Let's pray.
Gracious Father, may your
favour be upon us and
give us hope and purpose
and meaning and joy in our
weekly work.
Pour out your favour on us
and establish the work of
our hands.
for the honour of your
name we pray.
Amen.