WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.719 We're in a series on the book of Proverbs and we've said that the book of 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:12.040 Proverbs is about wisdom. What's wisdom? What do you need to know to get wisdom? 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:17.160 And we've said that first you need to have a relationship with God. It's called 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:21.440 the fear of the Lord in Proverbs. And you need to know that the world you live 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:26.120 in is a world that's been created so it doesn't exist in and of itself that 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:30.240 you're not a materialist but that the world is actually a creation. And you 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:33.399 need to know that because the world's created the world just like it has 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:38.760 natural scientific laws like gravity and thermodynamics or whatever it also has 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:43.359 relational laws a moral order that we live in a moral order and that means 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:48.640 that our actions matter. That our actions that everything we do has a moral 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:53.560 aspect to it. That action human action matters and so wisdom we've said is 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:59.359 living life well, living life in God's moral order and especially when there are 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:04.240 no rules telling you how to live. There are no commandments that you know of 00:01:04.240 --> 00:01:08.120 telling you what to do in every situation in life. That's wisdom. That's what it 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:12.599 means to live wisely. And tonight we talk about wisdom in relationship to the 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:18.400 topic of faith and work which might be a confusing phrase. What the 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:22.840 phrase means is asking what is the gospel? What is your Christian faith 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:28.400 have to do with your work life? Your life as a laborer whether that's in a day job 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:33.560 Monday to Friday or retired and working around your house, woodworking, crafting, 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:42.960 whatever work and all sorts of ways we work all the time. And over the last 10 00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:48.359 years or so this topic has become more and more popular and if you keep up with 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:53.200 any online Christian websites for instance like the Gospel Coalition or 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:57.239 Desiring God or something like that which some of you I'm sure do you'll 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:01.640 have seen faith and work as a primary topic featured over and over again and 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:05.560 more and more over the last few years and some people would say faith and work 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:10.840 such a fad thing to talk about in the church today. But you know what the Bible 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:17.079 talks about work a lot. We read a number of passages tonight. There are 20 in the 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:21.719 book of Proverbs that mention human labor or work in its relationship to 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:27.120 faith faith and God. And we need so we need to talk about this more and 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:32.520 especially today Robert Bella who is associate who was a sociologist at 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:37.160 Berkeley that just passed away he categorized our current culture with the 00:02:37.160 --> 00:02:41.480 phrase expressive individualism. So what he meant by that is we're 00:02:41.480 --> 00:02:47.000 individualist in the modern world and that means for work in relationship 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:52.199 to work that work is largely conceived of today as a method for self-advancement 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:58.800 he's writing this in a competition against everybody else or for some of us 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:05.479 it's simply a means of profit in order to live for the weekend. In other words 00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:09.240 he's saying that most people conceive of work today as our religious it has 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.879 nothing to do with religion or faith or anything it's just what you need to do 00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:21.639 to make money. But in earlier centuries prior to ours faith and work was a huge 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:26.879 issue a pivotal issue in the time of the Reformation it was a very important 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.359 issue for Protestants and so what we're doing tonight is just trying to recover 00:03:30.359 --> 00:03:35.000 a little bit of that theology of work or they used to call it the theology of 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:41.400 vocation. So this Proverbs as it has been is a bit more instructive than it is 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:46.360 inspirational but it is both. So we're gonna look at we're gonna talk about 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:50.759 three things and there's so much we could do and I hope to do a big series on 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:54.800 this at some point but tonight we're just gonna give an overview and and say 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:01.960 three things and that's first work is good second work is bad and then third 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:07.960 we're just gonna ask how does God matter to your work life okay so first work is 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:13.879 good in the church in the church community in Europe in the Middle Ages in 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:19.160 the medieval era there was a distinction that was pretty common related to work 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:23.720 and that was that there are two types of work there's work that matters to God and 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:28.480 there's work that doesn't matter to God okay and what that meant was that a 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:33.040 hierarchy developed in the way up in the way human beings think about work life 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:38.520 vocation your day job one the hierarchy looks like this work that matters to God 00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:45.080 is religious work in other words the highest order is a priest a monk a non 00:04:45.080 --> 00:04:49.439 somebody that separated their lives out just for the service of religion and 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:54.759 faith and and God and that's work that is truly important that's eternal it has 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:59.160 eternal weight to it and that meant that the rest of the work they called by the 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:04.600 word mundane so the word mundane that we use today comes from that that it's 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:07.920 work that's fine and good and well and you have to eat and all that but it 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:12.440 doesn't matter and it doesn't have any interest to God it has no religious 00:05:12.440 --> 00:05:19.680 purpose whatsoever now in Proverbs 31 and in all sorts of other passages of the 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:24.680 Bible one of the things that the the church after the Middle Ages the church 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:30.000 of the Reformation came in and said is is no that's not what the Bible teaches 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:35.879 about work and Proverbs 31 that we read in the second reading is was a pivotal 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:42.079 place that they went to to explain that point now Proverbs 31 it's this it's the 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:47.280 word about the ideal woman the ideal wife and this is not a sermon about 00:05:47.280 --> 00:05:51.920 womanhood or the ideal wife at all all I want to show you is what it has to say 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:57.840 about work Eric Lane who's a commentator on the book of Proverbs he says that the 00:05:57.840 --> 00:06:03.480 primary description here of this woman that he would use is industrious she's 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:08.360 industrious and did you catch it just if you just glance over the passage verse 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:14.439 13 she seeks wool and flax she goes in other words to buy raw goods to make 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:20.480 something verse 14 she's a merchant she goes and partitions out good materials 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:25.960 from bad materials verse 13 again she works with her hands verse 15 she gets 00:06:25.960 --> 00:06:31.840 up early she runs the farm she runs her agricultural business verse 16 she has 00:06:31.840 --> 00:06:39.400 economic intelligence she goes out she surveys new land and she buys it she's 00:06:39.400 --> 00:06:43.680 in other words she's a house she's a manager and she's an entrepreneur she's 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:49.560 both of those things and the point is in some ways that part of the way the 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:54.560 passage describes the ideal wife and it repeats this for men as well throughout 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:59.560 the whole book of Proverbs is through economic terms through the terms of 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:05.240 business and exchange and material goods and craftsmanship and production and 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:12.840 entering into the daily work workplace in other words work is not our religious 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:23.519 it's not not religious and work matters to God it's here in Proverbs 31 the daily 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:30.120 life the economic world our daily life as producers and merchants in the economy 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:36.239 matters to God that's the point here that it describes this woman in verse 10 as 00:07:36.239 --> 00:07:42.039 the excellent wife is the way the translation here has it literally it's 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:46.200 the woman of valor or the noble woman some might say and there's only one 00:07:46.200 --> 00:07:50.080 other place in the Bible that that phrase is used for a woman and that's in 00:07:50.080 --> 00:07:57.879 the book of Ruth originally in the Hebrew Bible in the Jewish Bible the book of 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:01.480 Ruth came right after the book of Proverbs and so in Proverbs 31 it 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:06.840 describes the wife of nobility or a valor as an industrious worker and then in the 00:08:06.840 --> 00:08:11.920 very next book the book of Ruth the only other woman described like that the 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:16.120 woman Ruth the woman of valor you'll remember that she spends three quarters 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:22.120 of the book is spent in Boas field working picking as a farmhand doing good 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:27.640 work so that she and Naomi can eat right this is the woman of valor she's working 00:08:27.640 --> 00:08:35.200 work is being praised the point is to ask this question where does a Christian 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:40.120 do God's work where does it where do you if you believe in the gospel where do 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:46.440 you do God's work and our tendency today just like the middle ages is to say the 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:51.399 people doing God's work are the ministers and then those who come in and 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:57.039 volunteer and serve in the church and then maybe whenever I'm out in the world 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.320 evangelizing or talking to somebody about the gospel that's what I'm doing 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:06.480 God's work the in other words we want to carry over from the middle ages a sharp 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:11.639 distinction between religious work and mundane work one matters to God and 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:18.600 another doesn't the Bible says no the Bible says no and the Reformation said 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:23.120 no one of the lost probably forgotten points about the Protestant Reformation 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.840 was that after justification and Scripture the third most important thing 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:33.200 they talked about was work Luther wrote an entire book on work on the theology 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:38.879 of vocation making this point and they pulled from Proverbs 31 Genesis 1 Psalm 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:44.400 137 all which they said says no to this dichotomy between work that matters to 00:09:44.400 --> 00:09:50.320 God and work that doesn't matter to God this hierarchy Luther put it this way the 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:56.600 milkmaid is the hand of God in the world the milkmaid in his time was that is the 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:01.480 hands of God in the world what did he mean by that well he turned to Psalm 147 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:08.480 and Psalm 147 says this God gives security to your gates God gives food to 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.680 all the tables and it goes on and on and on and describes all the things God does 00:10:12.680 --> 00:10:17.800 and then Luther asked how how does God give security to the gates of Jerusalem 00:10:17.800 --> 00:10:22.800 how does God put food on our tables how does he do it and this is what he said 00:10:22.800 --> 00:10:30.000 by the brick mason the soldier the farmer the milkmaid the judge the king 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.399 and the blacksmith see in other words they elucidated a doctrine of God's 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:40.559 providence a theology of providence what's providence providence when we say 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:44.639 providence we're talking about God's care for the world but providence 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:49.720 literally means the way you could break it up it means to provide providence to 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:54.320 provide how does God provide and the theology of the Reformation taken from 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:59.240 the Bible as they read it from Proverbs 31 and Genesis 1 and other places 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:04.960 was that God primarily provides for this world through human work through the 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:09.360 brick mason's and the blacksmith and the milkmaid through all sorts of jobs 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:16.000 blue collar and white collar that that's God's hands in the world so the first 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:23.600 point is simply this Christianity says that work in itself is good because God 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:33.279 made it good work it's good and Proverbs 8 we read that in the first reading 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:39.680 Proverbs 8 was a shocking passage to readers in the ancient Near East the 00:11:39.680 --> 00:11:44.040 time of the Old Testament just like Genesis 1 which is parallel to Proverbs 00:11:44.040 --> 00:11:49.200 8 was a shocking passage because if you noticed in Proverbs 8 it said that God 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:56.080 is a craftsman it used the link God is a craftsman he's a worker it says that he 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:02.320 wields resources he designs and he builds and this is parallel directly to 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:06.800 Genesis 1 what Proverbs 8 is reflecting on God is an architect and a craftsman 00:12:06.800 --> 00:12:11.759 is what happened in Genesis 1 one commentator says it like this the earth 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:17.920 had been completely unformed and empty in the beginning in the six-day process 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:25.240 of development God formed it and he filled it but not completely people must 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:30.399 now carry on the work of development by being fruitful they fill it even more 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:37.240 by subduing it they must form it even more as God's representatives we carry 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:43.559 on where God left off his work and then Tim Keller says it like this why didn't 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:51.359 God just name the animals himself after all in Genesis 1 God names things he 00:12:51.359 --> 00:12:57.319 calls the light day in the darkness night he names those things for us so he 00:12:57.319 --> 00:13:02.639 was clearly capable of naming the animals as well yet he invites human 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:09.599 beings to continue his work of developing creation to develop all the 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:15.080 capacities of human and physical nature to build a civilization that glorifies 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:23.920 him why was Proverbs 8 and Genesis 1 so shocking to ancient Near Eastern readers 00:13:23.920 --> 00:13:30.000 outside of Israel because there were a number of texts in the ancient Near East 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.600 in the time of the Old Testament that gave creation stories stories about how 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:41.279 the world came into being that were not we're very unlike Genesis 1 and 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:46.680 Proverbs 8 and the most famous one which I've talked about here before was text 00:13:46.680 --> 00:13:52.879 taken from Mesopotamian lands called the Enuma Elish and in the Enuma Elish 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:59.440 there's a pantheon of gods and in this pantheon of gods one God Marduk a male 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:07.680 God murders the goddess of the sea Tiamat and when he murders her he slices 00:14:07.680 --> 00:14:13.840 open her belly and this story and out of her belly pours forth the material 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:19.440 world so the heavens and the earth and the stars and the planet that we live on 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:23.800 comes forth from the belly of this murdered goddess in this story and 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:29.719 basically what happens is that Tiamat says okay that was a mistake because 00:14:29.719 --> 00:14:34.679 who's gonna take care of this that we accidentally created and he creates 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:41.719 humans Marduk creates humans and he says these will be the slaves the slaves 00:14:41.719 --> 00:14:45.279 of the world to take care of this mistaken world that we've accidentally 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:51.199 made right now this was the primary story of creation going around much of 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:56.879 the ancient Near East at the time and it's a story that says that the gods do 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:04.280 not work to be a god is to do nothing but lazily rest right and secondly that 00:15:04.280 --> 00:15:09.520 the only reason human beings were created is as slaves to do work so in 00:15:09.520 --> 00:15:15.720 other words gods don't work and work is bad in Greek philosophy we won't recount 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:19.520 any stories but it's the exact same thing if you've read any Greek mythology 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:25.159 that the point of the gods is to be lazy to rest while human beings do their 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:29.720 bidding this is the normal story in Aristotle the most worthwhile life is a 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:34.039 life free of exertion and labor that's Greek philosophy that's fundamental 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:38.399 Greek philosophy that's the most worthwhile life but Tim Keller says it 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:46.919 like this the Bible Contra as soon as the Bible opens the history of the world 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:56.159 begins and it begins with work and with a work week which God acts within to 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:05.159 teach us that work is good this work is in paradise it's not in a fallen world 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:10.759 God works in paradise humans work in paradise in other words work is not a 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:17.919 curse work is not bad work is good just to close this point Dorothy Sayers puts 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:23.080 it this way what is the Christian understanding of work it is that work 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:29.240 itself is not primarily a thing one does to live but the thing one lives to do 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:36.080 it's not primarily a thing one does in order to live but the thing one lives to 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:45.040 do so what does this mean this means that for the Christian we have no place to 00:16:45.040 --> 00:16:51.879 look down at at types of work that are categorized in the modern world as less 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:57.920 important types of work where people get their hands dirtier than we do in our 00:16:57.920 --> 00:17:04.039 work that all work is dignified and if you can permit me to speak of God in 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:08.240 human terms for just a second in the very beginning we see a God who comes 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:11.839 down to the world and gets his hands dirty who digs into the material 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:16.720 creation he who looks a lot like a gardener and then commissions Adam and 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:23.960 Eve to follow after him with the same type of pattern of work now take a 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:29.960 breath and feel liberated because here's the news what does it mean to be a 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:38.920 Christian in your workplace Monday to Friday and the answer because work is 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:46.920 good is it's not just to do evangelism while we are called to evangelize in 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:51.840 the context of our workplace the good news the burden that has to be lifted 00:17:51.840 --> 00:17:56.360 the first order is this what does it mean to be a Christian at work it means to 00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:02.399 go to work it means to do your job it means to do it well it means to show up 00:18:02.399 --> 00:18:08.839 on time it means to set an example for your colleagues as a good worker because 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:14.839 God has gifted human beings with work and said work is good in and of itself how 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:20.719 do you glorify God in your work you work and you work well so that's the first 00:18:20.719 --> 00:18:25.279 thing work is simply good simply good secondly in point two and three are much 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:28.680 shorter so that was the long one this is the medium one and the third one is the 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:35.119 really short one so that's good news get excited for that secondly work work is 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:42.920 bad work is bad and what I mean by that is that it's simultaneously 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:50.319 simultaneously work is good but work is broken work is broken so you may have 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:56.119 listened to that spiel I just gave from the biblical word that work is good and 00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:03.519 said that's not my experience that's not my experience my experience is that work 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:11.439 is rough and hard and miserable and I hate Mondays and work my work feels 00:19:11.439 --> 00:19:18.159 fruitless and I just want to change jobs all the time and Proverbs gets that to 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:24.880 chapter 12 verse 14 kind of exemplifies a number of Proverbs that talk about work 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:29.960 and the point is it saying work hard from the fruit of his mouth a man is 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:35.200 satisfied with good and the work of a man's hands comes back to him in other 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:40.160 words you reap what there's a principle in Proverbs you reap what you sow so what 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:44.800 it's saying is if you work hard then generally the principle is you will bear 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:50.319 fruit you will you have produce in the older sense or whatever kind of product 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:57.399 you produce in the modern sense but Proverbs is constantly warning that 00:19:57.399 --> 00:20:04.039 anger in the pride discouragement the temptation of beauty money power and the 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:09.519 issues involved in human self-control all in relationship to work cause work to 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:14.480 be devastatingly bad sometimes in other words what Proverbs is saying is that 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:21.720 human sin and work oftentimes mixed together and create fruitlessness 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:28.640 fruitless labor so 10 5 there's something wrong with us in our work 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:33.839 chapter 10 verse 5 he who gathers in summer is a prudent son but those who 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:39.759 are sleeping in the harvest time are sons who bring shame the sin of sloth or 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:46.559 laziness we've looked at that whoever works as land will have plenty sorry 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:52.599 will have plenty of bread but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks all 00:20:52.599 --> 00:21:01.240 sense you reap what you sow work hard and you will bear fruit but not always 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:09.240 because work is broken work is work is broken work is work is frustrating work 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:15.880 is sometimes fruitless and sometimes it's devastating and we get this not 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:19.079 only the book of Proverbs but all over the Bible but especially to take it back 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:23.759 to the creation story in Genesis 1 and Genesis 3 have you ever noticed in 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:28.480 reading if you've read carefully through Genesis 1 to Genesis 3 that the 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:34.440 blessings God commands of Adam and Eve are exactly parallel to the curses that 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:39.120 Adam and Eve receive in Genesis chapter 3 so for instance in Genesis chapter 1 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:44.079 verse 28 he gives them two blessings and commands and the blessings and 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:49.359 commands are this one be fruitful and multiply in other words have loving 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:54.039 human relationships and have babies that's what he's saying that's the first 00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:58.319 blessing and then the second blessing he gives us then subdue the earth that's 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:03.000 the command to work subdue the earth be like me create things plant things 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:12.119 subdue the earth human beings rebel against God Adam and Eve sin against God 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:19.240 and in Genesis chapter 3 when God comes down to curse the humans that have 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:25.440 rebelled against God the curses follow exactly the logic of the blessing so the 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.519 curse to the woman cursed is your fruitfulness after you told them be 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:34.200 fruitful and multiply now cursed is in other words cursed is your love 00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:38.639 relationship with your husband your childbearing fundamental to human 00:22:38.639 --> 00:22:42.639 existence that's cursed in the second curse the curse to Adam follows exactly 00:22:42.639 --> 00:22:48.000 the blessing that was to human beings of work and labor he said subdue the earth 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:54.119 work be be like me in your working and then in Genesis 3 17 commentators call 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:59.519 this the curse of the thorns the curse of the thorns cursed is the ground 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:05.279 because of you it will bear up thorns and thistles that frustrate you as you 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:10.240 try and work in other words the point is just as human beings rebel against and 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:15.960 sin against their creator so the earth rebels against us when we try to be 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:21.000 creators like God you see just as a human being rebels against God the 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:25.759 creator so the curse is that the earth rebels against us when we try to create 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:31.200 and work in it it's fighting against us that's the point of the curse of the 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:37.400 thorns Keller asked this question which I think is really insightful do you find 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:45.839 the two great tasks in life love or human relationships and work to be 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:55.400 excruciatingly hard this story explains why God ties the pain of love and 00:23:55.400 --> 00:24:00.680 marriage and the pain of work very closely together in these verses both 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:09.920 childbearing and farming are now called painful labor theologian W.R. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:15.280 Forrester writes this in every single human language that has ever existed 00:24:15.280 --> 00:24:22.600 language after language the same word is used for toil and childbearing the 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:29.679 word labor and the word travail now the two great blessings are both two great 00:24:29.679 --> 00:24:36.000 context of suffering and misery and fruitlessness and depression the 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:42.359 blessings have become curses work is good and work is broken you see but by 00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:50.279 the way only the Christian story can do justice to this fact the fact that 00:24:50.279 --> 00:24:55.680 every single one of us cannot help but keep working we can't help we'll go 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:02.639 crazy if we don't and oftentimes you'll hear in a number of stats and things 00:25:02.639 --> 00:25:06.480 that one of the things that drives people crazy if they're immobile is the 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.359 fact that they don't feel productive right we all want to feel productive we 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:15.319 all want to work so bad it's so woven into who we are it's so deep and at the 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:21.759 same time we hate work we don't want to go to work it's so frustrating and both 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:25.519 of those realities exist all the time together we have to do it we want to do 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.359 it and we can't stand it and only the Christian story can make sense of that 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:34.359 you see only the fact that work is a blessing and a curse at the very same 00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:38.759 time can make sense of that and what this creates just to round out this point 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:45.119 is that this fact creates all sorts of sins and relationship to our work for 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:51.039 some and some and you will all of us will be on this list somewhere for some of 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:58.799 us work is idolatry in other words we're addicted to overworking and we ignore 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:03.599 the cycle of rest and work that God created from the beginning for some of 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:10.639 us work is a total burden and that means we underwork so we have the sin of 00:26:10.639 --> 00:26:14.359 overwork we also have the sin of underwork and that expresses itself in 00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:21.240 laziness and sloth and idleness and being a bum as we say some of us struggle 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:26.839 with the sin that our work is simply a means to personal pleasures in other 00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:32.439 words we we could go to work to maximize our profits in order to seek total 00:26:32.439 --> 00:26:37.159 individualistic pleasures in life we work for the weekend in other words and 00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:44.680 for others of us our work is our identity in other words we wrap our personal 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:50.560 worth entirely in our successes and failures in the marketplace and all of 00:26:50.560 --> 00:26:57.120 those are the ways that's that work is broken and bruised by the fall but 00:26:57.120 --> 00:27:04.400 there is hope for work there is hope for work if you've been reading through the 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:07.920 book of Proverbs at all since we've been going through it there's one verse in 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:12.560 the book of Proverbs that commentators call the gospel of Proverbs one verse 00:27:12.560 --> 00:27:19.640 that's clear and it's in chapter 16 verse 6 and it says this by loving kindness 00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:26.440 and truth all iniquity is atoned for by loving kindness and truth and that word 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:30.400 loving kindness we've talked about this a number of times here is a Hebrew word 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:36.200 hessed and it's a really important Hebrew word hessed and oftentimes it's 00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:41.920 translated as steadfast loyalty in other words by God's steadfast loyalty 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:48.280 iniquity is atoned for that's covenant language by God's stead by God's 00:27:48.280 --> 00:27:54.200 hessed his unbelievable steadfast loyalty and question is steadfast loyalty to 00:27:54.200 --> 00:28:00.240 what and right there in the midst of the two curses of Genesis 3 the 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:04.839 curse of the woman of fruitlessness a childbearing of human relationships 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:10.799 broken and the curse of the man or of human relationship to the ground our 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:16.720 work our labor is the exact promise that this passage is talking about Genesis 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:26.200 3 15 God promises by the seed of this woman Eve I will crush the head of the 00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:33.519 serpent the representative figure of Satan's sin death by the seed the 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:38.440 singular seed of this woman I will crush the head of serpent the steadfast 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:46.279 loyalty of God to that promise is the atonement of ours for our sins of work 00:28:46.279 --> 00:28:52.920 there's hope for work there's hope for work Hosea 2 6 picks up on this idea I 00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:58.759 will frustrate her way the way of Israel with the thorns in her path the 00:28:58.759 --> 00:29:05.920 curse of the thorn I will build walls against Israel through other workers so 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:11.640 that Israel cannot find its path this is God judging Israel thousands of years 00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:19.400 later from the promise of Genesis 3 in Matthew 27 is the next instance in the 00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:25.320 Bible that we see the curse of the thorn the curse of work they took a crown of 00:29:25.320 --> 00:29:30.840 thorns they took thorns and they wrapped them up into a circle and they drove the 00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:40.160 thorns down into his head Jesus Christ and he bled and his skull was broken he 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:47.080 bore the curse of the thorn you see in that moment Jesus literally bore the 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:53.679 precise curse of Genesis 3 the brokenness and sin that we bring to the 00:29:53.679 --> 00:30:02.439 context of work in his very person and that means that he is the second Adam 00:30:02.439 --> 00:30:09.720 bearing the curse of the ground for you there is hope for work there is atonement 00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:14.559 and forgiveness for the ways that you have overworked and underworked and made 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:19.200 an idol out of work and not seen your daily work Monday to Friday in the light 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:23.720 of God there's hope for that and it's the fact that Jesus wore the crown of 00:30:23.720 --> 00:30:31.399 thorns when he died and that means redemption is not just something for 00:30:31.399 --> 00:30:40.359 our souls but it's also for our whole lives our bodies our work let me just 00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:47.839 say briefly this is not dogma from the pulpit this is my opinion my opinion and 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:51.519 this is controversial or at least contested but a lot of people in our 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:55.799 tradition think this is that in the new heavens in the new earth work will not 00:30:55.799 --> 00:31:02.240 cease there is so much hope for work I think the Bible teaches that Jesus 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:07.839 Christ came to redeem us as workers eternally in the new heavens in the 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:13.199 new earth in cycle of work and rest in the book of Revelation we are pronounced 00:31:13.199 --> 00:31:18.319 to be the sons and daughters of God as rulers of the earth that term ruler means 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:27.439 worker take it as a Berean would and think about it for yourself a work where 00:31:27.439 --> 00:31:32.799 we can continue without the curse of the thorns now let's just close to two 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:37.199 minutes and we're done with this how can we say that God matters matters for 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:44.880 your work as you start Monday very soon let me just say briefly first the 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:50.880 gospel frees you from the sin of overwork because it teaches you that God 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:56.039 rested so that you should rest the gospel or your faith frees you from the 00:31:56.039 --> 00:32:00.519 sin of underwork Proverbs is calling you if you struggle with laziness and 00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:08.079 idleness if you're if you're a procrastinator just really bad procrastinator 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:12.400 if you are addicted to social media if you really struggle with something like 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:21.160 that it's a call to you to repent and know that faith matters for that area the 00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:25.960 gospel faith frees you from work as an identity crisis where your worth your 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:30.480 worth is not wrapped up in your performance because you are son or daughter 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:36.759 of God in the gospel it frees you from the slavery of profit making of doing 00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:40.600 anything you can do to make as much money as you can and it frees you to be 00:32:40.600 --> 00:32:47.000 generous knowing that money is a good thing when it's used well one author 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:51.000 Tim Keller has written a book on this and I would commend it every good endeavor 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:56.519 it's excellent I read through it this week and at the beginning he surveys all 00:32:56.519 --> 00:33:03.680 the recent books on the faith and work discussion and summarizes not eight books 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:08.559 and what their fundamental point is how does faith matter for your work and they 00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:12.599 all sometimes pit these things in competition against each other but I 00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:19.079 just want to read them to you how do you serve God at work the way to serve God 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:23.000 at work is to do skillful excellent work that's the first author the second 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:28.199 author the way to serve God at work is to serve the common good do work that 00:33:28.199 --> 00:33:32.919 matters for helping society even in the smallest of ways that's the second the 00:33:32.919 --> 00:33:36.559 third the way to serve God at work is to be personally honest about your faith 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:42.199 and to evangelize your colleagues the fourth the way to serve God at work is 00:33:42.199 --> 00:33:48.039 to create beauty adding to God's creation the fifth the way to serve God at work is 00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:52.639 to work from a Christian motivation to glorify God seeking to influence the 00:33:52.639 --> 00:33:56.879 culture around you the sixth the way to serve God at work is to work with a 00:33:56.879 --> 00:34:02.639 grateful joyful gospel changed heart through all the ups and downs with 00:34:02.639 --> 00:34:07.119 virtue and the fruits of the spirit seven the way to serve God at work is to 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:12.400 seek out your God-given joys and passions and to use your gifts and lastly 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:17.519 the way to serve God at work is to make money so that you can live and eat and 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:24.800 provide and be as generous as is responsibly possible these are oftentimes 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:29.679 pitted against each other what is the right way what is the right way among 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:35.759 these to to work as a Christian what's the answer the answer is yes the answer 00:34:35.759 --> 00:34:40.800 is yes it's all of these things and some will be accented more in particular 00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:47.239 jobs than others so work because it's good and right work excellently because 00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:53.279 work excellent work pleases God work to help society even in the smallest of 00:34:53.279 --> 00:34:59.959 ways work to seek out a context to evangelize yes indeed work to create 00:34:59.959 --> 00:35:04.439 like God created work with joy motivated by the gospel showing the work 00:35:04.439 --> 00:35:09.959 fruits of the spirit work with joy through all the frustrations of work 00:35:09.959 --> 00:35:14.639 knowing that because work is cursed and broken you should expect to be frustrated 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:19.279 at work the Christian knows work is going to be frustrating but has joy in the 00:35:19.279 --> 00:35:24.000 midst of it because the Christian knows work is broken and lastly work to make 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:35.319 money because eating food is good because the church has to have people who can 00:35:35.319 --> 00:35:41.199 make money that we don't make and support its work because those who cannot 00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:48.719 work need those who can these are all the ways let's pray father we ask that you 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:55.839 would make us very aware that wisdom is exercised in every domain of life so ask 00:35:55.839 --> 00:36:01.000 we ask now a lord that you would teach us to work wisely knowing that we have 00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:16.320 relationship with you and Jesus name amen