So we're talking about faith and work, this massive part of our lives.
As Jaya said, our waking day, probably more than a half of our life in many ways.
And we're seeing it's absolutely critical that we think about this really important part of our life
in light of what does God say and how does God want us to think about this really important part of our life.
For those of us that are Christians, how does our commitment to love and follow Jesus
shape this really important part of our life.
And so far what we've seen is that work is not just a necessary evil,
something we've just got to grin and bear until we can one day retire or live for the weekend.
No, it's actually part of what it means to be a human being made in God's image.
And we've seen that God calls us to see our work as an opportunity to love, love our city,
love our co-workers, love the world in which we live through our work.
And I hope this has been encouraging and inspiring and uplifting.
And yet, as we said two weeks ago, that isn't always our lived experience.
Sometimes work is hard and frustrating and difficult.
Sometimes it's degrading.
And you have bosses and co-workers and markets and all sorts of things that go wrong.
And why is that?
Why is it that this thing that God gives us, which is good, can also be so hard and difficult?
Well, this morning we're going to look at Genesis 3 and understand why it is that work is sometimes
difficult and hard.
And why it is that sometimes God calls us to difficult work.
And so Celeste is going to come and read Genesis 3 for us.
And so let's listen to that.
And as she does that, I'm going to tell you, we've got two things to say.
You can come on up, Celeste.
This morning we're going to look at the curse, why work is hard.
And secondly, the crucible, why God calls us to difficult work.
So let's listen up.
So this morning's scripture reading comes from Genesis 3.
Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.
There you go.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman,
Did God actually say,
You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
And the woman said to the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
but God said,
You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden,
neither shall you touch it lest you die.
But the serpent said to the woman,
You will not surely die,
for God knows that when you eat of it,
your eyes will be opened and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes,
and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate,
and she also gave some to her husband who was with her,
and he ate.
Then in verse 16,
To the woman he said,
I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing.
In pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.
And to Adam he said,
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,
you shall not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground because of you.
In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken.
For you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thank you.
Thank you, Celeste.
Let's pray briefly as we come to look at this word.
Heavenly Father,
your word is always good.
God, your word is life-giving.
You are the true God,
and your word speaks life to us.
And so God,
as we come to your word this morning,
we want to understand your heart.
We want to understand what it is
that you have to say about our work.
And God,
we want to hear your commissioning
and your calling
to send us into our workplaces
full of your spirit,
alive to you,
trusting and obeying you,
and being a light and a blessing to this world.
And so we pray, God,
as we look at your word,
won't you,
by your spirit,
speak to us.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
Okay, so,
like I said,
we're going to look at two things this morning.
The curse,
why work is hard and difficult,
and secondly,
the crucible,
why God calls us to difficult work.
So firstly,
the curse.
Now,
Genesis 1 and 2,
we looked at it a few weeks ago,
describe God's pattern and design for our world,
the way that the world ought to be.
But Genesis 3 describes the way the world actually is.
And there's a big difference between the twos.
And Genesis 3 tells us
why the world is fractured and difficult and hard
and is full of sickness and death
and injustice
and selfishness
and chaos
and tears and agony
and frustration.
And at the heart of the Bible's understanding
of the world in which we live
and the brokenness of our world
is the concept of sin,
which is mankind's rejection of God,
rebellion of God,
and as a consequence,
our alienation from Him.
Now,
I know that we live in a world
in which we're always told
to think well of ourselves
and positive thinking
and, you know,
don't think about such bad stuff.
And I know it can feel like,
oh boy,
here we go again.
The past is just trying to make me feel
even worse about myself
than I already do.
But hear me out.
Because the Bible says that
unless we understand the roots of the problem,
we'll never grasp the solution
and the good news of the gospel.
And so the Bible,
like a good doctor,
goes right to the root of the problem
and tells us what's wrong with the world.
And so Genesis 3,
we see that in the midst of this
garden paradise
that God created,
God tells Adam and Eve
not to do something very specifically,
not to eat the fruit of a certain tree.
Now,
what is so important about that tree in particular?
Well,
probably nothing.
Very important.
Wasn't that tree.
The issue is the instruction.
Will they listen to God
and trust Him
and obey Him?
Will they trust that God knows what's best?
Or will they go their own way?
And so,
Satan comes to Adam and Eve
and he says three things.
Firstly,
he twists God's word
and he says,
has God really said this?
And he puts a different spin on it.
Secondly,
he questions God's word
by saying,
you won't really die.
God is lying to you.
You can't really trust Him.
But thirdly,
he says,
if you do what I tell you,
you will be like God.
And so Adam and Eve
trust the Satan
and they rebel against God.
Now,
on the one hand,
what the Satan said
was absolutely right.
In a sense,
Adam and Eve,
mankind,
humanity,
did become like God.
It didn't become divine in that sense,
but we took on the status of God
in our lives
and in our world.
We decided,
we know what's best.
We'll determine what's right and wrong.
We will become our own authority.
We will decide how we should live.
And so,
having dethroned God
from the heart of humanity,
having usurped His authority
and put ourselves
where God should be,
we unleashed this catastrophe
across the world.
And because of our rebellion,
it unleashed the root
of all that's wrong
and broken with our world.
But,
so on the one hand,
what Satan said was right,
but on the other hand,
what he said was absolutely wrong
because he says,
you won't surely die.
Nothing's going to happen to you.
And yet,
as a result of Adam and Eve's rebellion,
absolutely death entered the world.
Now,
Adam and Eve didn't suddenly fall over
and stop breathing,
right?
But,
but in a sense,
decay,
deterioration,
breakdown of society,
death itself entered
into the very kind of fabric
of our entire world.
So that every aspect of our world
and our humanity,
physically,
spiritually,
emotionally,
psychologically,
every aspect of this world
is now tainted
and affected
by the deterioration
and the death virus.
Our world is broken.
Nothing works
as it should be.
It's kind of like,
I don't know if you've seen those
before and after photos,
right?
You see them everywhere
in the MTR station,
right?
Before you signed up
for that dieting program
and afterwards,
right?
Before you bought that
million dollar hair treatment program,
right?
You look like me
and afterwards,
right?
You look like Oscar,
okay?
Before and after photos,
right?
It's kind of like that
except it's the other way around.
Before,
the world is full of beauty
and joy
and purpose
and delight
and meaning
and significance
and harmony
and afterwards,
the world is full of chaos
and confusion
and pain
and agony
and heartache
and anxiety
and stress
and the death virus
has come in.
And Genesis 3 says,
or Genesis says
that this is true
of every area of life
but as Celeste read to us,
one of the areas
that this impacts
is our work.
Our work.
And so,
look at Genesis 3 with me
if you've got in the bulletin.
Verse 17,
to Adam,
God said,
because you have eaten
of the tree
of which I commanded you
saying you shall not eat of it,
cursed is the ground
because of you.
In pain,
you shall eat of it
all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles
it shall bring forth for you
and you shall eat
of the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground
for out of it
you were taken
from,
you are from dust
and to dust
you shall return.
Now,
this passage
is rich and full
and there's a lot
we could explore in it
but let me just
pick up three things
that relate to our work
in this passage.
The first is this.
It tells us
that our work
is frustrating
and difficult.
Okay?
Now,
you probably don't need me
to convince you of that.
If you've worked
more than one week
in your life
you will know that.
Right?
Work is hard.
It's frustrating.
Whether that's physical work
or mental work
whether it's paid work
or unpaid work
you're a student
at university
and you put in
so many hours
in that exam
and you still
only just pass
or maybe you don't.
Okay?
You,
it feels like
you're pushing
rocks up a hill.
Look at what he says here.
The ground
is cursed of you.
It means
the resources
that you're meant
to work with
time
and people
and energy
and things
they seem to conspire
against you.
You put hundreds
of hours
into something
and you see
mediocre results.
Now,
it's not that work
itself is a curse.
It's not that God
says,
okay,
you sinned.
Now,
I'm going to make you work.
Before that,
you could just live
on holiday.
Work itself
is not a curse
but now our work
operates under
a cursed
and fallen world
and so our work
becomes hard
and difficult.
Look at verse 19.
By the sweat
of your face
you shall eat bread.
Okay,
that just feels like
life in Hong Kong
in the summer,
right?
That's just the way
it is.
In pain
you shall eat of it
all the days
of your life.
So,
in other words,
you'll be fruitful.
It won't be that
there'll be no fruit
from your work
but it'll come through
difficult work.
Rather than the environment
working with you,
now it seems like
the system is stacked
against you.
Maybe you spend
months developing
this new product
or this system
and you're about
to unleash it
and you get a new boss
and in one minute
he pulls the plug.
Okay,
I'm sure many of us
have experienced that.
Or maybe you spent
years developing
this product,
you sign this deal
and you're about
to go full steam ahead
and the next day
one of the key members
of your team
resigns,
hands on their resignation.
It just feels like,
oh,
can everything,
just obstacle
after obstacle
after obstacle.
And remember,
God's mandate
to Adam and Eve
was to work the ground
to cultivate the garden
so it would flourish
and fruit trees
and blessing.
And what do they get?
Thorns and thistles.
In other words,
the garden of delight
at times resembles
more of a desert.
It's hard work.
Maybe you have
this great vision
for your industry
or your company
and you've got to
introduce something
that's going to bring
safety for employees
or change the way
that the industry works
or change business
ethics in your company.
And yet it just feels
like the more you try,
you come against obstacle
and frustration
and difficulty.
It's just hard work.
Now if you were here
last year,
we preached
through the book
of Ecclesiastes
and one of the things
that Koheleth,
the teacher,
says to us
in chapter 2,
he talks about work
in the broken world.
Look at what he says.
He says,
I gave my heart
up to despair
over all the toil
of my labors
under the sun.
Because sometimes
the person
who has toiled
with wisdom
and knowledge
and skill
must leave it
to be enjoyed
by someone
who did not work for it.
What is a man
from all the toil
and striving
with which he toils
under the sun?
For all his days
are sorrow.
His work
is an irritation.
Even in the night
his heart
does not rest.
How many of us
can resonate with that?
You sign off
on Friday afternoon,
you should be at rest
for the weekend,
but the whole weekend
your mind is thinking.
Or you lie in bed
at night
and you're wondering,
grappling.
Even at night
your heart
does not rest.
Now,
what's the implication
of this?
Well,
one of the implications
is this.
It doesn't mean
that if work
is hard or difficult,
it doesn't mean
you're in the wrong job
or the wrong career
and you need
to jump ship,
right?
So sometimes people say,
oh,
I'm working so hard,
50 hours a week,
can you believe it?
Maybe this is not
my calling.
I know my calling
is to be a quality assurance
control manager
at Lindt Chocolate,
right?
That must be my calling
in life.
Or to,
you know,
be a snow ski instructor
on the slopes
of Japan.
That must be what God
has called me to do.
Or maybe,
my calling
is to test
the deck chairs
in the Maldives,
right?
Somebody's got to do it.
Okay, God,
I will respond
to that calling,
right?
No,
but actually,
just because work
is hard,
difficult,
doesn't mean
you're in the wrong place.
Because all work
in some sense
is going to be hard.
Because we live
in a fallen
and broken world.
Every job
is going to have
difficulties.
Every job
is going to have
its challenges.
And many jobs,
they look like
the perfect job
until you get inside.
And then you find
that actually
your manager
at Lindt Chocolate
is the grumpiest
person in the whole world.
Or maybe you finally
get that job
at Lindt Chocolate
and some batch
is contaminated
and a whole bunch
of people in Brazil
get sick
and you are responsible,
right?
Every job
in its world
is going to be difficult.
And just because
we think this job
doesn't spark joy
in my life,
doesn't mean it's time
to change jobs
so that you're
in the wrong job.
Actually,
God's design
and calling
for our work
is not to necessarily
be the most wonderful
place in the whole world.
It's to love.
It's to serve.
It's to serve our society
and God.
So,
first thing,
work is difficult
and challenging.
Second thing is this.
Our relationships
at work
are affected
by the fall.
Now,
we're going to talk
about this a little bit
more next week.
So,
let me not say
too much about this.
But in verse 16
that Celeste read to us,
one of the things you see
is the breakdown
of relationship
between Adam and Eve.
And this is symbolic
of all relationships
in the world.
That where God
has put people together
to partner together
and work together
and strengthen
and encourage each other
for the task
that He's called us to,
now often those relationships
are marked by
friction,
frustration,
difficulty,
irritation.
And we see this
all the time, right?
With our colleagues
and our co-workers.
Rather than celebrating
and encouraging each other,
strengthening each other,
now there's aggression.
There's competition
from colleagues.
There's managers
degrading and abusing people.
There's gossip.
There's talking
behind people's back.
And our relationships
get difficult and hard.
And sometimes
the work environment,
Jaya spoke about it.
It's not always easy.
Now,
we'll talk more
about this next week.
But what are the
implications of this?
Well,
one of the implications
is this.
Develop the discipline
of examining
your own life
and your own heart.
What I mean by that
is this.
Sometimes
at work people
are difficult.
Sometimes
colleagues
in particular
can be difficult.
And it's easy
to think,
oh,
I can't believe
I get to work
with these people,
right?
But here's the thing.
They might just
be thinking
the same thing
about you.
Okay?
And maybe
one of the reasons
why there's friction
in the team
is because I'm selfish.
And it's my issues
with my heart.
And so one of the
best things
we can do
is to pray
Psalm 139.
Search me,
oh God,
and know my heart.
Try me
and know my thoughts.
God,
see if there's
any grievous
way in me
and lead me
in the way
of everlasting life.
And then secondly,
make it your goal
to be the best
colleague,
the best
member of the team
in your school,
your company,
et cetera.
Okay?
So the fall
affects our work
itself.
It affects the
relationships,
the people at work.
But here's the third
thing that the fall,
the curse of the
broken world does,
is that it makes
work selfish
and enslaving.
Again,
Jaya spoke about this.
One of the main
consequences of
the fallen world
in Genesis 3
is the fact that
our relationship
with God,
the life source
of all hope
and meaning
and purpose
in life,
is now,
that relationship
is fractured.
And there's an
alienation that
has come into
the world.
And so,
what that means
is that we now
tend to look
to things in our
world to do
what only God
is meant to do.
We tend to look
to the things
in our world,
such as work
and people
and money,
to provide
the things that
God is meant to
or play the role
that God is meant
to play.
And so we often
tend to look
to our work
as a kind of
God-like idol.
What's an idol?
An idol is something
we look to
or make sacrifices
for,
something we
lay down our
life to in some
way,
something we
worship,
trusting that
in return,
it will bless
us,
it will provide
for us,
it will keep
us safe
and secure,
it will give
us validation
and identity.
The things that
God has meant
to provide for
us,
we now look
to work
to do those
things.
And so we see
this not long
after Genesis 3
in Genesis 11.
it's a fascinating
account of a
bunch of men
and women
that come
together,
they've made
some technological
and engineering
breakthroughs,
they've learnt
how to bake
bricks rather
than just relying
on stones,
and they come
together and
they say this,
let us make a
tower and a
city and we
will make a
name for
ourselves.
And so they
gather together
to build the
city, this
tower, the
tower of
Babel.
Tim Keller
says that in
the Bible,
to make a
name for
yourself,
always means
to construct
an identity,
to build a
sense of
self-worth
that proves
to us that
we're not a
nobody.
And that's
what the
people are
trying to
do, right?
They come
and they
work together
to construct
an identity,
a sense of
self, to
prove that
I'm not a
failure, I'm
not a
nobody.
But friends,
don't we do
this with
work all the
time?
Jai spoke
about it.
We look to
our work
to provide
an identity
to prove
to ourselves
at least
that we're
not a
failure.
We look to
our work, we
make great
sacrifices to
our work.
We sacrifice
our kids
on the
altar of
work.
We sacrifice
our well-being
and our
health on
the altar
of work.
So that
work can
provide for
us what
God has
meant to
provide.
A sense
of identity,
a sense
of hope,
a sense
of security,
a sense
of purpose.
And what
that does
is it
makes work
selfish and
it ultimately
enslaves us.
Richard Phillips
said it like
this,
God never
designed people
to find their
identities or
their ultimate
delight in the
achievement of
their own
hands.
God intended
for our work
to be a way
of delighting
in and
worshiping
him,
not an act
of self-actualization
and self-glory.
This is why
one of the
consequences for
sin is not
only that work
is difficult,
but that success
is empty.
That's a
profound thought.
One of the
consequences of
sin is not
only that work
is difficult,
but even
success is
empty.
Now,
what are the
implications of
this?
Well,
for work to
not become an
idol,
the thing that
you look to
to validate
you or give
you meaning
or purpose
or identity
in life,
you've got to
encounter in a
profoundly deep
way the true
and living God.
In other words,
unless you,
God says this,
the way to
demolish the
idols in our
heart is not
just to tell
ourselves,
don't worship
work,
don't worship
work.
You've got to
encounter a
better and
more profound
God, the
living God,
the true God
himself.
And you've
got to encounter
God in such a
way that he
disrupts your
life,
okay, by
dismantling your
idols, but at
the same time
gives you profound
peace because
you've encountered
the true and
living God.
You've got to
allow God to
disrupt your
life by
dethroning the
idols that you
look to.
And yet, as you
do that, as you
trust him, you'll
find that in that
disruption, actually
he'll bring you
peace.
You see, one of the
things with idols is
that we look to them
to give us security
and peace, and all
they give is us, they
give us restlessness.
They actually rob us
of peace.
And God says that if
you allow him to
dismantle the idol, to
demolish the idol, if
you allow him to
actually disrupt your
life, it will feel so
scary.
It'll feel like you're
taking a step out of
the boat onto water.
It'll feel profoundly
scary, and yet in that
place, you will find
peace.
peace, the peace
that your heart
really longs for.
Remember the words
of Augustine, our
hearts were made for
you, O God, and
we'll always be
restless until we
find our rest in
you.
And so that's what
the gospel is all
about.
Jesus says he came
to prove to you by
going to the cross
and dying and rising
again, that he alone
is God, but also
that you can trust
him.
Okay, so work is
difficult.
Work itself is
difficult.
Our relationships
are difficult.
Work becomes ensnaring
and selfish.
But the other thing
that we see in the
Bible is work is not
only operate under the
curse and difficult
and hard.
Secondly, work is a
crucible.
Why God calls us to
difficult work.
So what I'm trying to
argue here is that all
work is hard and
difficult because we
live in a fall and a
broken world.
But here's the
question.
Sometimes God calls
us specifically into
difficult work.
And why is that?
Why doesn't God just
call, you know, why
doesn't God just say,
listen, you're a
Christian now.
I love you.
You should go and work
in the Maldives, right?
Let all the difficult
work be done by those
people out there, right?
Why does God call us to
difficult work?
Well, one of the things
that the Bible tells us
is God doesn't just say,
listen, you live in a
fallen world, a broken
world, suck it up, one
day you'll get to heaven,
okay?
One of the things that
God tells us is that you
live in a fallen and a
broken world, that's true,
but the difficulties that
come our way are not just
bad luck, but are filtered
through the hands of a
loving Father, okay?
In other words, to endure
the difficulty of work is
not just a fact of life.
For many of us, in some
way, it's part of God's
divine call on our lives.
It's actually that God
calls us and leads us into
difficult work.
And that's because if you
are a Christian this
morning, and I know not
all of us are Christians,
but if you're a Christian
this morning, part of God's
call is to see your work
as a crucible.
Now, I don't know if you
know what a crucible is.
A crucible is this pot or
a container that is put
into an extremely hot
furnace so that the thing
that's inside of it, often
precious metals or gold or
silver or something, is
able to be melted and
refined and purified or
shaped and molded.
So they put some gold or
some kind of metal in a
crucible, they put the
crucible in this insanely hot
furnace, and it melts the
thing inside so that it can
be purified.
What God is saying is this,
throughout the Bible, God
says again and again and
again, that God calls us
sometimes to difficult and
extremely hard circumstances
because God uses those
circumstances as a crucible
to shape us and to purify us
and to mold us and to shape
our characters to be the
kind of people that he's
called us to be.
So for instance, Proverbs 17
says, a crucible is for
silver, a furnace is for gold,
but the Lord tests the heart
of his people.
In other words, sometimes the
struggle and the frustrations
of our work is not only
because of the curse, but
because actually they are God's
crucibles to shape us, to
reveal what's inside of our
hearts.
What are we really trusting in?
Where are we really finding
our identity and our hope and
our security?
And for those of us who are
Christians, we tend to think,
okay, my identity is in Jesus,
I know that, I'm secure in
him, until you get to work and
that deal falls flat, right?
Or your boss scolds you or
something goes wrong or you
don't make that promotion and
suddenly our whole world
crumbles and falls apart.
What's happening?
The refiner is at work in your
world.
God is at work in your life and
he's shaping you and he's
molding you.
And so sometimes the
difficulty of work is meant to
refine our characters.
So God wants us to be
patient, but how are you ever
going to know how impatient you
are until your patience is
tested, right?
Or how are you going to see
that you've got an anger
problem when life is always
going your way?
Sometimes God uses the
difficulty of work to reveal
what's really in our hearts
and to show our need for him.
I often think to myself, I
used to, I kind of laugh at
this, I used to think I was a
very patient person.
Until two things happened.
One, I had kids.
And two, a whole bunch of
work situations arose where I
got so impatient with people
and I realized I am a very
impatient person.
But it took the difficulty of
the crucible to reveal that,
right?
And so sometimes God allows
difficulty to come our way,
oftentimes in and through our
work, so that we can see our
need for him.
Paul writes this in
Corinthians, listen to what he
says here.
He says,
we do not want you to be
unaware, brothers and sisters,
of the affliction we experienced
when we were in Asia.
Some of you might feel the
same, right?
In America, it was so easy.
I came to Asia, deep
affliction.
For we were utterly burdened
beyond our strength and we
despaired of life itself.
Indeed, we felt we had received
the sentence of death.
But that was to make us rely
not on ourselves, but on the
God who raises us from the
dead.
You see that?
Again and again, the
scriptures say that the
hardship and the difficulty of
work are meant to be like a
shepherd's goad, a shepherd's
staff that are actually meant
to draw us back to God and
lead us to the foot of the
cross and say, God, I need
you.
They're meant to reveal the
counterfeit gods that we are
trusting in.
And sometimes we may think,
oh, work is difficult and the
environment isn't that good,
it must be time to leave.
Maybe, but maybe not.
Maybe that's exactly where God
wants you because he wants to
show you what you're trusting
in and what's in your heart.
Friends, again and again and
again, the scriptures tell us
that God is absolutely clear on
this, that God is infinitely
more concerned about our
character than our comfort.
And I know that in the 21st
century, that's hard to believe
because we think that the one
thing we're entitled to is a
comfortable life.
But again and again and again,
God says that he's infinitely
more concerned with our
character than our comfort.
Just read almost any book in
the Bible, any of the New
Testament epistles, any of the
gospels, right?
You'll see again and again
suffering and hardship,
anxiety, difficulty, stress.
This is a normal part of the
Christian life.
And sometimes God brings these
things into our life because he
wants us to see what's in our
hearts.
Now, last thing before we, last
section.
What about, what about if your
job or you work in an environment
or a company or for a boss that
the values directly contradict your
values as a follower of Jesus?
Maybe your company is very vocal in
supporting a cause or a movement
that you as a follower of Jesus
don't, can't support.
Maybe you work for a company that
invests in the industry or brokers
deals for an industry that is doing
harmful stuff to the environment or is
contributing towards division in
society and breakdown society.
What do you do?
What do you do if your boss treats
people badly or sexist or racist or
abuses people in the company?
What do you do when your boss wants you
to go out drinking with clients and
binging on alcohol so that you can
win business for the company?
Should we leave our job?
Go work for a Christian NGO?
Go start a Christian investment
company?
Maybe go work for a church because,
you know, we don't have any
challenges at the church.
Okay.
Well, friends, the Bible doesn't give
us answers to each and every
situation, but let's just think about
this briefly.
And I want to say three things to us
in that situation.
Four things.
One, it's really hard and there's no
short, quick answers.
Two, that book over there by Daniel
Doriani is a really great book and
he's got a great chapter on that
called Work in Hard Places.
I encourage you to read it.
Three, no workplace in the earth is
going to be purely good or purely easy
or purely ethical.
Okay.
Every workplace is going to come face
to face with these challenges.
And every workplace, in fact, in some
ways, the more corrupt the workplace,
the more it needs God-centered people
who have the wisdom of a God-fearing
life and who's hard to shape our
Christ to be in that place.
And so if it's possible that you can
still work in that place without
contributing towards the evil, maybe
God wants you to be in that place
as specifically to bring some element
of wisdom or light to that workplace.
It may be that God wants us to stay
there because our responsibility is to
love others more than find a
comfortable job.
And when we think about it in the
Bible, there's actually tons of
examples of men and women that worked
in really difficult work environments.
So I think of Daniel, right?
Daniel goes to Nebuchadnezzar and he
works as an advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, who was this
pagan, ungodly man.
And Daniel works in the palace for
almost 70 years, his entire life for
Nebuchadnezzar and his followers.
Or think about Queen Esther.
She's married to King Xerxes, the
king of the Persian king.
He was a terrible man, a misogynist.
And she's in the palace.
Or think of a man called Obadiah, who
worked as a court official in the palace
of Ahab.
Ahab was a terrible king in Israel.
Murders people, kills people.
Obadiah works as a court official in
his palace.
And Obadiah, we're told, is a God-fearing,
godly man.
All these men and women worked for in
the service of pretty wicked,
egomaniac men.
And yet, who did terrible things.
And yet, they stayed there.
And one of the reasons why they stayed
there was because they saw that God had
called them there and that their purpose
there was to serve, and in many instances,
save the lives of people that otherwise
would have been severely impacted had
they not been there.
So, for instance, right, Esther saves
almost the entire Jewish nation in
Persia because she's in the palace and
can speak up and stand up for the people
who are going to be exterminated.
Daniel saves the lives of other advisors
to the king of Nebuchadnezzar and gets
to tell Nebuchadnezzar about the God of
Abraham and Israel and Isaac.
Look, Obadiah gets to save a number of
people, hundreds of people in Israel
because he's in the palace and because
of his influence there.
And so, all these men and women
saving get to save and do great good
even though they work in extremely
difficult circumstances.
Imagine they had left and said,
I think I'm going to go taste chocolate
at the Lymph Factory, right?
But God had a calling there, a purpose
there.
But here's the other thing that we
really need to see.
All of these men and women served in
dangerous and difficult situations and
yet all of them were willing to put
their jobs and even their lives on the
line because they knew who their true
king was.
And so, while they serve in the palace
of the king, all of them ultimately know
there is a higher king who has a higher
authority whose voice I will listen to
ultimately.
All of them knew that there was a God
in heaven who had the ultimate
authority of their lives and who they
had given their ultimate allegiance to.
And so, do you remember Esther?
She does a very dangerous thing.
Mordecai says to her, if you keep
silent at this time, God will bring
deliverance through another means.
And she says, I will speak up to the
king even though it is against the law
and if I perish, I will perish.
Or do you remember Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego?
They say to Nebuchadnezzar, you want to
throw us in the fiery furnace?
Our God is able to save us and deliver
us.
But even if he does not, we will not
bow down to you, O great king.
And so friends, these are difficult and
challenging decisions and there's no quick
answers.
But ultimately, what's going to determine
whether the hard and challenging
environment corrupts you or whether it
refines you is who is your king?
Who have you sworn allegiance to?
Who holds the ultimate voice in your
life?
Where does your allegiance lie?
And so here's my final thought for us
today.
That working in hard and challenging
environments, it may be that God has
sent you to that environment because
out of love for those people, he wants
them to hear about the good news of
Jesus.
Friends, isn't that why Jonah went to
Nineveh?
Hundreds of thousands of people in
Assyria did not know God.
And so God sends Jonah into Nineveh,
into Assyria, to tell them about God.
Isn't that why God sent Joseph into
Egypt to save people?
Friends, is that not why God the Father
sent the Lord Jesus Christ into a dark
and crooked world?
Because of his profound love for you
and for me, that we could come to know
the hope of the gospel.
You see, we didn't read it, but in
Genesis chapter 3, we go back to the
curse.
In verse 15, there's an amazing line.
And God says to the snake, which is a
symbol of the Satan, he says,
there will come a descendant of the
woman of Eve.
A man will be born and you will make it
your business to destroy him and to
crush him.
And you will try to kill him.
And even as you kill him, actually he
will be killing and crushing you.
And so God says to the Satan, there will
come a descendant of the woman who you
will think that you have crushed him and
yet, and you'll even think that you've
succeeded.
And yet in doing so, he will crush you and
the rebellion that you've unleashed on the
earth.
There will come a man that you will think
that you've put to death and yet his
death will actually bring life because
in his dying, he will take upon himself
the curse of this broken world so that
all those who trust in him will start to
feel the curse of this world start to
lift off of their shoulders.
Friends, God tells to Satan that there
will come a descendant who will in dying
bring an end to death, who in dying will
bring life.
Kevin DeYoung summarizes the entire message
of the Bible saying, the snake crusher has
come to bring us back into the garden.
And friends, isn't that true?
Jesus Christ came, Satan did his best,
tried to kill him and crush him.
And yet in his dying on the cross, he crushed
the curse of what Satan had did in the world.
And on the cross, you remember what Jesus'
final words are?
Some of his very last words, he says,
Father, it is finished.
My work is done.
Father, I've done the work that you called me
to do.
Friends, Genesis 3 is full of darkness and
difficulty.
It tells us about how the curse has come into
the world because of our rebellion.
And yet even there in the Bible's darkest
moments, there's a ray of light, a ray of hope,
because it tells us about how Jesus Christ
will come and reverse the curse and take upon
himself the curse of the world so that all
those who hope in him and trust in him and
believe in him and follow him will start to
feel the curse lift off our shoulders as we
start to feel the effects of the new world
come in.
Friends, work is hard and is full of frustration
because of the curse of sin.
But thank God almighty, that's not the final word
in the Bible.
The final word is that Jesus has come and Jesus
is coming again.
And he will take those who love him and trust him
into the new heavens and the new earth where we
will work with joy and dignity and delight and with
pleasure and out of love and where the curse of this
broken world will be no more.
Friends, because if you trust him and love him and follow
him and obey him, sometimes God will send you into the
darkest and the hardest moments and places of our world
full of his strength, full of his power, full of his
light, full of his hope that you can bring hope into
those places as well.
Let's pray together.
Maybe actually before we pray, I've got some questions on
the screen.
Maybe you can go there.
Let's take a minute just to think and reflect about these
scriptures and these questions and then I'll lead us in a
time of prayer.
Friends, in what ways God, in what ways have you experienced
the frustration and difficulty of work?
In what ways work a crucible to shape and grow you?
How might God be calling you to trust him this week?
Is there anything you need to pray, confess or celebrate?
Let's take a few minutes just to think about that and then
I'll lead us in prayer.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, today we offer you our work with all its
joys and frustrations, its delights and difficulties.
Father, we pray through the power of your spirit, won't you
help us to worship you in our work, to love and serve others
through our work, to persevere amidst the frustrations of our
work, to live out our distinct identity as we work.
Father, won't you help us to surrender the idols that steal our
work and to trust you in the challenges of our work, to be
steadfast for you in the crucible of work and to be a light of
transformation where we work.
Father, as we worship you now and tomorrow, through songs at
church and through our work, won't you give us the faith to know
that you will refine us and use us in your ultimate work of creating
a new heavens and a new earth.
We pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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