Okay, let me pray for us as David comes to speak to us.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that David's with us this evening,
and we do pray for him and his family,
that you might continue to encourage them
and supply them with all that they need.
We want to pray just especially as he asks
that they might know your will and your plan for them as a family,
and that you might open just the right doors
for them for a fruitful service.
And we pray this evening as we consider work,
we ask, Lord, that you'd help David to help us
to think clearly and faithfully and biblically
about the tasks that you've given us to do
and how we might do them for the glory of your name.
Amen.
All right, thanks.
Grateful for the opportunity to speak today.
Sorry that I'm going to use my MacBook,
but I was sort of in a frenzy,
and like a mad scientist was in the thick of this,
and I looked at the clock,
and it was like 10 till 6 p.m.,
and so I said,
I better go so that I can actually say some of this
and not just study it.
We're going to be in 1 Peter.
That's where we're going to base ourselves.
And I'm going to, I know we've prayed a lot just now,
but I'm going to pray again,
because I'm actually not sure what of this that I've prepared
God actually wants to come out.
And so I'm going to pray that he would pick and choose within there.
And maybe it's something totally different, and we'll see.
But let's pray that God would say what he wants to say.
Father, we are amazed at who you are and what you've done
and how you love us,
how you want us to be with you,
and that you've literally moved heaven and earth so that we could.
Lord, I pray that whatever is said tonight,
whether it ends up being about work or about something else,
that, Lord, it would be about you,
and that we would come to see you and know you better,
and that we might walk out of here
and be able to serve you better and more.
Lord, that we would be consumed by your greatness and your glory,
and our lives might reflect that as we go.
So, Lord, I pray you speak tonight.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So it's funny.
I was out of...
I've never taught a work-related text out of 1 Peter,
and the Lord put it in my heart, on my mind, to come here,
and we're going to talk about priests.
And then Steve brings up Jesus as the high priest
and Melchizedek, which we'll talk about.
And so I believe the Lord is actually at work,
and he's going to tell us something good.
But for way back on...
So, well, let me do this first,
because I think it'll be helpful for us.
Because in any conversation, any talk about work,
some of you, your eyes might glaze over,
and you might think, this is not for me,
because you might not work in a traditional sense,
or the view of work that you think you have
doesn't include whatever you do in your life.
So when I say work,
like, I want to know what we're all doing
throughout the day, right?
So just name some of the work that you all do.
Go.
Taking care of the house.
Amen.
That's work.
What else?
What are some, like, jobs that you do?
You work at a charity.
Steve is a pastor.
Child-minding.
What else do we have?
Being a dad.
Amen.
That's work.
Being a mom, we'll just go ahead and say it.
Biggest job ever.
What?
Studying.
Yes, if you're in school and you're studying.
Right?
I was, at one point, a banker,
and then I did some other stuff
and made up some things
and just created jobs for myself
because I didn't want to do those other ones.
Right?
Like, so there's work that we get paid for.
We do a lot of different things,
you know, whether it's charity,
whether it's business,
whether it's church work.
Right?
And then there's work that no one pays us for.
Being a mom, being a dad,
being a student.
Right?
And there's work that fills in the gaps between those.
All of it's work.
Right?
It's what we spend our time doing.
Full stop.
Right?
And so I want you to think about everything that we say,
not in the context of,
well, this is my job that I get paid for.
And if you don't have one of those,
that it doesn't apply because it does,
whether you haven't had one yet
or you've had one and now you've retired,
like there's still work for you to do.
There's still work that we do.
So anyway, all of that to say,
I want, it helps to like think through
what we're talking about from,
from the broadest picture.
And so we might start high level.
I promise it'll get more practical,
but good theology is the foundation of good living.
And theology should not only help us understand
more about who God is,
but help us to answer the question of how should we live.
And so it's,
it's ultimately wrapped up in head and heart and hands
and it's all of life.
Right?
And so that's where we're going to be.
So one Peter,
we know who Peter is.
I'm going to also say that I think most of us
are followers of Jesus and we're Christians.
And so this will help us to apply how that works.
if we're not,
or if we're not yet,
this will be helpful to think through
why you might want to be that,
why that might make sense for you.
So it doesn't matter then whether you are or not,
like it's not,
it's also for you.
So Peter wrote one,
this,
this letter,
it says,
we're going to jump around in it.
So there's not,
I'll,
I'll show you where we're going,
but he writes it to God's elect.
So that is people who have,
are following Jesus.
These are Christians scattered throughout the provinces,
a bunch of places in kind of the Roman world.
And so they're,
they're kind of across Asia minor and these other different places.
And then,
and so he's writing this to Christians.
He's writing it to encourage them.
And,
and then it kind of,
this answer to this question is,
you know,
okay,
what,
what are we to do once we believe,
right?
There's a lot of energy and effort and,
and time that goes into,
especially in church to talking about what you should believe.
You should trust Jesus.
You should become a follower of Christ.
You should,
you should see that.
But then sometimes we forget and talk less sometimes about what we do
then.
Right.
And there's a bunch of Christians that Peter is talking to.
These are,
these are Gentile Christians.
So they,
they've come to faith,
come to follow Jesus,
like as adults,
basically in this case.
And so they're part of their question is,
what do I do now?
Right.
Like I felt that Jesus has,
has come in and changed me in some way.
I kind of understand that I shouldn't keep doing the things that I used to do,
but what do I do with these now?
And one Peter is sort of a letter to them in,
in some ways,
encouraging them to that answer.
And he addresses some specific things that they're dealing with,
but,
but broadly you'll see that he's sort of answering this question.
What are we to do once we believe?
How,
how do we live?
And this is what Peter says.
So I'm going to paraphrase,
and then we're going to look at some specific bits,
but the hard thing is that I want to read all five chapters,
but that would ruin all the time.
And then all the stuff that I don't have time for,
I would never,
I wouldn't get to anyway.
So it might be the best thing because it's amazing stuff.
But Peter says to these believers,
he says,
you were chosen and redeemed,
not to keep on living the way you did before,
but he says,
at the beginning of chapter two,
he says,
verse four,
verse five says,
you like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.
Hold that one.
Offer spiritual sacrifices accepted,
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
And then go down to verse nine.
He says,
but you're a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
So you've got this piece where he's saying,
you know,
you're,
you're something new.
You're God has made you and chosen you into be this thing,
this holy priesthood,
this royal priesthood.
And so then he goes on and he says,
um,
I didn't put the reference,
but he says,
we'll find it.
He says,
I urge you to live such good lives that they,
the pagans may see your good deeds and glorify God.
So he says,
okay,
you,
you're,
you're chosen.
You're,
you're,
you're someone new.
You're,
you're a royal priesthood.
Well,
what does that mean?
And it's part of that is live such good lives that they may see your good deeds and glorify God.
And then it goes on.
He says,
as a result,
don't live your law,
your earthly lives for evil human desires,
but for the will of God.
Sorry,
I'm jumping all around and I didn't put the verses.
You'll figure it out.
Uh,
and then in chapter four,
we get to this,
um,
moment.
It's chapter four,
verse seven.
It says,
the end of things is near.
Therefore be alert and sober of mind.
And so that you might pray and above all,
love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.
It says,
offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
And here's where it gets good.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.
If anyone speaks,
they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.
If anyone serves,
they should do so with the strength God provides so that in all things,
God may be praised through Jesus Christ to him,
be the glory and the power forever and ever.
Amen.
So in summary,
you were chosen and redeemed,
not to keep on living the way you did before,
but to be this royal priesthood,
God's special possession,
and to live such good lives that they may see your good deeds and glorify God.
And as a result,
you wouldn't do the things,
the old things,
you would live for the will of God,
and you should use whatever you've been given to serve others and be faithful stewards of God's grace,
so that in all things,
God may be glorified.
And so I want to pull all that together to kind of the thesis statement for this evening,
which is,
our calling from God has always been to do his will as his royal priests so that he would be glorified.
And so that's what we're going to hang the rest of this talk on, right?
And I told you,
eventually it'll sound like something about work,
but we'll get there.
And so let me break that down.
So our calling from God has always been to do his will as his royal priests so that he would be glorified.
So this idea of always been, right?
God's calling on our lives is consistent.
So you've got the meta-narrative of the Bible, right?
The whole gospel story.
There's smaller narratives,
but then there's a larger narrative that crosses all of scripture.
And it can be broken down.
You've probably heard this into kind of four buckets,
creation,
fall,
redemption,
and restoration or new creation,
right?
And in the beginning,
God,
God created the heaven and earth and they were united with God's presence dwelling together with man in Eden,
right?
And,
and God plants a garden in Eden.
And he tells the man to work it and take care of it and to rule it and subdue it,
right?
He gives man a job,
a role.
And it's an,
so the interesting thing about this is that garden,
that,
that place that God made is unfinished,
right?
Eden is,
is a beautiful,
amazing place.
This is a garden that,
that you could imagine in your mind as being just incredibly beautiful,
but it's a garden,
a garden needs tending,
a garden needs,
you know,
cultivating,
right?
And,
and,
and so as we cultivate it,
it grows and changes and becomes more beautiful and better,
right?
And this is his intention that God,
we are designed to partner with God,
to build a beautiful world that proclaims his glory and where we would live in harmony with him forever,
right?
This is what God's intention was in creation.
This is where we go.
But unfortunately,
Adam and Eve,
they want what God promises,
but they don't want to work for it and they don't want to wait for it.
So they take a shortcut offered by the serpent.
And because of this,
they're removed from the garden and they're no longer are they able to be in the presence of God.
And so they're left here on earth,
separated from him,
right?
And so they're removed.
And in,
in,
in the moment of that,
God,
I mean,
this is all in the first three chapters of the Bible.
Genesis one to three,
just like read it every day.
It's unbelievable.
So in the moment,
God,
he says to Eve and to,
to Adam,
as he's proclaiming the,
the consequences of their actions,
he says in his goodness,
but one day there will be,
the seed will come and it will defeat the serpent and reverse this curse,
right?
We,
we know this,
right?
And if we don't know it,
we can talk about it later,
but the,
this is coming in the rest of the story,
the rest of the Bible,
all of its stories,
all of its details,
the people,
the sacrificial system,
it's saving events.
It tells us how this will happen by slowly unfolding this good news,
this,
this promise,
which ultimately leads us to Christ.
And,
and as it unfolds,
Christ eventually come comes God's own son.
And by his life and his death and his resurrection,
the father creates this new humanity,
this new version,
which we call the church now.
And,
and we enjoy the forgiveness of sins with new hearts and access to the father by
the spirit,
right?
And,
and in Christ,
what the triune God originally intended crippled by the fall can now be
restored.
And in restoration at the end and final resolution of the story is that
because of Jesus's death and his glorious resurrection,
the earth and heaven are rejoined and restored into something that's described
as the new Jerusalem and the new creation,
right?
And so you've got this,
if you can imagine it,
I wanted to have this on a,
on a slide,
but if you can imagine it,
the,
the timeline of history,
right?
starts at creation and it's moving somewhere,
right?
But then it breaks off with the fall,
but then Jesus comes in and,
and brings it back to restore.
And,
and basically it's moving back toward the original timeline.
And that's what the beauty of the gospel,
the beauty of,
of what God has done is that he said,
this thing that you broke,
I'm going to restore it.
And I'm going to bring you back to experience the full glory of what I had
intended in the very beginning.
And so even though you ran and you,
you wanted the shortcut and you didn't want to do it the way that I had
described,
I actually am good enough that I'll bring it back to the thing.
So this is where we are.
And so,
and in that end,
humanity carries on partnering with God to build a beautiful world that
proclaims God's glory for all of eternity.
And we get to live with him in it.
Right?
So,
so the idea from the beginning is the same idea at the end.
Right?
And so,
so the way God created us originally is who will be in the longterm with
this beautiful bit of God fixing our problems in the middle.
Right?
And so,
so this is really important.
His calling is consistent.
His,
his aim for us,
the way he created us is for eternity.
And his plan has always been this and it will always be this.
So just hold that in your mind for a bit.
And I'll,
I'm going to dive back in with,
with some of what that means.
So,
so in my statement,
it was,
our calling from God has always been to do his will as his royal priest so
that he would be glorified.
So what,
what does it mean to be royal priest?
Right?
So Peter has this moment in chapter two,
he says,
but you're a chosen people,
a royal priesthood.
It's,
it's not out of the blue.
Uh,
thankfully,
Steve helped us talk about this.
This idea of a priest has existed throughout this meta narrative,
throughout this story.
Right?
It's,
it's part of God's consistent plan and design.
Um,
in the beginning Bible,
when the Bible introduces humanity,
it's as his royal priests,
right?
They're ruling with God in Eden,
right?
But in the fall,
they forfeit that calling.
And so then it,
um,
God promises that one of their descendants would be an even better priest,
basically.
Right?
And that priest would defeat evil and intervene to restore Eden.
And,
and so then there's this part of this story going through,
you see different priests and,
and the,
the idea of a priest pop up where they can intercede for us with God.
Right?
So the way we've seen,
uh,
in Hebrews,
Jesus is shown as the great high priest who,
who perfectly intercedes for us.
There's pictures and types to show us what that would look like before Jesus did come.
And so the,
the initial idea of a priest,
right?
Um,
when God creates the,
the,
the tabernacle and he says,
look,
there's a,
there's a place where,
uh,
only the high priest can go where this.
And so he intercedes.
He's the,
the conduit between the rest of us and with God.
Right?
And so that's this,
this idea that they represent God to us and re-represent,
uh,
and represent us to God.
Right?
And so,
um,
the,
the first kind of expression,
the,
the first question of this is this guy called Melchizedek,
which is,
there's a whole long story,
but he's,
he's not in the line of Abraham.
He's,
he's with separate to Abraham and,
and sees Abraham and Abraham.
There was this big battle.
Lot got himself in trouble.
Abraham goes to save him and ends up winning.
And so then Melchizedek on,
on the mountain that becomes Jerusalem,
right?
Melchizedek is the priest of Salem,
which is Jerusalem.
Uh,
and he basically,
he,
he does this priestly thing.
Uh,
and Abraham gives him 10% of what he got.
And,
and this is a whole,
this is a picture of who Jesus would be in the longer term.
I was not the most theologically perfect,
but it gets the point across.
Right?
And then Moses is sort of this priestly figure.
Um,
when he,
he,
you know,
that comes back.
And so we have this moment and then,
and then David is this priestly King.
Uh,
and then he himself describes this future priestly King in Psalm 110,
uh,
who he describes as my Lord.
And all of these are types or pictures of the real high priest that would come in Jesus.
And the ultimate royal priest who suffered and died for a failed humanity so that we could be restored to our original calling as royal priests.
And so here we are,
as Peter calls us as believers and followers of Jesus as royal priests.
And,
and the priest,
the temple priest was responsible for caring for the temple,
for offering sacrifices on behalf of the people.
Uh,
he,
he announced God's blessing over the people and they represented God to the people and people to God.
Right?
And so we,
we look around though.
And even now we're,
we,
we're like,
well,
we're not priests.
We don't use that kind of terminology.
We do other things,
right?
We're,
uh,
we work for charities and we,
uh,
our students and we're teachers and we do other things,
right?
Um,
we,
we're working in the world and not in temples.
Uh,
and yet we can speak and behave as priests.
We can believe that Jesus is the ultimate royal police ruling all of heaven and earth,
uh,
as his temple.
And we are an extension of him here on earth.
We interceding for one another,
as we just prayed,
uh,
we offering our bodies as a living sacrifice as in Romans 11.
And,
uh,
we care for the temple,
his earth and creation and,
and God's people as his temple where he resides.
Right?
And so this idea,
of,
of this royal priesthood is this,
is part of this meta narrative that God created us in a specific way to do a specific thing.
It got kind of jacked up and in his goodness,
he wants to bring us back to doing this work.
Trust me,
this will,
this will make sense.
Right?
Um,
and so our job is to,
to,
to live for the will of God.
Right?
So to,
to do God's will as royal priests,
right?
And that God's will for our lives is not a secret.
It's explicit in the Bible.
Right?
A lot of times we,
we think about,
and even as I was just thinking,
just saying,
like,
I don't know exactly what he wants me to do.
Right?
I,
I've moved back to a place out of my own intention.
Uh,
and I don't know exactly what he wants me to do,
but I do know exactly what he wants me to do in a global sense.
Right?
Because what,
what is the will of God?
Peter says that we would not live for our own desires,
but for the will of God.
So what is the will of God?
Well,
God gives us a very clear direction.
And there are three unsubtle directions from God throughout the Bible.
Uh,
there are more,
but there are three big ones.
And the first is what I'm going to call the great collaboration.
It's from Genesis one.
Sometimes it's called the cultural mandate or the creation mandate,
but it's what God looks at Adam and says,
uh,
in,
in Genesis one verse 26,
he says,
let us make mankind in our image,
in our likeness,
which makes us unique so that they might rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the sky and over the livestock and all the wild animals and all
over the creatures that move along the ground.
So God created mankind in his image,
in the image of God,
he created the male and female.
He created them.
God blessed them and said to them,
here's the thing,
be fruitful and increase in number,
fill the earth and subdue it,
rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living
creature that moves on the ground.
And so this is God telling humanity what his intention is.
He says,
look,
your,
your job is to be fruitful,
to,
to bear much fruit,
to increase in number,
to fill the earth,
to subdue it.
What does it mean to subdue something,
to,
to take care of it,
to,
um,
make it work in a way that it needs to work,
right?
It's this idea that,
um,
you know,
we're,
we're cultivating something,
you know,
it's this culting cult culture.
It's where we get agriculture.
It's where we get culture,
culture,
right?
It's,
it's this creation of something,
uh,
that wasn't there,
right?
We're,
we're taking that in.
So there's this great collaboration,
which he announces at the beginning.
And then there's the great commandment,
which,
uh,
in Mark chapter 12,
Jesus says one of the teachers of the law came and heard,
uh,
them debating,
noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer.
He asked them,
well,
of all the commandments,
which is the most important?
And Jesus answers the most important one is this hero,
Israel,
the Lord,
our God,
the Lord is one love the Lord,
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
And then he goes on.
The second one is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.
So God,
Jesus gives us another specific commandment.
I mean,
God had given it to us a long time ago,
uh,
in Deuteronomy is the Shema,
which Jesus is quoting.
Um,
but he's saying,
love God with all your heart,
with everything you have and love your neighbor.
So you have very clear understanding of what the will of God is.
And then he gives us one more,
uh,
right before he ascends in the great commission in Matthew 28,
he said,
the love of the disciples,
they're in Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
And when they saw him,
they worshiped him.
Some doubted,
but Jesus came to them and said,
he said,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore,
go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and the Holy spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you.
And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.
So I want you to see in these three great commands,
if you will,
and the great collaboration,
the great commandment and the great commission,
that we find the will of what God has called us to.
Our work is everything we do to fill the earth and subdue it.
Our work is everything we do to love our neighbor and to love God.
And our work is everything we do to go and to make disciples.
It's not three things.
It's one thing.
And our work isn't just what we might get paid for.
It's everything we give our time and energy to.
And our role as priests on earth isn't just our spiritual life.
We're priests all the time.
You see it?
It's all one job.
Our work,
whether it's paid or unpaid,
whether it's full time or part time,
whether it's outside the home or inside the home,
whether it's sacred or it's secular,
it's all how we love our neighbor and how we love our God.
It's all how we develop culture and establish society.
It's all how we live such good lives that they might see our good work and glorify God.
All of it.
It's all the same.
Our work is just our life with God.
Right?
So whatever we're doing,
we're doing it as royal priests.
We're doing it as children of God.
We're doing it toward his glory
so that he would be glorified.
Right?
So this is the end of the thing.
God's calling for us is to bring him glory,
which is our greatest good.
Peter says there in chapter four,
he said,
each of you should use whatever gift you have,
whatever gift you've received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.
You should do it.
If anyone serves,
they should do it with the strength that God provides
so that in all things,
God might be praised through Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.
Amen.
Right?
Use whatever gift you have received to others.
Right?
God has given you something.
Some skill,
some ability,
some resource,
something.
Probably more than one.
But let's just say you only got one.
Right?
He's given you it to you.
Are you using it?
God is only,
he can only multiply what we actually put out into practice.
And so,
whatever gift we have,
we're called to use.
Right?
As faithful stewards,
right?
We didn't self-generate our skill or ability.
We didn't manifest it for ourselves in some capacity.
God has given it to us to steward,
to take care of,
to use for him.
Right?
You get the parable of the servants and the stewards.
Right?
One of them gets ten and he double,
or gets five and he doubles it.
One of them gets two and he doubles it.
One of them takes his and he kind of puts it in the soil.
And he gets chastised for it because he didn't do anything with it.
God gave him something.
And he just put it away.
Because he's afraid,
because he didn't understand.
It doesn't matter.
We have to do it.
We're stewards.
Will we be a good steward?
Right?
And so,
and the verse carries on.
Whatever gift you have received,
use it as faithful stewards.
And that if you're going to serve,
you should serve with the strength that God provides.
God will give us what we need.
We don't have to be a super person.
We don't have to understand everything about what it is.
The task is putting it out there so that we might,
so God might use it.
And so that in all things,
God might be praised through Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.
The point
of our lives,
the point of our work,
is that God might be glorified.
And,
and
there was a point in my life where
that
would be
unsatisfactory.
That would have been,
uh,
God's glory?
Like,
is that enough?
Like,
is that what I'm aiming for?
Like,
even as a Christian,
it would have been,
it would have felt a little unsatisfactory
because I didn't quite understand
what that meant.
You know,
what is God's glory?
And,
and why should I care
that he gets the glory?
Right?
And John,
John Piper,
it famously,
his big thing is,
um,
God is most glorified
when we're most satisfied in him.
But,
he describes God's glory like this.
The glory of God
is the infinite beauty
and greatness
of his
manifold
perfections.
Right?
And describing glory
is a bit like describing beauty
in that
you can,
you can see it,
you can recognize it,
but it's hard to put into words
exactly what you mean by that
because it's a little different,
you know,
it's not like the same thing,
right?
I can describe a basketball
and tell you what that is
so that you might recognize it
and be able to tell the difference
between it and,
you know,
a football
or,
uh,
something else.
But,
describing beauty
is hard to do.
Describing glory
is hard to do.
And so,
it's,
you know,
when,
uh,
in Isaiah chapter 6,
he,
he enters the room
and,
and there are,
like,
wacky beings
saying,
holy,
right?
Holy means different,
unique,
special,
unlike anything else.
And they're saying,
holy,
holy.
They're telling each other this.
And,
and Isaiah,
his,
his only response
to being in the presence
is to hit his face
on the ground,
to,
to pray for mercy
and,
and believe that he's not,
should not be there
because he's
overwhelmed.
And,
and when he's able
to describe
what it's like,
the only thing,
he said,
look,
the train of his robe
filled the temple.
Like,
there's a bunch of stuff.
It was unbelievable.
Like,
I can't describe it.
The only thing I can think of
to,
to bring to this
is that the train
of his robe,
right?
The part that you don't care about,
the,
the little bit
at the bottom
and the back,
it was so amazing.
It filled the temple.
This is
God's glory.
If you could think of,
like,
the best thing
in the world,
right?
Like,
riches,
jewels,
like,
all these things,
right?
You,
you'd be like,
man,
that would be amazing
to,
to have that
or to be with that.
Like,
God is
infinite amounts
of that
forever
perfected.
It's,
it's so amazing
that being
in its presence
not only is,
like,
would be just,
like,
I just want to be,
like,
associated with that.
You know how,
like,
a famous person
comes by
and you're like,
I don't need to be them.
I just want to,
like,
be their buddy,
like,
be behind them.
This is,
this is what we get to do
with God,
right?
So,
if we make much of him
and we bring him glory
and his glory
is made known
and we get to be part of it,
we get to be there
with him
and experience it
and he is so good
that he wants us
to be in it with him,
to enjoy it
and to be there.
So,
our work,
our lives
are such to,
to,
to show that
as being real
so that others
might see,
man,
that,
that looks interesting,
that looks good,
I might want to be part of that
and then we get to go
experience it forever.
That's what the Bible is for.
That's what,
this is what it is.
So,
when you ask me
to talk about work,
I just want to talk
about God
because he's so good
and that my life
can now be spent
doing stuff for him
so that he gets glory
and the,
so how does that
manifest itself
into the things
that I do
on a daily basis?
Right?
And that's where,
like,
okay,
practically,
what do you mean,
David?
Like,
this is great,
you know,
you don't have to convince me
to love Jesus,
I'm already there.
Well,
so,
so what does that mean then
for us
to,
to go out every day,
to walk out of here
and do something tomorrow,
whether it's you get up
and you actually go
to an office
or to some sort of workplace
or,
or it's something else
in your life,
right?
What,
how do I live differently
tomorrow
and do things in such a way
that this becomes part
of who I am
and what I'm doing?
I think
the thing that
shifted in my life
was recognizing that
everything I,
it's all one thing,
right?
So if I come here on Sunday
and I am consumed,
you know,
singing a worship song
about God
and recognizing who he is
and that,
you know,
I don't have like
deep emotion,
like emotionally,
I'm not,
I don't have like a high bandwidth,
but like in,
in the context that I have,
right,
I am like consumed
with emotion
in recognizing God's greatness
and his love for me,
right?
And,
and so I can teach
or,
or do whatever I do here
in this way,
right?
if I can then translate that
and,
and go
and do my other things
in life
with the same
stuff
that I would have done
in the church building,
right?
That,
that's what we're meant to do,
right?
The,
the,
the goodness
and the beauty
and the truth
of Jesus
and the gospel
should
transform
whatever I'm doing
toward
his glory,
right?
Everything we make,
everything we do
are like
little icons
and,
you know,
iconography,
you've,
you've got our,
our issues with that,
but the point,
the icon is to,
to look at it
and it,
to lift our gaze
to the person
that it describes,
right?
And so everything we do,
whatever you do
and however you do it,
it should lift
the gaze
of whoever looks on it
to,
that,
that's actually,
what's that about?
However you did that,
whatever you did just there,
that's,
that's different
than I experienced elsewhere,
right?
That's speaking about something
that's better than
what I thought it was.
How are you doing that?
What are you doing that?
How is that for?
So,
I'm going to,
I'm going to keep rambling
because I want to keep talking,
but,
what,
I want to take questions
because I,
I feel like there's some people
looking at me
and saying like,
what the heck's going on?
Um,
when Romans 11 says,
present your body
as a living sacrifice,
it means give him
everything you've got
in every area of life
for,
for every,
all of time
such that
he becomes the one thing
that's most important
and everything I touch,
everything I do,
everything I say
should reflect that
such that
he's the one
who gets the glory
at the end,
right?
And so,
if you go
and you are a trash collector,
might God be glorified
that you are caring
for his world
and his temple
in such a way
that you're willing
and able
to do that
with the most
excitement
and energy
that you could do,
right?
As you teach
children
and they're
driving you
insane,
that you might
teach them
such
that they might
one day look at,
say,
that teacher
was not like
every other teacher.
teacher.
She or he
lived in a way
that I can only
describe
as being
otherworldly,
right?
You write code,
nobody does that
anymore
because AI
does it,
but write code
such that
someone might
describe that
piece of code,
that line of code
as a thing
of beauty
and it's
why would you
put so much
effort and time
and energy
into something
that no one
will ever see
but God.
And this is
how we live
our life
and all of
those things
are such
that
we can love
our neighbor
so that
people might
see
what you've
done
and give
glory to
the God
that you
serve.
That's our
task,
that's our
role
as Christians
Christians.
It's not
about work
in the sense
that,
oh,
what do I
do with
work over
here?
It's life
as a Christian
and we
happen to
spend a lot
of it
working
and our
work is
building that
kingdom
on that
timeline,
right?
We're still
building toward
it.
Even now
we're building
toward it.
It's going
to be a
renewed
earth,
a renewed
Jerusalem
that God
is going
to take
somehow
in his
things that
we don't
understand.
He's going
to take
the things
that we
build now
and some
of them
will make
it.
Some of
them,
the Bible
says,
will not
be consumed
in the
refining
fire and
will actually
come out
on the
other side
because they
were worth
lasting.
We can
build that
kind of
things now
if we
trust him
to do it.
Let me pray
real quick
and then
I'll be
here.
We can do
something else.
I'd love to
talk more about
this,
as you can
tell.
So let
me pray.
Father,
thank you.
Thank you
for being
the same
God that
started the
earth and
who will
be there
in eternity
and that
somehow in
your goodness
you saw
fit to
come and
rescue and
redeem a
bunch of
rebels so
that we
might be
with you.
Father,
I pray
that as
we do
life,
as we
go about
the things
that we
have to
do on a
day-to-day
basis,
that we
would recognize
that part
of what
we're doing
is building
towards your
kingdom,
that we
exist between
now and
not yet,
and we
can bring
bits of
the kingdom
into our
earth now so
that you
might be
glorified and
people might
look to you
and say,
that's
something I
would be
willing to
live for.
God,
would our
lives proclaim
the goodness
of who you
are and
proclaim the
greatness and
the glory of
who you are
and we'll be
consumed by
it such that
we can't
even form
words and
we get up
here and we
act like a
bumbling
idiot because
we're just
amazed that
you let us
be part of
it.
So,
Lord,
help us
to do
it.
Give us
the strength
that we
need.
Lord,
help us
to just
take
whatever
you've
given us
and to
offer it
back to
you in
service to
you as
a steward
of the
things you've
given us.
We pray
in Jesus'
name.
Amen.