Recently, I came across a song.
It's actually, I've heard this song many times.
You may have heard this song too.
It gets at something.
The title of the song is called
Stressed Out by 21 Pilots.
I was told when I get older,
all my fears would shrink.
But now I'm insecure and I care what people think.
My name's Blurryface.
It's an identity claim.
And I care what you think.
My name's Blurryface and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time to the good old days
when our mama sang us to sleep,
but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time to the good old days
when our mama sang us to sleep,
but now we're stressed out.
We're all stressed out.
You know what it means to be stressed out.
Maybe you're a student.
You know what it means to be stressed out.
Maybe you're a teacher of students.
You know what it means to be stressed out.
Maybe you're a manager of some kind of
manufacturing enterprise in town.
You know what it means to be stressed out.
Maybe you're working the line at that manufacturing establishment.
You know what it means to be stressed out.
Maybe you're a doctor or a nurse,
or maybe you have a responsibility at Kenosha Medical Center
to do some kind of housekeeping.
You know what it means to be stressed out at work.
There's something in our hearts that can identify with a song.
We wish we could turn back time to the good old days in the garden.
When not our mama sang us to sleep,
but our God sang us to sleep.
But now we're stressed out.
We used to dream of outer space,
but now they're laughing at our face saying,
wake up, you need to make money.
We've got a problem with our work, brothers and sisters.
Last week I started telling you that
we have essentially cut God out of our vocations,
and what we need to do is we need to reintegrate God
into everything that we do.
Whether that's school,
or whether that's where you put your time and you get paid for,
or where you volunteer,
your mom, your dad, your husband, your wife,
your sibling, your son or a daughter,
everything that we've been called to,
whether that's in a workplace,
in a home, in our church,
in our community,
we need to reintegrate God
back into all that we do.
Last week I pointed you to two things
from Genesis chapter 1.
That God,
at work in his creation making,
was sovereign, all-powerful.
He would say,
let it be,
and then it was so,
and then six times.
Do you remember?
Oh, this is good.
Oh, that's good.
Good.
Very good.
I edged my lawn on Monday,
and I said,
that's good.
And it's out of that goodness,
God's desire to bless the inhabitants of the earth,
it's out of that goodness on day six,
God,
in his creation making,
gives the creation mandate
to image bearers,
and we alone,
of all of God's creation,
are image bearers.
We bear God's likeness.
We are his representatives
on earth
to carry out his work of blessing,
and we are to be fruitful,
multiply,
fill the earth,
put the kibosh on it,
subdue it for his purposes,
and then have dominion over it,
manage it to that end.
Amen.
But now we're stressed out.
What happened?
What happened to work?
Well, this morning,
we're going to learn what's gone wrong with work.
Have you ever asked the question,
why is it that I put so much time
into this one thing,
and this one thing lasts for a moment,
and then I'm back to the grind?
Anybody experience anything like that before?
I see that hand.
This morning,
in order to see what went wrong with work,
we're going to go back to the garden,
the Garden of Eden,
in Genesis 2 and 3.
In order for you to reintegrate God
back into our entire lives,
including our work,
we got to first see how God got dissed,
disintegrated from our lives and our work.
So this morning,
I'm going to very simply point you to two things.
God is the giver of all good work.
We're going to see that in Genesis 2.
I mean, it's he that said on the sixth day,
oh, this is very good,
of our work.
And then the second point I want you to see
is that sin has corrupted the goodness of our work
because sin has corrupted the core of who we are.
That's Genesis chapter 3.
We go from the garden pristine
to the garden as a crime scene.
In order to understand the problem,
and understand the solution,
you got to first understand the problem.
So would you turn in your Bibles
to Genesis chapter 2
if you're not there already?
I'm going to move us quickly through it,
make a point,
and then jump to Genesis 3.
God is the giver of all good work.
As you're turning in your Bible
to Genesis chapter 2,
I just want to help you think
about Genesis 2
in relationship to Genesis 1.
Genesis 1 is a panorama
of God's creation making.
It is laid out in seven days,
and that seventh day
shows up in the first three verses
of chapter 2.
And what it is,
it's a big sweep of God's creation making,
His good work in creation.
And so what Genesis chapter 2 is,
is Moses coming in for a close-up
on day 6.
He slows it down
so that we can actually see
God at work creating man and woman
in the garden at peace
with each other and with God.
In verse 4, we read,
these are the generations
of heaven and earth.
And what you need to know
about these,
the generations,
these are the generations
of the heavens and the earth
when they were made,
that little phrase,
these are the generations,
that's repeated throughout
the book of Genesis.
Genesis.
And what it is,
is a way of structuring the book
in order for us to understand
this outworking of God's blessing
to all people
from one generation to the next.
And it's going to culminate
in an offspring of Eve
in whom all the nations of the world
will be blessed.
And you already know His name.
His name is Jesus.
In verses 5 through 9,
what we see going on there
is God busy at work.
In verse 5,
there is no one to work the ground.
Now, for an astute Bible student,
what you find yourself asking
are questions like this.
Is this the first time
that the word work
showed up in my Bible?
Because that would be
really interesting.
It turns out it's not.
The first time the word work
shows up in your Bible
is at the beginning of Genesis 2
in verse 2.
When God takes a break
from His work.
God is a working God.
And so the connection
that's being made here
is that God is a working God
in creation.
And on day 6,
He's looking to bless the world
through His creation.
And now He's looking for
someone in His image
to do the work for Him.
To represent Him.
So we got a need.
He's got a need of a worker.
Help wanted.
And in verse 7,
God forms man from the dust,
breathing life into Him.
And He becomes a living creature.
That's why we can call
each other creatures.
We're all creatures.
God is the creator
and we're distinct from Him
in that we've been made.
Creatures.
He gives us
our very breath.
Verse 8,
After creating the man,
the Lord God
plants a garden
in Eden
and it's in the east.
Now if you're wondering
what is that a reference to,
remember that
the first five books
of the Bible,
the Pentateuch,
were given to a people,
God's people,
the Jews,
who were in Canaan
at the time.
And so the east
is a reference
of being east of Canaan.
But what you need to notice
is He put the man
in the garden
and one would think
that God would make
the garden first
and then put the man
in the garden,
but God makes the gardener first
and after that
makes the garden
and puts him in it.
Why would He do that?
Because God built
the garden around them.
He's like a tailor.
He tailored the goodness
of the garden
for Adam,
for Eve,
and for him.
Because this was going to be
the dwelling place
of God with His people.
Verse 9,
Out of the ground,
the Lord God
causes all these trees
to spring up.
And if you read it carefully,
you read that they were
pleasant to the eyes
and they were full of fruit.
And so they're beautiful
and bountiful.
It was a picture
of delightful abundance.
And what you notice too
in verse 9
is that there are
two particular trees
that God plants
in the middle of the garden,
right in the middle
of it all.
The first is the tree of life
and we learn from later
in Genesis 3, 22
that by eating of this fruit,
one lives forever.
God provides eternal life
through this tree.
This same tree
shows up in Revelation 22
in the New Jerusalem,
bearing fruit every month
for all the inhabitants
of the New Jerusalem,
all of the redeemed
to partake of
and live forever
in God's presence,
in His place,
with His people.
But there's another tree,
the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.
And God intentionally plants
both trees next to each other.
And for our purposes right now,
the way to think
of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil
is think about it
as representative of God's law.
law.
There is going to be
a prohibition
to this eating
of this tree.
And so right next
to each other
in the middle
of the garden
is God's,
the source of life
and law
for Adam and Eve
in God's presence.
It's all by design.
In verses 10 through 14,
we learn more
very interesting details
of features of the garden.
It's got all these rivers
going through it.
It's well watered.
There's all this gold in it,
precious gems.
If you were looking
for a place to live,
you'd be like,
I'm moving to Eden.
But do you realize
that all these features,
water,
a river,
gold,
precious jewels.
Do you know
where else those show up?
The new Jerusalem.
In addition to the tree of life,
in addition to the throne
in the new Jerusalem
represents God's reign
and law.
There is rivers,
there is gold,
there is precious stones.
And once you realize
that this garden,
this place
that God is creating
around Adam,
it's a place
in which he will dwell
with Adam and Eve.
Now you've probably
got a clock going on
in your mind right now
and you're like,
Mike,
I thought this was going
to be a sermon on work.
And in verse 15,
Moses picks up
where he left off
in verse 8,
the Lord God
takes the man
and puts him
in this amazing place
of this garden
to work it
and to keep it.
To till the soil
and to guard the garden.
This was a gardener
slash guard
of the garden.
What you need to see here
is from the very beginning,
work is not a result
of the fall.
Work is a good gift
given by God
before the fall.
It is a holy occupation.
And not only that,
the law was given
before the fall as well.
God commands
in verses 16 and 17
that the man
not eat
of that second tree,
the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.
And John Stott
very helpfully
points out three things
in verses 16 and 17 and 18.
God gave Adam permission
to eat of every tree
in the garden,
including the tree of life.
And in verse 17,
God puts a prohibition
on eating of the tree
of the knowledge
of good and evil.
It's the only prohibition
in the garden.
And what God
is prohibiting right there
and what this tree,
you've got to think of,
representing is
moral independence
from God.
Moral autonomy.
What this tree represents
and the command
not to eat from it
is don't disregard
my commands, Adam.
Don't decide
for yourself
what is good
and right
in your eyes.
It represents law.
And not only
is there a prohibition,
there's a penalty.
In the day that you
should have eaten of it,
you shall surely die.
And so as we're walking
out of this paradise
right now,
what you need to realize,
it's amazing place.
There's work to be done
and God's law
is there too.
We are to live,
Adam and Eve,
we're to live
under God's reign
in the garden.
Freedom is not
an absence
of restraints
or limits,
but the very presence
of them.
God isn't done
creating.
There's one more piece
of creative work
he wants to do
in 18 through 25.
He creates
a helper fit
for the man
and after creating
this woman,
he gives her
to the man.
In verses 22
through 25,
it's the first wedding
ever recorded
and God gives
the bride away.
And so what we see
happening is
Eve joined Adam
in the garden
to fulfill
the creation mandate
of being fruitful,
multiplying,
filling,
subduing,
having dominion
over to bless
all the inhabitants
of the earth.
So here's the point.
The Lord is the giver
of all good things
and he's the giver
of work.
Work was originally
good.
And so if you're like,
if you want to throw
work under the bus,
don't.
Work was good
originally.
It was an experience
of minimum effort
for maximum result.
There was no toil,
no resistance,
no sweat,
no hardship,
no drama.
It was complete
and utter goodness
on multiple levels
that was uninterrupted,
no problems.
this is what was
originally meant
for us to experience
in God's presence
and in his place
with his people
full and uninterrupted
peace with God
and others
in our work.
And so if you're a student
and you're going to
Eden High School
before the fall,
you would love school.
and it would come
to you
without toil.
If you were a nurse
or a doctor
serving at Eden
Medical Center,
you'd come home
and your feet
would not hurt
and your spouse
would say,
hey, how you doing today?
And you'd say,
I'm great.
I'm ready to put
another eight hours in.
Nothing but peace
in families,
nothing but peace
in churches,
nothing but peace
in nations
before the fall.
So what happened?
Because certainly
that's not our experience now.
In fact,
I'm guessing that
some of you in this room
have this deep longing.
You long like
something like this.
Oh man,
I just,
can't I just have like
three hours of
extended goodness
and peace
in my life?
Why is this so hard?
Why is fulfilling
my responsibilities
so hard?
And that's where
we turn
to point two.
Sin has corrupted
the goodness
of our work
because sin
has corrupted
the core
of who we are.
If Genesis 2
is the garden
pristine,
Genesis 3
is the garden
as a crime scene.
Here we have
CSI,
Eden.
Crime scene
investigation,
there's a crime,
there's a trial,
there's a sentence,
and there's a judgment.
In chapter 3,
verses 1 through 7,
the crime.
The serpent
comes on the scene
and he appeals
to Eve,
the woman,
and questions
God's very words.
Did God actually say
you should not eat
of any tree
of the garden?
And we all know
that God actually
permitted Adam
to eat of every tree
in the garden
but one.
But in verse 3
of chapter 3,
the woman who seeks
to correct the serpent,
she starts to
kind of reveal
that she might not
have this firm grip
on what God
has actually said
because she starts
to add to what God
says.
In addition to
not eating of it,
she says,
and we may not
touch of it,
God didn't say that.
And then she also
adds,
lest you die,
which is a softening
of on that day
you will surely die.
So it doesn't seem
like she has a firm grip
on what God
has actually said.
And the serpent
jumps on it.
In verse 4,
he blatantly
denies
what God
has said.
You will not
surely die.
It's a complete lie.
And furthermore,
the serpent
goes on
to start
to question
God's goodness.
If you look
at verse 4,
we read this.
verse 5,
but the serpent
said to the woman,
you shall not
surely die.
Verse 5,
for God knows
that when you
eat of it,
your eyes will be
opened and you'll
be like God,
knowing good and evil.
The serpent
very craftily
is saying,
hey,
God's withholding
something good
from you.
There's an area
of being like him
that he's not
allowing you
to be like.
But we already
know that Adam
and Eve
were created
as image bearers
in the likeness
of God.
They're not
missing anything.
What the serpent
is tempting
Eve to do
is to decide
for herself
what was good
and right
in her eyes
regarding this tree
that was forbidden.
We see what's
going on.
We see where
this is going.
And I don't know
about you,
but I start thinking,
man,
only if there was
a preacher
right there.
Someone to say,
Eve,
he's misleading you.
Don't do it.
Someone who is
guarding the garden
at this point.
Only if someone
was there.
Verse 6,
the woman decides
to take and eat
of the forbidden fruit,
explicitly forbidden
by God,
and she also then
gives to her husband
who was with her.
Someone was there
tasked with
guarding the garden.
And he failed.
He takes the fruit,
no questions,
no challenge,
and there is the crime
that changed
the course
of human history.
Eve sinned,
deciding for herself
what was good
and right
in her own eyes.
Adam sinned,
doing nothing,
abdicating his role
as the keeper
of the garden
and the protector
of his wife.
Verse 7,
both of their eyes
were open,
but their eyes
were not open
to the wisdom of God.
Their eyes were open
to their own
nakedness.
shame.
It's a way
of describing shame.
We all know shame.
Ed Welch,
in his book
Shame Interrupted,
defines it this way,
shame is the deep sense
that you are unacceptable
because of something
you did,
something done to you,
or something
associated with you,
you feel exposed
and humiliated,
end quote.
Everyone in this room
knows shame firsthand.
Varying degrees,
but we all know it.
We know exactly
what Adam and Eve
were experiencing
at this moment.
Their sense of nakedness
was their sense of shame
of having disobeyed
God's command.
They knew it,
and they knew
that there was
consequences to come.
And so at this point,
in the garden,
shame enters
the human experience.
You could trace
your shame
all the way back
to the garden.
And look what they do.
They make loincloths
for themselves
out of fig trees,
fig leaves.
They are self-atoning.
They are covering
their own shame
with their own efforts.
Many people today
try to cover their shame
against God,
with God,
by trying to
impress people
with their accomplishments.
It's a way
of trying to
cover your shame.
Just one of many ways.
And ever since,
men and women,
boys and girls,
have been trying
to self-atone
for their shame.
Let's turn this
to the workplace.
Have you ever thought
about your workplace
as a gathering point
of image bearers
who are ashamed
and trying
to self-atone?
You yourself
know shame.
You yourself
know what it means
to try to cover
your shame.
This is the crime
that changed
everything for us.
God comes to the garden
and it's a trial.
God comes into the garden
and he knows full well
what has already happened
and he's coming
to give Adam and Eve
an opportunity
to humble themselves
and repent.
What you just need
to notice in verse 8
is God,
knowing everything
that happens,
moves towards Adam and Eve
in their disobedience.
He moves towards them.
And what do Adam and Eve do?
They move away from God
and they hide
in their shame
behind the trees
in the garden.
The very trees
that God had planted
to provide for Adam and Eve,
they are now trying
to find cover
from God's eyes.
But God sees them anyway.
Shame for our disobedience
against God
leads us
to attempt
to hide
from God
in His creation.
And do you know
where today's people
go and hide?
We're more sophisticated
than Adam and Eve.
We're not trying
to hide
behind trees.
Where we try
to hide
from God's sight
is in the very vocations
He has called us
to bless others.
We hide in our work.
We hide in our busyness
hoping that God
will not see us
trying to push
down the shame
and keep God's eyes,
holy eyes,
off us.
People covering themselves
with their own accomplishments,
trying to hide
in their various
fair arms of work.
You know why
we're all stressed out?
Because we're hiding
from God.
This trial
consists of
four gracious questions.
Each one
is aimed at Adam.
There's three to Adam
and one at Eve
and they're all designed
to elicit
a humble
repentant response.
God is trying
to help
Adam and Eve here.
Question one,
verse nine,
where are you?
Where are you, Adam?
God knows where he is.
God knows exactly
where Adam is.
So think about
this question,
where are you?
As a,
come to me, Adam.
I'm here, Adam.
Come to me.
Come out of hiding, Adam.
Come and talk to me.
What a gracious,
wonderful God this is.
Inviting this sinner
to come to him,
to be honest with him,
to come out of hiding.
And if you're in the room
and you have realized
I am hiding
from the living God,
you also need
to understand
that today
he calls you
to come to him.
Where are you?
Come to me.
Let's talk.
Verse 10,
Adam admits
that he was hiding,
hiding from God,
aware of his nakedness,
afraid.
It's the first time
in all of creation
that an image bearer
is afraid
of the living God.
Fearful of God's condemnation
for his disobedience.
And here is God saying,
come to me, Adam.
Let's talk.
Questions 2 and 3
are more questions
put to Adam.
The third question is,
hey, have you eaten
from the tree
that I have forbidden
you to eat from?
And in verse 12,
it is such a sad thing
to see,
but we all know it
so well.
In his shame,
in his pride,
Adam does not fully own
his own disobedience,
but tries to minimize
his disobedience
by casting blame
on Eve.
The woman
whom you gave
to be with me,
he's thrown God
under the bus.
She gave me fruit
and I ate.
She's responsible.
He's diminishing
his responsibility.
He's trying to skate around
what God and he
know already
to be true.
He's abdicating again.
Verse 13,
the Lord turns
to the woman.
Question 4,
what is this
that you have done?
And like her husband,
she blame shifts.
She points
to the serpent
who deceived her
and she ate.
She doesn't own
that she
has disregarded
God's command
and decided
for herself
what is good
and right
in her eyes
of the tree
of the knowledge
of good and evil.
She skates around it
by trying to point
at the serpent
and blames him.
In this trial,
we see God
patiently,
graciously
drawing out
Adam and Eve
so that they would
humbly confess
their sin,
but they choose
in their pride
to blame
one another
and to try
to get out
of full responsibility
for their sin
before God.
The blame game.
Has anybody
experienced
at work,
in your home,
in church,
or somewhere
in our community,
blame shifting?
Oh yeah.
We all know it.
Blame shifting.
It flows out
of this corruption
of heart
that took place.
This shame
and pride
now tries
to redirect,
misdirect,
so we don't have
to bear
the full responsibility
of our actions.
Eve's sin
in the garden,
millennia ago,
Adam and Eve's sin
reaches
reaches into
the 21st century
in our shame,
in our pride,
in our blame shifting,
in our work,
in our homes,
in our church,
and around
the community.
Verses 14
through 21,
the sentencing.
Trials over,
questions made,
Adam and Eve,
having fully owned up.
Verses 14
through 21,
sentencing.
Curse.
If blessing
is the experience
of God's
full goodness
and interrupted
peace,
peace with God,
peace with creation
in your vocation,
peace with one another,
peace with yourself,
fullness of that
every day,
every minute,
if that is blessing,
curse is the withdrawal
of God's blessing
and the introduction
of hardship
and hostility.
Never meant to be.
Not part of God's
original design.
And in this sentencing,
we see God curse,
withdraw his blessing,
first on the serpent.
He's to crawl
on his belly.
He is to be cursed
above all
the beasts
of the field
and of the livestock.
Above all,
he is cursed
to be under them all
in the dust.
And not only that,
verse 15,
God will put enmity,
hostility
between the serpent
and the woman
and their offspring
and will culminate
in one of the offspring
of Eve
crushing his head.
Here in the midst
of the curse
is a glorious promise.
There's going to come
one,
an offspring of Eve,
an offspring,
one person
who will crush
the head of the serpent
and he will reverse
the effects
of the curse.
God makes
a huge gospel promise
at this moment.
He's going to withdraw
what he withdrew
so that there's fullness
of blessing.
To the woman,
verse 16,
God doesn't use
the word curse,
but that's essentially
what God does.
He withdraws his blessing
from a woman's
unique calling
and role
in being fruitful
and multiplying
through childbearing.
Instead of bearing
image bearers
with ease,
now there's going
to be multiplied
pain.
You see that
in verse 16?
Pain.
This is a unique
calling women have
and blessing
is withdrawn.
God withdraws
his blessing
from a woman
in another way
and man.
A woman
was originally
called as her
husband's helpmate
and instead
of peace,
God pronounces
that his blessing
would be withdrawn
from her relationship
with her husband
and now there
will be struggle
from helpmate
to stalemate.
there will be
a battle
of wills
for control
of the marriage
relationship.
Hostility
now enters
into
the relationship
between a husband
and a wife
and we've been
experiencing it
ever since.
It's a distortion
of God's good design.
the sentence
on the woman
is the
withdrawing
of God's
blessing
on child
rearing
in a marriage
relationship
and now
we experience
as normal
what God
has withdrawn
as blessing.
That's normal
for us now.
It's not normal.
It's not
what God
intended.
this is a
consequence
of Adam
and Eve's
sin
and it's a
consequence
we live with.
Verses 17
through 19
God turns
to the man
and speaks
curse
to the man
because he
listened to
Eve
over
listening to
God
what God
commanded
he curses
the ground.
He withdraws
blessing
from the ground.
Where God
withdraws
blessing
from
the production
of Eve's
fertility
he withdraws
blessing
from
Eve's
production
from the
fertility
of the
ground.
And now
there's pain
toil
hardship
what is
normal
for us
now
was not
normal
in the
garden
before the
fall.
Thorns
and thistles
now there's
something
resisting
our work.
Has anybody
experienced this
before?
You're trying
to get work
done.
Your computer
does something
weird
and for
an hour
to two
hours
you're
just
trying
to
kind of
pull
the weeds
of this
computer
so that
you can
get back
to your
work.
Modern
day
thorns
and thistles
the earth
resists
us
now.
Have you
ever wondered
why
highly
productive
days
are so
rare?
It's
because of
this.
The curse
as a
consequence
for Adam
and Eve's
sin.
19
by the
sweat of
your brow
instead
of minimum
effort
for maximum
results
now it's
maximum
effort
for limited
results.
In this
sentencing
God withdraws
his blessing
from Adam
from the
earth.
Hardship
pain
hostility
struggle
are what
follows.
In verses
20 to 21
we see
hope.
Adam
names his
wife Eve
the mother
of all
living.
Even in
the midst
of all
this cursing
there's
still this
sense
of
life.
There's
still going
to be
multiplying.
There's
still going
to be
filling.
There's
still going
to be
subduing.
There's
still going
to be
having
dominion
but now
all of
it's
challenged.
All of
it is
resisted.
Sin
has
entered
the world.
Curse
has
come.
Now
things
are
hard.
In
verses
20
through
24
there's
the
judgment.
Genesis
3
closes
with
Adam
and
Eve
wearing
the
God
made
garments
that he
has
put on
them
of
animal
skins.
Another
mercy
of
God.
They
are
expelled
from
the
garden.
They're
driven
away
from
the
tree
of
life.
No
eating
of
that.
They
will
die.
And
instead
of
Adam
guarding
the
garden
God
has
replaced
him
with
an
angel
preventing
his
return.
So
here
we
have
image
bearers
who
have
been
cast
out
of
God's
presence
experiencing
shame
seeking
to hide
in
their
pride
blaming
one
another.
Pain
hardship
sweat
toil
difficulty
resistance
does that
sound
familiar?
that's
the
world
we
live
in.
CSI
Eden
crime
trial
sentence
judgment
it
all
points
to
that
sin
has
corrupted
all
of
our
humanity
including
the
goodness
of
work.
You
know
what I
love
about
my
Bible?
It's
realistic.
I'm
a
biblical
realist.
this
describes
what all
of us
experience
day in
and day
out.
Yes
God
has
withdrawn
his
blessing
from
our
vocations.
Yes
now
there
is
hardship
and
hostility
but
the
real
problem
is
a
God
problem.
When
we
cut
God
out
of
all
of
our
lives
including
our
vocations
because
of
our
sin
something
else
takes
his
place.
And
often
times
it's
our
very
work
that
he's
called
us
to do
to bless
others
as
his
representative.
I'm
wrapping
up.
Bear
with
me.
In
her
very
helpful
article
called
Human
Flourishing
Danielle
Saladay
points
to
three
mistakes
that
we
experience
because
God
is
removed
from
our
work.
We
are
left
with
a
self
centered
view
of
work.
We
think
that
work
is
for
me.
Work
is
about
me.
When
God
said
no,
work
is
about
you
representing
me,
God,
and doing
good
to
others.
So let
me
just
share
with
you
in
closing
what
these
three
mistakes
are,
and I'm
going to
point you
to the
one
who will
redeem us
from these
things.
That's
what we're
going to
focus on
next week.
Mistake
number
one,
because
we
remove
God
from
our
work,
we
wrongly
value
certain
types
of work
over
others.
we play
favorites
with our
work.
We
think
some
work
is
better
than
other
work.
If
you're
over
at
the
hospital,
you
could
make
the
mistake
that
doctors
are
more
important
than
the
housekeeping
staff.
Like
they're
more
valuable.
They're
more
worth
full.
That's
a result
of
sin.
Jesus
the
offspring
of
Eve
who
came
crushed
the
head
of
the
serpent
is
seeking
to
reverse
the
curse.
And so
instead of
valuing
certain
types
of
work
over
others,
we
value
all
work
in the
image
bearers
that
do
them.
Second
mistake.
This is
one that
many of
us will
be able
to relate
with.
we
place
our
identity
in
our
work.
You
cut
God
out
of
work
and
what
you're
going
to
try
to
do
is
find
your
identity
in
it.
You're
going
to
try
to
hide
in
your
work.
You're
going to
cover
yourself
with
your
work.
And
not
only
we
place
our
identity
in
our
work,
we
seek
justification
through
our
work.
Why
I
exist
being
acceptable.
people
and
Jesus
the
descendant
the
offspring
of
ease
came
and
crushed
the
head
of
the
serpent
to
reverse
this.
So
instead
of
placing
identity
in
our
work
we
place
our
identity
in
what
has
come
from
his
finished
work
on
the
cross.
And
our
very
justification
comes
through
his
cross
work.
You
need
to
be
rescued
from
finding
your
identity
in
what
you
do.
You
need
Jesus
for
that.
The
last
mistake
is that
we
work
as
independent
operators
solely
responsible
for
our
daily
provision
forgetting
that
God
is
our
ultimate
provider.
It's
what
Paul
Tripp
calls
God
amnesia.
We
forget
God.
We
are
never
meant
to be
this
way.
Not
in
our
work
not
in
anything.
And
so
Jesus
has
come
crushed
the
head
of
the
serpent
reversing
the
curse
to
make
independent
operators
into
dependent
creatures
seeking to
bless
others
through
our
work.
All
these
mistakes
point
to
one
thing.
We
have
a
tendency
to
worship
our
work
to
make
an
idol
of
what
we
do.
And
that's
why
we
are
in
such
desperate
need
of
the
promised
offspring
of
Eve
who
would
come
crush
the
head
of
the
serpent
and
reverse
the
curse
bringing
blessing
to
all
people.
Jesus
alone
is
able
to
reintegrate
God
back
into
all
of
our
lives
including
our
work
blessing
us
and
making
us
a
blessing
to
all
that
we
work
with.
So
students
Jesus
intends
to
redeem
your
school
work
for
God's
glory
and
the
good
of
others.
Salesmen
Jesus
intends
to
redeem
your
work
as a
salesperson
to
glorify
God
and
to
bless
others.
Managers
Jesus
intends
to
redeem
your
managing
to
glorify
God
and
to
bless
others.
And so
next
week
this
week
we've
looked
at
work
corrupted
next
week
work
redeemed.
Jesus
at
work
in
our
work
how
his
cross
work
changes
our
day
to
day
work
and
if
you
want
to
put
it
in
the
words
of
Psalm
46
1
he
is
our
ever
present
help
in
our
callings.
to
redeem
it
for
God's
glory
and
the
good
of
all.
What
sin
has
corrupted
Jesus
alone
is able
to
sanctify.
All
glory
and
praise
and
honor
and
power
and
majesty
be
to
the
name
of
Jesus.
Amen.
God
help
us
in
the
name
of
Jesus.
Amen.