WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Alright, well, let's get started. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:09.640 So, I'll say good morning and welcome to our third class in this Sunday School Series on Work, Vocation, and the Gospel. 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:19.179 And for those who may have missed the first two classes, I just wanted to go through first a reminder of where we are in the course. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:29.900 So, in the first class, the focus was on the design of work, and we covered a few defining characteristics about how God designed work, or how work was intended by God. 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:34.880 I think the first one was that work is good, that God works and he delights in his work. 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:42.519 Second, that we were created to work, that work is not incidental to a meaningful life, it is actually central to it. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:47.060 The third, God calls us to a variety of work. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:54.740 We saw that in the garden, where Adam's task included both intellectual and physical labor in naming the animals and tending the ground. 00:00:55.760 --> 00:00:59.939 And there is no hierarchy between these. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.000 forms of work. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:13.239 And then finally, we explore the fact that work comes with God-given limits that remind us that we are not masters of ourselves, or of our work, and keep us oriented and dependent on God who calls us to work. 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:21.640 Then last week, Alex picked up this theme by continuing focusing particularly on the concept of work as a calling. 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:28.640 And as you may remember, he distinguished between vocation and occupation. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:40.640 Because in the context of work, he wanted to separate our occupation as what we get paid for, and then vocation to really get at the heart of the sense of God's calling to us for work. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:45.640 And in that class, I think he talks about a couple of things. 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.640 First, our primary calling is a relationship with God. 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:53.640 As important as work is, that's not the ultimate calling. 00:01:53.640 --> 00:02:08.639 And an implication because of the gospel of grace is that because there is nothing we can do to earn God's favor, there is no separation between spiritual work and physical work. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:27.699 Because God calls us to work to advance His good creation, and as such, we can embrace and explore all classes of work in continuing to pursue God's design and further His plan for us to cultivate the earth. 00:02:27.699 --> 00:02:35.699 So in this class, I would not go back to that difference between occupation and vocation. 00:02:35.699 --> 00:02:40.699 It's useful when we want to make that distinction, but it would not be as relevant in this class. 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:44.699 We would just talk about all of it in the context of work. 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:51.699 And so all we have said in the first two classes point us to the goodness of work as God meant it to be. 00:02:51.699 --> 00:02:57.699 Anybody whose work will be the first to admit that we don't always experience our work in this way. 00:02:57.699 --> 00:03:10.699 I think some of you may remember, maybe about a decade or so ago, there was a meme that used to make its rounds on the internet that highlighted the mixed experience of work from several perspectives. 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:29.699 And it would typically start with the profession like teacher, and then go through these cycles, this six panel cycle of what my friends think I do, what my boss thinks I do, what my mom thinks I do, and then what society thinks I do, what I think I do, and then finally what I actually do. 00:03:29.699 --> 00:03:36.699 I try to look for a couple of them, but it may take a long time to pass it around and discuss. 00:03:36.699 --> 00:03:48.699 But there was one example that I was looking up, and teacher, if I go back to the example of teacher, it would show what my friends think I do is like Einstein scribbling on the wall. 00:03:48.699 --> 00:03:59.699 And then what I think I do, I think I'm like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, where I am inspiring students to a much higher level of aspiration or Robert Sean Leonard in the Dead Poets Society. 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:08.699 And then it pans to what I actually do, which is spend a lot of my time just grading papers and responding to requests from parents for extensions and homework. 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:13.699 I see Amanda laughing. I'm sure that she experiences much of that. 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:26.699 But the memo, what I said, the meme, while it cheekily reflects what we experience as the brokenness of work, it is then, this is that to which we turn to today. 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:39.699 Work is broken. We all experience it. And so we're going to experience how and why work is broken, and then see how we can recover God's design for work, even amidst this brokenness of work. 00:04:39.699 --> 00:04:43.699 But before we do so, let us turn to Lord in prayer. 00:04:43.699 --> 00:05:10.699 Lord, we thank you for your good design for work. And we ask that even as we look closer at the ways in which our experience of it departs from your good and beautiful design, we pray you open our eyes and our hearts to see ways you still remain at work through our work, to further your good purposes for creation. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:11.699 Amen. 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:22.699 Alright. So, recognizing that work is broken, like I just said, is no surprise to anyone who's worked, those of us who are Christians and those who are not, right? 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:34.699 Happy Friday is a more common greeting than Happy Monday, for example. But I imagine if you ask people for why work is broken today, you are likely to get a range of responses. 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:56.699 Some people will readily trace it to systemic issues. They will see the brokenness of work as a result of us being in an economic system that is geared towards the radical pursuit of efficiency, and that treats human beings like mindless machines in the pursuit of greater profits retained by a certain class. 00:05:56.699 --> 00:06:12.699 Others may be quicker to turn to more specific explanations. They see work as broken because of specific contextual issues, have a bad or incompetent manager, or the incentives at work are misaligned. 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:22.699 They are suboptimal organizational and HR processes that together degrade the experience of the employees who work there. 00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:34.699 And then while there is some truth in these and many other responses that people give, the Bible traces it to something that is more fundamental, which is the consequences of sin. 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:39.699 God's good design for work became broken as a response to man's disobedience. 00:06:39.699 --> 00:06:47.699 And, you know, we started exploring the design of work by looking at the creation story, the creation narrative in chapter 2 of Genesis. 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:54.699 And we see this brokenness and the consequence almost immediately in the continuation of the narrative in Genesis 3. 00:06:54.699 --> 00:07:04.699 After God had created man and given them work to do in the garden, they disobeyed him by eating of the fruit of the tree that he had commanded them not to. 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:12.699 And after his judgment to the serpent and the woman, God turns to Adam and he says, starting in Genesis 3 from verse 17, 00:07:12.699 --> 00:07:40.699 verse 17, 00:07:40.699 --> 00:08:09.699 In other words, as Tim Keller puts it in the book that accompanies the series, the first way work is broken is that work becomes fruitless. 00:08:09.699 --> 00:08:20.699 And while the passage that we just read focuses on the direct experience of fruitless toil for Adam in his particular work in that time as a gardener, 00:08:20.699 --> 00:08:24.699 Keller broadens the definition of fruitlessness in this way. 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:39.700 And by fruitless we mean that in all our work we will be able to envision far more than we can accomplish, both because of a lack of ability and because of resistance in the environment around us. 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:48.700 The experience of work will include pain, conflict, envy and fatigue, and not all our goals will be met. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:59.700 In other words, fruitlessness in work does not mean that our work will yield nothing, but that it will generally yield less than we anticipate. 00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:04.700 We work really hard, but sometimes it doesn't feel like there is very much to show for it. 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:11.700 And one illustration of this is a short story that Tolkien wrote, which Keller retells in the introduction of the book. 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:23.700 It's called Leaf by Neagle, and it's a story about a painter named Neagle who had a masterpiece picture in his mind of a magnificent tree that he hoped to paint before he died. 00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:36.700 But despite his best efforts, all he was ever able to end up painting was just a mere leaf of that magnificent tree, to his great disappointment. 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:43.700 Almost in parallel, Catherine Alsdorf, who is Keller's co-author and who wrote the foreword of the book, 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:50.700 she also described something similar in her experience when she was launching a start-up in the early 2000s, 00:09:50.700 --> 00:09:55.700 in the middle of what was called then the dot-com boom that ultimately failed. 00:09:55.700 --> 00:10:00.700 As she says, after 18 months of relentless work, the company failed. 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:04.700 We were part of the internet bubble, and when it burst, it took us with it. 00:10:04.700 --> 00:10:12.700 While we got our product to market on schedule, we couldn't raise the additional money we needed after venture capital dried up. 00:10:12.700 --> 00:10:17.700 We retained bankers to shop for a buyer that would enable us to at least keep the product going, 00:10:17.700 --> 00:10:20.700 keep some of the staff working, and provide some return to our investors. 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:28.700 However, the fears in the market scared off the buyer we had been courting just days before signing the deal. 00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:34.700 I had to lay off 100 people the next day, and then sell off our intellectual property. 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:42.700 Now, the experience of fruitlessness is made even more challenging because it's not always driven by factors under our control. 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:52.700 As Al Zoff described, unlike many of the start-ups at the time, they actually released the product on time and on schedule, 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:54.700 and yet their efforts failed. 00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:59.700 Now, I imagine there are a couple of sports fans among us who are watching match madness. 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:01.700 You don't have to admit if you're not. 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:10.700 But you know this, especially if you follow any sport, that teams, even with better records, deeper benches, 00:11:10.700 --> 00:11:15.700 and more rigorous conference programs will still end up failing or losing out, 00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:20.700 even to teams that are not as good as they are. 00:11:20.700 --> 00:11:22.700 So if fruitlessness is one way... 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:27.700 Sorry, I'm not sure why I'm coughing. 00:11:27.700 --> 00:11:37.700 But if fruitlessness is one way that work is broken, we may be tempted, actually, to think that if we found ways to avoid it, 00:11:37.700 --> 00:11:44.700 say by overcoming some of our personal shortcomings or our skill limitations, 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:51.700 or if we find ways to avoid the external factors that make work futile, say, like in a Catherine Owsdorf case, 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:57.700 maybe she had been a final investor, we may be able to return to God's grand design for work. 00:11:57.700 --> 00:12:00.700 But alas, this is not so. 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:06.700 Because even those who enjoy fruitfulness in their work far beyond their imagination, 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:11.700 they still encounter work's brokenness, though in a different way. 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:15.700 And that is when work becomes futile or pointless. 00:12:15.700 --> 00:12:22.700 There is perhaps no clearer example of this experience in Scripture than the author of Ecclesiastes, 00:12:22.700 --> 00:12:27.700 who after attempting to find meaning in life through the pursuit of learning and wisdom, 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:31.700 and then through the pursuit of pleasure, he turns to work. 00:12:31.700 --> 00:12:36.700 And in chapter 2 of the book, he describes it as follows. 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:37.700 It says, 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:38.700 I made great works. 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:40.700 I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:45.700 I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:49.700 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 00:12:49.700 --> 00:12:53.700 I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. 00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:59.700 I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:04.700 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:10.700 I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines in the light of the sons of man. 00:13:10.700 --> 00:13:14.700 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:20.700 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it. 00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:29.700 And behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:35.700 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.700 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool. 00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:44.700 Yet he will be master of all for which I toil and use my wisdom under the sun. 00:13:44.700 --> 00:13:46.700 This also is vanity. 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:52.700 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun. 00:13:52.700 --> 00:14:00.700 Because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. 00:14:00.700 --> 00:14:03.700 This also is vanity and a great evil. 00:14:03.700 --> 00:14:13.700 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:16.700 The author of Ecclesiastes clearly enjoyed significant fruitfulness. 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:23.700 He planted so many successful projects that he did and experienced a lot of it, of good fruit from his work. 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:32.700 But in the end, he found the work meaningless and vanity, a toiling and striving of the heart. 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:36.700 This experience is not unique to the author of Ecclesiastes. 00:14:36.700 --> 00:14:38.700 It's still particularly resonant today. 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:49.700 So if you consider Michael Phelps, who is the most decorated Olympian of all time, a total of about 28 medals and the record for most gold medals ever, 23. 00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:55.700 He has described the futility and depression he's felt even after realizing some of his dreams as follows. 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:57.700 And I paraphrase this a bit. 00:14:57.700 --> 00:15:01.700 He said, you work so hard for four years to get to that point. 00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:04.700 And then it's like, you're at the top of the mountain. 00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:06.700 You're like, what am I supposed to do? 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:08.700 Where am I supposed to go? 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:09.700 Who am I? 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:16.700 And elsewhere, he said again, referring to his post success blues, a dramatic emptiness. 00:15:16.700 --> 00:15:19.700 You work as hard to potentially win a gold medal. 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:21.700 And then the next day, you're done. 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:23.700 That's it. 00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:26.700 This phenomenon is also not unique to Michael Phelps. 00:15:26.700 --> 00:15:30.700 In fact, it has been studied enough that it has a name in psychology. 00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:33.700 And it's pithily called the arrival fallacy. 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:48.700 And in the New York Times article on the subject, the author quotes the psychologist who coined the term as defining it as the illusion that once we achieve a goal or reach a destination, we will reach lasting happiness. 00:15:48.700 --> 00:16:11.700 The author actually quotes a study as well in which it was found that professors who had either received or been denied tenure in the preceding five years reported similar levels of happiness, whereas assistant professors who had not yet been considered for tenure consistently overestimated the amount of joy they expected to receive from that event. 00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:18.700 Jim Carrey, who some of you may remember, was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the 90s. 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:29.700 He once said, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:47.420 So we experience work as futile and pointless as the corruption of sin in this case also tempts us to place our expectations of joy, identity and fulfillment in a gift rather than the giver himself. 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:53.620 Nothing besides God is large enough to bear the weight of our need for identity and meaning. 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:54.620 Nothing besides God is large enough to bear the weight of our need for the purpose of sin. 00:16:54.620 --> 00:16:57.620 As Augustine said in the Confessions in this famous quote, 00:16:57.620 --> 00:17:06.619 Thou movest us to delight in praising thee, for thou hast formed us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee. 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:14.619 Let me pause here. Are there any questions or any thoughts or reactions on this experience of work? 00:17:14.619 --> 00:17:33.619 So I think the spread of the Christian idea, if I can call it that, Christianity, right, tends to foster this idea of arrival. 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:43.619 Because the Christian faith teaches that there is a final and ultimate arrival. 00:17:43.619 --> 00:18:00.619 And as that kind of percolates through culture into other religions, other peoples, other nations that are not particularly Christian or even not Christian at all. 00:18:00.619 --> 00:18:05.619 So they too begin to adapt this idea of an arrival. 00:18:05.619 --> 00:18:11.619 But those arrivals that they set up are ultimately disappointing. 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:21.619 So in a sense, Christianity is to blame for the arrival fallacy. 00:18:21.619 --> 00:18:22.619 Hmm. 00:18:22.619 --> 00:18:26.619 That is a provocative statement. 00:18:26.619 --> 00:18:30.619 I think there is something there. 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:35.619 I don't know if anybody has, it feels like there were opposing thoughts. 00:18:35.619 --> 00:18:39.619 Well Christians are the only ones who have the concept of our expectations are out of line. 00:18:39.619 --> 00:18:40.619 Hmm. 00:18:40.619 --> 00:18:46.619 So people all over the world think if they just get to the next thing they'll be happy. 00:18:46.619 --> 00:18:48.619 But then you reach your seventies. 00:18:48.619 --> 00:18:49.619 And you know. 00:18:49.619 --> 00:19:01.619 You have many experiences of having realized that the things of this world will not ultimately make you happy. 00:19:01.619 --> 00:19:08.619 I think the problem is not with the desire of the point. 00:19:08.619 --> 00:19:14.619 I think it's like many things in our lives, in our life of the world. 00:19:14.619 --> 00:19:25.619 The problem is that it's almost like the world or the devil, whoever, like perverses that initial desire. 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:28.619 So the problem is not to love someone. 00:19:28.619 --> 00:19:37.619 It's trying to love someone in the wrong way, in the way that the world says that it is not how the Bible told us to love someone. 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:42.619 The problem is not trying to get to a point. 00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:48.619 The Bible says that we should shine light in the light of the world. 00:19:48.619 --> 00:19:50.619 The perfect life. 00:19:50.619 --> 00:19:55.619 The day we try to pursue something. 00:19:55.619 --> 00:20:00.619 And if the Bible tells us how to pursue things. 00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:03.619 So the problem is not the desire itself. 00:20:03.619 --> 00:20:10.619 It's how the world gets a true statement and perverses it to the wrong goal. 00:20:10.619 --> 00:20:11.619 Hmm. 00:20:11.619 --> 00:20:12.619 Hmm. 00:20:12.619 --> 00:20:13.619 Hmm. 00:20:13.619 --> 00:20:14.619 Hmm. 00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:15.619 Anyone else? 00:20:15.619 --> 00:20:16.619 I thought someone. 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:23.619 Good job. 00:20:23.619 --> 00:20:25.619 Enthusiastes is pretty Christian. 00:20:25.619 --> 00:20:34.619 Wouldn't you say it's an idea of kind of the arrival, the desire for an arrival that ultimately feels empty. 00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:38.619 It's kind of, that idea is there. 00:20:38.619 --> 00:20:39.619 Um. 00:20:39.619 --> 00:20:47.619 Well, I don't know that I would say it is Christian as it is an exploration of life under the sun. 00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:51.619 I mean, that was like a pretty frequent refrain throughout the book. 00:20:51.619 --> 00:20:56.619 And that refrain is meant to point to, in some way, life apart from God. 00:20:56.619 --> 00:21:00.619 If life under the sun, all the life that we can see is all there is. 00:21:00.619 --> 00:21:02.619 What does that have? 00:21:02.619 --> 00:21:06.619 How does that impact the way we see and experience life? 00:21:06.619 --> 00:21:08.619 And then it's an exploration of that. 00:21:08.619 --> 00:21:10.619 And it comes back to the end. 00:21:10.619 --> 00:21:11.619 Um. 00:21:11.619 --> 00:21:12.619 There is more to life. 00:21:12.619 --> 00:21:13.619 Um. 00:21:13.619 --> 00:21:17.619 It's only when you see life outside of it just being under the sun, 00:21:17.619 --> 00:21:19.619 do we find meaning. 00:21:19.619 --> 00:21:20.619 Um. 00:21:20.619 --> 00:21:25.619 But there was an entire sermon series on this, which I would not do justice to in like two sentences. 00:21:25.619 --> 00:21:26.619 So, um. 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:35.619 But, but I think it is a provocative, um, perspective of what does it mean if in some way like the material world is all there is. 00:21:35.619 --> 00:21:38.619 And I think we find that it is actually meaningless. 00:21:38.619 --> 00:21:39.619 Yes. 00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:40.619 Yeah. 00:21:40.619 --> 00:21:57.619 I think, um, like work will bring like wealth, fame, reputation, status, but I think from a Christian perspective, we, we take it as a, as a gift. 00:21:57.619 --> 00:22:01.619 It's like, because ownership is always to God. 00:22:01.619 --> 00:22:02.619 Um. 00:22:02.619 --> 00:22:03.619 Mm-hmm. 00:22:03.619 --> 00:22:03.619 00:22:03.619 --> 00:22:04.619 Um. 00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:09.619 It's like, when you were given with all of that, you, you take good care of them, but you won't transfer the ownership to yourself. 00:22:09.619 --> 00:22:13.619 And then you, you feel, that's part of my achievement. 00:22:13.619 --> 00:22:14.619 Um. 00:22:14.619 --> 00:22:15.619 Um. 00:22:15.619 --> 00:22:16.619 Yeah. 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:20.619 So then you still feel like the service to God. 00:22:20.619 --> 00:22:25.619 Well, um, being, feeling fruitful. 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:26.619 Mm-hmm. 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:28.619 You're in the world because you're, you're glorified. 00:22:28.619 --> 00:22:29.619 You're glorified God. 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:30.619 Yeah. 00:22:30.619 --> 00:22:38.619 So you're giving the, the capability and opportunity to, to serve Him, which is the real way. 00:22:38.619 --> 00:22:39.619 Yeah. 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:54.619 I, I agree that, uh, those material things will bring happiness somehow, but like the eyes on God and being given this, uh, a chance is way more important than those things. 00:22:54.619 --> 00:22:55.619 Yeah. 00:22:55.619 --> 00:22:56.619 Yeah. 00:22:56.619 --> 00:22:57.619 Yeah. 00:22:57.619 --> 00:23:05.619 I think, Richard, I, I, I'm just reflecting on your, on your comment. 00:23:05.619 --> 00:23:13.619 The idea that came to mind is like saying that gravity is responsible for plane crashes. 00:23:13.619 --> 00:23:16.619 It is true, but that's not the entire picture. 00:23:16.619 --> 00:23:23.619 I think it is when we, you, in some way, even in describing it, describe, you, you kind of touch on what I think is why. 00:23:23.619 --> 00:23:26.619 The, the experience is there. 00:23:26.619 --> 00:23:32.619 People try and divorce even that expectation from the giver of it. 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:35.619 And actually it will matter the good gift. 00:23:35.619 --> 00:23:46.619 When it is divorced from the giver, which is God, uh, we will explore that later actually in, I mean, in the next class on, that is the fundamental, um, beginning of idolatry. 00:23:46.619 --> 00:23:47.619 Right. 00:23:47.619 --> 00:23:50.619 And then when you divorce it, it loses all of its power. 00:23:50.619 --> 00:24:01.619 God gave them a good garden, but when they decided to pursue, um, their own desires away from, um, the limits that God had given them, that was when it broke. 00:24:01.619 --> 00:24:04.619 And that brokenness still continues today. 00:24:04.619 --> 00:24:20.619 And to your point, it's a brokenness that is in our hearts because even we today can under, we can relate to the fact that there are things that God gives us that we sometimes try to grab outside of God and find that it is empty, futile and meaningless. 00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:27.619 So, so, so the arrival that, um, uh, Christianity promises. 00:24:27.619 --> 00:24:29.619 You're absolutely right. 00:24:29.619 --> 00:24:32.619 It is only part of the picture. 00:24:32.619 --> 00:24:34.619 It's like the gravity. 00:24:34.619 --> 00:24:35.619 Mm-hmm. 00:24:35.619 --> 00:24:36.619 Gravity is real. 00:24:36.619 --> 00:24:38.619 The arrival is real. 00:24:38.619 --> 00:24:44.619 Um, but, um, there's another part of Christianity too. 00:24:44.619 --> 00:24:45.619 Mm-hmm. 00:24:45.619 --> 00:24:46.619 Yeah. 00:24:46.619 --> 00:24:47.619 And that's the failure. 00:24:47.619 --> 00:24:49.619 The failure. 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:50.619 The failure. 00:24:50.619 --> 00:24:51.619 The failure on the cross. 00:24:51.619 --> 00:24:52.619 Hmm. 00:24:52.619 --> 00:24:55.619 What do you mean by Christ's failure on the cross? 00:24:55.619 --> 00:25:00.619 So, he failed to bring the kingdom of God on the cross. 00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:03.619 People went away disappointed. 00:25:03.619 --> 00:25:07.619 Instead of arriving, they had a setback. 00:25:07.619 --> 00:25:15.619 And I think when he rose again, he corrected their misconception of what that arrival was meant to be. 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:16.619 Yes. 00:25:16.619 --> 00:25:17.619 Okay. 00:25:17.619 --> 00:25:18.619 Yes. 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:19.619 So, the problem was still with people. 00:25:19.619 --> 00:25:24.619 You could still say sin corrupts even our understanding of what that arrival is. 00:25:24.619 --> 00:25:29.619 Um, and we will actually get to that in what then do we do. 00:25:29.619 --> 00:25:32.619 But I'm wondering if there are any other questions around. 00:25:32.619 --> 00:25:38.619 Are there experiences of how you've seen or in some way experienced the futility and brokenness of work? 00:25:38.619 --> 00:25:39.619 I'm sorry. 00:25:39.619 --> 00:25:40.619 Yes. 00:25:40.619 --> 00:25:41.619 Talking so much today. 00:25:41.619 --> 00:25:44.619 Especially when I don't have the voice to do it. 00:25:44.619 --> 00:25:48.619 Yeah, I experienced a lot of brokenness at work. 00:25:48.619 --> 00:25:51.619 I'm not going to go into a long story. 00:25:51.619 --> 00:25:57.619 Um, but it was an extraordinary week for brokenness for me. 00:25:57.619 --> 00:25:58.619 Hmm. 00:25:58.619 --> 00:26:00.619 I'm sorry to hear that. 00:26:00.619 --> 00:26:01.619 Yeah. 00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:02.619 Work is broken. 00:26:02.619 --> 00:26:09.619 I think we are not immune to the effects and the impact of this brokenness of work. 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:13.619 Um, so what then do we do? 00:26:13.619 --> 00:26:19.619 Um, do we pack up our bags and go, I mean, where will we go, right? 00:26:19.619 --> 00:26:28.619 How can we hope then to experience God's good design for work in the face of these different ways in which it has been broken by the consequences of sin? 00:26:28.619 --> 00:26:30.619 Um, I think there are some ideas. 00:26:30.619 --> 00:26:31.619 We have some ideas. 00:26:31.619 --> 00:26:37.619 Uh, and then after that, I would love to hear if you guys have more, but there are three ideas that I wanted to share. 00:26:37.619 --> 00:26:43.619 Um, first is to adjust our expectations for work on this side of eternity. 00:26:43.619 --> 00:26:59.619 Um, so my small group, uh, in my small group, we're currently studying, wrapping up the study of first Corinthians and one defining characteristic of that body of believers was something that we have described as an over-realized eschatology, 00:26:59.619 --> 00:27:08.619 which was the belief that they were enjoying or meant to be enjoying things that would only become true on the other side of eternity. 00:27:08.619 --> 00:27:13.619 The brokenness of work will only be fully healed when Christ returns. 00:27:13.619 --> 00:27:18.619 Until then, we will experience some of the thorns and thistles that come at work. 00:27:18.619 --> 00:27:20.619 So we should not be surprised by them. 00:27:20.619 --> 00:27:28.619 And because some define frustration as the difference between expectation and reality, adjusting your expectations, 00:27:28.619 --> 00:27:36.619 of work could potentially help you manage the disappointments that follow better than you otherwise would expect. 00:27:36.619 --> 00:27:55.619 Um, managing expectations will also keep you from an anxiety that Tim Keller describes that just because you cannot realize your highest aspirations in your current work does not mean you have chosen wrongly or that you need to keep searching for the perfect career or one devoid of frustration. 00:27:55.619 --> 00:28:02.619 Even in the right location, even in the right location, you should expect that frustrations will come. 00:28:02.619 --> 00:28:15.619 Uh, those who are pursuing graduate studies will be the first to tell you they get into their dream graduate program and then all of a sudden, Groundhog Day, there's a point where it just becomes like every day is the same. 00:28:15.619 --> 00:28:22.619 You are consistently making false discoveries or going down dead ends. 00:28:22.619 --> 00:28:30.619 Um, I've heard people describe at the end of the fact that, you know, if I knew every experiment that would not work, I could get my PhD in three months. 00:28:30.619 --> 00:28:33.619 There was a guy who told me that three months I would be done. 00:28:33.619 --> 00:28:40.619 But it took him six years because that is in some way the fruitlessness of the toil. 00:28:40.619 --> 00:28:47.619 The second is to learn to focus on the good that is still present in the work. 00:28:47.619 --> 00:28:53.619 Um, the corruption of sin does muddy God's design for work, but it does not eliminate it. 00:28:53.619 --> 00:28:58.619 And with God's help, we can learn to see and be grateful for it, even in the face of thorns. 00:28:58.619 --> 00:29:11.619 And so maybe as a small exercise, if you go to the passage in Genesis three, even when God calls to judgment on work, can you see anything good even in that judgment? 00:29:11.619 --> 00:29:24.619 Is there anything, if you look at the passage, I don't know if we have our Bibles in Genesis three from 17, I think, let me see, to maybe 20, 20 or so, when God pronounces the judgment. 00:29:24.619 --> 00:29:29.619 Is there anything good that you can observe there? 00:29:29.619 --> 00:29:39.619 I can read it, don't worry. 00:29:39.619 --> 00:29:41.619 Don't worry. 00:29:41.619 --> 00:29:45.619 So that like, uh, it says, uh, curses the ground because of you in pain, you shall eat it all the days of your life. 00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:50.619 Thorns and thistles, you shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field. 00:29:50.619 --> 00:29:54.619 By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it. 00:29:54.619 --> 00:29:58.619 You were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. 00:29:58.619 --> 00:30:05.619 What good could there possibly be in these verses that represent the curse of work? 00:30:05.619 --> 00:30:21.619 Um, they would have days to their life. 00:30:21.619 --> 00:30:22.619 Hmm. 00:30:22.619 --> 00:30:26.619 Instead of, in the day you eat there, uh, you shall die. 00:30:26.619 --> 00:30:27.619 Yeah. 00:30:27.619 --> 00:30:28.619 Mm-hmm. 00:30:28.619 --> 00:30:29.619 That's, that's one. 00:30:29.619 --> 00:30:30.619 That's one. 00:30:30.619 --> 00:30:31.619 They didn't die immediately. 00:30:31.619 --> 00:30:33.619 Um, anyone else? 00:30:33.619 --> 00:30:34.619 It's work related. 00:30:34.619 --> 00:30:36.619 They have ways to provide food. 00:30:36.619 --> 00:30:39.619 They, yes, there will still be food. 00:30:39.619 --> 00:30:44.619 Like, you know, I'm sure some of you are familiar with this, uh, with the myth of Sisyphus, who just 00:30:44.619 --> 00:30:50.619 kept rolling the hill up and then it, that their work, though it toiling and laborious, would 00:30:50.619 --> 00:30:53.619 still produce food for them to eat. 00:30:53.619 --> 00:30:59.619 Uh, and so when they eat of that food, they can be thankful that it was not just going 00:30:59.619 --> 00:31:01.619 to be painful toil and then they die. 00:31:01.619 --> 00:31:04.619 There will be painful toil and then there will be food to eat. 00:31:04.619 --> 00:31:05.619 What else? 00:31:05.619 --> 00:31:09.619 There's only one slight one further in that passage. 00:31:09.619 --> 00:31:14.619 Well, they would return to the dust of the ground. 00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:15.619 Yeah. 00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:21.619 When they were a part of the dust of the ground, there was no rebellion. 00:31:21.619 --> 00:31:22.619 Hmm. 00:31:22.619 --> 00:31:27.619 So they knew that there was coming a day when they would return there and again there would 00:31:27.619 --> 00:31:29.619 be no rebellion. 00:31:29.619 --> 00:31:30.619 Hmm. 00:31:30.619 --> 00:31:31.619 I see that faintly. 00:31:31.619 --> 00:31:34.619 I can see that more clearly in the New Testament. 00:31:34.619 --> 00:31:37.619 Uh, but in their time it's like, you know, return to non-existence. 00:31:37.619 --> 00:31:38.619 Uh. 00:31:38.619 --> 00:31:41.619 Harder, but fair point, Richard. 00:31:41.619 --> 00:31:44.619 Well, but you notice how I avoided the term non-existence? 00:31:44.619 --> 00:31:45.619 Yeah. 00:31:45.619 --> 00:31:46.619 Okay. 00:31:46.619 --> 00:31:47.619 Okay. 00:31:47.619 --> 00:31:49.619 Anyone else? 00:31:49.619 --> 00:31:51.619 There is one more. 00:31:51.619 --> 00:31:53.619 It's kind of hidden in there. 00:31:53.619 --> 00:31:54.619 Yes. 00:31:54.619 --> 00:31:58.619 I don't know what you're getting at, but the idea that the curse is the ground for your 00:31:58.619 --> 00:32:03.619 sake, that God would think it's worth, like there's something more to do with us even 00:32:03.619 --> 00:32:04.619 though we've fallen. 00:32:04.619 --> 00:32:09.619 And so even if it's so sad that it's cursed for our sake, it's our fault. 00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:17.619 But also it's worth doing so that, um, because God needs something more to do with us. 00:32:17.619 --> 00:32:18.619 Yeah. 00:32:18.619 --> 00:32:20.619 You will notice that God didn't curse the man. 00:32:20.619 --> 00:32:21.619 He cursed the ground. 00:32:21.619 --> 00:32:22.619 You know? 00:32:22.619 --> 00:32:25.619 Like it wasn't everything about him that was going to be cursed. 00:32:25.619 --> 00:32:32.619 Uh, even when it came to the, uh, even for the woman, it was just the pregnancy that was cursed. 00:32:32.619 --> 00:32:34.619 It was not the woman that was cursed. 00:32:34.619 --> 00:32:39.619 Because there's actually an interesting, uh, study like there, there is another thing I, uh, 00:32:39.619 --> 00:32:48.619 called the, the gender job satisfaction paradox, which is that despite lower pay and even tougher 00:32:48.619 --> 00:32:52.619 conditions, women historically enjoy greater job satisfaction than men. 00:32:52.619 --> 00:32:57.619 It's, uh, I mean, I think they said it's like starting to erode, but it's actually been persistent 00:32:57.619 --> 00:32:58.619 enough that people studied it. 00:32:58.619 --> 00:33:03.619 And it's interesting that like, well, the woman's curse was not with regards to work. 00:33:03.619 --> 00:33:09.619 So I, I thought I was very interesting that, you know, women can even still enjoy better 00:33:09.619 --> 00:33:10.619 job, job satisfaction. 00:33:10.619 --> 00:33:14.619 Now, of course, as we've studied, there'll probably be back and forth debates, but it is 00:33:14.619 --> 00:33:18.619 persistent enough that there have been articles and discussions about why is that so? 00:33:18.619 --> 00:33:23.619 And there are all sorts of reasons about what women see, can find it sometimes, what they 00:33:23.619 --> 00:33:27.619 find in work, that men maybe have trouble to do so. 00:33:27.619 --> 00:33:35.619 Um, so yes, there is good, even in that, and that we are a goal, we should learn to strive 00:33:35.619 --> 00:33:36.619 for that good. 00:33:36.619 --> 00:33:42.619 Work may yield less than we anticipate, but it will yield something for which we can be 00:33:42.619 --> 00:33:43.619 thankful. 00:33:43.619 --> 00:33:48.619 In Ecclesiastes that we also looked at, even in his discussion of the futility of work, the 00:33:48.619 --> 00:33:51.619 teacher repeatedly comes back to this refrain. 00:33:51.619 --> 00:33:57.619 There is nothing better for a man, for a person than that he should eat and drink and find 00:33:57.619 --> 00:34:00.619 enjoyment in his toil. 00:34:00.619 --> 00:34:07.619 This also I saw is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or find enjoyment. 00:34:07.619 --> 00:34:13.619 The fact that you can actually even after toil, take all the fruit of your labor and eat 00:34:13.619 --> 00:34:17.619 and enjoy it is a gift from God. 00:34:17.619 --> 00:34:24.619 So then in the seasons that we experience toil and frustration at work, one thing we can 00:34:24.619 --> 00:34:30.619 do is to reflect on what good has God given you in the midst of these frustrations that 00:34:30.619 --> 00:34:32.619 you experience. 00:34:32.619 --> 00:34:36.619 You may have a difficult boss or you may have great colleagues. 00:34:36.619 --> 00:34:38.619 Um, you can be thankful for that. 00:34:38.619 --> 00:34:43.619 You could be, your work could compensate you in a way that allows you to be generous and 00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:44.619 provide for your needs. 00:34:44.619 --> 00:34:48.619 Um, even when it may feel like it is just drudgery work. 00:34:48.619 --> 00:34:54.619 Um, is it growth and skill development when the pay may be insufficient? 00:34:54.619 --> 00:34:55.619 You know? 00:34:55.619 --> 00:35:00.619 Uh, and even for those who don't work for pay, or like for those of us who work at home, is 00:35:00.619 --> 00:35:05.619 it the joy of seeing your children grow even when they may be ungrateful? 00:35:05.619 --> 00:35:10.619 Or complain all the time, uh, that they don't get to eat ice cream for dinner. 00:35:10.619 --> 00:35:12.619 Um, so yeah. 00:35:12.619 --> 00:35:18.619 Spending time reflecting on work and the ways, um, or I say you should spend time reflecting 00:35:18.619 --> 00:35:24.619 on your work and ways you can celebrate the good to the praise and glory of God. 00:35:24.619 --> 00:35:31.619 Because who can eat or find enjoyment like the writer of Ecclesiastes says, apart from him. 00:35:31.619 --> 00:35:36.619 Finally, and this is something that Richard had started mentioning that I would like we're 00:35:36.619 --> 00:35:41.619 going to come back to, is to keep the resurrection and eternity in view. 00:35:41.619 --> 00:35:46.619 We will talk about this, um, later in the class when we come to the topic of how the gospel 00:35:46.619 --> 00:35:49.619 gives us a new perspective on work. 00:35:49.619 --> 00:35:54.619 But, as I mentioned earlier, um, again, we are studying the book of 1 Corinthians in my 00:35:54.619 --> 00:35:55.619 small group. 00:35:55.619 --> 00:36:00.619 And this week, uh, this past week we're looking at chapter 15, uh, where Paul was talking to 00:36:00.619 --> 00:36:05.619 them about the centrality of resurrection to the faith, to, to their faith, and the hope 00:36:05.619 --> 00:36:09.619 that was embedded in the fact that we will have resurrected bodies. 00:36:09.619 --> 00:36:14.619 At the conclusion of this grand discourse, um, as an encouraging implication of what had 00:36:14.619 --> 00:36:19.619 gone beforehand in the previous chapter, in, in, in chapter in verses 1 to 2, 00:36:19.619 --> 00:36:20.619 57. 00:36:20.619 --> 00:36:21.619 Paul writes in 58. 00:36:21.619 --> 00:36:28.619 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of 00:36:28.619 --> 00:36:33.619 the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 00:36:33.619 --> 00:36:39.619 In other words, Paul is saying to them that the reality of the resurrection is a reminder 00:36:39.619 --> 00:36:41.619 that our labor is not in vain. 00:36:41.619 --> 00:36:47.619 And before we get tempted to dismiss that as pertaining only to spiritual labor, um, or 00:36:47.619 --> 00:36:54.619 direct kingdom work, you should remember, um, Alex's, uh, class from last week, uh, that 00:36:54.619 --> 00:37:00.619 reminds us that God's work extends beyond spiritual work to all labor that he's done in his glory. 00:37:00.619 --> 00:37:04.619 That was a, actually a rallying cry of the reformation. 00:37:04.619 --> 00:37:10.619 Thus, even in the face of the fruitlessness and futility that sin has wrought on work, our 00:37:10.619 --> 00:37:13.619 work will not be in vain. 00:37:13.619 --> 00:37:16.619 But how can this be? 00:37:16.619 --> 00:37:21.619 Well, there is a clue in the earlier verses of the chapter, um, as Paul talks about the 00:37:21.619 --> 00:37:24.619 natural body and the resurrected body. 00:37:24.619 --> 00:37:28.619 Um, in verse 42, he says, so it is with the resurrection of the dead. 00:37:28.619 --> 00:37:30.619 What is sown is perishable. 00:37:30.619 --> 00:37:33.619 What is raised is imperishable. 00:37:33.619 --> 00:37:35.619 It is sown in dishonor. 00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:36.619 It is raised in glory. 00:37:36.619 --> 00:37:38.619 It is sown in weakness. 00:37:38.619 --> 00:37:40.619 It is raised in power. 00:37:40.619 --> 00:37:42.619 It is sown a natural body. 00:37:42.619 --> 00:37:44.619 It is raised a spiritual body. 00:37:44.619 --> 00:37:51.619 In other words, there is this kind of seed to harvest like relationship between the natural 00:37:51.619 --> 00:37:55.619 and pre resurrection body and the post resurrection spiritual body. 00:37:55.619 --> 00:37:58.619 And that may be the same with our work. 00:37:58.619 --> 00:38:05.619 What may seem insignificant, fruitless and pointless when done for the Lord on this side 00:38:05.619 --> 00:38:12.619 of eternity is realized in full harvest beyond our imagination post resurrection. 00:38:12.619 --> 00:38:19.619 And the harvest of fruit dwarfs the seed in the same way that the glory of the resurrected 00:38:19.619 --> 00:38:22.619 body would dwarf the natural. 00:38:22.619 --> 00:38:29.619 And this is actually in fact how the story that I started telling earlier leaf by niggle, 00:38:29.619 --> 00:38:31.619 how it ends. 00:38:31.619 --> 00:38:38.619 Um, when niggle dies disappointed that all he was able to complete was one leaf of his magnificent 00:38:38.619 --> 00:38:39.619 vision. 00:38:39.619 --> 00:38:47.619 He arrives in heaven and Tolkien writes before him stood the tree, his tree finished its leaves 00:38:47.619 --> 00:38:54.619 opening its branches growing and bending in the wind that niggle had so often felt or guessed 00:38:54.619 --> 00:38:57.619 and yet had so often failed to catch. 00:38:57.619 --> 00:39:02.619 That I think Richard is the arrival, the longing for arrival. 00:39:02.619 --> 00:39:06.619 The idea that there is, C.S. Lewis has said before, right? 00:39:06.619 --> 00:39:11.619 Like our hunger points us to the fact that there is something like food that satisfies. 00:39:11.619 --> 00:39:15.619 This arrival fallacy points us to the fact that there is an arrival. 00:39:15.619 --> 00:39:20.619 Uh, and an arrival for whose, whose fruitfulness and whose fulfillment of the labors for which 00:39:20.619 --> 00:39:23.619 we yearn will be greater than what we imagine. 00:39:23.619 --> 00:39:27.619 But that arrival is only to be found in God. 00:39:27.619 --> 00:39:35.619 Um, so whatever we do, Paul reminds us, be steadfast knowing that the labor is not in vain. 00:39:35.619 --> 00:39:42.619 Even when it feels fruitless, even if it feels pointless, Paul is saying in the Lord, it is not in vain. 00:39:42.619 --> 00:39:52.619 For God is able to bring forth a harvest here or in eternity as he so designed, as he so designed and, and so wills. 00:39:52.619 --> 00:39:55.619 So that should be our encouragement. 00:39:55.619 --> 00:40:02.619 Okay. I want to stop here. Are there other ways you think we can explore or manage this idea of, um, 00:40:02.619 --> 00:40:05.619 you know, dealing with the brokenness of work in today's reality? 00:40:05.619 --> 00:40:09.619 So perhaps I'm saying here, like, the same thing in a different way. 00:40:09.619 --> 00:40:13.619 But I just think that we are very poor judges of our own work. 00:40:13.619 --> 00:40:14.619 Mmm. 00:40:14.619 --> 00:40:23.619 Um, something can feel and seem fruitless, but many people are experiencing our work around this. 00:40:23.619 --> 00:40:24.619 Mmm. 00:40:24.619 --> 00:40:28.619 And something that we could be very meaningful to them. 00:40:28.619 --> 00:40:38.619 And they don't necessarily express it, but God is really the only judge of our work. 00:40:38.619 --> 00:40:39.619 Yeah. 00:40:39.619 --> 00:40:40.619 Yes, sir. 00:40:40.619 --> 00:40:46.619 I think work is just a subset of life itself, and we make too much of a difference. 00:40:46.619 --> 00:40:48.619 I don't think it's much different. 00:40:48.619 --> 00:40:50.619 There's no difference in the rest of our life. 00:40:50.619 --> 00:40:51.619 Mmm. 00:40:51.619 --> 00:40:56.619 Yeah, but we do all the same terrible things in our real life as the work. 00:40:56.619 --> 00:40:57.619 Mmm. 00:40:57.619 --> 00:40:59.619 That's fair. 00:40:59.619 --> 00:41:03.619 I'm going to jump off of Susan's comment. 00:41:03.619 --> 00:41:13.619 Um, when I first started my business, um, I was looking at designing jewelry and having 00:41:13.619 --> 00:41:16.619 a line and being in different retailers and so forth and so on. 00:41:16.619 --> 00:41:21.619 And when my daughter was diagnosed with autism, that shifted everything. 00:41:21.619 --> 00:41:26.619 And so I went back into the repair aspect. 00:41:26.619 --> 00:41:35.619 And for decades, I would pray, Lord, I feel like I'm in a dungeon in my studio and all I'm 00:41:35.619 --> 00:41:36.619 doing is repair work. 00:41:36.619 --> 00:41:40.619 And this is not really where I wanted to go. 00:41:40.619 --> 00:41:42.619 This is not what I had seen. 00:41:42.619 --> 00:41:54.619 And a few years ago, he said to me, so, taking broken things and making them beautiful? 00:41:54.619 --> 00:41:55.619 Yeah. 00:41:55.619 --> 00:41:59.619 Is this not something that you think is important to them? 00:41:59.619 --> 00:42:00.619 No. 00:42:00.619 --> 00:42:04.619 Well, how come it took all of these years to tell me that? 00:42:04.619 --> 00:42:07.619 Because it took all that time and you still hadn't figured it out. 00:42:07.619 --> 00:42:11.619 I'm just pissed, what can I say? 00:42:11.619 --> 00:42:12.619 That's pretty beautiful. 00:42:12.619 --> 00:42:20.619 But that's, and, and, to your point, Susan, about, we don't know how important that piece 00:42:20.619 --> 00:42:24.619 of jewelry that I'm repairing is to whoever. 00:42:24.619 --> 00:42:26.619 And I've made wedding bands. 00:42:26.619 --> 00:42:34.619 And that, I find that so satisfying because those are really meaningful pieces. 00:42:34.619 --> 00:42:37.619 And it's beauty. 00:42:37.619 --> 00:42:40.619 So, that's my experience. 00:42:40.619 --> 00:42:41.619 Anyone else? 00:42:41.619 --> 00:42:47.619 Well, you would get the same satisfaction if you weren't doing it for work. 00:42:47.619 --> 00:42:48.619 It's just all horrible. 00:42:48.619 --> 00:42:51.619 Oh, I am so blessed that I get to have fun. 00:42:51.619 --> 00:42:53.619 I am so blessed that I get to have fun. 00:42:53.619 --> 00:43:00.619 But it doesn't have to be a work situation to get that satisfaction. 00:43:00.619 --> 00:43:03.619 Maybe not wait for some reason. 00:43:03.619 --> 00:43:04.619 Mm-hmm. 00:43:04.619 --> 00:43:06.619 Oh, but, but wait. 00:43:06.619 --> 00:43:10.619 I, I said I had an extraordinarily broken experience at work this week. 00:43:10.619 --> 00:43:11.619 That's true. 00:43:11.619 --> 00:43:13.619 But it was also fun. 00:43:13.619 --> 00:43:14.619 Oh, wow. 00:43:14.619 --> 00:43:16.619 The two were mixed together. 00:43:16.619 --> 00:43:17.619 Oh, wow. 00:43:17.619 --> 00:43:18.619 Yeah. 00:43:18.619 --> 00:43:19.619 There you go. 00:43:19.619 --> 00:43:25.619 I think John Hinkson in his class on cultivation in the previous series talked about it. 00:43:25.619 --> 00:43:28.619 That as Christians, we should be good cultural critics. 00:43:28.619 --> 00:43:33.619 Knowing that there is good allows us to, even in between, in the brokenness, we can locate 00:43:33.619 --> 00:43:37.619 and define the goodness that is in some of those things. 00:43:37.619 --> 00:43:43.619 And that prevents us from falling into, in some way like, uh, Polianism or whatever. 00:43:43.619 --> 00:43:44.619 Polianerism, I would call it. 00:43:44.619 --> 00:43:47.619 Just over-optimism or deep cynicism. 00:43:47.619 --> 00:43:55.619 We can always identify where God is at work, even in the brokenness. 00:43:55.619 --> 00:44:01.619 There was one more way, and this is building on what Susan said and Kim as well. 00:44:01.619 --> 00:44:10.619 Uh, I remember, I'm dating myself because I used to be on the internet a lot long, a lot, well, a different part of the internet a long time ago. 00:44:10.619 --> 00:44:19.619 But, in the early 2000s, 2010s, there was this thing on Facebook called Humans of New York, which was like a really big thing. 00:44:19.619 --> 00:44:23.619 This guy would, you know, talk to random people in New York. 00:44:23.619 --> 00:44:26.619 And he became so famous, I think he was actually invited to the White House. 00:44:26.619 --> 00:44:32.619 And actually, there was a particular one where he spoke to the president at the time, I think it was Barack Obama. 00:44:32.619 --> 00:44:43.619 And he said, you know, and I think he asked him how, the question was, how does he manage, uh, in the midst of the frustration that politics and all of these, like, bring to his work. 00:44:43.619 --> 00:44:48.619 And he said, you know, sometimes, uh, and I'm paraphrasing because it's been a long time. 00:44:48.619 --> 00:44:57.619 But, I think he said something like, you know, it's easy to get frustrated when you think about, when he thinks about it in terms of what it does to him and his agenda. 00:44:57.619 --> 00:45:08.619 But, when he focuses on the work itself, and the meaning that the work can have on the lives of other people, he can draw a lot more value from that. 00:45:08.619 --> 00:45:21.619 And I think sometimes, that's like a, to Susan's point, we are often poor judges of our work because sometimes we judge our work in its ability to drive our own agenda and our own ambition. 00:45:21.619 --> 00:45:32.619 But when you pivot away from that, and to see those for whom, as Dorothy Sayers said, work is the, um, you know, is creative, uh, cultivation in the service of others. 00:45:32.619 --> 00:45:46.619 When we focus or shift perspective to what it does in the life of others, we can draw, we can then, the goodness that God intended for the work is a lot clearer than when it is for our own selves. 00:45:46.619 --> 00:45:53.619 Um, this tendency to look at our own selves and away from others is actually another way work is broken. 00:45:53.619 --> 00:45:57.619 And that is something that we will again pick up in the next class. 00:45:57.619 --> 00:46:01.619 But, uh, I think it's 10 minutes to 10. It's a good time to stop. 00:46:01.619 --> 00:46:03.619 So, let me pray for us. 00:46:03.619 --> 00:46:15.619 Lord, we thank you, uh, because, as that song says, um, he comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found. 00:46:15.619 --> 00:46:21.619 Lord, that one day you will come and make all of these things new and beautiful yet again. 00:46:21.619 --> 00:46:28.619 But thank you that even in the midst of the brokenness, as Kim reminded us, you still make things beautiful. 00:46:28.619 --> 00:46:37.619 Um, may you help us to see and experience that even in our work, looking to you and not the work in itself for our fulfillment and our joy. 00:46:37.619 --> 00:46:40.619 We ask in Jesus name. Amen. 00:46:40.619 --> 00:46:41.619 Amen. 00:46:41.619 --> 00:46:43.619 Amen. 00:46:43.619 --> 00:46:45.619 Amen. 00:46:45.619 --> 00:46:45.619 00:46:45.619 --> 00:46:45.619