Calling All Workers!

When the company founded by Andrew Carnegie was taken over by the U.S. Steel Corporation in 1901 it acquired as one of its obligations a contract to pay the top Carnegie executive, Charles M. Schwab, the then unheard of minimum sum of $1,000,000. J.P. Morgan of U.S. Steel was in a quandary about it. The highest salary on record was then $100,000. He met with Schwab, showed him the contract and hesitatingly asked what could be done about it.

"This," said Schwab, as he took the contract and tore it up. That contract had paid Schwab $1,300,000 the year before. "I didn’t care what salary they paid me," Schwab later told a Forbes magazine interviewer. "I was not animated by money motives. I believed in what I was trying to do and I wanted to see it brought about. I cancelled that contract without a moment’s hesitation. Why do I work? I work for just the pleasure I find in work, the satisfaction there is in developing things, in creating. Also, the associations business begets. The person who does not work for the love of work, but only for money, is not likely to make money nor to find much fun in life."

Bits and Pieces, May, 1991, p. 2.

Transition:

The story I just shared with you is a true event. In our day and time, it is a rare occurance to find individuals who work "just because they love work." As a result, most are just "punching the clock" and giving less than what they should or could be giving. In fact, many workers steal from their employers without taking cash out of the register.

In fact, it isn’t uncommon to hear of workers taking an extra 10-15 minutes longer on their lunch breaks. After a years time, they have stolen hundreds of hours from their employer who pays them in good faith.

Unfortunately, what happens in the work force also happens within the church. Today I want to describe to you what one theologian said years ago: There are three kinds of people that you will find in every church. Which person are you?

I. There Are Workers

A. Yielded to God’s will.

B. Involved in the task.

C. Compassionate to those in need.

D. Accountable to others.

E. Committed to the task.

II. There Are Shirkers

A. Slightly yielded to God’s will.

B. Slightly involved in the task.

C. Slightly compassionate to those in need.

D. Slightly accountable to others.

E. Slightly committed to the task.

III. There Are Jerkers

A. Fear of losing control.

B. Fear of losing attention.

C. Fear of losing influence.

D. Fear of losing position.

Note:

Reasons Why Workers Do Not Want To Serve

1. They lack vision.

2. They do not have a desire to grow (complacency)

3. They refuse to let go of the past (we never did it that way before)

4. They had rather let others do all the work.

5. They are lazy.

6. They are blinded by Satan.

Conclusion:

The sign in the store window read: NO HELP WANTED. As two men passed by, one said to the other, "You should apply--you’d be great."

Principles regarding work, Decision-making and the Will of God, p. 336.