Defined By Your Job?

Today’s sermon is for the men of our congregation; being that we had a Men’s Breakfast this morning. I would like to begin our message with a short sermon illustration. Author John Trent, in an article entitled “A Father’s Heart,” states, “Not long ago, my family and I had the privilege of going on a cruise. As I sat on the deck drinking coffee, I overheard a heartbreaking conversation between a ten-year-old boy and his mother. ‘But why, Mom?’ the boy asked, oblivious to those around him. ‘Why did he even bother to come?’ I could see his mother struggling to frame her answer. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘he’s here, and he paid for all of us to go on this trip.’ ‘He’s not here!’ her son shouted. ‘He’s been on the phone or on his computer the whole time’!”(1)

How many of us get so caught up in work that we fail to spend time with our loved ones? Could it be that we see more value in our work than in our family, or perhaps we find more fulfillment in our work? It appears that making work our priority is a huge problem found among men: and Men, this can become a barrier in our relationship with God and with our family, and it can develop into a problem with our self-image should we ever experience difficulty in the workplace, or the loss of a job. Therefore, Men, the title of our message is presented in the form of a question that we should all consider, and that question is, “Are you defined by your job?” Let’s begin answering this question by first standing in honor of the reading of God’s Word, found in Genesis 47:1-3.

What Is Your Job? (Genesis 47:1-3)

1 Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.” 2 And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.”

Men, did you just hear the question that Pharaoh asked Joseph’s brothers? He inquired, “What is your occupation?” (v. 3) or “What is your job?” This seems like a rather direct question for a first introduction. We usually ask someone their name first, and then lead into those questions that request further detail about someone’s life; such as, what someone does for a living. However, it seems that we always get around to that question. Just watch America’s Got Talent, and one of the judges will normally ask a contestant, “And what do you do for a living?” – and then there’s that awkward moment when that thirty-year-old man says, “I don’t have a job. I live with my mom.”

It appears that one’s occupation was an important part of defining a person in Joseph’s time, just as it is today; and to ask about a person’s occupation was apparently part of ancient greetings and salutations. M. G. Easton says, “Eastern modes of salutation are not infrequently so prolonged as to become wearisome and a positive waste of time. The profusely polite Arab asks ‘so many’ questions after your health, your happiness, your welfare, your house, [your living] and other things.”(2)

Identity-Forming Employment

Our occupation, in some small sense, seems to define who we are. With men, however, one’s occupation seems to be everything about who we are. Tom Peterson tells us that “a job is an amazing thing. It not only has the incredible ability to pay your mortgage and to put your kids through college, it also can define your very identity.”(3)

In an article entitled, “Coping with Job Loss – Am I Meaningless,” it states, “It seems that much of our worth is wrapped up in the work we do. Our job becomes our identity . . . When we lose a job or are faced with a career change, we often feel we’ve lost our worth.”(4) “Men are taught that power, status and earning capacity are markers of masculinity. [A man’s] value is measured by economic and occupational success” (Linda Mantle).(5)

Men, all too often we allow our job to become our identity, and to become the ruler or standard by which we measure our life. So, what’s wrong with this picture? Well, I think we can see that we are letting something of this world become exalted above God, and – in a sense – to become an idol in our life. So, who is the measure by which we should compare ourselves, and in whom should we find our identity?