Labor Day - Taking Christ With You

You know the story. God shut the mouths of the lions, & Daniel was unharmed. The next morning, Darius came rushing to the lion’s den, expecting to find the mangled bones of Daniel.

Listen to what Darius says in vs. 20 of the 6th chapter of Daniel. It says, "When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, `Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’"

C. Isn’t that interesting? Daniel worked in a pagan environment. He worked in a pagan office. He worked for a pagan king. And yet, the one thing that that pagan king knew about Daniel was that Daniel served God continually.

APPL. Do your fellow-workers know that? Do you try to serve God continually in the environment of your work? Have you seen yourself as a walking temple of God? Have you been able to put God first where you work, so that your fellow workers know that you are trying to serve God?

You say, "Well, Daniel was extra-ordinary. I’m just ordinary." If you’re ordinary, thank the Lord. He made more ordinary people than He did anybody else. He didn’t make very many geniuses. He didn’t make very many five talent people. But He made a lot of ordinary people.

And God delights in taking ordinary people & infusing them with extra-ordinary power. And when an ordinary person goes to an ordinary workplace, determined to be faithful to God, God can do extra-ordinary things through him or her. And God always is glorified when that happens.

III. ALL OF US ARE MINISTERS

A. Now the third thing I want you to see is that all of us are ministers, no matter who or where we are.

ILL. At times people say to me, "I wish I could do what you do. I wish I were a preacher." Now I spent 8 years working in grocery stores, an oil company, & in department stores before I became a full-time preacher, & I know where you’re coming from. I know a bit about the language & the things that go on in the secular workplace, & I’m very thankful that God called me out of that into the ministry.

But I want you to understand that I am no more a servant of God now than I was then. You see, the Bible teaches that all of us are ministers no matter what our job description or workplace might be. If you’re a Christian, you’re a minister of God.

Now God may call you out of that to a mission field, or to a preaching ministry, or whatever. And if He does, you need to respond. But you will be no more a servant of His then, then you are right now. Your ministry is now, wherever you are, that’s your sphere of ministry.

B. You say, "Well, I’m a victim of circumstances. I have this job because I couldn’t get the one I wanted. I have to make a living, so here I am, & I hate every minute of it."

ILL. Daniel was a victim of circumstances, too. Let me ask you, "Why was Daniel in Babylon?" And of course, the answer is that the Babylonian army took him to Babylon. But notice, in Jeremiah 29:7 God says, "I have carried you into exile." "I have carried you from Jerusalem to Babylon."