In 1960, John Kennedy was running for the presidency, and was campaigning near a coal mine in West Virginia. One of the miners put a series of questions to Kennedy:
"Is it true that your father is one of the wealthiest men in the world?" Kennedy admitted that this was true.
"Well, then, is it also true that you’ve always had everything you’ve wanted?” Again Kennedy admitted that this was true.
The miner’s voice got louder, and his pitch got higher, "Then is it also true that you’ve never done a day’s work with your hands in your whole life?" Kennedy gulped a little, but blurted out, "Yes."
The coal miner drew himself up to his full height, took a deep breath, looked the would-be president straight in the eye, and spit it out, "Then let me tell you something. You haven’t missed a thing!"
Work. Work. For all of our fabled Washington workaholism, we are not all that excited about work. We want to work, and yet we don’t want to work. We want the paycheck and we hope for decent working conditions: but not everyone gets fulfillment out of his work. Not everyone finds her work compelling and life-shaping. Work is something about which we have mixed feelings. And for a lot of folks, if you haven’t been working, well, "you haven’t missed a thing."
Some people approach their work as if it were an unbearable burden. They act as if working is just about to kill them. Some people seem to carry the weight of their work as if it were two tons of dead meat, smelling to high heaven. And I am talking not only about those who have jobs to go to: I am even talking about retired people. Even people with no jobs can feel burdened when you ask them to accept some responsibility. Everything is just a big, dead weight; everything is just a problem, I’m tired, I can’t handle any more. Get off my back. Whew!
I have several friends like that. Minister friends. Now some of you think that ministers have it easy; all we have to do is stand up for twenty minutes on Sunday and scream, right? Well, I have several friends in the ministry who do nothing but whine and complain about how burdensome their job is, how it squeezes all the juice out of them, how unreasonable the people are. Wheeze and whine, moan and groan. Even ministers, in my experience, find their work an unpleasant weight, and, if you’ve never had to do it, "Well, you haven’t missed a thing!"
But there is another side. There is another approach to work. There are people with entirely different attitudes. People who thrive on their work ... again, whether it is work for which they get paid or whether it is volunteer service or maybe just taking care of their families. There are people who never feel the weight. They get a lift from somewhere, they have some wind beneath their wings, they gain energy rather than lose energy when they work. The more they have to do, the happier they are. There are people, and, thank God, this church has some of them, who are ready to say "Yes" to the tasks life brings, and who embrace those tasks with joy and with energy.
What is the difference? Why does one person see his work as a burden and the other see it as a joy? Why does one person, when you ask her to do something, moan and groan about how much she is already obligated to, and another will not only agree to do what is asked, but will do it well, do it quickly, and do even more than what is asked? What makes the difference?
The Bible’s answer is a renewed mind. A renewed mind. Paul tells us in Romans, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”
Well, what is a renewed mind? A renewed mind is something like a supercharger on an automobile engine. A supercharger ... and please pardon the engineering illustration if you’re one of those folks whose mechanical knowledge is nothing more than "put in the key and press the pedal to the metal" … a supercharger is a device which does a very simple thing for a gasoline engine, but that simple thing has dramatic results. A supercharger draws in extra air. It blows in extra air, adding to the mixture of gasoline and air that burns in your car’s engine. And just by forcing in more air, the supercharged engine puts out a great deal more power.
A renewed mind is like that. A renewed mind is supercharged. A renewed mind takes in the Holy Spirit, and mingles the presence of God with its own abilities. And the mixture of the Spirit of God and your own abilities gives you power; the mixture of the Spirit of God and your own abilities supercharges you, so that your work becomes not a burden, but a joy. Your life becomes not a series of problems, but an ongoing chorus of victories. The renewed mind is supercharged.
Let’s look a little more closely at what the renewed mind is like.
I
Paul tells us, first, that the renewed mind will discern God’s will and find its fulfillment. If you have a renewed mind, and your work requires you to do something or someone asks you to give of yourself, your renewed mind asks if this is God’s will. If you can find God’s will in what you are doing, then the task will not be burdensome; it will be fulfilling.
Listen closely to what Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect.” That’s the renewed mind. Discerning the will of God so confident, so at home, that you are supercharged. You are fulfilled in your work.
The happiest people I know are people who listen for the will of God and respond to it joyfully. About a year ago we were looking for a particular kind of person to be a deacon. I was given the assignment of approaching one of our men. I should tell you that this man is not exactly a member of the leisure class. He has a demanding full-time job, plus a part-time extra job. He is a responsible husband and father; he is involved in a variety of community concerns. He’s living a busy life. But when I presented the case for serving as a deacon, his answer was quick and positive: "I have to. I have to accept that. I see it as God’s will. And that means I have to do it." Well, not only is he now a deacon, but he is serving with distinction. His life isn’t any simpler; far from it. But I see a joy in his heart because he is doing the will of God. He has the renewed mind, which discerns God’s will. He is supercharged.
His story could be multiplied several times over. Another person, who has always carried many responsibilities, was asked to lead a major effort that would last several years. She spoke of her family responsibilities, she wondered out loud if she were really the best person for the job, she asked some questions about what kind of help she could expect. But then she said, in the end, "This work is what the Lord wants for our church. I’ll do it." A renewed mind, discerning God’s will, is supercharged.
And so the saints of God are teaching children, leading ministries, caring for fragile family members, getting involved in the community, and giving of their time and their energy. They know that no one will acknowledge them or reward them. But they do all this with joy. Why? Because they have renewed minds. Renewed minds discern the will of God, and when you believe that God’s will is in something, you will bear any burden, pay any price, and do even the dirtiest of dirty work without counting the hours or worrying about recognition. It is enough that it is God’s will; and His presence, mingled with your own abilities, supercharges you.
II
But the renewed mind has another ability. The renewed mind is not only focused on discerning the will of God. The renewed mind also thinks in terms of service. The renewed mind sees that we are all dependent on one another. If we can work together and fulfill one another’s needs, then work becomes not a burden but a joy, not a problem but an opportunity, not a negative but a positive.
Just listen to what the possibilities are: "[Do not] think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but … think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us … the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness."
Wow! Wouldn’t you like to live like that? Passionate, spontaneous? Generosity, diligence, cheerfulness? These are the products of a renewed mind. These are the qualities of a supercharged life. These are the wind beneath the wings of daily work. And they all have to do with serving others.
This week I had an unpleasant, burdensome job to do. An entire day of hauling, moving, and cleaning. It was far more than I could handle on my own, and, for reasons best left unsaid, the fact that I had to do it at all was a little embarrassing. But I called up one of our members to ask him to help me; naturally I felt I had to explain why this distasteful task had to be done and why I was asking him to devote seven or eight hours to totin’ that barge and liftin’ that bale. His response was very interesting. He said, "I don’t agree with what you did. I think you made an error in judgment. But I will help you, because you are my friend and my pastor."
Do you see how the renewed mind works? I don’t agree, but I will help. I don’t see things the way you do, but you are my brother, you are my sister, and I will help. That’s what the renewed mind always knows ... that we belong to each other, and when we see our work as serving one another, we get a lift and a joy in that work. We are supercharged!
III
So how do we receive this renewed mind? Where do we go to get supercharged? If the renewed mind is one in which the power and presence of the Holy Spirit mingles with our own abilities, so that there is a lift and a joy in our work, how do we receive that presence?
Week by week during this series of messages, I have pointed you to the cross. Week by week I have spoken of the Christ of the cross and what He does for us that we cannot do for ourselves.
Today is no different. Today, once again, I point you to the cross. Through the cross you can receive a renewed mind, a transformed mind, a supercharged mind. For through the cross you can discern the will of God: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name." The renewed mind, the mind of Christ, discerns the will of God and is obedient. In obedience we, like Him, can be lifted up. Supercharged.
Through the cross you can learn to serve: "Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God." The renewed mind, the mind of Christ, sees even in the cross the joy of serving others. In serving we, like Him, can find joy and can be raised to the very presence of God. Supercharged.
So, if you don’t work, won’t work, you haven’t missed a thing? Oh yes, you have. Oh yes, you have. Now if your mind hasn’t been renewed, you’ve missed everything. You’ve been digging for coal in the mines, and that’s all you’ve found. It was a burden. But if we have understood the cross, "Now on a higher plane I dwell, and with my soul I know ’tis well; yet how or why I cannot tell He should have lifted me." All I know is that if I discern His will and if I serve others, then, "From sinking sand He lifted me; with tender hand he lifted me, From shades of night to planes of light, O praise His name, He lifted me."
