INTRO.- ILL.- Freddie was eighteen years old, friendly, and eager to do things right. Unfortunately, he wasn’t especially bright. He had just started his first job, as a delivery boy and general gofer at a furniture warehouse. His first task was to go out for coffee.
He walked into a nearby coffee shop carrying a large thermos. When the clerk finally noticed him, he held up the thermos. "Is this big enough to hold six cups of coffee?" he said. The clerk looked at the thermos, hesitated for a few seconds, then finally said, "Yeah. It looks like about six cups to me."
"Good," Freddie said. "Give me two regular, two decaf, and two extra strong.”
All I can say is: at least he tried to do the right thing. It could be that half the battle of learning to like your work is learning to do the right thing.
Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
If you do the right thing in this world and at work, it will come back to bless you. If you do the wrong thing (and on purpose) it will come back to bite you.
This scripture applies to all of life, not just work. If we sow good, we’ll reap good. If we sow bad stuff, we’ll reap bad stuff.
And some people are always trying to do the wrong thing by doing as little as possible no matter what kind of job they have.
ILL.- When I worked for Safeway in the 1960‘s some guys could find more ways to goof off and especially, when the boss wasn’t around. At one time there were 5 or 6 of us employees who went to work at 10 p.m. and worked until 7 a.m. That was back when stores weren’t open 24/7. We were locked in the store at night and our job was to stock the shelves.
I remember one night when the manager drove out of the parking lot that one of the stockers got a lawn chair out that we sold, got in it and went to sleep for hours. He may have worked a couple of hours after he woke up. He didn’t last long. It was obvious he wasn’t interested in working.
I was told later that sometimes when the manager would leave the parking lot he would merely go around the block and then park down the street and watch to see if we really worked or not.
Work ethic will help a person throughout all of life: at home, in school, in the military, in the working world, etc.
The mentality to work is a good thing. Our God worked in the beginning of time as we know it. God worked when He created the starry universe, earth, plant and animal life, etc. Of course, we assume that His work was not hard since He is God! But He was pleased to work and have given us that good example.
John 5:17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
If God and Christ are working, then we must too!
PROP.- Let’s think about how to get more out of life and our work.
1- Put more into it
2- Always be considerate of others
3- Realize who your real boss is
I. PUT MORE INTO IT
ILL.- For thirty years, Johnson had arrived at work at 9 A.M. on the dot. He had never missed a day and was never late.Consequently, when on one particular day 9 A.M. passed without Johnson’s arrival, it caused a sensation. All work ceased, and the boss himself, looking at his watch and muttering, came out into the corridor.
Finally, precisely at ten, Johnson showed up, clothes dusty and torn, his face scratched and bruised, his glasses bent. He limped painfully to the time clock, punched in, and said, aware that all eyes were upon him, "I tripped and rolled down two flights of stairs in the subway. Nearly killed myself."
And the boss said, "And to roll down two flights of stairs took you a whole hour?"
You just can’t please some bosses. However, I think it pays to get to work on time and even ahead of time if you want to get more out of your work. Or even offer to work extra hours.
ILL.- When I worked as Assistant Manager at the Trees ‘n Trend store in Cape Girardeau, MO, the manager hired a young, nicely-dressed young woman to manager our wedding department. It wasn’t long before we discovered she was taking an hour and a half for lunch. Employees were only allowed an hour for lunch. She would leave for lunch and purposely forget to clock out. When she came back from lunch she would clock in and then write in the time she supposedly left for lunch to make it look like she’d only been gone an hour for lunch. SHE DIDN’T WORK FOR OUR COMPANY VERY LONG.
If you want to get more out of your work, you don’t try to cheat on your working hours. If anything you give more, work more and do more than is expected of you. That’s the way to get ahead and get the most out of life!
And if you want to get more out of life in general, you put more into it! You invest your life in people, not things. All material things or material pursuits will some day cease to exist, but relationships are eternal because people are eternal! We must invest ourselves, our energies in the lives of people!
Now as far as our work in this is concerned, here’s a great scripture that instructs us.
II Thessalonians 3:6-10 6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."11We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
What’s the message for us in regard to our work? Don’t be idle or lazy and stay away from those who live that way. WHY? Because people affect people. People rub off people. If you run with bad dogs, you’ll become a bad dog. If you hang around with lazy dogs, you’ll become one!
I Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
We worked night and day. I don’t know of many men who do that but I know of some women who do! Man works from sun to sun but woman’s work is never done. It’s never done if she has a full time job and then comes home to cook, clean and do laundry.
I think the key to hard work is the realization that you are serving your fellow man in some form or another. Regardless of what you do for a living, please think of giving the best service possible. You are serving your fellow humans. Give them good service. Give them your best whatever you do.
II. ALWAYS BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHERS
ILL.- A store manager overheard a clerk saying to a customer, "No, ma’am, we haven’t had any for some weeks now, and it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any soon." Alarmed by what was being said, the manager rushed over to the customer who was walking out the door and said, "That isn’t true, ma’am. Of course, we’ll have some soon. In fact, we placed an order for it a couple of weeks ago."
Then the manager drew the clerk aside and growled, "Never, never, never, never say we don’t have something. If we don’t have it, say we ordered it and it’s on its way. Now, what was it she wanted?" The clerk smiled and said ..."Rain."
Always be considerate of others. Answer their questions as best you can. Be polite and courteous. This especially holds true if you’re in the people business, like retail business.
When people ask a question or need help, don’t ignore them, SERVE THEM! Pay attention to them. Listen to them. Be considerate of them.
I Peter 3:8-9 “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
This scripture tells us how Christians should treat one another, but in reality, we should treat all people this way: in harmony, sympathetic, compassionate, humble, and not seeking vengeance. Trying to combat evil with evil never pays.
ILL.- When I first started in the grocery business I had an assistant manager who didn’t like me. And eventually, he fired me over something that I thought was totally unfair. I unlocked the back door of the grocery store to allow a produce man to deliver his produce. He said I was not supposed to do that, but why did they give me a key to the back door to let other men deliver their goods such as milk, soda and bread? Nevertheless, when he said I was fired and asked for my key, I was both broken and angry.
I was only 18 years old at that time and had worked hard at that job. I was mad enough that I thought about taking a knife and slitting the tires on his car, BUT I DIDN’T. I didn’t do that simply because it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. I wasn’t a Christian at that time but I had gone to church enough to learn that it wasn’t right to get back at people. VENGEANCE IS NEVER RIGHT!
Romans 12:17-18 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
The point of I Peter 3 is that we should work with people and not against them. We should work together as a team and caring for one another at the same time. The work place is always better when people are considerate of one another.
ILL.- Bear Bryant was best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team. He said: I’m just a plowhand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together, a team. There’s just three things I’d say: If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.
That’s the way we should be in all of life, at work and in the world: encouraging, helpful, showing appreciation, etc.
1- Put more into your work.
2- Always be considerate of others.
III. REALIZE WHO YOUR REAL BOSS IS
ILL.- A young engineer was leaving the office at 3:45 P.M. when he found the Acting CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Listen," said the Acting CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document, and my secretary is not here. Can you make this thing work?"
"Certainly," said the young engineer. He turned his machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button. "Excellent, excellent!" said the Acting CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine, "I just need one copy."
Never, ever assume that your boss knows what he’s doing. This may be true for some bosses on earth but it’s not true for our real boss. Who is our real boss in life?
Colossians 3:22-25 “22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.”
Paul said that we are to obey our earthly masters. That would be our bosses, our managers, etc. And we obey them and work hard not just when they are watching us, but all the time.
ILL.- Jimmy was a Christian boy who worked in a grocery store after school. His job was working in the produce department. One day a customer, after making a purchase, said to Jimmy, “Why not throw in few extra apples? The boy who worked here before you used to give me extra in return for a trip from me.”
Jimmy said, “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that, because my boss wouldn’t approve of it.” The man said, “But your boss isn’t working today.” Jimmy said, “Oh, yes he is, he’s always in. He’s always working. You see, I’m a Christian.”
I think we all realize that the Lord is our real boss in life. Or at least, He should be. He is the giver of every good gift and He tops it off with the promise of eternal life. HE DESERVES TO BE OUR BOSS IN LIFE!
What should this mean? It should mean that more than any other single person, we should be listening to Him and doing what He wants.
Who is in control of your life? Do you have the control? Does someone else in your life exert control over you? Or does the Lord Jesus have control? Most of us are self-controlled.
ILL.- Some years ago American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, sang a song (and wrote it, I think) that should hit home with all people and especially, Christian people. It’s called, “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” A portion of that song reads:
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can’t do this on my own
I’m letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I’m on
Jesus take the wheel
There are times in life when we take the wrong road or do the wrong thing or say the wrong words. But do you realize that if we’d just let Jesus take the wheel life would be different, life would be better? If we would just let Jesus be the boss, the Lord of our lives, life would be so much better!
CONCLUSION-----------------------
ILL.- A farmer once said, “The hardest thing about milking cows is that they never stay milked.”
This is true for many jobs: like cooking, cleaning, doing laundry,
mowing the grass, taking out the trash, and many other things.
God meant for us to work. Six days shalt thou labor. We might as well realize that there is no free lunch on planet earth. And to do a good job in life we must give it our best shot by seeking to please the Lord most of all.
We will never go wrong as long as we seek the Lord’s will in life: work or otherwise.
