God in your Job
Exodus 31
Tonight we are going to talk about work. Its not a popular topic to talk about because the majority of Americans spend the greatest amount of their adult life dreading Monday mornings. They work 40 hours a week for 25-30 years looking forward to the day when they will retire. The strange thing is that after they retire they spend their retirement years talking about the good old days and they share all the fun stories about when they use to work.
It has been said that
There are three kinds of workers. For example, when a piano is to be moved, the first kind gets behind and pushes, the second pulls and guides, and the third grabs the piano stool.
One research study suggested that 50% of American workers are in jobs that don't fit their abilities
This could be why they dread Monday mornings
But God created us to work and find fulfillment and purpose in our work
let me read a couple of passages from the book of Genesis when God created Adam
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Gen 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
These jobs were given to Adam before the fall which means that work is not a curse but a blessing from God
Even when God gave the commandments he included the command to work
Exd 31:15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.
God has made work a way in which we can find purpose in life and a sense of accomplishment as He provides for us through our work
Eph 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
Even when God provided the manna in the wilderness to the children of Israel they had to go out and collect it
and now we come to this passage in Exodus 31. God is finishing up his meeting with Moses up on the mountain. This meeting lasted for 40 days and 40 nights. God has given Moses the commandments and all the detailed instruction in building the tabernacle and instituting the priesthoods
Instruction on how the project was going to be financed
but heres the thing- its a huge Job. It was going to require the knowledge of working with gold and brass and making the curtains and sewing the images into the material. Making the garments for the priest, not only a huge job but a very skilled detailed job.
Out of all the people in the wilderness Moses was the only one that would have had formal training under the Egyptians the rest of them had been slaves in Egypt trained to make bricks
now lets look at this passage. The task in doing all of this was too great for one man to do alone so God tells Moses he has called Bezalel and filled him with knowledge and ability and the spirit of God to make the artistic designs to work in the gold and silver and bronze and to cut stones.
-He also appointed Oholiab to and gave other men ability to do the work
The Calling Of God to our Job
The one reason that I believe that many Americans dread Monday morning is because they are not doing what God called them to do. Here is the big mistake that many Christians make. They think of a calling as being something within the church. Be called to preach, teach, etc. but they separate their secular life from the spiritual life when in effect they are the same.
God called Bezalel and Oholiab to the worok of constructing the tabernacle and the furnishing that were going to be used for the worship of God just like he called Moses to lead the children of Israel from the wilderness and called Paul to be an apostle
God has a plan and a call for our life.
Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
1Cr 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
1Cr 12:5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
1Cr 12:6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
There are a variety of jobs that need to be done and God calls different people to do those jobs, he doesn't call everyone to do the same job.
God called Jeremiah to be a prophet Jer 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
God called Moses to lead the people of Israel, God called Paul to preach Christ, God and in todays text God called Bezalel to build the tabernacle and Aaron to be a priest. God called Esther to be queen at the right time to save the Jewish nation
Different callings, but the same Lord and all working for the same purpose.
Some people get all bent out of shape thinking what if I miss my calling and they spend their whole life worried about missing their call.
But here is the thing, it is impossible to not know what our call is because our passion is attached to our calling.
Let me give you a couple of examples- think about the call of Moses. 40 years before God ever called Moses he already had a passion for the Hebrew people to be freed from Egypt
Exd 2:11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
Exd 2:12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
After this he fled and tended his father in laws sheep, but that passion was still there for the Hebrew people to be freed and God called him from the burning bush to the great job he was born to do.
The Apostle Paul was called on the road to Damascus and there was no way that he could miss the call
this doesn't mean that we never do a job outside of our passion or call there may be times when it is necessary to make ends meet but our call is who we are.,
Here's the thing its impossible to miss the call but many people simply reject the call. They choose to please mom or dad, or go after a job that pays big money and then they spend their life miserable because they aren't doing what God made them for.
But they will always have a desire to do what God called them to do. Listen to what the Psalmist said
Psa 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psa 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
Some people twist this verse around to mean that God will give you whatever your heart desires if you commit your ways to him but look at it this way, When we commit our ways to God those desires we have. The desire to be a teacher, a preacher, a missionary, an artist, a secretary, an accountant those desire come from God because he is calling us to do those things
I knew a guy, his dad had a successful heating and cooling business that was handed down to him, the problem was he wanted to be an artist not a business owner. And he sat in his office everyday and he would draw and the business was falling down around him. God had gifted him in art but he was trying to do something he wasn't made for
When I think of my own life, God called me into the ministry, this is the job I was born to do. And when I look back I have had several jobs in my life but my passion has always been in serving people.
There once was a young man who came to a church and told the preacher that God had called him to preach..........
God allowed Bezalel to be born and to be the one behind the building of his house in the wilderness and I am sure that he took great satisfaction in doing that job.,
The Equipping of God for our Job
So God calls people to do different jobs, and we need to remember that God also equips people to do those jobs.
Back to our text this evening. God told Moses in verse 3, “I have filled him with the spirit of God, with ability and intelligence with knowledge and all craftsmanship. To devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver, and bronze. In cutting stones for setting and in carving wood to work in every craft
God doesn't just call people to a job and leave them to the task, whom God calls he also equips just like he equipped Bezalel
The equipping comes from the spirit of God. God said, “I have filled him with the spirit of God.”
Paul realized that his equipping came from God
Phl 4:12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
Phl 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven after the resurrection he told the disciples to go and wait for the Holy Spirit to come, so that they might be equipped for the ministry
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
They knew the disciples were uneducated fisherman and common people but their boldness, their effectiveness in doing the work came through the spirit of God who equipped them
Just like God was going to give Bezalel the knowledge and intelligence and skills necessary for his job
Job 38:36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
God does the same for us
Sometimes this is discouraging to people because every pastor would like to be as effective as Billy Graham, but what Graham did was what God called him to that was his task
I would like to be able to play ball like Michael Jordan, but that's the ability he has been given
we have to admit that there are some things that we weren't called to do therefore we also weren't equipped to them.
As parents of so many kids this is something that we have had to learn also as we notice the strengths that our kids have but they don't all have the same strengths. Not every child is going to do good in math, or in understanding literature it doesn't mean they aren't smart it just means that God may be calling them in a whole different direction that what the normal mold is.
Think about being the parents of John the Baptist getting together with your friends and they ask what your son does for a living.
Well.......he stands out in the wilderness and he wears camels hair for clothes held up by a leather belt and he eats locust and honey
and he yells for people to repent
That wasn't the norm of his society, it wasn't what every parent was hoping their child would do with their life but it was the plan of God for John the Baptist and God equipped him to reach people that no one else could or would.
God equips those whom he calls which is why our calling is connected to our gifting. IF we are not using our gifts in our job than we are most likely not doing what God has called us to do
Rom 12:6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
Rom 12:7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
Rom 12:8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
You have heard someone sit at the piano and play and through as they were playing, “they have a gift”
God gives gifts, talents abilities to people. Those gifts can be used for our career and our calling. They can be used to make a living and to build up the Kingdom of God
Sure most people can learn to play notes on an instrument but there is a difference when you see someone who is gifted to do it
The same goes for preaching and teaching and working as a salesmen or a ball player or a missionary
you can learn from Seminary how to give a good speech and rightly divided the Word but you cannot learn from school how to have a passion for it, that comes when God has gifted you to do it and you enjoy using your gift
the same is true in any occupation
I don't think Bezalel dreaded Monday mornings. He knew that it was God who had gifted him, equipped him, and called him to the work
Some of you may be thinking that you are retired and this message doesn't apply to you, but you cannot find an escape clause from your gift, as a matter of fact the Bible says
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
That means we should use our gifts for him until he comes or we are no longer physically able to
I know that some preachers do retire because they are not physically able to keep up with the workload but the ones who are called you will notice continue to preach when given the chance just not in a full time capacity
One of my professors from Liberty University was a man by the name of Elmer Towns he is 77 years old has written over 100 books and teaches a Sunday School class every Sunday to 3,000 class members. You would think he would just retire but instead he just stepped into the position of being the dean of the seminary
When God gives u a gift use it for him as long as you can
In closing, God had a big job for Moses, but he had the people chosen to do the Job
God gave these men the calling and then he equipped them for the work.
And who gets the praise and Glory?
God does. They said about the Apostles these men have been with Jesus
1Cr 1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, [fn] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1Cr 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
1Cr 1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
1Cr 1:29 so that no human being [fn] might boast in the presence of God.
