Introduction
A You cannot watch a news program without hearing about record unemployment and job plans.
1 People want to work but can’t any jobs.
a My dad telling me he could quit one job and go across the street to work the following day.
b Johnny Paycheck, “Take this job and shove it” is now “Show that job - I’ll take it.”
2 Your job is a big deal to God! 18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting : to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward .Eccl 5:18 (NASB);
11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.1 Thess 4:11-12 (NASB);
11 For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.2 Thess 3:11-12 (NASB)
a He wants us to enjoy our jobs but for some of us it’s difficult. (It’s not that we are ungrateful, unthankful, but we just don’t like our jobs.)
b There are several reasons:
aa Feel underappreciated by our employees or employers.
bb We took a job, chose a career to please our parents.
cc We do something just for the money.
dd Or we chose the road of least resistance, easiest thing to do.
c The good news is that it is easier/more common now than ever to change careers mid-stream. (Re-tool yourself, work from home, all thanks to the internet.)
B The better news is that God’s Word gives us some resources/tools. We can appreciate our jobs and see them as a way to serve the Lord.
1 Today I’ll show you how your job can be a blessing, a bridge, a building project.
2 Pray.
I Whatever your job is, view it as a blessing!
A God always intended for us to work, have jobs.
1 Some believe we went to work only after sin entered the picture. Wrong!
a 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
Gen 2:2-5 (NASB); 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky , and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky , and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. Gen 2:19-20 (NASB) God shows us the example to follow by working.
b From day one Adam was introduced in the garden he had responsibilities, job!
c When Adam/Eve sinned, evicted from the garden, something happened. 17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it';Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.18 "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."Gen 3:17-19 (NASB)
aa God didn’t give Adam a job to curse him as a result for sinning... God cursed the ground. (Harder to make a living.)
bb Dirt is now filled with thorns, thistles, rocks... no more easy tilling, planting.
cc You will now sweat to get your bread!
2 Work was never a curse but rather a gift from God.
a Part of His plan/purpose for our lives, it’s a blessing!
b (Don’t believe me? Ask someone who doesn’t have one.)
c It’s a blessing to have the health to work!
B The best way to have a good attitude about your job is to chose a job/career you love.
1 Ronald Regan was famous for saying, “The man who does what he loves will never work another day in his life.”
a But maybe you hate your job, can’t quit, so what?
aa Pray for God to change your additude towards your job.
bb If you took the job for the wrong reasons... Look for opportunities to get out of that rut!
b God’s desire for you is to be blessed with the right job!
2 IL
II View your job as a bridge.
A A bridge is a structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier. (Jobs can bring you to lots of wonderful things.)
1 It’s a bridge for building a good reputation. (11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.1 Thess 4:11-12 (NASB))
a Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph it with excellence.
b How do you get a reputation of being fair, dependable, trustworthy, honest - be fair, dependable, trustworthy, honest.
2 It’s a bridge for ministering to the needs of others.
a 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Gal 6:10 (NASB); 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Phil 2:4 (NASB)
b The reason you’re were you’re at may not be about you at all.
aa You’ve been placed there to show the love of Christ.
bb People are lonely, broken, battered, betrayed.
c People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. (Who do you work with that needs to know you care?)
3 It’s a bridge for introducing the reality of Jesus Christ.
a Many of the people you work (or go to school with) will never come to a church service, never listen to Joy FM, watch preachers on TV... So that leaves you!
aa I’m not talking about preaching ni the cafeteria, putting tracks in lunch boxes.
bb Building relationships with others naturally introduces Christ to them.
b New Testament Evangelism models has believers living in such a way lost people initiate the conversation about faith.
c 5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Col 4:5-6 (NASB)
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence ;16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.1 Peter 3:15-16 (NASB)
B I heard of a man named Albert, for years he worked for the dairy as a driver. (Quiet, soft spoken, mild-mannered.)
1 pastor asked him to be the guy who filled the baptistery and lit the baptistery heater for the baptisms.
a Some years later Albert quit his job at the dairy and became an insurance salesman. (Uncharacteristic, can’t imagine... but very good.)
b Go to conventions and conferences for insurance salesmen whose lifestyle didn’t match his. (Drink, carouse, cuss , swear, smoke.)
aa The other men would go to light up and Albert would pull out a box of matches and lite their cigarettes for them.
bb Invariably, someone would ask him why he had matches if he didn’t smoke.
cc He would smile and say every time he church had a baptism it was his kob to fill/heat the baptistery: from there he’d , explain about faith Jesus Christ and that Baptism was the way for publicly declaring ones faith in Jesus.
2 What bridges are you building at work?
III View your job as a building project.
A There are two passages that if we “get”, they will revolutionize our approach/attitude to our jobs.
1 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily , as for the Lord rather than for men,24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Col 3:23-24 (NASB)
a As a believer it is more important “how” you do what you do to earn a living than “what” you do to earn a living.
aa We may look down at those who have jobs we look down upon - but every & any job takes on new significance when you see it as a way to serve/glorify God.
bb This passage was written to slaves. (For the most part.) “Do it for Him!”
b Everything changes when you do what you do to glorify God.
2 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field , God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire1 Cor 3:9-15 (NASB)
a Who do you work for? (Not a company, or a corporation, state, district, co-op.)
aa We work for the Lord!
bb We labor together (for His kingdom) with the sum total to be inspected by God!
cc Did you build bridges of reputation, bridges of ministry, share Jesus? (Do they pass the test?)
b We all will have our talent, resources, gifts, inspected, tired by fire! (What we did with wrong hearts/motives are consumed.) What we did for His glory shines like gold.
B IL. Three men where working to build a church building and each one was asked why he did what he was doing.
1 The first one said, “I’m working for $200 a day.”; the second man said, “I’m working to get health benefits.”; the third one said, “I’m building a House of Worship for the God of Nations.”
a All 3 were doing the same thing, but each had different reasons.
b God desires for you to find joy/purpose in your labor.
2 As Solomon looked back at his life, he said, “18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting : to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward .19 Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.Eccl 5:18-19 (NASB)”
Conclusion
An American television network filmed an interview with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India, a woman who gave her life to feed starving people and minister to the dying. The person conducting the interview asked Mother Teresa about her feelings of being used for God to minister to the poor. Her little work was known, world wide, even the President of the USA knew her and her labor of love. She answered, “But it is His work, I think God wants to show His greatness by using my nothingness.” She was asked later, “You feel you have no special qualities?” Mother Teresa replied, “I don’t think so. I don’t claim anything of the work. It is His work and I am like a little pencil in His hand. That is all. He does the thinking, He doing the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used.” What a beautiful story of this little woman using her talent to cook and feed others.
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