God and the Workplace
Prayer-
I want to look at the act of working this morning.
Work is a necessity for survival but for some it is their life. (Workaholics)
To some they dread going to work. (Not doing what they would like to do)
For a select few working is their happy place.
So what does God’s Word say about work and how does He expect us to act when we are working. There are many Scriptures that talk about work and how we are to approach work where God has us.
Colossians 3:23-24
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Look at the work in front of your today- doing a report, in a meeting, cooking, cleaning, teaching, serving…whatever you do, do it all as if you are doing for the Lord Himself.
Matthew 22:37-39
“Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
Demonstrate your love for God by loving others by extending kindness and providing grace.
I believe that I have the best job in the world at times.
One ne of the hardest jobs in the world at times.
One of the most fulfilling jobs in the world at times.
The most stressful jobs in the world. At times.
It changes every day by what I am doing.
I do not believe that anybody loves their job 24/7 and if you do make sure that you keep that job because they are far and few between.
I love baby dedications, weddings, baptisms, preaching popular subjects. Watching people grow in their relationship with Christ. I love people
I do not love sickness, death, funerals of the unsaved, seeing the cruel things that people do to people.
I do not get pleasure on preaching tough issues or controversial issues that divide this country. I love people, but don’t love when people don’t love people.
IT IS WHAT GOD CALLED ME TO DO.
I CANNOT DO ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE HE HAS CALLED ME AND ENABLED ME TO DO IT.
I MIX THE GOOD AND THE BAD TOGETHER AND MAKE THE BEST OF IT.
I DO NOT PRETEND TO LOVE EVERYTHING-
So what about you this morning? Where God has you, are you about His business? Are you happy?
Look at the person next to you and say “your work matters because you matter”
When you understand that you matter to God, God will be able to use you right where He has you for as long as He has you there. (Repeat)
People have this preconceived idea of good jobs and jobs that are the least. When you ask someone “what they do” and they begin to say “I am only a ….”
When you begin your statement like that, you are putting yourself down and elevating someone else at your expense. You are …not only anything. If you are doing what God has for you and you are doing it to the best of your ability. You are doing what God has called you to do for as long as He has you to do it.
Remember, they said Jesus was “only a carpenter”. The disciples were “only fisherman”.
You want to really look at the growth of the church universal, it was grown by farmers, carpenters, janitors. It was grown by tax collectors, and teachers. It was grown by intelligent leaders with education and at the hands on men and women who work with their hands.
It takes all kinds of people to spread the gospel of Christ. It takes people from all walks of life to be where God has placed them. Pastors, professors of religion see people come to the Lord but the larger percentage comes from each of you being and doing what God has called you too and where God has called you.
He said to them- “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Matthew 28:19
long -time Christians forget about those we work with and have contact with because we are comfortable with our church family and our church setting. It is not that the need is not before us, we have these spiritual blinders on when opportunities come in front of us.
Being a bi-vocational pastor would be hard. Pastor a church and try to make your living outside of the church.
I would tell them that maybe God has them there for a specific reason and to not separate the two.
I would tell you this morning to not separate your work place and the ministry that God has for you because they could be one and the same.
We will be a better church when we see more of the people at work treating the workplace as an opportunity to do what God has called them too.
I know some places have limits and guidelines and if they are in place you should honor them.
You should give 100 % to your employer for the time that you are there.
But there is opportunity to share at lunch. To care about those that you know are having a rough time.
To eat at the table with them and share what God has done for you and through you.
To open up and be excited for what goes on in your church especially if you know what is going on would help someone in the struggles of life.
We are called unto holiness!
Justification by grace through faith in Christ.
Sanctification is available to every believer
Gods Spirit wants to work in us and through us.
God calls sinners to repentance and believers to a deeper walk with Him.
In church
Called to worship
Hear the Word of God
Respond to the Word of God.
Want transformation for others and transformation for ourselves.
Compassion for people- we are called to holiness.
Outside of the church we should want the same thing- We just have to be a little more creative.
God reaches all walks of life with the gospel message and God uses all walks of life to spread the gospel message.
Work has to be seen as a gift of God for our means of income but also as a place to minister to people with the message of Christ.
Mark Twain
“I do not like work, even when someone else does it.”
We have all seen work as a burden
As a necessity of life.
A chore that most days you do not want to do, but when you look at work as an opportunity for God to change someone’s life through you- it changes!
When you understand work as a means of living, and that while you are making a living that God can use you to be a witness of His great love for mankind.
Josh Sweeden
“Work is not to make us feel better about what we do- it is more of what God can do through us while we are at work.”
God’s Word does address everyday problems we face at work
Work problems
Work Stress
Difficult Co-workers
Hard physical work
Work Ethics
Balancing life and work
What can we take away in the last few minutes this morning?
(1)God expects us to have work ethics-
We are not only Christians when we are in church. We must live God’s Word in the workplace and make that an opportunity to share our love for Christ to the people God brings around us.
He expects us to be morally pure and have a heart of grace and mercy for those we work around and keep the integrity of being a child of God.
To avoid the traps of bad language, off color jokes, gossip, and give them a day’s work for a day’s pay.
(2) God expects us to work to live not live to work
Work is what we do so we can live.
We are not to live above our means and we are not to sacrifice our families at the expense of working.
When your work pulls you away from things that are priorities and begin to turn you into someone you are not, it is time to be praying that God would open other doors for you and your family.
(3) There is balance between having fun and helping others
You have often heard it said that there is nothing wrong with having things. You just cannot have things holding unto you
Did you know that every raise you get and every blessing that comes your way does not necessarily mean it is for you. Sometimes God blesses you so you can be a blessing to someone else.
(4) We must focus on kingdom work- it will make the work you do more meaningful.
If you believed that the work you do is on a mission field, you would see that your job has purpose no matter what you do for a living.
The great ministry of Billy Graham and how many jewels are on his crown to give back to the Lord on the day of judgment. He was lead to the Lord by a shoe salesmen. That shoe salesmen has a crown to give the Lord Jesus also, but we only think of Billy Graham.
(5) Don’t grow weary
My wife has been a big part of my ministry over the years because all she has done has allowed me to do what I do. She has a crown.
We are only required to do what the Lord has asked us to do.
Many will have crowns to present to the Lord that we do not know of.
The widows mitt- unseen but never forgotten by God.
Prayer partners in ministry that cannot physically do it anymore but onltheir knees before God praying for the blessing of others to do it.
Don’t grow weary!
As your pastor, my job is not to entertain you, it is to teach you God’s Word in a way that is meaningful and a way that you desire to go deeper with the things of God. I think today churches are trying so hard to have people like them that we miss the focused reasoned God created the church. We all have a part in it. You have to balance your life and family life the same way I do.
Your job and family- balancing the two.
My job, the church and spending time with my family- the same thing from two different ends but still needing the same result. Working to live and doing God’s business of reaching people and understanding that we will not always like what we are doing but desiring to do it for the right reasons.
A.W. Tozer
“The church is not simply a religious institution, it is not a religious theater where performers are paid to amuse those who attend. It is an assembly of redeemed sinners-men and women called unto Christ and commissioned to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.”
Close,
Find balance-
Find where the Lord wants you and do all you can for the glory of God and for reaching people with His message.
