Be Wise - Work
July 14, 2019
After a fourth of July holiday weekend, it can be difficult to get back to work. In fact, if we were to be really honest, there are some days when it’s just difficult to get to work and get really excited about it.
Sometimes, we’re just a little over tired, sometimes we’ve been up too late the night before, or we’re not really happy with the job and going to work can be a struggle. It’s not just true about our jobs, but anything we do, whether it’s volunteering, exercising, practicing, whatever it is, it can be tough to get all excited about.
We’re in a series from the book of Proverbs, I’m calling BE WISE. It’s a series designed to help us gain the wisdom from the book as we seek to follow the words and wise advice from Solomon.
When we think about our attitude towards work, for most people - work is a necessary evil. There are not too many people who are amazed that they get paid to do what they love.
And sometimes it’s difficult when we see athletes, actors, musicians and others getting paid millions of dollars and complaining. It’s difficult for me to comprehend some of the numbers in the NBA. Just for fun . . . the 454th lowest paid player last year was former Butler player Shelvin Mack. He earned $1 million. The lowest annual salary is $897,158 for a rookie. And to make you a little sick, Steph Curry will make a little over $40 million next season. That’s a weekly paycheck of just under $770,000.
OK, let’s get back to reality . . .
In many respects, it’s difficult to determine the American attitude towards work, because there are a number of conflicting attitudes out there. Some people hate their jobs and work only because they have to. Others are obsessed with their jobs and work to the exclusion of everything else. What’s interesting is the fact that most people who fall into the second category also hate their jobs — or, at the very least, they don't get as much fulfillment from their job as they would like.
The fact is - - you will spend about 80,000 hours of your life working. That doesn’t include the commute and traveling for your job.
In 1973 the average American spent 40 hours a week at work; in 1987 that amount increased to an average of 46 hours per week. Today, if you're a professional you work an average of 52 hours a week and if you're a small business owner you work an average of 57 hours a week.
You’ll spend more time working, commuting to work and thinking about work than anything else you do. You'll spend more time at work than you do with your family, or with friends, or in leisure, or in spiritual activities.
Whether you like it or not, work dominates your life.
And this is supposed to be uplifting?
In Colossians 3, Paul tells us –
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. – Colossians 3:17
Paul’s really pretty clear about how we should act in our daily lives. There’s nothing magical, mystical or crazy about what he’s telling us - -
whatever you do - - so, if you’re working, or if it’s school, or if it’s volunteering, if it’s retirement - - it really doesn’t matter . . . because your attitude about what you do is what reveals God in you.
Whatever you do, whether you’re speaking or doing, do EVERYTHING in the name of Jesus. So, if you’re going through the motions at work, as a volunteer, as a spouse, in your hobby, if you’re doing it in a half-hearted manner, then you are NOT bringing glory and honor to God. You are not revealing God’s true character and nature.
Sometimes we struggle with work. We wonder why we’re doing what we do. We should be asking ourselves, “why do you do the job you do? Is it because of the pay? Is it because you’re in debt and have to work? Is it because it's the only place that would hire you?”
Money alone is never a sufficient motivation for work. Of course, we’re not going to work for free. Nobody expects you to. But, if the only reason you show up for work is to get a paycheck, then the joy and opportunity to make Christ evident will fade away, and people will see a lack of care and effort. A boss doesn't want an employee who is there only for the paycheck.
Think about it. If you call a lawyer, do you want a lawyer who sees you only as so more billable hours, or do you want a lawyer who believes in you and your case?
If you see a doctor, do you want a doctor who sees your illness as the down payment on a new car, or do you want a doctor who wants you to be healthy?
Money alone isn't a good motive for working. So, what should your motivation be?
Your job is an opportunity to serve God. Work isn’t a curse, it’s not a waste of time - - - it's an opportunity to serve God. God wouldn’t design things in such a way that you have to spend 40% of your waking hours in futility. Whatever you do for a living, you can perform your job as an act of service to God.
I’ve used this quote by Martin Luther King Jr many times. He said –
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted,
or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say,
'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
That’s our call as well. Be the best you can in order to honor God. I guess the daily question is this - - - Did God pause to say “Well done good and faithful servant?”
We all have a human boss. If you're self-employed, your boss is every customer that walks in your door. However, beyond that, when you go to your job there is something happening on a spiritual level. You have the opportunity to do your job as an act of service to God. Let that be your motive.
There are a lot of passages in Proverbs which speak about work, but I want to share a couple which don’t, yet, I believe are vital if we are to be teachable and successful. Solomon tells us –
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, 8 Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. – Proverbs 1:5, 8
Let me give you some of my thoughts about what we can glean from Solomon. And I can give you passage after passage from proverbs which will mirror these verses.
Basically, be teachable! If you are young, do not believe you know it all! You don’t! I don’t mean that in a bad way, but people who are wise will know when you’re faking it. They will know when you are acting arrogant and they will know who is teachable and who is not.
The bottom line is to be open to learn and grow in wisdom. Remember, there are lots of people who have knowledge, they’re really, really super smart. They could recite the Bible backwards and forwards, they can tell you world history, they can speak multiple languages, but they don’t have wisdom. They can’t put that knowledge into action in reality. They are walking encyclopedias. That’s it.
So, if you’re young and learning, even if you know something, but open to learn more. Make sure your attitude is such that your heart, spirit and mind is open to take in more and more.
In the same token . . . if you’re older and have been around the block a time or two - be willing to teach that arrogant, young know it all. Practice patience as you show them who Christ is by loving them.
Part of the problem is the fact many people in their mid 40's and older, are living in a different generation than those in their early 20's who are entering the workforce. It’s a totally different era, with different thinking and different morals and different ways of looking at things.
This automatically puts us at odds with our younger coworkers. It’s not universal, but it’s there on a daily basis. They often think differently, sometimes their work ethic is not the same as yours. They don’t see life the way you do. So, it can be easy to dismiss them. But your job is to help them see Christ in you! It’s to teach them and help them to make wise decisions.
In some ways, you may be acting like their parent, helping them to grow up, and you may never get the credit for their maturing and learning, but you poured yourself into them and in the end that will help this world to be a better place.
Solomon also tells us – 3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. – Proverbs 16:3
God will honor your plans, because you based your plans on God, not on money or any other person. When we work for the Lord, when we commit all that we do to Him, then our plans will succeed. It doesn’t mean that we will become multi-millionaires. It may even mean your company doesn’t succeed the way you wanted, but you will have the opportunity to honor God with your work.
Jesus told us in Mark 10 – 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." – Mark 10:45
That’s such in important passage to hold onto. So many of us want others to serve us. We don’t consider what it means to serve others. Yet, if we would do that, it would make such a different in our attitude. But we say, “Joe didn’t help me, so I won’t help him.” And we lose that opportunity to help someone in need and make the love and power of Christ real and visible.
Ultimately, our call is to serve others. Your job is an opportunity to serve others. I can't think of any job that doesn't somehow benefit other people. You have a job that enables you, directly or indirectly, to serve others. Use that as an opportunity to serve others, even though that’s not always easy.
Even when working in a restaurant or fast food restaurant, use that as an opportunity to serve people. Help people to have a great experience. Serve couples on a date, business people may make a smoother deal because of you. Frazzled parents can experience your calming influence.
Too often we approach our job with a mentality of "What's the least I can get away with doing and still come out looking all right?" We uses phrases such as "That's good enough, nobody cares anyways." But does that attitude bring honor to Christ? Even if nobody cares . . . God does, and so should you!
Here's another phrase you've heard so many times you can probably say it with me — but it's worth repeating: "If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well."
Maybe you work in an environment that doesn't reward quality. Maybe your boss doesn't — and never will — appreciate your extra effort.
Remember, you're not working for him or her.
You're working for God, you're working for the people you serve, and you're working for yourself. And that makes a commitment to quality worth the effort. Solomon said...
9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. - Proverbs 18:9
That means if you’re not going to take what you’re doing seriously, not that you can’t have fun on the job, but if you’re lazy on the job, then you’re no better than a person who destroys things. You become destructive with what you’re doing.
Think of the restaurants you'll never eat in again, or retailers you’ll never do business with again because you had to deal with a surly, lazy, incompetent employee — and they drove you away. Think of how much money that employee's insolence will cost the company. Don’t be that employee . . . even on your bad days, demonstrate Christ.
Some final thoughts. Solomon also made other positive and negative statements -
4 A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. - Proverbs 10:4
11 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. - Proverbs 12:11.
23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. - Proverbs 14:23
24 The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. – Proverbs 12:24
The point is that your attitude and your work ethic is going to determine a great deal in life. It’s true when we’re younger and older. It’s true in whatever you do. Sometimes it’s not so much for your company or your boss, but it’s the pride you take in being who you are . . . being a Christ follower.
So, whether it’s at work, at home, at school, volunteering, with your kids, your spouse, your friends - - how much of yourself do you give . . . and are you willing to be a teacher and a student.
Always, honor and glorify Christ, make Him known by the way you live your life as you embrace His wisdom!
