TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT!
ECCLESIASTES 5:17, GENESIS 2:2-9,15
INTRODUCTION: [Video Clip: “Joe Vs the Volcano” Chap. 2:7:30 - 10:56 = 3:26)
Talk about a bad working environment! In fact, that movie, “Joe vs the Volcano” begins with this written line: “Once upon a time there was a guy named Joe... who had a very lousy job.” And you know what? Joe is not alone. I suspect there are a lot of us who at least at times could identify with some of what Joe was feeling when it comes to our jobs. You see, most people see work as a necessary evil. It is something that they simply endure until the weekend. An ends to a means... just a way to get a paycheck. In fact, according to a Princeton management survey of the American public, 62% of Americans say they hate their jobs! We kind of figure that work is some kind of punishment. We envision God, in His anger, saying to the first couple, Adam and Eve, after they ate of the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat, saying: "Okay, you’ve sinned! There’s only one fit punishment for you.. You’re going to have to work the rest of your life... at a lousy job!"
Well, since this is Labor Day Weekend I thought it might be appropriate to take a fresh look at our work. Now, I fully understand that not every one here is currently working in a full time vocation. Some of you may be so economically well off that you don’t have to work.. If that is where you are we’d like to honor you by having you stand so we can see who to hit up.. But seriously, if you are in a time of your life where you don’t have to work please don’t just tune this out. I’d ask that you listen carefully because you might be able to help someone else see their work in a different light. And, there are many here that must work and we really need to see our jobs as something more than just a means to a paycheck or a way to get us to the weekend.
More than anything else I want us to realize today that God is interested and cares about you, and because He cares personally for you, He wants to be involved in your life. And since you spend about 40% of your waking hours at your job, God is very interested about that segment of your time. So, this morning let’s see if we can look at our work a little differently. I’m hoping that at the end of this message we’ll not only say “Thank God It’s Friday!” but also “Thank God It’s Monday!” because we’ll see that work matters to God.
I. AN EXAMPLE THAT IMITATES GOD:
Let’s see first that our work is an example that imitates God. The first thing that you must understand is that … God is a worker. Even before we learn that God is love, the first chapters of Genesis introduce us to a God who works. "In the beginning God created.."(NIV) By reading the first chapter in the first book of the Bible, we find that God is an astronomer, God is a scientist, God is a farmer, God is a geneticist, God is a supervisor, God is a construction worker, God is an architect, God is an artist, God is a watchmaker, God is an astronaut, God is a physicist, God is a teacher, God is an organizer, God is a map drawer, God is an electric worker and a whole lot more. All of this stuff involves work.
And God does all this in six days and then after everything in the world is created God does something interesting. Genesis 2:2- "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work." (NCV) Now why did God have to rest upon finishing creation? Was He tired? Needed to catch some “Z’zzs”? No, God is all-powerful, He doesn’t need to replenish His physical being like we do. The reason God took this change of pace, from working to resting, was in order to set an example for us to imitate. He knew we needed to work and He knew that without rest, without a change of pace that we would burn out. But even though God set this example during the first seven days of Creation, He didn’t stop working all-together, and He is still at work today. John 5:17, Jesus said, "My Father never stops working, and so I keep working, too."(NCV) How does God continue to work? Well, He keeps on sustaining nature, restraining evil, saving souls of mankind, carrying out His plans.
So, God works. Obviously he doesn’t have to bring home a paycheck, but he works nonetheless. The Bible reveals that there are two big reasons why God works. First, God’s work reveals who he is. Look at Romans 1:20. “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.”(NLT) The invisible, spiritual God shows us who he is by His work, His creation. We are finite, physical creatures and the only way we can even begin to comprehend God is through the work of his hands.
I think there’s a second, less theological sounding reason. It appears that God’s work brings him satisfaction. In the Genesis account of creation, God makes the heavens and the earth in six days. When all was said and done God stepped back and commented on it all. “God looked at everything He had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31- NCV) You can almost add a “satisfied sigh” in there can’t you? “God looked at everything He had made and -Sigh- it was very good.” So we see that God’s work both expresses who he is and brings him satisfaction.
But not only is God a worker, He created all humanity to work. It’s a part of our very nature to do something with our hands, minds or energies whereby we feel satisfied. Notice in Genesis 1:27 how we were created. “So God created human beings in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female.” Since God worked and we are made in His image, then we can only conclude that there is a part of us that was created to work. If that implication isn’t strong enough, let’s look at Gen. 2:15, the first thing God gave the original man to do. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work the land and to take care of it.” God put him to work. We can only conclude that originally humanity’s work had the same purposes as God’s work: an expression of oneself and to bring a sense of satisfaction.
In the beginning, God gave us work and it was a good thing. But an event occurred that threw a wrench into the plan. Our work was frustrated by sin. Humanity rebelled against God. He created the first man and woman as sinless beings. He gave them only one command, “Don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Satan disguised as a serpent enticed them to break that one rule. They ate and their sinless relationship with God was broken. As their heirs, all humanity, is in infected with the nature to sin because of the Fall. After this event, God told man that his sin had affected his relationship to God, his relationship to his wife, and in Gen. 3:17-19 God said it would even affect his work. “And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day.”(NLT) Because of sin, rebellion against God, the perfect purpose of work was altered. Rather than work as a means that was perfect only brought satisfaction, our jobs now can mean hard labor and will be frustrating at times. If you will we now have to work at making work what God meant it to be.
But please understand this. When you work you are doing what you were designed to do. You are imitating God. He worked. And don’t forget man was given work before sin. You see work was a part a man’s perfect existence and relationship with God from the beginning. I believe that once you understand this concept it will revolutionize your attitude toward your work! You see, when you go to work you’re not just going to earn a paycheck, although you need that. You’re not enduring your job just to get to the weekend, although weekends are nice. No, it’s deeper than that. You work fulfills your God-given design to make an impact on the world around you and to bring inner satisfaction. So, go to work on Tuesday, or if you have to go in tomorrow understanding that what you are about to do imitates the Creator of the Universe and help meet the needs of your fellow man. You and God together do that because the Bible says in 1 Cor.3:9- "We are God’s co-workers." (GW)
II. AS A TEST THAT DEVELOPS CHARACTER:
The second way that our work matters to God is that He sees our jobs as a test where He can develop character in us. You know, God often develops our character through adversity. God often uses difficulties, trials or uncomfortable circumstances to develop your character. James 1:2-4- "..whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."(NLT) Let’s face it, some of you here today have jobs that are trials, they really test your spiritual character. Maybe like Joe, you have an employer that makes your life miserable, or maybe your co-workers make your life uncomfortable because of their language or lifestyle. Maybe your responsibilities are so mundane or pressure packed that you can just barely tolerate your job. Or maybe your pay is so meager that you feel absolutely trapped. And you fantasize about working somewhere else, you say to yourself, "I wish I owned my own business, then I wouldn’t have this supervisor down my back all the time." -OR- "I wish I could be a supervisor, then I’d straighten out some of these loafers." -OR- “If they’d just give me a raise. Sure the mountains are beautiful, but the views don’t put bread on the table.”
Would you please consider for a moment that your job may be a classroom for character. You learn some things on the job in a way that no other place can teach... like humility, dependability, patience, sensitivity. James is saying, "Instead of moping around at work, complaining, fantasizing, count it all joy when you face these trials.” Next time your employer/supervisor is on your back you say, "You know, I learned Sunday that God may be using you to build my character. Why, you’re probably heavenly sandpaper rubbing off the rough edges of my life." They’ll be so impressed. (Okay, maybe not.) But we need to understand that maturity is often obtained through a process that’s no fun. God may be using your job to mature you. Remember, the most important thing you bring home from work is not your paycheck, it’s you, your character.
Now, there may be some here saying, "I love my job. I really feel fulfilled, my job is very productive and I get paid enough." In fact, as we have talked you may feel a little guilty because everything is going so well. Remember, character is also molded through prosperity. I Tim. 6:17- "Command those who are rich in this present world...” Don’t think you are rich? Did you know that those in America who are on welfare have more money coming in than 95% of the rest of the world? So, we need to take this to heart.. “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth.. but to put their hope in God.." Oswald Chambers said, "Not everyone can carry a full cup." And if your job is going well then thank God for that, but make sure your prosperity is not taking you away from your family or marriage because you are working so much, or away from God because you have enough money to always go camping or take off on the weekends and give little or no time to enhancing your relationship with Him. Fact is, handling prosperity maybe more difficult than adversity. But whatever your job, you work at it diligently, looking for what God would have you learn through the experience.
III. AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENHANCE OUR DIGNITY:
So, our work matters to God in that it imitates Him and can bring satisfaction, it is a classroom for character building and (3) thirdly, I think we should “take this job and love it, because God gives us work to enhance our dignity. The Bible teaches us that God uses work to build our self-esteem. Ecc. 3:13- "It is a gift from God to be able to eat and drink and experience the good that comes from every kind of hard work." God is not saying that if you do your work well you will always have everything you want. What He is saying is if you do your work well you will have a sense of dignity within. Let me ask you. How do you feel when you do a good job on something? When that report or presentation looks great, when those figures balance, when that patient improves, when you see the students really getting it. No matter what your job is, when you do it well there is a certain pride, a certain dignity that doing your job well gives you.
Bill Hybels in, The Christian in the Marketplace, says, "Dignity is available to every person in every legitimate profession. The farmer who plows the straight furrow, the accountant whose books balance, the trucker who backs a 40’ rig into a narrow loading dock, the teacher who delivers a well-prepared lesson, the carpenter who crafts a piece of furniture, the secretary who types the paper accurately, the mother who tends to her children faithfully.. all experience dignity as they commit themselves to their labors. A lot of our self worth comes from our jobs."
That’s why 2 Thess. 3:10 says, "If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either."(NASB) In other words, when we reward people for not working, we are doing them a disservice, we are supporting a lazy lifestyle and are robbing them of dignity. The early church said, “Hey, if you refuse to work (not unable to work) then you don’t eat!” I think this part of working needs to be passed on. In fact let me make a couple of positive, practical applications here on how we can pass on this dignity.
(1) Is at home. One of the great things we can do for our children is help them learn the dignity of work. Parents, encourage your children to do chores at home. Even if they’re 4 or 5 and they ask, "Can I help?" Let them, even if it means a broken dish. If you have a teen they ought to have chores- mow grass, vacuum, set table.. and when they ask, "Why do I have to do this?" You say, "I’d love to do it myself but I want you to have the self-esteem that comes from working." In fact, when we teach our children the dignity of work we are preparing them for eternity. That’s right! Rev. 22:3 says we’ll work in heaven. "No longer will anything be cursed.. and his servants will serve and worship him."(NLT) So, the next time your child complains about the work you’ve assigned just say.. “I’ve got to do this to get you ready for heaven!” They’ll appreciate that!
(2) Understand that God cares about how you feel about yourself. There is an old saying, “God didn’t make no junk.” And that is true because God made you and He doesn’t consider you junk. No, he wants a relationship with you so much that He sent His one and only Son to die so that we could experience that relationship, here and for all eternity. You know, if a parent truly loves their child they don’t want them feeling bad about themselves. Well, God, as the perfect Heavenly Father wants you to think good about yourself. Now, be careful. The Bible in Romans 12:3 says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.”(NIV) There needs to be a balance. Don’t be on a ego trip but understand that God doesn’t want us to constantly degrade or put ourselves down either. That’s one of the reasons he gave us work.. so that we can have dignity, feel good about our accomplishments and ourselves.
It is always so impressive to me that God cares so much about me, not just about “churchy things,” not just about my spiritual side, but about every aspect of my life. And when you see that your work matters to God it should (1) elevate your opinion of what you do. You are imitating the Creator of the Universe, He’s your partner. (2)It ought to be seen as a crucible where God is forging your character, and even though it’s imperfect.. (3) it can bestow you with a sense of dignity and achievement.
The movie, "Chariots of Fire" tells the true story of Eric Liddel, an Olympic runner who won a Gold medal for Scotland in the 1930’s. Liddel’s parents were missionaries to China and Eric and his sister Jenny were going to China to be missionaries too. But when Eric decided to delay going to China to enter the Olympics, his sister Jenny was exasperated with him because she felt he should go into missionary work right away. So, Eric takes his sister for a walk in order to explain his reasoning. Listen:
Video Clip - Chariots of Fire - Start: Chapter 20:57:43 - End:59:33 = 1:49
Who are you running for? Our jobs were meant to be so much more than getting a paycheck. Can you go to work on Tuesday or maybe tomorrow with Eric Liddel’s words on your heart? “When I run, I feel His pleasure. When I win (When we do our jobs well) I honor Him.” May our motto for life, especially in the marketplace, be summed up in this verse from Col. 3:23 - "Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than people." That’s how you can feel His purpose, whether your current job is everything you want or not. You feel His pleasure and His purpose when you do your work well for Him. And that kind of purpose and satisfaction begins by giving yourself to One who thought you’re were so worthwhile that He’d rather die then live without you. PRAY
{All Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, God’s Word Version, unless otherwise noted.}
**Some of the first point taken from sermon by same name preached by Joel Smith from Wellspring Community Church - 9-01-02. Sermon is here on Sermoncentral.com**
