Joy at Work
A sermon preached by Dennis Bakke on Labor Day Sunday
September 4, 2005
Falls Church Episcopal Church
Falls Church, VA
Dennis Bakke is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, JOY AT WORK: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job. He is the co-founder and CEO Emeritus of AES, the world-wide energy giant with 40,000 people in 31 countries. He is now president and CEO of Imagine Schools, a company that operates elementary and secondary (K-12) charter schools in 10 states. www.dennisbakke.com
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Matthew 25:14-30
14 ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” 21His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” 23His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” 24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” 26But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
It’s great to be with all of you this morning. Have any of you asked yourself, “What is the purpose of work, especially secular work?” Now, of course, if you have been to Sunday school, been to church, listened to a few sermons, you know that all of life is about becoming holy and glorifying God. So, of course, that’s the answer. But, my question this morning is, “What about work most glorifies God?” Is our workplace primarily a mission field where we seek through word and deed to carry out the Great Commission? Or, is it mostly to support our families and earn enough extra to support the missions of our local church and parachurch organizations? Or, is it something else? Could it be that secular work is the primary mission or ministry to which God has called many of us?
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to undertake a number of different types of work. For example, I spent nine years coaching my sons and other children in this community as a youth football coach. And, then there is the work of The Mustard Seed Foundation that Eileen and I founded and lead. This year, its cumulative giving, since inception, to Christian ministries and scholarships around the world will pass the $50 million mark. And, for ten years, I taught Sunday school, and served as head of a mission committee, and as a deacon in my church. For nearly twenty years, as John mentioned, I led a company that I co-founded which supplied energy needs to 100 million people in thirty-one countries. Which of these works is most important to God? Which is the most important work for the Kingdom?
When I left graduate school in Boston to come to this city to work in government over thirty years ago, my own understanding of work was that it was mostly to earn a living so that I could give to the church and related Christian mission organizations as much money as possible, and time as well.
My high school math teacher reinforced this theology in a local café when we had supper together one Friday night my senior year. She asked me a question: “What are you going to do with your life?” Like most befuddled seniors, I said, “I really don’t know, but I am planning to go to college.” Without hesitation, she said, “Denny, I have some advice for you. Your older brother, Ray (already a graduate of Moody Bible Institute) and your younger brother, Lowell, are committed to be pastors. Someone needs to support them.” [Laughter]
She had almost perfectly reflected my understanding at the time, of the hierarchy of work for Christians. The first priority, the best possible job to work for the Kingdom would be as a missionary, preferably in Africa. [Laughter] Second, pastors, men and women of the cloth—both of my brothers. Third, something in a Christian organization like International Justice Mission or a parachurch organization. If you can’t do that, then go to a secular service organization and become a doctor or a nurse or a government worker or social worker. (I’d throw in lawyers, but it’s too controversial. [Laughter]) If you could do none of that, and you don’t have the spiritual gifts, you go into business so that you can financially support those at the top of God’s work pyramid. Few of us admit to this theological position, but it seems to me that it’s very much alive in our local churches and Christian schools. In fact, I believe it is the way that many, many 21st century Christians continue to view secular work.
Early in the 1980’s Eileen and I joined a small group in a local church here in the Washington area that met weekly. One of the things we studied was what the Bible said about work and organizations where we are engaged in work. I found out that God has a very different perspective than I had previously been taught. Genesis tells us that God gave us a job even before he gave us family. What kind of work did he give us? Well, we were created in the image of God to be co-creators with him. That’s how we glorify him! And, that work was to be sublime, joyous, and sacred. That garden-type work, where we are to manage or have dominion over creation, was to be our primary mission.
Now, mankind messes up God’s work plan, of course, and sin enters the world and work becomes harder. But, it is not cursed as some have thought. Then, Christ comes to redeem work in us. By implication, it seems to me that we who are redeemed are supposed to be co-redeemers in work with Christ. We are to make our ordinary secular work that we do to meet our own needs and the ordinary needs of others as close as possible to the purposeful and joyous work God gave us to do in the garden, knowing that the redeeming process will not be complete until Christ returns.
Did you ever notice that most of the work carried out by the biblical heroes was secular in nature? Noah was a shipbuilder, a zookeeper, and a cruise line captain. Abraham, a real estate developer. Esther wins a Miss America pageant so she can enter a harem before she becomes queen. That’s secular. [Laughter] My favorite is Daniel. He went to Harvard, like me—the King’s College—and became president of Iraq. How’s that for a Christian calling? [Laughter] Most of us are called to secular workplaces just like these, not primarily as evangelists or disciples, but to serve the ordinary needs of society, including our own needs.
Joseph, who is a prototype of Christ in the Bible, was called to serve as chief operating officer of “Cairo, Inc.” It was more like a modern-day company than a government. In his role, he probably saved thousands of people from starving to death. Only a very few of them were members of his family or even followed Yahweh. He was called to help feed the people, not primarily to make them disciples.
But, that’s Old Testament. What about the New Testament? I’m glad you asked. We know that Jesus spent seventy-five to eighty-five percent of his working life as a carpenter. The Greek word in the Bible for carpenter is tekton, the same word from which we get technology. Since there was no wood in the area to speak of, Jesus was not likely a builder of cabinets and other wood cabinets. The latest research indicates that the great city of Sepphoris, only a few miles from Bethlehem was being rebuilt at that time. Joseph and Jesus and others probably had jobs as stonemasons or contractors building homes and structures in that city. And note that the structures they built were mostly for Greeks and Romans who inhabited that city, not necessarily Jewish folks. Jesus probably spent most of his work life as a secular builder, not primarily to evangelize or even to reveal himself as Christ, but to serve basic human needs.
I now realize now that there are two great job descriptions given to each of us—two great commissions, ministries, or missions. One, the Genesis stewardship mission, or cultural mandate, or public ministry (the church really hasn’t settled on a name for that.) That’s what I have been discussing. The second, of course, is the so-called Great Commission in Matthew—to make disciples of all people. Listen carefully; I am in no way suggesting that the emphasis we place on making disciples should be diminished. Nothing is more important than leading people to a saving relationship with Christ. But it is no more important work or mission than managing creation to meet the ordinary needs of others, and along the way, fulfill our own needs.
Parenthetically, I believe that in this modern age God likes to use businesses and Christian business people as his primary agent for carrying out the Great Commandment: to love our neighbors, to serve our neighbors with electricity as we serve ourselves. That should be the primary purpose of business and all of our work.
So, what does this mean to The Falls Church? What does it mean to ordinary people like you and me?
In visiting this church a few years ago, I noticed something very interesting. I noticed that the corporate prayers on Sunday morning begin to include Falls Church members who are engaged in the secular workplace along, of course, with the traditional prayers for the sick and those who serve in the church in traditional missions and other Christian organizations. That’s important, and not an accidental change to the worship service and prayer life of this church. It elevates secular workers in the church. Similarly, the original design of The Falls Church Fellows program also seems to be designed around the interpretation of scripture that I am suggesting this morning. Unfortunately, the work of the Fellows with the youth of the church, which they also do, seems to be more celebrated here than the work they do in the secular workplaces to which they are assigned. That, I believe, is actually inconsistent with God’s view of work.
Wouldn’t it be logical that we publicly commission our lawyers, business people, public school teachers, full-time homemakers, government workers who are called to serve in such capacities, and who desire to be marked by the Holy Spirit for their mission? Why do we only commission church workers and traditional missionaries and young people on short term missions? When was the last time you saw an evangelical church commission a business CEO or assistant director of the Office of Management, or a sales clerk at Home Depot, or a public school teacher?
Churches usually do a good job of holding accountable church pastors, staff members, even lay people who volunteer to serve in important jobs within the church. We often require them to report to the congregation in a variety of ways concerning their work. Should not we also be accountable for our daily work? Should not the local church facilitate that accountability? In one church I attended I noticed that the people who were listed in the church budget, for example, pastors, traditional missionaries, were asked to report on their activities and be held accountable. I said, “Put me in for a dollar.” No one took me seriously. I did offer my AES annual report and the annual report of The Mustard Seed, but church leaders didn’t really know how to deal with my offer. I really think that the small groups like you have here would be a great place for this sort of accountability to take place in a large church like The Falls Church.
At church mission conferences, mission emphasis weeks we would probably need to include on the program people in the congregation that did the kind of work that Joseph and Daniel and Esther and Jesus did.
The frequency of Sunday morning sermons like this one would certainly increase—encouraging and engaging men and women to be like Daniel, and to treat their position in secular jobs as important calls from God—not primarily to evangelize, but to love and serve their fellow man. Oh, and pastoral business would change as well. Only two times in my life has a pastor come to my place of work to visit. What has been your experience?
I am afraid that without this kind of support, encouragement, accountability, and equipping by the local church, many of us will not take our calling to secular work as seriously as God intended. We will put in our time to earn money to provide for our family and fill the offering plate at our church. We will save our best efforts for our volunteer roles at the church or parachurch—“sacred” work over secular work.
This is not the “sold-out” effort that God had in mind. Unfortunately, I believe this way of thinking, acting out this theology has been a major reason why there are relatively few committed Christians who are Fortune 500 CEOs, few strong Christian professors at our elite universities, few committed believers working in top media companies. That is why few people are experiencing joy in the workplace, the way God intended. Is that the way it’s supposed to be? Is that because we don’t believe God wants our people to aspire to this kind of full time work?
I conclude with my favorite work story in the Bible that has been read already—the Parable of the Talents, and you know it well. The master, the boss, sends his employees out to work. He encourages them to take lots of risk, and to make mistakes, and to make important decisions as well. He wants them to undertake random acts of responsibility. Notice that the boss never makes any of the decisions about their work, never approves their projects. He tries to drive out fear of making mistakes in the workplace. The only person who gets hammered is the one who, in that work setting, gets all tangled up in risk management and fails to take chances and make important decisions.
Then the leader calls them back to account for their work. Those who invested aggressively and risked the most get a “well done good and faithful servant.” You know, it sounds to me a little like Genesis where God turns over management of creation to Adam and Eve to name the animals and work in the garden to provide for basic needs. God even gives away to us the biggest single decision of our life: to choose or reject him.
In the Parable of the Talents, the boss ends with this little tag line. I’ve never actually heard a sermon on it. He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and then he says this: “Enter into the Master’s joy.” That is where I got the title for my book, Joy at Work. And, I am pretty sure that is what inspired Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire: “When I run, I feel his pleasure.”
Labor and opus are two Latin words for work. Labor is where we get our word labor. It conjures up work as hard, something I have to do but would rather not. And opus, as in “Opus No. 32” connotes the creative aspect of work. Our Catholic friends use the word opus in their Opus Dei, or “God’s work”, that celebrates our calling to secular work in a profoundly Biblical way. On Tuesday when we go back to God’s work, Opus Dei, secular work to which we are called, let us do it with passion, with joy, and with love, befitting God’s call on our life. It is our primary mission, done for the glory of God. Do it and enter into the Master’s joy.
Amen.
