Introduction
Most of us here will spend and hours of our life working. This year most of us will spend more time at work than in any other single activity, about 2,000 hours or more.
What questions you have about work from the Christian perspective?
Theoretical questions we have about work:
Is work really important?
Does God care about my work?
Shouldn’t we keep work and religion separate?
Wouldn’t my time be better spent doing ministry?
Can you really be a Christian in a secular job?
Practical questions we have about work:
How can I be sure I have the right job?
How can I help my co-workers get to know Jesus?
Can I cut corners to make my job easier on me?
How do I handle office politics?
How much work is enough?
This morning we’ll start our series of message on God at work. From the title of this series you probably could conclude that I believe that God does belong at work.
That isn’t always what Christians think. Some feel that being a Christian is fine, but work is work and faith is faith. The two really can’t mix. The standards of work and the standards of Christianity are simply incompatible. A person has to work, so in order to do so, he or she can’t expect their secular job to reflect the standards of Christianity. The only thing to do is be a nice person and try one’s best to give generously to the Lord’s work, but Christianity and faith are really something for the time outside of work.
The main reaction to that viewpoint by some believers has been to go in the other extreme: work is just a place to witness and win others to Christ. If you aren’t doing that you are wasting your time at work. God doesn’t care about your employment itself. That’s just your mission field, so be sure you are making your witness your real job.
In the first case God doesn’t belong at work at all. In the second God doesn’t care about work, only about our witness.
Is either of these is a Biblical viewpoint and if not, what the Biblical viewpoint is?
We’ll be trying to answer that question this morning as we attempt to lay a foundation for God at work. Here’s what I will be trying to convince you as we look at Scripture this morning:
Today: Laying a Foundation for God @ Work.
Assertion #1: God and work go together.
We’ll look at the Biblical evidence that you cannot separate God from work, the work environment, the reason for working, how we work, etc.
Assertion #2: Work is part of God’s plan for our life.
Here we’ll take on the idea that work is something to avoid, finish as quickly as possible, retire from early, or otherwise try to have little to do with.
Assertion #3: All of life is to be one integrated whole.
Many Christians are guilty of compartmentalizing their lives. God is in one compartment, work in another, family in another, and so forth. It is often a matter of much stress and sometimes guilt going from one compartment to another: taking the sermon on Sunday and doing anything with it at work on Monday for example. It sounds nice but life is easier if you keep things separate.
We’ll just briefly look at the fact that this is not how we are to live the Christian life.
Each of these topics could be a sermon in itself, so we’ll have to work quickly to cover all three subjects. The scriptures I’ll use are simply the start of many more that relate to each outline point, some of which will come to your mind as I speak.
Assertion #1: God and Work Go Together
God is a worker
He worked in creation
Genesis 2:1-2
He worked in salvation
Isaiah 53:4-6
He works in continuation
Colossians 1:17
He works in sustentation
Matthew 6:31-33
God ordained, directs, rewards, and judges work
Genesis 2:15
Proverbs 19:21
Matthew 25:21
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Outside of God work is ultimately meaningless and futile
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23
Luke 12:16-21
Assertion #2: Work Is a Part of God’s Plan for Our Life
We know this from God’s design:
We are made in God’s image (as workers), and the world God made requires work.
Genesis 1:26-27
We know this from God’s commands: He has given us work to do.
Genesis 2:15
We know this from God’s warnings: Idleness is wrong.
Proverbs 19:15
2 Thessalonians 3:10
We know this from Jesus’ life and teaching: He worked and put others to work.
He was a carpenter before he entered public ministry.
John 4:34
John 5:17
Luke 9:1-2
Matthew 28:19-20
Assertion #3: All of Life Is To Be One Integrated Whole
We are not to divide life into secular and sacred.
Joshua 24:15
All of life is to be under the control of God and lived for His purposes.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Colossians 3:17
Work is important, but it is not the most important thing in life.
Matthew 22:37-38
Matthew 6:33
Jesus laid down his life for people, not for a career or a job. Along the way he loved people, taught people, healed people, served people, and confronted people. Work is important, but not the most important thing in life. We can’t afford to let work become our life rather than have a proper place in our life.
Application
I will embrace work as an essential part of God’s plan for my life.
I will seek to glorify God with all my life, including my work.
I will be God’s person wherever I am, including on the job.