OUR WORK IS GOD'S WORK
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Last week we explored listening to the voice of God when it calls us.
We explored what it means when God calls people into vocational ministry, and I shared my testimony about the Lord calling me into full-time ministry.
Not all will be called to lead in such a way, but all are called to lead the lost to salvation, and your WORK is GOD’s Work as well!!!
As we set here on Labor Day weekend, where most just enjoy a day off of work, we recognize it is a day to recognize those who labor and give them rest for a day. It is an average person’s holiday!
I however, want to focus on the fact that the part of our life that we spend the majority of our week at with time, energy, and labor - has GODLY PURPOSE!
23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.
Couple this thought with wisdom of
10 Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
These verses tell us that in the labor you bring, the work you do - do it as unto the Lord with all your might and realize it has purpose in the Kingdom of God!
The New Testament passage in Colossians goes onto say there is a reward as you do your work unto Jesus
1. Working for the MAN
1. Working for the MAN
The first principle in these verses is that what you do is not really for your boss or YOURSELF to make money.
What if It is given unto GOD! Yo are really working for HIM in all eventuality.
This should give us a whole different attitude when we show up to the workplace that perhaps we are disgruntled with.
Our dealing with a boss who is a taskmaster that we are frustrated with...
We can carry all kinds of attitudes around when we dislike our work environment, and face it - in these days it is all about having our way in our work environments - which is more ideal in theory than in practice.
We have this attitude towards work in America that if we are a laborer and not a boss or in middle management that we are:
‘Working for the man”
Working for someone else’s wealth or gain, or advancement.
Reality is we are working for the LORD.
The whole earth belongs to the Lord and everything consists in this world because of Him...
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
SOOOO, anything you do really is part of His plan to sustain the world.
Many small systems that make a larger system of sustenance!
2. Working with a PURPOSE
2. Working with a PURPOSE
What if we approached our job realizing the tasks before us, and the people we take instruction from are
Placed by God in our lives
A part of the greater good in the world
An opportunity for the Lord
Where you are - is it solely at your own doing or do you believe in the Providence of God?
23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
24 The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?
9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
If God has placed you there in this season, should you not accept what is before you as an opportunity to serve the Lord first?
I have been reading in Genesis about Joseph - sold into slavery - from the favorite son of a rich man!
Yet, whether he was a slave, or in the prison, he approached the work given him to do as an opportunity to HONOR GOD and to personally grow.
These jobs prepared him to manage the nation of Egypt in time of drought! ---
He did not see that when he was organizing the food storage house in the prison.
You may not see where flipping a hamburger, mopping a floor, drawing blood in a hospital, teaching someone how to do machine maintenance, or engineering something —
— but your work has purpose in this world, and thus matters to God, and you may miss the opportunities that He has planned for you if you perform your role in a selfish, critical attitude instead of with thankfulness unto the Lord.
There is a greater picture than what we often see that the Lord is accomplishing in and through us where we work.
3. Working for His KINGDOM
3. Working for His KINGDOM
THE ultimate question we must ask ourselves is what is our ultimate purpose and has God placed us there to allow our light to shine in that environment?
33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
The enemy will try and discredit a good Christian in their workplace to negatively impact our witness, but our choice to live our lives in surrender to Jesus
Another reality is you are placed by God to be a witness for HIS KINGDOM where you are...
Not a political Kingdom or agenda...
Not a labor agenda… (Union)
But to live for Jesus and to share Jesus...
You have been delivered to a group of people and co-workers and clients that you can make the difference and let your light shine in their darkness!
Each of us is a witness to the Kingdom of God in everything we do ---
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.
We ARE HIS LIGHT in every place we go....
Shouldn’t we see this in our place of WORK???
But Pastor, I could lose my job?
I am not saying you have to stand up and give a sermon --- but they cannot make you deny your faith!
Even if they did, there are Christians worldwide losing their lives to shine their light.
Even Esther came clean with King Artaxerxes identifying with her people and pleading their cause — there are right times and tactful ways that the Lord gives wisdom to accomplish these things...
But like Esther - she was challenged to not keep quiet in such a time or she too would perish like the rest of her people, and that she was placed there for such a time as this.
There is purpose in your positioning!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
This Labor Day may we realize that even though we may not be called to be in vocational ministry, we are called to use our vocation as ministry!!!
We labor for the LORD in every field!!!
Our labor has ETERNAL value!!!
Our positioning is to promote HIS Kingdom!!!