Work

This book is great discussing each of these topics from an academic perspective and sets a good framework theologically. So I am going to discuss some of the key points from the book that we need to have in place before discussing its practical application to our lives.

What’s the hardest part of work?

Unsatisfying nature

Difficult nature of the work itself

Co-workers

What weighs heavy on the mind?

- share gospel with coworker

- balance work and life

- dealing with hard coworkers

- knowing how to better glorify God at work

- joy and zeal at work

Work is Hard

The first point mentioned is that work is hard. God assigned work for Adam to do in the Garden and said “everything is very good.” But then Adam sinned and was cursed.

Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Genesis 1:25 “And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 3:17–19 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.””

What are the new qualities of our work?

Less productive

More work

Painful

When God cursed Adam, he didn’t curse him with work, but said that work would be much harder and therefore be less fulfilling.

This curse is what we have to deal with every single day of our life. Our work is harder, less productive

Work is Good

This is the hard one, because the fall can make work frustrating. But there is honestly much reward in it.

Again, God put Adam to work and it was good. God created the earth, upkeeps it as the author stated.

2 Corinthians 5:9 “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”

1 Thessalonians 4:11 “and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,”

Now I want to consider Jesus, who is the author and perfector of our faith. He is our example, the one we are to follow. John 4:34 “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

Luke 12:48 “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

The author points out that we will continue working in heaven.

God exists at work.

It's so easy to compartmentalize the different parts of your life. It easy to see work as a means to an end. Work to provide for your family, save and spend it, and then retire well. That is the goal for many people - we work so that we don't have to work. We work hard now, retire later and sit around drinking iced tea. Some have figured out a shortcut, why wait to “not work,” why not do whatever I want to do now?  

I once believed that you work nine to five, and then you come home, and do the rest of your life. There have been times I've found myself, sadly, you know, startled when we have conversations about God at work. Because I had compartmentalized the different parts of my life. This is bad theology.

The golden rule. I have learned to keep coming back to that command. We love God first, but also everything we do should be loving to others.

Believers should avoid work that has no love of neighbor.

I struggled with that for awhile because at my job I felt like my primary job was to help other companies make money. But on the individual level, I am helping to reduce frustration on the part of employees trying to do their everyday job.

Doing a quality job brings greater value to others

But don’t forget the human side of things

I have had to learn how to communicate well with coworkers and clients. I am still working on that one.

What has God taught you when it comes to loving others at work?

You can grow spiritually at work

What character qualities have you learned or are in process of learning at work?

Self control, diligence, excellence, care, submission, humility, listening well, patience

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Ephesians 5

Ephesians 6:5–9 “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.”

Colossians 3:22–25 “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”

What characteristics should we have when working?

Why are we supposed to obey with fear and trembling?

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

How are we to work heartedly for bad bosses? Examples?

Who are we working for?

Work is not a task.

I have become very task-oriented over the extent of my life, which means that I am happy, satisfied when a job is done. And I've rarely asked, was it done well? Growing up, this was not something that I thought of, considered, or felt like I should be thinking about or even doing. My wife’s parents did a good job at this, and Grace will throw her whole self into whatever is right in front of her.

So you as parents - how can we foster an attitude of excellence in the lives of our children? How can we help them embrace hard work, and not seek an easy way out? How do you make sure you don’t shame them into doing well but foster a desire to serve whole-heartedly for the glory of God?

Application:

What is our ambition? What drives us at work?

Comfort, ease, money, no conflict, power

Or are we floating along?

What am I covetous for?

recognition, money (bonus, raise, grants), a rewarding project, leadership, success

If something feels impossible to do… like a huge task or responsibility, then it is probably what God wants me to do. If so, he will not leave me hanging but will help me.

God will never give me any task that I cannot accomplish with his help.

Sabbath

God has given us one day in which to rest and spiritually refresh.

Gather with believers.

Essential jobs: policemen, firemen, doctors, nurses. What about hotels, grocery stores, gas stations, ? If we universally say that we don't work on Sundays, who is going to do some important jobs that need to be done on Sunday? 

The Sabbath was created for us, not us for the Sabbath. Rest on other days. Gather with believers on other days.

Maybe you have a condition where, hey, once a month I need to take a Sunday off, or I'm willing to work, um, whatever, three, three Sundays a month. So sometimes I get two, sometimes I get one, right? It's kind of a deal.Or, uh, I'll work two Sundays a month. You know, you could, you could figure it out, right? And maybe you can negotiate, but I don't know. If you're working at a restaurant, or sorry, if you're working at like a store or a rest, store or restaurant where they require you to work, some are more flexible than others, right? And there's an extent in our modern day and age where there are enough unbelievers that you can get Sunday off just fine, right? But, um, I don't know, that, that is something to wrestle with.Um, you know, part of the thing for me is I wouldn't want to miss a Sunday. Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking back to even Pizza Ranch, you know, they required us to work on Sundays. Um, and I, I never worked on Sundays and that was the busiest time.I could have made more tips, right? Um, high demand time. Should I have worked on, on, uh, on Sundays? Or would it be okay to work on Sundays once a month? Well, I don't know. I, I'd miss out on, um, at church, you know? Like there would be like right now ministries that I'm involved in that I'd miss out on.I wouldn't be able to be involved in the same way. So I don't know.

Most of us probably aren't selling defective products or working with questionable occupations like gambling, scamming, or stealing. But if so, the Holy Spirit will make it clear and we do need to respond to that. But most of us are just working hard and needing the motivation to keep going or want to know how we can better glorify God or how to reach our coworkers with the gospel

He's just talking about all the different priorities, the different reasons why you would choose one job over another. Um, so I, you know, I'll give a little bit of background just so that anybody who hasn't read the book can answer.But basically, um, I'm assuming all of you, like all the men have worked through this issue in the past, you know, should I get this job? Or maybe their encounter, they're faced with a, a job that they, they feel like they must get one reason or another. Um, and maybe it's not ideal in some ways, right? Maybe location or, um, cost or something like this. But I'm sure many of these guys have had to wrestle through this.And I'm sure at least some of them have wrestled through it, uh, you know, biblically, you know, gone to scripture, and prayed about it and walked away with a good, um, perspective, right? So, uh, I'd love to hear from the men, um, what thought process they've had when thinking through this issue, or even maybe I can ask it maybe a more specific way that would, that would be more helpful. But I basically, I want to help those who haven't thought through it biblically or who haven't put a lot of thought into it. Um, you know, why you would do what you would do, and why one person might choose one job over another, or why one person might quit their job, a perfectly good job for one reason or another, right? Not just taking the job that's right in front of them, but maybe because of the criteria, you know, criteria or conviction, they've felt like they can't work that job and needed to switch jobs.Um, so I, and I'm looking more for not just like, oh, this one, this job was closer than this one, or this job paid more than that one. But like, you know, thoughtful reasons, like people thinking through this and, you know, and why did they choose what they chose?