Wisdom in Our Work
Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Living • Sermon • Submitted
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Vision Minute
Vision Minute
Update on the offering taken for Brett Deal & thank everyone for their giving ($2,926.00) We are responsible for planting a church in (What tam is nack) a area of Senegal, West Africa where there is practically no Christian presence.
Later this month Atalie Loutzenhiser will be sharing about her upcoming missions opportunity with YWAM. She will spending 6 months in Australia. She will be sharing about this trip and we will be taking a love offering on July 21st.
My family will be attending General Council in Orlando, Florida (July 29-August 4th) In addition to General Council, we will be taking Megumi (last name?) as she will be participating in the National Fine Arts festival. The board has graciously offered to take an offering on Sunday July 28th to help cover the expenses.
Royal Rangers (Prom video)
Prior to me coming to be your pastor our church experienced transition in our Royal Ranger program when our Senior Commander stepped down and transitioned to lead the program at another church.
Thankful for Travis & Barb Killough’s leadership as well as all of our other Ranger leaders (acknowledge)
In order for this program to run properly and effectively / in order to see this program grow, We need to recruit additional leaders / teachers and assistant leaders.
We are going to scale back our Ranger program by combining groups.
Training at Eagle Rock Royal Ranger’s Camp (AG’s national campground) September 6-8
Royal Rangers is a branch of Men’s ministry. We are starting a Royal Ranger’s council to bring support to the RR’s (4-5 men)
Relaunch, If ready, will be in September.
Pray, Promote, Volunteer (Connect Card)
Introduction
Introduction
Do you realize you’re going to spend (or have spent) about 150,000 hours of your life working, which is about 40% of your waking hours. Unless you’re retired, you are probably groaning inside. (Example: my first job)
A Harris survey found out in 1973 the average American spent 40 hours a week at work, but by 1987 the average American spent 46 hours a week at work. If you’re a professional you spend an average of 52 hours a week working and if you’re a small business owner/operator you work an average of 57 hours a week. The fact is you’ll spend more time working, commuting to work and thinking about work than you will eating meals, playing on week-ends and vacationing in the summer combined. Work is a huge part of our lives!
We live in a society that has mixed views on work. On the one hand, we have a nation of workaholics. People working 60, 70, 80 hours a week out of a driving compulsion to “get ahead.” People who get in to work early, stay late, and bring their work home with them.
Billy Graham wrote, “Our work was never meant to become the center of our lives.That place belongs only to God. … Someone who brags about working 70 or 80 hours (or more) a week probably thinks he is the master of his job—but in reality he has become its slave.”
Billy Graham wrote, “Our work was never meant to become the center of our lives.That place belongs only to God. … Someone who brags about working 70 or 80 hours (or more) a week probably thinks he is the master of his job—but in reality he has become its slave.”
Illustration - One father kept bringing his work home with him and his 1st grade son asked him why. Daddy explained that he couldn’t finish it all during the day. The boy thought for a moment and asked, “Then why don’t they just put you in a easier group?”
On the other hand, we have a nation that worships pleasure and entertainment. We work our jobs only to get a paycheck. We live from the time we punch out till the time we punch back in again. Work is only an evil necessity that allows us to do the things we really want to do.
My Favorite Work Memes
My Favorite Work Memes
On the other hand, we have a nation that worships pleasure and entertainment. We work our jobs only to get a paycheck. We live from the time we punch out till the time we punch back in again. Work is only an evil necessity that allows us to do the things we really want to do.
We want to look this morning at what God’s word has to say about work. Especially what the book of Proverbs has to tell us.
The Conflict
The Conflict
Laziness brings poverty
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
Prov 6.
Laziness brings disgrace
prov 24.
Laziness brings disgrace
4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. 5 He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
Laziness irritates those we work for and with
26 Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.
The desire to get rich quick
4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
The desire to get rich quick
11 Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
Greed - Never enough, never satisfied, always feel like we deserve more than what we receive
16 A kindhearted woman gains honor, but ruthless men gain only wealth.
20 Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.
Proverbs has much more to say about the Thief and the Sluggard or Slothful man (17x’s and nothing good is said about them)
11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.
22 The stingy are eager to get rich and are unaware that poverty awaits them.
Poet Robert Frost said, “The world is full of willing people: some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”
33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
Finally, Socrates let him go. The pupil gasped for air, choked on water, and shouted, “What did you do that for?” Socrates responded: “When you want wisdom as badly as you wanted that last breath, it is then that you shall have it.”
33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
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Prov 24.
Transition
Transition
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for “wise” (hakam) is used to describe people skillful in working with their hands, such as the artisans who helped build the Tabernacle.
Poet Robert Frost said, “The world is full of willing people: some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”
3 Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,
Exodus 35.
In , the Lord chose Bezalel because he was filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.
32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.
To help us understand that there is a greater significance to our work I want to share with you 3 things that will change our “I owe, I owe” attitude into “I want to bless” attitude:
1. Work is a Gift From God
1. Work is a Gift From God
world
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Adam was put to work naming the animals. Yet, that work was a joy and a pleasure. We don’t see Adam saying, “God, why don’t you just name them yourself, I’m tired.” Or “I’ve been naming animals all morning, when do I get to take my break?”
Adam was put to work naming the animals. Yet, that work was a joy and a pleasure. We don’t see Adam saying, “God, why don’t you just name them yourself, I’m tired.” Or “I’ve been naming animals all morning, when do I get to take my break?”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Although Adam and Eve were punished for their disobedience, the proper view of the ability to work is that it is a gift from God.
God chooses to have us work to provide for our needs. Before the fall, Adam had only to reach up and pick his food. But since, we have had to work for our food. We often get into trouble when we try to bypass God’s plans. We think Work is a curse, so we try to do anything we can to avoid working.
We think Work is a curse, so we try to do anything we can to avoid working.
God expects that anyone who can work, should work. Consider how he instructed the Israelites: During the Feast of Weeks they are to bring certain offerings, one of which was provision for the poor. I think it’s interesting to point out that the poor where not exempt from work:
22 “ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’ ”
Lev 23.
The poor and the foreigner had to “harvest” the edges of the field.
We need to recognize the fact that work is not a curse.
Before Jesus began His public ministry, He worked as a carpenter:
3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Mark
Paul was a tentmaker
1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
The work God has called us to do should nourish us, not tear us down.
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
John
7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
luke
18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
2. Work is Intended to Bring Glory to God
2. Work is Intended to Bring Glory to God
Mark Twain once said, "Work is a necessary evil to be avoided." Although there may be days when we feel like he got it right, we know God has ordained work as a stewardship of his created world to bring Glory and Honor to Him.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
“Everything we do, from morning till night, is to be done in a Godward way, in reliance on his grace.” John Piper
“Everything we do, from morning till night, is to be done in a Godward way, in reliance on his grace.” John Piper
Listen to these scriptures concerning God’s creation and how it brought Glory to Him
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
The Life and Death of Jesus brought Glory to God
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Luke 2
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.
How can we bring glory to God?
Submit to God’s will in all things, even if it means we have to suffer for a little while () (Consider David or Joseph) ()
We are content with what God has given us ()
Learn not to worry, trusting that God is going to take care of us ()
We can learn to rely on God for strength rather than relying on ourselves ()
We are called to be selfless and humble ()
3. Work Is Intended to Build the Kingdom of God
3. Work Is Intended to Build the Kingdom of God
Work Should Build the Kingdom of God
Work is physical effort that reflects in a spiritual dimension. Even though work is physical activity, it has a lot to say about our relationship to God.
Work is a physical effort with a spiritual dimension
Even though work is physical activity, it has a lot to say about our relationship to God.
speaks about the virtuous woman and how she is a woman of noble character.
31 - the virtuous woman - a woman of noble character - is a woman of diligent work
3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Life and the ability to work is a gift from God so rather than using it to build our own kingdom, we should use it to build the Kingdom of God.
This is not a promise to get whatever you want, but rather a promise that as we do things God’s way, those plans will succeed.
Let’s make sure we look at work as an avenue of serving Christ. Remember what Colossians teaches us: (Share this scripture earlier)
18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
This is not a promise to get whatever you want, but rather a promise that as we do things God’s way, those plans will succeed.
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Let’s make sure we look at work as an avenue of serving Christ.
Jesus said:
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
God has not given us gifts and talents and the ability to work just to be successful and build a life for ourselves, but to build up the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is about people and we are about building people up - to transform people’s lives.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
Billy Graham wrote, “Our work was never meant to become the center of our lives.That place belongs only to God. … Someone who brags about working 70 or 80 hours (or more) a week probably thinks he is the master of his job—but in reality he has become its slave.”
Extra material
#Optional point - Take Time To Rest
A prayer of Blessing
I Pray: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands..."
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
Psalm
Poet Robert Frost said, “The world is full of willing people: some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”