NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American has 12 different jobs in his or her lifetime and the median job tenure is only a little over 4.3 years. If you were to ask my wife how my job history would compare to those averages, I’m pretty sure she would say that I am above average. And I would readily admit that for much of my adult life I was on a trajectory where I would have greatly exceeded 12 different jobs. But this week I made a list of all the jobs I’ve had since high school, including the three part time jobs I worked during college, and the jobs where I’ve been self employed, and there were exactly 12 different jobs on my list. So I am exactly average. I suppose the only thing that has kept me from being above average is the fact that I’ve been here at TFC for the last 16 years.

Like many of you, I’ve changed jobs for a variety of reasons. At times I did that by my own choice in order to utilize my degree, or to make more money or to have working conditions that were more conducive to family life. At other times, those changes were forced upon me, like the time the land development company I worked for declared bankruptcy and laid off all its employees.

Tension

Only about half the workers in the U.S. say they are very satisfied in their jobs. Because so many people are dissatisfied in their work they often move from job to job, trying to find that elusive, and non-existent, perfect job. And even as disciples of Jesus we’re prone to do that, too.

So I’m pretty sure that there aren’t a lot of people who can genuinely say “Thank God It’s Monday”. That’s the title of our current sermon series and we’re learning how we can come to view our work in a way that we can honestly say those words each Monday morning. By the way, my apologies to Ryan and perhaps others of you that God tested last Monday morning by allowing some difficulties into your work.

Today, we’re going to learn that one of the ways we can learn to say “Thank God It’s Monday” is to bloom where we’re planted and find satisfaction in our present work. As I mentioned last week, I’m defining work very broadly here. So if you’re a student or a stay at home mom, or even if you are retired, what we’re going to learn this morning is relevant for you. Obviously, in those roles you may not have the opportunity to change jobs, but you,too, can learn to find great satisfaction and contentment in that work.

Truth

Today we’ll be looking at a passage from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, also known as the book of 1 Corinthians in our Bibles. I’ll be reading from chapter 7 in just a moment. But before I do that some background information will allow us to put that passage in its proper context.

In this section of his letter, Paul is addressing the question of how a person’s relationships ought to be impacted when a person commits his or her life to Jesus and becomes His disciple. Are we to abandon those relationships or are we to remain in them?

In the first part of chapter 7, Paul gives some instruction regarding marriage relationships and the general principle is that if someone is married before becoming a disciple of Jesus, he or she should remain married. We’ll pick up in verse 17:

1 Corinthians 7:17–24 ESV

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

Let’s begin with the overall principle, which is actually pretty easy to determine here since Paul gives us three commands that all essentially say the same thing:

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. (v. 17)

Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. (v. 20)

So, brothers, i whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. (v. 24)

I’m going to summarize this main idea like this:

Bloom where you are planted

Before we develop that idea further, I want to point out what Paul writes in verse 17:

This is my rule in all the churches.

Remember that Paul is writing those words under the direction of the Holy Spirit. We are reminded here that the things we’re going to learn today are not optional for those who are disciples of Jesus. Unfortunately in our culture today, we have been led to believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth and that each of us is free to choose whichever options we’re comfortable with. But that is just not what the Bible teaches here, or anywhere else in the Bible for that matter. God’s Word is truth and we are not free to just pick and choose which parts of it we’re going to obey.

In order for us to see how this idea of blooming where we’re planted relates to our work, we need to talk about a word that appears 8 times in this passage:

“call/called”

We tend to think of the idea of “calling” in the sense of our vocation. “I am called to be a banker.” “I am called to be a nurse.” We especially tend to use it in terms of vocational church work - “I am called to be a pastor or a missionary”. And, as we’ll see in a moment, Paul does use it once in that sense. But the other seven times he uses that word here, he is referring to what theologians call “God’s effectual call”. on our lives. That is the process by which God calls us to Himself and leads us to trust in Jesus through faith.

Jesus talked about that call in John 6:

John 6:44 ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:65 ESV

And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

We have talked about this idea frequently. If I have placed my faith in Jesus, I can’t take any credit for that. I am only able to do that because God has “called” me. So with the one exception we’ll look at in a moment, Paul uses the word “call” or “called” to refer to those who have become disciples of Jesus through faith. And the question he is addressing here is:

At the point that someone becomes a disciple of Jesus, is it necessary to change one’s position or station in life?

Paul answers that question by providing two illustrations that are sandwiched in between the three commands to remain in one’s current condition when he or she is called by God to become a disciple of Jesus.

The first is the illustration of circumcision. We’ve run into this one before. Circumcision was considered to be essential by those who were Jewish, even though from God’s perspective that had always been merely an outward symbol that showed someone belonged to him.

In a sense circumcision is kind of like my wedding ring. Just wearing a wedding ring does not mean that I’m married or ensure that I love my wife. It is merely a symbol of those things.

Paul points out here that what really counts is whether or not a person keeps the commandments of God, not some outward action or religious ritual. Therefore, if a Gentile became a Christian, it was not necessary for him to become a Jew and become circumcised. And if a Jew became a Christian, he did not have to try to undo his circumcision. Interestingly, there are some historical accounts that show that men have actually attempted to do that.

The implications of what Paul is writing here go far beyond just the issue of circumcision. This principle applies to any kind of cultural distinctions including race, religion, where we live, or socioeconomic status. Paul makes it clear here that when we become disciples of Jesus, what we need to do is bloom where we are - to focus on being obedient to Jesus rather than giving any attention at all on trying to change our place in this culture.

The second illustration is that of slavery. I think it’s important to note that slavery in Paul’s day was much different than the nature of slavery in our country’s history that most of us are familiar with. Many prominent people in that culture, including teachers, writers, politicians and even doctors were slaves. Many of them were better off financially than those who were born free or who had purchased their freedom. So it wasn’t uncommon for them chose to remain slaves even when they were presented with the opportunity to obtain their freedom. Therefore, in many ways the master/slave relationship of that culture was actually similar to the employer/employee relationship in our culture.

Paul is not in any way condoning the practice of slavery here. He is merely pointing out that gaining one’s freedom was not as important as obeying Christ. And he also points out that everyone is in bondage to someone. Even those who were free should live as if they were in bondage to Jesus. In the words of the great theologian Bob Dylan everyone has...

Gotta Serve Somebody

We’ve already seen that the master/slave relationship of Paul’s day is similar to the employer/employee relationship today, but the other use of the word “called” that we haven’t talked about you provides us with an even more implicit connection to our work. So let’s go back and look at the first part of verse 17 again:

Only let each person lead the life that the lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.

Here Paul uses the word “called” in a completely different way than he uses it in the rest of the passage. Here he is using the term in a way that is much closer to the way we normally use it when we talk about our vocation. And he combines that with the idea that Jesus has “assigned” each of us a certain life here on earth.

Paul is confirming here that God is sovereign over every area of our lives, including our work. You are not in the current job you are in, no matter how you ended up there, by accident. Your job is a divine assignment and calling by God. And we are to “lead the life” that God has assigned to us.

Last week, we saw that our work matters to God because God is a worker and He has called us to be His co-workers in the process of bring His creation to fulfillment. this week, we see that our work has value because it is a divine assignment from God. Do you think of your work like that? I’m convinced that if you do, you will not only be a good employee, but you will also find great fulfillment and joy in that work.

So let’s close our time by talking about four very practical...

Application

IMPLICATIONS FOR MY WORK

I am where I am by God’s assignment

Regardless of how you got there, you are where you are right now because God assigned you to be there. You are not there by accident or mistake.

This is something that I wish I had known much earlier in my life. I have to tell you that as a teenager it was hard to believe that God had assigned me to clean bathrooms at a local gas station. And later on as an adult, I never really understood that my assignment was to be a substitute teacher. Those are certainly not the kind of jobs that most people, including me, aspire to. But as I look back now I can see that God had assigned me to those jobs for a reason.

God is sovereign and that means that wherever you are right now, you are there by God’s assignment:

Kids, God has placed you in exactly the school and the class where He wants you to be.

Whether you like your job or not, you’re there because that is where God has placed you, at least for now.

If you’re a stay at home mom, even if you get tired and frustrated sometimes, that is God’s assignment for you right now.

If you’re retired, it might very well be that your assignment involves volunteering or being part of a social group or even just spending time with your grandkids or great grandkids.

And because that is my assignment, I can also be assured that...

My job is ministry

We have frequently talked about the idea that every disciple of Jesus is a minister. So whether you are in full time vocational church work like I am or you are in a “secular” job, your work is ministry. And since most of us spend so much of our life in our jobs, it is probably our most important ministry next to the ministry to our own families.

I may have a different role than you do in the body of Christ. But you are every bit as much a minister as I am. And to take it even one step further, I have been just as much a minister in every so called “secular” job I’ve ever held as I am now as a pastor. So even when I was cleaning toilets in a gas station - and believe me that’s a job I would never wish on anyone - or when I was frying chicken, or when I was working as a CPA or developing land or serving as a substitute teacher, I was a minister.

I have learned more about this principle from my wife than from anyone else. I have watched her teach children, including our own, for over 40 years. She has always approached her teaching as her ministry to students, their families and her fellow staff members. So earlier this year when she had to take leave for a couple weeks on the advice of her doctor, she was heartbroken, not because she was going to miss out on a paycheck, but because she genuinely missed her calling as a teacher.

God is more concerned about how I work than where I work.

We are going to dig into this idea in even more detail next week. But as we’ve seen this morning, God is a lot more concerned about whether I am keeping His commandments than he is about where I work. He is a lot more concerned about whether I am leading the life He has assigned me than where I do that.

The Bible consistently teaches that God entrusts more to us as we are faithful with what He has already entrusted to us. And I believe that some principle applies in our work. So if you think you want, need or deserve a new job, the most important think you can do is to be a better worker where you are right now.

For you young people who are beginning to think about God’s will when it comes to your future job, or maybe even for others who are considering a change in vocation, what we have learned today is that God’s will is for you to remain close to Jesus and to obey His commandments. And if you do that with all your heart, then I believe that you can pretty much take whatever job you want. God can use you anywhere if you have that kind of heart toward God.

When God is ready to give me a new assignment, He will let me know

Paul is not saying here that we can never change jobs. In fact, he told those who were slaves that it was perfectly acceptable to take advantage of the opportunity to gain their freedom if that came along. But what they were not to do was to spend all their time wishing they were free or trying to find ways to obtain their freedom. Instead they were to wait until God made such an opportunity available to them.

So Paul is not saying that there is never a time when we should seek a new job. As we talked about last week, God designed work to have limits and if our work violates those limits God has established then obviously we need to find another job.

I’ve had to do that in my life. When I worked as a CPA, it became obvious that while continuing to work there would eventually provide me with a handsome salary, it was not a situation that was conducive to family life and it was also causing me to consistently violate the principle of Sabbath rest. So I did pray about that and then waited until God provided me with an opportunity for a different job that did not violate those limitations.

I am convinced that if we’re applying the other principles we’ve talked about this morning and I’m doing my best to bloom where I am planted, that if God is ready to give me a new assignment, he will make that very clear to me.

This morning’s big idea is simple, but it’s not necessarily easy:

Bloom where you are planted

Pastor Ray Pritchard expressed that idea like this:

Nothing proves the reality of your conversion more than staying where you are and showing the change by the way you live. Don’t cut and run. Stay where you are and live for Christ.

While that applies to almost every area of our lives, it is particularly relevant when it come to our work. Even as disciples of Jesus we are prone to think “Just change my circumstances and I’ll be happy”. But Jesus says, “Get close to Me and follow Me and I’ll give you joy right where you are”. And that is just as true if you’re a stay at home mom or a landscaper or a housekeeper as it is if you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Action/Inspiration

So as we close this morning, let’s take a moment to pray and ask God to help us bloom where we are planted - wherever that might be. I’m going to give you a minute or two to do that on your own and then I’m going to lead us in a corporate prayer.

Will you join me in this prayer:

Father,

Thank you for Your divine assignment that has placed me where I am right now.

Help me to understand that my work, whatever that might look like, is ministry.

Help me to bloom where I am planted by remaining there and being the very best worker I can be until you call me to a new assignment.

Help me draw close to Jesus and obey Him so that I might have great joy right where I am.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen