Discovering Your Life's Work
THANK GOD, IT’S MONDAY
Determining My Life’s Work
Welcome, once again, to The Journey. If you are joining us for the first time today, I am Nelson, and if you are back from Easter last week, we kicked off this brand new series called “Thank God, It’s Monday”. Tell you a funny story, we were at the printers getting some of the stuff printed for “Thank God, It’s Monday” and the first page came through and the printer looked at it like—thank God, it’s Monday? What kind of warped church is this? It’s Monday! It should be “thank God, it’s Friday”? That intentional. We are talking about—how can you be thankful for your work. And the reality here in our city, we work a lot. I mean, some of you work 60, 70, 80, some of you pull all-nighters. We work a lot in our city, but fortunately for us, God has a lot to say about work. I mean, the Bible is not silent when it tells us to work. Now, the Bible makes it very clear that when it comes to work, that work is necessary. Our work is necessary. God created us to work. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, we also learned that work would be difficult. There is no such thing as an easy job, or an easy in that. As a matter of fact, the Bible says if you are lazy, that’s a sin of slothfulness and then it goes even farther—if you do not work, you should not eat. So it has a very high priority on this issue of work. But it also gives us some cautions. The Bible says we should never mistake our work for our worth. Our worth is about who we are in God. About God loving us. About God creating us. About God knowing us. We are highly esteemed by God. Don’t confuse your work with your worth. Guys, we are especially bad at this. Because the very first question guys wants to ask is—what do you do? What do you do for a living? We are kind of wrapped up in this. Some other people are better at this than I am, and some of you are. But don’t confuse these ideas. The other big thing that the Bible says related to work is that you can worship when you work. Now, think about that for a second. I’m not talking about the songs that we just did, or some of the stuff that we are doing in church on this, but I’m talking about taking God to work with you. That work can be a way for you to live out your faith. That work can actually draw you to God. And the Bible says that work can be ministry. So, if you find your message notes, at the top of your notes would you just write down the word—ministry? And then write down this definition. The word ministry means to serve. It means to serve. So write that down in your notes. Ministry is to serve. Now a lot of people will say—now, Nelson, you are in ministry. That’s true. I work full time as a pastor at a church. My job is lead pastor at the church. To teach there. To lead the church, and all these things. And I am in fulltime Christian ministry. But what I don’t like about that phrase “fulltime Christian ministry” is that somehow means that if you are a Christian out in the corporate world, you are not in fulltime Christian ministry. Now, God might call you to serve in a church. He might call you to be on staff. That may be in your future. But God calls every Christian to fulltime Christian ministry because we are to live out our faith in the workplace. It’s not like we leave what we do in here behind, when we walk out the door, and we don’t think about it again until next Sunday. That’s why this series is called “Thank God, It’s Monday”, because we believe what happens here on Sunday matter in your life on Monday, so you are to serve in the workplace. You are to be a Christian minister in the workplace. And we are going to try to unpack that over the next few weeks as we look at these different issues. But as you see in your notes today, we are talking about “Determining My Life’s Work”, and this is a pretty important topic as well. A lot of people ask us about this topic. As a matter of fact, the number one prayer request over the last year or so, on the back of the Connection Card, has been, will you pray for me to know God’s will for my career, or something like that. I’m thinking about a career change. I’m thinking about leaving one career and doing another. We have a whole group of people in our church that are thinking about coming out of the traditional work force and they are going to be stay-at-home moms, or stay-at-home dads. And so this is a very big issue in our church. It’s also a big issue in our city. I don’t know if you saw the recent survey they did of rising juniors in colleges across New York. Did you see that? Do you know what the number one major is for rising juniors in colleges in our city? Undecided! Exactly right. So more people writing that. We are waiting longer to determine what our life’s work is going to be. Because we don’t know. And books these days are very popular around this topic of helping you discover your career. For example, one that I never quite understood the title of, is called What Color is My Parachute. Have you seen that one? You look at this and you look at all the careers, the best selling issues of magazines are the salary issues, top careers and all that. Then there’s a book called What To Do With My Life that continues to go strong in bookstores. So today, let’s look at this issue, because God has a lot to say about it. And God says that if you need wisdom, if you want God to speak to you, all you have to do is ask. That’s what the first verse in your notes is all about. From James 1:5. Notice what it says, “If you need wisdom, if you want to know what God wants you to do,” ask your family and rich friends. Okay, not exactly what it says. Let’s read this out loud together. Ready? From the beginning. “If you need wisdom, if you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him and He will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.” There are several things in this verse that are interesting. The first one says that God is happy to tell you, that God smiles at the opportunity to give you His wisdom. God’s not sitting up in Heaven saying—I’m not going to tell these guys anything. I’m not going to share anything with them. Let them go ahead and figure it out. God’s not playing dice, as Kerrick said last week, God’s will is not hidden from us. Instead, when we say—God, give me Your wisdom. That makes God happy. He will gladly tell you. And then it says—He will not resent your asking. If you look at the phrase in the Greek and you know, the New Testament was originally written in Greek, if you look at how that is phrased, it could literally be translated—He will not resent asking and asking and asking. God. God doesn’t get mad if you keep asking Him questions. Sometimes we think—I don’t know if I want to pray this again, or if I should ask God once again. I’ve asked Him a dozen times or a hundred times. God is fine with that. In fact, He doesn’t get angry with that. He doesn’t resent your asking. So all of your life, you should be asking questions of God, because we need God’s wisdom. So what we want to do today is look at four questions that you can ask God to determine your life’s work. I want to be clear. My intent in this time that we have together is not to do like customized career counseling. Number one—I’m a really bad counselor. If you ever come to me with a problem, you know that I’m not really good at that. I’m much better at teaching what the Bible says than offering counseling advice along the way. I’m not a very good counselor. But the other thing is that God’s advice to you is as unique as you are. So in a room this size, there are hundreds and hundreds of different possibilities for what your life’s work might be. But there are some common questions that we can ask. There are unique answers but common questions.
Track 2
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about determining my life’s work. Four big questions. Here’s question number one:
1. It’s an obvious one, it’s number one for a reason, but it’s one that we often overlook and that is—what does God want? What does God want? Of course, we would start here because if you look at what the Bible says on this, you start with God. And I am assuming that the foundation of what we are talking about is that you want to honor God with your life. I mean, I think there is something inside of you that is drawing you, there is something inside of you that says—I want to do what God wants to do. That’s why you are in church today. I mean, you wouldn’t be in here if you weren’t at least partially interested in somehow honoring God with your life. And we often get off track on this. We think our life is determined by what we want. But hopefully you have matured enough to realize life is not about you. Life is not about what you want or what I want. Life is about what God wants. So the issue is—what does God want for my life? What is God trying to do here? I have quoted before from a best selling book called Good to Great by Jim Collins. You may have read that in your corporate world, or in your career. It’s been a long-time business best seller. And I love that book for a lot of reasons, but I love this because of the first line in this book. You should always pay attention to the first line in a book. The first line in the book is—Good is the enemy of great. Good is the enemy of great. I think that is profound when it comes to church life, when it comes to corporate life, and I think it is profound when it comes to your life. Because what I know about most of you, you are going to do some really good things with your life. You probably are. You have ambitions. You have hopes. You have dreams. You are probably going to do some really good things with your life. So the question is not good versus bad. The question becomes good versus great. Am I going to do the greatest thing with my life? Is my life going to be a great life? So don’t settle for good, settle for great. And if you want a life that is going to be great, by definition, it has to be a life with God. See, this is an issue of knowing God’s will. When you follow God’s will, it always leads to the best life possible, the greatest life possible. And we get all mixed up on God’s will. We make it much more mystical than it really is. So let me give you a simple definition of God’s will. God’s will is simply—God’s best for your life God’s best for your life. So whatever is the best thing for your life, that’s God’s will. God’s plans are to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope, as we sung about earlier. So, it’s God’s best. I don’t know if you have reached a point in your life where you have evaluated where you stand when it comes to history. Because I think of my life, even though I am pretty young and many of you are much younger than me, I realize that I have a 30 to 40 to 50 year run at this. That’s about what I’ve got. That’s kind of the average life span, the average career that we have. Compare that to the many thousands of years of history, life is pretty short. So I have reached this conclusion. I want my life to matter. I want in this brief time that I have, for me to be a significant life, for my life to be significant, for me to be a significant person, for me to use the time that I have been entrusted to make the biggest difference possible. And as you reflect on that, you will reach that conclusion, too. So if we are going to have a best life, we have to have a life that is connected with God. It’s about what God wants. I said last week in the kick off message of this, Discovering God’s Power, that if you don’t know God’s purpose for your life, you are going to live a less than level than God wants. What I mean by that is, even if you do some really nifty things with your life, some really cool stuff with your life, if it is not God’s will, it’s not the best that you can possibly do. Last week, after I said that, several of you pointed out the historical characters that did some cool stuff with their life that made a big difference with their life, and they did it apart from God. I love that kind of feedback. That’s true. What I was saying is they made a big impact, apart from God, but imagine what their life could have been if they had known God. Imagine how much bigger their life would have been, how much more profound their life would have been, if they had known God. It’s true for me and it’s true for you. James gives us some interesting advice on this in James 4, in the Bible, and I love verses 13-15 because this could almost be written today. Like, I hear this all the time in church, and it sounds a lot like what he is writing here. James 4:13, in your notes, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’” Then James says, “Why? Why do you do this? You do not even know will happen tomorrow. Instead you ought to say, ‘If it’s the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” People in our church are always saying this—I think I’ll come to New York City for a couple of years and if things go okay here, then maybe I’ll move up to Boston, or down to D.C., or maybe I’ll go to L.A. and check that scene out there for a while. Maybe London or Johannesburg, or somewhere, and then I will try some business and I will just see. And one of these days I’m going to get serious about it. And James is like—in your face! Why would you even do that? You should be asking—is God even going to allow me to live tomorrow? Because, you know, God might just suck the oxygen right out of your life and then there is nothing. Your plans are meaningless. The issue is—if it’s the Lord’s will, then first of all, I’ll be alive, and then secondly, then I’ll be able to do and that. So the issue is—is it God’s will or not? What does God want? And then of course, to understand this, you have to listen to God. What is God saying? What is God saying to you? And I hope today, as we go through the questions, you will continue to listen to God, and then after this is over, you will get alone with these questions, and these Scriptures, and you will say—God, I need to hear from you. And I’m going to try to frame how you can listen to God. Now, I’m not going to go into great detail about how to listen to God, but I will give a resource this week, on This Week at The Journey on JourneyIpod.com, probably in both. Now the teaching that I did about three weeks ago, called “How to Listen To God”. It was back in the Vertical series, so I will post that back on the website so that you can have it, so that you can understand how to be still and hear from God, once again, as you discover what does God want. That was question number one.
Track 3
2. What am I good at? It starts with—what does God want, and then it moves to—what am I good at? I think this is a question that we often overlook. What am I good at? What are my skills? What are my abilities? What do I like to do? What do I do that when people see me do it, they say—you do that really well. You are really good at this. You know, it’s hard to examine yourself on this particular question. Because we all deceive ourselves and think we are better at certain things. Have you ever been guilty of that? You see, sometimes you have to get other people’s opinions to tell you what you are good at. I mean, if American Idol has proven anything, it has proven that we are not always as good as think we are. You have to get outside yourself and ask this question. So what do people say to you that you are good at? You have found your niche. You have found your opportunity. I mean, you are really successful at that. And then what you know you like to do, and people think you are good at it, then can you make a living out of it? Because what you like to do, and what you make a living at may not always be the same, but if you dig beneath the surface, you may find some underlying principles that will help you build a life’s work.
A good example of that is a guy I grew up with. He was very good at playing golf. And there was something about the way golf was played and he was wired up that made him very successful at it. He ended up going to college on a golf scholarship and he had some solid success as an amateur golfer. He liked golf but he wasn’t able to make a living at it. But what he learned when he went through this process, is he realized that the skill that he uses on the golf course, the way of thinking, the way he could analyze, the way he could see things, the way he could predict and lay out the course, are the same type of skills that he could transfer into business and be successful at it. So he ended up getting an accounting degree, and he ended up going into corporate finance degree, and he uses that same way of thinking to build a career. He still plays a lot of golf on the side, but his career, what he was good at and he discovered that early on. So what are you good at? What do you like to do? Sometimes we get so caught up focusing on our weakness, we so try to minimize our weaknesses that we don’t realize the strength that we have. You know, we live in a society where it’s not cool to toot your own horn or lift yourself up, I’m not just talking about that, I’m talking about honest evaluation of things. Here’s what I’m good at. This is what I can do. This is the way that God wired me up. Because the reality is that God wired all of you up to do some things really well. Not everything, nobody can do that, but you can do some things really well. Some of you are left brained, for example, if you know what I mean. On that area. That’s the way God wired you up. Others of you are very right brained. You are thinking and creative on that. That’s just the way God wired you up. Some of you are very technical in your thinking, and precise, and your abilities. Others of you are more artistic in the way that you approach things. Those two aren’t always mutually exclusive, but you kind of see where I’m going. It’s discerning how God wired you up. You know, it takes all different kinds of people to make a difference in this world. I was reading Exodus 31 not too long ago, and I don’t know if you have spent time in Exodus 31, or if you just kind of breeze through that chapter. But it’s an interesting chapter for those of you who are involved in the arts. A lot of people in our church are involved in that, you work on Broadway or different areas around town. They have a guy in Exodus 31 whose name is Bezalel. I might be pronouncing the name wrong, but that is the best I can do. And what is going on here is God’s people are deciding to build a tabernacle. A place of worship for God. And so God is calling out the best people possible to come and build this tabernacle. One of the guys that God taps on the shoulder to come help out is an artist, someone who can see a sculpting and see the painting and see the layout of the tabernacle and make it esthetically pleasing. If you are an artist, this could be your patron saint. Also if you read it carefully, he may also be the patron saint of architects, because that same thing goes into esthetically pleasing idea. But the next thing, in Exodus 31, God says something to kind of interesting to Bezalel, and I put one verse from that in your notes. It says, “I, God, have given him” (talking about our guy Bezalel), “I have given him the skill, ability and knowledge to all kinds of work.” Now, here’s what I want you to do in your notes. Scratch out the word “him” right there, and write in your name. So mine would read, I, God, have given Nelson, the skill, the ability and knowledge to do all kinds of work. So what skills, what abilities, what knowledge has God given you? And you should try to discern those. How are you wired up? What has God placed in your path? You see, what you want to find is this intersection where your profession and your passion cross paths. If you can discover where your profession and your passion cross paths, you can live in that sweet spot for the rest of your life. And this requires reflection around what am I good at? And you know, when you learn what you are good at and you do it, that’s the way of honoring God. That’s what Ephesians 2:10 is talking about when it says, “For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Would you underline the words—good works? God has good works for you to do. You can see now God’s masterpiece for an expression of God’s artistic, creative power when you do what you are good at. And God will use that.
Track 4
And I hope you will ask that question—what am I good at?
Here’s the third question:
3. What is in front of me? What are the open doors? What do I have opportunity to do today? Some people keep waiting on their ship to come in, and it never does. You have to do what is in front of you today. You have to realize that this is seemingly contradictory to what we talked about in the beginning which is God’s will. But do you realize that God will place stepping stones in front of you and He may have a perfect plan out there, but in order for you to become the person to fulfill that plan, He will put stepping stones in front of you. For a corporate job, they don’t put you at the top of the ladder. We talk about this corporate ladder all the time. And you know, they don’t start you at the top of the corporate ladder. You have to work your way up. And you can work your way up faster, or you can work your way up slower, depending on how well you do with what is in front of you. For those of you who came to New York to make it in the artistic arena, you know you have to start sometimes as an apprentice, or an understudy to someone else. And sometimes you have to take job to make it just so you can do what you love to do, until you can go fulltime in that area. I hear people say sometimes—well, you know, that’s beneath me. Listen, when God puts something in front of you, it’s never beneath you. It’s always part of God’s plan to build you up and to grow you up and to help you go to the next level. So sometimes, we get so busy waiting on the perfect opportunity that we miss the opportunity to build ourselves and to grow ourselves. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says this, “Whatever presents itself for you to do, do it with all your might.” Underline that last phrase—do it with all your might. Another translation of that same verse says, “Whatever your hands find to do, do it well.” What’s in front of you? What could you do well right now? You know I think this is a big issue for anyone to climb a ladder or try to excel their career, but I think it’s a huge issue for Christians. Sometimes, I don’t know if you have noticed, but sometimes being a Christian out in the workplace is not always smiled upon. How many of you would say that? I read stuff occasionally where they put Christians in this big lot as being less than the best. Somehow, if you are a Christian, you are not the best intellectual. You’re not the best corporate person. You are going to kind of lean on God and not do your best. I think that is just terribly wrong. I think it’s a misperception, but I think also that we have to do everything that we can, as Christians, to overcome that. I’ve been thinking about this issue for the last few months, and maybe we will teach on it in the fall some more about Christian excellence. Somehow those two terms don’t always go together. I mean, you shouldn’t really have to say that if you are going to do something as a Christian, that should just imply that you are going to do it excellent. But Christian excellence, I mean, what would it look like for you, if whatever God placed in front of you, you did that the best that you could do. It’s kind of like, this job is so important, let’s give it to a Christian because it has to be done excellent. We can’t trust it with anybody else. I mean, I would like for our church to start modeling this in such a way that 10 years from now, we have changed the current so that 10 years from now, people in the boardrooms, the people in the audition process would say—this part is so important, this position is so important that we better get a Christian to do it, because they are the only ones that can be trusted to do it really well. So we bottle that, by doing whatever is in front of us well. Look, excellence doesn’t mean perfect. A great definition of excellence is—doing the best you can with what you’ve got. With whatever you’ve got, you give it your all. You don’t phone it in or call it in or just walk through it. You give it the best that you can do. You give it 100% effort and make sure that it happens. You know the early church understood this. They understood that being called a Christian meant that they were held to a higher responsibility, because they weren’t just living their lives to get the applause of people, they were living their lives in such a way to honor God with all that they do. This is what Paul is talking about in Colossians 3:23 where he says, “In all the work that you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people.” For profit, or paychecks or personal fame or popularity, whatever it is in our day that gets you lifted up and gets applause for you. Shouldn’t we work as if we are working for the Lord? So there is nothing too small for us to do. There is nothing that is beneath us. There is no job that we should just ignore. God put something in our path, let’s do it with all of our heart. You know, here’s the principle that Jesus taught. It’s one of those principles that Jesus taught that is not only a great teaching of the Bible, but it’s really just the way the world is wired. Jesus taught reaping what you sow and cause and effect. I mean, we understand those principles. He also taught the principle that says—if you are faithful with a few things, you will be given more. But if you are unfaithful with a few things, the few things that you have will be taken away. And when Jesus first told that parable in the Book of Matthew, He told the story about a master who went away and he left behind three servants and he entrusted them with a small amount of money, they called the talents in those days, which is interesting for our discussion today, but he left some with three talents, and some with five and some with ten and all that, and then the master came back. And the master went to the first person who had just ignored the talent that he was given and he buried it in the ground, actually in the parable, and Jesus condemns the guy. He says, “You worthless servant. I trusted you with this and you did nothing.” And then he took what little he had away from him and sent him on his way. The second guy, he had done about average with his talents, and so he said—you did okay. You did average, so you will be given average again. A little bit more, but still average. Then there was the third guy. The third guy had taken what he had received and he did the absolute best with that. I want you to see what the master said. Look in your notes. Matthew 25, “His master replied, good job. You are a good and faithful servant. You proved that you can be trusted with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and share your master’s happiness.” One of the greatest principles. If you are faithful with what is in front of you, you will be given more. So what’s in front of you? What do you need to treat well and do with excellence, in order get on God’s path toward His perfect will?
Track 5
So let’s review as you look at your notes. Number one—what does God want? Number two—what am I good at? Number three—what is in front of me? And then the final question—
4. What is my life’s ministry? What is my life ministry going to be? Earlier I said that ministry is to serve. I’ll give you just a chance to write that down. So the question you ask is—God how can I serve the most number of people with my life? If you want a significant life, it’s about serving others. So, for Christians, the last question of career is not—how much will I make, but it’s how many can I serve? See, for Christians, satisfaction comes not in salary, but it comes from serving. So the end game in all of this is people served. And it’s only when you view life from that perspective that it makes any sense. Your life’s work can only be framed around the question of maximum service. You see, life’s work is not about accomplishing goals or increasing profits, but it’s about honoring God and loving Jesus. And so when Jesus was asked to elevate and explain what life is all about, He said—life is really about two things. This is your memory verse in your notes. Really life is about two things, most of them are around this issue of love. Let’s read Matthew 22:37-39 out loud together. Here we go, “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.’” So just before the box, write—love God, love people. Jesus said, “If I had to summarize all of what life is about, it is that you are to love God and love people.” Love God and love people. And you don’t just love God and love people in here. And what we do on Sundays. This is why I said earlier, that we believe that what you do on Sunday matters in your life on Monday. So it’s really easy to love God and love people in here. But God says, you carry that with you to the work place and even on your job, you still love Him and you still love people. Sometimes we reserve it—I’ll do it in my growth group. I’ll do it here on Sunday. But this is a universal principle of life. How can I serve people everywhere I go? The way you serve them is by doing the best to love God and then doing your best to love them. Jesus said early on in His ministry in the Sermon on the Mount. He said it this way, in Matthew 5:13-14, He said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Hold your finger there. We often don’t understand when He said the salt. This means that you are to be the people that bring out the good in the world. You are to point society in directions that are positive and directions that honor and esteem people. You are the salt of the earth. And then He said, “You are the light of the world. Like a city on a mountain, glowing in the dark for all to see.” Now, the light. You are to take Christ with you to the workplace. Look, for some of you, you are the only Christian at your workplace and you are the light in that workplace. You are the representatives for what it means to live an excellent life that honors God and loves people. This is what life is all about. Look up here. You want to know God’s will for your life? It’s loving God and loving people.
But you say—I thought today you were going to give some career advice. Well, what do you want my profession to be? I mean, you know, should I be a dancer, or should I be a doctor? I mean what does this do? Love God, love people. And listen, here’s the deal. If you decide to love God and love people, then do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. God says, as long as you love Him and you love people, your individual choice of careers doesn’t matter that much. See, we get all caught up on the wrong things. The right thing is, can I love God and can I love people? And if you will get that right, everything else will fall into place. You see, some of you think that God’s will is like trying to find a path in a dark forest. You are out there in the dark forest and you are roaming around, and you are kind of lost, and you are upset and you are anxious, and you are walking around looking for a little path of footsteps, of broken limbs and branches to try to get back on track with God’s will. Wrong image! God’s will is like an eight lane highway. On one side of the road is love God and on the other side of the road is love people. And as long as you are on that highway, it really doesn’t matter what you do. You can change careers back and forth. But if you are loving God and loving people, you are in the middle of God’s will and there is tremendous freedom to what you want to do. And so you should ask these questions. What am I good at? What’s going to make a living? What is in front of me? But if you ask those questions, and you get alone and pray, and you can, in your chosen profession, love God and love people, do whatever you want. Look, I understand, there are some professions out there that you can’t love God and love people in. There are some professions that are not in that eight lane highway. For some reason, a drug dealer comes to mind. Okay? But that’s probably not in the middle of that. There are probably some others. Some places where you know you are being asked to compromise your integrity. Some places where you are using people. We have all seen the corporate scandals of the day. I mean, there are some places that you can’t love God and love people. There are some careers. And maybe some of you are in those type of careers. If so, certainly, you need to get back on the main highway. Get back on God’s path in this. But inside of that, there is tremendous freedom and we can get so caught up on the idea of what career should we do that we miss the boundaries in which God placed. For examples, careers in the Bible. When you go through the Bible, there is no one single career. Like if you ask, what do the majority of the people in the Bible, who were used by God, do, it’s all over the map. A quick history. For example, Moses in the Old Testament, he was a shepherd. Nimrod, he was a hunter. Bazalael, he was an artist or an architect, depending on how you read it. Melchezadek was a priest. Naboth was a wine maker. Nehemiah was a cup bearer to the king. I always wondered if he knew Naboth. It would just be a good relationship. But David was a king. You go to the New Testament, Luke was a doctor. Joseph was a carpenter. Matthew was an IRS agent. Nichodemus was a lawyer. Paul was a tent maker. Peter was a fisherman. The Ethiopian was a government worker. Jeremiah was a bull frog. Look, it doesn’t matter. You can be a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, as long as you love God and love people, do whatever you want with excellence in such a way that you are working for the Lord and not for people. And this is how you discover your life’s work.
Track 6
Let me say this, because I realize that some of you are here and you are in some challenging careers. You are like—I’m doing what I want to do, but let me be honest. My work place is tough. Let me challenge you before you just shift careers and jump ship to spend some time in prayer, to spend some time with God going over these questions. As yourself, maybe you are the only Christian, as I mentioned, in your workplace. Maybe God has strategically placed you there to be salt and light. So pray. Pray through these questions. God might be calling you to another career. He might be calling you to work in a church sometime. But before you just immediately jump ship because it’s tough, remember that God might have you there for a reason. And I have noticed in my life, and perhaps you have noticed in your life, that if you know the why of something, you can endure almost any what. So remember the why. Why are you there? You are there to love God and to love people. You are there to be salt and light. Another way to say it is you are there to be on mission for God in your workplace. Where? It doesn’t matter if you are on the highway. What? It doesn’t matter if you know why. So do you know the why? I have been in some weird places in my career as a pastor. I was once on this deal with a bunch of other guys and we were going around and speaking to people who were in prison. And the Bible talks a lot about, we should take care of those who are in prison. So we would go around and teach the Bible, preach in prison. I know, just go ahead and say it—it was a captive audience. Okay. We get that out of the way. And you know, we were doing this and we went down to Florida to the state penitentiary. I don’t know if you have ever been to the state penitentiary. Anybody been in the state penitentiary in Florida? Just kidding. It’s in the middle of the state. It’s in like a swampy area. So even if you escape, the gators are going to get you or something like that. And we were in less than ideal accommodations. I mean it was bad. It was some of the worst thing that I had ever been in my life. It wasn’t the swamp, but it was one step removed. And it was hot and it was sticky and there were mosquitoes. Our little shower didn’t work very well. It was like a trickle. You had to run around to get wet. You know, that kind of deal. And I mean, it was just really bad. And we probably complained too much, we probably grumbled under our breath about these kinds of situations, but you know what got us through that week when we were down there? Is we knew why we were there. We were there because we were on mission with God among some of the most outcast people in our society. See, if you know the why, you can endure almost any what. So why does God have you where you are? And I’m not saying your workplace is a prison. I don’t know, it may be. But maybe He has you there for a purpose. Maybe before you jump careers, or shift around, you want to spend a little time asking these questions. Then look at this last verse that just summarizes some of what we have been talking about. From II Corinthians 3:5, let’s wrap up by reading this verse out loud together. Here we go. “It is not that we think that we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God.” So, I hope you will make the decision today to commit your life’s work to loving God and loving others. Let’s bow our heads together.
Heavenly Father, as I stand up here looking out among the people in our church, I’m just amazed at who is here. There are people here that represent every profession imaginable, almost. And people are serving in places where there is a lot of heartache. Serving in places where there is a lot of money. Serving in a place where entertainment profits drive everything. You have strategically placed every person here in an area where they can serve You. They can love You and love people. God, I pray that as they consider these questions that we have looked at today, consider their life’s work, that You will take what we have talked about, put it deep into our minds, and help us to know exactly what we should do.
Now maybe as you think about today and what we talked about, I know that some of it is a little radical compared to what we sometimes hear about God’s will, but as you begin to understand all of that, at least maybe we can agree today to make a commitment, to make a commitment that in our workplace, we are going to do our best and love God and love others.
Maybe you just want to pray that prayer that prayer to God and say:
God, the commitment that I am making today is that wherever I find myself, whether it is a small job, a large job, a stepping stone job, in my workplace, I’m going to do my best to love you and love people. And I make that commitment in Jesus’ name. Amen.