Back to the Beginning
Notes
Transcript
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
Introduction:
Have you ever seen something evolve over time to the point that it was nothing like what it was at the beginning?
Im old enough to remember when a ratchet was a tool and not a person… Too strong? Too soon?
Remember when something that was sick was ill?
Context and original meaning matter.
Transition:
In our final message on this series, all that remains, I want to continue where I left off last Sunday as we talked about giving our life to work that matters.
Your Work Is Your Worship
Your Work Is Your Worship
When we talk about giving your life to making an eternal difference there is this misconception among some in the church that the only work that matters is the work that’s done in the church or for the church. It’s as if there is a special place for those who work in vocational ministry and those who work outside of the church are doing a lesser work from 9-5, until they can then go and do that which matters.
Let me speak into that for a second by taking us back to Genesis.
When God creates Adam and Eve, there are some commands that he gives them:
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The key word that I want you to focus on is that we are to subdue the earth. Meaning, we are to have dominion over this place that God created for us. The next verse I want us to read together is:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
God placed Adam and Eve into paradise, and didn’t say to relax, drink from pineapples and enjoy the rest of your days, but he said to work it and keep it.
We don’t think of having dominion over something and having to work it the same way that God sees it. Clearly.
God placed Adam and Eve in this beautiful and perfect environment and gave them this command - to work it and to create for themselves from the resources that he has provided them. God’s design for them was to find fulfillment in their work.
The Hebrew word for work is abad, which is also one of the Hebrew words for worship.
So let me say it this way, Your Work is Your Worship
Becuase your work is your worship, you need to see find God’s plan for humanity is what you do.
If you are a contractor, you are using raw materials from the earth to provide homes for humans. These homes will be spaces where people can give love, receive love and build families.
If you are a nurse, you are using science and medicine to provide care for people who are made in the image of God.
If you are in biology, you are studying and finding solutions for those who are sick and curing illnesses.
Listen, this list can go on and on, but it is up to you to start to find purpose and spiritual significance in what you are doing.
It is an absolute lie that you have to endure your career and the real fun begins when you retire. I don’t believe God would have you give the majority of your waking life to something that has no meaning to the advancement of God’s Kingdom.
Now, if you are completely unfulfilled in your work, you may need to find work that brings you meaning. That is another sermon for another day, but I want you to understand that from the very beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and then placed them in a garden to work.
Co-laborers With God
Co-laborers With God
Now, let’s go back to Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth.
He begins by letting them know that he’s got some heavy stuff to hit them with, but he wasn’t sure if they were ready for it. He goes on to tell them that he planted, and Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the church increase.
Notice the language that Paul is using with the church in Corinthians, and in particular these Jewish men and women who had come to the faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
He’s using language that brings them back to the garden. His words are an allusion to the Garden of Eden. This resonated with these Jewish men and women.
But then, he drops something heavy on them that we read earlier. He said to them, we are laborers together with God.
Did you catch that? We are co-laborers with God.
We aren’t God’s employees, but we are laboring together with him.
I think that often times we get this mind set that we are God’s employees here on earth. There are certainly a lot of religions that teach this sort of subservient type of relationship between creator and his created, but that’s not what we believe and teach as followers of Jesus. God so loved the world that he not only died to redeem the world, but he invites us into his redemption story. Not as employees who have no share in the reward, but as partners with God to help bring his redemption story to this world.
This is why it was so important for me to circle back and conclude this thought that we talked about last week.
God invites us to carry on the work that he began in the garden with Adam and Eve. We see this in what we put our hands to do - in service on Sundays, in service with our gifts and talents, and in service with our work.
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
As You Build, God is Building You
As You Build, God is Building You
Paul tells the church in Corinth that God’s current design for them was his original design since the garden. We are called to create. We are called to labor alongside God.
And then, he slips this in in verse 9:
1 Corinthians 3:9 (NKJV)
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
As we are laboring with God, he is laboring in us.
Sometimes the text is so obvious you miss it.
We are laboring in the work that we’ve been created and designed to do, and while we do that, God is working in us.
This is why Paul was challenging the church to give themselves to that that remains.
You can build your kingdom, or you can build God’s Kingdom.
You can give your life to your dreams, or you can give your life to God’s dreams.
Here is what I know, you can build your castle in the sand and still not have a purpose. But, it is impossible to labor alongside God and leave with a void in your heart. It is impossible for you to labor alongside God, and still feel like you have no purpose.
You take care of his Kingdom, and watch him take care of all that you love.