Contented Work

Good morning everyone.

You've done well to come out on a morning like this morning,

but it's great to be here and a tremendous amount of encouragement in Christ

to be his people together.

When Wendy was... I chose the Bible reading,

but when she was reading that Isaiah reading,

25 years ago I was a student minister at Currajong

and I was in the old church with wooden floors like this

and being a student felt like I needed to colour my sermon even more

than what the ministers would normally do.

So I brought my axe into church and at the moment when you raise the axe,

you know, the king of Assyria is just an instrument in my hand,

I put it down on the pulpit, slipped off and went bang on the floor.

And I don't think they remember anything else about the sermon

except what happened with the axe that morning.

Anyway, let's pray.

Thank you, Father, for bringing us together.

Father, please warm our hearts, strengthen our hearts

from your word this morning.

Grow us in Christ and grow us in a mindset

that helps us in thinking who we are as believers,

especially in the work that we do.

And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

One of our church family spoke to me a few weeks ago

about their employment

and they told me what life was like in their workplace

as a believer.

And you'd have to say their work for them is like,

is probably like a love-hate relationship

with the emphasis being more on hate.

They work with a persecuting boss

who has a particular set of prejudices towards Christians.

Their boss has been exposed to pretty terrible hypocrisy

of churches

as their boss has gone about their work.

They've seen it and had to bear with it.

And because of that,

his boss's attitude towards our brother

may well affect his ability to progress

in his workplace

because they've summed him up

and applied their mind to what they think about him

in the light of their experience of Christians.

And yet at the same time

before his boss became his boss,

he had been given great responsibility in his work.

He has oversight of a number of people.

He told me about two women in particular

that were causing grief and dysfunction in the office.

They literally hated one another.

He picked his moment.

He'd been praying about it.

He went to one of the women

and he said,

I want to ask you to do something

that I think you'll find very difficult.

You aren't too busy at present.

That woman over there,

she's quite overloaded.

Not now, but later when I'm not looking.

Would you go to her

and ask her

if there's anything that you can do

to help her and ease her load?

Short story.

Later on, he saw from a distance

her do what he'd asked

to go to that woman.

They shared the work.

A friendship has grown to the point now

where they meet each other for coffee and for lunch.

Our brother exercised a reconciling influence for good in his workplace.

And he wasn't trying to blow his own trumpet.

But for him,

that was a moment of deep satisfaction

in an otherwise difficult job.

And I think it's all there

in that story in his workplace,

in his experience.

Work is toilsome.

It is burdensome.

It gets distorted.

He works hard against trying to make it into an idol.

And yet there are moments of triumph

and joy

and satisfaction

which are the consequence

of the profound influence of Jesus Christ.

The writer of Ecclesiastes was correct

when he said in chapter 5, verse 18,

I realised that it is good and proper

for a man to eat and drink

and to find satisfaction

in his toilsome labour

under the sun

during the few days of life

that God's given him

because that's his lot.

And moreover,

when God gives any man wealth and possessions

and enables him to enjoy them,

to accept his lot

and be happy in his work,

this is a gift of God.

He seldom reflects on the days of his life

because God keeps him occupied

with gladness of heart.

Now the last few weeks

while we've been preaching this series,

we've seen a number of things

about work.

We have seen that work has dignity

because it is part of God's creative purposes for us.

We've seen that work is different from employment.

It may include employment

but it certainly includes the work of life

such as raising families,

nurturing grandchildren,

serving our community.

It's vocational

and when we use the word vocational,

we've been saying

we are called to work by someone

or for someone.

So work is not about us

and a means to our own ends.

For a believer,

work is service of God

and also service of the person

who calls us to work for them.

We've also seen that work has become toilsome

as a direct result of God's judgment

in Genesis 3.

We've seen that it is easily distorted

when we make an idol of it.

The things that we idolise

can be good of themselves.

We're not saying that wealth is wrong

or children are wrong

or esteem is wrong

or opportunity is wrong.

But we're saying that these things become idols

when we allow them

to displace Jesus Christ as Lord in our life

when they become the ultimate purpose of our work.

And so work in a fallen world

can look pretty hopeless

and what I want to do today

is preach about finding contentment in our work.

How can we experience work as God's good gift?

How do we cope with the difficulty

and the toilsome nature of work?

How do we work without distorting it

into an idol that we give our life to?

Tim Keller's book,

which is Every Good Endeavour.

We've got a couple more copies there in the foyer.

They've been disappearing off the resource stand.

There's two there if you want to get one.

I want to follow his book this morning

in two directions in particular.

I want to look at the world

with a gospel set of glasses.

And secondly,

I want us to see the world

as a place where God continually

impacts the lives of everyone

whether they are a believer or an unbeliever.

Whether we recognise it or not,

everybody has a world view,

a lens through which we look at the world

and make sense of what is happening around us.

And most of us are full of logical inconsistencies.

So the scientific naturalist

who views the world as a mechanism

and sees people as animals,

they will argue for

and they will marvel at concepts

like the survival of the fittest

and natural selection

where the strong do away with the weak.

and then they will be aggrieved

when somebody murders the professor

in their faculty

or their wife or their child.

They will be outraged

that someone of high value to them

is done away with

by someone of lower value

in terms of their own ethical framework.

their value system

is in conflict

with their mechanistic understanding of life.

And their value system

just does not add up.

You see,

if there's no moral

ultimate accountability

then why wouldn't I sleep with your wife,

murder you,

take your estate,

I'd just be,

I'd need to be stronger of course,

but I'd just be asserting myself

as stronger

and fitter than you

and there would be no moral consequences

to my action.

But the Bible

has an entirely different lens

through which we view life.

So when King David

slept with Uriah's wife,

murdered Uriah,

then took Bathsheba

to be his own wife,

he soon discovered

that the God of his forefathers

was displeased

with what he had done

and God brought justice

and accountability

to bear on David.

So I want to say

that the Bible presents

a very coherent world view.

It's built around the reality

that there is a creator

God of the universe.

Jesus is Lord of the universe.

Colossians chapter 1 says

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

that all things were created

by him and for him.

So even today,

this morning in Sydney,

Jesus continues his work

intervening in his creation

as he sees fit.

And that truth

echoes to the very core

of our being

whether we believe

in God or not.

Psalm 19,

where Sam was

a little while ago

with the kids,

declared,

Psalm 19 says,

the heavens declare

the glory of God,

the skies proclaim

the work of his hands.

This stupendously intricate

and marvellous universe

points to something

even more glorious

beyond it,

its creator

who spoke it

into being

in the first place.

Romans holds

everyone culpable

for what we do know

about God.

Not what we don't know

about God,

but what we do know

about God.

So verse 18 says,

the wrath of God

is being revealed

from heaven

against all the godlessness

and wickedness

of men

who suppress the truth

by their wickedness.

Since what may be known

about God

is plain to them

because God has made it

plain to them.

For since the creation

of the world,

God's invisible qualities,

his eternal power,

his divine nature,

have been clearly seen,

being understood

from what has been made

so that people

are without excuse.

You get a great example

of this when you look

at Isaiah 10.

The Assyrian emperor

thinks that he is

king of the world

and from the world's

point of view he is.

He is the unchallenged

superpower of the world

2,500 years ago.

He doesn't believe in God.

He helps himself

to one country

after another.

He conquers all before him.

And he's a haughty

boaster about his work.

So verses 13, 14.

By the strength

of my hand

I've done this.

By my wisdom

because I have understanding

I removed the boundaries

of nations.

I plundered their treasures.

Like a mighty one

I subdued their kings.

As one reaches

into a nest

so my hand reached

for the wealth

of the nations.

As men gather

abandoned eggs

so I gathered

all the countries

not one flapped a wing

or opened its mouth

to church.

Isn't he the greatest?

He thinks so.

So for the king

it's all about him

his desires

his achievements

he does a big work

as a king

and his world view

does not include

God at all

he doesn't believe

in him.

And the problem

for him

and for you

and for me

is a very

inconvenient truth

that just because

you don't believe

in God

doesn't mean

he tucks his tail

between his legs

and goes away

rejected and shamefaced.

And in Isaiah 10

God answers

the king of Assyria's

boast

and he says

woe to him

I send him

I dispatch him

I have purposes

for him

Verse 15

does the axe

raise itself

above him

who swings it

He might be

the greatest king

with the most

modern army

but he does not

operate outside

of God's purposes

for his creation

the king of Assyria

is a tool

in God's hands

and he had better

recognise it.

And so a Bible

worldview

is that it doesn't

matter how big

or important

you are in your

life's work

or your field

of endeavour

we are accountable

to God

and our work

our achievements

only occur

with God's

permission

and for his

pleasure.

A gospel

worldview

also recognises

the lordship

of Jesus Christ

The apostle

puts it very

succinctly

in 1 Corinthians

15

By this gospel

you are saved

if you hold

firmly to the

word I preach

to you

otherwise

you have

believed in

vain

For what I

received I

passed on to

you as of

first importance

that Christ

died for our

sins according

to the

scriptures

that he was

buried

that he was

raised on the

third day

according to

the scriptures

and that he

appeared to

Peter and

then to the

twelve and

on and on

it goes

so it's a

word which is

preached

we participate

in this

preached word

through belief

it's received

and then we

are able to

pass it on

so Christ

died according

to the

scriptures

he was

buried

he was

raised on

the third

day according

to the

scriptures

and then he

appeared to

witnesses

including me

and we've got

this great

picture of God

taking the

initiative

we're spectators

to what God

has done

we participate

by belief

and then becoming

part of the

process of

transmission

passing it

on

but when we

believe the

gospel

we take on

this new set

of glasses

for viewing

the world

for looking

at God's

world

we begin

to see the

world through

God's eyes

and we see

our place

in his

purposes

so Philippians

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

therefore God

God exalted

Jesus to the

highest place

and gave him

the name that

is above every

name that at

the name of

Jesus every

knee should

bow in

heaven and

on earth and

under the

earth and

every tongue

confess that

Jesus Christ

is Lord to

the glory of

God the

Father

we come to

understand that

the risen Lord

Jesus Christ

the risen Jesus

Christ is Lord

of the universe

and everybody

is ultimately

accountable to

him and it

matters it

does matter how

we live and

how we go about

our life's work

Jesus spoke to

believers his

disciples in the

sermon on the

mount he said

you are the salt

of the earth you

are the light of

the world in my

community group

the other night

one of the group

members described

standing with

dignity and

saying nothing

when they were

ridiculed by a

co-worker in

front of others

in the middle of

their workplace

for what they

believed just

stood there and

took it

another person

spoke about how

God began to

trust them with

very personal

confidences because

of the way that

they went about

their work and

you've got this

picture you've got

toil you've got

toil trouble

distortion and

you've also got

these glorious

moments as well

it's not helpful

to draw lines

between word and

deed living under

the lordship of

Christ will be

noticed people

will notice when

we live lives

accountable to

Christ people

will see us

refuse to take

ethical shortcuts

they observe how

we speak about

other people

they watch how

we work under

pressure they

see what we do

when we make

mistakes they're

affected when they

see us take

responsibility for

things that we

do wrong people

watch and they

test to see if

our actions are

consistent with

our words and

that will often

lead to opportunities

to speak about

our faith and

your work

environment might

be very tough

for you at

present sleepless

looking after sick

children pressured

unfairly in your

workplace crushed

by people's

expectations of

your performance

or perhaps a

real mistake by

you has led to

very significant

consequences

gospel glasses

help us to see

the lordship of

Christ transcending

every place of

work or profession

to see our

accountability to

him to hold on to

his promises of

providential care for

us to understand

that we live and

breathe under his

undeserved grace

Timothy Keller gives

an example in his

book of a gospel

glasses change he

says this is a quote

in higher education in

the United States

today is the

modern idea of

meritocracy and

the belief that

those who get into

the best universities

deserve to be there

because they are the

best and the

brightest and I

suspect that that

sort of thinking

resonates up and

down the north shore

of Sydney we don't

like acknowledging

wealth and

privilege we think

in terms of what

we deserve we rate

ourselves or our

children or our

grandchildren in

accordance with

UAIs even if we

have paid tens of

thousands of dollars

on schooling and

coaching for the

result that we

want

and Keller

contrasts that with

the thinking of the

Protestant forefathers

who established the

leading universities in

the United States the

Ivy League universities

he says the founders of

those universities were

strident Protestants

who believed that the

mark of salvation was

not high self-esteem

but humbling awareness of

one's lowliness in the

eyes of God

and those whom God

favours are granted

grace not for any

worthiness of their own

but because of God's

unmerited mercy

our profession of faith

is Jesus Christ is

Lord

and it must be

accompanied by a

humility of heart in

the lives of his

people

humble

authenticity

is a very

high value

for us

at St.

Paul's

because it is an

absolutely

necessary response

to the lordship

of the risen

Lord Jesus Christ

but it's a confusing

world isn't it

not everyone

acknowledges the true

ultimate reality

which is the

lordship of Christ

the world's not

short of unbelievers

believers and

unbelievers both

experience the common

grace of Christ

rain falls on the

farms of both

believers and

unbelievers

when I lived in

Weewa trouble

didn't discriminate

either

floods went

through the farms

of believers

and unbelievers

it didn't sort of

think oh hang on

he's been in church

and he's really

active

we'll go that way

went straight

through

and insects

don't stay on one

property they cross

the fence to the

neighbour as well

they don't have this

special sign saying

protected by God

farming is hard

work

for some it

becomes an idol

and then sometimes

there are the most

enjoyable moments

when rain falls at

just the right time

you get a rest from

irrigation

you get extra

yield in your crop

it's good to live

out in the bush

you see it

believers and

unbelievers live

under the common

grace of God

in a fallen

world

and the impacts

can look really

confusing

an unbelieving

mother can be

a deeply

loving and

capable

carer

of her

children

a believing

mother can get

postnatal depression

and be quite

neglectful

an unbelieving

scientist can use

his God

given ability

and unravel

the marvels

of DNA

the man

or the woman

who serves you

in the coffee

shop may be

living a

notoriously

immoral

life

and they

may make

the best

coffee

you get

anywhere

and in

your

workplace

you do

your work

to the best

of your

ability

and it's

just the

truth that

many of

the unbelievers

around you

are more

capable

than you

are

one of

my

relatives

who wasn't

expressing

faith in

Christ

was much

quicker

at turning

the television

off than

me

when something

inappropriate

was showing

you see

unbelievers

can do

good things

they can

be considerate

they can

be loving

they can

be selfless

they can

make

brilliant

discoveries

they can

be blown

away by

a majestic

sunrise

they can

marvel at

the photographs

of the

universe

that the

Hubble

telescope

beams

back

they can

be generous

in helping

a neighbour

with cancer

they can

mind

their children

they can

make them

a meal

they can

treat you

with complete

integrity

when they

ask you

out on

a date

they can

excel

at HSC

and

university

exams

they can

be good

carpenters

and electricians

and childcare

workers

who wouldn't

even think

to molest

a child

you see

you can

be all

those

good

things

you can

love

and serve

other people

without

confessing

Jesus

Christ

as

Lord

and it's

confusing

when I

was at

Moore

College

I did

a hospital

orientation

course

at

Royal

Prince

Alfred

Hospital

for a

week

and one

afternoon

we as a

group

were

introduced

to a

lovely

man

in his

70s

a

professor

of

psychiatry

an

active

salvation

army

officer

a

very

firm

Christian

and so

it was

great

to ask

him

one

of my

many

questions

and in

particular

if you

need

psychiatric

help

do you

look for

a

Christian

one

and he

instantly

replied

you

look for

a

good

one

you

need

a

good

one

you

see

believers

do not

have a

monopoly

on

truth

God

has

given

us

gospel

glasses

which

help

us

to

make

sense

of

God's

creation

when

unbelievers

discover

anything

which is

true

about

this

world

they

are

discovering

God's

truth

truth

they

are

unravelling

a little

bit more

of his

mind

and the

intricacies

of our

maker

they're not

giving him

the glory

but they

are

discovering

truth

and friends

I think

that leads

us to a

few

places

we

should be

especially

guarded

against

our

own

arrogance

to

presume

that

Christians

know

more

or

better

about

a

field

of

endeavour

is

arrogant

and

foolish

gospel

glasses

help us

to see

the gifts

and insights

that God

has given

even

to

unbelievers

and to

learn

from

them

we

should

be

quick

to

express

gratitude

when

gratitude

is

deserved

the

man

who

serves

you

at

Bunnings

and

goes

out

of

his

way

to

show

you

another

way

to

do

the

job

he

is

worthy

of

our

thanks

our

cleaners

at

church

aren't

just

the

paid

help

they

work

hard

to

clean

up

after

our

mess

be

grateful

thank

God

that he

allows

men

and

women

to

serve

one

another

with

their

talents

and their

gifts

and

service

which

ultimately

come

from

his

hand

I

listen

to

Catherine

some

of

you

won't

even

know

what

I'm

talking

about

I'll

just

try

I

listen

to

Catherine

Jenkins

sing

with

the

Mormon

Tabernacle

Choir

on the

internet

as I

prepared

this

message

somebody

sent

me

the

link

and

you

know

my

first

question

is

I'm

not

sure

I want

to

listen

to

that

I

don't

like

what

they

teach

about

Christ

but

as I

listen

to

the

music

I

have

it

is

stunningly

beautiful

believers

and

unbelievers

live in

God's

world

under

his

ordinary

providential

care

for

believers

and

unbelievers

our

work

is

toilsome

distorted

and

occasionally

a joy

that

brings

wonderful

contentment

and

when

it

does

it

is

God's

gift

we

differ

in

our

acknowledgement

of

God

believers

humbly

confess

Jesus

Christ

as

Lord

Ecclesiastes

5

again

when

God

gives

any

person

wealth

and

possessions

and

enables

him

to

enjoy

them

to

accept

his

lot

and

to

be

happy

in

his

work

this

is

a

gift

of

God

he

seldom

reflects

on

the

days

of

his

life

because

God

keeps

him

occupied

with

gladness

of

heart

see

believers

hold

what we

have

from

God's

hand

with

gratitude

and

contentment

and hope

grateful

to him

for what

he has

given

us

to do

gratitude

but

also

grateful

to

God

for

the

people

around

us

believers

and

unbelievers

who

use

their

God

given

gifts

and

talents

to

serve

us

so

live

like

that

with

gratitude

gratitude

I

actually

think

if we

if we

live

like that

with

gratitude

to

those

around

us

that

we

will

have

many

opportunities

to

speak

and

declare

the

hope

that

we

have

in

our

wonderful

risen

Lord

Jesus

Christ

so

I want

to say

this

morning

go

from

here

full

of

humble

authenticity

full

of

gratitude

to

God

for

the

work

that

he

has

given

us

and

make

it a

mark

of

this

week

to

be

grateful

to

God

for

those

who

serve

you

and

make

sure

that

you

express

gratitude

to

them

as

well

Amen