God At Work, Part 2

Recently, I came across a song.

It's actually, I've heard this song many times.

You may have heard this song too.

It gets at something.

The title of the song is called

Stressed Out by 21 Pilots.

I was told when I get older,

all my fears would shrink.

But now I'm insecure and I care what people think.

My name's Blurryface.

It's an identity claim.

And I care what you think.

My name's Blurryface and I care what you think.

Wish we could turn back time to the good old days

when our mama sang us to sleep,

but now we're stressed out.

Wish we could turn back time to the good old days

when our mama sang us to sleep,

but now we're stressed out.

We're all stressed out.

You know what it means to be stressed out.

Maybe you're a student.

You know what it means to be stressed out.

Maybe you're a teacher of students.

You know what it means to be stressed out.

Maybe you're a manager of some kind of

manufacturing enterprise in town.

You know what it means to be stressed out.

Maybe you're working the line at that manufacturing establishment.

You know what it means to be stressed out.

Maybe you're a doctor or a nurse,

or maybe you have a responsibility at Kenosha Medical Center

to do some kind of housekeeping.

You know what it means to be stressed out at work.

There's something in our hearts that can identify with a song.

We wish we could turn back time to the good old days in the garden.

When not our mama sang us to sleep,

but our God sang us to sleep.

But now we're stressed out.

We used to dream of outer space,

but now they're laughing at our face saying,

wake up, you need to make money.

We've got a problem with our work, brothers and sisters.

Last week I started telling you that

we have essentially cut God out of our vocations,

and what we need to do is we need to reintegrate God

into everything that we do.

Whether that's school,

or whether that's where you put your time and you get paid for,

or where you volunteer,

your mom, your dad, your husband, your wife,

your sibling, your son or a daughter,

everything that we've been called to,

whether that's in a workplace,

in a home, in our church,

in our community,

we need to reintegrate God

back into all that we do.

Last week I pointed you to two things

from Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

That God,

at work in his creation making,

was sovereign, all-powerful.

He would say,

let it be,

and then it was so,

and then six times.

Do you remember?

Oh, this is good.

Oh, that's good.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Very good.

I edged my lawn on Monday,

and I said,

that's good.

And it's out of that goodness,

God's desire to bless the inhabitants of the earth,

it's out of that goodness on day six,

God,

in his creation making,

gives the creation mandate

to image bearers,

and we alone,

of all of God's creation,

are image bearers.

We bear God's likeness.

We are his representatives

on earth

to carry out his work of blessing,

and we are to be fruitful,

multiply,

fill the earth,

put the kibosh on it,

subdue it for his purposes,

and then have dominion over it,

manage it to that end.

Amen.

But now we're stressed out.

What happened?

What happened?

What happened to work?

Well, this morning,

we're going to learn what's gone wrong with work.

Have you ever asked the question,

why is it that I put so much time

into this one thing,

and this one thing lasts for a moment,

and then I'm back to the grind?

Anybody experience anything like that before?

I see that hand.

This morning,

in order to see what went wrong with work,

we're going to go back to the garden,

the Garden of Eden,

in Genesis 2 and 3.

In order for you to reintegrate God

back into our entire lives,

including our work,

we got to first see how God got dissed,

disintegrated from our lives and our work.

So this morning,

I'm going to very simply point you to two things.

God is the giver of all good work.

We're going to see that in Genesis 2.

I mean, it's he that said on the sixth day,

oh, this is very good,

of our work.

And then the second point I want you to see

is that sin has corrupted the goodness of our work

because sin has corrupted the core of who we are.

That's Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

We go from the garden pristine

to the garden as a crime scene.

In order to understand the problem,

and understand the solution,

you got to first understand the problem.

So would you turn in your Bibles

to Genesis chapter 2

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

if you're not there already?

I'm going to move us quickly through it,

make a point,

and then jump to Genesis 3.

God is the giver of all good work.

As you're turning in your Bible

to Genesis chapter 2,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

I just want to help you think

about Genesis 2

in relationship to Genesis 1.

Genesis 1 is a panorama

of God's creation making.

It is laid out in seven days,

and that seventh day

shows up in the first three verses

of chapter 2.

And what it is,

it's a big sweep of God's creation making,

His good work in creation.

And so what Genesis chapter 2 is,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

is Moses coming in for a close-up

on day 6.

He slows it down

so that we can actually see

God at work creating man and woman

in the garden at peace

with each other and with God.

In verse 4, we read,

these are the generations

of heaven and earth.

And what you need to know

about these,

the generations,

these are the generations

of the heavens and the earth

when they were made,

that little phrase,

these are the generations,

that's repeated throughout

the book of Genesis.

Genesis.

And what it is,

is a way of structuring the book

in order for us to understand

this outworking of God's blessing

to all people

from one generation to the next.

And it's going to culminate

in an offspring of Eve

in whom all the nations of the world

will be blessed.

And you already know His name.

His name is Jesus.

In verses 5 through 9,

what we see going on there

is God busy at work.

In verse 5,

there is no one to work the ground.

Now, for an astute Bible student,

what you find yourself asking

are questions like this.

Is this the first time

that the word work

showed up in my Bible?

Because that would be

really interesting.

It turns out it's not.

The first time the word work

shows up in your Bible

is at the beginning of Genesis 2

in verse 2.

When God takes a break

from His work.

God is a working God.

And so the connection

that's being made here

is that God is a working God

in creation.

And on day 6,

He's looking to bless the world

through His creation.

And now He's looking for

someone in His image

to do the work for Him.

To represent Him.

So we got a need.

He's got a need of a worker.

Help wanted.

And in verse 7,

God forms man from the dust,

breathing life into Him.

And He becomes a living creature.

That's why we can call

each other creatures.

We're all creatures.

God is the creator

and we're distinct from Him

in that we've been made.

Creatures.

He gives us

our very breath.

Verse 8,

After creating the man,

the Lord God

plants a garden

in Eden

and it's in the east.

Now if you're wondering

what is that a reference to,

remember that

the first five books

of the Bible,

the Pentateuch,

were given to a people,

God's people,

the Jews,

who were in Canaan

at the time.

And so the east

is a reference

of being east of Canaan.

But what you need to notice

is He put the man

in the garden

and one would think

that God would make

the garden first

and then put the man

in the garden,

but God makes the gardener first

and after that

makes the garden

and puts him in it.

Why would He do that?

Because God built

the garden around them.

He's like a tailor.

He tailored the goodness

of the garden

for Adam,

for Eve,

and for him.

Because this was going to be

the dwelling place

of God with His people.

Verse 9,

Out of the ground,

the Lord God

causes all these trees

to spring up.

And if you read it carefully,

you read that they were

pleasant to the eyes

and they were full of fruit.

And so they're beautiful

and bountiful.

It was a picture

of delightful abundance.

And what you notice too

in verse 9

is that there are

two particular trees

that God plants

in the middle of the garden,

right in the middle

of it all.

The first is the tree of life

and we learn from later

in Genesis 3, 22

that by eating of this fruit,

one lives forever.

God provides eternal life

through this tree.

This same tree

shows up in Revelation 22

in the New Jerusalem,

bearing fruit every month

for all the inhabitants

of the New Jerusalem,

all of the redeemed

to partake of

and live forever

in God's presence,

in His place,

with His people.

But there's another tree,

the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil.

And God intentionally plants

both trees next to each other.

And for our purposes right now,

the way to think

of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil

is think about it

as representative of God's law.

law.

There is going to be

a prohibition

to this eating

of this tree.

And so right next

to each other

in the middle

of the garden

is God's,

the source of life

and law

for Adam and Eve

in God's presence.

It's all by design.

In verses 10 through 14,

we learn more

very interesting details

of features of the garden.

It's got all these rivers

going through it.

It's well watered.

There's all this gold in it,

precious gems.

If you were looking

for a place to live,

you'd be like,

I'm moving to Eden.

But do you realize

that all these features,

water,

a river,

gold,

precious jewels.

Do you know

where else those show up?

The new Jerusalem.

In addition to the tree of life,

in addition to the throne

in the new Jerusalem

represents God's reign

and law.

There is rivers,

there is gold,

there is precious stones.

And once you realize

that this garden,

this place

that God is creating

around Adam,

it's a place

in which he will dwell

with Adam and Eve.

Now you've probably

got a clock going on

in your mind right now

and you're like,

Mike,

I thought this was going

to be a sermon on work.

And in verse 15,

Moses picks up

where he left off

in verse 8,

the Lord God

takes the man

and puts him

in this amazing place

of this garden

to work it

and to keep it.

To till the soil

and to guard the garden.

This was a gardener

slash guard

of the garden.

What you need to see here

is from the very beginning,

work is not a result

of the fall.

Work is a good gift

given by God

before the fall.

It is a holy occupation.

And not only that,

the law was given

before the fall as well.

God commands

in verses 16 and 17

that the man

not eat

of that second tree,

the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil.

And John Stott

very helpfully

points out three things

in verses 16 and 17 and 18.

God gave Adam permission

to eat of every tree

in the garden,

including the tree of life.

And in verse 17,

God puts a prohibition

on eating of the tree

of the knowledge

of good and evil.

It's the only prohibition

in the garden.

And what God

is prohibiting right there

and what this tree,

you've got to think of,

representing is

moral independence

from God.

Moral autonomy.

What this tree represents

and the command

not to eat from it

is don't disregard

my commands, Adam.

Don't decide

for yourself

what is good

and right

in your eyes.

It represents law.

And not only

is there a prohibition,

there's a penalty.

In the day that you

should have eaten of it,

you shall surely die.

And so as we're walking

out of this paradise

right now,

what you need to realize,

it's amazing place.

There's work to be done

and God's law

is there too.

We are to live,

Adam and Eve,

we're to live

under God's reign

in the garden.

Freedom is not

an absence

of restraints

or limits,

but the very presence

of them.

God isn't done

creating.

There's one more piece

of creative work

he wants to do

in 18 through 25.

He creates

a helper fit

for the man

and after creating

this woman,

he gives her

to the man.

In verses 22

through 25,

it's the first wedding

ever recorded

and God gives

the bride away.

And so what we see

happening is

Eve joined Adam

in the garden

to fulfill

the creation mandate

of being fruitful,

multiplying,

filling,

subduing,

having dominion

over to bless

all the inhabitants

of the earth.

So here's the point.

The Lord is the giver

of all good things

and he's the giver

of work.

Work was originally

good.

And so if you're like,

if you want to throw

work under the bus,

don't.

Work was good

originally.

It was an experience

of minimum effort

for maximum result.

There was no toil,

no resistance,

no sweat,

no hardship,

no drama.

It was complete

and utter goodness

on multiple levels

that was uninterrupted,

no problems.

this is what was

originally meant

for us to experience

in God's presence

and in his place

with his people

full and uninterrupted

peace with God

and others

in our work.

And so if you're a student

and you're going to

Eden High School

before the fall,

you would love school.

and it would come

to you

without toil.

If you were a nurse

or a doctor

serving at Eden

Medical Center,

you'd come home

and your feet

would not hurt

and your spouse

would say,

hey, how you doing today?

And you'd say,

I'm great.

I'm ready to put

another eight hours in.

Nothing but peace

in families,

nothing but peace

in churches,

nothing but peace

in nations

before the fall.

So what happened?

Because certainly

that's not our experience now.

In fact,

I'm guessing that

some of you in this room

have this deep longing.

You long like

something like this.

Oh man,

I just,

can't I just have like

three hours of

extended goodness

and peace

in my life?

Why is this so hard?

Why is fulfilling

my responsibilities

so hard?

And that's where

we turn

to point two.

Sin has corrupted

the goodness

of our work

because sin

has corrupted

the core

of who we are.

If Genesis 2

is the garden

pristine,

Genesis 3

is the garden

as a crime scene.

Here we have

CSI,

Eden.

Crime scene

investigation,

there's a crime,

there's a trial,

there's a sentence,

and there's a judgment.

In chapter 3,

verses 1 through 7,

the crime.

The serpent

comes on the scene

and he appeals

to Eve,

the woman,

and questions

God's very words.

Did God actually say

you should not eat

of any tree

of the garden?

And we all know

that God actually

permitted Adam

to eat of every tree

in the garden

but one.

But in verse 3

of chapter 3,

the woman who seeks

to correct the serpent,

she starts to

kind of reveal

that she might not

have this firm grip

on what God

has actually said

because she starts

to add to what God

says.

In addition to

not eating of it,

she says,

and we may not

touch of it,

God didn't say that.

And then she also

adds,

lest you die,

which is a softening

of on that day

you will surely die.

So it doesn't seem

like she has a firm grip

on what God

has actually said.

And the serpent

jumps on it.

In verse 4,

he blatantly

denies

what God

has said.

You will not

surely die.

It's a complete lie.

And furthermore,

the serpent

goes on

to start

to question

God's goodness.

If you look

at verse 4,

we read this.

verse 5,

but the serpent

said to the woman,

you shall not

surely die.

Verse 5,

for God knows

that when you

eat of it,

your eyes will be

opened and you'll

be like God,

knowing good and evil.

The serpent

very craftily

is saying,

hey,

God's withholding

something good

from you.

There's an area

of being like him

that he's not

allowing you

to be like.

But we already

know that Adam

and Eve

were created

as image bearers

in the likeness

of God.

They're not

missing anything.

What the serpent

is tempting

Eve to do

is to decide

for herself

what was good

and right

in her eyes

regarding this tree

that was forbidden.

We see what's

going on.

We see where

this is going.

And I don't know

about you,

but I start thinking,

man,

only if there was

a preacher

right there.

Someone to say,

Eve,

he's misleading you.

Don't do it.

Someone who is

guarding the garden

at this point.

Only if someone

was there.

Verse 6,

the woman decides

to take and eat

of the forbidden fruit,

explicitly forbidden

by God,

and she also then

gives to her husband

who was with her.

Someone was there

tasked with

guarding the garden.

And he failed.

He takes the fruit,

no questions,

no challenge,

and there is the crime

that changed

the course

of human history.

Eve sinned,

deciding for herself

what was good

and right

in her own eyes.

Adam sinned,

doing nothing,

abdicating his role

as the keeper

of the garden

and the protector

of his wife.

Verse 7,

both of their eyes

were open,

but their eyes

were not open

to the wisdom of God.

Their eyes were open

to their own

nakedness.

shame.

It's a way

of describing shame.

We all know shame.

Ed Welch,

in his book

Shame Interrupted,

defines it this way,

shame is the deep sense

that you are unacceptable

because of something

you did,

something done to you,

or something

associated with you,

you feel exposed

and humiliated,

end quote.

Everyone in this room

knows shame firsthand.

Varying degrees,

but we all know it.

We know exactly

what Adam and Eve

were experiencing

at this moment.

Their sense of nakedness

was their sense of shame

of having disobeyed

God's command.

They knew it,

and they knew

that there was

consequences to come.

And so at this point,

in the garden,

shame enters

the human experience.

You could trace

your shame

all the way back

to the garden.

And look what they do.

They make loincloths

for themselves

out of fig trees,

fig leaves.

They are self-atoning.

They are covering

their own shame

with their own efforts.

Many people today

try to cover their shame

against God,

with God,

by trying to

impress people

with their accomplishments.

It's a way

of trying to

cover your shame.

Just one of many ways.

And ever since,

men and women,

boys and girls,

have been trying

to self-atone

for their shame.

Let's turn this

to the workplace.

Have you ever thought

about your workplace

as a gathering point

of image bearers

who are ashamed

and trying

to self-atone?

You yourself

know shame.

You yourself

know what it means

to try to cover

your shame.

This is the crime

that changed

everything for us.

God comes to the garden

and it's a trial.

God comes into the garden

and he knows full well

what has already happened

and he's coming

to give Adam and Eve

an opportunity

to humble themselves

and repent.

What you just need

to notice in verse 8

is God,

knowing everything

that happens,

moves towards Adam and Eve

in their disobedience.

He moves towards them.

And what do Adam and Eve do?

They move away from God

and they hide

in their shame

behind the trees

in the garden.

The very trees

that God had planted

to provide for Adam and Eve,

they are now trying

to find cover

from God's eyes.

But God sees them anyway.

Shame for our disobedience

against God

leads us

to attempt

to hide

from God

in His creation.

And do you know

where today's people

go and hide?

We're more sophisticated

than Adam and Eve.

We're not trying

to hide

behind trees.

Where we try

to hide

from God's sight

is in the very vocations

He has called us

to bless others.

We hide in our work.

We hide in our busyness

hoping that God

will not see us

trying to push

down the shame

and keep God's eyes,

holy eyes,

off us.

People covering themselves

with their own accomplishments,

trying to hide

in their various

fair arms of work.

You know why

we're all stressed out?

Because we're hiding

from God.

This trial

consists of

four gracious questions.

Each one

is aimed at Adam.

There's three to Adam

and one at Eve

and they're all designed

to elicit

a humble

repentant response.

God is trying

to help

Adam and Eve here.

Question one,

verse nine,

where are you?

Where are you, Adam?

God knows where he is.

God knows exactly

where Adam is.

So think about

this question,

where are you?

As a,

come to me, Adam.

I'm here, Adam.

Come to me.

Come out of hiding, Adam.

Come and talk to me.

What a gracious,

wonderful God this is.

Inviting this sinner

to come to him,

to be honest with him,

to come out of hiding.

And if you're in the room

and you have realized

I am hiding

from the living God,

you also need

to understand

that today

he calls you

to come to him.

Where are you?

Come to me.

Let's talk.

Verse 10,

Adam admits

that he was hiding,

hiding from God,

aware of his nakedness,

afraid.

It's the first time

in all of creation

that an image bearer

is afraid

of the living God.

Fearful of God's condemnation

for his disobedience.

And here is God saying,

come to me, Adam.

Let's talk.

Questions 2 and 3

are more questions

put to Adam.

The third question is,

hey, have you eaten

from the tree

that I have forbidden

you to eat from?

And in verse 12,

it is such a sad thing

to see,

but we all know it

so well.

In his shame,

in his pride,

Adam does not fully own

his own disobedience,

but tries to minimize

his disobedience

by casting blame

on Eve.

The woman

whom you gave

to be with me,

he's thrown God

under the bus.

She gave me fruit

and I ate.

She's responsible.

He's diminishing

his responsibility.

He's trying to skate around

what God and he

know already

to be true.

He's abdicating again.

Verse 13,

the Lord turns

to the woman.

Question 4,

what is this

that you have done?

And like her husband,

she blame shifts.

She points

to the serpent

who deceived her

and she ate.

She doesn't own

that she

has disregarded

God's command

and decided

for herself

what is good

and right

in her eyes

of the tree

of the knowledge

of good and evil.

She skates around it

by trying to point

at the serpent

and blames him.

In this trial,

we see God

patiently,

graciously

drawing out

Adam and Eve

so that they would

humbly confess

their sin,

but they choose

in their pride

to blame

one another

and to try

to get out

of full responsibility

for their sin

before God.

The blame game.

Has anybody

experienced

at work,

in your home,

in church,

or somewhere

in our community,

blame shifting?

Oh yeah.

We all know it.

Blame shifting.

It flows out

of this corruption

of heart

that took place.

This shame

and pride

now tries

to redirect,

misdirect,

so we don't have

to bear

the full responsibility

of our actions.

Eve's sin

in the garden,

millennia ago,

Adam and Eve's sin

reaches

reaches into

the 21st century

in our shame,

in our pride,

in our blame shifting,

in our work,

in our homes,

in our church,

and around

the community.

Verses 14

through 21,

the sentencing.

Trials over,

questions made,

Adam and Eve,

having fully owned up.

Verses 14

through 21,

sentencing.

Curse.

If blessing

is the experience

of God's

full goodness

and interrupted

peace,

peace with God,

peace with creation

in your vocation,

peace with one another,

peace with yourself,

fullness of that

every day,

every minute,

if that is blessing,

curse is the withdrawal

of God's blessing

and the introduction

of hardship

and hostility.

Never meant to be.

Not part of God's

original design.

And in this sentencing,

we see God curse,

withdraw his blessing,

first on the serpent.

He's to crawl

on his belly.

He is to be cursed

above all

the beasts

of the field

and of the livestock.

Above all,

he is cursed

to be under them all

in the dust.

And not only that,

verse 15,

God will put enmity,

hostility

between the serpent

and the woman

and their offspring

and will culminate

in one of the offspring

of Eve

crushing his head.

Here in the midst

of the curse

is a glorious promise.

There's going to come

one,

an offspring of Eve,

an offspring,

one person

who will crush

the head of the serpent

and he will reverse

the effects

of the curse.

God makes

a huge gospel promise

at this moment.

He's going to withdraw

what he withdrew

so that there's fullness

of blessing.

To the woman,

verse 16,

God doesn't use

the word curse,

but that's essentially

what God does.

He withdraws his blessing

from a woman's

unique calling

and role

in being fruitful

and multiplying

through childbearing.

Instead of bearing

image bearers

with ease,

now there's going

to be multiplied

pain.

You see that

in verse 16?

Pain.

This is a unique

calling women have

and blessing

is withdrawn.

God withdraws

his blessing

from a woman

in another way

and man.

A woman

was originally

called as her

husband's helpmate

and instead

of peace,

God pronounces

that his blessing

would be withdrawn

from her relationship

with her husband

and now there

will be struggle

from helpmate

to stalemate.

there will be

a battle

of wills

for control

of the marriage

relationship.

Hostility

now enters

into

the relationship

between a husband

and a wife

and we've been

experiencing it

ever since.

It's a distortion

of God's good design.

the sentence

on the woman

is the

withdrawing

of God's

blessing

on child

rearing

in a marriage

relationship

and now

we experience

as normal

what God

has withdrawn

as blessing.

That's normal

for us now.

It's not normal.

It's not

what God

intended.

this is a

consequence

of Adam

and Eve's

sin

and it's a

consequence

we live with.

Verses 17

through 19

God turns

to the man

and speaks

curse

to the man

because he

listened to

Eve

over

listening to

God

what God

commanded

he curses

the ground.

He withdraws

blessing

from the ground.

Where God

withdraws

blessing

from

the production

of Eve's

fertility

he withdraws

blessing

from

Eve's

production

from the

fertility

of the

ground.

And now

there's pain

toil

hardship

what is

normal

for us

now

was not

normal

in the

garden

before the

fall.

Thorns

and thistles

now there's

something

resisting

our work.

Has anybody

experienced this

before?

You're trying

to get work

done.

Your computer

does something

weird

and for

an hour

to two

hours

you're

just

trying

to

kind of

pull

the weeds

of this

computer

so that

you can

get back

to your

work.

Modern

day

thorns

and thistles

the earth

resists

us

now.

Have you

ever wondered

why

highly

productive

days

are so

rare?

It's

because of

this.

The curse

as a

consequence

for Adam

and Eve's

sin.

19

by the

sweat of

your brow

instead

of minimum

effort

for maximum

results

now it's

maximum

effort

for limited

results.

In this

sentencing

God withdraws

his blessing

from Adam

from the

earth.

Hardship

pain

hostility

struggle

are what

follows.

In verses

20 to 21

we see

hope.

Adam

names his

wife Eve

the mother

of all

living.

Even in

the midst

of all

this cursing

there's

still this

sense

of

life.

There's

still going

to be

multiplying.

There's

still going

to be

filling.

There's

still going

to be

subduing.

There's

still going

to be

having

dominion

but now

all of

it's

challenged.

All of

it is

resisted.

Sin

has

entered

the world.

Curse

has

come.

Now

things

are

hard.

In

verses

20

through

24

there's

the

judgment.

Genesis

3

closes

with

Adam

and

Eve

wearing

the

God

made

garments

that he

has

put on

them

of

animal

skins.

Another

mercy

of

God.

They

are

expelled

from

the

garden.

They're

driven

away

from

the

tree

of

life.

No

eating

of

that.

They

will

die.

And

instead

of

Adam

guarding

the

garden

God

has

replaced

him

with

an

angel

preventing

his

return.

So

here

we

have

image

bearers

who

have

been

cast

out

of

God's

presence

experiencing

shame

seeking

to hide

in

their

pride

blaming

one

another.

Pain

hardship

sweat

toil

difficulty

resistance

does that

sound

familiar?

that's

the

world

we

live

in.

CSI

Eden

crime

trial

sentence

judgment

it

all

points

to

that

sin

has

corrupted

all

of

our

humanity

including

the

goodness

of

work.

You

know

what I

love

about

my

Bible?

It's

realistic.

I'm

a

biblical

realist.

this

describes

what all

of us

experience

day in

and day

out.

Yes

God

has

withdrawn

his

blessing

from

our

vocations.

Yes

now

there

is

hardship

and

hostility

but

the

real

problem

is

a

God

problem.

When

we

cut

God

out

of

all

of

our

lives

including

our

vocations

because

of

our

sin

something

else

takes

his

place.

And

often

times

it's

our

very

work

that

he's

called

us

to do

to bless

others

as

his

representative.

I'm

wrapping

up.

Bear

with

me.

In

her

very

helpful

article

called

Human

Flourishing

Danielle

Saladay

points

to

three

mistakes

that

we

experience

because

God

is

removed

from

our

work.

We

are

left

with

a

self

centered

view

of

work.

We

think

that

work

is

for

me.

Work

is

about

me.

When

God

said

no,

work

is

about

you

representing

me,

God,

and doing

good

to

others.

So let

me

just

share

with

you

in

closing

what

these

three

mistakes

are,

and I'm

going to

point you

to the

one

who will

redeem us

from these

things.

That's

what we're

going to

focus on

next week.

Mistake

number

one,

because

we

remove

God

from

our

work,

we

wrongly

value

certain

types

of work

over

others.

we play

favorites

with our

work.

We

think

some

work

is

better

than

other

work.

If

you're

over

at

the

hospital,

you

could

make

the

mistake

that

doctors

are

more

important

than

the

housekeeping

staff.

Like

they're

more

valuable.

They're

more

worth

full.

That's

a result

of

sin.

Jesus

the

offspring

of

Eve

who

came

crushed

the

head

of

the

serpent

is

seeking

to

reverse

the

curse.

And so

instead of

valuing

certain

types

of

work

over

others,

we

value

all

work

in the

image

bearers

that

do

them.

Second

mistake.

This is

one that

many of

us will

be able

to relate

with.

we

place

our

identity

in

our

work.

You

cut

God

out

of

work

and

what

you're

going

to

try

to

do

is

find

your

identity

in

it.

You're

going

to

try

to

hide

in

your

work.

You're

going to

cover

yourself

with

your

work.

And

not

only

we

place

our

identity

in

our

work,

we

seek

justification

through

our

work.

Why

I