Work From the Soul

It is really good to be back. I took about four weeks off at the end of the summer because we had a baby and the church blessed me with some time just to go and be with my boys and our new little girl and to support Laura and to just kind of be around the house.

So it was almost four weeks of doing that and it was absolutely wonderful and a rich, rich blessing.

And as that sort of fourth week sort of drew near, I would be lying if I didn't say I was kind of itching to get back.

I was missing work quite a bit and so I'm really happy to be back.

But in that time away, it also struck me how odd it is to be in a place like D.C. around all the kinds of people that we interact with and not working.

At least not outside of the responsibilities around the house. That felt very odd and I realized how work-centric our culture is, especially here in D.C.

I meet very few people who say, you know, I moved to D.C. because I heard it's just a really great place to start a family.

You just don't hear that that often.

I mean, you hear, you know, what are you here? Why did you move to D.C.?

I mean, if you didn't grow up here, well, I moved for school or for an internship or I got a job here.

And you ask people, well, why are you staying in D.C.? You've been here a few years. Why?

Well, I have a great job. I love my job. That's why I'm here.

And then typically, you know, if people leave, it's because there's a job somewhere else, right?

So we're very work-centric in our culture.

And I began to wonder, how do people think about the relationship between the work that they spend probably the majority of their waking hours doing and their faith?

You know, for generations, the implicit message in the church was, it's great that you have a job.

It's great that you're doing all that.

But the way that connects to your faith is you just need to make money that you can then give to the church, right?

And so make money, give it to the church, and that's the faith-work connection.

I want to go deeper than that today because one of our values in this church is what we talk about being missionary faithfulness.

And that means that we want to live all of our lives in reference to the mission of God.

All spheres of life lived in reference to God and His mission in the world, which very much includes our work, what we do on a daily basis.

And so we're going to look at Colossians 3.

We're going to come back to the end of Colossians.

We did a series earlier in this year on Colossians.

We're going to kind of come back to it now.

And we're going to look at Colossians 3, verse 17, and then we'll jump down to verse 22, and we'll go all the way to chapter 4, verse 1.

Colossians 3:17

You just heard that read a moment ago.

But at this place in Paul's letter to the Colossians, he's laid out the gospel.

He's already made the point that Jesus has come, and through His death and resurrection, He's made forgiveness for sin possible.

And that means that people have been grafted into His great renewal project.

He's come to restore all of creation.

And Christians are swept up into that death and resurrection and renewal.

And so now we're at the part of the letter where he's essentially saying, so what?

What does that mean for Christians?

And this so what includes our work.

And the claim Paul is making is essentially that the gospel, even though it talks about future renewal,

it actually begins to change everything here and now.

The transformation that the gospel brings is something that we can experience here and now.

And that includes the transformation of our work.

So this passage shows us what becomes possible in your work and in my work when the gospel becomes central.

And three things become possible.

It becomes possible to serve God by our work.

So whatever you're doing, it becomes a way to serve God.

It becomes possible to be able to pour out our hearts into our work fully, to pour our hearts fully into our work.

And then lastly, it becomes possible to seek justice through our work.

So serve God by our work, pour out our hearts into our work, and then seek justice through our work.

And we're going to talk about each of those more and what they mean.

Let's pray as we get started.

Our Father, we thank you for the work of your hand.

We thank you that at creation you didn't create human beings to lounge around.

You didn't create human beings to meet your needs.

You don't have any needs.

But you created human beings and you blessed them with work.

And you gave them a job to do in your creation.

And all of the dignity and joy that comes with that.

And we thank you for the work of Jesus restoring our vocation.

Lord, help us to understand what it means to follow you in the specific ways that you wire us and gift us and equip us and call us.

For your glory and your son's name.

Amen.

Amen.

So through the gospel, it becomes possible for your day-to-day work to become a means by which you serve God directly.

That's the first thing I want to focus on.

But before we really get into that, we've got to address a kind of elephant in the room.

And that is, if you look at this, if we can skip down to verse 22, the ESV says,

Now, I like the ESV. It's a little nuanced. It says bond servants.

But let's just be honest about this.

What's it talking about?

Slaves.

Yeah.

Slaves obey in everything those who are your earthly masters.

Now, if you read this, it should strike you.

You should be taken aback by that.

Maybe even offended by it.

How in the world can Paul, in good conscience, say,

Jesus came, the gospel is true, therefore slaves, obey your masters.

That doesn't make any sense.

Didn't Jesus talk about liberation for the captives, right?

Loosing the bonds of the oppressed.

How in the world can Paul say this in good conscience?

Why weren't early Christians going around fighting to abolish slavery at every turn?

Why would they continue to put up with it?

Is this just cultural blindness?

So let's talk about this for just a couple of minutes.

It helps to understand that slavery in the ancient world, in many ways,

was very, very, very different than what we think of as slavery,

the African slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries in the U.S. and in Europe and the Caribbean.

Very, very, very different.

I'll tell you why.

A few key differences.

First of all, slavery in Paul's day was not racially based at all.

It didn't happen along racial lines.

And along with that, there was no socioeconomic difference necessarily between slaves and free people.

So you had slaves who could be very highly educated and wealthy and have a lot of privilege and political power.

And so the socioeconomic differences were really not there.

Another key difference is that slavery in Paul's day was not lifelong.

The majority of people who became slaves had gained their freedom by the time they were around 30.

And then lastly, many people, and this may be hard to understand,

but many people actually voluntarily entered into bond servant status.

And the reasons are many.

In the ancient world, there was no guaranteed way to get an education,

to get social connections, to get a good-paying job.

And so many people would work just day to day.

You would go out.

You would try to find odd jobs to do.

You never knew what you were going to be able to bring home that night.

It was very unpredictable.

But a bond servant status provided job security.

You could go.

And many times, if you found a good arrangement, you could have job security.

You could have a guaranteed livelihood.

You could get educated.

You could make connections and meet people.

And sort of climb the ladder, so to speak.

And so a lot of people would do that.

And so in many ways, these people were not slaves as we think of slaves in the U.S.

So I just want to be as clear as I can on this point.

Not only does the Bible not endorse slavery,

but in fact, when that form of slavery did arise in the 18th and 19th centuries,

the people who led the way in fighting slavery, fighting to abolish it,

were actually Christians.

Christians who read their Bibles realized that it's not possible for one human being

to own another, the inherent dignity and worth of every human being.

And they began to realize this is wrong.

And they fought it.

And they fought to abolish it.

And that battle continues to this day.

And God willing, Christians will continue to lead the charge.

So these people were not slaves the way we think of it.

So a call for slaves in the ancient time to kind of unify and fight for their freedom,

that would not have made sense to people.

Because many people did it voluntarily because it actually was seen as a beneficial strategic decision.

So on the one hand, it's not the same.

On the other hand, I do also want to make clear that these people probably had it worse than you and me.

They didn't have rights.

They couldn't go and complain to HR.

They couldn't quit and find another job if they didn't like what they were doing.

They didn't have a whole lot of control over how they spent their time.

Right?

They were very vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse and injustice.

So they had it worse than most of us.

And yet what I want to highlight is what Paul is saying to these Christian bond servants.

Verse 23.

Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men.

You are serving the Lord Christ.

So in other words, what's Paul saying?

He's saying to these slaves, and some of whom did very menial work.

You know, scrubbing toilets and washing dishes and, you know, thankless, menial work.

He's saying to these people, no matter how menial, no matter how thankless,

no matter how grueling your daily work is,

you are in fact rendering service directly to God.

You're serving God when you do that.

In other words, serving God isn't just something reserved for monks and nuns and pastors.

Right?

You say, I'm going to go serve God.

What do most people think when they hear that?

They think, oh, he's going to leave his secular job,

and he's going to go, and he's going to get a religious job.

Right?

But a biblical view of work means understanding, actually,

that there's no division between sacred work and secular work.

There's no line there.

That's a human way of thinking about work.

So whether you lead a church or you work in retail,

whether you build overseas orphanages or build spreadsheets all day, right?

Whether you are out on street corners preaching or serving in a nonprofit somewhere,

or you're washing dishes or waiting tables,

any of that work that is done in the Lord's name

is a means of worshiping the Lord himself.

That's the biblical view of work.

And you see this really clearly in this wonderful Hebrew word, Avodah.

And Avodah is an Old Testament Hebrew word.

It shows up a lot.

And it's used a bunch of different ways.

In Genesis 2, Avodah means farming or cultivation.

And then in Exodus 1, Avodah is the work of brick making.

And then in Exodus, later in Exodus 35,

it refers to the artisanal work that was done to beautify the tabernacle.

So, artistry.

And then in 1 Chronicles, Avodah means fine craftsmanship.

So, you see, Avodah means all these different kinds of work, right?

Fine craftsmanship, artistic work, and also hard, back-breaking labor, cultivation.

It's all work, all Avodah.

But it's also used a bunch of other times to mean worship, right?

It means work and worship.

Same word.

And what that shows us is, in the biblical understanding,

there is a seamless flow between work and worship.

From the very beginning, God created human beings to work.

And when they worked, they were worshiping him in that labor.

So, I want to stop and I want to just apply this in a couple of ways,

just so you get the implications of this before we move on to the second point.

So, I have a couple of implications of this idea that,

because of the gospel, all of our work becomes worship.

So what?

Number one, this means that God values our work and your work

work very differently than we do.

God's economy is vastly different.

You move to a place like D.C.,

it is very, very, very easy to start comparing yourself

and what you do to other people.

Right?

So, you move here and you get a job

and then you start going to parties and meeting

and everybody starts asking,

what do you do?

Well, what do you do?

Well, what do you do?

And you start hearing about all these things that other people are doing

and they're doing some amazing things

and they're meeting all these people

and making a difference

and working for these amazing organizations.

And then you look at what you do

and you just kind of start,

after a while, avoiding the question.

You know?

And you start to kind of feel like what you do is kind of lame.

And then you get really insecure

and you want to change jobs

and you go, man,

all these people are doing amazing things

and I feel like I'm wasting my life.

Right?

So, it can make you really insecure living here.

On the other hand,

some of you who, you know,

once you start to get jobs

and ascend and get promoted

and work for great organizations,

it can also be kind of tempting

to sort of look down on other people.

You know?

And say, well, I'm so glad I don't have to do that.

I'm so glad I'm not stuck there.

Right?

And so, if we think like that,

if we begin to compare our work

and to rate our work

in terms of what seems more important

or more impressive,

that's a very human way

of thinking about work.

God sees it differently.

God says,

how dare you doubt the significance of your work?

How dare you doubt it?

You know, especially people who,

maybe you're unemployed

or maybe you're the spouse in the marriage

who has elected to stay home

and take care of the kids.

That can be incredibly, incredibly challenging.

A lot of insecurity for some people.

People making that hard choice.

Who am I if I don't have a job?

Who am I if all I'm doing all day

is changing diapers and scrubbing dishes?

God says,

how dare you doubt the significance of that work?

How dare you doubt the significance

of other people's work?

How dare you?

You know, a dish washed

or a toilet scrubbed

in the name of the Lord

glorifies God infinitely more

than all of the orphanages

and the churches

and the non-profits

in the world

built in the name of human beings.

That's God's economy.

Radically different.

That's the first implication.

Second implication,

God doesn't just value our work.

Listen to this.

God works through our work.

God works through your work.

Now, I really want you to understand this.

Nobody said it better than Martin Luther.

The Reformation theologian

is really the one

who got this vocational,

the role that God plays in our vocation.

And his term for it is,

he says,

vocations are the mask of God.

Think about that.

He's saying that behind human vocations,

God is at work.

God is working through those vocations.

His work is happening

through your daily labor.

Right?

So Gene Veith summarizes

Luther's thinking in this way.

He says,

when we pray the Lord's Prayer,

we ask God to give us this day

our daily bread.

And he does.

The way he gives us our daily bread

is through the vocations

of farmers,

millers,

bakers.

We might add truck drivers,

factory workers,

bankers,

warehouse attendants,

the lady at the checkout counter.

Virtually every step

of our whole economic system

contributes to that piece of toast

that you had for breakfast.

And then he says,

and when you thanked God

for the food that he provided,

you were right to do so.

God, give me my daily bread.

How does God do it?

Through all of the different roles

and vocations

that make up our human economy.

God works through those things.

Can God heal people miraculously?

Can I just say,

boom, be healed.

And Dan is healed.

Absolutely.

God can do that.

Does God always do that?

Tragically, no.

How does God most often

work works of healing?

Through the vocations

of all of the healthcare professionals,

which I consider to be

every bit as miraculous

as an instantaneous healing.

The fact that God conscripts

and partners with

and works through

the hands of women and men

all over the world

and their training

and their years of practice

to bring healing.

That's God's work

happening through human hands.

That's vocation as a mask

for the work of the Lord.

So all of our work

is service rendered to God

and God can and does work

through our work.

So that's the first point.

Second point is this.

the gospel frees us

not only to serve God

in our work,

but to pour all of our hearts

into what we do.

Now you say,

why would I need the gospel

for that?

I do that anyway.

Let's think about it for a second.

What are the reasons

that you work?

Now maybe you say,

well, I have to.

Okay, fair enough.

But beyond that,

what motivates you?

What gets you up in the morning?

What drives you?

I think for most of us,

our work is motivated

by maybe some combination

of three things.

We work because

we need to make money.

We work because

we want respect.

We want to be,

you know,

to feel like we're doing

something important

in the world.

Thirdly,

we work because

we want a sense of purpose

and meaning.

Right?

And those are good reasons.

Right?

You need enough money

to pay your bills

and to have what you need

and what you want.

That's very important.

It's important

and right and good

to want to be respected

and to feel like

what you're doing matters

and that people affirm

your contribution to society.

And thirdly,

it's important

to have a sense of meaning.

How great it is

if you have a job

that offers you

a sense of fulfillment.

Now if you're one

of those rare people

and you have all three

in your job,

hold on to that job.

If you're making good money

and everybody respects you

and you find meaning

and fulfillment

in what you're doing,

go you.

Keep on keeping on.

Most of us don't get that

in our work.

Most of us hopefully

get one or two of those.

At least if nobody likes you

and nobody cares

what you're doing,

you're making good money.

I hope that's true for you.

Right?

And some of you

are stuck in jobs

where none of that's happening

and maybe you need

to find another job.

Right?

These are good reasons.

But here's where we go wrong.

If you pour your whole heart

into your job

for any of those reasons,

you're going to be

in serious trouble.

Here's why.

If your primary motivation

is to make money

and you say,

I'm going to pour

my whole heart and soul

into wealth building,

then what happens?

You begin to realize

what many people

have realized

way too late in life.

It's never enough.

Right?

You have in your mind

that at some point

you'll arrive.

You'll hit that plateau

and you'll finally,

you'll say,

I've made enough.

I don't need to make anymore.

But that rarely

if ever actually happens.

There's always more

to be made.

There's always another deal.

There's always another commission.

There's always another opportunity.

And it's just around

that next corner.

And if you just keep trying

and put in a few more weeks,

put in a few more years,

you'll get there.

And you never get there.

And people sacrifice

their friends

and their families

and their health

and their values.

Chasing,

chasing,

chasing.

You're going to be in trouble.

You say,

okay,

I don't care about money,

but I do want to do

something that's important.

You know?

I mean,

people will come to D.C.

and work for 15,000 a year

and pack eight people

into a bedroom

to work on the hill.

And that's great.

It feels good to be around that.

It feels good to be

in the place

where decisions

that affect the world

are being made,

the seat of power.

You know,

you will sleep,

you know,

five people in a bunk bed.

You know,

to do that.

And that's amazing.

And we need you there.

The church needs you there.

The world needs you there.

But if you pour your whole heart

into having a job

that makes you feel important,

where you have a sense of respect

and have a sense of impact,

if that's your thing,

guess what?

You're never going to get there.

You're never going to get there.

Because there's always going to be

somebody out there

who's better than you,

who's more important than you,

who's more accomplished than you.

You move to D.C.

and maybe you move

from kind of like a smaller place

and you were like the valedictorian

and all of that

and then you move here

and everybody's a valedictorian.

Everybody.

I mean, I'm not,

but most people are.

Most people here,

you know,

people,

they've succeeded.

They're impressive.

Their resumes are incredible.

There's always somebody

better out there.

There's this great play

by Peter Schaeffer

called Amadeus.

And in Amadeus,

the play,

there's a man named

Antonio Salieri.

And Salieri is a court composer

for the Habsburg Emperor.

And he's wealthy

and he's accomplished

and he's a successful writer

of operas

and he's very well known.

But inside,

he's painfully aware

that all of his work

is mediocre.

And he struggles with that.

And then one day,

he hears

a relatively unknown,

impoverished

man named Mozart.

Mozart.

And he hears the beauty

of his music.

And in that instant,

he knows that

no matter how hard

he works,

he will never be able

to produce anything

close to that.

And it crushes him.

Welcome to D.C.

That's what it's like

to live here.

Your parents raised you

and said,

you can be the best.

They were lying to you.

You're never going

to be the best.

Uplifting sermon?

Maybe.

You're never going

to be the best.

You're never going

to be the best.

It's impossible.

There will always be

somebody out there

better than you

at whatever it is

you do.

Do you know

how you be the best?

Don't ever have any friends

or ever talk to anybody.

Live by yourself

in an isolated shack

in the middle

of the wilderness.

You can be the best there.

But the minute

you start meeting

other people,

eventually you will meet

somebody who's better

than you.

And if you've poured

your whole heart

into that,

being the best,

being the most impressive,

you meet that person,

you're going to be

like Salieri.

It's going to crush you.

You won't survive it

if you've put

your whole heart

into that.

So you say,

okay,

I don't care about money.

I don't even care

about being the best.

I know that.

I don't care about

being the best.

But I want a job

that is meaningful.

I want a job

that fulfills me.

That's a good reason, right?

Yeah, that's a good reason.

But don't pour

your whole heart

into it.

Why?

Because sooner or later

you will realize

that no job

can provide

the kind of fulfillment

that you're looking for.

No job can.

I recently heard

this great panel discussion

and this guy

was sort of talking

very honestly

about the fact

that he had had

this really lucrative,

amazing job,

made a lot of money,

but he really wanted

to leave

and do something meaningful,

a more fulfilling job.

And so he left

and he started

a non-profit.

And he said

he very soon

came to realize

that this kind of

Christian non-profit work

wasn't really nearly

as fulfilling

as he thought it would be.

And you know

what he called it?

He said,

listen to this.

I love,

so brilliant.

I wrote it down.

He said,

we had bought into

the emotional

prosperity gospel.

Isn't that awesome?

You know what

the prosperity gospel is?

It's this way of thinking.

It's kind of a strain

or thinking that says,

I give money

and pray to God

and give money to God

and then God will bless me

even more abundantly.

I'll get ten times

the money that I give

to God back, right?

God wants me to have

lots of money

and nice cars

and all that.

So if I give my ten dollars

to God,

God will give me a hundred back.

It's kind of the basics

of the prosperity gospel.

This guy said,

I bought into

an emotional version of that.

You know,

I leave my secular job

and my secular world

and I go and I work for God

and then God's going to bless me

with emotional fulfillment.

And I'm going to feel fulfilled

and meaningful and happy

and my job is going to,

I'm going to have purpose

and identity.

He realized,

it's a prosperity gospel.

It's fake.

It doesn't happen that way.

See, a lot of people quit,

you know,

great jobs

because they want to go

into a helping profession

or go into ministry

or go do something

that, you know,

makes a difference.

And then they get there

and they realize,

there's not a whole lot

of fulfillment here.

Nothing like what I thought

there would be.

Right?

And if you work

in the helping professions

or the non-profit world,

which a lot of you do,

you know people like this

and you know the truth

that many of those people

flame out really quickly.

They flame out

because they,

you know,

once the fulfillment's not there,

so you've got to check

your motives, right?

It's good to want

a fulfilling job

and we can have

partially fulfilling jobs,

but if you pour

your whole heart into that,

you're going to be

very disappointed.

Very disappointed.

So the truth is,

if you pour your heart out

for any earthly reason,

you're never going to find

what you're looking for.

And what you're going to do

is you're going to try

harder and harder

and harder and harder

to get that reward

and you're never going to get it.

And you're going to realize

at the end of your life

that you were just

a hamster on a wheel.

Another word for that

would be bond servant.

Slave.

You live your life

like a slave.

So what's the answer?

Well, here's what Paul says

in verse 23.

Whatever you do,

work heartily.

And you know what that

literally says in the Greek?

Work from the soul.

Isn't that great?

Work from the soul.

Whatever you do,

work from the soul

as for the Lord

and not for men.

Here's the key.

Knowing that from the Lord

you will receive

the inheritance

as your reward.

So if you see your work

as a way of serving the Lord

rather than human bosses,

then that frees you

to pour your whole heart

into your work.

To work from the soul.

Now why,

what difference does it make?

Here's the key.

Because Christians

do not work

to seek a reward.

We don't ultimately

pour our hearts out

because we're hoping

to build wealth

or to be important

and respected

or to find fulfillment.

That doesn't motivate us.

We don't pour our hearts out

because we're seeking

a reward.

We pour our hearts out

because we work

in the security

of an inheritance.

What's the difference

between a reward

and an inheritance?

Well, a reward

is something you earn.

It's that carrot out there

and you strive

and you strive

and you strive

and hopefully one day

you're going to get

that carrot.

That's a reward.

You can't earn

an inheritance.

You can't earn it.

How do you get

an inheritance?

Well, you have

very little say

in the matter.

You have to be born

into it.

You get an inheritance

because of your family name.

You get old enough

and people say

you've got an inheritance

waiting for you

and then eventually

when you come of age

that inheritance

becomes yours.

You claim it.

Nobody can take it away

because it's tied

to your identity,

your blood,

who you are.

It doesn't matter

if you screw around

all life.

That inheritance

is yours.

It's unshakable.

And so the gospel says

that when we turn

to Jesus

and when we confess

our sin

and accept his forgiveness

and begin to be

followers of him

when we're baptized

that at that moment

we are adopted

into his family.

We take on

a new family name

that his blood

flows in our veins.

We are literally

born again

and because of that

we gain

what the Bible says

is an imperishable

inheritance.

everything that matters

in eternity

everything that really matters

all the stuff

that doesn't fade

like the grass withers

but all of the stuff

that remains

that all of that

is ours.

That in God's

kingdom economy

in the new world

our inheritance

is secure.

We have absolutely

nothing to worry about.

The future is secure.

So because of that

we can pour our hearts

out now

and if we make money

or we don't make money

if we gain the respect

and admiration

of others

or if nobody

gives a rip

right?

If we have a fulfilling job

or if it's menial

and grueling

we can still

pour our hearts out

because we know

that there's no

reward here

that can hold a candle

to the inheritance

that is already ours.

So we work

and we pour our hearts

out

because we know

that God sees

everything we do

like a father

sees a child

and he delights in it.

You know

I see Riley

and I see Riley

trying to learn

to ride his bike

and tie his shoes

and fix his own breakfast

and get dressed

and put his laundry away

and buy presents

for his little brother

and I see him

doing all these things

and that's the work

of a child.

I see him playing

and learning how to build Legos

and tracks for his marbles

that's work for kids

that's their job

is to do all that stuff

and when he spills Cheerios

and messes up

do I say

God get it right

what is your problem?

No.

No.

Because I'm crazy about him

and I almost love him more

when he makes the mistakes.

You know

it's endearing

those are the times

when I just want to

grab him in my arms

and tell him how much I love him.

That's how God views us.

Scrubbing toilets

or making spreadsheets

or running a company

God doesn't care

God delights in us

doing what he created us to do.

That's what brings him

great pleasure.

So the gospel means

that we serve God

by our work

and it means that we can

pour our hearts

into our work

freely.

The third way

the gospel transforms

our work is this

and I realize

we're out of time

so just a couple of minutes

on this.

It compels us

to seek justice

through our work.

I gotta say this

we gotta hit this.

This is amazing

because

the call to justice

that we see

in Colossians 3 and 4

is aimed both

at bond servants

and masters

both employees

and employers.

So to Christian employees

it says

in verse 22

obey in everything

those who are

your earthly masters

not by way of eye service

as people pleasers

but with sincerity

of heart

for the wrongdoer

will be paid back

for the wrong he has done

and there is no partiality.

So let's just look at

what this is saying

really quick.

If you feel unappreciated

think about your job.

If you feel unappreciated

boss doesn't care

what you're doing.

If you feel mistreated

if you feel harassed

if you feel

like there's injustice

if you feel overworked

if you think that your boss

is incompetent

you know that's a hard one.

If I took a poll

which I'm not going to do

and I said

how many of you feel

like your boss

is pretty much incompetent

I would say that probably

at least half the hands

in the room would go up.

It's a pretty common complaint.

I mean not for the

Church of the Advent team

but for most people

this is a struggle.

It's a struggle.

It's a real struggle.

And so if any of those

things are true

it is so easy

to justify slacking off.

My boss doesn't care.

My boss doesn't know

what they're doing.

Why should I care?

Right?

It's easy to just start

phoning it in

because why?

Who cares?

Nobody cares.

You know?

My boss doesn't deserve

any better from me.

My boss isn't working

half as hard as I am.

Very easy to justify that.

In other words

it's easy to think

that injustice

committed toward us

gives us license.

Right?

To work half-heartedly.

Because we don't think

our bosses deserve

anything more.

But what this is saying

if I'm reading this correctly

this is saying

that there's no excuse

for the Christian.

That for the Christian

you want to know

what a Christian job is?

Here's a Christian work ethic.

For the Christian

we always work our hardest

and do our best

not just when we're being watched

but all the time.

Now your boss

may not deserve it.

May not appreciate you.

May overwork you.

But you're not serving

your boss.

You're serving

Jesus Christ.

the one who gave

everything up for you.

That's the one

you're serving.

And he does deserve

your best.

He deserves

everything

that you can give him

every day

regardless of whether

anyone else is watching.

And then it turns around

and it says to bosses

in chapter 4 verse 1

Masters

treat your bond servants

justly

and fairly

knowing that you also

have a master

in heaven.

So very clear here

no matter how much

authority you get

no matter how much

influence you get

no matter how many

people you are managing

how many teams

you oversee

you are always

under authority.

You are always

under authority.

You have a boss.

You have a master.

And he has a heart

of justice.

He says

remember that

treat those under you

justly and fairly.

What does that mean?

Well

lots of things.

Let's just take a few

examples.

Don't take credit

for the work

that people

under you do.

Give credit

away.

Give credit

away as much

as you can.

Right?

Show grace

when people

make mistakes.

And take every

opportunity

to build people

up

when and

wherever you

can.

If people

under you

mess up

and make mistakes

be willing

to take the fall

and take the blame.

fight to ensure

equal pay

and equal

opportunities

especially for

women and

minorities

to the best

of your ability.

Don't just hire

from your own

networks.

If you actually

have the ability

to make a hire

don't just hire

an insider

but take the

extra time and

energy to look

outside your

networks.

Try to fund

somebody maybe

who doesn't

have as much

privilege as

most of the

people we know

have but maybe

has a lot of

potential.

Try to hire

from outside

your networks

if at all

possible.

Be generous

with your

policies.

If you can

set policies

about sick

leave and

parental leave

and vacation

be as generous

as you can.

Don't overwork

your people

but make sure

they have time

for friends

and family.

It could go

on and on

and on

and on

and on.

But let's

just ask this

question because

we've got to

close.

Why does God

care about

these things?

Why is this

in the Bible?

Because God

is a God

of justice.

And do you

know what

the kingdom

is?

The kingdom

is all about

the king

and it's all

about the

coming of

the king.

And do you

know what's

going to

happen when

the king

comes?

Justice

will fill

the earth.

It will

roll down.

And so if

we seek to

serve the

Lord in

our work

and we

know that

about his

heart

then we

work whether

we are

employers or

employees

with an

eye toward

that justice

because we

want to

reflect his

heart.

That's what

it means to

do it in

his name.

To do it in

ways that

reflect his

heart and

his priorities

and his

values for

human beings

in this

world.

And by the

way, if

you're this

kind of

employee and

you work

this hard no

matter if

people are

watching or

not, everybody

is going to

want to hire

you.

Word will get

around.

It's a small

town, D.C.

Small town.

Doesn't feel

like it.

Live here a few

years.

It's a small

town.

Everybody's

going to

want you.

If you're

this kind

of boss, if

you're this

kind of team

leader, everybody's

going to want to

be on your

team.

It'll go well

for you.

So this is how

the gospel

transforms our

work and this

is, I think,

what a Christian

job really is.

It's a job done

in service to

the Lord with

our whole heart

and with an

aim toward

justice.

Thank you.

Thank you.