Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:16] To get to preach the word of God to you. This morning before we get started, I'd like to pray and we do this past spread. How often we do this? Do we pray for another church? Once a month like we're going to this morning. We have a sister church, so if you don't know if you're new.
[00:00:32] We were planted by a church downtown named the Paradox Church. The Paradox planted another church that is just mere miles from here, just north. Looking to my bearing, that's north edge, that way.
[00:00:45] They meet just miles from us in the near south side.
[00:00:50] Good friends. Pastor Caleb. I've known him and his wife for many years, 10, 12, 13 years. And so we're going to pray for them this morning and we'll pray that the Lord would bring them wisdom while we're in our summer series asking the Lord to teach us wisdom through the book of Proverbs.
[00:01:12] So I'll pray for them if you'll join me in praying for them. And I'll pray for us. I'll pray for our time this morning as well. That the Lord would teach us.
[00:01:22] But what a gift, what an honor. What a joy to get together as your people on the Lord's day every Sunday.
[00:01:33] But I pray for those in the room this morning. I pray for those that are teaching our children. I pray for those that for any reason were not able to join us this morning.
[00:01:44] But I pray that you would grant us wisdom, that you would teach us by your word, by your spirit, through communion with each other, Lord, that you would teach us wisdom what it is to live this life following the design and ways that you have designed our life.
[00:02:09] But we pray for.
[00:02:11] We pray for south side church meeting just a few miles from here this morning. Lord, we pray that their time would be spirit led. We pray that it would be encouraging to their people. We pray that the gospel would be clear, that Jesus would be proclaimed. We pray, Lord, that here and there and in the city of Fort Worth and in the world of large, Lord, we pray that this morning on the Lord's day that you would save.
[00:02:38] That perhaps you would say, lord, would you teach us this morning?
[00:02:44] You're good.
[00:02:45] We love you. We love you. We love you. In your name we pray. Amen.
[00:02:49] Amen. Okay, so I mentioned earlier, if you're new, if you're just joining us, perhaps this is your first Sunday. You've been around a few weeks. Our primary diet of teaching at Redemption Hills is going to be when we take a book of the Bible and we go line by line, verse by verse, and we teach through it. So a couple weeks ago, we started our summer series. We're taking a brief pause through the Book of Acts, where we've been spending the larger arc of the year. But this summer, we're working through the book of Proverbs, asking that through it the Lord might teach us wisdom.
[00:03:31] And this morning, through Proverbs 6, as Ben read for us a few moments ago, we're going to consider work.
[00:03:38] Work is a passionate. That is a subject that I'm very passionate about.
[00:03:44] I love work sometimes, and I hate work sometimes. And I imagine you and I both are supper on that spectrum together, right? Work is really important.
[00:03:53] And when we talk about the gospel at Redemption Hill, we believe that the Gospel is not merely a way that you and I enter the Christian life, but it's the lens through which we see all of our moments and days, right? So the gospel informs marriage and parenting and friendship and money and suffering and rest and manhood and womenhood, and it also informs work.
[00:04:26] If we're just talking about vocational work, if we're just talking about vocational work, which we're not, in a bid, I'll offer a definition of work that will encompass a larger, broader scope than just what you and I may or may not do for our or paycheck. But if we're just considering vocational work, the average American will spend approximately 90,000 hours in their lifetime locating 90,000 hours.
[00:05:00] For most of us, that'll occupy more waking hours than almost any other activity that we do.
[00:05:07] Right? That's more than we'll spend on vacations or hobbies, watching our favorite sports team, RD spurts, traveling.
[00:05:19] In many cases, it's more waking time than we'll spend with almost anyone in our life, even our closest friends outside of our family.
[00:05:30] It's a lot of time, 90,000 hours over the course of our life.
[00:05:37] Which means that if you and I misunderstand work, if we don't have eyes of wisdom to understand how the gospel might inform that portion of our lives, we are missing and misunderstanding a significant portion of our life.
[00:05:56] And there's a lot of confusion about work. I mentioned the spectrum between loving work and hating work and us somewhere on there, right? There's a lot of confusion about work. Some people worship work. They give it too much time, too much attention, too much of their focus. They place their identity in it too much.
[00:06:19] Some people despise work. They see it as something they have to grit their teeth and bear through.
[00:06:27] Some people are crushed by their work, either due to the desire to Perfectly perform unrealistic work. Expectations that their leadership, culture, place of them or misplaced priorities of their own.
[00:06:44] Some people avoid work entirely as much as they can. They want nothing to do with their work will be for someone else.
[00:06:53] Others believe work is everything. Some believe work is nothing. The Bible teaches actually that work for you and I is a gift.
[00:07:04] It's one that God, through the holy work of Christ the Son, has modeled perfectly for us.
[00:07:12] The Christian life then is this.
[00:07:15] I'll say this at the end, I'll say this now.
[00:07:19] This is the point of today.
[00:07:21] The Christian life is learning to pick up the plow as God calls, and learning to set it down as God calls.
[00:07:31] Learning to pick up the plow and get to work when God calls, and learning when the work from our perspective is done. Because the work is truly reliant on the Lord of all, who doesn't slumber or sleep.
[00:07:49] Okay, so before we enter Proverbs 6, we need a truth. We need to have a waypoint that's going to help guide our time through for us. And that truth is this. This is where we'll start.
[00:08:09] That God, God of heaven and earth, Creator of everything, God is the first worker.
[00:08:19] Before we've picked up a plow, before we have any commission of our own. God is the first worker. If you were to turn your Bible to the first few pages, if you remember the creation narrative, if you remember turn to Genesis, you'll see that the creation account begins with God's work, not human effort.
[00:08:45] Right? God creates earth, moon, stars, sky and space.
[00:08:52] He creates galaxies and worlds. He forms what was without form.
[00:08:59] He separates the day and the night. God fills earth with his creation, vegetation, animals and the sea. On the dry ground, in the air and at the pinnacle of his creation. And what does he create?
[00:09:15] Mankart?
[00:09:17] Adam.
[00:09:18] And where does he put Adam?
[00:09:21] He puts Adam in the garden.
[00:09:23] Genesis 2:15 says that he placed Adam in the garden to work it and keep it.
[00:09:33] This is important for us.
[00:09:35] Work. The first instance of human work that we see in the text of the Bible comes before the fall, right before sin. Work exists. This is really, really important.
[00:09:50] God is the first worker. Work is good.
[00:09:55] Work is not a result of the fall. Toil is. Our frustration is the thorns, bo both metaphorical and real outside these doors.
[00:10:08] They are the result of the fall. But the work itself, ahead of you and I and that we've accomplished today by God's grace, the work is good.
[00:10:20] I promised that I would offer a definition of work that extends just beyond one's vocation so what do I need?
[00:10:31] I would offer work.
[00:10:34] Is anything meaningful that we do, that God equips us to do and can be done for his glory, for the help of our neighbor, and as a part of his continually coming kingdom as the same fills and the earth. Right. So. So work is not just what we do to get paid. Work is done in the home, often without a paycheck.
[00:11:06] Work can be raising our children. Work can be living on mission in the places where God calls us to. Work can be being a, a good friend. Work can be chores by my son. He's not in the room anymore.
[00:11:23] He doesn't do enough chores or worries.
[00:11:27] Right? They don't do any of our children do enough chores. We should get the kid back in here. Honestly, this would be a great sermon for the kids.
[00:11:35] All right. I should not go off my nose.
[00:11:39] The Lord God, he still works himself today. And our work, regardless of what it is paid or not paid, is founded in God's work. So what kind of kind of work does God do?
[00:11:55] Much of this comes from a book, then kingdom, vocational stewardship for the common good. And the book walks through different aspects of God's work.
[00:12:08] So God performs redemptive work.
[00:12:12] This is God's saving and reconciling actions.
[00:12:17] Humans participate in this kind of work as evangelists, pastors and counselors, and peacemakers. So do artists. Artists exhibit this kind of work when they knowingly or unknowingly inject gospel redemptive elements into their stories.
[00:12:39] You and I participate in this work when we live on vision and share the gospel in life and in word with those the Lord's called us to. There's God's redemptive work. There's God's creative work.
[00:12:54] This is where God fashions the physical and the human world.
[00:12:59] God in his grace, he gives humans creativity.
[00:13:04] In addition to this, people who create, you and I, we are second order creators, right? By that I mean that we, you and I, we can't create without anything that has already been created, right? So whether it is the strings we play or the words we sing, or on canvas art that we create, every single thing we reach for has been created by a first order creator, namely God. So sculptors, actors, painters, musicians, poets, they display this.
[00:13:38] Also interior designers, urban planners, carpenters, builders, fashion designers, architects.
[00:13:46] This is the creative work of God.
[00:13:49] There's the providential work, redemptive work, creative work, providential work. This is God's provisioning for and sustaining humans and creation.
[00:14:03] And so God's providential work is his divine providence.
[00:14:09] Including all that God does to maintain the universe and human life in an orderly and beneficial fashion. So this might be you if you're a stay at home mother, if you're a public utility worker, if you're a policymaker, if you're a banker or a meteorologist, if you're an engineer like I am, if you're a builder, a building inspector, a plumber, a janitor, any who work to keep the economic and political order working smoothly, there's justice work. We know this one, right? This resonates quickly.
[00:14:48] A lot of us if you don't know the Lord and are asked what he does, who he is, perhaps his characteristic of judge and his justice work comes most quickly. These are judges and lawyers, paralegals, law professors, diplomats that reflect God's justice, maintaining justice in the world. There's God's compassionate work.
[00:15:23] There's God's revelatory work. In his compassionate work he comforts and heals and guides and shepherds, doctors and nurses and paramedics, therapists, social workers, pharmacists.
[00:15:39] In God's revelatory work he enlightens with the truth. This is preachers and scientists and educators and journalists, right? God works from creation till now. He is working, never slumbering, never sleeping. Psalms 121 says, and I would say that if you think your work matters, I would say that it does. And I would say our work matters because God works first.
[00:16:12] God is the first worker.
[00:16:15] Any work that we execute is founded in his so let's jump into Proverbs 6 and consider how wisdom approaches work and responsibility.
[00:16:30] Proverbs 6:1 5. I'll read this again. It says, my son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, and save yourself.
[00:16:50] For you have come into the hand of your neighbor.
[00:16:55] Go, hasten and plead virtue with your neighbor. Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber. Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fouler.
[00:17:14] Can you think of a time that perhaps you've acted irresponsibly? I know I cannot. This has never once been me. I've never been irresponsible, not a moment in my life. But perhaps you can do what's actively doing with me.
[00:17:34] Can you think of a decision you've made? Can you think of a commitment that you've put your name on? Can you think of a promise that you've offered sincerely and later realize that you haven't fully counted the cost.
[00:17:50] This can be done with good intentions, right? A night on the calendar amidst a busy week that perhaps misses the balance of managing your priorities in your home.
[00:18:03] This is a financial overextension extended, intended to benefit another.
[00:18:09] That's what's going on here.
[00:18:11] Solomon describes an instance where one has put up security for your neighbor.
[00:18:17] This is like guaranteeing an open line of credit for another, making one responsible for another's debt.
[00:18:28] And a foolish commitment has been made.
[00:18:31] Now the answer, as Solomon describes it, is his urgency, right? Notice the commands. In verse three he says, go, hasten, hurry, plead.
[00:18:46] In verse four he says, give your eyes no sleep.
[00:18:51] In verse five, if the urgency wasn't yet clear, he says, save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, literally run for your life.
[00:19:04] Solomon says the wise person does not ignore, does not postpone responsibility. The wise person acts.
[00:19:17] The wise person acts.
[00:19:20] Solomon is teaching us through this text that wisdom moves us towards responsibility, not away from it.
[00:19:31] Perhaps this warning is for you today. And you and I both know that there are certain things in our life that just do not get better with time. They only worsen when we wait, right? Debt, sin, conflict, perhaps with even members of the room that really should have been resolved weeks and weeks and weeks ago. Yet we let linger because we don't want to take uncomfortable action, even normal household responsibilities. I think of when I neglect my chores at home, how they just compound and become worse and worse and worse, which cycles my not wanting to deal with it right. Think of laundry, dishes or toys on the floor that my children should put really good kids back.
[00:20:29] Things don't get better when we leave them undone.
[00:20:35] This text intends to teach us that the wise person takes action, takes responsibility.
[00:20:45] We'll move to Proverbs 6:6 through 8. But before we do, just a story to intro and I've told this story before.
[00:20:57] I think we have a lot to learn from watching the world, from inspecting, from placing our eyes on this thing with our ears, feeling with our bodies.
[00:21:11] As mentioned as one of my favorite roles in the Allen household that I've invited some of you into as I look around the room is this. This is my favorite rule. Whether it's on travel while we're looking at pretty things or just normal day to day life, my kids can tell you this rule. They say when you see something pretty, you sit down and look at it.
[00:21:36] My hope is in these moments that we are present, that the Lord teaches us Something from stillness and inspection.
[00:21:47] We do this in the Alec family, often sitting as quietly as our four and six year old will allow.
[00:21:56] Right? And we look with our ears and we feel and we hear. We look with our ears, we look with our eyes, we hear with our ears. We feel as we sit.
[00:22:09] And then we discuss Proverbs 6, 6, 8.
[00:22:15] I can almost imagine myself talking to my boys after one of these moments of silence and presence as Solomon continues his lesson, considering an aunt.
[00:22:30] And so he finishes, he says, save yourself. If you've made a foolish commitment, take action.
[00:22:38] And then he continues in Proverbs 6, starting in verse 6, where he says, go to the ant, O slugger, consider her ways and be wise.
[00:22:52] Without having any chief officer or ruler. She prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.
[00:23:07] It's a beautiful picture. She prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food and harvest.
[00:23:16] Ant's got no supervisor, no manager, no overseer. I guess there's like the queen ant. I don't really know Ant politics, right? But we're just going to trust Solomon here, right? I don't think maybe Solomon didn't either. You know about the queen, Anthony? I don't know why the Queen Anne was. I don't know. Sorry. Okay. I really should state my notes.
[00:23:38] Ant has no supervisor, no manager, no overseer, right? But it works, right? Why? Because the ant understands reality.
[00:23:48] Right?
[00:23:49] The ant knows that cold is coming. Summer only lasts so long. Action must be taken when it can, right?
[00:24:01] Solomon is teaching us through this text what the ant already knows, that our work, our efforts, our toil and our labor, they don't just impact today, they impact the future.
[00:24:17] We just read this during our call to worship.
[00:24:22] Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. He preaches the Gospel to us. And he reminds us of the brevity of life and that the end will come in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Paul says, he reminds us that sinners, us mortals, get to put on immortality because of the work of Christ.
[00:24:45] And then he says, as we proclaim together, he says, death is swallowed up in victory.
[00:24:51] O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? It's a beautiful text, right?
[00:24:58] With joy and celebration. We read this moments ago. And then in verse 58, after that beautiful reminder, he says, therefore, right? Because life is fleeting, because Jesus has won, because Christ is king and death is swallowed up already in victory. Therefore, my beloved brothers, he says, be steadfast, immovable, always, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
[00:25:37] This is where our definition of work that extends beyond just simple vocation is helpful to you and I, right? Parents, Parents, your hard, impossible work, preparing your children, raising them in godliness, it's not in vain. Accessible students, the work of preparing your mind and gaining knowledge and experience that will shape your future is not available.
[00:26:21] Church members, your continual efforts, volunteering and service that builds this church up and positions us for God's continued work in the future is not in vain.
[00:26:39] Whether it is on the Navy team or and our kids are set up and tear down and setting up the communion elements week after week, whether it's caring for one another, whether you lead a community group in any way, you serve in this church, we are better for it. We are built up and the Lord will use that word in the future to bring us where he's going.
[00:27:03] It's not in vain.
[00:27:05] As I was writing this sermon, I was reminded.
[00:27:09] I was reminded of the time that I cried at a Starbucks.
[00:27:13] I was sitting with Pastor Brett, meeting with Mark Stable, one of the missionaries that we support as a church, and Mark was discussing the mission that the Lord had called he and his family to in the taco.
[00:27:31] He started sharing largely narrative stories with Pastor Brown and I, including much of his background.
[00:27:40] Mark grew up in the Congo, spent some time in Canada. His wife Amy, spent time in Tanzania.
[00:27:49] The Lord had given Mark and Amy a passion for the people of Africa and had shaped their lives towards that purpose and end, whether it was language learning, acquired skills as a paramedic and a nurse.
[00:28:12] As I listened to Mark's story, I couldn't help but see the literal millions of things that the Lord had done in time and place to bring Mark and Amy together and send them on joint mission. That to me, it really seemed that almost no one in the world could do what the Lord had called them to do because of the experience. Experience that the Lord had given them throughout their history. This is amazing, right?
[00:28:39] I'm a weepy man and sitting at a Starbucks. I listened to Mark share his story and I broke down. I wept and I shared this with him. I reminded him I worked. I encourage my brother in a moment where I just thanked him for sharing his story where I could see the Lord's providential work such that all of the experiences had positioned Mark and his family for the future.
[00:29:09] So your work today is not in vain.
[00:29:13] None of us in the room know the mind or the plans of God.
[00:29:20] We have no idea how the work that the Lord is calling us to today might impact the future he calls us into.
[00:29:29] So today, work hard, work diligently, work with passion. As one who wants to acquire skills and experience, work with the future in mind. Asking that the Lord would give you resources and skills that compound in the future as he continues to call you, says that when he calls you, you might be able to say, lord, I'm ready. Send me.
[00:29:55] I'm ready, Lord. I can see it. I can see what you've been doing through my work through the years. And now I'm ready. I'm ready to go.
[00:30:04] Let's read Proverbs 6 again, verses 9 through 11 where Solomon writes this.
[00:30:15] He says, how long will you lie there with slaughter?
[00:30:19] When will you arise from your sleep?
[00:30:22] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.
[00:30:30] And poverty will come upon you like a robin and want by the army. Bear.
[00:30:44] Slightly to Steven, right, Sluggard?
[00:30:51] Sluggard. I've never been called a sluggard in my life. I don't actually just think it's because I don't think I'm one. I think we just don't use language like this, right?
[00:31:01] I'm gonna start using language like this when I see it fit.
[00:31:05] Slugger. That scathing. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of hands for rest. Now, to be. To be clear here, to be clear, I want to pause and clarify just so there's no confusion. Rest is good. Amen.
[00:31:23] Right? Like humans, Christians, the Bible directs us to rest. The Bible celebrates rest. God created the Sabbath. He's the inventor of rest.
[00:31:36] And we see this in the creation narrative baked into the story where God rests after working on the seventh day, God rests.
[00:31:49] The problem that Solomon is teaching us here is postponement, right? Perpetual delay, refused responsibilities, right? This, this is not.
[00:32:05] This is not a proactivity sermon, right? Like, if you come and you listen and you hear me speak, you read the words of Solomon and you leave thinking, I'm gonna write my list down, I'm gonna fix everything. I'm gonna go act today. I'm gonna go bill, I'm gonna do. Right.
[00:32:24] We'll have missed it. It's not a productivity sermon. It's not a get things done sermon. This is not a. A grind set mentality sermon. It's a sermon on wisdom, right? Wisdom. So please do hear this right? Don't hear a call to do all of the things perfectly everywhere, all the time, right? But do hear the call to prayerfully consider where the Lord might call you into action, where you've been inactive.
[00:33:01] Hear the call to prayerfully consider where the Lord may in his wisdom call you to urgency.
[00:33:10] Where you've been passive, where are you saying later, tomorrow, someday, where the Lord perhaps is calling you to obey now.
[00:33:30] The sluggard always intends to obey.
[00:33:35] Just not today.
[00:33:37] Just not today.
[00:33:40] So depending on your own perception of how well you're performing, managing the work that the Lord has called you up until now, perhaps you feel validated.
[00:33:55] I need to even Melissa Crusher. I'm doing all the things father, mother, worker, homekeeper, friend, Crusher.
[00:34:07] Perhaps you feel content.
[00:34:10] Perhaps you consider your life and the things that you feel called to. The responsibilities the Lord has entrusted to you. You feel like you're failing.
[00:34:22] Or perhaps as you consider your relationship with work and performance. Maybe. Maybe you're like. Maybe you're like me, right? Where there are seasons of manic overwork, right? I'm very. I'm very susceptible to this tangulum that I'd love to describe. And perhaps this is you as well. Seasons of manic overwork due to misplaced priorities or over commitment or a desire to perform with excellence, to be seen as valuable or important.
[00:34:58] Usually this follows an exhaustion where everything doesn't get done despite my best efforts, despite, like, sometimes I'm not even burning the candle at both ends. Like I'm coming in from all four, right? Like the top and the side. Like I did light, right? I'm. I'm up, I'm working. And despite everything, I still feel. I still drop the big deadline. I still fail my wife, I yell at my kids. The thing doesn't get done, it all starts to fall apart. Despite my effort, I fail in an abject way and lose the approval that I've sought.
[00:35:36] And I fail.
[00:35:38] And if I'm not careful in that moment, my manic overwork can shift, swing way to the other side, to apathy.
[00:35:49] I worked so hard, I couldn't do it.
[00:35:53] What's the point then?
[00:35:55] Maybe I'm just.
[00:35:57] Maybe I'm just not cut out for all that. Maybe I need a break. Maybe. Maybe I just need to not work. I need to give up for a moment or week or a season.
[00:36:08] The Gospel speaks to both of these extremes, right? To. To the slugger.
[00:36:16] The gospel says that you are not saved by your diligence. Your failures don't define you. Christ died for them. Amen to the workaholic. The gospel says that you're not justified by your performance. Christ already succeeded on your behalf, right? So let's. Let's pause and let's Consider quickly the Gospel, the work of Christ.
[00:36:42] Historians often refer to the work of Christ. We've been talking about our work all morning.
[00:36:48] The work of Christ refers to both the active obedience of Christ in which he obeyed perfectly, the letter of the law, pressures that you feel to perform, to be good all day, every day that you can't meet. He felt and he achieved.
[00:37:08] He was perfect, righteous, submissive, kept God's law and his passive suffering, his rejection, his crucifixion, his death, the bearing of wrath for those of us in Christ.
[00:37:26] So where the slaughter said, and I don't want responsibility or, or not today.
[00:37:34] Jesus, facing the way forward to the cross, says, not my will, but your will be done.
[00:37:42] He says, I'll go where the workaholic says, my work must save me. It's all I've got.
[00:37:52] Jesus says, it's finished.
[00:37:55] He stood on the cross and he says, it's finished, right? This work means that favor for the Christian. If you are in Christ, if you have been saved, your favor, your identity is really there's nothing you can do.
[00:38:18] We work from a place of acceptance, not for it, right? And so the sluggard, he needs the example of Jesus, who stood with a difficult road ahead and said, lord, not my will, but your will be done, and took action. And the workaholic needs to remember this beautiful truth, that on the cross the work was done.
[00:38:45] And all of us, we need both, all of us, we need both of these things.
[00:38:53] The Gospel is good news for all of us, regardless of where you are on the spectrum between loving and hating work.
[00:39:04] The Lord has had me on a long journey here in my own life.
[00:39:10] I had a dream on March 21, five years ago, which sounds really smear for me, that I know the dates and that a dream was involved. But Instagram, you could look it up timestamps. So I went back, looked up the date, but after I had this dream, I woke up that next morning and I wrote some words down that I'm going to share with you now that I seasonally return to because the Lord is still teaching me.
[00:39:40] And every time I return to these words that I wrote five years ago, I remember that the Lord's not done.
[00:39:49] This is what I wrote.
[00:39:51] I wrote last night in a dream, I was speaking to someone and I said, work buys my time.
[00:40:01] It hasn't purchased my life.
[00:40:04] Christ has done it.
[00:40:07] I've been thinking about it all day. The Bible says that we were bought with a price.
[00:40:14] And in this dream, I must have been reflecting on that, or the Lord was reminding me of that because I said, work buys my tithe. It has purchased my life.
[00:40:26] Christ has done that. And that dream, that dream led to a lot of reflection.
[00:40:35] And I wrote, when I think that work has purchased my life, I find comfort in my performance.
[00:40:44] I find despair in my future.
[00:40:47] I find temporary security in my paycheck.
[00:40:51] I find emptiness in the pursuit of the approval of man to give me identity.
[00:40:57] But when I remember that Christ has purchased my life, I find comfort in Christ's perfect performance on my behalf.
[00:41:05] I find the nearness of God in my failure. I find internal security in the cross.
[00:41:11] I find fullness in the approval of a God who traded my sin for Christ's righteousness.
[00:41:21] I wrote that, I've said and still say that Christians should be the most talented, most competent, hardest working and most respected workers in their workplaces.
[00:41:31] I believe that.
[00:41:33] I still believe that. But there's a spectrum.
[00:41:38] And that the spectrum at hand for our consideration is the spectrum between worshiping at work, worshiping through work, and worshiping at work.
[00:41:54] Right? Worshiping through our work and worshiping work.
[00:42:02] And in this particular season, here were some red flags for me that I was drifting or full tilt over here. Worshiping my work.
[00:42:14] I read emails first thing in the morning before reading my Bible.
[00:42:19] My work phone is always on hand.
[00:42:24] I pray infrequent gifts throughout the day.
[00:42:30] I think of people at work primarily as something I can get something from.
[00:42:40] I don't know where you see yourself in the spectrum between worshiping through your work to worshiping your work, but I do know this. The enemy, the world. They want us to believe one of two things. That either work is everything.
[00:42:58] Identity, security, worth, meaning, or that work is nothing.
[00:43:04] Right?
[00:43:05] Avoidance, apathy, passivity, irresponsibility.
[00:43:09] But both of these pitfalls, even though they have loud voices on either side, they're not true.
[00:43:18] The Gospel teaches us that work is a gift.
[00:43:22] The Bible teaches us that Christ has already worked perfectly on our behalf, that our acceptance is in his effort.
[00:43:35] The Bible also teaches in Ephesians 2 that we are his workmanship, created wide in Christ Jesus for good works. The Bible holds both of these tensions in hand.
[00:43:48] That we are created for good works yet, or good works do not define us, that we are called into action today where appropriate and wise. And yet that action we take does not save us, does not give us foundation for acceptance.
[00:44:06] The Bible teaches both.
[00:44:10] So as we get ready to close, I want to encourage you again with this.
[00:44:16] I said this at the beginning, I'll say it at the end. The Christian life is learning to pick up the plough as God calls and to set it down when God calls.
[00:44:30] Right? The sluggard won't pick it up.
[00:44:34] Sluggard says, no responsibility, no work, no thank you. The workaholic won't put the plow down.
[00:44:42] Wisdom does both.
[00:44:44] Why?
[00:44:46] Because the work belongs to God.
[00:44:49] Because Christ has already done the work and death is swallowed up in victory. Amen.
[00:44:56] Because the field and all that is in it belongs to God. Because the harvest and all the riches in it belong to God. Because the results and the glory belong to God. And the worker, you and me, the Christian, the laborer, working in your workplaces, in your homes, where the Lord calls you on your way as you go as a Christian, you, heart, body, mind and soul belong to God.
[00:45:31] So Proverbs 6 is not calling us to trust ourselves more.
[00:45:37] He's calling us to work hard, to work diligently, to work with the future in mind. To work now, but as the totality of the Bible does, to place our trust in God alone. The God never sleeps, never slumbers, and is always faithful to finish his work done.
[00:46:01] Amen. Let's pray.
[00:46:54] Sam.
