The Redemption of Work (Selected Scriptures)

Kootenai Church

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Well, good morning to you welcome to Kootenai Community Church at Elk Sunday School and Let's open with a word of prayer our father.

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What a delight and what a privilege to gather here together this morning To be among the people of God To hear the

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Word of God To be strengthened and encouraged in our walk of faith and to be used by you

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In the lives of our brothers and sisters here at Kootenai Father may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in your sight

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We pray in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Well for the last two weeks we have been dealing with the bad news of sin

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So as we've been developing our biblical theology of work, it was necessary to do that We spoke about Adam's fall and the effect of that fall upon The creation itself and its implications for work and how the

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Consequences of that is it has made work far more difficult and frustrating than it was originally designed and intended to be

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And that is going to be our reality for the foreseeable future for us

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Less than until the Lord Jesus Christ returns We also looked last week at the effect of the fall upon the sinner so the two weeks ago was upon the creation itself

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Last week it was upon the sinner and that our sin intervenes and interferes with our work and we looked extensively at what the

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Proverbs have to say about the sluggard and the sin of laziness and how that impacts

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Work for all of us and creates just further difficulties But this morning we happily turn the corner

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And so if you've been hanging in here with us, we turn the corner happily this morning and from now on out

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If I can say it this way we are beginning to look at good news good news and it begins here with the redemption of work

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So the topic before us this morning is the redemption of work George Washington Carver George Washington Carver was born to slave parents in 1864

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He grew up as an orphan in the tumultuous post -south

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Civil War And according to his own testimony, he came to faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ as a ten -year -old Dr. Carver was endowed by his creator with a very keen mind

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And he graduated with a degree of agriculture from Iowa State College at a time when that was unheard of for a black man for decades

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The South had relied on cotton to fuel its economy But years of over planting had depleted the soil the farmers knew that planting things like peanuts and Sweet potatoes would rejuvenate the soil

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But they were unable to do so because there was no viable market for peanuts or for sweet potatoes at that time and The banks were unwilling to lend them the agricultural crop money

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They needed in order to plant each year if they were going to plant peanuts or sweet potatoes because the bankers knew they can't sell this stuff and So they were forced by their economy to continue to plant cotton

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Year after year after year and just further deplete the soil By the way is one of the reasons prior to the

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Civil War why there was such a Conflict over westward expansion and whether a westward expansion would be slave state or free state

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And it had a lot to do with the planting of cotton They needed fresh land to plant cotton on in order to continue to produce the yields to support their economy in 1896

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Booker T. Washington the president of Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama Hired dr.

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Carver to come to the school and teach the poor black students there at the school Over the next 40 years.

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Dr. Carver taught and did research on the peanut and the sweet potato And in the process he developed over 300 uses for the peanut and a hundred and eighteen uses for the sweet potato

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Some of those uses included the following things Adhesives axle grease bleach buttermilk chili sauce fuel briquettes printers ink instant coffee

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Linoleum mayonnaise meat tenderizer metal polish paper plastic

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Pavement shaving cream shoe polish synthetic rubber talcum powder and wood stain a few of the products that came from the fertile mind of this amazing man

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Asked years later in his life how he was able to be so inventive

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He explained that he had asked God to help him discover the potential latent in the peanut

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He had asked God to help him to discover the What was latent the potential latent in the peanut in 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 5 and verse? 17 Paul writes if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature

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Old things passed away behold new things have come That is a very very significant statement

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Very significant statement because it speaks of the radical trend radical transformation that occurs in a sinner at the moment of redemption

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When we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are truly changed

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Truly changed and we are set upon a new path and a new trajectory of life

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That transfer to take or that transformation has the potential to change everything about us everything the potential latent in that transformation knows no bounds and Includes the way we understand engage in work the

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God -given task of work Tom Nelson writes

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The gospel does not wrap us with a thin religious or ethical veneer

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But goes to the very core of our sinful minds and hearts When we embrace the good news of the gospel

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We are transformed from the inside out When we embrace the good news of the gospel

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We are transformed from the inside out Think with me on an analogy here as we're getting started and the analogy

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I want you to think about is marriage Once you think about the analogy of marriage to work and let me make the connection for you

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When we understand the change that occurs in marriage

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When a man and a woman repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved

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There is everything changes for them in marriage Paul lays out in in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 to 31

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Kind of the outline of the types of change that occurs in marriage You remember that there where the man now has been given the both the desire and the ability to begin to love and lead and serve his wife as Christ loves and leads the church and the woman is enabled to begin to respect and Submit to her husband and follow her leadership as Eve was designed to do as Adam's help mate there in the beginning and so the the

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Transformation that occurs in Christian marriage is an analogy of the kind of transformation that occurs in work when once one comes to faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ and begins to Understand the implications of what that means to a trance total transformation of life.

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It transforms your marriage There is a such thing as a Christian marriage and it transforms your work

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There is a such thing as a as a Christian ethic of work Doug Sherman writes

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Christ death does not change work But changes the worker

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Christ death does not change work, but Changes the worker and that's what

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I want to talk with you about And so this morning what I have for you is four reasons

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Four reasons why being a Christian changes the way we work

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Four reasons why being a Christian Changes the way we work so that we will think and do rightly in the workplace

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So that we will think and do rightly in the workplace. In other words the Transformation that Paul speaks of in first Corinthians second

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Corinthians 517 works out through Work itself through work itself.

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So The first reason for you the first of the four reasons reason number one we have a new understanding of work

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We have a new understanding of work open your

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Bible to the second chapter of Ephesians a New understanding of our work in that we now understand that work is worship

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Work is worship Work is worship In Ephesians chapter 2.

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This is well known to you but beginning in verse 8 Paul says for by grace you have been saved through faith and That not of yourselves.

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It is the gift of God Not as a result of works so that no one may boast

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For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works

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Which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them

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In other words when we are saved by grace alone through faith alone and the Lord Jesus Christ alone

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We now begin on a new life and it is a life of good works

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Good works do not Cause they're not the cause of our salvation, but they are effect of our salvation

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We are set on that new path that new life these good works that have been as Paul says here prepared beforehand predestined for us to work in Well, what are they?

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What are they are we just left to guess what these good works are No, we are not all specifies them for us and the structure of the book of Ephesians very very simple chapters 1 2 and 3

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Lay out the doctrine of salvation and all the great truths associated to it and then beginning in chapter 4 5 and 6 we

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Paul speaks about the good works that we have been predestined to do now that we are followers of the

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Lord Jesus Christ And you see in chapter 4 and verse 1 where Paul says therefore that's a transitionary

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Statement therefore I the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called

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They're to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they've been called This advert worthy axios in the

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Greek. It means worthy or suitable Worthy or suitable it carries the idea literally of to bring up the other beam of a scale

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So if you think about a balanced scale it has the idea of bringing it into balance

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Bringing up the beam of the scale bring it into equilibrium And so what

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Paul is exhorting them and through them us through this letter us is to bring our conduct into Balance or in the equilibrium with our divine calling in other words.

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We are to live like what we are We are new creations in Christ. We're to live like new creations in Christ And then chapters 4 through 6 are an amplification of what that means

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Paul teases out for us the implications of a worthy walk so What are the implications of a worldly lock walk?

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Well, we're just going to look carefully or quickly rather at them and and the first has to do with church

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It's in chapter 4 verse 2 through 16 Where Paul speaks about a unity in diversity a unity in diversity

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This is the worthy walk for the follower of Christ beginning in chapter 4 and verse 17 and running through chapter 5 and verse 21

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Paul addresses the personal life of the believer and There he speaks about a holiness of mind and body

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So a worthy walk is a walk that that is both is holy in both mind and body and Paul lays that out there

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He then begins to speak about a worthy walk with regard to the family with regard to the family beginning in chapter 5 verse 22 and running through chapter 6 and verse 4 and Paul addresses the issues of marriage and family

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What is a worthy walk look like with regard to a Christian marriage and a Christian family?

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So he speaks about it there Chapter 6 verses 5 through 9

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Paul addresses the topic of work work, what does a worthy walk look like in the context of work of the first century and so he picks up in particular the issues of slaves and masters slaves and masters and we'll get to this in a little bit and Then finally bringing chapter 6 in verse 10 running through 17

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He speaks about a worthy walk with regard to our community. What is a community of believers look like living in a hostile world?

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What is a worldly a worthy walk look like and so he addresses it there So What this means is that how and why we work so circling back to work how and why we work changes as a result of our salvation

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Changes as a result of our salvation It now becomes a good work a good work expressing worship to the

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God who has saved us Work is now worship for you and I as a follower of Christ Beyond that we understand

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That work is godlike Work is godlike Colossians chapter 1 verse 17

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Paul writes there. He that is Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together

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He is before all things and in him all things hold together Beloved Christ is the one who sustains

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Upholds orders Manages arranges forms fills decorates and beautifies the creation and as those

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Recreated in the image of Christ we share in a small way in these godlike activities

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It's it's part of the Dominion mandate of Genesis 1 26 to 31

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And what that means is that when we apply ourselves to our work expressing our

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God -given talents The abilities that he has given us. We are emulating

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Christ We're emulating Christ and we are acting in accordance with the way.

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God has created us This gives God great pleasure

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This gives God great pleasure And when God is pleased with us we can sense it and We also have a derived pleasure in that reality when when we are living

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You know in accordance with the instructions right the way we've been designed that pleases

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God and When we are pleasing to God we sense his pleasure in us

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It's real we get a glimpse of this reality in the famous quote by Eric Liddell Remember that Eric Liddell in 1924 he was the

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Olympic winner of the men's 400 meter race and if you've ever seen the movie chariots of fire, and I'm sure you have and I'm not gonna try the

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Scottish Brogue for you this morning But his sister is is

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Saying and speaking to him and saying, you know, you're you're going to be a missionary. You shouldn't be

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Wasting your time training to run an Olympic race and so forth and he says to her

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I Believe God made me for a purpose But he also made me fast and When I run

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I feel his pleasure When I run I feel his pleasure he was on to something there

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When we work as God designed us

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And he has designed us all with certain Individualities about us when we work in accordance with that design we feel the pleasure of God After those

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Olympic Games, by the way, Eric Liddell went on to serve 20 years as a missionary in China He died of a brain tumor in a

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Japanese prison camp just five months before the end of World War two George Washington Carver understood this reality

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And it guided him in his work with the peanut he sensed the pleasure of God the pleasure of God, so We have a new understanding of work

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Secondly We have a new boss for our work a new understanding of work and now a new boss a new boss the

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New Testament does not Directly address the work situation in which you and I find ourselves today.

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It is not directly addressed in the New Testament The rise of a free middle class is a development historically that occurs many many many centuries later

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So in the world of the New Testament Half of the

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Roman Empire were slaves Approximately half of the Roman Empire were

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Slaves slavery was very much the economic foundation and basis of the

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Roman Empire And in those days The slaves could be found in all walks of life all walks of life this is not the abomination of American Enslavement of African peoples

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That is such a sad state on our own nation's history. This is a far different world in the first century people became slaves generally in one of three ways, so they were either born into slavery or they became slaves through financial loss in other words, they became into a financial situation that that Wiped them out and they would sell themselves into slavery in order to extinguish their debts

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And in the process by the way, they would be fed and clothed and sheltered and so forth or it was by military conquest military conquest prisoners of war that kind of thing now

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The majority of the slaves in the first century Roman Empire were household slaves It's called household slaves and they are by the way, one of the primary audiences of the

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New Testament primary audience of the New Testament And although they were considered property.

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They generally had the opportunity of upward social mobility

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They were allowed to earn money on the side and save it

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Invest it start a business and if they prospered eventually to to purchase their own redemption out of slavery now

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It was a it was a system that was Hard for us to put the pieces together because legally their masters could be very harsh with them

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Up to and including executing them for certain offenses And so there was upward social mobility, but there was at the same time this harshness about the whole system

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By the way, they were in all walks of life teachers doctors engineers

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All walks of life. So when the New Testament writes about Christianity and slavery, it's not

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Specifically addressing the day -to -day issues of your and my employment. Okay, not directly addressing such things

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But there are certain principles that can be drawn from the text that are applicable to us today

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And that's what I want to do. So first We work to serve

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Christ not men We work to serve

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Christ not men Colossians chapter 3

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Beginning in verse 22 Colossians chapter 3

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And beginning in verse 22 slaves

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In all things obey those who are your masters on earth Not with external service as those who merely please men

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But with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord Whatever you do do your work heartily as for the

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Lord rather than for men Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the war reward of the inheritance.

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It is the Lord Christ whom you serve For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done in that without Partiality Paul's command here in verse 22 to obedience stresses a constant daily obedience

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Both to the things the slave like to do and the things that they didn't like to do Right the unpleasant part of their job.

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You notice that in the expression all things, right? verse 22 slaves in all things

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In all things in other words in every aspect of their lives. They were to be obedient to their masters

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Short of one thing which is that if they were called upon to be in direct disobedience to God then acts 529 they need to obey

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God rather than man and They would have to refuse and take whatever consequence came their way

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But nothing else was excluded Nothing else excluded furthermore the spiritual condition of the master was irrelevant

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The spiritual condition of their master was irrelevant. In other words, they were to pay their master in all things

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In all things and the manner that they were supposed to obey is stated both negatively here with external service not with external service literally

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I service and then Positively Further in the verse verse 22, but with sincerity of heart

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So together that communicates the idea that the slave is to work not only when the master is looking

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And and not only enough to meet the minimum standard But in such a way that their inner attitude and their outer conduct are compatible that they brought up the beam

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That brought up the beam why why

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Why is this The command that is laid upon these believing slaves

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The answer is is because the Christian slave in spite of his outer circumstances Actually is working for Christ Actually is working for Christ he is their true master look verse 23

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Whatever you do do your work heartily as for the

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Lord Rather than for men and verse 24. It is the

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Lord Christ whom you serve There to work heartily

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There to work with enthusiasm It's an act of worship to God That I could worship to God Because Christ is their true master

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Paul promises that Christ will reward their obedience in the area of work not at the end of the day

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But at the end of the age Because God doesn't tally the books at the end of every day

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Now Paul is addressing slaves

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He's addressing slaves here and they are the lowest members of society

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They're involved in the daily Menial often disgusting work as a household slave

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But he's telling them that their work is in fact serving Christ Their work is serving

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Christ and that understanding enables you To understand that your work is serving

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Christ Your work is serving Christ. What does it look like?

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What does it look like? To serve Christ rather than man, let me suggest a few general ideas for you and You're gonna have to build this out yourself.

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I should say this about this entire series There will be general applications.

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You have to build it out specifically to your circumstance But what does it look like to serve

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Christ rather than man well, let me suggest some things for you It is to be thankful and have a helpful attitude

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Toward work in general toward work in general and our job in particular

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To have a thankful and helpful attitude towards work and our job it's to have a thankful and helpful attitude towards our co -workers and our supervisors

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Second it's to work hard and with diligence to work hard and with diligence why because Jesus is watching and You are ultimately working for him

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Reference to last Sunday about the slugger. We're to be honest honest in our dealings honest in our dealings

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Honest in our time cards. I know that's a quaint kind of expression, but you understand Honest in our time cards.

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In other words that we Should work the hours that we're being paid for We're to be honest in our price quotes

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In our price quotes in other words, no baits and switch Pricing we're to be honest with our guarantees and our refund policies

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We're to be honest with our truth in advertising claims Do you notice how there's laws about all of this stuff

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But a Christian doesn't need law the laws for the unbeliever.

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The Christian is self -regulated Why because a lot of God's written on our hearts right not on tablets of stone

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The Spirit within on our heart and so all of these laws are for the unbelievers But for the Christians, we don't need these we shouldn't need these

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We should be truthful in our advertising we should be honest in our hiring and firing practices

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Honest in our hiring and firing Or We should do our best to produce a quality product at a fair price

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We should do our best to produce a quality product at a fair price

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Caveat emptor right let the buyer beware The idea that it's up to him to figure out if it's junk or not

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Should not be a Christian work ethic. We should not engage in price gouging price gouging in other words because of Market shortages we have someone over a barrel and so let's charge them twice the going rate three times the going rate

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Because we have them over a barrel That's not Christian fifth and finally

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We need to take a stand for righteousness in the workplace take a stand for righteousness in the workplace

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I'm reminded of Paul's words in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 4 pick it up in 3

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But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among Saints There must be no filthiness or silly talk course jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks

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Or this you know is certainty that no immoral or import impure person or covetous man

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Who is an idolatry has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God in other words?

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we're to refuse to contribute to listen to participate in the kind of of vulgar talk that occurs in the workplace

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That was once Mainly the dominion of men, but it has now sadly become very much the dominion of women as well

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We're followers of Christ week. We can't participate in these things. We need to be able to turn and walk from it

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Turn and walk away. So we have a new understanding of work

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We have a new boss for our work third reason We have a new orientation

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Toward our work a new orientation Toward our work

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Not only do we as Christians have a new understanding and a new boss We have a new orientation toward work

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Here it is It's the answer to Cain's question. Am I my brother's keeper?

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The answer is yes, you are Yes, you are You are your brother's keeper

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You are your brother's keeper Again, look at Colossians chapter 4 Verse 1 masters

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Grant to your slaves justice and fairness Knowing that you too have a master in heaven

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Grant to your slaves justice and fairness By Roman law the master could be cruel

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Could be unreasonable But Paul instructs the Christian slave owner here to not do what is legal

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But instead to do what is right Justice fairness

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Why? Why? The answer is because ultimately even the slave owner is a slave of Christ even the slave owner is

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The slave of Christ you see that the end of the verse here you to have a master in heaven.

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So Let me just talk to you this morning. If you find yourself in the position as a business owner you're a

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Christian business owner or Perhaps you are a manager

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Have supervisory authority Serious management supervisory authority over employees.

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How do you apply this idea? to your life today Let me suggest this to you provide fair pay and reasonable working conditions to your employees

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Provide Reasonable or fair play or fair pay and and reasonable working conditions to your employees remember

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God is generous God is generous and we made in his image.

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We bear the family likeness. We are to be generous as well Christians are be generous

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People generous people as Christians we should not have to rely on governmental laws and Regulations that tell us what a fair wage is in the early years of the

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Industrial Revolution Trade unions sprang up trade unions and the reason primarily that trade unions arose was because of the working conditions and pay scales of the industrialists of that age

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They were greedy The maximization of profit was what drove them with little or no concern for the welfare of those who worked for them

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Spend a little time do a little digging with regard to the working conditions of the late 19th early 20th century and it is absolutely horrifying and So the labor unions the trade union movement arose to try to Balance the power as it were listen the

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Christian We should operate our businesses in such a way that for our company to unionize would be a step backwards

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They would see it as a step back. Are you kidding me? Aren't the Union Union people come out and say hey, we want you to unionize and they go are you crazy if we unionize we're gonna be worse off because the

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Person owns this company the man or the woman who owns this company the man or the woman who is managing this operation

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They treat us with respect They pay us generously Why would we step back in time?

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We have a new understanding of work We have a new boss for our work.

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We have a new orientation toward work and Last we have a new stamina

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For our work a new stamina for our work newsflash

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Being a Christian does not mean Being a Christian does not mean

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That all of your difficulties at work are going to melt away

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Okay Nor does it mean that you are somehow now going to be possessed of an advantage over your unsaved co -workers

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Like, you know come to Jesus trust Jesus and when you go back to work on Monday, you're bound to get promoted

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No No, you're probably bound to get persecuted actually Listen, nothing changes at work

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Nothing is going to change at work tomorrow morning except you except you as you

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Think deeply on these things pray on these things integrate this into your lives. You will change

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Work won't change you will change you may well find yourself working for an unbelieving boss

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Who is quite unreasonable? You may have find yourself working for an unbelieving boss who is quite

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Unreasonable. So the new stamina comes when we are able to see good while working for an unreasonable boss

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All right, nothing changes but you what changes your perspective your ability to now see good while working for an unreasonable boss

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I Hesitate to to quote this verse to you just because it has been so abused but it is so true.

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I'm going to anyway And in his Romans chapter 8 and verse 28

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Where we know that God causes God causes all things to work together

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For good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose

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You could also feed in the last 10 sermons. We've been hearing from Hebrews chapter 12 now

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Practically speaking when working for an unreasonable boss There are a few things we need to do in order to develop this stamina a few things we need to do the first thing we need to do is self -evaluate self -evaluate think

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Matthew 7 verse 3 right take the log out of your own eye before trying to pluck the

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Spliver the sliver the sliver of the sprinter out of the eye of the other person, right? In other words when you turn your head to face your boss

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You'll whack them in the side of the head with this gigantic log sticking out of your eye. So you need to self -evaluate

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Are you lazy? You need to look in the mirror and ask that question. Am I lazy?

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Am I a lazy worker and if you are you need to repent of your laziness and begin to establish patterns of Good and hard work diligence

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Okay You may have an unreasonable boss because you're lazy You're Christian and you're lazy

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You may have an unreasonable boss at work because you're unsubmissive You are unsubmissive

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In other words, you're not willing to take instruction from your boss you think you know better Again go back a week review the message on being the slugger, right?

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The slugger is wiser in his own eyes and seven men who can give a good answer Maybe you're maybe you're just flat unsubmissive.

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Maybe you're incompetent Yeah Maybe you're incompetent

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In other words, maybe you're in a job that that you are not competent to do

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This is this is not an insult This is that this is a self -evaluation of reality Maybe because the

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Peter principle you've been promoted to a position that you're not competent for Or maybe you somehow talk your way into a job that you get there and you find out.

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I Don't know how to do this I'm incompetent possible

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We shouldn't rule these things right out. So first self -evaluate

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Second having determined with the help of wise counselors that the problem lies with your boss and not with you

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Don't make the immediate assumption that the problem is his not mine But if that so then you must by faith welcome god's opportunity to grow in grace

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James chapter 1 james chapter 1

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Consider it all joy. My brethren when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance

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And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach and It will be given to him

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Embrace it as an opportunity to grow in grace to grow in endurance What if it's unbearable what if my job is unbearable well

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In first Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 21 you can circle this verse in your

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Bible It's kind of your escape clause Paul writes there were you called while a slave?

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Do not worry about it But if you are able also to become free rather do that Rather do that in other words if you work for just an absolutely

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Intolerable situation and you have prayed and you have endured and it is it is just eating you up Change jobs get another job.

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Well, I won't be able to replace my income Yeah, maybe not Maybe not you have some hard decisions to make along the way

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But if you can if it's intolerable and you've you've endured and it's still intolerable

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Then if you can get another job It's permissible Throughout the whole difficult process we are able to see good as God enables us by his grace

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To respond well to the provocation I'm using up my minutes here, but that's fine.

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First Peter 2 We are over time on the meter first Peter 2 18 to 23

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Servants be submissive to your masters with all respect. Not only to those who are good and gentle but also to those who are unreasonable

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For this finds favor with God if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly

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But what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience? But if when you do it is right and suffer for you patiently endure it this finds favor with God Or you have been called for this purpose

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Since Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps

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Finally Finally, we're able to have new stamina for our work and the difficulties associated with us when we understand

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That it helps us long for the kingdom It sets our eyes off of the horizontal and up to the coming kingdom

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For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to Corruption into the freedom the glory of the children of God.

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Listen, there is a glorious time coming when work will finally and for the first time

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Provide the kind of satisfaction that was built into it by God Christ conquered sin and death for us on the cross and when he returns he will establish his kingdom and That is our ultimate place for Stamina when you experience frustration tomorrow morning.

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I want you to use that opportunity to pray and then to look longingly for the return of Christ and Then persevere into good in your work

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Let's pray our father we ask for your spirit to work in our hearts to enable us to embrace the truth by faith and Begin to implement it in each of our lives in the specific circumstances in which we find ourselves

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May our Christianity shine forth in the jobs that you have called each of us to We ask for Jesus sake