Fit or Misfit? (Part 1) — Richard Sipley

Thank you. Good evening. Do you enjoy working? Good question. You say, well, no, that depends. Depends on what kind of work you're talking about. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on the setting.

It depends on what I'm going to get out of it. It depends on all kinds of things. I've come to believe more and more over the years that all of us, as we enter into the activities of life, are either a fit or a misfit.

And as I've gotten older, I have more trouble with my feet. Now, if you're younger, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Because when I was younger, I had no idea what I'm talking about. But now I have to be very careful.

I have a good fit. And so when I get shoes, I have to really watch it and try to choose carefully so that they really fit just right. Because if they don't fit just right, I pay for that later. As I have gotten to know so many people over the years and worked with them and watched them work at all kinds of things, I have become convinced that one of the greatest problems in life is being a misfit in what you're doing.

Finding Purpose in Work

Now, the Lord has never asked me to be a farmer. Thank God. And if you ever want anything to eat, you should say thank God too. Because I'd probably starve the world to death. I like to be on a farm. I like to watch other people work on a farm.

But when I try to grow things, they just die. And some people, when they go to grow things, everything they touch just lives. It's gorgeous. Watch it. But the things I tried to grow, something is sick about them.

They don't make it. It doesn't seem that I fit in that category. I believe that the series that I'm starting tonight, and I'm just going to give an introduction to it tonight, I believe that it is so important that it can literally change some lives, even right in the midst of life, even later in life.

Because it's better to find out even if it's late than it is not at all. So, where did work come from? I'm going to begin tonight by just reading three very simple verses. Two of them have to do with creation.

Work Begins in God's Creation

And then, after that, we'll start getting into what I want to say tonight. Genesis 1 .31 and Genesis 2 .1 and 2. If you want to turn to Genesis, Genesis 1 .31 and Genesis 2 .1 and 2. You can tell this is the part of the creation account in the Bible.

Genesis 1 .31, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. It was just great. It was good. Anything that's not good in the world is not the way God made it. And that's just about everything.

Because when he finished that work, everything was good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. God has already created mankind. Genesis 2 .1 and 2. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day, God ended his, what's the next word? Work. God worked. In creating the universe and the earth, God worked. It was work. We say, I can't imagine God working. I mean, God is infinite.

God is, his power, his knowledge, his wisdom, his ability is absolutely infinite. He spoke and has stood fast. His word created the worlds. Yes, but the scriptures, and I believe the scriptures, you do too, don't you?

Call it work. Very interesting, isn't it? And so he ended his work, which he had made, that particular work. It doesn't mean that God ended all his work because he's still working, but God ended that work.

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. Now Mark 13 and verse 34, speaking to us. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants.

Not just commands, but authority. I like that. Authority to his servants and to every man his work. And commanded the porter to watch. So God works. God has worked and God is working. And we're going to see that as we go along through these scriptures.

Jesus said, I watch what my Father does as he works, and then I work like my Father works in cooperation with him. So God finished that work, but God is still at work. Aren't you glad? He didn't just create the universe and get it running like a top and go off and leave it and let her go.

No, but God is totally involved in it and is at work. And especially as far as the church is concerned, the people of God, God is doing his eternal work. The only question for us is, where do we fit? Where do we fit?

Examples of Misfitting and Overwork

When Casey decided he wasn't going to college immediately after graduation from high school, he almost had to change his last name. Though his mother didn't actually threaten to break his dinner plate, she secretly wondered if Casey really belonged in the family.

After all, education was a way of life in their household. That meant that not merely plodding through required high school, but going on to a good college in which a four-point average was maintained, and then automatically planning to go on to get graduate degrees.

The question was simply what kind of doctor's degrees you would get, not whether or not it was important to get one. So without thinking, Casey yielded to the family pressure and enrolled in college. After six weeks, he announced he was going to leave school and get a job.

He was going to feed pigs. Leprosy would have been more welcome. Feed pigs instead of go to college? Are you crazy? You're part of this family. How could you even think of doing such a thing? However, Casey was determined he not only fed the pigs for a local farmer, but did such a good job that he was put in charge of the entire farm.

He marketed his first batch of pigs for more money than his college tuition would have cost, and that's quite a bit. He felt tremendous satisfaction. Today, Casey's job is not complete. He knows his family explains his not being in school by saying, Casey is not in school now, but he is making so much money that he feels he ought to stay with this agribusiness thing for a while.

Trying to cover. At family gatherings, he is under quiet pressure to listen worshipfully as the other members of the family discuss their most recent academic triumph. He is always glad to get back to his production of pork chops.

He loves it, but he feels just a little guilty. Don't feel guilty, Casey. I like pork chops, too. It was a church conference. One of the speakers met Becky's mother as he waited in the long line outside a dining hall.

Do you know my daughter, Becky? A nice looking middle-aged lady asked him. Well, I don't think so, said the speaker. Who is she? My daughter, Becky, is a minister's wife in Chicago. And if I do say so myself, she is probably the most outstanding minister's wife in the state, maybe in the whole country.

Proud mom. He was impressed. A good wife is a great treasure, whatever a man's vocation may be. But for a pastor, a good wife is a priceless treasure. And I agree with him. He explained to the proud mother that he had a tremendous appreciation for minister's wives.

It takes a special kind of woman to recognize that the man who snores beside her at night can be the oracle of God in the Sunday service. You got to hand it to my wife. A good pastor's wife must have some kind of stained glass window in her soul through which she looks at all humanity, and her husband in particular, and his calling.

The proud mother continued, Becky is able to do so much and do it so well. I wonder if there's any limit to what she can do. Whatever people ask her to do, she not only does, but she excels. She plays the piano for the church services.

She organizes the children and adult choirs. She is president of the women's guild. She is program chairman for the parent-teachers organization. And she has organized Bible studies in two sections of the city.

Honestly, I don't know one more thing she could do. I know one, said the speaker. What, asked the surprised mother. She will find time to have a nervous breakdown. Nobody can fit into all those molds without destroying herself.

I admire her energy, but I feel sorry for her. The mother was aghast. Instead of praise, he had voiced pity. He had rained on her parade. They were both delighted that the conversation had taken them to a place in line where they had to pick up a tray and select their food.

There was nothing more that he wanted to say and nothing more that she wanted to hear. Becky did have a nervous breakdown. She had to be taken away from her church, her community, and her family for hospitalization.

She was not overworked. She was overmanaged. She could not possibly fit in all those places. She was a misfit, and it was about to destroy her. Shakespeare put it this way, First to your own self be true, and it must follow then, As night to day you cannot then be false to any man.

Why Human Beings Work

So what about this matter of work? Why must human beings work? Is it part of the curse? Some people would say, yes, I vote for that concept. No. Is work a clever plan to keep people busy and therefore out of trouble?

You've heard the old proverb, idle hands are the devil's workshop. Nonsense. Doesn't the devil ever make use of busy people? Does hard work guarantee godliness? Why is it that so many people do not seem to enjoy their work?

And you'll notice on the insert that's been in your bulletin that I quoted from a principal work on vocation where the author said that he took it for granted from his studies that 80 of people in North America were working in jobs for which they were not suited.

That's ghastly. 80%. Is work something unpleasant we must endure in order to make a living? Where did the concept of work come from? Who did the first work? Well, I've already read it to you tonight. Work began with God.

He did the first work. He created the universe. He created the earth. He did all those things. He put the plants and the animals and finally man upon the earth. He finished all that and he called it work.

So work began with God. I want us to take just a few minutes to see how work related to God and how God related to work. Have you ever thought of God as working? I've never thought of God as sweating.

But I have thought of God as working and really enjoyed it. God's work, what is it? Well, God's work is good. God saw everything he had made and behold it was very good. So the work that God did was a good work.

In other words, God was working when he created the universe and God was working when he created the earth and when he made everything that is upon the earth he was working. The Bible says he was working.

And when he finished his work it was something good that he had done. His work was good. He had done a good thing. And we should be able to so fit into the plan of God for our lives that the work we do turns out to be something good.

So God did good work. And it says that when he ended his work he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made. God's work was good. What did God work for? Why did God work? To earn a living?

Are you asleep? It's impolite to sit and stare when people ask you a question. Did God work to make a living? No. God said don't bring me any of these sacrifices. If I was hungry I wouldn't ask you for food.

That's what God said. He doesn't need anything. God is perfect and complete within himself. He needs nothing. That's very interesting. It's no wonder that Jesus said to the devil it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

I'll tell you what. The words of God that proceed from his mouth will do more to keep you alive than any food you can get in any grocery store. So God did not work to make a living. Why did he work? He worked as an end in itself rather than a means.

He did it for the fun of it. You say what? He did it for the fun of it. You say is that in the Bible? Yes, I just used a different word but it means the same thing. Here it is, Revelation 4 verses 9 to 11.

And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who lives forever and ever the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying you are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you have created all things.

That's what I've been talking about, God's work. For you have created all things and for your pleasure they are and were created. Now I don't know what kind of translation you've got in front of you but I have really checked this word out because I wanted to be sure.

I checked it out very carefully in the Greek text and it doesn't even take a Greek scholar to find out that it means exactly what it says, pleasure. God had fun creating the universe. I have fun just photographing it and trying to paint it.

God's Pleasure in Creation

God did it as an end in itself. He did it because he enjoyed doing it and he had pleasure in doing it. My wife and I just had our 57th wedding anniversary Friday and we have a year's pass at the Bouchard Gardens and so we decided to really blow it and have dinner in that special restaurant there.

And so we went back out of course and enjoyed the flowers again that they're getting some of the fall flowers in. And I just, I can picture God sitting down and saying I'm going to make a rose. You know, making this beautiful, out behind our house we have a big rose bush that has pink roses on it that still have smell in them.

I think it's a tragedy how the roses have lost their smell. I don't know how they've done that to them but these pink roses get huge and they have a wonderful rose odor. Can't you just see God enjoying making those roses and all the thousands of other flowers?

And I look at it and I say man, he didn't skimp like he could have made a dozen flowers instead of a million different kinds of flowers. God never skimped in anything he did. He must have had a ball. I have a book of African American sermons.

I just love them. And one of them is on the creation and it gets to the point of the creation of man and it says, and God sat down and said I think I'll make me a man. And then he goes on to describe God making a man.

And then he got the man all made and he said that's not so good. He needs a help me. So we have the first surgery in history. God gives him an anesthetic, puts him to sleep. So it says, it takes a rib and I guess it's got all the DNA that's needed and he takes the rib and he forms a complete woman and then brings it.

Don't you think he had fun? He had fun doing all that. God had a wonderful time creating. He did it, it says, for his pleasure. He did it to do something good and the world he created was good until sin got in it and he did it because he enjoyed doing it.

Creation Reveals God's Character

Okay, there's one other reason he did it. God did it to reveal himself to express who and what he is. Romans 1 18 to 20 says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God, that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it unto them for the invisible things, that is God, he's invisible, from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.

The writer is saying, when God did the creation, he revealed himself and in the creation, we see the infinite power and wisdom of God revealed. So the work that God did, he did to do something good, he did it because he enjoyed doing it and it gave him pleasure to do it and he had fun doing it and he did it to reveal himself.

Colossians 1 15 to 17, Jesus speaking of Jesus Christ who is the visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things hold together.

So he revealed himself in the creation. Psalm 19, many of us could quote some of this, verses 1 to 4, the heavens declare the glory of who? Of God and the firmament shows his handiwork, what he did with his work, the work of his hands.

Today and today utter a speech, night and tonight shows knowledge, there is no speech or language, where their voice is not heard, their words have gone to the ends of the world. Why? Because the creation, the work of creation reveals God.

Okay? So that's why, those are the three main reasons that God worked. Now he may have some other reasons that he hadn't told us about, but in the word of God, those are the three main reasons that he worked, to do something good, produce something good, because he enjoyed it and he did it for the fun of it and for the pure pleasure of doing it and he did it to reveal himself who he is and what he is.

Humanity's Work and God's Provision

Now what about you and me? Oh, you say I work because I want to eat. Well, I suppose that's an argument, but it's not too good of an argument. The devil said to Jesus, now if you're the son of God, why don't you, I mean you've been fasting 40 days and 40 nights and you're hungry and you're weak and if you're the son of God, why don't you turn these stones into bread and Jesus said, it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and God is able to keep man alive.

He kept Moses alive up on the mountain also 40 days and 40 nights without food because he was giving him his word and God's word is so powerful that it could keep us alive without any physical food if that's what God wanted to do and we've watched people who had nothing to eat or drink but for five days down New Orleans and they were still, unless they were terribly sick, they were alive and came through it.

Have you ever fasted? You say, are you kidding? Oh, you should try it sometime. Why? How does this fit with us? We are to work for the same reasons. What about man's work? And I'm going to just take some illustrations out of the Bible now.

Adam's Work Before the Fall

What about Adam? What about Adam, the first man on earth? Genesis 2, 7 to 10 and then verse 15. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives and man became a living being.

And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed that is in the garden. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, tree of life also in the midst of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Nobody had sinned yet. There was no sickness. There was no death. Adam was not going to die no matter what he did.

I suppose he enjoyed the food. You say, what if he hadn't had any food to eat? He couldn't have died because death is a result of sin. Jesus never sinned and he said, no man takes my life from me. I have the power to lay down, the power to take it again.

Death is a result of sin and sin had not yet entered the world. But here's Adam and God knows that he won't be happy without work. So he plants this gorgeous garden with everything he could imagine and couldn't imagine and he puts Adam in and he says, take care of it.

No thorns or thistles or I mean, none of the problems we have now trying to grow things because of the curse. And so right off at the beginning, the very first man was given work to do. What about Jesus?

Jesus' Work as the Father's Mission

The second Adam, the perfect man, the son of God, John 4, 34. Jesus said unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me to finish his work. You see, they had gone to buy some food and meanwhile Jesus had ministered to a needy woman, hadn't he?

And she had come through and had found Christ as her savior. And they come back and they said, you know, eat. And he said, you don't understand, I've had something better than the food you got. They said, well, did anybody give him any food?

He said, no, my food is to do the will of him that sent me to finish his work. Now Jesus did eat, but he's simply saying that the work God had given him to do was the great thing. That was the thing he really enjoyed.

John 5, 36, but I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish. The same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. Constantly talked about work.

John 9, 4, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night comes when no man can work. John 10, 25, and 32, Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

See, he's working to reveal God through his life. Many good works have I showed you from my Father for which of those works do you stone me. John 14, 10, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?

The words that I speak unto you, I do not speak of myself, but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. John 17, 4, I have glorified you on earth, I have finished the work which you gave me to do.

I said to God, not long ago, am I finished? He said, no. I said, okay, let's go. Jesus worked constantly, but he did the work that God had designed him to do, and he did it to produce good. How God anointed Jesus in Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, so the works that Jesus did were the same as his Father.

He was doing good. He did it because he enjoyed doing it. Can't you imagine the great pleasure and thrill and blessing in the life of Jesus doing what he was doing? I tell you, leading somebody to Christ from darkness into light, what a joy and pleasure it is.

Laying your hands on a sick person and having them healed right in front of your eyes, that's good stuff. You can't beat it. You try to find something that's more fun than that. So Jesus had a wonderful time.

Working Without Anxiety

And what about children of God? Well, I'll read you a passage here. Matthew 6, beginning with verse 25. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought. That is, when he says take no thought, he's saying don't be anxious.

Don't be anxious for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, or yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they do not sow, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much better than they? That's great. I'm going to ask you a question tonight and I want you to take it home with you and I want you to keep it for these next weeks as we go through this series.

If money were no object, what would you like to do? You have to really think about that. If money were no object, I thank God that I've been having fun for years doing exactly what I want to do. I feel sorry for you if you haven't been.

Somebody says, Ma, I must be terrible being a pastor. It isn't. It's wonderful. It's hilarious. It's fun. God made me this way and I just love it. And what I want you to do is to discover during this series how God made you so you can get in it and fit where you belong and do what God made you to do.

You'll have fun. Life will be wonderful. And Jesus said, Don't work just for food and clothes and a house. Don't work just for that. God takes care of the birds. He can take care of you. Don't do that.

You say, well, is God saying be lazy? No. God expects us to work. In fact, He said in the New Testament about some Christians that were lazy. If they don't work, don't give them any food. If they don't work, they don't eat.

So God never has blessed laziness. And that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just saying we have our thinking twisted. We live in a world of sinful men and we copy how they think and we think about work strictly as a means to make a living.

And that is wrong. It is false thinking. And Jesus says, don't do it. It's not the right approach. We are to work for the same reasons that God works to do good, to reveal God and to experience pleasure in our work.

Man's work was only incidentally a means to sustain life since God Himself is our provider. Philippians 4, 13, My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Matthew 4, 4 says, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Enjoying Work Despite Sin's Curse

Well, there've all been all kinds of problems came because of sin, right? Sin and the fall. And you say, well, because sin came and the world fell under the curse of sin and the power of Satan and therefore all that's changed.

No, it has not changed. It's more difficult and it's more problematic but it hasn't changed. God still wants us to enjoy our work. He wants us to find out what He has designed us to do and then do it and have fun doing it and bless people around us doing it and reveal God while we're doing it.

Absolutely. When I was a young pastor, I was pastoring a small church in Alabama and they really couldn't pay us enough to take care of us. And so I got a job with a state highway department and I worked in the engineering department.

It was a lot of fun. I'm an artist and so I was designing and doing stuff that I really enjoyed and I had so much fun in that work and it was so much fun to bless the people around me who weren't having any fun.

And they said, now, if you're going to design highways in here, you have to go out with a field crew for a while and learn how they make the books and they bring them in and then you design out of it.

But you're going to have to go out and work. They said, when you go out there, we've got a civil engineer who was a Navy chief and boy, I'll tell you, when he hollers, you'll run. I said, well, we'll see.

So I went out there and he was hollering and cursing people and I never did run. You say, why not? Because I wasn't working for him. I haven't worked for anybody since God called me and I got it straight.

The word of God says that we work for Christ. Let me read it to you. Colossians 3 .22. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. Could it be plainer? And every job I've ever worked at, I've been doing it for Jesus.

And so I try to do it right. I do it for him. Asking his help. You say, would he help you? Absolutely. Would he help you design a highway? Yes, he would. He doesn't want people to get killed on the highway.

He would help me design a highway or a bridge or anything else that I needed to design. A man came in from the federal government. He said, have you got anybody here that can do perspective drawing? He said, we're going to put interstate highways all over the United States so that if we ever have a serious war in which the war comes here to our shores, we have a network of interstate highways that cover the country.

And we're going to have to get a lot of property and so forth. And we need somebody who can go out to a site take photographs and bring in the photographs, tie them down to a point and design a cloverleaf and show before and after for court cases.

Have you got anybody here can do that? And I thought, man, that sounds like fun. I said, I can do that. You say, where did you learn to do that? Shortly thereafter. I did know how to do perspective drawing.

I did know that, but I did not know how to go out and take a photograph and get my point and my measurements, come back in and tie the whole drawing down. We did big four by eight foot paintings of the thing before and after for court cases.

One time designed the whole city hospital and big cloverleaf and everything. Do you think that the Lord knew how to do all that? It was so much fun. They gave me three guys to work for me and out we went.

And I went to work every day and played all day long. And when they had a labor problem, who do you think they went to? The preacher. And we sat down and worked out their labor problem so they could get back to work.

Had lots of fun. See, I know that what I'm talking about is the truth from God's word and from experience. And I just want to get some of you so excited tonight you're going to say, listen, this sounds like good stuff to me and I'm going to get this thing down.

I'm not going to miss one of these Sunday night services until he's finished. Even if I have to, you know, whatever. Nothing wrong. Don't do anything wrong. But I'm going to be right there and I'm going to learn this entire thing because I'm going to walk you through it and before I'm finished, you're going to sit here one night and you're going to say, that's me.

He's describing me exactly the way I'm made. Yes, absolutely. There's a Christian family in Calgary and they took us on an Alaska cruise and we had a nice room and cost them a lot of money. That man was a young businessman as ungodly as he could be and he walked into our church in Regina and God arranged it that he walked in just as I started this series.

And the night that I described him, he was so gripped by it that he got saved and he married one of our Christian girls and they have a Christian family and he has a business in which he's honoring the Lord because he found out where God wanted him to be.

God Forms Christ's Image in His People

The great Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini told of receiving a vast block of marble with one flaw. Because of this flaw, no artist would submit a design except one. In the public square of Florence, a fence was built around that piece of marble and a little shack was erected for the artist.

For two years, the sculptor labored. Then the fence was torn down and the shack was taken away. All of Florence beheld the result and marveled and since then, Italy and all the world has marveled at Michelangelo's statement.

In that block of marble was a statue others did not see, but Michelangelo did. In the pieces of stone, which are you and me, God sees an image, the image of Jesus Christ and God wants to form the image of his son in each one of us.

He is the master artist and he can do it. Amen? Not one of us needs to be a misfit and it's so much more fun when you're in the slot for which God has designed you. Make a commitment in your heart tonight.