The Christian Work Ethic — Eric Ludy

Hi, this is Ben Zorns of Ellerslie Mission Society. I think my mom dreaded asking me if I had cleaned my room, because she knew that while my room appeared clean, my closet and underneath my bed were filled with all the junk.

I'm really grateful God doesn't have a work ethic like 10-year-old Ben did, and that he is refining his people to labor as he does. This deeply convicting message by Pastor Eric Lutie is entitled The Christian Work Ethic, and it will certainly lead you into a cry for a deep reliance on Christ.

Please contact us at www .ellerslie .com. Now here's Pastor Eric Lutie.

The Christian Work Ethic and the God-Level Life

The Christian Work Ethic. This message has the potential to make you feel very, very, very uncomfortable, because the ethic that we have grown up around is slovenly, sluggish, lethargic, and it excuses mediocrity, and in fact, oftentimes, it praises it as excellence, because compared to the lack of quality in so many lives, a little sparkle of integrity, a little sparkle of hard work, shows forth such an excellence in comparison with the low-quality standards of our generation that people praise it.

They give it standing ovations. And I'm saying, let's remain in our seats a little longer. We give our standing ovation to Jesus Christ. We want to be dead serious about this Christianity. This is not something we're playacting in.

And when it comes to how we live out our every moment of every day, this is very important, because God has a manner in which a Christian is to live, and it's not necessarily been passed down to all of us that are Christians, that grew up in the Christian world.

There's a higher level of living. It's the God level of living. And you could say, well, I can't live at the God level. You're right. He can, in you. It's Christianity. Your life is not your own. You're the habitat of the Most High God.

These hands now belong to Him. So how would He use them? That's the key question of a Christian. These feet belong to Him. So if these are His feet, how would He use them? This mind belongs to Him. So if He has control of it, what would His thoughts be?

These eyes belong to Him. So if He's truly operating them, what's He looking at? How's He handling His job? Because God, this is going to sound strange, but God works. Isn't that an odd thing to think about God working?

We always think of a time clock. God doesn't clock in, clock out the way we would envision someone working. But God works. And however He's working, we must learn to adopt His method. And so that's what this message is about.

Christian Ethics as God-Worshiping Conduct

Christian ethics. There's a big word for you. Ethics. It's one of those words that every one of us has heard, but very few of us actually know what it means. So what I've done is I've baked down a very, very basic understanding of it from a Christian mindset.

Because you could remove Jesus from the idea of ethics and still have them. It's basically a moral framework or pattern. But who's approving it? Who's coming up with it? It would be society. Well, Christians, we don't care about what society says.

We care about what God says. So when God comes up with a pattern for living, we take note of that. So the Christian ethics are the Christ principle of honor and action and of God-worshipping manner and behavior.

In other words, there's a God-worshipping way that we should live. It actually worships God with the way that we handle our daily life. Your thoughts, your actions, your interactions with other people, the way you handle a job.

That's what specifically we're going to go after is work. Because this is the Christian work ethic. Because there's a lot of things that this could apply to. But we're going to deal specifically with work.

And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Listen, Paul says it again. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men.

Boy, we could just take that one scripture and it would transform many of our lives. Whatever you do. You see, there's things, as I've been preparing this message this week, I have been deeply convicted.

This is just a very uncomfortable message. Because there are certain areas of my life where I have demonstrated a very high work ethic. And I could easily look at myself compared to other people and go, You know what?

I'm fairly impressive here. These other people aren't giving any effort into these things. And look at me. I am working very hard. However, what does God do? He points at a few other areas that other people may not see.

They're not as public. And He goes, Well, what about that? Well, I mean, are you expecting perfection in all these areas? Yes. You represent me, whether the blinds are closed or not. It doesn't matter.

So every dimension of our life needs to come into agreement with what we're going to explore here. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him. Some of your ways, a few of your ways, you can acknowledge Him. All your ways.

That means every corner of your life, every nuance, every angle. All your ways, you acknowledge Him and you show forth the fact that you know this matters to Him. Whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

That means without exception, every corner of your life is under the glory of God. The three works that, you know, we're going to explore this. This isn't what the message is on, but this is sort of an overview.

Physical Labor, Spiritual Belief, and the Work of Grace

Our daily physical labor for bread. Now, when we typically are thinking about work, in a classical secular sense, this is what we're talking about. In other words, I'm going to work today. Most of you aren't thinking that that person means they're going to go into their prayer closet.

Or that they're going to abide in Christ. Or that that means God's doing some great work. We know what it means. It means someone is going and earning a living. There's somehow, as we say, our daily physical labor for what?

For bread. We need to survive in this life and if you don't work, you don't eat. Where did I get that line from? If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. That's a good classic Paul statement. Which is really strange because we as Christians are so paranoid about work.

We as Christians don't work. Where do we get this stuff from? You see, we have this real huge mix-up on the topic of work. And that is that if you were trying to work your way into heaven, it doesn't work that way.

That isn't the correct way of working. However, did you know that there still is work for us to do? I have a whole message and I don't want to steal the thunder from it, but I gave it a few months ago.

It's called the work of a believer. We have a job to do. And that is, our job is to believe in God. That's our job, is to abide in Him. But that's our spiritual work. We actually have a physical, practical, daily work that we must do as well.

And here this is New Testament. And Paul is making it clear. If you do not work, neither shall you eat. And what kind of work is he talking about? We know what kind of work he's talking about. So don't super-spiritualize Christianity to mean that it's an absenteeism from actual real-world labor.

That's what our generation wants. We're sluggish, we want it on our terms, we want it easy. And as a result, we try and even use our Christianity to excuse ourselves. Then here's another work. Our daily believing work for God's glory.

This is what we mean by, Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him who He hath sent. You believe. Your job every moment of every day is to trust the Word of God.

Even if the natural realm entirely stands up against it, you say, But I believe my God. That's your work. But it's your spiritual work. It's the work of your soul. You are constantly standing. This is the great labor of the Christian life.

I believe my God. But what about this? What about this? Did God really say? Yes, He said it. I believe it. He has revealed His Word and I stand on that Word. Unflinchingly. Unmoved. And then we have God's work for us, in us, and through us.

Of course, this is the great saving work. This is the work of grace. So when we talk about the gospel of grace, this is it. It's the work of God. And so when we are saved by grace and not by works, what are we talking about?

We're talking about God's work. We cannot accomplish what God can accomplish. Therefore, we must yield to it and say, God, do your work in me. And so, three different works. There's a practical, real-world work for bread.

And then, there is a believing work of the soul. For what? For this to take place in you. So these are three different works and we'll explore each one of them. God works. I know that it's a funny-looking thing grammatically, but it basically means Jehovah God actually does work.

Okay? Not that, you know, faith works. You know, that type of thing. Have you tried it? It works. It's like, oh yeah, and if you've ever tried God, He works. This means God actually sort of has a career.

Okay? And He goes to work. And His work is to rescue you. He's literally standing in the gap to make sure that you are saved to the uttermost. And on the seventh day, God ended. Listen to this. His work.

What's He working for? He's God. Which He had made and He rested on the seventh day from all. What? His work, which He had made. His work, as it says in Deuteronomy, is perfect. His work is honorable and glorious.

Can that be said about our work? Isn't that an interesting statement? Whose work are you supposed to be doing? You're about the Father's business. You ever thought about that, that the Father has a business?

And He's like, yeah, I'd like you to work for me. We're like, what? What kind of laborer should you be in the Father's business? Well, His work, let me go back here, is perfect. His work is honorable and glorious.

Okay, so let's start measuring our work next to it. But before we do that, I want to explore a little further and give sort of an idea of how God works. Does God have an ethic by which He works? Isn't that an interesting statement?

Does He have a pattern? Does He have a behavioral model by which He works? Yes, everything God does has a nature to it, has a pattern to it, and He is limited. I know that sounds funny to say God is limited, but He's the one that put the limitation on Himself.

He cannot violate His nature. He cannot tell a lie, for instance. Can't God do whatever He wants? He cannot violate His nature, and He's a truth-telling God. God is truth. Therefore, He cannot be lie.

All right? So therefore, the same thing is true about the way He works. There is a pattern by which He works. God has a work ethic. Isn't that a strange thought? We need to adopt God's work ethic, but if you don't know God's work ethic, it's sort of hard to adopt it.

God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? See, when God says He's going to do something, you'll see right there, He does it.

Isn't that an interesting thing? Imagine comparing us with that. You know how many people I deal with on a daily basis that say they're going to do something and don't? It is a disease in our culture.

A disease. If you're one of those people, I want God to convict you so deeply today. I'm sick and tired of that behavior in the church of Jesus Christ. Yes, we can expect it out there, but we're the church of Jesus Christ.

You say you're going to do something, you do it. Why? Because that's God. That's the way He behaves. Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Boy, what a standard. Yeah, that's Christianity. It's the extension of God's behavior on earth, in and through yielded, believing lives.

The First Four Ethics: Finishing, Joy, Submission, and Alertness

The 11 Ethics of Godly Work. If He starts a work, He finishes it. I want you to realize this is profound, because you'll realize that, you know, we have work ethics, like my granddad, my mom's dad, he was a hard-working farmer.

And he would always look at our generation, the generation after my mom's generation, like the grandchild generation, if you will. And he was just disgusted with my generation and down. He's no longer alive.

But it was just like, what's going on in this country? No one knows how to work anymore. He's like, if I have a dirty dish in the sink, you know what I do, Eric? No, granddad, what do you do? I clean it.

If something needs to be done, you do it. You know, he spoke with a little deeper voice. Dish in the sink, I clean it. That's more, actually, him. I was giving him too high of a pitch. He was a huge, strong guy, too.

If He starts a work, He finishes it. Who does this? God. There is no cessation, no miscarriage, no abortion, and no abandonment of His work. And I want you to realize, if you transcend these truths into culture, you begin to realize this is how God works.

He doesn't miscarry. He doesn't abort. So don't try and say that He is doing that work. That isn't the work that God does. When He starts something, He finishes it. This is proven throughout Scripture.

Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. That concept of will perform it means brings it to completion. Will completely satisfy what He is committed to do.

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is... And I took out a little in John 4, 34. However, there was a short list of things that His meat is. And I will finish it. You'll notice. I'll come back to John 34. I'll put in what the dot, dot, dots are.

So don't think I'm trying to rob you of something. But I want to emphasize something. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to finish My work. I forgot the to in there. Oh, no, I didn't. My meat is to finish His work.

Whose work? God's work. He worked for His Father. He was about His Father's business. And so when His Father gave Him an assignment, He's like, hey, my entire purpose here, what moves me in my depths of being is that I am going to finish the work that I've been given.

God finishes His work. Number two, He does His work with joy. Well, first of all, you know, finishing the work, finishing the job. Could you imagine? There's a few employers in here that are like, okay, I'm going to give this message to a few of my guys.

Every employer wants to have people that know how to finish the job. Okay, but look at this one. He does His work with joy. Wouldn't that be nice? Not just someone who gets the job done, but all morose and rude.

How about a guy who does it with joy? A little song in his heart. I want this guy working for me. This is God. In thy presence is fullness of joy. Wherever His presence is, there is fullness of joy. Is His presence in you?

You're in His presence. That's the whole gospel. You're in Christ. Where's Christ? He's at the right hand of the Father. At the right hand of the Father, it says, are pleasures forevermore, and in His presence is fullness of joy.

This is how we live as Christians, with a fullness of joy. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. What is God out to do, to accomplish? You see, He's making it clear that He has joy.

You see that? That my joy might remain in you. We always skip that, and we're talking about Him getting His joy in us. Do you realize that He had joy? Well, He was rejected. He was despised of men. He was a worm and no man.

It says, oh, that you would have my joy in you. Do we want His joy? Yeah, we do. Because no matter what He faced, He was above the situation. It's like the equivalent of being an eagle above a storm. The storm could still be taking place, but guess what?

The eagle had strength in its wings to rise above the storm. Is there a storm? Yes. Are you under it or over it? Over it. It's joy. It's triumphant. It's a perspective that lifts you above, no matter what you're going through.

And now I come to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in them. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross.

This is His great work. He's literally not just moved by joy and full of joy, but there's even a greater joy before Him. This is our work ethic. It's God's work ethic. We are filled with joy in the process, and there's even a greater joy that is set before us as we do our work.

Despised in the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Whom having not seen ye love, in whom, and I emphasize in whom, because I wanted you to understand, in Christ, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Who are you in? What's your position spiritually? You should be in Jesus Christ. Well, in Him, we are to rejoice with joy unspeakable. I mean, most of us would be fine with joy that we could describe, but joy unspeakable.

I mean, this is exciting stuff. Okay, number three. God is compliant and submissive to His boss. I know that sounds strange, but this is the Christ model. Okay, to think of God having a boss is a really awkward thought.

But when you realize that Jesus literally submitted Himself unto His Father's business, and His Father controlled Him, what His Father was doing, He did. What His Father was speaking, He did. He took His orders, not my will, but thine, O boss of bosses.

This is the attitude that He took towards His work. What would happen in our lives if we took this attitude towards our work? He is compliant and submissive to His boss, accepting the most difficult tasks without question.

Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? This is Jesus. Father, save me from this hour? Listen to His conclusion. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Am I supposed to ask my Father to save me from this?

It was for this whole purpose that I went to work. I'm here to do His bidding. I'm not going to cower before a challenging task. I work for my God, and His ethic is my ethic. I'm here to finish the task.

I'm not going to shrink away just because it's difficult. Jesus Christ, that's the way to do it. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Could you imagine us having that attitude when we went to do our daily work?

I delight to do thy will. I delight. What a strange attitude. That's the God attitude. Let's get it inside the Christians of today. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish the work.

Remember that finish the work line that I gave you earlier? I put that dot, dot, dot. Well, look what's in between. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. Okay? What do you want, God? My meat, my satisfaction, my sustenance of soul is that I do what you ask of me.

Well, that's a Christian, too. This is how Jesus behaved. He was setting a pattern. This is the God work ethic. I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because, listen to what he says, I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.

You know how many of us try and change our job description to be easier, honest? We, instead, should seek the benefit of the one who is assigning it to us. What can I do for you? How can I do it better for you?

I seek to do the will of the one who sent Him. For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. Number four. He stays alert, focused, and on task, sober-minded always.

Vigilance, Endurance, and the Disciplined Tongue

He does not grow tired or weary. Doesn't that get you tired or weary just thinking about it? Constant. Constant sobriety. Constant attunedness. Constant sensitivity to what's actually happening around him.

There's no point for dullness. Never. This is the biblical model. This is the God model. Could you imagine God taking a nap and missing out on what's going on in your life? And you're like, God, I just got hit by about 20 arrows here from the enemy.

My life is destroyed. He's like, oh, boy, how did that happen? All I did was take a snooze for 10 minutes. God does not grow tired and weary. God is constantly alert to your situation. You could be very thankful for that.

What He's asking is there be a constant attunedness in your own life. And He cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What could you not watch with me? In other words, Jesus was watching.

He was vigilant. He was watchful of what was taking place. Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. But the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Jesus is watching, but what happened to Peter, James, and John? They did not have the sustenance of soul to do the work alongside of Jesus. They were too weak for it. Well, welcome to our state. We can't do it either.

This is what is being set up for. They need the cross, which is what followed. This is Gethsemane, the night before the crucifixion. Peter, right before this, is saying, I will die for you. I will follow you.

And Jesus is like, You can't hold up my work ethic. You don't have what you need. You need me imparted to you. And that's what He did. His great cross work wasn't just the purchase of forgiveness. It was the purchase of Pentecost.

The purchase of the endowment of Christ's very life in His saints to now perform that which only Christ can perform. This is it. Watchful and alert. So I've broken these up into two subcategories. This is the stay alert, focused, and on task.

Sober-minded always. He does not grow tired or weary. So let's talk about watchful and alert. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

There needs to be a constant attentiveness to our soul. How does this affect the way we do our operations during the day, our business? We're constantly alert. We're constantly sharp. We're constantly sensitive to the needs of those around us.

We're constantly watchful of our soul. That we're not compromising. We're watchful of our integrity. That we're not doing things that would actually cause the name of Jesus Christ to be slighted. We live above reproach.

Constantly watchful. Watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men. Be strong. Therefore let us not sleep as do others. Now this is talking about spiritual sleep before you panic and think that you cannot go to sleep again.

But let us watch and be sober. This is a state of soul. There's a constant guardedness, a constant watchfulness. There is never a time to unplug from God. Well, it's a Friday night. I need to unplug. You can't be plugged into God constantly.

You need to be plugged into God constantly. There is always an alertness and always a sharpness in the human soul. I'm sorry, in the Christian soul. Tireless and unflagging. And let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

The word is ekekio from the Greek. It means weariness, tiredness, flabbiness. You do not give sway to this at all. There's that constant bait knocking on the door of your soul to say, aren't you tired?

Aren't you feeling just weak right now? Just relent to it. Submit to it. Go into a comatose, drugged out state. That's the way we are. When we're sleeping, when we're vegging, we're tuning out. And as a result, the enemy is able to come in and work on our souls.

No way. We're not ignorant of his devices. Let's not grow weary. Let's not faint. But ye brethren, be not weary in well-doing. Do not give any space to ekekio in your well-doing. Not an inch of it. And he spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint.

That's just exhausting. Not to faint. You should not. And this is Jesus talking. You should not give an inch to this ekekio stuff, this tiredness, this weariness of soul. Do not allow it in. God's work ethic, right here.

Pray without ceasing. Doesn't that get you tired? Pray without ceasing. There's never a time to disconnect from God. And that's what it's talking about. It's not talking about just saying, in the name of Jesus, amen, in the name of Jesus, amen, constantly all day long.

It's basically saying, to enter into a communion with God and to remain in that communion with God. If you are at a job, is there a time to pick up your cell phone and start texting someone? Stay tuned.

Stay focused. You have a job to do. Do not allow distraction in. You are here to finish your work and finish it well. God's work ethic. You can be very glad that he doesn't have a beep in his pocket when he's trying to deal with your issues.

You're like, just a second over here. And then he's all distracted while he's texting his buddy somewhere and meanwhile your life falls apart. God is focused and he will finish the work in you. He is not distracted.

He's tireless and unflagging in his commitment to see us through. It's an incredible statement. Number five. He controls his tongue. This is proven all throughout the Bible. God does not say everything.

He just says what needs to be said. There's these great stories and all it says is, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day. Is that all you're going to tell us? It's three men against an entire army of Philistines and that's all we get.

And the Lord wrought a great victory that day. How did it happen? Give us details. And then right when we don't want details, that's when he gives us details. And this person beget this person. We're like, you know what?

I don't care about that. God says exactly what his saints need. And those genealogies as I was teaching you guys this semester are extremely important because they prove the canonicity of Jesus Christ.

We can stand on the rock of confidence that he is actually in fact the Messiah of God because of his genealogy. It's one of the key reasons. He controls his tongue. He was oppressed and he was afflicted and yet he opened not his mouth.

He's doing his great work, right? Now many of us when we're doing our great work, what are we doing? Muttering and complaining. We're doing everything. We're talking up a storm. Now, there's nothing wrong with talking.

Don't get me wrong. But it's not a controlled tongue. You need to realize that as you do your job, you do it with the right attitude as well. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

This is one of those classic things that I got convicted of this week. I've already been convicted of this. But there was a time... See, I'm very gracious with people. Actually, people are not that challenging for me compared to things.

Things that don't work. Really irritate. Bad directions and things that don't work. I remember this sign in downtown Denver when I was driving through and it still makes me mad when I think about it. It's like, stupid sign.

How in the world are you supposed to know to turn there? It needs to have an arrow that goes like this. And every time I'd get there, it's like, they're still missing the arrow. Bad directions, bad signage.

Okay, Eric? Don't allow the flesh to take hold of you because of a bad sign or the fact that crazy blind will not stick into its little metal holder. Who made this thing? And guess what? There's a little witness that might be standing on my ankle looking up at daddy going, how does daddy handle this situation?

Daddy needs to handle that blind the way God would handle that blind. He opened not his mouth, but has silenced a lamb unto slaughter. If any man among you seemed to be religious and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

A bridled tongue is one of the outward symbols that your life is contained and controlled by the spirit of God. Your tongue must be bridled to the spirit of God. Number six, he seeks another's wealth.

This is going to be a really bizarre one for you. Talk about turning the American system on its head. He seeks another's wealth. He works not for applause, notoriety, and or promotion. He treats others as more important than himself.

Laboring for another's profit. This is one of my subcategories of this one. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. That's talking about profit or well-being. So I'm not trying to build a financial system around this.

I'm not proposing that we change into a socialistic government. This is an attitude of individuality in a soul before God. To say my life is not as important as every life around me. And I will give of my life and my energies to serve the highest good of those around me.

That's Christ's attitude. Follow me on this. This is what Christ did. He came, and guess what? He was the king of kings. And what did he do? He spent all of his wealth for us. He redeemed us with his blood.

It's extraordinary. He did not seek his own, but every man, Jesus in this case, another's wealth. And that wealth was ours. Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, says Paul, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

What's Paul's work? The father's business. What's the father's business? Everyone outside of you. He's saying, do you see him? There's a dying world out there. Are you working for me or are you working for yourself?

If you're working for me, then you start to seek everyone else's profit. That they would be built up and strong, even if you are tread down, even if you are crucified and you die. If they gain life because of it, so be it.

Love seeks not her own. So if you know 1 Corinthians 13, you'll recognize this, but oftentimes we have a long list and we don't focus on a specific thing, but this is actually an attribute of what love is.

Love seeks not its own. So when you go to work, I want you to realize you're not just working for your own bread. You're working for the benefit of the kingdom of heaven and his glory and those around you.

That they would see his glory. That they would behold the one and only who can rescue their soul. Okay, this is a second sub theme. A foot washer, a servant of others. For though I'd be free from all men, yet have I made myself unto all.

I'm sorry, I've made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. So Paul, just like Jesus, took on the God work ethic. He literally became a servant unto all. What's the attitude? I take the lowest position.

The more mature you get in the kingdom of heaven, the lower position you take. Everyone around you is more important and more valuable than you. Does not mean you don't have value in heaven. That's your attitude that you take to the job.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.