A Biblical Theology of Work - Introduction

Kootenai Church

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Well, let's open with a word of prayer Father thank you that we can get here together this morning and gather and open the

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Word of God May you work through your spirit in our lives. Help us father to be attentive to the word

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May you enable us to really hear it with ears of faith and Lord to apply the truth where applicable in each and every one of our lives father.

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Your word is so perfect So insightful it's like a scalpel that does the delicate work of heart surgery

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And we're so grateful for it in Jesus name. Amen Well, we are beginning a series called a biblical theology of work so this is probably a little different than It's typically done.

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So we're going to be ransacking the scriptures together over nine weeks and and Applying the truth found therein to build a theology with regard to the topic of work

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But let me begin a little bit lighter Tone as we start and just share with you some funny statements that have been drawn from job applications

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You remember those at least I remember them when you fill them out by hand and turn them in But here are a few just to get you thinking reasons for leaving the last job

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They insisted that all employees get to work by 845 every morning couldn't work under those conditions or another was was met with a string of broken promises and lies as well as cockroaches or One of my favorites the company made me a scapegoat just like my three previous employers so oh

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Let's see. Here's one job objectives. My goal is to be a meteorologist But since I have no training in meteorology,

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I suppose I should try stock brokerage. Oh Just just a few more some typos

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How typos misspellings can change the meaning of a word? here's one listed on a work experience dealing with customer conflicts that arouse or Develop and recommend an annual operating expense budget

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I'm a rabid typist and the last one instrumental in ruining ruining entire operation for a

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Midwest chain so yes a Misspelling can change the meaning of things

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So as we said, I want to start this morning and talk to you about the topic of work. This is an introduction and introductions by necessity

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Don't get down super deep there They're designed to invite us into think of an introduction to a book.

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It's designed to invite us into the book So it it kind of hints at what is to come

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It's designed to whet our appetite and that's what we're designed to do here this morning is to whet your appetite And hopefully to come back over the next eight weeks as we work together to build that biblical theology

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So just thinking about the topic of work on average. We spend roughly 50 % of our lives working

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On average roughly 50 % of our lives working yet for many people.

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It is a source of great frustration and pain That is unfortunately true

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So let me begin and stimulate your thinking with regard to work by asking you a series of questions

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Okay, these are just reflective questions for you to turn over in your mind How many of you like your job

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Let's just start with that. How many of you like your job? Would you change jobs if you could you don't have to answer these?

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Just think about it. Would you change jobs if you could how many of you are working simply for a paycheck?

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Working for a paycheck I owe I owe so off the work

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I go, right How many can't see how your work has any significance or eternal value?

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My work has no Significance no eternal value. Is that I don't know how you're thinking how you feel.

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Are you bored? And unchallenged at work. Do you see your job as repetitive?

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routine and dead -end Is that kind of the sense you have of it?

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Do you feel trapped in your job? because of financial responsibilities Can't consider anything else.

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I I got bills have to make a certain amount of money The Sunday and Monday seem worlds apart

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Can you communicate the purpose of your work in terms of your Christian faith?

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Can you communicate the purpose of your work in terms of your Christian faith?

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Or are they disconnected? Are you hiding your

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Christianity Monday through Friday? Are you hiding it?

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Do you find it difficult to make complex ethical decisions? And you've compensated by adopting a business ethic

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Monday through Friday and then a church ethic for the weekends So I have my church ethics on Saturdays and Sundays and I have my business ethics

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Monday through Friday because why well, it's a dog -eat -dog world. Do you hate your job?

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Do you hate your job? And do you wonder what do you have looking forward to for the next 30 years?

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Hate this job Get 30 years But it's worse than a prison sentence

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Are you working for the weekend? TGIF right working for the weekend just got to get through to Friday or maybe if you're a little bit older Are you working for retirement?

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I just got to hang on till I get to retirement man The magic age sixty two and a half sixty five sixty seven goes up by the way

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All right, figure that out goes keeps going up Gonna hang on till retirement four years to go

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Is that how you see work you make plenty of money plenty of money

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Yet you're still very restless in your work Just a restlessness

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Lack of contentment. Do you wonder how to influence your co -workers for Christ?

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You know that I mean you've heard that enough on Sundays to know that I'm supposed to be doing this but I have no idea how

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How do I do that are you having trouble balancing work demands with your other interests and commitments

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Work takes so much time That you have no time For other things.

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Do you feel like your job lacks dignity? No dignity in my job moms

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Do you feel yourself struggling to try to balance your responsibilities both in and outside the home got a struggle

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I've got I've got a boss and I Right struggles. We balance all that If you're a stay -home mom

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You feel frustrated and undervalued Does the workplace seem like it offers something that will fill the void?

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That you're missing being a being a stay -home mom. She's not making it for me.

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I need something more The allure of the workplace young mom

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Can you articulate to others? Why and how? Wiping runny noses and cleaning up spilled milk has eternal significance eternal significance

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Wiping runny noses cleaning up spilled milk Has eternal significance, but do you know how and why would you agree with this statement?

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Success in life means success at work Success in life means success at work.

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In other words if I am unsuccessful at work I will not ultimately be successful at life. Do you agree to that?

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I Mean you're spending 50 % of your time Involved in work It's an important question, how do we judge success?

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How do you judge success? Do you judge it according to the four P's? Promotion prestige

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Power Pay that how you judge it.

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That's success. I Could just get that promotion if I could just get this raise

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I Just have my own office I'd be successful terrible illusion

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All right that's enough to hopefully get the gears cranking judging by the

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Solemn faces. I'm looking at I should go back to a couple more of those funny statements from job applications, but but it is a serious topic for sure and And let me just say this to you.

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We're gonna build a very Robust and glorious Christ glorifying and and soul satisfying

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Biblical theology of work. So the next eight weeks

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We're going to address this topic a topic that is seldom taught on in the church seldom addressed

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Why why is it important that we do this? Why is this an important series? Here's your answer it is because of the lordship of Christ That's why it is because of the lordship of Christ when

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God the Father raised Jesus from the dead He made him Lord of all Listen to Peter in Acts chapter 2 in verse 36.

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Let all the house of Israel know for certain That God has made him both

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Lord and Christ This Jesus whom you crucified Jesus own words in Matthew 28 18 all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth all authority

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Has been given to me It is ultimately a question of the lordship of Christ and how does the lordship of Christ?

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Fit into the field of our work How does it intersect? It's Paul who says that recognizing and submitting to the

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Jesus lordship is essential to salvation if you confess with your mouth

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Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved

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Romans 10 and verse 9, but The lordship of Christ applies to beyond merely the spiritual realm.

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It applies to all aspects of life If he truly is

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Lord of all all authority in heaven and on earth given to him then he is

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Lord of all Every aspect of our lives to be lived under the lordship of Christ and that includes

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That function in which we spend 50 % 2nd

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Corinthians 510 Paul writes for we must all appear before the judge and seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for deeds in the body

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According to what he has done whether good or bad It is the lordship of Christ, okay, so Briefly very briefly.

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I want to just I've got four false views of work. Okay. Remember this is an introduction

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We're not exhausting these topics. We're just salting the oats We're just putting it out there

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So I have four false views of work that I just want to go through with you quickly And we will we will debunk them more fully as we develop over the next eight weeks, but for now

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Is this a start? So the first false view of work is that it work is a result of the fall

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Work is a result of the fall. Therefore it is necessarily evil A lot of people won't articulate the second part of that They'll say yeah work as a result of the fall and they won't put the second half

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But hey, you know what if as a result of the fall then Genesis chapter 3

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Which is way back in the beginning, huh? We read in verses 17 and 18.

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Oh, maybe we'll throw 19 in as well. This is after the fall

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Genesis 3 beginning in verse 17 then Adam then to Adam he the Lord said because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree

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About which I commanded you saying you shall not eat from it cursed is the ground because of you In toil or literally in pain same word by the way that's spoken of of Eve in Toil or pain you will eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles that shall grow for you and shall eat

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The plants of the field by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground Because from it you were taken for you were dust into dust you shall return.

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Whoa That doesn't look very glorious.

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That doesn't look very glorious So This idea that work is a result of the fall and the corollary therefore it is necessarily evil it

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Confuses something here and what it confuses is the result of the fall upon work Which makes it more difficult and frustrating?

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With the purpose of work which was given by God before the fall And if you let your eye flip back to chapter 2 and verse 18 you find it there

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Okay, it's important to make sure we understand which side of the fall we're talking about To 18 then the

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Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone. I'll make a helper suitable For him and that's not the verse

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I was looking for. It's 15 is the verse I was looking for 18 is a good verse 2 by the way Okay that actually launches a whole

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Series on marriage, but here we are 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the

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Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. There we go Okay pre -fall So the idea that that work is a result of the fall is just a confusion of order in the biblical text

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So work is not an evil to be avoided. It's a good to be embraced

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It's good to be embraced another false view is derived from 2nd

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Peter 3 7 or Peter writes

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But by his word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men

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So this second false view is the notion that it's all going to burn anyway, why bother?

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It's all gonna burn anyway, why bother so in its extreme this view assumes that since God has promised

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To consume the earth in the fires of judgment anything we do which is of an earthly nature is at best temporal and ultimately futile

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See, this is how the false reasoning progresses It's all gonna burn

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So any effort I put in beyond what's necessary to get by Is a waste gonna burn anyway,

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I mean why sustain the creation if it's going to be destroyed anyway The answer is is

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Because it reflects the image of God Christ himself sustains the creation

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Colossians 1 17 He is before all things and in him all things hold together

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He is the one who sustains the creation and he doesn't just sustain it in a in a bearish simplicity painted with with shades of gray

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Christ sustains the creation in in beauty and complexity with sights and sounds and even the best

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HD television struggles to try to reproduce So plant your garden

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Paint your house build a bookcase Pick up the trash write poetry music

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Or in doing so you are emulating Christ You are emulating

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Christ. There's a quote that's attributed to Martin Luther the

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Great 16th century reformer It goes like this According to the

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Attribution, by the way, no one can seem to find it in any of Luther's writings Okay, just let you know that so it doesn't prove that he didn't say it but there's not a lot of evidence but go on the internet everyone attributes it to Luther so There it is it goes like this even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces

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I would still plant my apple tree. So whether Luther said it or not, I like it And it's and it contains a great kernel of truth plant an oak tree that will outlive you why?

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Because you're emulating Christ That's why third false view

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You can't serve God and mammon Right Matthew 6 24

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Matthew 6 24 No one can serve two masters for either

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He will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve

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God and wealth or mammon if you like the old King James Which is unfortunately or fortunately the way

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I memorized it this idea that you can't serve

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God and wealth or God and mammon is is based on a Mistaken understanding of what Jesus is actually saying here in the

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Sermon on the Mount in chapter 6 and verse 24 What he is addressing here is ultimate loyalties

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That's what is that question? Ultimate loyalties who and what will we worship? That's what

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Jesus is addressing there He's not making a negative statement upon the life spent working and being paid for one's work and being a thrifty person and Accumulating a measure of financial wealth.

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Okay. It is not about that It is about ultimate loyalties. Where does your loyalty lie?

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Who or what? Do you worship? Now this idea that you can't serve

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God and mammon Leads into and is sometimes associated with the fourth and final false view here that I have for you and that's this

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I call it the sacred secular divide the sacred secular divine

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The basic idea behind that is it is that God has two types of people He has those few individuals who are special and have been called by him to the spiritually higher plane of ministry and Then there's everybody else in this view.

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The the called are closer to God more sensitive and obedient to his word

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Yeah, even more holy and ultimately closer to God's heart therefore

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They are often the ones called on to pray. You ever notice that hey pastor, would you pray for us?

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We're just having lunch together Like anybody here is capable of this These called ones are the sacred workers

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They're the clergy everybody else is the laity got clergy and laity now this type of thinking is totally foreign to the

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New Testament totally foreign instead finds its roots in a misinterpretation of the

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Old Testament priesthood It assumes that the mode of the Levitical priesthood continues even to this day

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Well, the most obvious examples of all this is seen in the

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Roman Catholic Church Okay, this is classic Roman Catholic theology and ecclesiology but Protestantism has also drunken deeply of this poisoned.

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Well We Protestants we have drunk deeply of this poison. Well as well Peter says all believers are part of a new priesthood not based upon physical descent, but upon the saving grace of God 1st

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Peter 2 9 But you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession

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That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness Into his marvelous light.

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We are a priesthood There is no clergy laity

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Distinctions we see this manifestation of the sacred secular divide.

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It's revealed in an often unspoken pecking order That goes something like this

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The real Spiritual ones are the missionaries Missionaries followed by church planters

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They're second church planters missionaries church planters pastors missionaries church planters pastors for Christian workers fifth bivocational pastors bivocational pastors

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You're only a bivocational pastor My son's a missionary nice Okay, it's unspoken usually

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But believe me it exists very much The message is always not so subtle But it's basically this if you really want to serve

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God you need to quit your job go to seminary and become a missionary or pastor You really want to serve

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God? Quit your job go to seminary become a missionary or a pastor and then

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You will be serving God But a lot of people don't desire that they don't want to quit their job and go to seminary but if this

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Prevailing notion is actually true then then basically what happens is is that for all those who don't quit their job and go to seminary then their role becomes that essentially of Someone who contributes a few volunteer hours a week

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Puts money in the operating plate so that real ministry can be accomplished So Hey, you know, you know seminary that's powerful sold off for God But other than that, you know what show up Volunteer put money in the plate every week

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We'll take care of the real ministry for you many many churches are

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Not on this, you know, they wouldn't articulate it like that. That's crass, but That's kind of how it's put together. Listen to me beloved

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If you must disengage from work in order to do real ministry Then unless you quit your job

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You can only be at best a part -time christian a layperson

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Say it again If you must disengage from work in order to do real ministry

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Then unless you quit your job, you can only be at best a part -time christian a lay worker a layperson

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But that certainly is contradicted by the apostle paul in ephesians 4 verses 11 to 13 where he writes

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He gave some as apostles some as prophets Some as evangelists and some as pastor teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.

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Do you see that? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service So the building up of the body of christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith

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And of the knowledge of the son of god to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of christ the work of the ministry is done by The believers the body of christ furthermore if 50 of your life is off limits to the bible

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Except for a few commands like well thou shall not steal. So, you know, hey don't steal at work Then essentially your work has no value to god

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And if your work is no value to god, you are at best a second -class citizen But that is not true

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It is not true So we must not let these false assumptions even motivated out of a genuine desire to honor god

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Shape our understanding of this most important aspect of human life As paul says we must take every thought captive to the obedience of christ

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Second corinthians 10 5 Well, this is good i'm gonna i'm gonna be able to put some time in the bank

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Okay, i'm going to introduce you to a concept It's called time in the bank and it works like this if I finish before the appointed finishing time

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Then all of that time Accrues into a bank to be utilized at a later point

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You understand? All right That's how it works How it works

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So the messages over the next couple of months are designed to help us systematically Build out our christian worldview with regard to work

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That's what we're shooting for Okay So I want to do it through eight.

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Oh, excuse me seven topics seven topics There's eight messages because one is so voluminous.

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It won't fit into a single. It's a two -parter But here are the seven topics that I plan to cover together with you

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Number one Workers by design We are workers by design

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All right So we will spend a good amount of time in the first couple of chapters of genesis

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And then we will deal with the problem of work In other words we're going to look at work pre -fall and post -fall so that we have a really clear understanding of what's true and What's not?

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Okay. Well the problem with work Third work and the wisdom of proverbs

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Work and the wisdom of proverbs And we will speak about laziness in work then fourth the redemption of work the redemption of work work spoiled work redeemed by christ

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That's what we will look at What does it mean that work has been redeemed by christ? fifth the doctrine of vocation

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It's a neat old word from the latin vacare, it means to summon or to call

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What is a vocation it is your calling What is your calling

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Because you all have one And i'll tip my hand a little it is not necessarily a lifetime calling

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It can and frequently does change What is your calling?

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the doctrine of vocation By the way a great lesson for young people

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Coming of age in life like what am I gonna do with my life? I just want to get a job make money

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Not the doctrine of vocation Okay, there's so much more So much more six.

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We'll look at work and the great commission work and the great commission In other words, what does evangelism and work?

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How do they relate to one another? How do I evangelize at work hint

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It's not standing around the water cooler Talking about jesus while you're being paid to do something else

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Okay Just put it out there right now That's not what it is And then seven work and welfare how are

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The glorious truth of work and the necessity of Welfare like the care of the less fortunate.

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How do they relate? We're living in a very broken system

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Very broken. So do we just say hey, you know what it's a broken system and there's nothing we can do and just That's what it is

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Or is there a way to salvage and reclaim the glory of christ? With regard to the care for the needy

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What role does the church play? What role do I play as an individual what role do you play

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That's the two potter by the way working welfare so next week

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We begin by learning that god designed work and created us to participate with him in it.

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Okay, that's the big idea Big idea next week is that god designed work And he created us

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To participate with him in it Okay If we catch a vision of that All kinds of glories begin to open up before us

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I think I have eight minutes nine Okay This is probably the last time that i'm going to say does anyone have any questions because Other than that i've got so much

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I want to say there ain't gonna be no time So i'm going to do to you what was done to me when I was in seminary

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Which is I had a professor who taught like this With his head still down he'd say any questions fine.

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Let's continue, right? Yes, fortunately time is not inflating but yeah,

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I got it peter Pre noaic post noaic and the and the

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I'd have to think about that. So we're talking about the effect of the flood Upon work. Is that kind of your question?

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Uh, I don't know let me cogitate on that a while if you got a if you got a question that's more specific I'd love to hear it Okay Yeah, I I would so i'll just respond to that now.

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No, I don't agree with that Yeah, I don't agree with that Okay, good next

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Okay Good. Well, I hope you're oh, go ahead That'd be no way

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Exactly It would be it would be well done Yeah well,

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I hope i've just Yeah teased you a little bit like an introduction is designed to do draw you in.

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Hope you'll come I think it'll be a blessing it revolutionized. I just have to tell you revolutionized my life in the preparation of the material

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Uh that god enabled me to prepare and preach 10 years ago

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Yes Right Yes Okay, so the the question was is how can we help teach children grandchildren that their

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Activities even small ones that are seemingly insignificant are done for the glory of god.

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That's a good question I think we will We will address that from a lot of different angles. Hopefully we'll get you the answer you're specifically looking for but if not

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Uh at some point i'll have to wedge in some time for a for a question along that line. But yeah

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I think it begins with understanding. What is the glory of god? Good.

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Thank you. Very good One oh sweet. Yeah Right Uh, I was not intending to address that in this series,

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I think jim has addressed it. Um A number of times in the last well

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Since i've been here in the exposition of of hebrews 10 And 11 and now into 12 and so yeah, we are living in perilous times for sure

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And and the the world is seeking to squish us into their mold

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And so as believers, we've got to know where the boundaries lie And when we are willing

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To take that stand which may cost us our job And I think a right understanding of the of a theology of worship will help clarify that decision so in that sense maybe but not not specifically taking up woke culture and And corrupt money and I mean

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I got a whole lecture series on money and but not for here and not on a sunday morning some other time perhaps but Okay, yeah, okay

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Okay Wow, you uh successfully Used up all but four minutes of my banking time

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Well done Let's pray Well father we have but barely scratched the surface of a of a really important and far -reaching topic and father we confess that that Often we just go about our lives particularly in in these areas of work without a lot of Thought We get up in the morning and we go to work and we come home from work and we work hard and and we've heard those exhortations to work honestly and to work hard and And and we seek to do that.

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We seek to bring glory to christ in that way and and that clearly does bring glory to christ But father if if our understanding of work doesn't extend beyond that then we're missing so much

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And it's a it's a reality that there are many christian people good solid

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Genuine christian people who find work very frustrating And they struggle to reconcile

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That which they Hope for with that which they have

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And so father may you Enable us to just have a better understanding of these things and and help us

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I think of young people who are starting out and considering careers and Career decisions.

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There's so much involved in that And again, there there's often a

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Just a lack of wisdom So father grant us the mind of christ in these things