Worker

Okay. We’re glad that you’re here. Glad you’re joining us for worship. I am Pastor Ben. It is my privilege to be one of the pastors here, and to share from God’s Word with you this morning, as we kick off into a new series called The Faces of God. But before we jump into this series, we want to just look back for just a moment and praise God for all that’s transpired here through Holy Week and even going back a little bit further. So take a look at this. These are all time. This church has existed for 45 years, all time in person attendance records that have happened here in just the last few months and even in the last week that you can see attendance on Ash Wednesday was up 55%, Palm Sunday 21 Monday, Thursday and Good Friday. You all came. You came. We asked you to come as part of the most amazing week in all of human history, and it was good and hopefully it was a blessing to many of you that joined us for that. And then Easter 1918. 138 individuals, 1938 souls that came and were able to hear a gospel message. So can we praise God for how he’s drawing people to his church?

It’s amazing to see how God’s at work and we know we’re not alone talking with other church workers, other pastors, that this seems to be systemic, that people are being drawn back to church, that attendance is up all around. And that is an amazing thing to see God’s kingdom continue to grow and go forward. Also, we recognize this, that this isn’t just how it happens by the power of God, and it happens by the power of God working in his people. And so thank you for inviting your friends. Thank you for making the invitation, reaching across the fence, talking to those around you. I know even for my own sake, I actually was invited a couple of people the week of Holy Week. I just happened to be shopping at Aldi and I ran into Phil and I talked to Phil for a little bit, and I invited him to church and then all Maundy Thursday and all Good Friday and all Easter.

I was like watching for him and he didn’t come. So, Phil, if you’re watching, you need to get to church. I invited you, but I didn’t stop me from inviting him. It was, you know, it was an opportunity that God had laid before me. And I’m thankful that I took advantage of that. I pray that you continue to take advantage of those opportunities because God can use those simple things to make an eternal impact. And also, before going forward. We recognize this too, that God is so great in working through his people as well here inside these walls. And so during Holy Week, it took 127 volunteers, whether it was worship, tech, guest services, parking lot. So can we just thank those that were willing to sacrifice their time and their talents to do that?

And so we were able to celebrate the most important week in history, which then leads us to kicking off a new series which begins this way. Well, now what? Now what are we? We we’ve seen Jesus and all that he’s done. We’ve seen the greatest week in all of history. And now what? Because what we’re going to explore in the next coming weeks, we’re going to, in this series, Faces of God. That God is still at work. God is at work in your life. He’s in that work in the lives of others. And it all comes from the cross in the empty tomb. Yet there’s this sentiment and this feeling of not what that can happen to us sometimes. Right? When your favorite series comes to a close. Now, and when you go and you watch your your kid go to eighth grade graduation, or maybe you are the kid graduating in eighth grade this year now, or or high school or college or a relationship comes to a close. Now, what?

Thinking back in my own life and one of the times that I felt this. Now, what type of feeling was that? When I had gone away to college, one of the things that I had done not only to go pursue a ministry degree, but I was also pursuing an opportunity to continue to play football. And so I went and I played football. And then of my own choice, I decided to step away and no longer got to put on shoulder pads. I had to hang up my cleats. I didn’t get to hit people anymore. And had to ask myself that. What? And inside that. Now what is also it a little bit deeper than that? Now who am I? Because sometimes some of the things that we do, not just some of the shows that we watch or some of the relationships I have, some of the things that we do are so deep seated inside of us that we actually start to equate them as our identity. And then you begin to ask yourself this kind of existential crisis question, now what? Like now, who am I?

And I came to the conclusion that that freshman year, as I stepped away from football, no longer to be the football player. That I was going to do intramural bowling and, apparently that’s who I am. Bowl to 197. One time I was not, you know, it’s not too bad. Not too great either. You know? But, that’s what I decided to lean into. Yeah, I made some great friends in that, but I was having to step away not only from a sport that I played, but a piece of my identity. We get so tied up in the things that we do, and it’s. And it’s been this way since the beginning. And maybe you’re there right now. Maybe you’re in this transition season. Sometimes spring just seems to be that way, where you are asking yourself, now what time for a new job, time for a new house, time for something new now what? And how do I make that call? This is especially true when it comes to work and what we have to recognize.

Going back to the very beginning is that work was actually designed to be something good, not designed to be something to give us identity, but it was designed to be something good. In Genesis chapter two, in verse 15 it says this the Lord God took the man that is Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden. To what? Work it and take care of it. This is before the fall. This is before eating the fruit. This is before any sin had entered in the world and there was work. And some of you knew this, but others you are a little confused. You’re like, wait, I thought work came from the devil himself, that he’s the one that made the 40 hour work week. And now this is a yoke that we have to carry forward. No, don’t. You. Work was a good thing. God didn’t just want us to sit on our hands all the time. He gave them Paradise. He gave them the best possible living situation ever and a relationship with him. And he gave them things to do. He gave them responsibility.

He gave them work. But then what we know and what we experience is this just one chapter later in Genesis three verses 17 and 19, after eating the fruit that they were told not to eat, that God said this to them, cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food. And then here we go. Yes. Okay. This is what I experience. Painful toil, burdensome work, tiresome work, wearisome work, whatever it may be. That work can be a difficult thing in our lives. But we want to see here today is that God has given us this work, and it is actually a gift. It really was designed to be something good. But we can also hold that in tension with the fact that yes, it is difficult. Yes, it is not perfect.

And if we look at what God has actually told us, not just here in the Old Testament, but if we look at what Jesus has said after his death, after his resurrection, his disciples gathered all around him. What work did he give them to do? You heard these verses already as we were able to celebrate that gift of baptism already this morning in Matthew 28, we see this and expanding it a little bit to get a little bit more of the context. Starting in verse 19, Jesus came to them, that is, his disciples, the 11 of them. Since Judas is no longer in the picture and Jesus says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me as it is with me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing the name of the father, son of the Holy Spirit. Teaching will be everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age, right there in the center.

That’s what he oftentimes, especially in church, you probably have heard these words before, and if you haven’t, still take a look at them. Therefore go and make disciples of any English teachers out there. There’s got to be someone. Or even if you’re not an English teacher, what is the primary verb found here in the middle of this command? What is it, a no and no. It’s not go, it’s not go. We treat it like go, but it’s not go. The primary verb is make disciples. We go back to the original language. Go is a passive verb. It actually aligns with the rest of scripture as well. As God gives commands to his people. In the Old Testament he says, hey, as you raise your children well, talk about me and my word. When you get up and when you walk along the road and when you lie down as you go about life. But oftentimes we hear verses like this and we’re like, oh, I got to go overseas. I got to get a plane ticket, I got to go to Africa. I got I got to go to Australia.

I got to go all the way around the world. I got to go down to Detroit. I have to go find out what God has for me over here. This is the real work that God has for us. But inside of this, I hear a great message for all of us. Those things are true. We should go share that. And if God is lead on your heart to go be a missionary somewhere, that’s fantastic. And there are verses to support that. But for the average believer, the everyday believer, this is the good news is that as you go about your normal life, God is at work. God is working through other people toward you, and God is working in you toward other people in the everyday, mundane, monotonous stuff of your life. God is doing amazing, miraculous things, whether we see it or recognize it or not. This is supported elsewhere. As Paul writes in Ephesians chapter two, verse ten, speaking about us. We are his.

We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them similar right as you go. Walk in them as you are living your everyday life. God has prepared these things for you to do, which then has to raise the question, is that right there in the middle of says good works? Well then what are good works? What are good works? What do you think? What do you think? Good works. Give me a couple examples. What do you think good works are? Spreading the word. So evangelizing, telling other people about him. Stepping out and serving. Bonus points. Like being loving to other people. Being kind. So having the fruit of the spirit. Being kind, reading your Bible, praying, sharing the word. What about. Folding laundry. What about doing the dishes? What about. Doing that thing on the honeydew list that your wife’s been asking you to do for a couple of weeks, and you haven’t done it yet?

Or better yet, what about helping your pastor mulch his front garden? Is that is that a good work? These are all good works. These things can be done in faith. But we see in Colossians chapter three verse 17 it says this. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Whatever you do, provided it’s not blatantly against the will of God. It doesn’t break one of the Ten Commandments, whatever you do. So if that is being a good parent, cheering on your kid at a t ball game, emptying the washer and moving into the dryer, filling out TPS reports or whatever it is that you all do at work, those can be good works if you’re doing them in faith. Which then raises this question so then what are we doing them for? So we’re doing these works. God created us to do these good, good works. We’re supposed to be workers. Who needs them? What is the purpose of the good works? And there’s really only three recipients of good works, as I could guess.

And let’s just work through one at a time. Let me ask you, does God need your good works? No. This might be a newsflash for some of you. He doesn’t. He doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need your good works. He doesn’t need your effort. We often feel like he does, but he doesn’t. He’s a little bit bigger than you. He’s a little bit bigger than me. A little bit more power. Well, what about you? Do you need your good works? Nope. It’s another no. Everything that you need is provided in Christ Jesus. Everything you need, it’s done. It is finished. It is through him. So that leaves that. Okay. It’s not God. It’s not me. Who in the world could use these? Good works of mine? Everybody else. Others. Everybody else needs your good works. God has nothing to do with your good works. He doesn’t need your good works. Everything that he needs for you is providing Jesus everything that you need for right relationship with God provided in Jesus.

But other people still here in this world need your good works. That is one of God’s primary ways of blessing other people is working in and through you. It’s also one of his ways that he wants to bless you. We like to think about ourselves in the driver’s seat, in the one doing the good works often. But first, second, let’s just turn and like reframe this thing. Whose good works do you need? Whose good works have you been the recipient of? And again, oftentimes I don’t think we we see it this way. We don’t see ourselves as the one receiving good works from others, others that are doing their job well, others that are in a good relationship with us. When your spouse is loving you well because get this, sometimes you’re not very lovable. You’re there. Good work. When that officer lights you up because you’re going 75 down, 23 mile, he’s doing a good work. He’s keeping you safe and he’s keeping others safe as well. When someone waits on you, when you’re at a restaurant, they’re doing a good job. They are doing a good work towards you.

God is working in and through them to bless you. As I was thinking through this, I remember when I bought my first house down in Saint Louis. That was the first church I was called to. A serving there as a student minister, lived in an apartment for a couple of years with my wife Stephanie, and we finally were able to save up enough to buy our first house. And we were like every other young couple that becomes homeowners. Do you know how many tools we had? Zero. Zilch. Nothing. There also just happened to be a pretty long lawn because as you go through that purchasing process, right, those that are selling sometimes let that stuff go. And we finally get the keys, the lawn had been growing. It’s the middle of the summer. It’s July in Saint Louis, so the humidity is 200%. I don’t have a lawn mower. And I ask one of my friends like, hey, I need to go get a lawn mower, but I haven’t done so yet. This is so long. Could I borrow your lawn mower?

And one day when I’m at church working on a Sunday morning, he says he’s going to come by and he’s going to drop it off. But lo and behold, I come home from church and he is there mowing my lawn for me. And more than that, he’s mowing the front and he gets to the back where there’s like a 45 degree slope back there, sweating, going up and down. And he discovers halfway through the mowing process that there was a bunch of yellow jackets that were living in the side of that hill. The way he discovered it was by letting go the lawn mower as it fell down the hill and getting stung like 20 times while he’s running around. And so if you just so happen to be watching Neil, thank you for that. Good work of discovering that for me. But God was working in that.

As I look back, I recognizes that was out of the kindness of his heart. But what led him to that? What brought him that? That’s a common goodness of God working in those that are believers. Or in the case of this individual friend of mine, nonbeliever, that God was going to bless me and my family through that, that he was going to come and out of the goodness of his heart that God was working to bless my family, because this is one of the faces of God. This is one of the ways that God works towards us. There’s this quote that comes from the theologian from the 16th century. Martin Luther says, this vocation, vocation, which is your calling, your work, which there can be a multitude of, is the mask behind which God hides himself. We see God revealed in a number of different ways. We see God revealed in his Scripture. Most certainly we see God revealed on the cross, but the way that God is hidden in many of our lives and actually in all of our lives, is the way that he works for us through others as they serve us, and the way that we work towards others.

God is working in us. And over the course the next few weeks, today we’re talking about being worker. But recognize this you don’t just have one vocation. You might have a job that you hold for the time, or maybe you have a career. Maybe you’re a business owner and that’s one of your vocations, but you’re also a child. You’re also a could be a parent. You could also be a spouse. So you could also have so many different roles that you played in your life. And these are vocations, opportunities, places God has set you for you to live for him, that you don’t have to go overseas. You don’t have to go seeking it out that God has uniquely placed you here in now, in the relationships and in the families that you are in, that you can be a blessing to others in the ordinary and in the in the mundane. And this was revolutionary at the time, because one of the things that was going on was that there was this rediscovery of the gospel, but alongside that, there was this rediscovery that everyone could be a servant of God, because there’s really a caste system that was happening essentially, that there were there were priests and bishops and monks and nuns, and then there was like everybody else.

And we knew that these people that spent all their days, you know, reading scripture and praying and going to church service and holding masses like they were good people and God loved them. But then, like, if you just so happened to be a farmer, if you just so happen to be a blacksmith, and you’re not nearly as good of a person, and you need to kind of work to get a little bit more righteousness. Yet this theology of vocation, this rediscovery in God’s Word, that whatever we do, we can do for him is an amazing thing, because he can recognize this right now, God is working towards you is you’re hearing a sermon, and then there’s work that went into this, that there’s people that are working for you to make this all work. And that is a good work that is being done for your benefit. But at the same time, just behind that wall, that there are wonderful nursery workers who are wiping little kids behinds and they are doing a good work. And which is better?

Which is a better good work? Well, we haven’t heard your whole sermon yet. Been, so we’re not sure if they’re the same thing that God sees is that if these things are done in faith, they are equal, that there is no difference in his mind. And again, we’re not doing it for him. We’re doing it to honor and glorify him in all that he’s done for us. But it’s not for God’s benefit. It is for the benefit of those around us. I mean, think about it this way to just for a moment, how many of you guys had eggs this morning? Anybody have eggs? Okay, just just a few more of you should eat. Eggs are healthy. Science says so. Now, How many people had to be in contact with those eggs for you to be blessed? Provided you’re not one of those homesteaders that has your own chickens, and you went out and grabbed them. Like if you went to Kroger and you went through the checkout line and not checking yourself out, but you went through checkout line, there was a cashier, right?

And there was someone who stocked the shelf, and there was also someone who unloaded the truck, and there’s someone who drove the truck, and they went to the farm and they picked up the eggs, and there was a farmer who had worked there as well. And so there’s at least a handful of not a half dozen people just to be able to have some eggs in the morning. Right. Yet oftentimes we just like, I bought these eggs and I cook these eggs, so I get to eat them yet God provided those for you. Now fill in the blank with anything else, those that are watching your kids, those that help with childcare, whether it be in a nursery or in a school setting. God is working in those people to be a blessing to you. Those that are in your family, those that are your coworkers, your boss, Jesus, your boss. Even if it doesn’t feel like it always. God is working in that for you. The owner of the company that you work for, God is working in that person for you that you can be able to provide for your family.

Yeah, in such a highly individual society, we often like to just look at ourselves and our effort and our energy, and then our relationship with work gets really wonky because it’s not about our interdependence with other people, but it’s really just about yourself. And here’s a couple of the ways that things can start to go sideways in our relationship with work. Take a look at these. Have you ever said one of these phrases, look. Look at what I have done. Look in a positive sense. Look what I’ve done. Look at the thing I accomplished. Look at the project that I finished. Look at this thing that I build. Look at these people that I hired and put in the right positions. Look at what I have done. I put in the hours, I put in the effort, I put in the energy. Look, building my own kingdom. What about if only I could, if only I could get that right job that that aligned with my passion and also paid really well. And it wasn’t that far of a commute. And if only I could get just the right thing, then everything would be okay. Then I would be okay.

My family would be okay if only. Or if that work, you catch yourself saying why should I have to serve others? Why should I have to do this? Why this stuff is beneath me. I’ve moved up to a certain point. Why should I have to pick up where they’re slacking? Or I’ll never have the job I want. I’m never going to get there. It’s never going to happen. It’s never going to line up. Has anyone here ever thought one of these things or said one of these things? No one. Really? No. I see a couple of no one. Like why you guys don’t even need this then. All right, well, we’re all set. What’s underneath all this? Let’s take a deeper look underneath this. Look at what I have done. Pride. Look at what I’ve done. Look what I’ve built with my hands. Look at the effort. No one could have done this but me. Look at all that I have accomplished just in my work. Turning the spotlight away from anybody else and taking all the praise, glory and honor for yourself.

Because who could have possibly accomplished all that you have done? The second one is really insidious. If only, if only I could. And what we do inside of this phrase is we actually put our work on a pedestal and we begin to worship it. We begin to think that this is the only thing that can provide for me. This is the only thing that can provide for my family. This is the only thing that can provide for my sense of self-identity. If I get the right job, in the right position, and the right work environment, then things are going to be okay. And what you see that is totally void of that entire conversation is God himself, because it’s just about you and your work. What about this? Why should I serve others? This sense of resentment totally pushing aside what God has created your work and good works for other people, that it isn’t ultimately about you. Or despair. I’ll never get the job. I want this defeatist attitude that no, it’s never going to work out.

It’s never going to be right. And what’s underneath all of these things that we have to recognize is sin. That each of these phrases, each of these thought processes, each of these ways that we treat ourselves, treat, work or treat others is sin that we are now misunderstanding what God had created our work for, that we are leaning into the toil and the burden and the sweat that comes with work, and we are fixing our eyes on ourselves. What I believe is even deeper than this is that we begin to self-identify with it, and then it becomes, like I mentioned, begin then, now one, now this is my identity. Now I have to earn this reminds me of this. Does anybody recognize this? Saving Private Ryan? Spoiler alert I’m going to I’m going to spoil the movie. So just in case you haven’t seen Saving Private Ryan, that’s on you because it’s been a couple decades.

Some Tom Hanks character goes around all the way through World War Two in France, and he’s trying into Germany and he’s trying to find Private Ryan. So we can send him back home. He does find, and that’s Matt Damon’s character. Near the end of the movie, Tom Hanks character shot. He’s about to pass. Private Ryan, who is going to live, leans in, and Tom Hanks character utters these words of what Private Ryan is supposed to do with the rest of his life. Ernest, earn it. And I’ve come all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve been shot at. We’ve lost men. I’ve been traveling all over sleepless nights. Enemy fire. Here I am now. He’s with his dying breath. Is going to tell him you need to earn this. You need to live each and every day in the shadow of this sacrifice, so that you can earn it, that you can start to pay off all that I put down so that you could continue to live.

What we fail to recognize is that this is actually how we often live our own lives, that if we’re in church and we know the sacrifice that God has made for us, that we don’t fully comprehend it because we treat it like this, now I need to earn it. Now I need to do something about it. Even in my short time now being a pastor, I can tell you there’s been several times where I’ve sat across from possibly some of you or those that have come off the street, and they’ll talk about all sorts of things that are going on in their life. If I talk to them long enough, we finally get to the spot where they will say. I’m not really sure God loves me. I mean, I’m really trying. I know, I know what Jesus did on the cross, but I’m not really sure because I still have sin in my life. I’m still struggling. And maybe, maybe all the stuff that’s going wrong in my life right now is just being punished. I’m not earning it. I’m not doing enough. So I kind of just try a little bit harder. So, pastor, can you help me just try a little bit harder? Can you can you help me with this?

Sin leads to back to the question. Now what? Like what are you supposed to do with that? What are you supposed to do? Like you understand, right? You understand the cross? No, you don’t understand the cross. Because you were thinking to yourself that Jesus came down, put on flesh, suffered in every possible imaginable way, was betrayed, was scourged, was beaten, was spit on, was nailed to a cross, and then with his arms stretched out, that he uttered the words on this, this is what you need to do. You need to live in the shadow of this the rest of your life. You need to start to pay this back. No, no, no, none of us would say that. But we live like it. We live like we do need to pay him back. We do. We need to right that relationship with God because he’s given us so much and so now, now I have to sacrifice for him.

He he’s done so much for me. So I have to do this. And we fail to recognize that that negates the very fact of why Jesus came here. This this is Jesus’s mission statement essentially, in Matthew 20 verse 28. This is the work that he came to do. The Son of Man, that is, Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. His good work that he did on the cross was you for you, not for himself, not for his own benefit, not for God, but for you. And he didn’t stretch out his arms and say, earn this. But he said, it is finished. And yes, we do recognize that we are created for good works. God has those laid out. He had them planned before the foundation of the world. He also planned before the foundation of the world. He was going to save you. But before we get to the good works, we have to see the good work that’s been done for you in Ephesians two verses eight and nine it says this for by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no 1st May boast that there’s not a finger, that you lifted, a word that you said, that there was nothing in and of yourself that you could do to earn any favor from God. And there still isn’t anything you can do to earn any favor from God. Think of it this way. Think of. Think of all the effort that you pour forth, all the things that you do, all the long weeks, all the long nights, all the effort. If you built your kingdom here and you acquired, well, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, and you looked at yourself and this is this is what I’ve done, this is the work I can do with my hands, which some of you you can do amazing things with your hands. That pales in comparison. With the sacrifice that was given for you. That a God from all eternity, all perfection, all righteousness, all holiness, that God will look at his own son who is all of those things, and he would nail him to a tree for you.

Why in the world would you start to look to your own work? Which is rubbish in comparison with the majesty and the beauty of the work that’s already been given to you? He says, you are far, far, far more valuable than the work that you do to God. You are worth his son. And it is from then that place that we begin to live, not as a response, to earn, but as a response of gratitude. And my challenge to you this week is this each day, first look and see all that God has done for you, not only through Jesus, but how is he continuing to serve you through your coworkers, through your family, through your friends, through your children? God loves you. His good plans for you. He is trying to serve you and love you through other people. Recognize it and appreciate it. And then from there, ask yourself the question, how? How can I serve others? What good works? What little good works can I do that would bless and honor others in my life? Amen. And will you join me in prayer?

Gracious Heavenly Father God, we thank you for the gift of work that you have given to each and every one of us. God forgive us for the ways that we twist it and we get it wrong. We’re all too often we fixate on ourselves and our own results. But God, let us just bask in the beauty of all that you’ve done for us in Jesus, and then help us be faithful by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we can go forward and be faithful in all the little roles that you have given us, that we might be a blessing to all that we come into contact with. We pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.