The Church of Eleven22 - Abundant Work - Live Abundantly: Wk 4

Episode Date: October 29, 2023

If God works, then working is Godly. Jesus followers should be the best, hardest working group of people on the planet. How can you glorify God through your work? - We are walking through the second year of a discipleship journey called the 10:10 Life, rooted in John 10:10. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Be challenged by all that God continues to call us to, put your yes on the table and take a step of obedience. We should leverage everything God has given us, time, talent and treasure, all for His glory and invest in forever instead of storing up treasures on Earth. It will require us to sacrifice time, comfort, resources, certainty and other “life as usual” things to invest in eternal things that never fade. One of the most important things that the gospel compels us to is generosity. Jesus did not withhold generosity at the cross and we respond by not withholding from Him. Whether you are new to this journey, staying faithful through it or deepening the commitment of generosity the Lord has called you to, leverage everything God has given you for His glory and be obedient to the doors He opens. It is time to live in the fullness of life that God has for us. Find out more at 1010life.coe22.com

Amen, amen. Church, did you please stand for the reading of God's word? We're reading from Proverbs 6, verse 6 through 11. Go to the aunt, oh sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food and harvest. How long will you lie there? there, O Sluggart. Will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man. May God have blessing to the reading and the hearing of his word. Thanks, Dr. Paul. You may be seated.

If you got your Bibles, we're going to be all over the place. I would encourage you to grab your catalog page, to page 95, that's where we're going to be. This is going to be a little bit of a different sermon because I'm going to be using lots of passages from all over the place and excited about that video that Ms. Robin gave testimony to. How cool was that, right?

She's just, in time with the Lord, she feels like God's calling her to be a missionary to the international mission field. She begins to think, I'm too old, and then she realizes there's no retirement or graduation date on the Great Commission, and so she goes. Praise God for that.

leads me to make a very important announcement to you. You know that in the 10-10 life, we said that we were going to start a senior adult ministry, kind of two legs of that. There's like the varsity crowd, maybe people that are assisted living homes and stuff like that. We've started 11 campuses, basically, in those assisted living facilities,

so there are people all over the city today, 11 different places in these nursing homes that they'll be worshipping with us. And then also, there's some of you, JV., senior adult folks, and if you're like, am I that? You've probably been that longer than you know, but that's fine. And we want you to know where your place in the Great Commission is. And so, because of your generosity in the 10-10 life, we have, I'm able to announce to you today

who the pastor of our senior adult ministry is, and it's our very own Chris Girard, who those of you here at San Pablo know very well. We have a picture of Chris and his family, as you can see by his wife. the Bible says that the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. So this brother must pray hard and God hears his prayers because he outpunted his coverage. Something fierce. Hey, if you're a leader, here's what you know.

You know that you put your best people on your most important projects, amen? And our senior adult ministry is going to be one of the most important things we ever do here in the life of the Church of 1122. And Chris is one of our absolute best. He's one of our best pastors. He's been here from the beginning.

We know and love him, and so welcome to your new role. Now, if you are a senior adult or think you might become one soon, then you're going to want to connect with Chris or go to our website and check out all the things that we're going to be doing in order for you to be plugged in to the 10-10 life. All right, page 95 in your catalog, or you can flip around in the scriptures with me. We'll probably start in Genesis 1 and 2. But I got a question for you.

What is God's very first commandment? You ever think about this? What is God's very first commandment? And some people may say, well, isn't it to love God? Nope. That's not his first commandment. That's called his greatest commandment. And some people may say, well, it's to go into all the nations.

Nope, that's called the Great Commission. Some people may say his first commandant is to fear not. Nope, that's the most commanded thing. The first thing that God ever commanded, for those of you that think God is into rules, he's not into rules. He's in a relationship. When he created everything that is, the first commandment that he gives is to go to work. to be fruitful and multiply, subdue, and cultivate. And so throughout this series in the book of Proverbs that we're calling live abundantly,

I've heard this phrase a lot in the last 10 years or so, and people will say, Jesus plus nothing equals everything, which is true in regards to your salvation. It is not true in regards to living in this world, because Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey the things that I have commanded you. The Bible calls that wisdom. Wisdom is living in God's world, God's way. and Jesus has a lot to say about what it looks like to live in God's world, God's way.

And so this series has been about tracking down what some of the Proverbs say about some of the landmines that the enemy has placed in our pathways that can blow up in our entire life. So the first week we talked about wisdom, the second week, we talked about sexual immorality. Last week, Pastor Britt did a brilliant job talking about friendships. If you missed last week, do yourself a favor, go back and listen to that. was incredible. And this week, we are going to talk about how do you live abundantly when it comes to work, whether that's work at work or work at home or school work. What does it look like to live abundantly when it comes to work? I look this up, and sorry, I'm a little horse.

I sang a lot yesterday. I was at the world's largest outdoor worship and gathering. I sang glory, glory, 43 times. So I'm sorry. So I apologize. Now, what does it look like to live an abundant life when it comes to work? If you're an average American, you're going to spend about 100,000 hours of your life going to work. Think about that. If you're an average American, if you start like, you know, when you get out of college, go all the way to when you retire, you're going to spend about 100,000 hours of your life at work. Now, if you're a stay-at-home mom, you do that every week.

I don't know how you do it. God bless you, you never get to clock out. So we're talking about here, whether it's schoolwork, whether it's housework, whatever it is. And so what does it look like to live abundantly when it comes to work? Well, there's a couple of misperceptions that we have as people, and so I need to lay a foundation about what work is in order for us to understand how to glorify God in our work. Number one, if you're a note taker, you don't like this because we have numbers. Number one, work is God's idea. number one work is god's idea that when god created creation he decided to create his image bearers

to go to work and a reason is because god works all throughout jesus one and two it talks about god work for six days and then he's going to take a day off that jesus when he shows up on the scene he says i only do the work that the father has for me so if god works then working is godly And so we were created as image-bearers of him and says he works and we are called to go to work. Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, the Bible says, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion. Now this is not a marriage sermon, but this is very important. Husbands don't have dominion over their wives. Husbands and wives together have dominion over creation.

Though he is the head, he does not have dominion over her. He does not rule over her. They, together as a team, rule over all. of creation. It's very important. He says, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image and the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, here's this very first commandment. And it's not a don't, it's a do. He says, be fruitful and

multiply. It's because you're new to Bible study. That's Hebrew for bow, chicle, wow, wow. jot that down. It's probably preach on that, but that's not the sermon today. Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion. This means the first thing that Adam and Eve are called to do is to go to work, not just in filling up with people, but taking care of the creation that God gave them. It's called the cultural mandate. That God has created us as image bearers, and since he is a creator, he has called us to co-create with him

and to take what is chaotic and to put it into order. That's what work is. Over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit.

You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of heaven and to everything that creeds on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food and it was so. and God saw everything that he had made,

and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. That work was a part of what was very good. This is very important. The work was a part of what is very good. And when God tells Adam and Eve to go to work, the root word of the word work is Abad, which is the same root word that we get for a Hebrew word

that means worship. So the way that they were going to go to, the way that they were going to worship God, was by being fruitful and multiplying. They were going to worship God by working. Like at no point in the creation account does it say, okay, now we're done with work, and now we're going to go to worship. See?

That they were to worship God in the way they work. They were to worship God in the way they obey Him. They were to worship God in walking with God. All of it was worship. So work is God's idea. Number two, work is not a result of the fall. This is very important. A lot of us had this tendency to think,

The reason that we have to work so hard is because we screwed up and then God gave us chores as punishment. That's not how it works. A lot of us have a real misunderstanding of not only what Eden was like but also what heaven will be like. There will be work in heaven. We're not just sitting around eating bonbons and sitting on clouds just looking at Jesus. That's not what's happening. Everything about this, why did God create the world in which it needed to be put into order? Because he called us as image bears of him to be co-creator.

with him. And the way that we work with him brings him glory. You see, I've got a friend of mine's writing a new book. His name's Jordan Raynard. The new book is called The Sacredness of Secular Work. The Sacredness of Secular Work. It's really important. A lot of us have a misunderstanding of what work is. You see, some people think that my job is sacred and your job is secular. Like, my job is sacred because I have like a face mic and teach the Bible on Sundays. But what you do is secular because of whatever you do. No, no, no. I don't know if you realize this,

but my job's not holy just because of what I do. In fact, according to the book of Ephesians, that when I came to work as a pastor at the church, I left the ministry, and you are the ones that are actually in the ministry. Did you know that? Ephesians 4 says that the work of the pastor is to train up the saints for the work of the ministry.

Now, I'm a professional Christian. That's what I do for a living. I get paid to be good. You people are good for nothing, all right? So my job is to train you to do whatever it is that God called you to do for God's glory and human flourishing. And in Jordan Rainer's book, The Sacredness of Secular Work, he says that work is not only, work not only has instrumental value. That means like you can leverage it to make disciples and you can make money and give it to the kingdom. that's important, we'll talk about that,

but that work also has intrinsic value. Like the work in and of itself that you do, as long as you do it in a righteous way, is a godly thing to do. That work is, if you look at what Adam and Eve did, they rearranged the raw goods created by God for human flourishing for the glory of God. And that's honorable, that's sacred.

So I need you to get this. There's no sacred, secular divide, okay? that you may think you're just a home builder, like rearranging sticks and bricks to make homes. But do you realize that God is using you to create an environment whereby he's going to raise up a family and thereby raise up another generation? That's sacred, man.

Or some of you are thinking, you know, I'm just a teacher. Listen, you're not just a teacher trying to get your kids to pass that standardized exam so you can kick them out of your class next year. But you were raising up, you were discipling a new generation. If the kids don't know how to read, how in the world are they going to read the Word of God? It's a really big deal. If you work in finance, do you not realize that families are praying, give us this day our daily bread?

How do you think that happens? You've got to have farmers and you've got to have truck drivers and you've got to have grocery store attendants. And you've got to have people helping other people get their finances in order where they can afford to live indoors and eat hot food. It's a really big deal. If you're a doctor, if you're a nurse, do you realize that? You are an answer to prayer. People pray, dear God, please heal Nana. And he hears that prayer, and in you walk.

Jesus is the great physician, and the way by which he is determining most of the time to heal people is through you. If you're a first responder, you were a literal answer to prayer. People cry out, God help me, and then you walk in with a uniform and a gun. See, Romans 13, all right? So really, if you're a lawyer, can't really, I don't. You better bill everybody now. Ain't no lawyers in heaven. Amen.

All right. So, now, there's no preachers in heaven either. Nobody's preaching in heaven. All right, so there's no sacred, secular divide. Adam and Eve were put on the planet and told go to work. Genesis 2.15. The Lord of God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Why?

Because he was created in the image of God, so he was going to do godly stuff. Like, go to work. Now, the next bunch of verses here, especially if you're a young man, If you're a single man, pay attention. The next thing that Adam does is he gets his world, he gets his household in order. He names all the animals. He does what God says to do. And then, once his household is put in order, then God deems it necessary, and it's time for him to get a wife.

So I meet some, I meet some of you guys, and you're like, I'm just waiting on a wife. How about get you a job? and an apartment. Move out of your mama's house and get a job, get your life in order, and then maybe God will trust you with one of his daughters. And if you're here, you're already doing good. You're better than most.

You're very eligible if you're here. But this is what happens, okay? And then, and then, after he gets a job, after he moves out, after he's got his own place, after he's got a little folding money in the bank, then God gives him a wife, and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

You see, he got his house in order and then God gave him a helpmate. Why? Because one, he needed it, amen. It's not good for man to be alone. And together they were going to rule and reign. So work is God's idea. And work was there before sin enter the world. Number three, whatever God creates, the enemy always tries to corrupt. I mean, this is the whole 10th life thing we're in, right?

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. The thief is really, really good at taking a good gift. from God and then twisting it and corrupting it to make it a bad thing in your life. I mean, think food, think alcohol, think sex, think any kind of good gift, and he is an expert at corrupting that good gift. In fact, if you look at it from Adam's perspective in Genesis 1, 2, and 3, God gave Adam three things. He gave him a will to obey, a woman to love, and work to enjoy.

And when sin enter the world, all three of those things are fractured. It's why we have the will to sin. It's why it's hard to stay married, and it's why work is hard. Whatever God creates, the enemy corrupts. Genesis 3, 17, God says to Adam, this is after sin has entered in the world. He curses the serpent, he curses Eve,

and now he's going to curse, really, the whole world. And to Adam, he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife. Now again, this is not a married sermon, but this is just free. the problem is that Adam listened to the voice of his wife and not the heart of his wife. That matters. Here's what this means, husband.

Let me put it on the bottom shelf because you look confused, okay? It looks like I'm holding a treat and you're like, tell me more. Okay, here. You know, when you're riding down the road and your wife's ticked and you're like, and she's just looking out in the window, you're like, what's wrong? She goes, nothing. And you go, okay, you're dumb, man. Something's wrong.

Don't listen to her voice, listen to her heart. You know something's wrong. That's what he's talking about. Because you've listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Curse it is the ground because of you. And he was a gardener.

That means it's going to be hard to go to work tomorrow. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Sound like your job? Work is hard, is it not? Does work? Doesn't it seem like there's something at war against you at work all the time? It wears you out. Why? Because it's cursed. I mean, this is why there's always stuff to do.

You ever get to that place in your inbox, you know, and you're like, whoo, inbox completely clear. Boop! And you feel good, like you've accomplished something. Then what happens? Tina, from finance, sends out that staff text, and then all the idiots you work with hit reply all and bhr see that's the double are you stay-at-home moms you finally get little timmy all powdered up he's perfectly put away and you lay him down and you're tiptoeing away

and he can he can hear your little yoga pants hit the seat and then what happens something releases in timmy and everything's chaos again you see if you if you work in the stock market pre-fall every investment you make goes up and to the right. And then it doesn't go that way, does it? No, no, no, because it's cursed. You see, it's been corrupted, but it's not totally corrupt. The enemy takes a good gift from God, and he tries to twist it. Why? This is what he does. He's a thief. And the only thing he wants to do is steal and kill and destroy us. He's really good at this. So I've shared this with you a hundred times. It's an old Scottish proverb. For every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch.

For every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch. And the two primary ditches that I see that the enemy can trick us to fall into is when it comes to work, there's laziness and idolatry. Laisiness and idolatry. Proverbs says a lot about laziness. And it's pretty intense what it says.

You see, the person that is lazy, I don't think it's primarily just like a lack of motivation issue. I think laziness is rooted in a refusal and a rejection of God's purpose for your life. That you begin to worship at comfort. You begin to worship freedom. Listen, this is probably one of the greatest idols in America. It is our personal freedom.

The moment we primarily are talking about our rights instead of our responsibilities, be very, very careful because you'll be able to fall into this ditch of laziness. Listen, a Christian should never be bored. If you're a bored Christian, you're not doing it right. My kids will hate it, but they come to me and be like, Dan, I'm bored. I'm like push-ups or read your Bible. You can always have something to do.

The person that is bored is not because there's nothing on earth to do. The person that's bored is because they don't know why on earth they're here. That's the difference. And so the Bible calls this person the sloth, the slacker, or the sluggard. I love this. Proverbs 18.9. Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. Are you slack in your work?

it would be like if you saw somebody tearing down a building and you would think what an idiot why are you tearing this thing down when you're slack in your work you're not tearing down the product you're just tearing down the process it's the same thing proverbs 1915 slothfulness can cast into a slothfulness cast into a deep sleep and an idle person will suffer hunger Proverbs 24, the sluggard. And when he says, when he calls the lazy person a sluggard, he wants you to picture a slug. A little, gross, slimy, going nowhere, worthless, slug. It's really hard to identify that as you, by the way.

A great person to ask is somebody that you work for. Am I a sluggard? The sluggard does not plow in the autumn, and he, will seek at harvest and have nothing. The sluggard is the kind of person that when it's time to work, he doesn't go to work, but when it's time to get paid, he wants to get paid. The sluggard is the kind of person that just sits around and doesn't, listen, man, some people make excuses, some people make it happen. Never both. You get this? And the sluggard is a person that does not do his work and just sits on the couch, plays video games, and smokes weed,

and then votes for a socialist, so maybe they'll take care of him. It's just true. You pay attention. In any society where the role of father is diminished, the role of government will increase because somebody's got to take care of the children. I knew Frank would love that one. Now listen, if you're like, oh, pastor getting political. No, pastor's preaching the Bible. You understand?

The Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat. And there's some people that legitimately can't work. And therefore, the church, not the government, the church should be rolling in with the good news of the gospel to care for people both physically and spiritually. He keeps going. Prevverse 24th. 30. I passed by the field of a sluggard by the vineyard of a man lacking scents. And behold, it was all overgrown with thorns and the ground was covered with nettles and its stone wall was broken down. And I saw and considered it and I looked and received instruction a little sleep, a little slumber. This is the person that's late to everything.

This is the person that lives by the snooze button. This is the person that intended to be here at nine but couldn't make it so you showed up at 1122. Not everybody, just whoever the spirit tells. Low sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and won like an armed man. It's not his plan, it's just his pathway.

If you're lazy, if you don't work, you're not in line with the character. and nature of God, and it leads somewhere, and it leads to a place you don't want to go. And I talk to people all the time, man. I mean, I talk to people. I'm like, so what are you doing for a living? Well, I haven't, you know, I don't know. I don't found my, I'm just looking for my passion.

Oh, bless you and your passion. Did you know the Western English language has robbed that word of what it means? You know what it means? It's a Latin word to describe the suffering of. Christ on the cross for your redemption. You think he had good vibes about that? Uh-uh. In fact, he sweated drops of blood in the Garden of Gassimony

because this is going to be hard. And he said, not my will, but your will be done. And Jesus went to work on your behalf. And you're looking for your passion. Listen, it is bred into us at a very young age. I mean, you think about it. You ask a little kid, like an elementary age kid that can kind of think a little bit,

and you say, what do you want to be when you grow up? What do you expect to hear back? A vocation. If you ask a little fifth grader, what do you want to be when you grow up? And they were to say, a man of high moral character. What do you think?

Home school. That's what you think. That's homeschool. And listen, Mama, before you and your co-op start emailing me, listen to me, you're getting it right. You're crushing it.

Because you haven't dropped him off in that manufacturer so he would just shut his mouth and be a cog in the big machine. You're actually talking about the reality that who he is is not defined by what he does. Good job. I'm not beating up on you. I'm telling you you're nailing it. Yeah. So while you're trying to find your passion, neat, get you a job and then work real hard and maybe you'll get to do what you want to do.

Proverbs 2613. The sluggard says there's a lion in the road. There's a lion in the street. Ain't no lion in the road. There's a liar lying in the bed and he don't want to get out of bed to go to work. So he comes up with these excuses why he can't work. That's what he's saying. as a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. When it's time to get up and you roll over and hit the snooze button one more time, you think about this verse, you sluggard. I love this so much. Look at this part.

This is so extreme. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He gets his chips and salsa, and it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. Oh, that's too hard. Finish what you start, man. finish what you start. The slugger is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

Let me tell you who two of those seven people are that are trying to speak life into you. They're usually mama and daddy. And I know you're trying to find yourself and find your, all that kind of thing, and you've got an idea about how you're going to be rich and famous on YouTube. That's neat.

But you've got to work hard, man. I remember, look, when I was in college studying to go to med school, I'd be the worst doctor on the planet. there's no doubt about that, but I was working hard, doing the thing, got into med school, and felt like God called me into ministry. And I had to go to sit down with my dad, and I sat down with him at a subway. He said, Daddy, not like the train, like the not good sandwich, okay?

Now, and I was like, Daddy, I'm not going to med school, I'm going to seminary. We didn't grow up in church. He said, boy, what's seminary? I said, it's preacher school. And he said, what? Preacher, there's a school for that? I was like, yeah. He goes, you only work half a day a week, study?

one book, why you need a whole school? I don't know, Daddy. But I know that I got to be prepared. And he said, all right, and he said, what are you going to do? It's like, I'm going to be a youth pastor, work with students. He's like, what? That's a job? I said, yeah, kind of.

And then he said this, he said, boy, this is great advice. He said, boy, you don't get up and go to fun. You get them and go to work. And he was right. That should be in the Proverbs. When we get to heaven, Perry Martin's going to have a 32nd chapter of Proverbs. It's going to be stuff like that, all right? And it's true.

Proverbs 6, this is what Dr. Paul read for us. Go to the ant, oh sluggard. I mean, you want to talk about a low bar. Look at the ant. Consider her ways and be wise without having any chief or official or ruler. She prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. Do you ever knock over an ant pile? I go hunting a lot.

They're everywhere right now in North, Florida, South Jordan. And when I come up to an ant pile, I can't leave it alone. because I think in Bible verses, I think about this verse, and I destroy the ant pile. And I can't tell you how I do it, but imagine I pour a cup of water onto the ant pile, okay? And it puts a hole in the ant pile, and immediately, you know what the ants do?

They don't get together and pray about anything. They don't vote in a leader. They don't pull a permit. They don't get together and find their place in the world. No. They get to work. The first thing they do is they just get right back to work. Why? Because there is work to be done.

Every single one of us, when we wake up every single day, there is plenty of work to be done. Consider the aunt. Get to work. How long will you lie there, oh, sluggard, when will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man. And you're like, didn't you just read that? Nope. He keeps saying it over and over and over. it'll come on you like being lazy will sneak up on you like a robber like a thief that only wants to steal kill and destroy

listen this is not just an old testament idea in the new testament paul is raising up young timothy he's the pastor of the church at ephesus and in first timothy five eight he says this paul to timothy but if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. You got to work, got to work hard. Listen, Jesus' followers, not just nominal Christians, people that claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, we should be the best, hardest working group of people

on the planet bar none. There should be a class action lawsuit of discrimination against companies in our country because all they do is hire Christians because our reputation is that we work the hardest of any other group of people on the planet. Now, is that our reputation? Not at all.

Not at all. You see, here's what's crazy. You know what built the West? What built the West is this thing called the Protestant work ethic. It's kind of counterintuitive. You got these theologians like John Calvin comes around. He writes the institutes. And he talks about the sovereignty of God, the election of God, that God chose you, that before the foundations of the earth, that God elected.

you and pre-loved you and then sitting his son on the cross to die for you and you can't even run from him if you try and he's going to pluck you up from where you are and draw you into his own kingdom and it's really really heavy it's like a sledgehammer to the brain of theology and I'm into it and then you would think because it's all about the sovereignty of God you would think what it would produce is a bunch of lazy people because God's going to do it anyway and the exact opposite thing happened the most innovative hardest working group of of humans who have ever lived come out of that ideology. And the reason is because we don't have to work for his approval.

We're approved in Christ. Therefore, we are free to get to work for the glory of God and for human flourishing. We should be the hardest working people on the planet. Now, I wish we could stop right here. Say amen. You could get to the Jags game and watch them with the Steelers. I hope you're a stealer. My Bible says, thou shalt not steal.

Take it. All right, but we can't stop there. And I love to yell at some sluggards, because I ain't one, except when it comes to dishes and that stuff. But at work, not at all. And here's how tricky the enemy is. There's a bunch of you, man, there's a bunch of you that I know, and you work hard, and you put in the hours, and you're like, you get them, a bunch of slackers, you know. And the danger is, is that you move so far away from one ditch that you back yourself in the other one. So one of the ditches is laziness, but on the other. The other side of the road is the ditch of idolatry. Idolatry is when you find your identity in what you do.

Idolatry is when you begin to neglect the things that are most important in your life to chase after this idol that you call your job. Like when you cheat your family for the sake of work, when you cheat your church family for the sake of work. And here's how you know that it's really a problem. When then you begin to blame your family for your idolatry, You ever do this?

Well, I'm just trying to work hard to give you nice things. Listen, 15 years of student ministry, dad, your kids would have a, they'd much rather have you than anything you can buy for them. Trust me, man. Trust me. I've seen a lot of people hate their moms and dads because they sacrifice the family on the altar of work.

And that's the thing about an idol. Every idol requires a sacrifice. And what begins to happen is you will begin to sacrifice the things that actually mean the money. most to you, to the idol that is, if you're trying to make a name for yourself, that's the pride of life, if you're just chasing after stuff and you think more money is going to satisfy you or give you security, it won't. The Bible says that he who loves money will never have money enough. So whatever you idolize, when it lets you down, you will demonize it. Whatever you

idolize it, when it let you down, you will demonize it. And listen, some of you don't even come to church anymore. I'm obviously not talking to you. Good job. You're here. Some of you are not even coming to church anymore and you're neglecting the gathering of the saints and fellowship with the believers, but you think you can just catch up online, and it's because you're bowed down to the idol of your work. I need to do something about that. Now, I'm not talking about if you've got to travel every once in a while, but are you connected to the faith family? Here's what happens. When your job, when your career, when your vocation lets you down, and one day it's going to, guess who you will come running to?

The family that you've been neglecting and the church family that you've been neglecting. It's just true, man. I've seen it over and over and over. See, because when your whole identity is wrapped up in what you do, then who are you when you don't do that anymore? I know a lot of men at 1122. This is true for women, too. I just don't know them that well. I know a lot of men right now at 1122, and their whole career, they've been doing a thing,

and now they're not doing that thing anymore, and they're lost. I don't mean they don't know where they're going to go when they die. I'm talking about they don't know what to do with their life. because they've been so wrapped up in worshiping at the idol of work. Jesus says it this way, Luke 12, 15. And Jesus said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness.

For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. This is a major part of the 10-10 life. Are you chasing after an abundance of stuff, or is your life defined as an abundant life with Jesus Christ? And so he tells them a story, a parable. The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?

And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods, laid up for many years, relax, eat, drink, and be merry. You know what we call him in our society? A winner. You know what most churches would do?

Put him on the board of trustees. You know what God said? God says, fool. Fool. You acting like you were going to live here forever. Fool this night, your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared. Whose will they be?

You know what the implicit answer is? Not yours. We're going to talk about this more next week, but you know what the death rate in America is this year? 100%. It still hovers right around 100%. And guess how much you leave, whether it's a lot or a little.

you leave it all. This is what he's saying. So it is with he who, the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. When your identity is wrapped up in what you do for a living, then who are you when you don't do that anymore? Jesus, Matthew 1626, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in return for his soul? So be honest. No elbows. Be honest. Is it a is work for you an idol. Now, if your inner lawyer just stood up to the podium, that's a check engine light, okay?

The more defensive you are, it's probably an idol for you, regardless of how you try to justify it. Again, I'm not saying work is bad. Work is just not to be worshipped. Work is a vehicle by which we worship. These are very fundamentally different things. And so if you worship your work, if you're finding identity in it, then this is real important. What are you going to do about it?

And here's why I say it, because God never plays well with idols. He doesn't tame them, he doesn't caress them, he doesn't cuddle with them. He crushes them. And so, I love you. You better repent. And repentance is just not a word that people would yell at us on the way to the Jags game. you know what I'm saying, those guys. Repent, literally in Greek.

It means to rethink your plan for life. It means to rethink your plan for life. And today, today, you probably need to come, you definitely need to come, and lay it before Jesus and say, God, I hold this one wide open hands and I am so sorry, whether I'm lazy or I'm idolizing this. I want to lay this at your feet,

and I want to think about this completely different. Why? Because here's the thing. God doesn't play well with idols, and so there's only one of two options if you idolize your work. one, he will strip it away from you because he loves you that much. And that probably won't go good. It won't feel good.

It'll be the best thing that could happen to you. Why? Because it's God's kindness that leads to repentance. You know what the most wrathful thing he could do to you would be? Is just turn you over to your own desires and watch you ruin everything that's important to you because you're worshiping the idol of work. And so we better repent. And then one of the subcategories, one of the evidences of treaty, work as an idol is when it corrupts our character. When we at work begin to do whatever it takes to get ahead to make extra money, you better watch out.

When we worship work, you will make sacrifices on that altar to your functional savior at expense of your own soul, your own character, your own name, your family, your church family. I mean, if you're not old enough to know who Enron is, Google that and check it out. These dudes taught Sunday school. Do you realize this? There were not evil men in the back room going, oh, we're going to trick everybody. No, no, no, it was one little dumb step at a time.

And at one point, they suspended their code of ethics and they thought they were above it so that they could make some decisions. And it turned out to be a disaster. The Proverbs talks about it all the time. Proverbs 2010, talking about character, says, unequal weights and unequal measures are both like an abomination to the Lord.

This means when you cheat at work, it's an abomination. You should look up all the things God calls an abomination. If I'd listed them to you, it'd make you sick. And he says, when you cheat at work, it makes me sick. So dishonest scales will be things like fudging on an expense report, using work time to scroll social media, overcharging, cheating the time clock, doing whatever that little trick is that you know in your industry, and it's just part of the industry,

but you at the expense of somebody else get paid more. It's that thing, and you know what I'm talking about. And sometimes it's a corrupt employer. Proverbs 2216, whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth or gives to the rich will only come to poverty. Leviticus 19, I'm sure you all did your quiet time in Leviticus this morning, but let me remind you of what you read. Leviticus 1913, you shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him.

The wages of a hired worker shall not remain. with you all night until morning. And every one of these commands ends with, I am the Lord. Like you've got to pay people. You got to pay them fairly, got to pay them on time. You see, I've talked to a bunch of people at 1122

that own their own businesses, and they say, I'm afraid to put my little Christian symbol on my business card because when Christians find out I'm a Christian, they don't pay me like they're supposed to pay me, and then they want to call it grace. The Bible calls it sin. Like the plumber comes in,

does a job, but he's a Christian plumber, and you're like, well, I can't really pay you right now, but we're all brothers and sisters. No, dummy. If you're a follower of Jesus and you got money in your pocket, but belongs in his, you're supposed to give it to him. This is for every employer, big and small. Listen, we take this very, very seriously. This is a huge organization, about 300 employees and all the things, man. We've got a CFO named Paul Williams, and we've got a person that runs all of our HR named Alex Gonzalez, and we work very, very, very hard as a church to be compliant with all the rules and regulations and make sure that we are beyond legal, we are biblical. Amen? And every Christian should be. So with all that in mind, if work is God's idea and then the enemy

corrupts it, we have a tendency to fall in one of two ditches, either laziness or idolatry, then the question is, so how do I glorify God at work? And I've got six things. How do I glorify God at work? I don't know if you know this, but the word vocation comes from a Latin, word voca, like vocal, which means calling. It's a really big deal. Number one is you work under the Lord. All you rebels out there, good news, you don't work for the man. You work for Jesus. So act like it. Work under the Lord. Some of you are in an industry that you shouldn't be in. And some of you, this is probably very few. Some of you should go home, go to work tomorrow and quit and go to the the mission field. For sure, man. Some of you are going to take the gospel and risk your life

in the Congo. Most of you need to just get up and go to work tomorrow, know that that's your mission field, and you're going to risk your life at the PTA, which is much more dangerous than the Congo. So listen, man, if you're a Christian, you have the real preacher, you have the Holy Spirit in you, you just got to do what he is telling you to do. Some of you've got to rearrange your schedule because you're neglecting your family because you're chasing after dollars. You've to do what he says. But you got to work unto the Lord. Perverse 16-3, commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. You're not working for you. You ain't working for your mama and daddy. Work for him. Colossians 317. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything

in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. So you cut grass, cut grass in the name of Jesus. You do taxes, do taxes in the name of Jesus. What? Whatever the thing is, you commit it to him. So work into the Lord. Number two, work hard. We've talked about this already. Work hard. Colossus 323.

Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. I mean, think about this. If Jesus was your boss, I don't mean just theoretically and theologically. Like when you clicked in, clocked in, and he goes, what's up, Ted? And you were like, hey boss, and it was Jesus.

Would you be late? And I'm sure you're thinking, oh, but he would be gracious. You got to read past the four Gospels. Have you read about Jesus' current condition? So Jesus, no doubt, showed up, man, weak, lowly mile, no doubt. A little eight pound, six ounce baby sovereign Jesus, Ratman Swatling Clothes. That happened.

That didn't what he's currently doing. You know what he's currently doing? He's got a crown on. He's got a dyed in. He's a king sitting on the throne, and he's kind of ticked. He's got fire in his eyes. He's got a sword coming out of his mouth, and he's going to show back up the moment God says, all right, it's over.

And I've been watching the news, have you? Looks like we're getting a lot closer than we used to be. And I'm telling you, man, he's coming back with fire in his eyes, a sword out of his mouth, tattoos on his quad, on a horse, ready to judge the quig in the dead. And he's your boss. We should act like it. And the good news is, is if you know him as Lord and Savior, he's coming to get you, not get you.

You understand what I mean. So, work hard, work hard for him. Number three, have integrity. No matter what, the cost, do the right thing. Because every single time we take a step of obedience in the direction of our good shepherd, it always leads to life, even if you have to walk through martyrdom to get there. And every single time we reject him and reject his word and do what we want to do because it's just my industry.

It's just what we do. I know it's cheating a little bit, but who will know? He'll know. It's always leading to death. So have integrity. Preference 2229. Do you see a man skillful in his work?

And you're like, yep, I saw him in the mirror this morning. And you think that's you. Good, I hope it is. He will stand before kings, and he will not stand before obscure men. You've got to trust God for your promotion. Joseph in the Old Testament, not like Jesus' stepdad, but like coat of many colors,

Joseph, I don't have time to give the whole story. like Genesis 35 to 50. At one point Joseph is in jail for something he didn't do, and he has this ability or this gift to interpret dreams, and the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who thought he was God, heard that Joseph could interpret dreams, and so he brings Joseph before him. He washes the jail off of him, gives him a good haircut,

stands him before him, and says, I hear that you can interpret dreams. And Joseph has the opportunity to roll out his resume and how great he is. and instead he goes nope but my god can you know what that sounded like to pharaoh my god's bigger than your god and you know what all of pharaoh's cabinet began to think in their mind nah nah nah nah nah no no no no you did joseph wrong answer man and guess what happened god promoted joseph and then used him to save the whole nation of israel so have

integrity, no matter what it cost you. Number four, realize the part that you play in the cultural mandate. Realize the part that you play. Your job has intrinsic value, unless you're doing something shady, you know, like selling any little drugs or something like that. That's not what we're talking about. Repent, don't do that. And some of you, many, many, many of you are going to have to embrace a double calling. Some of you have a job, and you don't love it. It has intrinsic value. Starkey, I'm thinking about you, bro. This dude's been selling medical devices, which is a very important thing, right?

People need the devices. I don't know that he wakes up every day. He's like, yippe, more devices. I've talked to him. He uses it because it funds the ministry that he's been doing since I've known him. He runs mission trips to, like, Central America called Surf, Fish, Serve.

And you can go and surf and fish, and then serve. And a bunch of people have come to Jesus. He's been leading men through these halftime Bible studies for over a decade. And so he has a double calling. You know how to double calling? The Apostle Paul.

You know how he could do ministry? He made tents. You think he made crappy tents? No. He's the guy that said, whatever you do, work heartily as unto the Lord. And he used his tent making to fund and fuel the thing that God had called him to do. Understand the part that you play in the cultural mandate. Number five, how can you glorify God with your job?

Be radically generous. God gave you a job on purpose. you get resources from it and everything you have is a bloodbalt grace gift from him. Open up your catalog to the back. Get out this commitment card right here. Okay, touch it, feel it, smell it. You've got to get into this. Next week, we are going to have as an entire church an opportunity to take a tangible step in

the direction that Jesus, our good shepherd, is calling us to. And we're going to all have an opportunity to either make a commitment for a first time or to promise that we're going to keep the commitment we made last year or to up commitment and I need every single one of us to do this do whatever it is the good shepherd has called us to do that everything we have is a bloodbought grace gift from him all the resources we have and he is first we're gonna cover this next week and then we're gonna listen tune our ear and say God what are you asking me to bring to you I want to bring my first and my best and so you should never

apologize for how much money you make it is a lie when you turn on the TV and somebody looks at you and says, you should be ashamed of being rich. No, you should not. How else could you be rich towards God? You understand? Now, you might have to repent for how you spent it. If you spend it all on you, you better repent.

You should never apologize for how much you make, that you should be a conduit of the blessing of God and not a cul-de-sac. One of the greatest ways that you could glorify God at work is be radically generous, because he is radically generous towards us. And then the sixth way is it, you need to know, that you have been placed in your job on purpose.

Do you ever think about that? That God placed you where you are on purpose. You see, Acts 1724 says this. I love this. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and of earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands

as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind. life, breath, and everything. This is like the lollipop with Al. There's only one to who, three things that God gives us. Life, breath, and everything. That's what he gives us. And then he tells us why, listen.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined and allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place. God knew where you were going to live, and placed you there. God knew where you were going to work and placed you there. He has been at work behind the scenes

since before you were ever a twinkle in your daddy's eye, and he has been working together all things for your good and his glory, and he's got you where you are on purpose. Why, God, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him, yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being.

Here's what this means. You know what the greatest mission-sending organization in America is? It's corporate America. Do you ever think about this? They pay lost people to come and sit next to you. And they pay you to come and sit next to lost people and interact and work with them. And every single person, every single one of your one mores,

the people that you work with, that you are praying for, they are not far from God. And you think, well, they seem far from God. No, no, no, no. Paul, I mean, Luke and Acts says the reason that they're not far from God is because they're not far from you. And the Spirit of God is in you. And on purpose, God has placed you right next to Teresa from accounting

and she thinks she's far from God. But if you pay close attention, if you repent and reorient the way you go to work and understand that you have been placed there by God on purpose, and what you do matters and who you are doing it with matters, and you begin to open your mouth and just be obedient to what the Spirit of God tells you to do. You have no idea what may happen. You see, here's the point. Work is not to be worship, and work is not to be wasted.

Work is to be used as an act of worship to God, because he placed you there. You know what I think about when I think about? about this? I was led to Christ in high school, not by a preacher, not by a pastor, not by an evangelist, not by a professional Christian. I was led to Christ by a high school football coach. That's it. Coach Bulley, and you know what's special about him? He would say nothing, nothing. He didn't preach sermons. You know, all he did was leverage his life for the glory of God for human flourishing, that's it.

And here's the thing, man. He was a man of character. He was a man of integrity. He worked hard. I mean, he worked so hard. He wasn't some kind of dinky football coach that's like, it doesn't matter if you win or lose. No, he would scream at us.

Boys in this world, there are winners, and there are losers, and you better not be a loser. We're full of winners. He would. He would work us so hard. They put him in prison today for what we went through in two a days. You understand?

We didn't just sit around saying kumayya. No, no, no. And every person, the year before he died, man, I mean, this is God's wink on his life. He won the state championship in South Carolina. It's a pretty incredible accomplishment. And everybody respected that man. Even the people that did not believe what he believed.

They believed he believed it. And he's the hardest working, most upright guy. And he leveraged it all for a bunch of lost students that needed Jesus. So when you go to work tomorrow, Again, some of you need to quit. Some of you need to call you daddy and say, hey, I've got to change majors because I picked your major and I didn't pick mine and the Spirit told me to pick mine.

Some of you need to renegotiate with the boss. And be like, listen, man, I refuse to continue to sacrifice my family. Some of you need to get up and go to work and work hard. But every single one of us need to walk into tomorrow with our eyes wide open. The Bible says in Acts 1A, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

comes upon you and you'll be my witness. I dare you right now to say, God, would you give me an opportunity tomorrow? And then you pay attention. Whether it's at school or at work or whatever it is, carpool line, whatever it is, man. That's a prayer he wants to answer. And then open your mouth and do what he tells you to do.

And here's the thing. You know what hangs in the balance? You have no idea. No idea. It's this movement has meant anything to you. It's an easy line to trace back. Not to me. It's an easy line to trace back to Coach Bull Lee,

a guy who had a secular job, but he didn't believe in that. He believed that he went to work for one boss and his name was Jesus. And look at the fruit of his labor, amen? That could be you. It totally be you. All right.

Would you please stand? Let me pray for you, and then we're going to respond. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, thank you that you work. You work in our lives. work for the forgiveness of our sin. Spirit of God, you are working in us right now. God, we thank you

for that warm blanket of conviction. Whether we're lazy and we need to get to work, or we're treating work as an idol and we need to repent. Spirit, would you just lead us and guide us? We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. So look, we're going to respond. And listen, every single one of us probably have some area that we need to repent. Amen. I would invite you. you to come and to kneel before your God and maker and repent. Say, God, I need you to rewire my brain so that I can go to work tomorrow worshiping you regardless of what that work is. And we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best, and we're going to

sing, and listen, we're going to sing one of my favorite songs that we wrote, not like they we, not me, we, but I feel like I'm a part of this, so I take credit, got it. And I call it the amen song, but it's actually let it be so. The word amen means let it be so. If there's any part during the sermon where you thought I got to do some things differently, then what we're going to sing is let it be so. When we get to that amen part, we're going to sing in a bunch. I mean, if you know Jesus, I want you to sing, let's save people,

two hands in the air and sing amen, amen. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.