Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Feeling His Pleasure

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

There are two typical approaches to work today, and both of them are wrong. Both of them cut right against what God meant work to be. One approach says, “Work is a curse—something to be endured for a paycheck.” The other approach says, “Work is my way to find self-esteem through achievement.” But the Bible, and the fourth of the Ten Commandments, shows us a different view of work. Let’s see what the fourth commandment and Ephesians 6 show us about work: 1) work is not a curse; it’s a calling, 2) work is not for yourself; it’s for him, and 3) three things to do if you’re unhappy with your job. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 22, 1989. Series: Proverbs: True Wisdom for Living. Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to the Gospel in Life podcast. This month we've put together a special set of sermons from the nearly three decades that Tim Keller preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. While this month's sermons cover a variety of scripture passages and topics, each message points to one central truth. The gospel can change every aspect of your life. After you listen to today's teaching, we invite you to go online to GospelInLife.com and sign up for our email updates.

When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly journal and other valuable gospel-centered resources. Subscribe today at GospelInLife.com. Ephesians 6. Come. Ephesians 6, verses 5 through 9. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will

of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord and not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no favoritism with him." The word of the Lord. We're in a series on the Ten Commandments and we're saying that the Ten Commandments are like high steel, a framework of steel on which you can hang a life of greatness. This command that we're looking at today,

we're beginning to look at today, is the fourth command. Now the fourth command has two parts to it. So we're going to look at part of it today and part of it later. The part we're looking at today has to do with work. You see, the fourth command says, six days shalt thou work and do all thy labor. And on the seventh day, it's a Sabbath to the Lord, and you shall rest.

So you see, this commandment has two parts to it and we really can't deal with both of them in the same time. So today we're going to look at the command of God to work. And the passage we're looking at, let me confess to you, the passage we're looking at is so simple and yet so profound that I feel a little frustrated. Because what it tells you is so simple that it might insult your intelligence. And we have so many intelligent people that come here on Sundays and who live in this city. And also we have a lot of people in this city whose intelligence gets insulted easily.

But listen, in the movie Chariots of Fire, we have a tremendous contrast between two young men who are both in the same line of work. They're both athletes and they're both striving to achieve a gold medal for the British Empire in the Olympics. I can't remember which year, but it was in the 1920s. And they're both working together and they're striving together and they're after the same prize. And yet they are so absolutely different. At one point in the movie, Eric Little, who was the one man, has a confrontation with his daughter, pardon me, with his sister, that's right, with his sister Jenny.

And his sister is concerned because she believes that Eric's hard work and striving after athletic prowess is getting in the way of his preparation for the mission field. He was preparing to be a missionary to China. So she has a talk with him and at one point he says this to her. He says, Jenny, Jenny, you've got to understand. I believe God made me for China, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.

And later in the movie, the other man, And when I run, I feel his pleasure. And later in the movie, the other man, the man who's contrasted with Eric Little, is Harold Abraham's. And at one point he's getting a rub down, you know, from his very best friend who is his coach, his trainer, and he says this, I'm 24 and I've never known contentment. I'm forever in pursuit and I don't even know what it is I'm chasing.

Now they both get gold medals. They both strive for excellence and yet one of them is filled with joy as he does it. And the other one is filled with discontent, with emptiness, and he says so. So here you have two people side by side, same job, same career, same ability, same excellence, same training. One is doing it with tremendous joy. God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure. Now, here's my question. Those two quotes, in your work life, which of those two quotes is closer to the language of your own heart?

That's what I want to know. Let's be real personal about this. If I'm going to be simple, I might as well be personal. The one language goes like this, God made me for this. He made me for this and when I do with all my heart, I feel his joy. I feel his joy upon me and I feel his joy within. And the other language goes like this,

I'm running and I'm running and I'm working awfully hard and I'm working myself into the ground. I don't even know what I'm working for and I've got no satisfaction in it at all. Which of those two kinds of language are closer to the language of your heart? That's what I want to know. What made the difference between Eric and Harold? And I would think that everybody here would have to be straining to know. Well take a look, Eric

had actually a very excellent little theology of work. He had a theology of work. He had a proper theology. Oh no, theology. Yes, that was the answer to his whole life. He says, first of all, God made me for this. He had a different view of work than what Harold did. A different view of work. And then secondly, he says, I'm running to please Him. I'm running to please Him.

God made me for it and I'm running to please Him. I'm not running to please you, Jenny. I'm not running to please the crowd. I'm not even running to please myself. I'm running to please you, Jenny. I'm not running to please the crowd. I'm not even running to please myself. I'm running to please him. And you see, that's a perfect contrast to the other, what I would say, the two most normal approaches to work that you've got today. There's two approaches. Both of them are wrong. Both of them cut right against what God meant work to be. The one approach says, work is a curse, work is something to be endured, but it's a paycheck.

Hey, it's a living. I've got to make the money. I don't get any satisfaction out of it. I don't really help anybody buy it, but I get the money so I can actually go out and do the things that really give my life meaning. Leisure. You see, work is a curse, as opposed to what Eric said, and he said, God made me for this. Eric saw it as a calling.

Something that God made him for, something that God summons him to. What this passage says, you see, do it with all of your heart. It's the will of God. Do it from your heart. As opposed to the view that says, ah, it's a curse, it's a bummer, who cares, but what do you expect, it's just something, it's just a paycheck. But then there's another approach, not the work is a curse approach, there's another popular approach, and that approach goes like this, work is my way of finding self-esteem through achievement.

And it looks more like the Christian view of work, but it's not. And as opposed to that view, Eric has also got the proper approach and that is instead of saying work is my way to find self-esteem through achievement, he says, I'm running to please God. I'm running to feel his pleasure. So, let's just take a moment to see what Eric says is a beautiful summary of what this passage says.

Number one, work is not a curse, it's a calling. You've got to get a different view of work. You've got to get it in your mind or you'll never run with joy. You'll be running and running and chasing and not knowing what you're chasing. And so first of all, work is not a curse, it's a calling. Secondly, work is not for yourself, it's for him. And if you don't get that down, you're going to be chasing and chasing and not know what you're chasing.

Okay, let's take a look at those two. And we can be brief, I think. I just want to try to drive it down and help you see that this is something that you can work on tomorrow. And because I'm working today, it's something I've got to work on now, and I'll show you how I'm doing it. Okay, first of all, work is not a curse, it's a calling. The idea of work being a curse, I just described it to you.

It's the view that says it's a paycheck, you've got to eat, I've got to eat, I mean, who cares? I'm not getting any, I'm'm not getting any enjoyment out of this. It's not doing anybody any good, but what the heck? What is work? It's just a way to get a paycheck. That view, well that view is wicked. It comes right against what the passage says. It comes right against this whole idea of do it as the will of God from the heart. But now hear this, if you've never heard it before, now hear this.

Whenever you disobey God, whenever you go against God's will, you're going against yourself. Whenever you sin against God, you sin against yourself. Because you see, what God says, his word is not busy work. It's not the kind of homework that your seventh grade algebra teacher used to give you. Just work to keep you off the street. God's word is your design lines. And when the Word of God says, do not work like that, and you say,

I'm going to work like that anyway, you are going against yourself. My friends, to work like that, you cannot keep it up. You can't live like that. Your life will become like a dust storm that chokes you with the dryness of it. And the result, besides boredom in your own life and a kind of alienation in work, it also destroys your society because you have low, nobody has pride in their work, and you don't have decent productivity and so on. Now, the Christian antidote for that is to see work as a calling.

Eric says, Eric Little says, God made me fast. Now this is very, very important. Work is not a curse. Work has been cursed by sin, just like everything's been cursed by sin. Marriage has been cursed by sin, so as beautiful as it is, it's got problems, you see. The ground has been cursed by sin, so as great as it is, it brings up thorns as well as flowers. And work's been cursed by sin. So as great as it is, even though you were built for it, there's frustration, you see. If you're a businessman, there's

always the clock, and it will always get you. If you're a dancer, there's always gravity, and it will always get you. No matter what you are, there's always something. And yet work has been cursed, and therefore it's not everything that it can be, but it's not a curse because Adam was built to work. Adam was put into the world as a gardener. And if you don't understand gardening, you'll never understand what God wants you to do with your life. Because gardening is an interesting balance. A gardener does not leave the earth as it is.

A gardener doesn't just say, well, my job is to have beautiful flowers and trees and grass, and there they are. I mean, I don't have to do anything. That's not gardening. You see? On the other hand, a gardener doesn't put down asphalt over his garden either. A gardener tries to make the potential actual. Tries to bring order out of chaos. Tries to cultivate and bring out the potential. God intended work to be that. Work creates civilization. Now you stop and think about it. The big difference between living in the bush and living in civilization is the advancement of work and sharing in one another's work. I have a chair in

my office that I sit on and I was sitting down and saying what if I tried to make that chair from scratch and relied on nobody else's work at all? Only on my own work. Do you realize what it would do? First of all, I'd have to go what if I tried to make that chair from scratch and relied on nobody else's work at all? Only on my own work. Do you realize what I would do? First of all, I'd have to go mine the ore and make the metal. To make the metal. I'd have to go out and I'd have to cut down the trees and make the wood. But then I realized, no, wait a minute. Before that, I'd have to make the truck to go out and to bring back the tree.

I'd have to make the tools that I would dig in to bring the ore out. And then I would say, wait a minute, then I'd have to make the tools, you see, to bring out the ore. And then I'd have to make the tools that made that. And I began to realize to make this chair from scratch and to rely on no one else's work would take me probably all of my life. What makes the difference between civilization and nothing probably all of my life. What makes the difference between civilization and nothing

is work. And in work, we share in one another's work, we are useful to each other, we draw out the potentials of creation, we make the actual, we make the potential actual, we bring order out of chaos. And every human being is built for that kind of work. You're built, no matter what your profession, to create, to bring order out of chaos,

to make the potential actual. It doesn't matter whether you're an artist. If you're an artist, you're bringing something out of nothing almost. You're writing a piece of music from scratch, or you're creating a piece of music from just something on a piece of paper. You see, that's an artist. But even, look, you're an insurance salesman. You want to know that I'm opening a new region.

You're a clerk and I'm bringing more out of chaos because of my accounting system. There's a need to see that. And if you're in a job in which you're doing nothing but creating toys that break real often so people will buy more toys, you know, planned obsolescence, if you can say, what I am doing is not useful to anybody else, it's not building civilization, I am not actually enriching people, I am not actually bringing out the potentials of creation, you see, I'm not really doing anything. I'm not getting anything done.

I'm not bringing war out of chaos. I'm not helping anybody. What am I doing? That kind of job eventually will get to you. It will get to you. And yet the glorious teaching of the Bible is you can be a person on an assembly line. You can be just turning a screw. You can be somebody who's just sweeping a floor.

But if you see that it's part of the whole complex way in which God has enabled us to bring the potential out of his creation, then you can do it with joy. Paul was writing to slaves. And if this theology of work can work for slaves, if he can say, slaves, the menial work you do, you do it for the Lord. You see it as part of everything that God made work to be. You can do it with joy. God has worked through Tim Keller's teaching to help countless people discover Christ's redemptive love and grow in their faith as they learn how the gospel is the key to every

aspect of life. This month, we're featuring a brand new book by author Matt Smethurst titled, Tim Keller on the Christian Life. In it, he distills biblical insights from Tim Keller's nearly 50 years of sermons, books and conference messages, including each of the sermons we've highlighted on the podcast this month. The book explores foundational theological themes from Tim Keller's work, like grace, idolatry, justice, prayer, suffering, and more. It's a resource that we hope will help you apply the gospel more richly to your everyday

life. We'll send you a copy as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the good news of Christ's love with people all over the world. Just visit www.gospelinlife.com slash give to request your copy. That's www.gospelinlife.com slash give. Now, here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. One of my better friends I recently visited with, he is a supervisor of trucks. He works in a trucking firm and he supervises trucks. You might say, how creative is that? Ten years ago we went over this very material.

We talked about this very thing. We talked about what is the biblical view of work and he was never the same. Just a few months ago he said, I have never been the same. I really enjoy my work because I see how it fits in. I see what its purpose is. And he realizes what he's doing. He realizes all kinds of things that people couldn't do unless he was doing his job. And as a result of that he says, I'm useful, I'm bringing word out of chaos, I'm bringing out the potential.

And that was important for him, even though he's a supervisor of trucks. Just making sure this truck gets there and that truck gets there. And that's the reason Martin Luther could say that the humblest serving maid sweeping out for the glory of God is just as honoring to God. Her job is just as infused with dignity as the greatest preacher in the world. And that is the Protestant view. It's not the Roman Catholic view, but it's the Protestant view. It is. Now, you've got to get that view, but then there's a second problem.

I said the one wrong approach was to see work as a curse. And if you see work as a curse, just something to be endured, you're going to be choked with it. There's another approach that's more dangerous to people, probably in New York. More dangerous. I remember when I was in Hopewell, that other church that I kept inviting you to today. When I was in a blue collar town, that first view of work was the one that strangled people.

They said, I don't need to understand my job, I don't need to see it as a useful thing, I don't need to enjoy it, I don't need to look at it in any... It's just a paycheck, you know. I hate my job, but that's alright. Everybody else I know hates my job too, hates their jobs too. And that particular view of work choked them. I don't know that that's as much a problem for you as the second one. The second view of work says, ah, ah, I'm going to find myself in my achievements. You know Rocky Balboa? You know Rocky. He gave the careerist, You know Rocky Balboa? You know Rocky. He gave the careerist, the person that says, I am going to find myself, I am going to know that I count because I'm going to achieve in my job. I'm going to get my identity from my job. He gave us a great movie

for all of you. You should all see it all the time because in many of our cases that's the way in which we live. He gave us the slogan, go for it. You know, he doesn't say go for it. He says, go for it. And what is it? What is it? I was wondering about that. I used to think, well, go for it means the championship, but he didn't need the championship.

Remember he says, I just want to last 15 rounds. Maybe he wanted the prize money, but no, he didn't want the prize money. Maybe he wanted just to, just, he was in pursuit of boxing skill, that's it, just to know that he could go 15 rounds, but it wasn't that. He said, remember, if I can just go the distance, I'll know I'm not a bum. And I suggest to you that many, many, many, many people in this room, many people in this

city, many people in this room, many people in this city, many people in this culture are working for that same thing. That's the it you're going for. The it you're going for is, I'm going to work, I'm going to achieve so I know I exist. So I know I'm a self. So I know I'm a real person. So I know I'm a self. So I know I'm a real person. So I know I'm not a bum.

And there's only a small problem with that. And that is your identity, your sanity, is as fragile as your career. It's as fragile as your success. And that's pretty fragile. I read not too long ago that in 1969, there was some student at the University of California at Berkeley who started running through the library a muck. This was 1969.

He started running through the library saying, you're getting ahead of me. You're getting ahead of me. And they locked him up. And they took him away. And you know what was wrong with him? Do you want to know what was wrong? What was wrong with him was he was in the wrong decade,

because in the 60s, you know, that was weird. But this is the 80s. And in the 80s, that's how you feel. Everybody's getting ahead of you, yes. You see, while you're in the gym, they're up there getting more sales, you see. They're reading books, they're getting ahead of you. They're books that you should be reading. Seminars they're going to.

You should be going to those seminars. People are always getting ahead of you. And instead of being choked on the boredom of your job, you're being tied up in a knot because you're trying to define yourself through your work. Now what does that lead to? It can lead either to...it leads...first of all, it leads if you're successful, and which work. Now what does that lead to? First of all, it leads if you're successful, and which would be the worst thing God could possibly do to

you. But sometimes he does it. Is it just it chokes you with your own pride? Here's a great quote from Bonfire of the Vanities. You remember Sherman McCoy? Here's a great quote. The masters of the universe were a set of lurid, rapacious plastic dolls that his otherwise

perfect daughter liked to play with. They looked like Norse gods who lifted weights, with names like Draykon, Ahor, Manglered, and Bluturi. They were unusually vulgar even for plastic toys, yet one fine day after he had picked up the telephone and taken an order for zero coupon bonds that had just brought him $50,000 commission. Just like that, this very phrase bubbled up in his brain. Yes, he and just a few others had become precisely that, masters of the universe. There was no limit whatsoever. And you know that novel goes on to show that that man had become full of pride, of course,

but he really was a shell of what he used to be. Because he had defined himself on the basis of his work, what happened eventually was he became an image-conscious, self-conscious person who had no integrity anymore. When he was having an affair with his wife he couldn't tell her the truth even after she found out about it and here's the reason why and this is this verse this passage we're looking at has a secret to it

do not it says work as unto I service now it's not saying don't do a good job. It says work with all your might. Go after excellence. Of course. But be careful who you're working for. Sherman McCoy had gotten to the place where he was working for others.

As much as he wanted to say I'm a master of the universe, he was completely enslaved to what people thought. Og Mandino, who's written all these books on go for it and success, he says, let me define success. Success is getting other people to believe you're successful. And that is what happens to you. You become a slave to what other people think. And when you become a slave to what other people think,

you're tied up in knots and you lose yourself instead of finding yourself. If you try to find yourself through work, you will lose yourself. And that's what it says. Now, what's the Christian antidote? It's fairly simple. This is the part I'm afraid is going to insult your intelligence.

Will you listen? I'm going to be as open as I possibly can about what I have to do about this. It says here, look at God in the eye when you're working. Say, Lord, I'm going to do a good job because you're watching me. I don't care what everybody else thinks. I'm going to do excellence. I don't know whether it will get me the promotion. I don't know whether it will get me the promotion.

I don't know whether it will get me past the exam. I don't know what will happen. But I do know this. If I do it for you, and I know you're pleased, and I feel your pleasure, that's the only thing I really want. Let the chips fall where they may. I'm free of what everybody else says. Don't you see how in so many different situations

this would be freedom? Paul's talking to slaves. Paul doesn't think slavery is a good thing. He tells Philemon to let go of anesimus. He tells slaves, if you can get free, get free. He doesn't like the institution of slavery. But what he's saying here is that slaves, when you get up tomorrow, look right past your master and in your heart say,

I'm not working for you. You don't own me. But I'm going to do a good job. I'm going to do a good job for the one who I really belong to. John White, who is a psychiatrist, tells in one of his books that one day, he had spent so many years just being driven by the need for good grades, one day as he was studying physiology in med school, he suddenly got an idea. What if I read this book for Jesus, instead of for the teacher,

instead of for the exam, instead of for my standards? What if I just read it for Jesus? What if I studied this book for Jesus? And he suddenly realized it would have changed everything. First of all, he said when he began to do that, he was more consistent in his reading. Because he wasn't studying it for the teacher. If you're studying it for the teacher, you know you only have two exams, so you cram at the end before the test. But if you're studying it for Jesus and you want to know it, well, just to be a good steward of your mind, just to begin to know things for his sake, then he said, I got more methodical. He said I got more disciplined. I also had the chance to be curious and I didn't worry about whether or not I knew it well enough for the test. And he says my grades got better in some cases, I got worse in some

cases. I went through med school because that was his job to do that. It was his job to work that out. And he says, I finally knew joy. And look, when I get up, see today I work, you're not working, I'm working. And I got the same problem you do. You think it's a different thing than what you're facing? No. Because you see, I got two kinds of people that I've got to please. And I've got to come in and say, well there's the people who sent me here

and gave me the money to come here. I've got to make sure And I've got to come in and say, well, there's the people who sent me here and gave me the money to come here. I've got to make sure they think I'm successful. Or I can slip into saying, the people who are coming, I've got to make them think I'm successful. That's just like Ag Mandino. You're successful if people think you're successful. And then I'm tied in a knot. No.

What I've got to do is I've got to look at you, I've got to look at them, and I've got to say, it's God that gave me this job. In fact, it's God that pays me. And you've got to look at them and I've got to say, it's God that gave me this job. In fact, it's God that pays me. And you've got to do the same thing. It's God who gives you your promotions or not. It's God who helps your career go ahead. He's the only one to please all of the good things that happen to you. All the good things that happen to you in your career are frankly just things that God

gave you. You know there's other people just as able as you who didn't have the same breaks. Or, there's other people that you know who are just as good as you who have done a lot better than you and they got better breaks and you begin to realize God is the employer. God is the boss. God is the one you're working for. Relax. Look him in the eye as you work. It'll transform everything. You'll be better at what you do.

You'll be better. You won't be tied up in knots and you won't be choked by the dryness of it. So there we are. Let me conclude by saying this. If you're unhappy in your job, actually let me conclude two ways. Number one, if you're unhappy with your job, there's three things you've got to do. Number one, check out your motive first of all. Why are you working?

Are you slipping into the same thing I've got to always deal with every single Sunday? Are you looking at God or are you playing to the crowd, are you playing to the boss, are you playing to other people? Are you a slave to making somebody else think you're successful or just pleasing him? Check your motive out. That could be what's driving you. The second thing, if you've done that, then make sure you understand what you're doing as a calling. Try to look at it as what God meant work to be. And seek to say, I'm doing this because I'm good at it, because God made me good

at it, and it's a calling. And if you've done those two things, if you've checked your motive out, and if you see your work as a calling and you're still unhappy, it could be that you're not in the right job. It could be that you can't say with Eric Little, God made me fast, and when I run run I feel his pleasure, because it could be that you're not cut out, that he hasn't really called you for this kind of work,

because your abilities and your capacities and your desires are really not in line with this job. But before you run out of a job because you're unhappy, and at first work on your motive, first work on your view, and only then change your job. Now, the real conclusion. First work on your motive, first work on your view, and only then change your job. Now, the real conclusion. I want you to realize that what I've just told you is not possible for someone to do

unless you are a growing, walking with God believer. Do you hear? The context of Chapter 6 is important to recognize. Earlier in Ephesians 5 it says, be filled with the Spirit. And then it goes on and says, if you're filled with the Spirit, your marriage will be like this, your family will be like this, your work will be like this. Don't you see that what Paul is telling you to do, this joy that Eric Little had in work, can only be done if you've got such a personal relationship with God that you look at him eye to eye. We're not talking about a general belief in God.

You cannot have joy in your work unless you see him face to face, unless you've got a personal relationship with him. By personal, I mean, do you sit down and do you read the Word and you see Him pointing things out to you? Do you pray and do you point things out to Him? Is there real personal dealing? Is there a real interchange? Is there a true friendship? Or is God just a rather... Is God just something up there? A concept? Something you just believe? Unless there's a personal relationship, you can't work like this. Do you hear that?

And secondly, you Christians, that you know you know Christ personally, do you see that this passage teaches that if you're a Christian, it has to impact every part of your life. Christianity is not something you only do on the weekends and in the evenings. Christianity, a Christian is a new creature. All things have become new and you must begin to ask yourself, is my relationship to Jesus Christ really impacting the way I work? Do I work differently because of who I am in Christ

or not? Have you gone into that lifelong adventure of exploration of saying how does Christianity and the gospel and the Bible bear on how I do my job? Are you involved in that? Are you working on your motives? Is Jesus impacting your work or not? Look him in the eye and feel as pleasure as you work. Let's pray. Today's sermon was recorded in 1989. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.