All Good Work is God's Work
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer Carey. I'm a pastor in training here with Mill City Church. We're going to be in Genesis 1 today, which is in page 1 of your Bible, so you can go ahead and flip there. We're going to work through that. We'll get to that in a moment.
Recently, my wife and I, we got to go on vacation. A couple weeks ago, we had to go to the beach. Going to the beach and getting on the beach used to be this relaxing experience. You'd take a book. You'd see the ocean. You'd just take it all in.
It was not that, and it will not be that for a very long time for us. We have a daughter who turns three tomorrow. We have a son that turns one in a few weeks. Getting out on the beach first was getting an umbrella in the ground. That took a total of about two hours because at one point, wind carried it. It almost impaled a lady.
We had to get that in the ground. I'm kind of putting a foot on that, trying to put dirt, sand on that. Then my wife brought this blow-up pool that theoretically our children would have played in once it got blown up. We did not bring a pump, so I had to do it all by the power of my lungs, which don't have maximum capacity at all. It took about 45 minutes to watch them plan it for three. So a different experience at the beach, not as much relaxing, but I did get to do one fun activity that I've been wanting to do with my daughter.
Growing up, my brother and I used to go to the beach, and we used to play. As the tide was coming in, we used to build these sand forts. The whole goal was you'd build this massive sand fort. You'd build a moat. You'd get it going. So when the waves came in, it was just kind of a challenge.
How long can we go up against the ocean until the ocean winds? It was just fun. I was like, all right, I'm going to get to do this with Ellie, my daughter. So I get her out there, and we start building this fort and start digging it out. She's kind of getting into it, and we start kind of building the fort and kind of got the moat going and getting everything ready. Then I was like, well, you want to decorate it, which we didn't do when we were growing up because we were two boys.
But she started to get more into it. She started picking out shells and kind of placing them in on there. If I had like a big bucket of pink paint and just throw it on there, she would have been overjoyed. And we kept going, and as this is happening, I'm like, Ellie, look, the waves are coming. So we've got to get this strong because when the waves get here, it's going to be a challenge.
And finally the first wave came in, and it came up, and it kind of took some of the sand away. And she saw it, and I was like, see? And then she really started to get into the ocean. Like she was adamant about facing off against the ocean. And she kind of forgot about the fort and started going. She would run up to the waves and go, no.
And she'd be screaming at him. And she says gibberish sometimes. And she's just like, no, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she started like kicking the water. And I was like, okay, you're getting really into this. I didn't really see this coming.
And she had gotten so lost in going up against the ocean that she at one point goes to the fort. She grabs a hunk of the fort in sand and starts pelting the ocean. And I was like, whoa, kid, like that. We won't be here five more minutes if you keep this up. She got so lost in the activity, so lost in what was happening. She lost sight of the purpose of what we were actually there to do.
And I feel like work, that happens in how we approach work. And that's why we spent this period of time, six weeks going through the hammer and the hammock, going through work and rest that we might have a better theology, a better understanding of what work and rest are supposed to be. And today we're going to focus on what the purpose of work is. Because I feel like when we're getting pummeled by waves, when we're getting owned by the different problems at work, challenges at work, different things that we face, that oftentimes I feel like we lose the purpose of what work is supposed to be. So what work very clearly is in the Bible is this.
It is a good gift that God has given us that we might glorify Him. That is what the Scriptures teach. That is a good gift that God has given us that we might glorify and worship Him. And oftentimes I feel like if we're honest, we don't really functionally believe that. I don't think we actually functionally believe that. I think that there are three main views of work that we fall into that are fallen, that are corrupted by sin.
I think the first view of work that many of us have in our culture is that many of us view work as a mere necessity. It's just necessary. It's a necessary means. You might hear common phrasing with this that says, I don't live to work. I work to live. And the mindset is that work is just an exchange.
I exchange my time. It's a commodity. I exchange my time, my effort, and you give me a paycheck. And that's how I pay to live. So that's one common aspect we'll get to in a little bit that has fallen, that does not capture what work is supposed to be.
The second is that work is an enemy. And this is a little bit what Adam from Midtown, when he came and preached last week, which if you were not here, I encourage you, please go back and listen to it. It was a very helpful, a ton of wisdom as he preached through Proverbs on laziness, on the sluggard. And many people fall into this view that work is an enemy. It is an enemy of my recreation, of my fun, of my joy. It impedes on my life, and I will do whatever it takes not to work.
And the third kind of fallen way I see in culture is that work becomes an idol. It becomes something that we worship, whether it's the success it brings, the productivity it brings, whatever. We place that in the place of God, and we give it our affection, our devotion, all of our thoughts, till we elevate it to the point of worship. So we'll get to those three fallen perspectives in a little bit. But we have to reclaim what work actually is, that it is a good gift that God has given us that we might glorify him.
And in order to do that, we're going to be in Genesis 1, verses 27 through 31. And as we work through this, we're going to see a few things. We're going to see that we are made in the image of a worker God. We're going to see the calling to work, which is a call to subdue and bring dominion. And then as we work through that, as we establish what the purpose of work is supposed to be, then we will be able to tackle those three fallen worldviews. So I'm going to read from Genesis 1, verses 27.
So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And hear this, subdue it and have dominion.
Over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth. And every tree with seed and its fruit, you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth and everything that has the breath of life, I've given you every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made.
And behold, it was very good. I'll pray and then we'll dive in. God, thank you so much that you have given us a picture of what work is supposed to be. I pray that you would help us be present this morning. That you would help us listen to your word. That you would speak powerfully to us.
And you would reshape our understanding that we might have a better perspective on what work is supposed to be. Amen. Alright, so it's important to note this very last part of this verse. That he said it was very good. That's important because of where we are in the story. This is before the fall.
This is before in chapter 3 when Adam and Eve sin against God bringing sin in the world. This is a picture of what work was in its original design uncorrupted by sin. So in order to understand work, that's why we're in Genesis 1. We're getting back to the original design of what it's supposed to be. In the same way, I feel like we need to reclaim the original design of what macaroni and cheese is supposed to be. I feel like we've lost it.
I would say that we originated what mac and cheese in its purest form was supposed to be. We made it. And then the rest of culture saw it and said, oh, let's give our spin on it. And people started putting vegetables in it. Y'all, I put one time my fork into what I thought might be mac and cheese. And it came out and I found out it was cauliflower and cheese.
And I was like, that's an abomination. That's not what mac and cheese is supposed to be. We need to, as a culture, reclaim that. Get back to the original design for our own good. And that's what we're doing with work. We're getting back to the original design.
It starts off in verse 27 when it says that, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. Now, I don't have a ton of space to get into. This is one of the biggest doctrines we have in the Bible, being made in the image of God. We are going to spend a good long while in the book of Genesis coming up starting in August.
So we'll spend a whole week working on the image of God. But the overview is this, that we are made in the image of God, which means we bear his likeness, his creativity, we have value, that we are made different from any other aspect of creation. We look like him. And in this context, it means that we are made in the image of a worker God. A God who created everything out of nothing. Who made all of the raw material that we have.
Who made metals. Who made water. Who made coffee beans and agriculture. He made everything. And we are made in the image of that God. A God who made everything out of nothing and who brings order to chaos.
So we're made in the image of him. And then it continues. It says in verse 28, and God blessed them. And he said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea. And then he keeps going with a long description.
The birds of the heavens. Every living creature. Every plant that yields seed. Every fruit. All the beasts of the field. All of it.
That we've been given dominion and called to subdue that. Now before that he says, be fruitful and multiply. Which we don't have time to get that this week either. But that is make babies. That is form families. That is making societies.
And we'll get to that when we tackle Genesis. And then he gets to these two unique commands that we have attached to work. To subdue it and have dominion over it. Now he's talking about all of creation. And he could have just said everything. That's what I think is unique here.
He could have just said, subdue it and have dominion over everything. And that's it. But he doesn't. He says, he gives this long description of everything that humanity has been given. And I think that's helpful for us. I think it's helpful for that to be longer.
So that we might understand the responsibility of what we've been given. That Adam and Eve in the garden were given all of this. And I'll have to wonder how they would have reacted to that. And looking at everything that God had given them. That they're looking at things like a tree that has these beautiful fruits on it. That's not quite orange.
It's not quite yellow. It's peach. And then we get to cultivate peaches. That are so good that we get a harvest of right now in this season. They would have peaches. And they would have dominion.
They would be able to subdue bears. That we have dominion over the wildest creatures. That we have responsibility over waterfalls. And rivers. And dogs. And even cats.
Which I know in theory are good because of what the Bible says. But that's debatable. If you're a cat person, I'm sorry. Kind of. We get dominion over all of that. And the picture is that God gave the keys to the kingdom.
He gave the keys to the business empire to his kids. And he said, run with it. This is your responsibility now. Subdue it. And have dominion over it. Now, subdue is an interesting word choice here.
It's actually a little bit of a violent word. In the Hebrew and the Aramaic. Which are similar words that is being used here. The idea is conveyed as beating down a wild growth into a path. Or in other ways, it's being used as subduing. Bringing into submission someone or something that is wild or chaotic.
He could have just said, take care of everything. But he intentionally uses the word subdue for a reason. Because the earth, in its original form, its essence is wild. It is need. It is chaotic. It's a need to be subdued.
And that's... My common perspective of this before walking through this was that the world was... When God brought order to chaos, he did almost all of the work. But the picture is, is he did most of the work. The rest he has given to us. And I've applied that.
I've started to think through, okay, that makes sense. I have two dogs. I have one that is bigger. She's a puppy. She's going to be a great dog. And I have another dog that's been with us for a long time.
I know I've talked about him before. He's just not a great dog. He has bitten me countless times. He's bitten my wife. He has attempted to bite our children. He's just not a good dog.
And for the longest time, I've thought, it's because of the fall. It's because this dog is uniquely affected by sin. And he's jacked up. Which is true. But it's also, he has a wild streak in him that goes all the way back to creation.
And I have done, at times, a poor Job of subduing him. So I get to share in the blame a little bit when it comes to him. We're called to subdue what is wild. And we're called to bring dominion to what is chaos. The word dominion is another interesting word that is used here. It is commonly used in the context of kings or in ruling.
And that kings would come in. They'd bring in their dominion, their rule, their order. And we hear that commonly now when it comes to presidential cycles. That every, well, it used to be every four years. Now it just never ends.
It's always campaigning. One side saying, we're going to come in and do it better. You see how they're messing it up? We're going to come in and bring our order to the chaos. And the other side, when they're not in power, says, no, we're going to bring our order. They're doing it wrong.
Dominion, the word that is being used here, is a word of power. And God has given us power that we might bring order to what is chaotic, to what is wild. And with all of creation, we get to share because each of us, hear this, each of us are made in the image of God. And each of us has a share of dominion. Each of us has a calling to bring order to society, order to this world. Which means that every single person in this room and in this world shares in this.
That your job, your work, it matters. Your job matters. I can make a case for 99.9% of jobs and how each of them are good and each of them matter. Let me go through a couple that will catch a wide range of our church family. If you work on air conditioning units, if you work on HVAC units, you matter. Like I've felt that so clearly this week.
This week, our HVAC unit went out and we didn't have air conditioning for a day. So my parents were generous enough to take us in for a night. And I slept in a room with our son who knew we were in the room and decided that he wanted to basically keep us up all night because of that. So I got very little sleep and had a 14-hour work day the next day. And I was exhausted. And my wife also felt the burden of that.
Having the kids and having to keep them out of the house and having to keep them entertained away from it all. And then finally, a man came. A knight in shining armor came into our house and went to the magical machine that takes 100-degree oppressive Columbia heat and magically changes it into 70-degree bliss. And we were so thankful because our whole work week, our whole everything could function now. We could be home. That job and so many other blue-collar jobs matter because it brings order to what is chaotic and to what is broken.
If you work in the service industry, whether you serve coffee or you bartend or you are a chef, like you bring creativity, you take raw materials and order them in a way. I can go to a coffee shop where someone has obsessed so much over coffee. I'm so thankful for hipsters because of all the investment they've done in that industry. And we get to be the benefits of it. I can go to a pub and I can order a drink that someone has intentionally thought about. I can go to a restaurant where someone has spent so much training and time and energy and has made this great dish that we can eat and enjoy because that is helpful for us.
That gives us joy in the things that God has created. You bring order. You bring value. If you are an accountant and you work with Numbers, your job matters. Man, this week I was in a meeting with a couple of other pastors, Matt Chet and Razz and were talking and they pulled out this graph with statistics and probability and Numbers. And they started explaining and I think they finally saw me at one point and they saw the confused look at my face.
And they finally started to explain it. And I was like, I think I understood half of what they were saying. But in the inside I was dying because I hate Numbers. I'm so bad at them. I made a D in college trigonometry. And I was a pretty decent student.
I was okay. And I said, you know what, D's equal degrees. I'm out because I never want to see math again. But if you're gifted in that and God has given you that, you work with Numbers and you make it, you order the world and our finances. You bring value to what is chaotic. I could keep going on and on.
If you work at a call center and do customer service, you deal with difficult people, you help us solve problems, you matter. If you are a mom or just a parent in general, if you're a parent that works a job away and then comes home and clocks in, you and your work matters because children are forces of chaos and destruction. They just are. Every night my wife and I, we clean up the downstairs. And I didn't used to care about having a clean living area. But now I do because she's installed that in me.
And we go to bed and we come back and we bring our children down. And they start to eat breakfast and they smear all kinds of food everywhere. Then they go in and they don't pull out one toy. They pull out all the toys and they spread them around. And my daughter, she does crafts and makes messes and all over the place. And we get to, as parents, help order that.
We get to, as parents, help bring discipline. Have you ever met an adult who was never told no as a kid? Who did not receive any form of discipline? They're the worst. They're adult babies. You get to help bring value to society because you are a parent and you do the hard work at bringing order to what is chaos in families.
I could go through a ton of different jobs. Unless you're selling your body as a prostitute or you're writing blogs to help other parents feel bad about the way that they parent. Unless you're not doing something that's inherently evil and wrong. Like you bring value and order. Because the world is an uncultivated garden and you get to own your share in cultivating it. You get to share in bringing order to it.
Because here's the deal. If you don't do that. If you don't carry the weight that you're supposed to. Somebody else will. Somebody else has to help pay your bills. Somebody else has to help pick up a shovel.
And I know there's I'm not talking about extenuating circumstances when you're temporarily unemployed when you're going through disability. I'm not I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the general call to pick up a shovel and to use what God has gifted you with to help carry weight. It affects other people when you don't do that. And it affects you. Because you were designed to carry weight.
And I get it man. Work is difficult sometimes. And I really I used to think it was difficult because of the fall. Like I love productivity and getting stuff done. I love efficiency. I love writing a sermon that lands.
I love I do real estate. So I love doing deals that actually get done. I love having a finished day work. I think all of us value that. And I think oftentimes when that happens at least from my perspective it has been well thorns and thistles. Because work has been corrupted.
And that's partly true. That comes from Genesis 3. When the curse is handed down we see how it affects work. In Genesis 3 it says cursed is the ground because of you. 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 of the plants of the field. Meaning that you sometimes you will cultivate a garden. You will work hard and it will be fruitless. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. So yes work has been cursed.
And it is sometimes fruitless. But it's also difficult. And it's difficult because that's how it was originally designed to be. That sometimes as a real estate agent I will spend months and months and months on a deal to watch it just vanish into thin air. It's just gone. That sometimes I can put 30 plus hours into writing a sermon and preparing it to make sure because we care about the word of God and it being taught accurately and helpfully in our church.
That I can rock up here. I can let it rip. I can walk off the stage. And I can be like man I thought that I think that felt pretty good. And I go and talk to my wife and she goes well it was okay. And I'm like really?
And it's like man my often perspective has been well because thorns and thistles. And that's not actually the full picture. That as I've worked more through this I've actually started to see this goes all the way back to the garden. That work was meant to be difficult. It's a part of the fabric of creation. Because the earth is chaotic and because we're called to subdue it sometimes that's going to take longer.
Sometimes that's going to be difficult. It's almost as if we have an infinite God who could have in Genesis 1 could have been he created the world. Boom everything existed. That's what it could have been. But God chose over a six day work week to slowly form everything out of nothing.
It's almost as if God is trying to teach us something. That if the infinite God of power of all of the universe took a six day period to actually make everything out of nothing. That maybe work is sometimes meant to be slow. That maybe sometimes work is meant to be difficult. Because in the slowness and the difficulty you get to grow into Christ likeness. You get to grow into the character of God.
That the work of subduing is sometimes slow and difficult and long term. But ultimately it points us to what the end of work is supposed to be. That the end of work, the purpose of work is not productivity. It's not results. It's God. That is the end result of our work.
That it's growing in the character of God. That as we work slowly and through the difficulty and through the challenges of work. God would grow us in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. All of his fruit. All of his character would be forming us and shaping us through the slow and sometimes difficult, sometimes repetitive work. That's why I love Adam when he came last week and preached.
He said, We become the people we are by what we choose to do again. I love that. That through the repetitive, through the monotonous, through the slow work. We are being formed and shaped. That there's a vertical change that happens. That we are growing into Christ likeness.
That we are being shaped by him. But there's also a horizontal effect where we affect other people. Not just with what we make and what we bring order to. But by the character that we show in our work. That we might model the gospel to those we work with. That they would see the very character of God in how we work.
And when we start to understand that. We start to understand that good work is actually a gift that God has given us that we might glorify him. Once we've owned that. Then we can start to fully understand how we can repent of the fallenness that we fall into. And those three perspectives I mentioned earlier. So my first question is are you prone to seeing work simply as necessary?
Is that you? Do you just see it as a necessary exchange? That you put in the work. That you put in the time. And you put that in to get a paycheck. And that's all it is.
It is a transferal of goods. Now sometimes that is an explicitly fallen mindset. That all of your decisions. That all of your decisions in work. And how you're going to move. And how you're going to advance.
Is always based on money. I want to maximize the amount of money I can get. Because I want to maximize the stuff I can buy. That some of us have fallen for the American dream. And we want to have it all. And that's all that work becomes.
It becomes a necessary means to that end. And we've talked about as a church family. That that is a fallen mindset. That we don't need to fall for that kind of materialism. But sometimes this is a little more subtle.
And sometimes this actually looks a little more holy on its face. Now I've heard some people that say. You know I work. And I work this job. And I want to earn more. So that I can give more to the church.
So that I can give more to the mission. Because I want to see God advance the kingdom. And I hear that attached sometimes to. Man you know what. You're doing the real work in ministry. I just do.
I do this nine to five. It's not. We don't talk about that. You actually. Your job actually matters. I want to help invest in that.
And there's so much. So much good in that. I love hearing people that have been. That have been transformed by generosity. That understand. The generosity that God calls it to.
And I want to uphold that as good. But what's underneath all of that. Is that what I do doesn't matter. It's just necessary. I put my time in. I get my paycheck.
And I can be generous. And when you have that mindset. You are missing out on what work can be. That is a good transformative gift. That can grow you. And shape you.
That you can have a profound effect. On the people that you work alongside of. On your employees. On the people that you get to model the gospel to. So we need to grab hold of that.
That work is not just necessary. It is a good gift that God has given us. The second mindset we need to repent of. Is if you have the mindset that says that work is simply an enemy. Is that you? Is work an enemy of joy?
Is it an enemy of your recreation? Is it an enemy of what you could be doing? Like do you put the minimal amount of effort in. In your job? Like I can do just enough. I am going to count down the clock.
Until I can clock out. And then I will be on. And be able to do what I actually want to do. Here is the deal. Hard work is valuable. And it is powerful.
Because it can actually grow character in you. But man. A lack of hard work will reveal a lack of character in you. That needs to be formed. That needs to be shaped. So is that your perspective?
Do you avoid as many jobs when you get called to do the extra stuff at work? Do you avoid that? Because I don't want to deal with that. Do you avoid work at home? Like if you have a family that you go home to. Do you avoid the different work that you could be carrying weight in.
Because you have better things to do. That applies to the church too. Do you have the mindset? Nah. I know I am being asked to serve in Kid City. I know I am being asked to serve in Host Team.
But there is about a thousand other things I would rather be doing. So I need to come up with some very honorable looking excuses that I can get out of. Because I don't want to carry weight. Colossians 3.23 says, Work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. That is the calling in work. To work hard as to the Lord.
Because ultimately He is the end of our work. And when you do this. If you'll grab hold of this. What's going to happen is God is going to tap into some potential. He's going to grow you and shape you. You're going to see more of the character of God growing in you.
And that is going to have a profound effect on everyone who gets to be around you. So some of you, if you're honest with yourself. And you heard last week's sermon. And you start to feel the conviction of that. And it's time to grab hold of the good gift that God has given us and repent of that mindset. Lastly, are you prone to seeing work as an idol?
As something that takes your affection, your devotion, your mental energy. Whether that's success that is attached to work. Whether that's productivity that is attached to work. Is that you? Because if I'm honest, that's me. That this is where I fall in.
And I love my jobs. I love being a real estate agent. There's two real estate agents. Mary Beth and I in our church. And I love what I do. But it is always on the clock.
At any moment, I get texts sometimes at 12 o'clock at night about houses. And I'm consistently thinking about listings. I'm thinking about showings. I'm thinking about inspections. I'm thinking about appraisals. I'm thinking about marketing.
I'm thinking about exposure. I'm thinking about all of that. And I love it. And I'm starting to think through how I can get more results. How I can move and shake. How I can make all these things happen.
And as a pastor, I'm consistently thinking about sermons. And how the sermons are shaping me. And how we're crafting them. And I'm thinking about our community groups. I'm thinking about our community group leaders. And every week, I love that we as pastors get to sit down and pray for our groups.
That we pray for you. That we pray for the people in our groups. And I'm thinking about counseling. I'm thinking about all the different things. And what happens in the midst of all of this is that I start to think about results. That my end goal is I want to see deals done.
I want to see people changed by Christ. And I get so caught up in success. I get so caught up in the results of getting stuff done that I miss the thread. I miss the purpose. Like a child taking a handful of sand and chucking out the waves. I've completely lost the purpose of what work is supposed to be.
That it is a good, transformative gift that God has given me. That I might grow in worshiping Him. And not the things that it brings. Not the success that it brings. Not the results that it brings. So that's my question for you.
Is that you idolize work? Like is your joy attached to success in work? So that when you're doing well at work. Whether it's sales. Whether it's admin. Whatever.
When you're doing well in work. You're happy. Things are great. But when work nosedives. And it's hard. How many of you are plagued by anxiety?
How many of you can't sleep? How many of you are quick to be prone to depression? And it's a roller coaster. Of productivity. That when you are doing great in work. You are great.
And when you are not. You are low. If that's the case. You are probably. You probably have made work an idol. You have worshipped something.
You have worshipped creation. Rather than the creator. Do you idolize work? Do you have trouble shutting off? Can you be as a. Can you.
If you have a nine to five Job. Can you actually be present? When you come home. Are you consistently thinking about things at work? And if you're a stay at home mom. Can you actually go on a date.
And not think about your kids. And not talk about your kids. Can you get coffee with a friend. And not think. And talk. And obsess.
And I know that's a little bit different. Because it's our children involved. I get that. But maybe. Just maybe. Underneath all of that.
Is idolatry. Not just of work. But of children. That sometimes. You need to. Clock out.
And not be consumed. With your job. Because you have idolized. And made an idol. Out of work. And the reason why.
We've got to take that seriously. I think this is probably. One of the more dangerous ones. Because what happens is. Is you go. And you grind.
And you work. And you hustle. And then. Eventually. A season comes. Where burnout happens.
In the midst of burnout. In the midst of midlife crises. Man. People make. Really bad decisions. People walk away from the church.
Because they've gone. And they've gone. And they've gone. And they make a bunch of terrible decisions. And they're out. And if you think you're above that.
Take heed. Because you might fall. We need to take that. Seriously. And I say it bluntly. We need to burn that idol.
To the ground. And we need to repent of that mindset. And grab hold. Of the good gift. That God has given us. In work.
That we might put it. In its proper perspective. In worshiping him.