Workplace

God @ work

Witness @ work

Work as worship

God @ Work Colossians 3:15-4:1

Two women who hadn't seen each other in years met in a supermarket one day. One asked, "Tell me, Delia, how is your son George?"

"He's getting along fine," Delia replied. "He's a poet. He just received his master's degree in literature from the university."

"And what about Mary?"

"She's just as smart as George. She graduated from college with a degree in modern art."

"Wonderful. And how is little Freddy? What is he doing?"

"Well," Delia said, "You know Freddy. Freddy is still Freddy. He wouldn't go to college -- he became a plumber instead. If it wasn't for him, we'd all be starving!"

Over the next few weeks we are going to see what the Bible says about work. By work I mean any kind of work. Paid work. Unpaid work. Voluntary Work. Church work. Housework. This series of sermons will be for everybody. For Breadwinners who go out and work to earn money. For Homemakers who work just as hard providing for the family. For those who have retired from paid work and keep just as busy doing all kinds of things which are still work! For those people who work primarily with their hands and those people who work mostly with their brains. If it’s any kind of work – that’s what we are talking about.

In later weeks we’ll be talking about witness at work and work as worship. And since there’s more to life than work we’ll think about rest and play as well. But we’ll begin today by answering two important questions. What does the Bible have to say 1) about WHY we work, and 2) about HOW we should do the work we do?

WHY DO WE WORK???

What are our motives for working? For some people, the reason they do work is primarily to provide for themselves and their family. Others work to earn enough to enable them to do what they consider to be their real work which is work for God. The reason some people work is so that they can support the church. Others work as a means to material prosperity. Some people do ordinary jobs just to fill in time until God calls them Christian service. Some people do their work because they realise that God created them to do that! Why do we work? Our work will be transformed when our motives are right!

FIVE POOR MOTIVES for doing work

To provide for my family

You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker, “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.”

You might also remember what the Bible says about our responsibilities to care for our family:

1 Tim 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

If the only reason that will motivate somebody to work is the need to “make a living”, then that is sad. That is the bare minimum motivation for lazy people, not a worthy motive for God-inspired people. There are much better motivations than that!

To bring financial prosperity – working to have

Some people work not just to survive, but to gain wealth and possessions. I am NOT saying it is wrong to be rich – to have money and possessions. But Jesus gave solemn warnings about the risks associated with riches.

Mark 10:25 It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."

There’s a deep trap for us all here – if we are working just for the money and the possessions then they will becomes the focus of our lives, not God!!

Heb 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have

To advance my career and bring me status

There is nothing wrong with being successful at work. Daniel, Joseph, Esther, Lydia, even the apostle Paul were all very successful in their chosen fields. Before the three years of his public ministry Jesus spent probably 15 years as a self-employed tradesman and craftsman. Jesus was a carpenter. That is how Nazareth knew him: “the carpenter”.

There is nothing wrong with having a successful career.

“All men want to succeed. Some want to succeed so badly they are even willing to work for it.”

But often the pressure to succeed comes from other people = bosses, workmates or colleagues. This seems to me to be a particular pressure in the business world. The danger is not only that if success and status are the driving forces in our lives, God can get squeezed out. There are also much better reasons for working than just for success and status.

To support me so that I can do the important things in life – church etc –

This sounds like a good idea – but it completely misunderstands and undervalues our daily calling. Work is not there as “tentmaking” to support us financially while we do our “ministry” in our “spare time”. The distinction we sometimes make between “secular work” and “sacred work” does NOT come from in the Bible. All work is the same in God’s eyes. There is no such difference between “the Lord’s work” and the kinds of work we all do when we aren’t at church or with other Christians.

Nobody’s “day job” is less important than “what they do in the church”. Nobody employed in full time Christian work would ever EVER believe that what we are privileged to do day by day is more important to God than all the other jobs that members of the church are doing day in day out.

To provide for the church-

Work is NOT there to provide God with money that he would otherwise be short of!! Of course it is a good thing to be able to earn money and give lots of it to the church and to needy causes, but if that is ever our motivation for working then we have missed the point!

There are five reasons which motivate some people in the work they do, and particularly in their paid jobs. I suggest that these are POOR motives for work. Let me give you instead five GOOD motives for doing work, and most of these apply just as directly to unpaid work as to paid work, and just as much to what we do in the church as to what we do for the rest of the week.

FIVE GOOD MOTIVES for doing work - 5 pure and worthwhile reasons for working

God works and we are created in His image to do the same

God created human beings to be in his image and to be his co-workers. Adam and Eve were taking care of the garden of Eden BEFORE the fall. Work is not some evil that entered the world because Adam and Eve messed everything up! Because God is a Creator, we his creatures are made to be creative. Humans were created to work!

Work is not a curse, it is a blessing from God who calls man to rule the earth and transform it so that the divine work of creation may continue with man's intelligence and effort. Pope John Paul II (1920– )

A man should rejoice in his own works

Eccles 3: 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil- this is the gift of God.

Eccles 5:19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work- this is a gift of God.

God wants us to find satisfaction and be happy in our work.

“Work is not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or should be, the full expression of the worker's faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.” Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957)

Work is our minimum contribution to community and society

Work with your own hands 2 Thess 3: 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." 11 We hear that some among you are idle. … 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.

There was a sign in a shop window which read: NO HELP WANTED. As two men passed by, one said to the other, “You should apply—you’d be great for that job!”

I said that motives like working to provide for the family and to become rich were poor motives. There is a measure of selfishness in those motivations. But it is a good thing to work because we recognise that we owe it to the world we live in. There is no such thing as a free lunch. We owe it to the world and to God to do work to provide for our needs.

And we mustn’t make the mistake of measuring the importance of the work by how much a person gets paid for it! Homemakers work hard providing for their families. And if a breadwinner is unable to do paid work, perhaps if they just can’t find employment, they can always contribute to family and community and society by doing voluntary work. Society would collapse overnight if volunteers stopped doing all they do for other people. And so of course would the church and its activities.

Incidentally, retirement is not a reason for stopping doing work either. One aspect of retirement from paid work is that it gives us an opportunity to do all kinds of work which we may have wanted to do but our paid jobs didn’t give us as much time for. Different kinds of work, creative work, work in the church perhaps!

Do it as to the Lord and not as to men

Col 3: 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, …24 … It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

We aren’t serving God only when we are doing “Christian work or church work”. As Christians we are serving God WHATEVER we are doing, paid or unpaid. WHATEVER you do, it is the Lord Christ you are serving – so we must work wholeheartedly as for the Lord in everything we do!

Romans 12:1¶ So then, my brothers, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to

you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.

God calls us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices Monday to Friday, not just Sundays!

We will think more about this when we talk about work as worship.

Seek first the Kingdom of God, and its righteousness

God calls us to seek His kingdom and to bring glory to Him whatever we are doing.

1 Cor 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. The world around is watching us to see the difference Jesus makes to our lives. And for Christians in employment, our colleagues and neighbours and friends see much more between 9 and 5 over 5 days a week than they see in occasional hours outside work.

We will think more about this when we talk about witness at work.

So there we have five GOOD reasons motivating us in any work we do any time any place anywhere! That’s WHY we should work. But our second question is,

HOW SHOULD WE WORK???

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

Someone once said, “Hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance?” Somebody else said, “Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.”

The Book of Proverbs has lots to say about the importance of hard work and contains 19 warnings against laziness! We just read Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

So the Bible says we should work hard! With all our might. With all our heart. But you busy overworked people don’t need me to tell you to work harder! The problem in today’s world, and especially if I dare say it here in suburbia, is that people so often misinterpret what it means to work with all your might and all your heart. Many people (Christians and not Christians alike) work TOO hard. People can so easily become workaholics – work can become their god! The challenge we face is to work the way God wants us to, without falling into the traps the world sets.

TEN RULES NOT TO FOLLOW AT WORK

1. Never say No to a request -- always say YES.

2. Your job comes first; personal considerations are secondary.

3. Accept all invitations to meetings, dinners, committees, etc.

4. Go to the office evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

5. Golf, tennis or other hobbies are a waste of time.

6. It is a poor policy to take all the holiday time you are entitled to.

7. Never delegate responsibility to others; carry the whole load at all times.

8. Do not eat a restful, relaxing meal -- always schedule a meeting over the dinner hour.

9. If your work calls for travelling -- work all day and drive all night to so you can arrive early for your appointment for the next morning.

10. Take the briefcase home on the evenings when you do not go to the office. This provides an opportunity to review completely all the troubles and worries of the day.

WE NEED TO KEEP WORK IN ITS PROPER PLACE!!! Too many people live by these 10 rules which should be how NOT to work! It is possible to work with all our might and with all our heart without letting work become our God, without becoming workaholics. We all need to find God’s balance for our lives.

In that balance, there is one more thing we need to remember when we are seeking to work with all our might and all our heart, and here we in the prosperous capitalist First World have lessons to learn from the Third World.

PEOPLE matter more than “getting the job done”

We Westerners we always want to pack lots of events into our busy schedules. Time drives us along, often much too fast for our own good. By comparison in the Third World time moves slowly, sometimes for good reason and sometimes for no reason at all. Their culture is simply NOT time-oriented.

In the third world it is the events themselves which really matter, the meetings, the discussions, the meals. The events dictate the timetable, not the timetable the events! Each event is allowed to take as long as it needs – sometimes a whole day for just one meeting. So they always have space to welcome visitors, whether they had been invited or are expected or not.

So often in the western world, and in London and the business world even more than other parts of Britain, we put work before relationships. If relationships get in the way of “getting the job done” we limit the relationships – simple examples: “no personal phone calls during office hours”, or, “spend time with the customers who are going to spend most, not gossiping with your own family or friends.”

But in Africa, family and friendships and relationships matter more than “getting the work done”. We can learn a lot from that attitude to time and timetables. Too often our western priorities are biased towards speed rather than towards people. When we are in a hurry to get things done it is easy to hurt people unintentionally. We need to remember that our relationships will last into eternity, so we should devote more time and energy to developing relationships even if that means we give less time to “getting things done”. In everything we do we need to work harder at building relationships and even if that means less energy for “achieving results.”

So, WHY should we work? What should be our motives for work? And HOW should we work? Sometimes we think we are glorifying God and fulfilling his will for our lives when we get immersed in our work. We feel that we are working with all our might and all our heart. But sometimes that means we have just fallen into the worldly ways of the workaholic. Or sometimes we have forgotten that people matter more than “getting the job done”. What will it mean for each of us this time tomorrow to do our work with all our might and all our heart? How can we all “seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness” in our places of work?

Let me finish with a story which I hope will make you think. I read the story a famous architect told about an incident which had a profound influence on the rest of his life. When he was a young boy, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his very serious determined single-minded uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true, and then the young boy’s tracks meandering all over the field.

“Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence, to the cattle, to the woods, and back again,” his uncle said. “And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that.”

Years later this world-famous architect explained how this experience had shaped his philosophy in life. “I decided there and then NOT to miss out on the most interesting things in life, like my uncle always had.”

Witness @ Work Matthew 5:1-16

I’ve got a joke for you this morning. Well it’s not really a joke. At least it doesn’t make me laugh. But let’s see what you think.

Question: When is a Christian not a Christian?

Answer: When he’s at work. Boom! Boom!

Witness at work - the challenge of standing up and being counted for Christ in the workplace. We thought two weeks ago about God at work - WHY we should work and HOW we should work as Christians. We found some good Biblical motives for working: because God has created us to work and wants us to rejoice in our work, because work is the contribution we owe to the world, because we are serving God whatever work we do, and because our work is a way we can glorify God as a witness to the world. We saw that it pleases God for us to do our work with all our might and with all our heart, but not by becoming workaholics or worshipping the work instead of worshipping God. And I reminded is that in God’s eyes, people are very precious and people matter more that “getting the job done”.

This morning I want to go on to focus on just one aspect of work – witness at work. This is an area where so many Christians seem to struggle that it definitely deserves at least one sermon. But unlike last time, this week is concerned not with the whole breadth of paid or voluntary or church work but specifically with paid work and witness in the workplace. How can we stand up and be counted as Christians in our daily work?

I wouldn’t claim to know the details of the challenges you each face day by day in the work that you do. But I do have some idea about what workplaces can be like. I’ve been a student for 6 years full time and 2 years part time and a schoolteacher for 5 years. I’ve also worked as a supply teacher in a variety of schools. I’ve sold books in a bookshop, slaved in kitchens and as a cleaner and as a caretaker, “temped” in offices, mended computers, and even on odd occasions played music, all for money! In those different settings I have had the privilege of seeing a number of friends come to Christian faith. And then I have also listened carefully as many, many people over the years have told me the stories of the joys and the struggles they have as Christians in their places of work. So I am not totally clueless about what it can cost to stand up as a Christian in the workplace.

I’ll come to some practical suggestions later on, but first let’s ask a fundamental question. Why do so many Christians find it so difficult to witness for Christ in the workplace? What are the challenges to faith at work? Why is “daring to go public” about our faith so much of a problem?

DARING TO GO PUBLIC

The most important problem in witness at work is, I believe, one giant false assumption. It is the false assumption which almost everybody makes that religion just doesn’t belong in the workplace. The assumption that faith and work don’t mix. The assumption that when we go into work we are obliged, by society, by our employers, by our colleagues, we are obliged to leave our Christianity at the door.

Christians can make this false assumption that religion and work belong to separate worlds. Some Christians have the mistaken idea that some things in the world are sacred, some things belong to God, and everything else in the world is secular, everything else has nothing to do with God. That division between sacred and secular is not biblical, it’s not theological, it’s nonsense! The whole world belongs to God, and everything in it. The almighty omnipresent God is as present with us and as close to us in the workplace as He is in church – although we may find it harder in some places and easier in other places to recognise God’s presence. There is no sacred-secular divide! But we’ll talk much more about that next week.

The sad truth is that it is not only Christians who feel that religion and work don’t mix. Everybody else makes that same false assumption too - and that can lead them to put all kinds of pressures on Christians in the workplace. Here’s how it works. Over the last two centuries, for all kinds of reasons, the world we live in has become two worlds. There is the public world every human being shares in. The world of commerce and politics and business and news. And then there is the private world, or should I say, the millions of private worlds we each retreat into when we go home and lock our doors and live in our own fortresses. The private world of our family and our hobbies and our entertainments.

What everybody wrongly assumes is that these two worlds, the public world of business and commerce and our private worlds of family and hobbies, should not be allowed to mix. In particular, they assume that when we come to work we should leave our family problems and our entertainments at home. The reasoning here is quite simple. The public world is the same for everyone. It is concerned with things we all agree about, or things like politics where debate and disagreement will lead us to the consensus we need to carry on as a civilised society. The public world is concerned with “facts.” Out in the public world we should only be concerned with things which everybody shares and agrees about.

On the other hand, everybody’s private world is different. Our family life is nobody’s business but our own. Our hobbies are personal and individual. Where different people have different tastes and different opinions, there is more and more pressure to keep those opinions strictly in our own private worlds. Not in the public world where differences can lead to inequality and argument.

Now you can already guess where the vast majority of people feel that religion fits into this picture. Where does our faith fit in? Well, they say, Christianity belongs in our private world of family and hobbies. There is no place for Christian faith in the public world of business and commerce and work, they say!

We live in a multicultural multifaith society. There are many different religions in Britain nowadays. Christianity is just one option among many and we shouldn’t be forcing our opinions on others, so people say. We have no right to insist we’ve got it right and everybody else is wrong. So we must keep our religion boxed up in our private lives and not bring our religion into the public world of the workplace! That’s what the world around tells us in so many ways, more and more strongly. This is the false god of political correctness running wild.

God says different. Our faith is not just a matter of opinion but of fact! The gospel is eternal truth, a matter of life and death. The Living God cannot be kept shut up in a box! Almighty God is Creator of heaven and earth, all things visible and invisible! Jesus Christ

is Lord of all! Almighty God cannot be relegated to the private worlds of people who choose to believe. God is infinitely more important than business. Infinitely more important than commerce. Infinitely more important than politics. God is God of the public world. God is the ultimate indisputable fact! Jesus Christ is Lord of ALL – not just of those who choose to bow the knee to Him now.

But this is why “daring to go public” for Christ is so hard. Bringing Christ into your workplace means bringing your faith out of your “private” world and into the “public world”. It means going against this totally false assumption that religion is just a private matter for individuals. Speaking up for Christ in the public world of work is a challenge to everybody else that everybody else is wrong to shut God out of their lives.

So the challenge of witness at work is much bigger than simply the challenge of admitting to people at work that you are a Christian. Witness in the workplace is much more radical and subversive than that! Witness at work is about telling and showing the whole world that there are more important things in life than work, and that the most important reality of all in the universe is not work, or money, or success, but Jesus Christ! “Daring to go public” by bringing Christ into the workplace is a declaration that Jesus is more important than your work, more important than your boss, more important than your colleagues mistaken beliefs. As indeed Jesus Christ is more important. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. If Jesus Christ is not Lord of your work life, he is not truly your Lord!

Just last week when England were playing a football match with a kick off at 5 pm countless people people left work early or gathered in pubs to watch. If a game of football, can break into the public world of work that much, surely the gospel of Jesus Christ has a right to be heard in the workplace! Jesus Christ really is more important than football!

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

Once we accept that God belongs in the workplace, then the problem of how to witness at work is not really any different from how to witness for Christ anywhere else. How do we witness at work? The same ways as we witness everywhere else!

Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

What does it mean to be the light of the world in the workplace?

(a) LIVE THE GOSPEL

Things that everybody expects in work – hard work, integrity

“I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” Jerome K. Jerome

Things that not everybody gives – go the extra mile, no gossiping or backbiting, do your own work but also be ready to help others.

True friendship - you may well spend more hours a week with workmates and colleagues than you do with your family. Your friendship is a vital witness for Christ.

Something that you won’t always find - compassion in the workplace. True Christian love. Charity. The command “love your neighbour” does NOT have exceptions. It does not say, “love your neighbour, except at work”, It does not say “love your neighbour except when you are busy and stressed”. It does not say, “Love your neighbour except when the neighbour is that person at work that nobody can stand”. It does not say, “love your neighbour except when that neighbour is your boss who is on your back and getting at you for no reason.”

Witness at work is not just about finding ways of talking about Jesus at work. It is about doing your work in such a way that everybody asks – why do you work like that, and then you answer, “Because I am a Christian”. But it is not enough to wait for people to get round to asking about your faith. We must let our light shine in our words as well as by our actions.

(b) PREACH THE GOSPEL

Remember our motto verse from 2003.

Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5:42)

They never stopped! We never get round to starting! We wait and pray and pray and wait for the perfect opening to talk about Christ – and it never comes! So we need to step out in faith! Take a few risks! Christians should ALWAYS be pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable as they share the gospel. Early church was persecuted – they were commanded to shut up and they just went on preaching!

Acts 5: 28 "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!

Christians in some former communist countries lost their jobs just for being known as Christians. In some places Muslims or Hindus lose their jobs, and even their homes and families, for converting to Christianity. So don’t dare to say that we are obliged to remain silent about our faith in the workplace. We don’t have the right to stay silent about Christ.

Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? … 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

If it is considered impolite to share your faith at work – be impolite! The eternal destiny of your colleagues hangs on whether you are prepared to be bold and take risks. Push the boundaries! If you aren’t prepared to take risks – they are doomed without Christ! What if you are worried about “not fitting in”? Then be willing not to fit in! But what if your bosses reprimand you for speaking about Jesus? What if your promotion prospects are affected? What if you risk losing your job for speaking up about Christ? Tertullian wrote, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. They don’t throw Christians to the lions any more. But colleagues who haven’t received Christ as their saviour are still doomed to a lost eternity! Perhaps the church in Britain needs some workplace martyrs!!

Matt 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

I used to teach some RE lessons in the very challenging local secondary school in Borehamwood. As far as the head of RE knew, she was the only Christian on the staff. When there was a flu epidemic and they were desperately short of teachers I also did some supply teaching chemistry for them and got to know the chemistry teachers. You can imagine how surprised I was when we went to visit friends at their church in Watford one Sunday a few weeks later to discover that the Head of Chemistry not only attended but was an active member of that church.

At the absolute minimum, all your colleagues and workmates should know that you are a Christian! They may not know or understand what your faith means to you – but they need to know that you have a faith! Being a Christian is NOT some dark secret which you are obliged to keep hidden from everybody. Being a Christian should be THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in your life. Your relationship with Christ is what determines the person you are now and what determines your eternal destiny. For every Christian, Jesus Christ should be the most important person in your life. You talk to your colleagues about your families and their families, your hobbies and their hobbies, your holidays and their holidays. How much more should you talk to them about your Lord and Saviour Jesus Push the boundaries! Take some risks! Because Jesus is worth it!

TEN PRACTICAL STEPS

OUTSIDE WORK

1. Pray about your witness at work

2. Get others praying for your witness at work – Home Group / Prayer Triplet

3. Find out if there are any experienced or successful Christians in your line of work? Can you benefit from their experience?

4. Has anything been written by a Christian about your line of work?

5. See what resources there are on the internet to help you in your situation.

AT WORK

6. Try to link up with other Christians who do the same job as you

7. Try to link up with other Christians at your place of work

8. Find ways of letting others at work know that you are a Christian – badges, postcards, Christian calendar, Christian book on desk or in locker, talking about church (barn dance, Andy’s induction, camping weekend), talking about Jesus, run an Alpha course

9. Take your minister to work with you one day!!!

10. Step out in faith - take risks!

God’s word the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ really is the only way of salvation for a lost world. We show a lack of love for our colleagues and workmates when we stay silent. The loving action must always be to speak, to shout, to warn, to persuade, to pray so that our friends do not drift on to a lost eternity. The people who showed love while the Titanic was sinking weren’t ones who kept everyone amused by playing more music and handing out more drinks the ones. They were the ones who handed out the lifebelts and pointed the way to the lifeboats,. So “dare to go public!” Live the gospel but also preach the gospel. Push boundaries. Take risks. Let YOUR light shine in your workplace this week!

Work as Worship Romans 12:1-13

This is our God, The Servant King, He calls us now To follow Him,

To bring our lives As a daily offering Of worship to The Servant King.

Romans 12:1 ¶ So then, my brothers, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.

What does it mean in practice to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the Servant King? How can we turn all of our work into worship – an offering of service to God? What we are talking about today applies to every kind of work. Paid work. Voluntary work. House work. Church work. How can we become living sacrifices in the workplace. Living sacrifices at home. Living sacrifices in Church.

The song goes, “whistle while you work.” God calls us, not to “whistle while you work” but to “worship while you work” !! Here are 10 way to “worship while we work!”

1. Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good deeds he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

The good deeds God has lined up for every one of us to do are not just our Christian activities – but ALL our activities! God has made you according to a specific design. He has given you personality, talents, abilities, and interests which can be used in your life’s work. God has crafted you in a very unique and personal way and this means that you are fit to do certain tasks. There exist “right” jobs for all of us, paid jobs, jobs serving the community, jobs at home – jobs which match the way God has designed us and the needs of the tasks. All of those are the “good deeds” God has lined up ready for us to do.

God has a plan for each of our lives. Each of us has a calling. He has uniquely designed each of us up for particulars kind of work. So the starting point for worshipping God in our work is to make sure that the work we are doing is what God wants us to do. The right kind of work. In the right place at the right time. Whether it is paid work, or Christian service we need to seek God’s guidance over the work we are going to do. And continue to seek His guidance to make sure that he still wants us doing that specific work, with those people, in that particular place.

If you are really finding it impossible to worship God in your daily work, in your workplace, in church, in the home, perhaps you have not yet found your calling. Maybe you are not actually where God wants you to be. Maybe you actually know where God really wants you to be, but have been too afraid to pursue it. Some people opt for the cash rather than the calling! In your paid work, in your voluntary service, in your Christian work, make sure you are doing what God wants you to do.

2. Be living sacrifices – offering ourselves to God in worship

God calls us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices Monday to Friday, not just Sundays! In our place of work and not just at church. It is not the activity but the attitude of the heart, which makes something worship. We can worship God in whatever we do and whenever we do it, if we offer that activity to God and do it FOR God.

HYMN “New every morning is the love” by John Keble

If on our daily course our mind be set to hallow all we find

New treasures still, of countless price, God will provide of sacrifice.

The trivial round, the common task, will furnish all we ought to ask;

Room to deny ourselves, a road that brings us nearer God.

It is not the activity – but the attitude of the heart – an attitude of offering ourselves to God, sacrificing ourselves in order to please Him.

3. Do it working as for the Lord and not for men

We aren’t serving God only when we are doing “Christian work” or “church work”. As Christians we are serving God WHATEVER we are doing, paid or unpaid. WHATEVER you do, it is the Lord Christ you are serving.

The work of a Beethoven, and the work of a charwoman, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly “as to the Lord.”

C. S. Lewis

You may have heart about some of the unseen works of art which have been found in great cathedrals which craftsmen created on the backs of sculptures and paintings. They were hidden from where people can see – as offerings of worship for God’s eyes only.

“Throw your soul into the work as if your one employer were the Lord!”

God is never satisfied with a halfhearted effort. Young Harry worked for a Christian shoemaker. His job was to prepare the leather for soles. He had to cut a piece of cowhide to size, soak it in water, and then pound it with a flat-headed hammer until it was hard and dry. Harry always wished he could avoid this very tiring process.

He often went to another shoeshop nearby to watch their competitor at work. This man didn’t pound the leather after it came from the water. Instead, he immediately nailed it onto the shoe he was making. One day Harry approached this man and asked, “Are the soles really just as good when you put them on wet as if they were pounded?” With a wink and a cynical smile the man replied, “No, but they come back much quicker this way!”

Young Harry hurried back to his boss and suggested that perhaps they were wasting their time by drying out the leather so carefully. His employer read Colossians 3:23 to him, “working for the Lord and not for men,” Then he said, I do not make shoes just for the money. I’m doing it for the glory of God. If at the judgment seat of Christ I should have to view every shoe I’ve ever made, I don’t want to hear the Lord say, ‘That was a poor job. You didn’t do your best.’ I want to see His smile and hear, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’” Working as for the Lord and not for men.

4. Do it all to the glory of God

1 Cor 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Martin Luther wrote, “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays—not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

“Too many people stop looking for work once they get a job.”
Again we say, if we want to glorify God, only our best is good enough for Him.

A few weeks ago: Eccles 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

“It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. God prefers quality to quantity.” George Macdonald (1824–1905)

5. Let your light shine

We talked last week about witness in the workplace – living the gospel and preaching the gospel. Of course we are paid to work, not to preach! We are there to do our job as best we can. But when people see our good works they will not be able to give glory to God if they don’t even know we are Christians. That’s why it is important that we do try to link up with other Christians at our place of work. We must find ways of letting others at work know that we are Christians and ways to actually talk about Jesus. We MUST be prepared to step out in faith and push boundaries and take risks in talking about Jesus.

6. In the name of Jesus In “the Jesus way”, as representing Him!

Col 3:17 Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We should do everything in Jesus’s name. As representing Jesus. So God calls us to do our work as Jesus Himself would do it. So God calls us to show the character of Jesus as we work. Working “the Jesus way”. “What would Jesus do?” The Fruit of Spirit doesn’t always grow easily in the workplace. Love joy peace patience kindness goodness patience gentleness self-control!

I believe that Jesus was a VERY good carpenter! But more than that, Jesus always cared about people. People matter more than “getting the job done”.

7. Work as an act of thanksgiving and praise

This does not mean that we have to sing hymns or songs all the time while we are working. Although if the job allows that – why not? But it does mean that we work, not because we have to, but because we want to express our praise to God for who He is and our gratitude to God for all He has done for us.

FILL THOU MY LIFE, O Lord my God, In every part with praise,

That my whole being may proclaim Thy being and Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone, Nor e’en the praising heart

I ask, but for a life made up Of praise in every part:

Praise in the common things of life, Its goings out and in;

Praise in each duty and each deed, However small and mean.

So shall no part of day or night From sacredness be free;

But all my life, in every step, Be fellowship with Thee.

8. Praying for our work - praying the ordinary and practising the presence of God

Our jobs are not a hindrance to prayer but an opportunity for prayer. We can sometimes pray while we work. We should always pray about our work and for our work. But we can also pray through our work. Our work can become prayer – prayer in action.

God calls us to “pray without ceasing.” This time last year we thought about prayer through the teachings of Richard Foster. Let me remind you of two aspects of prayer which are very relevant to prayer at work.

We talked last year about “praying the ordinary”. We need to get rid once and for all of the idea that God is only interested in the “religious” “Christian” and “church” bits of our lives. We can’t shut God in a box! There is NO division between “the spiritual” and “the secular”. God is involved in EVERY aspect of our daily lives. We need to learn to trust God in EVERY area of our lives.

We need to recognise the sanctity of the ordinary, the holiness of all created things. All work is holy work. Our homes are just as holy as our church. All places are sacred places! We are Christians WHEREVER we are. So WHEREVER we are is Holy Ground!

We need to learn to pray the ordinary. To turn the ordinary experiences of life into prayer; to see God in the ordinary experiences of life; to pray throughout the ordinary experiences of life.

“Every action performed in the sight of God, because it is the will of God, and in the manner that God wills, is a prayer,” “Everything that one turns in the direction of God is a prayer.”

That is the theme of the little book by Brother Lawrence which I have talked about before, “Practising the Presence of God.” Brother Lawrence encourages us to make every part of our everyday lives a subject for prayer. But more than that, he challenges us to engage in continuous conversation with God in prayer, whatever we are doing. Here are some of Brother Lawrence’s inspiring words.

We should strive for `a habitual sense of God's presence' - `to be always with God'

To be with God, there is no need to be in church. We may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with him in meekness, humility, and love. You need not cry very loud. He is nearer to us than we think.

Our biggest mistake is to think that a time of prayer is different from any other time. It is all one. The time of business does not differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees.

We can do little things for God: I turn the cake that is frying on the pan, for love of him …. Do everything for the love of God. Make use of all the tasks one's lot in life demands to show him that love, and to maintain his presence within by the communion of our heart with his.

The depths of our spirituality does not depend upon changing the things we do, but in doing for God what we ordinarily do for ourselves. A little lifting of the heart suffices; a little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, are prayers which however short are acceptable to God.

Something to try this week: Praying the ordinary: Practising the presence of God

9. Pray without ceasing – breath prayers

Another very helpful suggestion I have spoken about before is to use what Richard Foster calls “breath prayers.” These are specific short prayers which we can say in a single breath. Whenever we want to bring God to mind during the day and acknowledge His presence with us, we breathe this prayer. Whenever we want to dedicate a particular activity to God, we breathe this prayer. Whenever we want to ask for God’s grace and help and draw God into a particular situation, we breathe this prayer. It is a form of prayer which helps bring God into every part of our lives as we use it many many times through the day. First thing in the morning. Last thing at night. When we move from one activity to another. As we go to greet someone.

There are many excellent breath prayers. “Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Last year I suggested the first line of the prayer of St. Francis, “Lord, Make me a channel of your peace.” While you are doing work, you might like to try, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done”” Or God might lead you to a different “breath prayer” that is personal to you. I do recommend breath prayers. Why not try, starting today? Practise today and then use your breath prayer at work tomorrow?

Breath prayers are just one way of praying without ceasing. I should of course also mention speaking in tongues as a private prayer language. The gift of tongues is a another valuable way of communing with God in the busyness of life – even at work.

10. Giving the glory back to God

I could talk here about our tithes and offerings – giving back to God the rewards of our labours. Our wages belong to Him who gives us the talents and the strength to earn them. But one final even more important way of worshipping God in our work is to give Him the glory. A prayer of thanksgiving when things go well. And a public acknowledgement that our success is all by God’s grace. “I am a Christian and I know I couldn’t have done that job without God’s help. Give God the glory!

So there are 10 ways to worship God in your work.

Songs of Fellowship 108 read now as a prayer