The Forgotten Art of Hard Work

[Music] so [Music] [Music] well i grew up in southern california i grew up in newport beach huntington beach area and that's where i grew up as a child as a teenager as a young adult that was the culture i lived in i married a michigan girl and at one point we moved to west michigan to a little town called byron center a town that had one street light in it in the entire town so a small town and if you don't think that uh there's more than one culture in america you miss something because there's hundreds of cultures in america if you don't honey beach california and byron center michigan i'm here to tell you it's not just a different culture not just a different state it's a different world and i walked into that and i found out that they even said things and had words and stuff that they all understood what it meant and i didn't and there were times i had to say excuse me um i don't know what you're talking about or i don't know what you mean so so when i began and this is the first time i've only been a senior pastor at two churches at corinth reformed church in byron center michigan and a shoreline church i i when i called somewhere i pretty much stay there until god tells me it's time to go somewhere else and so i was there for many many years but when i first started working there i remember barb who was the office manager of the church she was talking to me when she said oh yeah yeah you know our kids this summer they'll be working in the muckfields and uh when we were younger we worked in the muckfields this is kind of part of what you do when you're young here you work in muckfields and i said uh barb what's the muck field i don't know she was talking about she said well you know when you drive down 100th avenue those those farm areas it's just the dark dark you know dirt he said that's the muckfield it's kind of and she said one it's kind of a thing here when kids are growing up they they work in the muckfields for two or three summers hard hard physical labor this isn't 16 17 18 year olds sometimes it's 13 14 15 year olds working long days in the muck fields and here's what i discovered listening to barb hearing her talk about this hearing about this generational thing there was this sense that this is a really good thing for these young people to be out there working hard physical labor maybe it's one of those things that caused them to say i don't want to spend the rest of my life working in the muck fields you know i'm gonna you know but but but there was a sense that's that was the way they lived their lives and it was and and generationally they kept doing that and and my wife sherry she didn't work in the muck fields but she worked in the blueberry fields for hours a day picking out the twigs and things and just you know and her mom worked in the rusk factory which i don't know if you know russ because i had to look that one up too it's like thin cut bread that's cooked twice so it's basically like stale bread but but there's there's this there's a sense that working hard as soon as you're able to work and doing something physical just creating something doing something farming something nurturing that there's this like there's this good gift and i know where that comes from if you have a bible look with me in the very first book of the bible the book of genesis the second chapter genesis chapter two and in genesis chapter two whether you're on your your ipad or your phone or whether you have your bible we'll have it on the screens as well there's this picture god is there you know god is creating god is making and there's this picture of perfect paradise genesis 2 remember in the bible sin shows up and paradise is lost paradise is broken in chapter 3 of genesis so this is still perfect paradise god's design god is deciding the absolute perfect eden edenic paradise and here's what we read in genesis 2 verse 15. the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to work it and take care of it hard work nurturing to work it and take care of it this is paradise and there's work when you picture paradise do you picture work or do you picture a hammock an eternal hammock you know but but this is the picture that's painted for us in genesis chapter two and adam and eve are both called to labor pain and labor only came after the fall and adam's labor would become painful and eve's labor would become painful but in genesis chapter two it's still perfect paradise and there is a sense of working of producing of doing something now time with me to colossians chapter 3. in colossians chapter 3 there's this kind of umbrella picture that i think i remember as a brand new christian someone gave me a bible said this is god's word it's really important you're supposed to read it so i read it and i remember this the first time i read it and it did something inside of me it adjusted the way i looked at the work i do colossians chapter 3 verse 23 says this whatever you do work at it with all your heart as working for the lord as working for the one who gave his life on a cross for you not for human masters it's not about your boss it's not about who's in charge somebody who's looking over your shoulder at the end of the day the work you do the work i do it is for the lord and as i thought about this i remember i remember working in the freezer at 7 11 stalking the freezer and it's like i'm going to stalk the freezer for jesus man i'm going to stalk the budweiser and the chorus for jesus can i get an amen a little too enthusiastic on some of your part but but uh but you know it's like i'm going to do it then the pepsi and the coke i'm going to stock the freezer for jesus when i worked at munchie's pizza it was a pizza place where you actually you made the dough i was in charge of like spinning it putting on the show can you imagine me entertaining people right but i put it on the show making the pizzas and kind of and i but i tossed those pizzas for jesus brand new christian i'm re i'm reading the bible i'm like do it do it and that's what i'm gonna do it all for the lord when i became a youth pastor when i was still in college when i became a youth pastor i tried to love those kids and teach them about jesus for the sake of jesus i didn't do it for their parents i didn't do it for mel de breese and and and rich i didn't ever melon rich who were the two pastors i did it for jesus and you know what i think i was a better youth pastor because i was working for jesus then i was working for a mell or rich i cared about them i respected them but man when i'm working for jesus i'm trying to give everything and i've been pastor here for over 12 years now and can i tell you something at the end of the day i'm not ultimately doing what i'm doing for you as much as i love you i'm doing it for jesus and be glad because i don't think i'd work as hard if it was just for you i love you but i i just know that when i wake up in the morning i have the privilege of serving shoreline church in monterey california and pouring myself out and working hard for the body of christ that jesus loved that he cares about and that he leads see showing church exist help as many people as possible because become totally committed to jesus christ he's the lord of the church he's the head of the church but that also means if you're a school teacher you're appointed to those kids for jesus if you have a trash trash truck that you run and you have a trash route you're picking up that trash and you're getting rid of it and you take care of it for jesus and if you're in the military if you're in education if you're if you're in the hospitality business if you're you if you work in a restaurant if you if you're bussing tables you bust it for jesus if you're serving people you serve them for jesus everything if you're a student and your vocation right now is that your student you're studying you're learning and that's that's your kind of your full-time gig then do it for jesus and it can change everything that's the heartbeat that we see here and then there's one more passage i want to look at this was a little bit longer and this may be a passage even if you've been in church a lot through your life maybe for years and years or decades you may not have heard anybody preach on this passage but we're going to walk through this passage together and i want you to hear it's a passage it's kind of a strange passage because paul is talking to the church at thessalonica and he's giving them some very clear guidelines on how they do their community life together and he's addressing the topic of work hard work so look with me at second thessalonians chapter 3 and i'm going to begin in verse 6. and just get the heartbeat of what the apostle paul is saying to this church in the name of the lord jesus christ we command you this is a big deal it's not a suggestion we command you brothers and sisters to keep away from every christian every believer who is idle and disruptive who's idle lazy doesn't do anything and disruptive now you're going to find at different times even in this passage when when someone's idle it's also mentions being disruptive together why because when you have nothing to do you find something to do and usually what you find to do it's not a good thing to do right so he says be careful watch out for those people you avoid those people keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive listen to this and does not live according to the teaching you receive from us so the apostle paul is saying we've taught you as a church how to conduct yourselves how to behave and so he's going to clarify what it is he's taught them he's reminding them of what he's already taught them verse 7 for you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example okay so now we're going to pay attention what's he mean by follow our example right we were not idle when we were with you nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it now paul was a tent maker he was a craftsman and he worked a full-time job making tents and he traveled around the world planning churches and writing letters of those churches he was by vocational he worked as a tent maker and he worked as a church starter a church planter and he said when we came to town we didn't make you carry the freight for us we didn't make you you know we we paid our own way we wouldn't nor would we eat anyone's food without paying for it on the contrary listen to this we work this is the example he's saying that they should follow that people in the church should follow he said okay um we don't want to be a burden to you um second half of verse eight on the contrary he says we worked night and day laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you hear paul saying we worked hard day and night laboring toiling why because we didn't want you to carry the burden for us we carried our own burden we did this verse 9 says not because we do not have the right to such help in other words he said because we're serving you because we're doing this ministry we can ask her out but we want to give a model for you but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate this is the way that christians should live for even when we were with you and here's the one that challenges people but you got to hear this for even when we were with you we gave you this rule this is a rule for the church the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat now people whoa whoa wait wait that's cruel that's mean that's terrible he doesn't say the one who is unable to work the one who's unwilling to work right you following that see when someone when someone's unable to work christians are the first ones in line to help them we should be always we should be the most compassionate the most generous the most caring this is why we we do food services around our community this is why we have a food pantry here clothing clothes i mean we we're helping people who are really in need but the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat don't let that upset you that was actually the rule for the church then and i believe it should be the role for the church now because the bible doesn't change if someone said i don't wanna i don't care i'm not gonna do anything he says well then you know then you'll take care of yourself you're making a choice verse 11. we hear that some among you are now he's talking to the specific church he's give general teaching now we hear there's some around you who are idle and disruptive again nothing to do getting yourself in trouble they are i love this line they are not busy they are busy bodies you get that they're not busy doing something productive so they're busy just getting in trouble right such people we command and urge such people we command and urge in the lord jesus christ this is serious to settle down and eat the and earn the food they eat get to work earn some income take care of yourself if you can do it and as for you brothers and sisters never tire of doing what is good i don't know if you've ever heard this passage preached on but it's an important passage now you need to understand something also we plan our services more than a year in advance i'm just finishing up all of the sundays of services preaching biblical texts and themes for 2022 our team already has them so this topic was laid out about about 17 months ago but god's timing is great because this is the time that i think that there's a forgot there's a lost art of forgotten art to really working hard so let me just give you some observations from these different passages and some things that kind of get your heart and your mind around first the bible's clear some people are idle and disruptive kind of lazy and troublemakers and this is not what god wants for us if you're a follower of jesus christ you should not be a person who's idol who's lazy who's just kind of sitting around and just kind of wasting your time or getting in trouble but god has something more planned for you we also hear that paul and his ministry team said you need to follow our example we're working hard we're pouring it out day and night laboring striving there is something absolutely beautiful and wonderful in the gift of working hard they're working hard if again if in paradise god said to adam and eve do some work do some labor then there's something good in this there's a gift that god offers to us if we're willing to receive it and then you notice there's a rule in the church and it's interesting because i think some people would think this is just cruel to say if a person is unwilling to work they shouldn't eat that's just mean spirit that's just cruel well pause for a minute and think about it is that really cruel if you're a parent and you have a child who's 14 15 16 i don't want to do anything 18 19 20. no no i don't want to do anything just take care of me you and everybody else in the world just take care of me 25 27 30 35. is is it loving and caring to let someone just kind of cruise through life and never do anything productive with their life i don't i think that god is the most loving being in the universe so when his word gives us guidelines we might go might not be the way our culture works right now might not be the way i see it but wait a minute maybe god has something going on here maybe god understands how he's made us i think god has made us to do productive things to find opportunities to work and sometimes that work is paid work sometimes that work is volunteering you know when you when you come to worship right now it's 11 o'clock the worship team up here there's usually one person maybe two that are staff everyone else is a volunteer they were here at the nine o'clock service they were here practicing before the nine o'clock service they were here at about six in the morning this morning to lead you into the presence of jesus and all those volunteers they're not paid for this they're working for the lord it's not always a paid job it's just living your life you might volunteer with spca you might volunteer with with an orphan minister ministry or just an organization in monterey that helps people in need and you're working you're serving you're making a difference and god says i delight in that he's made us to create and to do things that have meaning and purpose and so when i think about our worship leaders here by the time they're done they'll finish their service they'll be cleaning up their gear and finishing up and some of them will be still here wrapping things up when you're off having lunch somewhere and to get here at six in the morning they're probably up at 4 30 so they can be here and serve you why do people do that why would i do that for free because they use their gifts who they are they do things that are productive for the glory of god and for the blessing of others and there's joy and there's delight in that i also want you to notice that that this discussion that the apostle paul opens up is is the issue that these people are unwilling to work and he says if somebody's unwilling to work then they haven't earned their keep and again i want to say if somebody is unable if somebody is incapacitated that's different but if somebody's unwilling the apostle paul says in the church there's consequences you don't just keep carrying them and carrying them if they're not willing to carry their own weight it's not an act of love for them what you do with your time matters how you use your life matters and so we're called we're urged to understand that god created this great gift of work and and we're going to right now we're going to walk through these five movements that were in this in this forgotten art series there's kind of five movements to look at kind of how god designed it where we are today and how do we reclaim the good gifts god has and so so the first movement in the series that we've been going through for the past weeks and will be for the next couple weeks is the master artist plan movement one is the master artist plan when you read genesis you realize god's plan was to give us meaningful work to do to do things that we could grow to love and and you know what the idea of doing all things for jesus and finding meaningful work i've had times along the way where the jobs i've had weren't my personal preference or choice but you can make a decision with whatever work you do where you're going to pour yourself into it and you're going to give the best you can to i love i love encountering people who are doing very simple jobs with all their heart with a joyful spirit when i see that i'll almost always just stop and talk with him and just say i'm watching what you're doing how you i just i see i see so much dignity and goodness and beauty and how you do your work i've had that conversation with people at fast food places where somebody answers instead of going yeah what do you want you know it's hey how you doing and it's not just like the script there there's a joy and then you pull up the window and they're like friendly and kind i asked i asked a young woman at a at a place one time i said am i allowed to tip you because i was so impressed by her spirit and her attitude and she says no they have cameras and if you give me any money i don't put it in the in the thing i'm in trouble so you we can't take tips and i said then can i tell you something and she said sure and i said to her you know what i i travel around the world and train leaders all over the world i said you are an example of leadership you're an example of a great ad i said what i said whatever you do in your life you will succeed if you keep this attitude and if you keep working the way you work and she just lit up like a like but probably a better tip than if i gave her money although she probably would like the money too but it wasn't it wasn't allowed but but stop and notice that and see that god has a vision and that vision is that we would enjoy labor enjoy the work we do and so adam and eve were invited into this god has made us to be productive what's god's what's god's plan to enjoy your work to be productive to create things and then in a sense to follow the example of the god who made us and loves us our god is a creator no one's more creative than our god our god created the universe he sustains it jesus when he walked on this earth for 30 years he worked in a carpenter shop jesus traveled and preached and he gave his life on the cross he took our sins there's nobody who gave more than jesus served more than jesus worked harder than jesus he left the glory of heaven for you and me we follow his example not to be idle and lazy but to give ourselves to whatever he whatever doors he opens up to us and i think there's also a picture here in god's plan that the road to one of the spiritual markers is paved by hard work one of our seven spiritual markers that the bible talks about is joyful generosity you know how you can become joyfully generous have something to share have something to give work hard and then share what god gives you with others share it with the work of jesus years ago sherry and i in the other church the other church where i was a lead pastor years ago we did a big a big we built a new worship center and a new student uh ministry center an office complex and uh and and just built you know built a whole new facility and we were gonna come to the congregation and ask them to pray about giving towards this new project but sherry and i knew we had to pray first and because we had to commit what we were going to give first before we could ask the board to give before we could ask the staff to give we had to make our commitment so i spent time praying about it and that was just i came up with kind of a number that i thought we could afford to give and then in prayer god put on my heart that's not enough you got to give more so i increased it and then later on when i prayed with our elders i thought god said you got to get more i increased it again and then a fourth time god actually told me four times god told me more and more more to the point where god put on my heart was more than we had in our savings in the boys school savings it was everything we had and then it was more so then i had to go to sherry and ask her to pray about it so that we could kind of come in line so i asked her would you pray about what we should give towards this thing and she's why i've already been praying i knew you were going to ask me and the other day i was running she's always on the cul-de-sac over there running and god put on my heart how much we should give and it was the exact same amount see god had to get worked me over four times to get me there and god just told her once and she's like okay that's that's sherry and i right um but but that's what we committed to give but when we come so we made the commitment to the church we would give that amount and we knew we didn't have the money and then about a week later a knock on our door i opened it there's a bag on our porch full of all the money we needed no it didn't happen that's not what happened um a couple weeks later zondervan publishing content contacted us and said hey we've got this project called the old testament challenge it's about an 18-month to two-year project it was going to mean about 20 to 30 hours a week between the two of us every week on top of our full-time work that was how god answered our prayer we worked an extra 30 hours a week between the two of us on top of serving the church and by the end of the time we could pay all that we had committed and you know what that was more of a miracle from god i would have liked the bag of money on the porch that would be cool but that's not god said no work harder but when we gave that money month by month by month we had a sense that we're part of the work of god this is an honor this is a privilege and we got to work harder that that's that's the heart of god that's the vision so here's a question for you and i want you to be i want you to ponder this i want you to chew on this question a little bit okay do you see work as a gift and a privilege or just an unwanted chore ask yourself do you think of work as a gift and a privilege or something you just have to do and get out of the way because i believe god designed us to have meaning and purpose to help others the folks who came up here and led in worship today they put that all the time they put in today they also practiced at home they could say well they got paid nothing for doing that no they got paid a lot the blessing of watching you come in the presence of the living god that's a privilege that's a joy when you teach children it's a blessing when you toss a good pizza make it maybe some jalapenos and pineapple you ever tried that um and you whatever you do do it for the lord and know it's a blessing and a privilege is that your outlook movement number two the forgotten art so we know god's vision is that god has made us to find joy and pleasure in doing things that are productive that bring him honor but moving over to the forgotten art you know things have changed um things have changed i don't know if there's many kids working in the muck fields anymore working in the blueberry fields culture has changed and and i don't know if there's the same attitude the same perspective there was a time when when a hard day of work was prized when people say man working hard pouring themselves out getting done at the end of the day just going man i gave it everything i had whether whether it's bent back labor or whether it's bent over a computer type of stuff and doing engineering and creating whatever it is to get to work hard things have changed and i don't know if people have that same outlook and that same disposition things have changed there's a forgotten art people used to respect someone who worked hard not just someone who made a lot of money remember that when you see just they respected the fact that somebody worked hard at what they did and there was an honor for that and now it seems like the honors more if you make a lot of money but man if you do what you do the best you can with all your heart that brings pleasure to god and it should bring joy to us here's a question for you do we see hard work as honoring to god and character building do you look at a hard day of work working hard volunteering here pouring into your children and raising your children and and poor investing in their lives doing the work you've been called to do if you're a student giving the best you can do you look at that labor that work at what you do as something that honors god you know that god takes pleasure when he sees you giving your best to what you do and also it builds character in us there's something that happens in us when we work hard there's something that happens in our hearts and our lives my little sister lisa my my parents sort of had two families uh they had they had they had allison gretchen and kevin and they stopped having kids and then they they had a diaphragm baby they had an iud baby and a vasectomy baby i'm looking at one of our ob gy answers they had a they had a iud baby and if you don't have if you have questions talk to dr rick after the service and a vasectomy baby and but same parents nine and ten years later two more kids surprise surprise uh but but um my uh my little sister lisa moved into the into the world of moving people from unemployment to employment right out of college that was what she studied that's what she focused on that's what she's devoted her life to and when she got out of college she worked with three she started a a a christian-based business called work net solutions where she was helping three kinds of people move from unemployment to employment she picked three of the hardest groups in all of american culture here's what she started working with women coming out of second and third generation uh welfare homes women coming out of prison and women coming out of prostitution and trying to get a real job that's what my sister worked with put her life in that she still does that she's read a couple of books about this topic and she moves people from unemployment to employment and i remember when my sister lisa was so she's talked to me a lot about this through the years and i asked her what she's doing at different times and it's always fascinating but at one point she said she said she was speaking to a group of she does national conferences and she's been in international conferences to people that move people to employment and she said um she was talking about entitlements and she said and she said she said this whole big group of people she said i'm going to talk to you about some entitlements for your clients and everybody kind of sits up and perks up like oh because they want more in time more things we can give to our people right and she says they're entitled to get off their couch and go to work that's my little sister and she's she's she's tall for the women of my family she's about this tall he says and so the women in my family are about that tall and uh that family grew up in but but she but she because she understood that um that that god brings dignity through work that god blesses people through the work that they do so movement number three the picture is marred we have some something's gone wrong uh something in our whole thinking and the thinking of the world today is something that my sister's been fighting against for years so here's one thing that's gone wrong it's what i call the endanger the danger of entitlement thinking the danger of i i'm entitled to this i'm entitled to this i'm entitled to this for for for doing nothing i just i just i just want more and more and more things for doing nothing and my sister would tell you there's few things more damaging to people than to not give them the dignity of work a few things more damaging my sister believes that actually moving people from unemployment to employment is a gift from god and is a ministry and there was an entire country that asked that they could use her resources for a national program of moving people from unemployment to employment because her system is so effective but it's it's based on the bible it's based on the dignity of human beings and that god's made us to work and so this country asks could they use it but they want to actually take out all of the christian distinctively christian things and she said no it doesn't work because you have to have that fundamental sense that there is a god who has made us and our work is valuable and this entire country is now using her resources with the christian it's a very country that's not strongly christian at all but they're using her her resources for training people because it's effective and it's effective because it's based on scripture and there's this understanding of the value and the dignity of hard work and lisa's told me so many stories and i've read i've read two of her books and read different stories but she told us one story about this woman who was coming i think she was coming either out of prison or out of prostitution she'd never had a real job and she got a job and she came to lisa after her first paycheck and she showed her that she showed her the check this woman did the check and she pointed to the taxes they took out of her out of her thing and she started crying she's putting the texture and then my sister lisa she said i know it's hard that's part of the deal we all pay taxes and she says no i'm not crying because i took my taxes i'm crying because now finally i'm doing something to help other people in need like i was this woman's tears for that she was finally contributing to help other people that's dignity that's the grace of god that's god's design and that god that's god's plan i think we also uh see this the picture being marred and the sense of the goodness of work and and that it's a gift from god being marred because i think there's there's in our culture now the sin of laziness is not seen as the sin the sin of lit late you read through the book of proverbs there's a word that proverbs uses in the niv for people who just are lazy all the time and don't try to do anything hard in any labor it's called a sluggard you've heard that the word sluggard says the sluggard does this this do a study in proverbs sometimes the book of prophets on the sluggard it's not a pretty picture god does not present the sluggard the person who never wants to work and do anything in a positive light but those who work hard and provide and do their part in our culture there seems to be a movement towards taking the easy route and cutting corners what's the easiest way i can get through doing this with the least hassle for me the path of least resistance and i think sometimes with our kids if we're not careful on our grandkids i'm not saying they got to go work in the muck fields but there's something about teaching them how to work hard from the time they're young to do their part to contribute and to really and to see that as a gift from the living god and i want to share something very pastoral with you and i believe this i think this is this is one of the reasons that things are changing in our world when you are in a time of need time we're in a time of need we should always look to god first i'm thankful that there's governmental support for people i think that's great but sometimes we look to government before god let's look to god and say god how would you have me live and how would you have me be and that could change your whole disposition your whole outlook some people don't look to like god first and then government or government they just looked at government period and what god i look to you i cry out to you i ask for your leading for your guidance how would you have me live how would you help me handle the situation and look to god first above everything else so a question for you why do so many people want something for nothing and only do the minimal they can and to get away with it why is it in our world in our culture that there's there's so much what's the most i can get for doing the least or maybe i can get the most for doing nothing and where how does god's heart look at that i can't speak for the world as a pastor i don't speak for the world but i can speak for the church and i can speak for the word of god and i can speak for followers of jesus and as followers of jesus we should not be content doing nothing and getting something as a lifestyle maybe for a moment in a time of struggle where you need help great but god we want you to get back on your feet and step into the world and contribute and offer something even something simple and not that that doesn't get a lot of praise from other people but doing your part to make a difference movement number four now we kind of move back to kind of reclaiming and seeing now how do we live in a way that honors god movement number four reclaiming god's good gift i believe as christians we need to teach a work ethic in the home and model it we need to model and a lot of parents will model it but they're not necessarily teaching it when my family growing up growing up was kind of funny on a refrigerator and this is before at least and jason were born when we were so we were still alison and gretchen myself were still younger but on our refrigerator there was a big kind of a chart and on the charted three columns and each of the three columns was all the chores that needed to be done in the house and in the yard and cooking and there were three lists and then there were magnets that said alison gretchen and kevin and they just each week the magnet got changed and those were your chores for the week and then you got a little allowance if you did your chores if you didn't get your chores you got something else and it wasn't an allowance you got in trouble uh that but my parents weren't christians as i was growing up but they taught us the beauty and the gift of work i'd learn how to cook and do yard work and do housework into vacuum i love vacuuming there's something very soothing about vacuuming i don't know if i'm not coming your house and doing it but i mean i love that the patterns in the carpet anyways that's just that's probably a counseling session for me but i love but but there's you know that was part of what i grew up with and i thank god for that we should teach it to the next generation we should teach a work ethic in the church and model it in the church of all people who work hard people in church ought to work hard because and i tell our staff this at times i tell them when they get paid is the gifts of god's people i don't get a paycheck nobody in our church gets a paycheck we don't have we don't have any subsidies coming in from anywhere else we do have one tower on the roof and we get something from some telephone company some uh we get some fee per not fee we get a little check per month but otherwise all we have is your gifts and so i i make sure as the lead pastor that all of our staff members are working really hard and they want to work hard but we make sure we're working smart and hard and fruitfully for god's glory but also to honor the fact that you all are generous and when you give it's going to keep this church moving forward i think we need to celebrate hard work how do we kind of kind of reclaim this we've got to start when you when you see somebody working hard will you just stop and for one minute walk over them and say thank you so much if you're in a restaurant right now at this time the person the person who's bringing your food to you or who's busting the tables they could be making almost as much staying at home and not working but they're not they are shown up every day and working thank them look them right in the eyes and say thank you so i'm watching how hard you work it means so much and if you're a tipper you know double the tip because that's the way you bless people you know celebrate if you see your kids working hard celebrate your grandkids work hard celebrate a friend a colleague working hard celebrate that affirm that i'm going to share one more thought about this idea of reclaiming god's good gift and this is something that's become something in our culture i want to just give you two pictures and i want to address something that's going on in our world that i think it's important as christians that we have a biblical worldview a biblical mindset so i'm going to give you two scenarios i want you to imagine two different people all right here's the first person it's a young woman who's gotten married she's a christian woman got married fallen in love had one child two children three children and then her husband has a massive heart attack she's now a single mom with three little kids she works in an office role as an admin eight hours a day getting family and friends and cobbling together child care so she can provide for her family and when the kids are at bed at night she has somebody who comes over to keep an eye on them and she works a four hour shift cleaning offices so she can take care of her family she earns a living enough to get by now i should picture another person a young guy he's 25 26 years old doesn't want to work got a college degree he doesn't want to work he wants his family and his friends and uncle sam to meet all his needs and he's getting paid almost as much for those sources as this woman is as she's trying to care for her family raise her kids and work in a job and a half do you think god views that people will say well well you know is that fair there's nothing fair about that and so i'm going to use two terms with you right now and i want to try to clarify something that i believe as christians we have to understand this as christians we should believe there should be absolute equality of opportunity every one man every man woman every ethnic background every single human being should have an equal opportunity to succeed to work we should not put any barriers for anyone having an opportunity to thrive equality of opportunity but this term equality of outcome everyone should end up with the same biblically no they shouldn't someone who's unwilling to work in the church wasn't going to have dinner some say well no everyone should it's that this woman and this guy never we the equality of outcome the outcome everyone gets the same outcome no matter what they do and biblically no that's not that's not the way we live our lives whatever culture says whatever the world says equality of opportunity let's make sure we give we put no barriers for anyone to have an equal opportunity to thrive to succeed to work hard to enjoy life equality of outcome is not a biblical concept it's not realistic and it's not just and it's not fair and our god is the god of justice this woman who's working a job in half and pouring herself out to work that way and have somebody else get given the same amount for doing nothing and spending their day playing video games and watching netflix something's wrong that's not a biblical model as a pastor i want us to think biblically and then let that interact with how our cultural views are and make sure you design your thinking and your life around what scripture teaches so a question for you do you believe that christians should be the hardest and most committed people in the workplace do you believe that if you're in the workplace whatever your role is whether you're whether you're spinning pizzas at munchies pizza whether you're stocking the seven seven eleven freezer whether you're a youth pastor whether you're you know do you believe that that christians should be the hardest and most committed people in their workplace we i do we should be the first to show up we should be the last to leave we should be the ones where somebody else is struggling going hey can i help you with that how can i help you in that no that's not my department that's not my job description i'm out of here and we can have a witness in our world right now like i said this sermon uh was planned almost almost a year and a half ago in terms of being today but it's a very timely moment in our world and christians we need to not only be in them in out there working using our gifts using our abilities but we should be the ones that people look at and say man she it just goes after it she is amazing she gives a hundred percent all the time and then some more man that guy just just goes for whatever the environment is whether you're a student whether you're you're raising kids and you're at home whether you're in the workplace we should be giving our best and be a model and then movement number five become an artist becoming an artist how do we live this out in a way that honors god just a few thoughts follow god's call and follow the example of jesus jesus gave everything he gave it all let's do the same teach young people to work hard give them opportunity to succeed give them opportunities to fail but give them a chance to work hard beware of giving too much and making life too easy if we're going to raise a generation of young people that know what it is to work hard be careful you don't give them everything but let them learn what it is to earn things that's that's just good practice it used to be pretty normal and the world has changed it may get the point down the line where we can't give kids too much because there's not a lot to give you'll go around but right now there's still plenty of seems to go around so be careful you don't give there's a term when helping hurts right when you help too much it actually hurts someone by helping them too much don't over help the next generation help them learn to work hard model hard work be an example for other people serve your neighbors serve your friends see a lot of the work we do isn't paid work if you're retired you know some of the people i know that are retired they will say to me i've never worked harder in my life i'm helping out with grandkids here and i'm helping out the church here i'm i'm helping out with with uh you know animals in need through spca and i'm helping out with like you know community cleanups and along the ocean along the beach and i'm i mean i'm i'm i'm helping with different ministries and different organizations and you know working working hard and honoring god isn't about a paycheck we've had people on our staff here at shoreline who people who've worked full-time for shoreline who haven't gotten paid a penny they said i don't need the income i just want to serve jesus we brought people on our staff here at shoreline right now we have actually open staff positions right now uh when that we shouldn't have open staff positions we have some great administrative positions at the church here that are open because right now there's a lot of people are saying i can make as much or more sit in a home than i could at work in a shoreline church why would i why would i work if i can sit at home and collect money for free and i would say because i understand scripture and god's invitation to meaning and purpose in life but but that's that's you know we we can live in a new way we can count the cost of what it means to give ourselves to what god calls us to do with all our heart soul mind and strength one last question am i committed to hard work as a gift from god and a witness to the world am i committed to understand that hard work is a gift from god but also that the world sees how we live and how we work oh god this is our prayer today that we would come to understand the beauty and the gift of hard work in a world that may not value it like it used to in a world that sees things different than but but god we don't we don't base our lives we don't base our world view and our thinking on how the world functions we base our thinking and our lives on your word and god on your example through jesus and so help us pour ourselves out and pour ourselves into what honors you help us be a blessing wherever we are lord whatever you have as i pray for the students that are here that they will do their work as for you i pray for dads and moms that are raising families they will love their children and raise them in a way that honors you and do it for your glory i pray for people in all walks of life in all different workplaces lord that you would let them do what they do for your glory and i pray for those people who right now are hearing in a way that is challenging their hearts to say maybe i need to step back in and do some kind of work maybe i've been sitting for too long that you would help them find a great meaningful place where they can labor and strive and work to be a blessing to others but also find the joy of hard work that you give to each one of us who will follow your call and i pray as a church for those people who are broken who are hurting who are unable to meet their own needs may we as the church be the first ones to step up and love and care like jesus let us show let us show compassion in all that we do but also strive to honor you in all we do we pray this in jesus name and for his glory amen before i send you off with the word of blessing i want to give you just a couple quick invitations if you've never been baptized and you want to be baptized we have a class at one o'clock today online last week was the live class this week is the online class so all you have to do is text the word baptism right there to that number and if you text the word baptism it'll happen right now whether you're at home or here you'll get a link to the class and you're in all right so if you want to learn about baptism and consider our next baptism is going to be uh at the in the ocean and that's always i think our funnest baptism i love doing ocean baptisms and we also do something here also but this time it's gonna be ocean baptisms also if you want prayer we have folks that'll be up front here that would love to pray for you and pray with you and if you're online all you need to do is email your prayer and we'll we have a team that prays very faithfully very consistently if you email the prayer or if you call the number on the screen we will right away somebody will answer that phone unless they're praying with somebody else and then just try again and they'll pray with you on the phone and if you're new at shoreline we want to give a warm welcome if you're online and you're new just text the word welcome to the number you see on the screen and that word will pop up a link and that's our way to connect with you and get to know you and answer your questions about shoreline and if you're here on our campus and you're new just go by the connection center right through the lobby here or come in from outdoors to the lobby and uh we'll answer your questions give you information and just give you a warm welcome a little gift bag and thank you for coming if you're able to stand would you stand at home would you stand here in the worship center let's stand together as we close this time together may you walk and live in the presence of the god who gave everything for you walk in the name of jesus who gave his life on the cross who cared for the broken and the sick and the forgotten and the hurting and who worked as the father called him to work and may you do all you do not for human bosses but would you do it for the glory of jesus and watch how he blesses others through your life and blesses you along the way god bless you have a great week and we'll be back here for the next message in the forgotten art series next sunday god bless you have a great week you

Channel: Shoreline Church Monterey

Views: 139

Keywords: Shoreline Community Church, Shoreline Community Church of Monterey

Id: W1tyRdBd81o

Length: 46min 30sec (2790 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021