Restful Work
Sermon Audio
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our series called Rest-FULL, which is all about learning to rest in a restless world, and so far we talked about how to rest and obstacles to rest, but today I want to talk about your work. I want to talk about your work, how to have restful moments at your work, because we’re living in one of the most overworked periods in history. We have more technology than ever before in history, yet we’re still living in one of the most overworked periods in history. Some of it’s because employers are squeezing more productivity out of employees to increase profitability. Some of it’s because smartphones allow us to be on the job 24/7. Some of its because of pressures to be a success, pressures to feed our consumerism addictions, pressures to simply pay our bills in a nation that’s shifted from one income to two income cost of living. Regardless of how we got here, we’re here; we’re living in one of the most overworked periods in history. Some of us have paid work, some have unpaid work like students or at home moms, but all of us are working in some way, and today we’re gonna talk about how to have restful moments at your work. So let’s turn to Genesis 2:15 and get into it. The title of today’s message is Restful Work, and here’s the big idea. You can have delight in your work, and restful moments at your work, if you remember Jesus as you work...You can have delight in your work and restful moments at your work, if you remember Jesus as you work.
Context:
Here’s your context. We’re gonna be in two books of the bible today, we’ll be in Genesis and Colossians, because I want to give you a synopsis of what the bible says about work. Our synopsis will cover four things. It’ll cover, #1 what was work like before sin entered the world, #2 what was work like after sin entered the world, #3 how are we to view our work today, and #4 how can we have delight in our work, and restful moments at our work. Our synopsis will cover those four things, and it begins in Genesis 2 where the earth has already been created. Then in vs. 7 God creates the first human, He creates Adam, and listen to what He tells Adam to do.
The Word:
Genesis 2:15 states, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” There’s #1 in our synopsis, it’s work before sin entered the world. Now the fact that work existed before sin entered the world, tells us work wasn’t intended to be a bad thing, it was intended to be a good thing, it was intended to serve a purpose. Notice God gives Adam a purpose, and that purpose entails both a place and a profession. The place is the garden of Eden, his profession is to work and keep the land. The Hebrew word for work means “to cultivate,” and the word for keep means “to guard.” So the purpose of Adam’s profession, the purpose of his work is to cultivate and guard the land. It’s to take the raw materials God’s given him on earth, cultivate it, and guard it for the glory of God and the good of creation. God’s given him a place and a profession, and that place and profession is serving a purpose in creation. In a similar way God’s given you a place and a profession, and that place and profession is serving a purpose in creation. Some of you might not feel like your job has purpose, but God’s placed you in the specific Orlando garden you’re in, with the specific profession you’re in, to help bring Him glory and care for His creation, care for the very land, people, and society around you.
Theologian Martin Luther once referred to our professions as “masks” God wears to care for the world. Luther states, “When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to ‘give us this day our daily bread.’ And he does give us our daily bread. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person who prepared our meal.” Luther’s saying all these professions served a purpose in creation, and were God’s way of answering our prayers for daily bread. Your work serves a purpose in creation, even if that work entails taking out the trash, or changing diaper poo...Work before sin was a good thing, it included a purpose, place, and profession. But let’s turn to Genesis 3:17-19, and see what work becomes after sin enters the world, after Adam sins, which is #2 in our synopsis.
Genesis 3:17-19 states this, “And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’” Some of you are like “Man, you just described my job!..It’s painful, it’s full of thorny people, thistle tasks, and I’m sweating emotionally and physically trying to put food on my table.” It’s what work’s become ever since sin entered the world. It’s painful, thorns and thistles, sweat on your face kind of work. It’s what sin does. Sin takes what God intends to be good, distorts it, then turns it into something painful and damaging. This doesn’t mean Adam’s work no longer has a purpose, place, and profession, it just means his work has now become hard because of sin. God’s original design for work is still a good thing, but it’s now become a hard thing because of sin. This is true even for those who love their profession. You can love your profession, but still work painfully hard in your profession. You can love your profession, but still have certain tasks you don’t like about your profession.
For example I love being a pastor, I feel my job has a lot of purpose. But ask anyone who knows me well, and they’ll tell you I struggle with preaching. They’ll tell you I love preaching, but I struggle with the weekly time crunch of sermon writing, the weekly pressures of Sunday coming up real quick. I love preaching, but it’s hard work on me mentally and emotionally, and it’s more exhausting to me than when I did construction work. My point is even people who love their professions have days and tasks that feel like painful, thorns and thistles, sweat on your face kind of work. It’s what work’s become ever since sin entered the world. Work’s still a good thing, it still has a purpose, place, and profession, but it’s now a hard thing. This leads to #3 in our synopsis, which is how are we to view our work today now that sin’s entered the world? To answer that, let’s turn to Colossians 3:23-24. Colossians was written by a guy named Paul who’s one of the greatest Christian leaders in history. In Colossians 3 he’s talking about Christian living, and in vs. 23-24, he gives us a few principles on how we’re to view our work today.
Colossians 3:23-24 states, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord...” Paul says whatever you do, whatever your task is, do it “heartily,” and the Greek can also translate as do it “from the soul.” So whatever you do, whatever your task is, do it heartily from the soul, as if you’re doing it for the Lord, as if you’re working for Jesus. Work is hard because of sin, but one of the ways we can delight in our work and have restful moments at our work, is if we view our work as a service to Jesus. It’s one of the major things that should separate a Christian’s work from another person’s work. It’s that we’re to view our work as if we’re working for Jesus, so our work should reflect the ethics and excellence of Jesus. It doesn’t always happen, but it should. Christian employees shouldn’t cheat their employers by calling in sick to go to the beach, taking office supplies for personal use, or fudging mileage and expense reports. Christian employers should think about how to increase their profits, while at the same time caring for their employees and society. As Christians we’re to work in ways that reflect the ethics and excellence of Jesus. We’re to work as if Jesus is our boss, because he is. Jesus is our boss, he’s given us a purpose, place, and profession. He’s placed you in the specific garden you’re in to be a reflection of him, and to help care for his creation. You’re to view your work “as for the Lord.”
Again vs. 23, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men...” Yet what do we do? We reverse this, we work “for men,” not “for the Lord.” One of the ways we do this is by working for the praises and approval of others. We tie our identity to our work, and our identity becomes fragile, because it depends on how much praise and approval we receive from others. It’s a distorted image of what God intends your work to be, because it makes your work no longer about bringing glory to Jesus and caring for his creation. It’s about bringing glory to yourself and caring for yourself through the praises and approval of others. It’s a distorted image of work that’ll hinder you from being able to delight in your work, and have restful moments at your work, because people won’t always give you praises and approval for the work you do.
Again vs. 23, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Paul says when you’re serving the Lord Jesus, you’ll eventually get to receive the inheritance as your reward. It’s the inheritance of being in his presence, and enjoying the full redemption of creation for all eternity. It’s an inheritance where our work and all that is good, will be enjoyed for all eternity, without the curse of sin being able to distort or damage that goodness. Paul’s saying we’re to view our pains, thorns and thistles, sweat on our face work with that future hope in mind, knowing that our stresses and struggles at work are only temporary and won’t last forever. So this brings us to #4 in our synopsis, which is how can we have delight in our work, and restful moments at our work? I’ll give you 4 things, 4 things to remember as you work, so you can have delight in your work, and restful moments at your work. Here’s the 1st:
#1 Remember your work has a purpose = Remember your work has a purpose. You may not like the work you do, it might even seem meaningless to you, but it’s not to the person and society benefiting from that work. Best-selling author and scholar Tim Keller put it like this, “Imagine me trying to build a chair from scratch without the work of anyone else. I would have to travel a great distance to the forest to cut down a tree. But first I would have to build a vehicle by myself to travel there, and I would also have to build the tools necessary to cut down the tree. It would probably take me my whole life!” His point is it takes many people, from many places, working many professions, fulfilling their many purposes, just to be able to sit in something as simple as a chair. The people who put together the chair your sitting in might’ve felt their job was meaningless, but it’s not for you, because you’re sitting in it. Their work had purpose, just like your work has purpose. If you remember this, it’ll allow you to delight in your work and have restful moments at your work, because you know even the repetitive screwing of screws on an assembly line, has purpose. It has meaning and purpose, for the person sitting in the chair.
#2 Remember who you’re working for = Remember who you’re working for. You’re working for Jesus, not for the praises and approval of others. C.S. Lewis once said there’s valleys filled with beautiful flowers that no human eye has discovered. He then asked, “Who did God create that beauty for if no eyes can see it?” His answer was they were created for God’s eyes, for God’s own pleasure. God sees the beauty of those things, even when nobody else does. The Christian is supposed to work with that same mindset, they’re to work to bring pleasure and glory to Jesus, knowing that he sees all the work we do, even when nobody else does. Some of you are like “Yeah but my boss is a jerk! My parents don’t see me as a success! My spouse and kids don’t recognize all I do!” Moments like that can be frustrating and cause you to either want to give up, or work harder to gain the praise and approval of others. But the frustrations you feel in those moments aren’t because of lack of praise and approval from others, it’s because you’re not working for the purpose God intended. You’re not working for Jesus and to help care for his creation, you’re working for the praises and approval of others. But if you tie your work to Jesus, it’ll free you from having to work for the praises and approval of others, because you know Jesus is able to see the work you’re doing, even when nobody else does. If you remember to work for Jesus, you’ll be able to delight in your work, and have restful moments at your work.
#3 Remember your future inheritance is coming = Remember your future inheritance is coming. When you tie your work to Jesus, you know the curse of sin won’t last forever, and neither will the painful, thorns and thistles, sweat on your face kind of work. We’ll still have work in eternity, but it’ll be work without a burden, because Jesus will have completely removed the curse of sin for all eternity. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to reverse the curse of sin through his death on the cross. Just as sin caused pain, thorns and thistles, and sweat on your face; Jesus suffered in pain, wore a crown of thorns, and sweat drops of blood when he died in our place. He came to reverse the curse of sin through his death on the cross, offering us the forgiveness of sins, and a future inheritance where the curse of sin will be removed for all eternity. His resurrection proves it’s all true and proves there’s a future inheritance coming. Your Sabbaths, your days off are a reminder of all this. Every time you take a day off to rest, to delight in Jesus and His creation, it’s a reminder that the curse of sin won’t last forever, nor will the burden of your work, because Jesus has reversed the curse of sin. Your Sabbath days off are a reminder that there’s a future inheritance coming, for those who work for Jesus.
#4 Remember to inject little Sabbath moments in your work days = Remember to inject little Sabbath moments in your work days, meaning little moments where you pause for a few minutes to delight in your work, and rest in Jesus. You see God doing this in Genesis ch. 1, He frequently pauses to delight in His creational work. It’s one of the great things about working for Jesus. It’s that no matter how hard and stressful your work days get, you can always pause to find delight and rest in him. So the next time you’re stressed at work, try injecting yourself with a little Sabbath moment. Try taking a break, taking 5-10 minutes to take a nap, do something fun, or just go for a walk to enjoy God’s creational work...then pray and delight in Jesus, so you can give your restless heart some rest. If you remember to inject little 5-10 minute Sabbath moments in your work days, it’ll help you delight in your work, and have restful moments at your work.
The Big Idea:
Let’s have the worship team come up and get to the big idea. Here’s the big idea. You can have delight in your work and restful moments at your work, if you remember Jesus as you work...You need to remember Jesus as you work...For the Christian, you need to remember Jesus placed you in this Orlando garden with the profession you have, to bring glory to him and help care for his creation. He’s placed you here to live out our code to love the few, so we can love the many, and point people to Jesus. You need to remember your work has eternal purposes. So delight in that work, keep pointing people to the excellence of Jesus as you work, and when you face painful thorns and thistles in work and life, remember there’s a future inheritance coming.
For the non-Christian, Jesus invites you to have delight and rest in him...He invites you to have delight and rest in him from the curse of sin, from the painful thorns and thistles in your work and life. If you repent of your sins and believe Jesus died for your sins, you’ll be forgiven of your sins and get to have that delight and rest. You’ll get to have an eternal relationship with Jesus, you’ll get to have the future inheritance that’s coming from Jesus, and you’ll get to work for the greatest boss you’ll ever have...So how are you?...It’s a question for both Christians and non-Christians. How are you?...Are you tired and busted up?...Are you tried and busted up from living in this overworked period in history?...Are you tired and busted up from living in sin or being sinned against?... Jesus says this in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” One of the great blessings of having a relationship with Jesus and getting to work for Jesus, is he’s willing to give rest “for your tired, busted up soul,” even when the demanding world won’t.