Wisdom For Your Work
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Proverbs, which is about gaining practical wisdom for everyday life, and today we’re talking about our work. We’re talking about gaining practical wisdom when it comes to our work, our careers, our jobs. That includes those who are paid for their work, and those who aren’t paid like students, volunteers, and home school parents. It also includes those of you who are young children, because you most likely have work responsibilities too, like doing your chores. Most of us if not all of us work in some capacity, so the question isn’t do you work? It’s are you a diligent worker or a lazy worker? Are you a get it done workaholic, or a keep putting it off procrastinator? What kind of worker are you?...Today we’re seeing what Proverbs has to say about our work, so let’s turn to Proverbs 10:4-5 and get into it. You’ll find Proverbs in the middle of your bible, and we’ll be in Proverbs 10:4-5. The title of today’s message is Wisdom For Your Work, and here’s the big idea. Working diligently is productive, but is it productive for the right reasons?...Working diligently is productive, but is it productive for the right reasons?
Context:
Here’s your context. These proverbs come from King Solomon who’s considered one of the most famous, wealthiest, wisest kings in history. Historically people traveled from all over the world to gain from his wisdom, and today we’re gaining from his wisdom when it comes to our work, our careers, our jobs. We’ll address 2 questions: #1 how should we view our work? and #2 how can we find fulfillment in our work? Let’s check out what Solomon says about our work.
The Word:
Proverbs 10:4-5 states, “Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.”
This isn’t a dig against poor people, it’s a dig against laziness. In many cases people are poor because of systemic issues dealing with social classes, inequality, and oppression. But Solomon isn’t talking about systemic poverty, he’s talking about individual poverty coming from laziness. In vs 4 having idle hands, having lazy hands is viewed as negative, but having diligent hands, having wise hard working hands is viewed as positive. The bible in general views work as being positive and productive. So how should we view our work? We’re to view our work in 2 ways?
1st We’re to view our work as positive and meaningful = We’re to view our work as something that’s positive and meaningful. This is important because a lot of times we view work as a negative thing, we view it as something we can’t wait to escape. We’re like, “I can’t wait for the weekend, can’t wait for vacation, can’t wait for retirement.” We can’t wait to escape it. But work isn’t meant to be a negative thing, it’s meant to be a positive thing full of purpose. In the gospels we learn Jesus was raised in a blue-collar family and learned the family trade as a carpenter. In Genesis 1-2 we learn God created, He did manual labor, got His hands dirty making us out of dirt. We also learn He enjoyed His work and repeatedly says “It’s good! It’s good! It’s good!” Each time after creating and finishing His work He says “It’s good,” then after creating humans He says “It’s very good.” He says it’s good 7 times! So clearly God views work as something that’s positive not negative, and He created us to have diligent hands not lazy hands.
Genesis 2:15 states, “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.” God created Adam and gave Him a profession. The purpose of his profession was to ‘work and watch’ the land. The Hebrew word for work means ‘to cultivate,’ meaning the purpose of Adam’s profession is to take the raw materials God’s given him, and to cultivate it for the glory of God and the good of creation. In a similar way God’s given you a profession, and that profession is serving a purpose in creation. 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 point is that all these professions served a purpose in creation, and was 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...The fact that work existed before sin entered the world, tells us work isn’t meant to be viewed as a negative thing, it’s meant to be viewed as a positive thing that’s serving a purpose. Solomon says diligent hard working hands is positive, it’s meaningful, it’s productive.
Again vs. 4-5 states, “Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches. 5 The
son who gathers during summer is prudent; the son who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful.” Notice again the contrast between the lazy hands of the ‘son who sleeps,’ and the diligent hands of the ‘son who gathers.’ The son who sleeps is a procrastinator, and procrastinators abuse the time God’s given them to do productive work. Eventually they get overwhelmed by the pile of work they put off until last minute, they have to rush their work, and it gets done poorly, which doesn’t bring God glory. Procrastination is a “thief of time!”...It’s a thief of time that doesn’t give God glory. 19thCentury Scottish preacher Alexander MacLaren states, “No unwelcomed tasks become any less unwelcomed, by putting them off until tomorrow. It’s only when they’re behind us and done, that we begin to find there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards.”
But notice in vs 5 Solomon says ‘son.’ Why does he say that? Why does he say the ‘son’ who sleeps is a disgrace?...Why does he say the ‘son,’ instead of the ‘man’ who sleeps?...It’s because man is too general, but son is specific and entails being a part of a family. In ancient civilations survival was a communal effort, it took the entire family working together for the good of the family. The children didn’t sit around playing Roblox all day, then complain about dinner. They would’ve been outside helping to prep the dinner! Survival was a communal effort, which is why Solomon says the lazy son who sleeps during the harvest is disgraceful. It’s because they’re not helping the family, they’re not contributing to the family’s needs, and they’re letting the family down. So 1st we’re to view our work as positive and meaningful, but 2nd…
2nd We’re to view our work as communal = We’re to view it as communal, meaning it doesn’t just affect our lives, it affects the lives of others in the community. Solomon’s saying we’re to view our time as an opportunity to be productive for God’s glory and the good of the community. But in our Western American culture we don’t always view our work as having communal affects. Eastern cultures view it more like that, but not as much here. It’s because we view our work based on individual purpose and prosperity, instead of communal purpose and prosperity. We think how can Iprosper, instead of how can we prosper? As a result we pursue jobs based on individual profit without considering communal purpose. God wants us to cultivate the land around us, but we’d rather cultivate our own land and kingdoms. Solomon’s saying we need to view our work as something that’s positive, meaningful, and communal. It’s because our work and lack of work, affects the community around us. This is true even within the church community. Sleepy church members being passive in their involvement doesn’t help the church community to be productive...We need to view our work in our family, our church, our city as communal...But Solomon says something else that’s interesting about our work in Proverbs 15.
Proverbs 15:19 states, “A slacker’s way is like a thorny hedge, but the path of the upright is a highway.” Notice he doesn’t mention the ‘diligent’ this time. It’s because he knows you can work as diligent and as hard as you want, but you’ll still experience thorns in your work. The word thorns is important in the bible, because it points back to Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned against God. They wanted to be their own gods and cultivate their own mini kingdom instead of God’s greater Kingdom. When that happened God said this to them in Genesis 3.
Genesis 3 states, “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 “You just described my job!..It’s full of pain, thorny people, and thistle like tasks.” It’s what work has become ever since sin entered the world. It used to be positive, meaningful, and enjoyable, but now it’s full of painful thorns. 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. Many people want to have jobs that are positive and meaningful, but the reality is their jobs feel like a thorny grind. It’s full of staff meetings, budget meetings, sales quotas, competitors, co-worker drama, and endless piles of work, texts, emails, voicemails you can’t ever catch up on...When you’re younger you’re able to handle it because you’re optimistic and view it as a seasonal hurtle to bigger and better career goals. But when you’re older and finally start figuring things out in your career, you lack the drive and stamina to accomplish it. The drive and stamina you once had when you were younger has been beaten out of you by the daily thorny grind. Many people overwork when they’re younger hoping to achieve their career goals, but as they get older the daily thorny grind beats their career goals out of them and they start underworking. But like I said earlier, work existed before sin entered the world. So work is still a good thing, it still has purpose, but it’s now a hard thing full of thorns. Why’s it so hard to accomplish your career goals, to get the resources you need, to get the stamina you need? Why is work sometimes such a grind? It’s because sin caused our work to be full of thorns, which leads to our 2nd question. How can we find fulfillment in our work?...How can we find fulfillment in our work, as we face the daily thorny grind?
Colossians 3:23 states, “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord...” This is the secret to finding fulfillment in any job you have, in any task you have. It’s to work as if you’re working for the Lord, as if you’re working for Jesus. Work is certainly a grind because of sin, but we can still find fulfillment and delight in our work when we view our work as a service to him. Christians should be some of the greatest employees and produce some of the greatest work, because we’re to view our work as if it’s for Jesus. We shouldn’t have lazy procrastinating hands, we should have diligent, wise, hard working hands that reflect the ethics and excellence of Jesus. We’re to work as if Jesus is our boss, because he is. When you do this, when you start aligning your work with Jesus and view it as a way to serve him, that’s when your work becomes positive, meaningful, and enjoyable. When you start working for Jesus to build his kingdom, instead of working for yourself to build your kingdom, that’s when it becomes fulfilling. That’s when you realize he’s placed you in this specific Garden of Orlando, with a specific job, and a specific purpose. It’s to bring him glory and build his kingdom through your work.
Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” This is such a game changer for your work! Because it means on the days you’re viewing your work as a daily grind, God’s viewing it as good work He prepared ahead of time! The work your viewing as a daily grind, is still work God has prepared ahead of time! So your job might be a grind, it might be thorny, but it isn’t an accident!...It isn’t an accident, it’s still serving a purpose!...Jesus has you there for a specific season and a specific reason. It’s to do good works, to cultivate, to serve him and lead others to him. It’s to cultivate this land and cultivate the hearts that are in this land, as you work for Jesus and serve others with excellence. A lot of people think the way to find fulfillment in your job is to do something you love and are gifted at, which the bible teaches too. But we’ll never find eternal fulfilment unless we use our gifts for building Jesus’ eternal kingdom. So if you truly want to have fulfillment in your work, then you need to remember the following 3 things.
#1 Remember your work is good, meaningful, and communal = Remember your work is good, meaningful, and communal. You might hate your job and think it’s meaningless, but it isn’t meaningless to Jesus and the community benefiting from your work. Tim Keller states, “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!” The point is it takes many people, in many professions, just to sit in something as simple as a chair. The people who put together the chair you’re sitting in might’ve felt like their job is meaningless, but it isn’t to you, because you’re sitting in it. Their work had purpose, just like your work has purpose. If you remember this you’ll have fulfillment in your work, because you know even the repetitive screwing of screws is serving a purpose.
#2 Remember you’re working for Jesus = Remember you’re working for Jesus, who’s a much kinder boss with a much greater kingdom. Most of the world is burnt out, stressed out, emotionally and physically wiped out working for themselves and their own kingdoms. They’re working diligently, but working diligently for the wrong reasons. They’re working diligently, but working diligently for perishable things like more money, trinkets, and toys that’ll perish when they perish. But Jesus is a much kinder boss, with a much greater kingdom, that’s filled with eternal purposes that’ll never perish. John Piper once preached a sermon against chasing the American dream to retire early and spend the rest of your life vacationing on a seashore. Piper said, “With all my heart I plead to you, don’t buy that American dream!…As you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account of what you did, what will you say? ‘Here it is Lord, here’s my shell collection!’...Don’t waste your life.” His point isn’t that we shouldn’t ever vacation or collect seashells. It’s that we shouldn’t waste our life working so diligently on things that are meaningless in the grand scheme of eternity. Our massive seashell collections won’t mean anything in eternity. So don’t waste your life working diligently for things that’ll perish, instead work diligently for Jesus and his eternal kingdom that’ll never perish. In the words of C.T. Studd, “Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
#3 Remember the thorns aren’t forever = When you align your life and work with Jesus, you know the curse of sin and the thorns in your work won’t last forever. We’ll still work in eternity, but it’ll be work we enjoy without the thorns. It’ll be work we enjoy without the burdens. The good news of the gospel is Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins on the cross, and offers us eternal life in heaven with him. It’s eternal life with all the thorns of life eternally removed. His resurrection proves the painful thorns of life, work, sin, and death aren’t forever.
The Big Idea:
Look the big idea is working diligently is productive, but is it productive for the right reasons? It is if you’re working diligently for Jesus. If you want your work to be eternally productive, if you want it to be fulfilling, then work diligently for Jesus. You’ll still have thorns, but those thorns won’t break you with Jesus beside you. Just as Jesus endured the thorns of the cross, he’ll make sure you endure the thorns of life. If he’s already endured the thorns of the cross for you, why are you trying to endure the thorns of life, work, and sin without him?