Latest / Finding God at Work / Episode 3: Lifestyle

Transcript

Episode 3: Lifestyle · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  In our current series, Imagining Work, we're looking
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  at a question.
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  What story about work am I living in?
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  Because the story we live in is the
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  story we live out.
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  And not every story about work squares with
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  the story that God is telling on the
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  pages of Scripture.
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  Okay, so we've looked at a couple stories
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  so far.
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  We've got another one today, the lifestyle story
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  about work.
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  I want to start with a quote from
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  a financial advisor.
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  His name is Jeff Rose, and he's telling
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  a story about Dylan and Allison Redling.
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  Jeff says, Dylan and Allison Redling went from
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  being young slackers to early middle-aged retirees
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  in a space of less than 15 years.
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  That's the kind of story I like to
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  tell.
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  It's what can happen when you start doing
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  the right things with your money.
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  Early retirement came in 2015.
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  Allison was 44 and Dylan, 43.
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  That comes from an article Jeff wrote for
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  Forbes.
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  Okay, so I don't know about you, but
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  do you feel like a little twinge of
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  envy when you think about maybe retiring at
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  44 or at 43?
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  This is really powerful, right?
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  Jeff Rose knows what he's doing.
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  He knows if he tells you a story,
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  you can place yourself inside that story.
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  Imagine if you were like Dylan and Allison
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  Redling.
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  Imagine what your life could be like if
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  you could retire at 44 or 43 years
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  old.
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  And this is an expression of a really
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  common attitude towards work, which is how can
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  we get work over with?
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  How can we get to retirement?
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  And so that's why I call it the
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  lifestyle narrative, because it's about how do we
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  do something other than work?
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  How do we have a lifestyle, whether that's
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  through retirement or maybe by limiting the number
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  of hours that we have during the work
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  week, so that we can pursue other things
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  besides work.
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  And of course, there's nothing wrong with setting
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  limits with work.
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  That's actually a healthy thing to do, and
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  God teaches that in the discipline of Sabbath
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  and among other ways.
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  But when we view work as a necessary
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  evil, it can warp our relationship with work.
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  And that's really what we do if we
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  live inside of the lifestyle narrative about work.
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  We view work as a necessary evil, which
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  leads us to minimize work, to hold work
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  at arm's length.
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  And the problem with this is that it
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  alienates us from our own experience of work.
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  Just like our other narratives have cut us
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  off from something, we look to have a
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  TGIF narrative cuts us off from our experience
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  of pain, and the do-what-you-love
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  narrative cuts us off from our experience of
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  contentment and the limitations of our circumstances.
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  In the same way, the lifestyle narrative cuts
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  us off from the work itself.
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  It causes us to put our attention somewhere
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  else besides work, so that we're not fully
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  engaged, not fully living inside of the work
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  that we're doing.
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  And that's actually bad news because we do
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  have work.
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  Work is part of our life.
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  And so we need a vision of work
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  that helps us engage the work, not hold
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  it at arm's length.
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  And thankfully, that's what Jesus leads us into.
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  Jesus invites us into a way of doing
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  work where we're fully engaged, fully present in
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  the work that we're doing.
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  We can see this on the pages of
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  Colossians chapter 3.
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  So I'm going to read it's a little
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  bit of a longer passage today, but we're
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  going to unpack it.
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  I think it's going to be really helpful.
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  So Colossians 3 22 through 4 verse 1.
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  Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything and
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  do it not only when their eye is
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  on you and to curry their favor, but
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  with sincerity of heart and reverence for the
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  Lord.
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  Whatever you do, work at it with all
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  your heart as working for the Lord, not
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  for human masters, since you know that you
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  will receive an inheritance from the Lord as
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  a reward.
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  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
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  Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for
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  their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.
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  Masters, provide your slaves with what is right
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  and fair because you know that you also
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  have a master in heaven.
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  Okay, so what is Paul doing in this
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  passage?
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  First of all, because this passage is addressed
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  to slaves, enslaved believers in the first century,
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  got to do a little bit of cultural
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  context.
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  When we hear the word slavery, we tend
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  to think of race based chattel slavery from
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  the history of the United States and the
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  rest of the Americas and all the evil
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  that came from that and the continuing legacy
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  of it today and various forms of racial
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  injustice.
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  First century slavery was different, but it certainly
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  wasn't a cakewalk.
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  So first century slavery was not race-based,
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  slaves could often buy their freedom depending on
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  their situation, some slaves had an education and
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  could even occupy positions of social influence, but
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  slaves were still considered their master's property and
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  they had no legal rights to protect them
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  from abuse.
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  Slaves often got a raw deal, very limited
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  circumstances, no freedom to choose or to determine
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  their own way much of the time.
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  So these slaves that Paul is addressing are
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  Christian believers, disciples of Jesus Christ and they're
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  part of the Christian community at Colossae.
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  And so when we think about how Paul
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  is going to address them, we might expect
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  him to say something about how their situation
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  is unjust and God is on their side
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  against the oppressor.
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  And of course, there are many passages of
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  Scripture that use that kind of language, but
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  Paul has a pastoral concern here.
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  These Christians are enslaved, they're in their circumstances
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  and not all of them are necessarily going
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  to be free anytime soon.
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  And so Paul's trying to help them figure
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  out, how do I live out my life
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  with Jesus in the circumstances I'm in right
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  now?
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  And this is a really great example for
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  us because we too might be tempted to
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  think about, oh, if only my circumstances were
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  different.
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  We talked about that with the do what
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  you love narrative.
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  But as Dallas Willard says, God has yet
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  to bless anyone except where they are.
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  And so we have to start where we
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  are and then ask, okay, what does it
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  mean for me to be here?
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  And Paul's doing that with these enslaved believers,
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  and he tells them not to just obey
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  their masters when their eye is on them
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  to create their favor, but with sincerity of
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  heart and reverence for the Lord.
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  So Paul seems to be addressing something like
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  the lifestyle narrative for these slaves, not that
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  their lifestyle was so cushy, but that they
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  too are trying to hold their work at
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  arm's length.
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  They may be trying to do just enough
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  work to curry their master's favor rather than
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  working hard from the heart.
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  They're just trying to look like they're working
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  hard.
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  Have you ever been tempted that way?
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  I've definitely been tempted that way.
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  Like I'm going to work hard enough for
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  my boss to think I'm working hard, not
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  necessarily just giving it a wholehearted effort in
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  the moment, you know, regardless of whether it's
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  visible or not.
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  And so Paul is addressing that temptation to
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  hold work at arm's length, to not be
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  fully engaged, to do only just enough.
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  And he says, instead, work with sincerity of
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  heart and reverence for the Lord.
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  Now that word sincerity of heart, it makes
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  us think, okay, so it's not being like
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  insincere, not like doing one thing, but trying
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  to make it look another way.
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  But it also could be translated simplicity of
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  heart or singleness of heart.
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  The RSV and the KJV, older translations, use
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  that word singleness, singleness of heart.
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  And that actually shows us the crux of
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  this passage, which is that Paul's solution to
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  our temptation to hold work at arm's length
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  is not just about how hard we're working.
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  It's about who we're working for.
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  He says, do your work as working for
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  the Lord.
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  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
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  And Paul says this, this changes the way
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  you do your work.
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  You can do your work with singleness of
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  heart.
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  This word, if it was used to describe
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  a cloth, it would be a cloth that
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  wasn't folded at all.
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  There was only one section, there's singleness of
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  cloth.
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  And so similarly with our hearts, if we
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  have singleness of heart, that means our hearts
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  are integrated.
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  They're not divided into different sections.
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  And Paul's saying that the focus is Jesus.
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  If we do our work for Jesus, he's
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  the one that can bring that sense of
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  undividedness to our life, a sense of integration,
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  where we don't have to have compartments or
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  sections of our life that are in tension
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  with each other.
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  Instead, there's simplicity.
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  Because Jesus is our focus, everything comes into
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  alignment around him.
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  He can be the integrating center of our
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  whole life, including our life at work.
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  And so that means that we are free
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  to do our work with all our heart
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  as working for the Lord.
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  Because we have a simple heart, a heart
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  that's focused on Jesus, whatever we're doing, we're
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  doing it for him.
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  We're doing it with him.
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  We're putting him at the center.
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  And that's really good news, because that means
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  that instead of things being alienated or divided,
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  they're united.
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  And this actually addresses the other stories we've
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  looked at too.
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  Instead of holding our pain at arm's length,
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  like in the TGIF narrative, or instead of
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  holding our limitations at arm's length, like in
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  the do what you love narrative, and instead
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  of holding our work itself, at arm's length,
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  like in the lifestyle narrative, we can actually
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  reconcile with all of these things if Jesus
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  is at the center.
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  We can be present to our pain with
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  Jesus.
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  We can be present to our limitations, trusting
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  that Jesus is at work in us.
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  We can be present to our work itself,
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  because we're working for Jesus and with Jesus.
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  So that's the good news.
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  Jesus can be the integrating center of our
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  lives at work.
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  But how do we put that into practice?
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  Well, one really simple suggestion is to memorize
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  some of this passage.
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  I just take the section of verse 23.
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  Whatever you do, work at it with all
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  your heart as working for the Lord.
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  You can just memorize that.
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  Whatever you do, work at it with all
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  your heart as working for the Lord.
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  Or later on, just the phrase, it is
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  the Lord Christ you are serving.
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  And then when you get to that moment
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  at work, when you're tempted to hold your
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  work at arm's length, just say the verse
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  that you memorized.
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  It is the Lord Christ I am serving.
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  And that's enough.
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  That's often enough to be like, okay, I
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  can be present.
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  I can fully engage.
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  I can, I can give the oomph that
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  this challenge takes, because it is the Lord
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  Christ I am serving.
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  There's one other thing that's really important in
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  this verse that I want to look at,
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  and that's this phrase, you will receive an
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  inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
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  We can think about compensation at work, like
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  am I getting paid enough to do this
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  job?
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  And that's a legitimate question.
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  But this passage was addressed to people who
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  weren't getting paid anything.
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  And it says they can instead set their
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  hearts on the Lord, that they will receive
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  an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
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  That's true for us too.
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  If we do our work with Jesus at
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  the center of our lives, we can trust
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  the ultimate compensation we're going to receive is
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  not our paycheck or our benefits or our
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  perks or our prestige or our social status.
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  No, the ultimate compensation we're going to receive
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  is the inheritance we receive in the Lord.
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  And of course, at the end of the
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  day, the inheritance we receive from the Lord
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  is the Lord.
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  It's our union with Christ Himself, that which
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  brings the deepest joy, the deepest fulfillment far
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  beyond any other kind of reward.
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  And we can begin to experience that right
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  now as we do our work for Him.
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  Lord Jesus, help us to set our eyes
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  on you and let you be the integrating
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  center of our lives.
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  Help us to do our work as working
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  for you and trust that we will receive
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  an inheritance from you as a reward.
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  As you work in us, let us do
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  our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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  life.
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• 12:25
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• 12:30
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• 12:33
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