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10: Peace · 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, Fruitful Work, we're asking
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  the question, what kind of fruit am I
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  bearing at work?
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  Because we often don't bear the kind of
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  fruit we wish we would, but by God's
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  grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
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  we can bear fruit that is good.
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  In our current episode, we're going to talk
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  about peace.
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  So first, I want to talk about war.
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  I have a friend who's a Marine.
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  He was in Iraq in the city of
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  Fallujah during the conflict in the early 2000s.
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  He was telling about a time he had
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  to execute a retreat, and how stressful it
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  was knowing even as they were pulling back
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  that they could still die at any time.
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  A bullet or an IED, an unanticipated attack,
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  could mean the end of things.
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  And most of us, when we go to
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  work, we don't face that kind of threat
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  and violence.
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  But work can still feel like a battlefield
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  much of the time.
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  The part of our brain that activates when
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  we face literal physical violence can still activate
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  in response to social situations.
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  And in the workplace, healthy conflict is necessary
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  on every team, but so often there's unhealthy
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  conflict too, where people are being nasty to
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  each other, they're gossiping about each other, they're
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  holding one another in contempt.
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  They're playing office politics and forcing other people
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  to pick sides.
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  And instead of it feeling like we're pulling
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  together towards a common purpose as a team,
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  it can feel like you have to watch
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  your own back.
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  Keep an eye over your shoulder.
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  Work is often not a place of peace.
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  As we're looking at the fruit of the
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  spirit in Galatians chapter 5, peace is listed
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  as part of the fruit of the spirit.
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  And so a question we need to ask
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  as disciples of Jesus is, what kind of
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  peace is it talking about?
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  What kind of peace do we bear as
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  part of the fruit of the spirit when
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  we follow Jesus?
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  Because when we hear the word peace, there's
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  two different kinds of peace that might come
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  to mind for us, at least in our
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  context.
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  One definition of peace is psychological, inner peace
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  or inward peace.
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  When you wake up in the morning, are
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  you flooded with anxiety?
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  When you go throughout your day, are you
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  dominated by fear and worry?
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  Or when you wake up in the morning,
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  do you have a feeling of peace?
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  As you go throughout your day, do you
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  have confidence?
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  Ah, all will be well.
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  And as other tumultuous emotions come up, are
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  you able to move through those and return
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  to that place of serenity, calm, well-being?
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  Inward peace.
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  But of course, peace also makes us think
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  of war and peace, the geopolitical reality of
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  violence and conflict among peoples and nations, the
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  idea of crime and the threat of violence,
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  both in our local neighborhoods and all around
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  the world.
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  And we read the news of ongoing conflicts,
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  and our hearts are just so grieved about
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  what everyone experiences during times of war.
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  These two ways of looking at peace raise
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  a question.
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  Is there any relationship between them?
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  Is there a connection between inward peace and
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  outward peace?
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  This is an empirical question.
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  This is a question that we can investigate
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  and that has been investigated by scholars of
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  various types.
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  And the answer is a resounding yes.
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  There is a relationship between people and communities'
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  individual and social experience of emotions and their
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  experience of violence and conflict and decisions to
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  go into conflict.
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  I want to cite just one scholar's work
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  along these lines.
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  This is Dr. Daniel Rothbart from the Carter
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  School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George
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  Mason University.
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  Rothbart has studied many conflicts around the world,
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  Israel, Palestine, conflicts inside of the United States,
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  conflicts elsewhere.
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  He pays attention to the role of the
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  emotions in these conflicts.
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  This is from his paper Power, Emotions, and
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  Violent Conflicts.
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  He's explaining two interrelated concepts.
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  One is what he calls emotional contagion.
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  Emotions are contagious.
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  The other is what he calls affect power.
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  Emotions are powerful.
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  Emotions make a difference.
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  Here's what he says.
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  Stories of fear, hatred and anger are often
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  intensified with reference to the collective memory the
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  ancestors have of past tragedies.
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  Such stories can put individuals in a fever
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  pitch of rage that can promote calls for
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  violence against the enemy.
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  A nation's collective anger, revenge and fear can
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  impact decisions regarding war and peace.
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  So emotions are not incidental to even the
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  big geopolitical picture of armed conflict.
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  We know that this happens.
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  There's a leader or someone in some position
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  of influence who says, remember what they did
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  to us?
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  Remember how they did that to our people?
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  Let's go get them.
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  And then people respond to that.
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  It's an emotional appeal that resonates with deep
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  emotions of fear, of hatred, of anger.
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  And that can cause an entire nation to
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  go to war.
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  Well, that's true even at that macro geopolitical
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  scale.
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  It's also true in our workplaces, isn't it?
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  That emotions are catching and emotions are powerful.
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  Let's just think about the kind of emotion
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  of despair.
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  Someone who's dominated by a sense like, this
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  is pointless.
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  This doesn't matter.
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  There's somebody like that on your team.
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  What do they do?
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  They complain.
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  They talk about how what you're doing doesn't
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  really make a difference.
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  They never seem to find the bright side.
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  They always find the cloud within the silver
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  lining rather than the other way around.
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  How does that affect you?
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  Well, if you're like me, it's catching.
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  I'm like, oh, yeah, maybe things are pointless.
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  My own cynicism is drawn out by somebody
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  else's complaint.
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  So emotions are catching.
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  Another example, maybe somebody is really angry.
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  Let's say you have an angry manager where
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  whenever anybody doesn't do exactly what they want,
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  they just blow up at them.
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  Well, how does that affect other teammates?
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  Well, if you've been on the receiving end
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  of anger, that can cause you to also
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  be on the giving end of anger towards
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  someone else.
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  If somebody blows up at you, you're more
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  likely to blow up at a coworker rather
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  than it fostering an environment of peace and
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  collaboration.
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  It fosters that continual conflict that doesn't even
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  need to happen because anger is usually rooted
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  in something else.
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  You know, someone's experience of shame or something
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  else going on in their life.
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  But it's being expressed in the workplace.
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  So emotions are catching emotions are powerful.
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  Does that sense of despair or that sense
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  of anger make a difference in how you
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  get your job done?
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  Of course it does.
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  When you're complaining, when you're experiencing that kind
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  of despair, you don't engage with your work.
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  You don't give it that oomph that it
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  needs to really get the job done.
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  Instead, you know, just do what you have
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  to to get by.
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  The phenomenon that's been called quiet quitting is
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  not new.
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  Disengagement from work in various forms is a
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  huge problem.
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  It's even been measured by scholars in terms
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  of losses of millions of dollars because employees
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  don't have the heart for their work.
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  The same thing with anger.
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  If you have an environment of anger, you
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  know what's really hard to foster?
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  Is trust.
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  It's hard to trust a boss who's going
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  to blow up at you if you make
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  a mistake or if you say something wrong.
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  And again, many studies have shown that high
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  trust teams are high performing teams, teams where
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  people can watch each other's backs, get the
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  job done.
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  And teams where you have to watch your
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  own back, you don't get the job done
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  in the same way.
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  So emotions are not just contagious.
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  Emotions are powerful.
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  Emotions make a difference to the mission of
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  your organization.
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  Emotions make a difference to the bottom line.
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  Emotions make a difference to whether anything ultimately
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  is accomplished.
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  So now, let's go back to peace as
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  part of the fruit of the spirit.
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  What kind of peace is part of the
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  fruit of the spirit?
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  Well, for this, we have to look at
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  the whole context of Paul's letter to the
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  Galatians, right?
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  Because it's just one word in chapter 5
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  where it says, you know, love, joy, peace,
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  patience, and then it keeps going.
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  Just one word.
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  So to understand, what does that word mean
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  in Galatians?
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  We've got to look at the whole letter.
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  And we did some work on this early
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  in the series just by way of reminder.
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  Remember, there were Gentile believers and there were
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  Jewish believers that were trying to learn how
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  to be disciples of Jesus together.
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  And Paul's addressing them.
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  And one alternative, so to speak, one option
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  that's been presented is, let's just get all
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  the Gentiles to become Jewish.
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  That way, we'll all be alike.
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  We won't have differences.
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  We'll all be circumcised.
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  We'll all follow Torah.
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  And, you know, that will foster social cohesion,
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  among other things.
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  The opposite alternative is, the Gentiles get to
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  stay Gentiles and the Jews get to stay
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  Jews.
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  But we're all going to learn to do
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  community together under the Lordship of Jesus the
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  Messiah.
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  And that's the alternative that Paul endorses so
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  actively and even sometimes vehemently in the letter
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  to the Galatians.
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  He's saying, don't turn to a different gospel.
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  Don't turn to a gospel that says you
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  have to embrace Jesus plus the Torah.
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  We embrace Jesus and the power of the
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  Holy Spirit.
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  One spirit that unites Jew and Gentile alike.
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  So in that context, when Paul says that
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  peace is a fruit of the spirit, there
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  is a social valence, a social direction to
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  that word.
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  He's not just talking about an inward experience.
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  He's talking about peace among people in a
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  community.
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  Are we living in peace with one another?
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  But he's not not talking about an inward
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  dynamic as well.
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  He's talking about more than an inward dynamic,
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  but not less.
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  Because remember, what's the context of the list
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  of the fruit of the spirit or the
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  parts of the fruit of the spirit?
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  It's the difference between the works of the
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  flesh versus the fruit of the spirit.
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  There's an inward conflict for each of us
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  and for us as a community of disciples
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  between the works of the flesh and the
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  fruit of the spirit.
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  There's an inward freedom that Jesus brings.
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  Our Paul says that Christ has set us
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  free.
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  So we don't submit again to a yoke
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  of slavery.
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  We experience a deep inward change when we
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  come into the Kingdom of God through faith
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  in Jesus Christ.
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  So that inward change results in this outward
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  social connection.
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  That inward change results in Jews and Gentiles
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  worshipping together.
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  And Paul carries that through straight into the
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  next chapter, the final chapter of Galatians, where
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  he says, carry one another's burdens and so
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  fulfill the law of Christ.
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  That's 6 verse 2.
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  He's saying, how do we actually fulfill Torah?
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  How do we actually fulfill the law of
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  Christ, the one whom we all worship as
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  a Messiah?
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  We carry each other's burdens.
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  That's how we know we're really following in
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  his way.
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  That's how we know we're keeping step with
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  the spirit.
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  So when we think about, what does it
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  mean to practice peace in our workplace?
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  The question is, am I living at peace
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  with my brothers and sisters in Christ?
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  Am I living at peace with other people
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  more generally, everyone who's created in the image
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  of God around me?
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  And this connects back to the idea of
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  mission that we've talked about in a few
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  different episodes that we are sent as emissaries
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  into our workplaces.
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  We can be agents of peace in our
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  workplaces.
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  So think again, emotions are contagious and emotions
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  are powerful.
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  Somebody who has a deep experience of inward
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  peace, joy and confidence.
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  How does that affect a team?
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  Well, that's contagious too.
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  I've experienced that when there's a leader who's
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  facing a tough decision, dealing with budget cuts,
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  dealing with anxious employees, dealing with a stressful
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  environment more broadly in the industry.
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  And they show up and they say, here's
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  the plan.
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  Here's what we're going to do.
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  I know it's hard, but we can do
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  it.
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  Man, does that change the room?
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  Does that change my attitude about the work
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  that I'm doing every day?
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  Same thing, emotions are powerful.
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  It's not just an inspirational change.
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  It affects the bottom line.
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  It affects the mission of the organization as
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  it moves forward.
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  When people believe things are going to be
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  all right.
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  When somebody with deep inward peace can spread
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  it to others.
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  That affects things.
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  That makes work a better place to be.
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  And that's what you can be as a
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  disciple of Jesus is that agent of that
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  kind of peace, that kind of well-being
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  to your team, to the people around you.
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  And if you're just a co-worker, right?
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  If you don't report over any, if nobody
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  reports to you, if you're not a manager
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  over anybody, maybe your kingdom only goes to
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  the edges of your cubicle, like we talked
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  about in the imagining work series and that
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  of being a king in your workplace.
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  You can still bring peace to that little
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  kingdom.
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  You can still bring peace to your area
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  where you have influence.
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  And if you are a leader who does
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  have a larger kingdom and multiple people reporting
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  to you and a lot of influence, so
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  much more as you bring that inward peace,
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  it will cascade toward the people that you're
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  leading.
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  So that leads us to the question, how
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  do I grow in peace?
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  What does it mean to foster that kind
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  of inward peace that has an outward social
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  expression?
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  Well, I want to turn to a verse
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  from the Psalms that addresses this exact dynamic.
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  Let's take a minute and listen to somebody
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  like David who is very familiar with violence
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  and conflict.
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  He says this in Psalm 16 verse 8.
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  I have set the Lord always before me.
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  Because he is at my right hand, I
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  shall not be shaken.
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  I have set the Lord always before me.
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  That's how we grow in peace.
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  We let God give us his peace in
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  Jesus Christ.
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  We keep it before our eyes.
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  We set the Lord always before us.
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  That's what allows us to grow in peace.
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  That's what allows us to not be shaken.
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  Back in the imagining work series, we talked
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  about icons and art and kind of the
• 14:25
  Orthodox vision that when you're looking at an
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  icon, you can receive a vision of the
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  spiritual world.
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  That's one really practical way to set the
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  Lord always before you, maybe change your desktop
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  background to an icon that reminds you of
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  the presence of God with you, or just
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  tuck a little icon picture in a bookmark
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  and something that you'll see like your daily
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  planner.
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  That way when you're moving to the next
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  meeting, when you're feeling the different difficult emotions
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  that come up during the work day, you
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  remember, oh, here's the Lord.
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  I have set the Lord always before me.
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  Because he is at my right hand, I
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  shall not be shaken.
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  I want to give just a funny example
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  of this.
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  There's this wonderful Bollywood movie called Three Idiots,
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  and there's a song called All is Well
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  in that movie where they're talking about the
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  stress that you experienced in your heart pumping,
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  and they just say put your hand on
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  your heart and say all is well.
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  Now, that's not a Christian movie, but all
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  truth is God's truth.
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  I have set the Lord always before me,
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  all is well.
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  Sometimes I'll just do that.
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  I'll put my hand on my heart and
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  say all is well.
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  All is well.
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  That helps me experience God's peace.
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  That helps me be an agent of peace
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  to the people around me.
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  Lord Jesus, you are the prince of peace.
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  You are the author of peace.
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  You are the bringer of peace.
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  Bring your peace in our hearts so we
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  can bring it to the people around us
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  in our workplaces and everywhere else.
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  Do your work in us as we do
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  our work with you.
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  Amen.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 16:05
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois
• 16:08
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 16:11
  life.
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• 16:18
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• 16:19
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