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7: Goodness · 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 if we're honest, we don't always bear
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  the kind of fruit we wish we would.
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  But by God's grace, by the power of
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  the Holy Spirit, we can learn to bear
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  fruit that is good.
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  We've been working backwards through the list of
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  the parts of the fruit of the Spirit
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  in Galatians chapter 5 that the Apostle Paul
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  gives us, and today we get to goodness.
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  So I want to talk about this idea
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  of calling someone good.
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  I love it when somebody describes someone by
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  saying, oh, he's good people, or she's good
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  people.
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  Sometimes even on social media, someone will put
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  a, you know, a video of their dog
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  and someone will be like, that dog is
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  good people.
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  And I always liked that one because like
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  the dog isn't a person, it's a dog,
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  but the dog is good people.
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  And sometimes, you know, it sure seems like
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  certain dogs are better people than certain people.
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  So, you know, we're not going to get
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  into exactly how we understand the moral character
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  of animals, although that would be a fun
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  episode sometime, maybe.
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  Not sure how it would relate to the
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  workplace.
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  Maybe if you have a bring your dog
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  to work, work environment, it could be.
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  But all of us have this ability to
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  assess, like, in some way, whatever, I have
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  a sense of in terms of good and
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  bad and what it means to be a
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  good person, I can see something about someone
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  else and be like, yeah, he's good people.
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  She's good people.
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  I want to be the kind of person
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  that that person is being right now.
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  I want to be good in that way.
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  And we've been kind of playing on this
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  idea of our innate moral sensibility during this
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  whole series.
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  I started by talking about where do we
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  get deep inner goodness?
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  And so goodness is one of those kind
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  of catch all terms.
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  It kind of includes the other virtues, the
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  other aspects of moral character inside of it.
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  It's the basic question.
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  What does it mean to be a good
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  person?
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  And this is a question that different philosophers,
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  different thinkers, different artists have looked at in
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  every human culture over time.
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  It's something that's critical to human life.
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  If we don't have a sense of what
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  it means to be a good person, we
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  don't know how to live.
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  And the Bible's answer to this question.
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  What does it mean to be a good
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  person is really clear.
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  It's it's being a person of love, joy,
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  peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
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  But then the question is, OK, so how
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  do we get good people?
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  And again, the Bible's answer on this is
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  really clear.
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  As Paul says, those who belong to Christ
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  have crucified the flesh with its passions and
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  desires.
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  The way we overcome human badness is by
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  belonging to Jesus.
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  And this means that it's outside help.
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  God sends Jesus and through the power of
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  Jesus, death and resurrection provides a pathway for
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  us to grow in goodness.
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  And of course, this involves the Holy Spirit,
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  the gift of the Holy Spirit working in
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  us from the inside out.
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  That's the Bible's answer to the question, how
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  do we get good people?
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  But there is a danger here.
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  This is a danger we're familiar with.
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  And that is the danger of not being
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  good, but being a goody two shoes, feeling
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  superior to other people, feeling self-righteous.
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  And Christians often have a reputation for this.
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  And Christians have often earned their reputation for
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  this.
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  We can kind of be like, oh, yeah,
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  well, the Bible says that the way to
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  be a good person is to belong to
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  Jesus.
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  And I belong to Jesus and other people
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  don't.
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  So I'm better than other people.
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  Right.
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  And this moral superiority develops.
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  Ironically, that kind of moral superiority is exactly
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  the opposite of the character of Christ.
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  We talked about how Jesus described his own
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  heart as gentle and lowly.
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  Jesus was the most humble person who ever
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  lived.
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  And yet many people who think of themselves
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  as his followers instead fall into a kind
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  of self-righteous pride and an in-group,
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  out-group tribalism where we think, oh, because
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  we belong to Jesus, we are better and
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  others are worse, which is an inversion.
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  It's actually the opposite of the lesson we
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  should be learning from Jesus, which is the
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  lesson of humility.
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  So we can ask the question, how do
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  you get good people?
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  But we could nuance it and say, how
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  do you get good people who don't think
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  that they're better than everyone else?
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  Because that's what we really want.
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  We really want good people who aren't full
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  of themselves.
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  We really want people who sometimes are being
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  changed from the inside out into more courageous
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  people, more loving people, more generous people, but
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  who aren't getting stuck up about it.
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  This is really tricky.
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  How do you get that?
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  Well, what would be really handy?
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  And this might be a funny way of
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  saying it, but what would be handy if
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  you were kind of designing the world and
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  thinking about how do we how do we
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  get ourselves some good people?
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  But without them getting stuck up, how could
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  we do that?
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  All right.
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  It would be handy to have some sort
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  of process that would create deep change in
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  people's souls while at the same time leaving
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  them with a genuine conviction that they can't
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  take the credit for that change.
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  In other words, you would need a theology
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  of grace and the spirit.
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  This is the teaching that we've been looking
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  at this whole time that we're saved by
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  grace through faith.
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  In some of the first verses of Galatians,
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  Paul uses shorthand and just calls it the
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  grace of Christ.
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  Again, this gift of Jesus' death and resurrection
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  is something that we can't earn, that God
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  initiated, that God responded to our weakness by
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  giving us in freedom.
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  And without that gift of Jesus' death and
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  resurrection, we would be sunk.
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  We would have no opportunity to experience true
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  goodness and our character.
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  And this also is the work of the
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  Holy Spirit.
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  The Holy Spirit applies the power of Jesus'
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  death and resurrection to our hearts, pouring God's
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  love into our hearts so that we can
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  grow up in that grace, in that gift
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  that God has given us.
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  And so that leaves us with a genuine
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  internal process that can change us, a deep
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  process of true change in our souls.
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  But also leaving us, hopefully, with the genuine
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  conviction that we can't take credit for that
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  change.
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  So there's no room for feeling superior to
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  other people.
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  There's no room for pride because we just
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  look at what Jesus has done, and that's
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  the headline.
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  The headline is not like, oh, look at
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  me, I'm growing in grace.
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  The headline is, Jesus died and rose again
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  for me.
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  The headline is, the Holy Spirit has been
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  given to me.
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  That's why I have this opportunity to grow
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  in grace.
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  The idea that your conclusion from that would
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  be feeling superior to some other human being,
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  it's just totally out of perspective.
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  It's laughable.
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  But there is something here that sometimes can
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  cause a question.
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  And that's like, well, but we do do
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  something, right?
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  Like we are involved in this process, and
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  we've been talking about that.
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  Like we have to be active, we have
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  to be interactive with the Holy Spirit.
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  And that's where Christian practices and spiritual disciplines
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  and things along those lines come in.
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  God isn't just going to zap us and
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  give us the fruit of the Spirit without
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  us taking action, taking responsibility, engaging our will.
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  And so sometimes you can get this question
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  of like, well, don't I don't I get
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  some credit for what I do?
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  I was having this conversation with a Christian
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  friend and she was like, I have been
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  through so much life change in the past
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  few years in terms of managing my own
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  mental health and processing family trauma.
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  Been to counseling.
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  I've gotten my medication.
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  I've had to form new habits.
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  I've had to do so much work.
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  And now you're telling me that it's just
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  God doing all that work that like I
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  don't get to take credit for any of
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  the hard work that I did over the
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  past decade.
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  And I get where that question is coming
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  from.
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  And I think what's behind that question is
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  this longing for our effort to be recognized.
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  And that's a that's a good longing at
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  the same time.
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  What we have to understand is our effort
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  is always assisted by God.
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  And C.S. Lewis, as usual, has some
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  great insights about this.
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  So in his book, Mere Christianity, he has
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  this passage where he's talking about God working
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  in us.
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  And he says he's quoting a passage where
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  it says, for it is God who works
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  in you.
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  And he says, this looks as if God
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  did everything and we nothing.
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  I'm afraid this is the sort of thing
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  we come up against in Christianity.
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  I am puzzled, but I am not surprised.
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  You see, we are now trying to understand
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  and to separate into watertight compartments what exactly
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  God does and what man does when God
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  and man are working together.
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  And of course, we begin by thinking it
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  is like two men working together so that
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  you could say he did this bit and
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  I did that.
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  But this way of thinking breaks down.
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  God is not like that.
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  He is inside you as well as outside.
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  Even if we could understand who did what,
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  I do not think human language could properly
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  express it.
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  And the attempt to express it, different churches
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  say different things.
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  But you will find that even in those
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  who insist most strongly on the importance of
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  good actions, they will tell you that you
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  need faith.
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  And even those who insist most strongly on
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  faith tell you to do good actions.
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  At any rate, that is as far as
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  I can go.
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  I love Lewis's own humility to kind of
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  throw his hands up in the air there
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  and be like, I'm not going to give
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  you a technical theology of exactly how faith
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  and works work together, but we need both.
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  And if you are a technical theology person,
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  that conversation is worth having.
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  But there's also a humility there that's right,
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  where it's like, as one pastor says it,
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  God does everything and we do something.
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  And there's a mystery there of how it
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  all works out.
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  But even the things where we do have
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  to engage our will and engage our effort,
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  even those things are empowered by God's grace.
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  And so ultimately, there's just no room for
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  pride or superiority.
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  There's room for a longing for affirmation of
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  our effort.
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  And Jesus, in his parables, he says, we
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  will hear that word of affirmation.
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  We will hear those words, well done, good
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  and faithful servant.
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  God does look upon our efforts with delight
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  and with joy and wants to affirm that.
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  But it's not the kind of thing that
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  leaves us with room to be snooty towards
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  anyone else.
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  I was trying to think of an example
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  of this, like how do we get to
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  this place of looking down on others when
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  it's so silly.
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  And I was reminded of the fifth grade
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  boys partner badminton tournament at Wheaton Christian Grammar
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  School in the 90s.
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  So when I was in fifth grade, we
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  had this tournament in gym class where we
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  would be in partners, two boys together, and
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  we would play badminton.
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  And then after each round of badminton, we
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  would advance.
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  And eventually, there was one pair that was
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  beating everybody else.
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  And that pair was Christian and Blake.
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  And Christian and Blake were like the ultimate
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  badminton team.
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  They were athletic guys.
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  They figured out their approach.
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  They just kept winning again and again and
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  again and again.
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  And when you're a fifth grader, your ego
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  gets into those things.
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  You're like, oh, man, I wish I could
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  be like Christian and Blake.
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  I wish I could rule the badminton court.
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  But at the remove of a decade and
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  a half or more, two decades, looking back
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  on that, you can see this is not
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  something to set your ego on.
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  The fifth grade Wheaton Christian Grammar School boys
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  gym class tournament is not like the elite
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  performance arena of male athletics.
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  Like it's not even middle school.
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  It's a step below middle school.
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  And there's so many other athletic arenas beyond
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  that.
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  There's middle school.
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  There's high school.
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  There's actual tournaments where multiple schools compete.
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  There's college athletics.
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  There's the pros.
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  There's the Olympics.
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  And when we sit around feeling snooty towards
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  someone else, because we've somehow grown in some
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  part of God's grace, and we think we're
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  better than them, it's like us as a
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  fifth grade badminton player being like, I won
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  the Wheaton Christian Grammar School tourney.
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  I'm so hot.
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  I'm hot stuff.
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  Well, Jesus is this Olympian who's showing us
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  how human life is actually meant to be
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  lived.
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  So the problem with looking down on other
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  people is that you're looking the wrong direction.
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  What we need to is look up to
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  Jesus.
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  And then we see like, oh, Jesus.
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  There's no comparison between how I'm living and
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  how Jesus lives.
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  I've still got plenty of room to grow.
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  When we set our eyes on Jesus, it
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  inspires humility and it keeps us focused on
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  the right thing, which is how do I
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  keep growing, not comparing myself to someone else.
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  So that raises the question, how do we
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  grow in goodness?
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  How do we get this genuine experience of
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  deep inner goodness from Jesus?
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  Well, it is by looking up to Jesus.
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  The biblical language for this is seeking his
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  face.
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  And this is something that we can do
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  during the work day.
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  Often when we think about work, we think
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  of it in a separate category from say
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  church.
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  Like we go to church and we might
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  even prepare ourselves.
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  Like if you have a prelude before your
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  church service or like a coffee hour, you
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  have some sort of time for anticipation, for
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  quieting your soul, for getting ready to worship
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  because it's like, I'm going to seek God's
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  face.
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  I'm going to look for God's face during
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  this worship service.
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  And this language might be a little bit
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  unusual.
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  Like we don't use this language in terms
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  of how we describe other friendships in our
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  life.
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  Like I don't say like, oh, I'm seeking
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  Kevin's face today.
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  If you'll be like, huh, what?
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  And this was pointed out to me by
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  an atheist friend of mine.
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  I like put a Facebook post up once,
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  which was quoting a verse that said, Lord,
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  I seek your face.
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  And she commented, where did it go?
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  Where did God's face go?
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  That you have to go looking for it.
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  And so sometimes it's helpful to have friends
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  who are just a little bit irreverent and
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  can point out the oddities of the language
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  that we use or even the oddity of
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  certain biblical phrases.
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  But in our own context, we seek people's
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  faces all the time, even if we don't
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  use that language of seeking people's face.
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  Think about social media.
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  One of the first platforms to really explode
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  was Facebook because we want to see other
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  people's faces, the people that we care about.
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  We want to see what their life is
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  like.
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  We want to see them in the context
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  of our everyday life and their everyday life.
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  And that's exactly what the biblical language of
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  seeking God's face is about.
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  It's, can I see what God is like?
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  Can I see him in my everyday life?
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  Can I see what really matters to him?
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  One of the Psalms that includes this phrase
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  can really help us here.
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  This is Psalm 27.
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  Read a couple of verses.
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  Starting in verse 7.
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  Hear my voice when I call, O Lord.
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  Be merciful to me and answer me.
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  My heart says of you, seek his face.
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  Your face, Lord, I will seek.
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  Do not hide your face from me.
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  Do not turn your servant away in anger.
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  You have been my helper.
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  Do not reject or forsake me, O God,
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  my Savior.
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  And then skipping down to verse 13.
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  I am still confident of this.
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  I will see the goodness of the Lord
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  in the land of the living.
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  What the Psalm means by the land of
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  the living is I will see the goodness
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  of the Lord right here in my present
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  experience.
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  I don't have to wait for some future
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  occasion.
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  I don't have to wait for some different
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  set of circumstances to see the goodness of
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  the Lord, to see his face.
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  I can see him where I am right
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  now.
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  And that's good news for our life with
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  God at work.
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  If you've seen the play or the movie
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  Fiddler on the Roof, there's this song where
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  Tevye the milkman sings, you know, if I
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  were a rich man, I'd have the time
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  that I lack to sit in the synagogue
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  and pray.
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  Like, oh, I've got this pesky job being
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  a milkman and that's what's preventing me from
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  having a life with God that I want.
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  And we can think about our jobs that
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  way, can't we?
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  Where it's like, oh, if I just didn't
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  have this job, then I could really be
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  a Christian of prayer.
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  But you do have this job.
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  And so thinking about your job as a
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  place where you can see God at work.
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  Can change your experience of the workday.
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  Come to work with that same kind of
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  anticipation that you bring to church.
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  Come to work with the anticipation, I might
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  see Jesus here today.
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  And if it's helpful, you can even pray
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  that prayer.
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  When you open the door of your workplace,
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  when you pull that door open, or when
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  you sit down at your laptop, if you
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  work from home, just pray that prayer.
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  Jesus, show me where you are today.
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  Because if we're anticipating, if we're keeping our
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  eyes open, we're more likely to see where
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  Jesus is at work in our workplaces.
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  And then at the end of your workday,
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  when you pull that door open to leave,
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  or when you close your laptop, you can
• 15:48
  just do a very simple prayer.
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  God, where were you today?
• 15:54
  God, where did I see you today?
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  And even that review of your day will
• 15:59
  help you notice, oh, I saw the goodness
• 16:01
  of God in the land of the living.
• 16:04
  I saw the face of Jesus in my
• 16:06
  workplace, in this interaction, in this moment, in
• 16:09
  this encouragement, in this challenge.
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  And that will help you grow in goodness
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  yourself.
• 16:16
  Because that's how we grow in goodness, is
• 16:18
  by spending time with our good God, by
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  entering into deeper union with our good God.
• 16:25
  And the way we do that at work
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  is by remembering that God does everything, and
• 16:28
  we do something at work just as much
• 16:30
  as anywhere else.
• 16:34
  Lord Jesus, you are good.
• 16:36
  And we want to see your goodness in
• 16:38
  the land of the living.
• 16:39
  We want to see your goodness in our
• 16:40
  workplace.
• 16:42
  Show us how to keep our eyes open
• 16:44
  to you.
• 16:46
  Show us how to trust in your goodness
• 16:48
  and increase ours just a little bit more.
• 16:52
  Do your work in us as we do
• 16:54
  our work with you.
• 16:56
  Amen.
• 17:16
  God bless
• 17:24
  you, God bless you, God bless you,