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3: When You're Stuck In a Job Below Your Skillset · 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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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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course.
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Check it out at FindingGodAtWork.org.
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Our current series is Divine Disappointments, Facing Pain
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and Sorrow at Work.
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And today we want to talk about the
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particular pain of being stuck in a job
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that you're over-qualified for or locked out
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from a job that's really commensurate with your
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skills.
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And I want to start with a story.
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Oleksandr Martsev was a Ukrainian physician.
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He and his wife lived in a rural
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area of Ukraine.
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They had seven children and he was the
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only doctor serving about 5,000 people in
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that region.
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So an incredibly important role of physician access
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in rural communities is a problem all over
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the world, even here in the United States.
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It can be a challenge.
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And during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine with
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the invasion of Russia, he and his family
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fled Ukraine and came to Canada in 2022.
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But when he arrived in Canada, his medical
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licensure did not transfer.
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There were requirements, an exam he had to
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pass, things he hadn't met.
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But he had a family with seven kids
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that he needed to start feeding right away.
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So he got a job as a welder.
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He became a welding assistant and then a
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welder in order to provide for his family.
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I just want to quote from an article
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about his experience here.
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Canadian journalist Brandon Tucker writes that Martsev, quote,
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explained that despite the severe lack of doctors
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and other health care workers in Canada, many
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international medical professionals are forced to work in
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construction, agriculture, or other industries in order to
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support their families while also saving up money
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for the certification process.
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According to Medical Council of Canada, the current
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cost associated with international physicians getting licensed to
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practice in Canada is more than $6,000.
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In order to save such a significant chunk
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of money, Martsev got licensed as a welder
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and has been steadily working in the industry
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while also trying to dedicate a few hours
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each night studying for his future medical exams.
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Okay, so can you imagine being in Dr.
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Martsev's position, right?
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You've been practicing medicine for years.
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You've been serving a community in your home
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country among people you know.
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You have to flee because of a conflict
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and then you're not even able to practice
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medicine in the nation where you arrive, even
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though there's a shortage of physicians in that
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nation.
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There's a shortage of physicians and health care
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workers in Canada and in the United States
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and a lot of the developing world right
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now.
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And so, you know, different people are advocating
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to make the cross-license process easier.
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But right now, Dr. Martsev's day-in, day
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-out experience is he's doing his welding job,
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he's studying for exam, he's trying to be
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present to his family as a husband and
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as a father.
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I'm just incredibly impressed by that story of
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resilience about what he's doing to make things
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work.
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But it also speaks to that experience that
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many of us, perhaps in a less dramatic
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way, have sometimes faced of being stuck in
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a job that you're overqualified for or being
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locked out of the job that you really
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are qualified for and that you want to
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do.
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And that experience can be painful and frustrating.
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There's several different layers to that frustration.
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One is financial, right?
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If you're qualified to do a certain job
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and you could have that job, you often
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could earn more doing that job.
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But if you aren't able to get it,
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you're not making as much money, even though
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you could, even though you have the capacity,
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these skills required.
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There's also a reputational thing, right?
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Welders and doctors have different reputations.
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Now, that could be a social problem in
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and of itself.
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Part of one of my soap boxes here
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at Mission Central is that we need to
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honor the trades and see that the trades
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have incredible value in our society and not
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look down on people who do quote-unquote
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blue-collar work because society could not function
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without it, okay?
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Now, at the same time, for somebody who's
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in the situation of having switched from one
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kind of work to another kind of work,
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there can be a sense of a change
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in reputational status.
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And that can be hard.
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That can be a hard thing to figure
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out, just the honor and shame dynamic of
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that.
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Like, are you embarrassed to say, oh, I'm
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a welder rather than, oh, I'm a doctor?
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Or, you know, in your situation, are you
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embarrassed to give your current job title, say,
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at a get together with friends versus the
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aspirational job that you wish you could say
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you have?
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And then there's also that deeper sense of
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vocational loss, a sense that maybe the thing
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that you're really qualified for is something that
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you have a vision for, that you deeply
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want to do, that you feel like maybe
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is part of your calling in life or
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what you were born to do.
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And you can't do that.
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You can't do the stuff that feels like
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it really counts while you're stuck doing this
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other thing.
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So there's layers of frustration here.
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And the first thing I want to say
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is that if you're in this situation where
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you're stuck in a job that's not the
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job that you're really qualified for, I just
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want to say I empathize with you.
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That is a really hard place to be.
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A quick apology here.
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Last episode I said Romans 1212.
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I think I misread my own handwriting or
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something.
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It's actually Romans 1215.
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So sorry if anybody was really sharp and
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caught that last week.
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Romans 1212 is also a great verse, but
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it's not the one that says mourn with
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those who mourn.
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So Romans 1215, rejoice with those who rejoice,
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mourn with those who mourn.
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If you're in that situation, I just mourn
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with you that you're facing all of those
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frustrations.
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Okay, now in this series, one of the
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ideas we have is that sometimes our pains
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at work, our sorrows at work, when we
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offer those to Jesus, he can redeem them
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and make them the places of our deepest
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spiritual growth and most fruitful mission to others.
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So how could that be true in this
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specific situation of being stuck in a job
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that you're overqualified for, being locked out of
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the job that you really want?
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I think there's three ways that we could
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see God's action in this.
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The first is there's an opportunity for greater
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intimacy with Jesus.
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The second is there's opportunity to be trained
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in humility.
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And the third is there's an opportunity to
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grow in faithful patience.
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So we're going to look at each of
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those things in turn.
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Okay, but the first thing I want to
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say with the opportunity for intimacy with Jesus
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here is that Jesus has been there.
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Jesus knows what it's like to be in
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a job that's not the job you're most
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qualified for.
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Let's go to Luke chapter two, and we'll
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see some of this in Jesus's story.
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This is starting in verse 41 to the
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end of the chapter.
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Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for
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the festival of the Passover.
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When he was 12 years old, they went
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up to the festival according to the custom.
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After the festival was over, while his parents
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were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind
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in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
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Thinking he was in their company, they traveled
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on for a day.
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Then they began looking for him among their
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relatives and friends.
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When they did not find him, they went
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back to Jerusalem to look for him.
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After three days, they found him in the
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temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to
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them and asking them questions.
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Everyone who heard him was amazed at his
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understanding and his answers.
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When his parents saw him, they were astonished.
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His mother said to him, Son, why have
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you treated us like this?
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Your father and I have been anxiously searching
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for you.
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Why were you searching for me?
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He asked.
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Didn't you know I had to be in
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my father's house?
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But they did not understand what he was
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saying to them.
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Then he went down to Nazareth with them
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and was obedient to them.
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But his mother treasured all these things in
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her heart.
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And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and
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in favor with God and man.
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Now we see a lot of things in
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this passage.
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Relevant to our current conversation, I think we
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see Jesus's quote-unquote qualifications in this passage.
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Might be kind of a funny way to
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talk about it, right?
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But imagine, you know, you're interviewing someone for
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a job and you get a chance to
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see them in action doing that job, right?
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So Jesus's ultimate job, his ultimate mission is
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to be the Messiah.
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He's the Son of God.
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He's going to redeem the world.
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He's a teacher.
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He's the Lord.
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He's the Savior.
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And in this particular scene, you see his
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qualifications for that teacher role specifically, that he
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has mastery of the scriptures already at 12
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years old.
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He's already schooling the scholars at 12 years
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old.
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They're in amazement of him because of the
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depth of his understanding of the scriptures.
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And so looking at this, you see Jesus's
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qualifications for his future teaching ministry.
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But now think about the timeline here.
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This is when Jesus is 12 years old,
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and we know he doesn't begin his active
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public ministry, his messianic ministry, until in his
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early 30s.
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So there's like an 18-year gap there,
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basically two decades gap before Jesus actually starts
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doing this stuff on a regular basis in
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public.
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He's already more qualified for it than the
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people who are doing it, right?
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He's already more qualified for it than the
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teachers-in-law who were there in the
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temple in Jerusalem.
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Why that 20-year delay?
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What is Jesus doing during those 20 years?
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Well, as you recall, right, it says he
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goes down to Nazareth and is obedient to
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his parents, and that includes likely taking up
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Joseph's practice of carpentry.
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And that word carpenter in the Greek, it's
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tecton, it could also be like a stonemason.
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It's something in the field of construction.
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So Jesus, after already showing his precocious competence
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at 12 years old to be a teacher
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of the word of God, among other things,
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he goes and he does a blue-collar
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job for the next two decades.
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Now, why would that be God's plan?
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And I love the way that Pastor Tom
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Nelson asks this question in his book Work
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Matters.
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So he's reflecting on the same passage.
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This is how he puts it.
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We know from Luke's gospel that even at
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the age of 12, Jesus was demonstrating his
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amazing rabbinical brilliance to the brightest and best
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in Jerusalem.
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How did Jesus's brilliance fit in with a
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carpentry career?
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At first glance, this doesn't seem to be
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a very strategic use of the Son of
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God's extraordinary gifts or his important messianic mission.
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Why was it the Father's will for Jesus
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to spend so much time in the carpentry
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shop instead of gracing the Palestinian countryside, proclaiming
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the gospel, and healing the multitudes?
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This is a really fascinating question, isn't it?
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And the first thing I want to say
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about this question is that at the very
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least, it shows us that Jesus knows what
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it's like to be in a job you're
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overqualified for.
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Jesus knows what it's like to not be
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in the job that you're really meant to
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be doing, even for a long time.
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And so if you're stuck in that situation
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where you've been longing to do something specific,
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something that you think you're meant to do,
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something that you think might even be part
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of God's call on your life, and yet
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you're not doing it, no, Jesus knows exactly
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what that's like.
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I want to just go briefly to a
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key verse in Hebrews that talks about how
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Jesus can empathize with us.
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And this is talking about Jesus' role as
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the mediator between God and humanity, the great
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high priest.
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And unfortunately, we don't have time in this
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episode to dig into all that theological context.
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But let me just read the verse here.
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This is starting in 4.15. For we
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do not have a high priest who is
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unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one
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who in every respect has been tempted as
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we are, yet without sin.
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Let us then with confidence draw near to
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the throne of grace, that we may receive
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mercy and find grace to help in time
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of need.
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Jesus has been tempted in every respect as
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we are, yet without sin, including quite literally
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in his own experience in the respect of
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having a job that's not really your thing,
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having a job that's really not the ultimate
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thing that you're meant to be doing.
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He's faced the temptations, the frustrations, the pains
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that come with that specific circumstance.
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And that means that if you're in that
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circumstance, there's an opportunity here for intimacy with
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Jesus.
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When you feel that frustration, can you bring
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it to Jesus?
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If he's that high priest, the one who's
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mediating between God and humanity, he's the one
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you go to when you're facing something.
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You offer it to him, and he takes
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it.
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He brings it into the presence of God.
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Again, we've talked about different practices for this,
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like doing an exam at the end of
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the workday, so you kind of catch up
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with your own emotions and bring those to
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God in prayer.
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The key idea here is whenever you face
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that pain, that frustration, bring it to Jesus,
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he knows what it's like.
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He will receive that and meet you there.
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You can actually grow in deeper intimacy with
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him in the middle of that shared experience.
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Okay, now that doesn't really answer the question
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though, like why would God have Jesus do
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this other job for 20 years?
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And Pastor Tom Nelson, he gets into answering
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the question too.
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So this is a couple pages later in
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his book, Work Matters.
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He writes, We are rightly in awe of
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Jesus, who shockingly ignores cultural convention by picking
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up a basin and towel and washing his
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disciples dirty, stinky feet.
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Yet we tend to forget that Jesus had
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been modeling a basin and towel kind of
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servanthood in a carpentry shop for years.
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Jesus' humble service in the workplace was the
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training ground for that glorious display of servanthood
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in an upper room in Jerusalem.
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If you get what Pastor Tom Nelson is
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saying here, he's saying that Jesus was somehow
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prepared for his future ministry during those 20
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years in the carpentry shop.
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He was prepared even in his character.
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Now that might be strange for us to
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think about Jesus being prepared in his character
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because as we just saw in the Hebrews
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passage, Jesus was without sin.
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And yet remember what was at the end
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of the Luke passage, right?
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It says, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature
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and in favor with God and man.
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Part of Jesus' incarnational reality is entering into
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even the process of human development.
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Jesus still had to grow up into his
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character, including the character of humility particularly.
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And so that brings us to kind of
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our second spiritual opportunity when we're stuck in
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a job that's a little bit below our
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skill set, is we have an opportunity to
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grow in humility, to do that job well
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even though we might be tempted to think
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it's beneath us, to say nope, it's not
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beneath me.
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I can do this job today and I
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can do it well because that's what Jesus
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modeled for us.
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Pastor Nelson used that word or that phrase
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training ground.
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Our work is our training ground for our
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character.
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And sometimes having a job that you're overqualified
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for might even be a better training ground
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in particular for humility than having the job
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that you're qualified for.
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Learning how to do the task that seems
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menial could actually mature your character, help you
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get closer to that Christ-like character than
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having the job that's the perfect fit for
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you.
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I want to go back to Romans 12
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briefly.
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We've already been there for verse 15, but
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right after verse 15 comes verse 16 where
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Paul writes, live in harmony with one another,
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do not be proud but be willing to
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associate with people of low position.
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Do not be conceited.
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So again, who are the people that we
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associate with?
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What is the company that we keep as
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Christians?
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Paul says, don't just hang out with other
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elite people if you happen to be a
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person of privilege, hang out with people of
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low position.
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We're all created in the image of God.
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We're all in the Christian community redeemed by
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Jesus's blood on the cross.
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There doesn't need to be this sense of
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superiority that often comes with professional roles and
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high status jobs.
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We need to remember, oh, I'm just like
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the person next to me.
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Maybe having a little bit of a lower
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status job could help with that.
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Okay, and my New Testament Greek is not
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impressive by any means, but I do have
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a little footnote here in the NIV in
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that phrase that says, be willing to associate
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with people of low position.
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There's a little footnote that says, or willing
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to do menial work.
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So apparently that phrase could be translated associate
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with people of low position or do menial
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work.
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And so if we go with that alternate
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translation, this is very literally what we're talking
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about.
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Paul is saying, be willing to do menial
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work as a disciple of Jesus.
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That is a hallmark of Christ-like character.
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Okay, so that's our second spiritual opportunity here.
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We have intimacy with Jesus, but we also
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have an opportunity to mature into Christ-like
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character and humility.
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Okay, third spiritual opportunity is to grow in
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faithful patience.
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There's this verse in Revelation that talks about
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the patient endurance of the saints.
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This is Revelation 14 verse 12.
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Here is the patient endurance of the saints,
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those who keep the commandments of God and
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the faith in Jesus.
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Patient endurance.
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When you're facing a work situation that has
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more cause for frustration and embarrassment than for
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gratification and honor, that takes endurance.
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It takes emotional endurance.
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It takes spiritual endurance.
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And it takes faith, right?
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This is the verse.
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Here is the patient endurance of the saints,
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those who keep the commandments of God and
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the faith in Jesus.
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It takes faith to believe that God is
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still working in that situation, even if we
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can't see how.
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Faith in providence.
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Faith that God works even through those low
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points of our life, those pains, those sorrows,
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to accomplish his purposes.
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Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spanish
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Carmelite nun, she wrote this poem, and there's
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a phrase in this poem that I really
17:41
love.
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It's originally in Spanish, la pasiencia todo lo
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al canca, la pasiencia todo lo al canca,
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often translated.
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Patience obtains all things.
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Because we know, if we're disciples of Jesus,
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if we're putting our faith in him, that
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God will work out all things in the
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end to accomplish his purposes.
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Whether that's by you eventually getting to circle
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back around to that job that's more gratifying,
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more in line with your vocational aspirations, more
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fruitful in society, or even if that never
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happens, by maturing your character so that you
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are a more Christ-like person, and the
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gift of your Christ-like character to those
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around you is what God intends.
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Either way, God is accomplishing his purposes.
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Patience obtains all things.
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When we wait for the Lord in the
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midst of that pain and sorrow, we receive
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from him the power to endure.
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We will obtain what he is accomplishing in
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the midst of our difficulties.
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Lord Jesus, thank you that you are at
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work.
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We ask that you would help us to
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keep our faith in you, to endure when
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we face these frustrations, to become more intimate
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with you, to grow in humility, and to
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grow in patience.
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Jesus, do your work in us as we
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do our work with you.
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Amen.
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Thanks for listening.
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19:11
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19:14
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19:16
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