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Episode 2: Do What You Love · 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 first series, Imagining Work, we're looking
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  at a question, what story about work am
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  I living in?
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  Because the story we live in is the
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  story we live out, and not every story
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  about work squares with the story about work
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  that God is telling on the pages of
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  the Bible.
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  So, last time we looked at the TGIF
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  story about work, thank God it's Friday, today
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  we've got another one, Do What You Love,
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  the Do What You Love story about work.
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  So, about five years ago, I worked in
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  the West Loop in downtown Chicago, and on
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  certain days of the week, my team would
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  convene in a co-working office building, and
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  right in the front lobby, there was this
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  sign with beautiful lettering that said, Do What
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  You Love.
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  It was meant to be this hit of
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  inspiration, like, yes, that is why I'm in
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  this city, that is why I'm in this
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  building, that is why I'm in this job,
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  so that I can do what I love,
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  and I'm going to experience joy, and fulfillment,
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  and beauty, and life as I do that.
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  And, of course, it doesn't hurt that there's
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  craft beer on tap on every level of
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  the building.
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  Okay, so this has become a proverb of
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  our age, Do What You Love.
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  It focuses on passion, it focuses on fulfillment,
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  and it gives us this idea that if
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  we can just get it right at work,
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  if we can just get into the right
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  job and take the right approach to it,
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  then we're going to get these longings of
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  our heart fulfilled.
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  And a great cultural spokesperson for this is
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  motivational speaker Tony Robbins.
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  He's been talking about life and work since
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  the 1980s.
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  He still has a following today, and here's
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  something that he said recently in a YouTube
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  video called The Ed, Six Steps to Total
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  Success.
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  Tony says, There are certain patterns that cause
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  people to be fulfilled, to be happy, to
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  fit, to be strong, to feel alive, to
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  be vibrant, to have passion in their life,
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  to do well financially, but even more importantly,
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  emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, in their health and their
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  relationships, success without fulfillment is failure.
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  Okay, that was a lot.
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  But you can see what he's doing here,
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  right?
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  He says, There are certain patterns that cause
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  people to be fulfilled, and Tony wants to
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  help you unlock those patterns so that you
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  can realize that fulfillment.
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  You're going to be successful, but you're not
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  just going to be successful.
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  You're going to experience joy and life.
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  So in this do what you love narrative,
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  what is work?
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  I think it's kind of clear.
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  Work is a dream because we dream about
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  the work that we could have.
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  We dream about that job that's going to
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  realize that fulfillment.
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  And why does this story have the power
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  that it does in our lives?
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  Well, I think it's because it rings true
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  to something inside of us.
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  We have a longing for fulfillment in our
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  work.
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  We say, I want my work to count
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  for something in the world.
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  And we also have a sense that there's
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  something unique to us that matters.
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  And we want that to also be given
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  to the world in some way.
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  And this idea of work as a dream
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  has certainly been part of my life with
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  work and my career.
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  As I shared a little bit in episode
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  zero, I started out with the aspiration to
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  be a pastor in a traditional church role,
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  but life hasn't worked out that way.
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  And so I've had to pivot and figure
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  out, well, what does it mean for me
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  to find fulfillment to these longings if I
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  don't get to do that with that dream
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  being fulfilled?
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  But even if an unfulfilled dream like that
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  isn't part of your story, I bet that
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  you've heard the siren call of the do
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  what you love narrative.
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  It's just so powerful.
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  It's tantalizing, right?
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  Life and joy and fulfillment.
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  It's just over the next hill if you
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  can do what you love.
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  So if that's the story we live in,
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  how do we live the story out?
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  If work is a dream, then we chase
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  that dream.
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  And this is really the existential danger of
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  the do what you love narrative, is that
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  it can cause us to chase and chase
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  and chase and chase and we're cut off
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  from contentment.
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  Just like the TGIF narrative cuts us off
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  from pain, we can't reconcile with our pain.
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  The do what you love narrative cuts us
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  off from contentment.
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  We can't reconcile with the limitations of our
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  circumstances.
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  And so we chase and we chafe.
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  We chafe against the limitations that we face
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  in everyday life.
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  So how do we look at this as
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  disciples of Jesus?
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  Well, I think Jesus invites us into something
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  better.
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  And he invites us into something that honors
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  our longing for fulfillment, but helps us reconcile
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  with contentment and reconcile with the limitations of
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  our circumstances.
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  Jesus can help us put those things together.
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  Okay, so let's start with this idea of
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  contentment.
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  Contentment is a classical Christian virtue.
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  And this is really intention with the do
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  what you love narrative.
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  In many ways, discontentment has become a virtue
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  in our age.
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  You're content with that job, but you could
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  do better.
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  You could have more.
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  And so discontentment is almost encouraged in many
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  ways that we should be more ambitious, that
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  we shouldn't settle.
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  But scripture teaches very clearly as 1st Timothy
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  6, 6 says, But godliness with contentment is
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  great gain.
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  In other words, it's a good thing to
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  be content.
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  It's not a bad thing.
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  It's not settling to experience joy even in
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  a job that's not perfect.
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  And so that's what Jesus invites us to,
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  but I just want to give a kind
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  of asterisk here.
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  Sometimes Christians take a left turn here and
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  they get a little bit off the trail
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  and they can have this attitude of, oh,
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  okay, I get it.
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  So I have a deep longing for fulfillment
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  in my work.
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  But what God wants me to be is
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  just content.
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  So I guess I'll just sign off on
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  that long and try and ignore it and
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  grind out my job, whatever it is.
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  And that's what faithfulness means.
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  That's what's going to please God.
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  And occasionally, even a well-intentioned Christian pastor
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  or teacher can reinforce this message in the
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  way they talk about contentment.
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  But I, for one, am not content with
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  that vision of contentment.
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  I think we need a vision of contentment
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  that also integrates our longing for fulfillment because
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  I think that fulfillment, excuse me, that longing
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  for fulfillment comes from God.
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  He wants to work in us and do
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  something beautiful in the world.
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  So the question is, how do we put
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  these things together?
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  How can we experience contentment while we also
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  have this longing for fulfillment?
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  Well, I think that Philippians chapter 2 can
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  really help us.
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  There's just a couple verses that we have
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  time for today.
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  But the whole chapter is helpful.
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  In verse 13, the Apostle Paul writes, for
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  it is God who works in you to
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  will and to act in order to fulfill
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  his good purpose.
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  Okay, let's pause there.
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  There's a lot going on even in that
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  phrase.
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  Okay, so first of all, God is working.
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  Paul is saying that God is at work.
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  It is God who works in you to
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  will and to act.
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  So will has to do with decision-making
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  and acting has to do with what we
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  do, taking action.
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  So whether we're making decisions or we're taking
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  action, God is at work in us.
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  But then what does that action look like?
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  It says in order to fulfill his good
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  purpose.
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  And this is the heart of the matter.
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  And again, it uses that word fulfilled that
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  the fulfillment that scripture promises us is the
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  fulfillment of God's purposes.
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  And that actually does speak to our longing
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  for fulfillment and it speaks to our need
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  for contentment.
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  So let's think about this in a job
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  just for convenience.
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  I'm going to talk about fulfillment 1 and
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  fulfillment 2.
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  So fulfillment 1 doesn't have anything to do
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  with a dream.
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  It's just feeling satisfied at the end of
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  a good workday.
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  And the good news is that we can
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  experience fulfillment 1 in almost any job as
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  long as our job isn't unethical or dehumanizing
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  to the point of complete demoralization.
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  It's possible to get to the end of
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  the workday and feel like I did a
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  good job today and I'm satisfied in that.
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  So that's that's fulfillment 1 and you can
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  see how fulfillment 1 goes hand in hand
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  with contentment.
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  We get to the end of the workday.
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  We breathe that sigh of I did a
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  good job today and we're content.
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  We're grateful for what God has done in
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  our work today, even if it's not particularly
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  aligned with our deepest longings or with our
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  unique spiritual gifts.
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  So that's the first thing I want to
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  say is like that's okay.
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  If you have a job that's not aligned
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  with your deepest longings or your unique spiritual
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  gifts, that doesn't mean you somehow missed the
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  boat in terms of living out your vocation
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  and calling as a Christian.
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  That doesn't mean that you somehow can't experience
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  fulfillment.
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  You can experience fulfillment just by doing your
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  work well and trusting that God is at
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  work.
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  In verse 17 of Philippians 2, we get
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  another little clue that unpacks this.
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  So just a phrase here Paul talks about
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  the sacrifice and service coming from your faith.
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  So sacrifice and service are two ways of
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  talking about what we do.
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  Sacrifice is doing what we do as an
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  offering to the Lord and then service is
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  doing what we do in order to serve
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  and help others and this is talking about
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  the Christian life as a whole, but we
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  can apply it to the context of work
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  and and this comes from our faith is
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  what the verse says.
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  So it's as we're trusting in God that
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  we can do our work as sacrifice.
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  It's as we're trusting in God that we
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  can do our work as service.
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  And so again, God is at work to
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  fulfill his purposes and that's true even if
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  our job doesn't seem particularly spiritually spectacular.
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  We can trust, you know, I'm doing my
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  job and I can trust that God is
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  doing his as I do my everyday work
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  and I can do it as an offering
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  to him.
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  I can do it to serve other people
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  and really that's half the battle in our
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  Christian life when it comes to work is
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  just to do it with that trust that
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  God will bring his purposes to fulfillment.
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  A great example of this in my own
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  life was a cafeteria worker at my college.
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  His name was Simeon and before work each
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  day he would arrive in a full suit
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  even though he would then change into a
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  uniform with an apron a few minutes later
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  and I found out that the reason he
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  did that was because he viewed his work
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  as a way to honor God and a
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  way to honor the students.
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  He realized dignity in that job even though,
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  you know, being a cafeteria worker probably did
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  not realize his deepest longing is in life
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  and probably was not uniquely geared to his
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  spiritual gifts.
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  He still found a way to make his
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  work meaningful by doing it as a sacrifice
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  as service coming from his faith.
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  Okay, so that's fulfillment one.
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  But what about fulfillment two?
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  What about that sense that there's something unique
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  to me that should make a difference in
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  the world?
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  Well, I think that longing is from the
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  Lord too because God has made us unique
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  and he has given us unique spiritual gifts
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  as Scripture teaches.
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  But here's the thing, the fulfillment of what's
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  unique to us may not come primarily in
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  our job and regardless, it's not limited to
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  our job because the main unique thing that
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  you bring to the world is the person
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  you are becoming.
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  And so it's as you love God as
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  you let him do his work in your
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  heart that you become more the human being
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  you were meant to be and then wherever
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  you go, whatever you do, you're bringing something
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  unique that makes a difference in the world,
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  you.
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  And so we don't often realize that sense
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  of fulfillment of that longing for something unique
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  by strategizing for it or by trying to
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  align it in our career.
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  It's not bad to have career goals where
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  we could maybe align things more and more
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  over time if we have that freedom.
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  But we don't trust in those goals.
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  We trust in the Lord.
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  We trust that as we do our work,
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  whatever it is with faithfulness every day, that
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  God is making us into the human being
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  who brings something unique to the world.
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  Christian psychologist and spiritual director David Benner has
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  a wonderful book called The Gift of Being
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  Yourself.
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  And here's his line about fulfillment.
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  He says, paradoxically, our fulfillment lies in the
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  death of our own agendas of fulfillment.
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  Our fulfillment lies in the death of our
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  own agendas of fulfillment.
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  And that's the good news for today.
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  Because that's the good news that Jesus also
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  taught and lived out.
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  As he said, whoever wants to save their
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  life will lose it, but whoever loses their
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  life for my sake will find it.
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  It says we surrender our agendas of fulfillment
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  to the Lord, that we find the life
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  in the Lord we're actually longing for.
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  And Jesus leads us where he has already
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  gone because he's the one that laid down
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  his agenda when he said, not my will,
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  but yours be done before going to the
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  cross.
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  And if Jesus can say that, he can
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  teach us how to lay down our lives
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  and how to be fulfilled as we trust
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  the purposes of God.
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  Jesus, we do trust you.
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  We trust that you are at work in
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  us as we act and as we will
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  to fulfill your good purpose.
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  Do that in us.
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  And as you work in us, let us
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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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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 13:48
  life.
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• 13:51
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