Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 13, 2023 | Guardrails - Work

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August 13, 2023 | Guardrails - Work · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, good morning, everybody.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: So last week we began a new series called Guardrails.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Guardrails is looking at this idea that there are certain things in the Bible which are black and white, do this, don't do this.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there are certain things in our lives that God presents to us as sort of guardrails where he says, Don't go too far this way and don't go too far this way.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And last week we looked at time, for instance, and said that time was something that we need to look at from both an eternal perspective, right?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciating God's plan for humanity and sort of trusting that it began before us and will continue after us.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then also going up against the other guardrail that our life is finite and we don't have unlimited amounts of time to carry out his will in our lifespan because we are, as we looked at, smoke, mist, dew, all the things that end very quickly, right?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So this morning we're going to be looking at a different topic, uh, and it kind of relates to time.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because outside of sleeping, uh, the thing that the majority of us are spending our time on is work.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And when I talk about work, I don't mean clock in, clock out kind of work, because there are a number of us who are working who don't get a paycheck for that work.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: As we're going to be talking about work this morning and the guardrails that God has presented for this consistent and necessary activity in our life, we're establishing it really from the perspective of how God defines work, which is are we doing something that is productive?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Are we doing something that is providing, and is it carrying out God's will for us?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be everything from taking care of kids to working at the bank to stocking shelves and everything in between.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But there are guardrails that God has presented for us when it comes to work.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we look at that this morning, the first text that we're going to go to is all the way at the beginning in Genesis 2.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So if you'd like to turn to Genesis 2 with me, we're going to see that work is something that God sets the example for us and his creative work of the world.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: In Genesis chapter 2, it says, So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: On the seventh day, God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 15, it says, The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so from the very, very beginning, God's creative work, right, of bringing this world into existence is something that is defined as work, right?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no like 401k plan here when we're talking about the work of creation, right?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so this already, this is why we can say that our definition of work is expanded beyond the things that we receive a paycheck for in our daily lives, though that's obviously included.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: God is producing, he is providing, he is bringing forth good things with, and it's a little tricky when we talk about the effort of God, because when we talk about him and his creative work, the reason that God rests isn't because he's tired, but the reason that God rests after six days is to look back upon the work of his creation, to appreciate it, and to state that it is a good thing.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The act of rest, which we'll get to later on, the act of rest, though, is something that comes in after the work has been done, after the creative effort, after the production, after the provision, after all of these things, and it is a special time that is designated and looking back upon what was done so heartily.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: So God sets the example for us, first of all, when it comes to work.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: That he worked for six days and then he rested for one, and that what God was doing was good.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But let's talk about Adam.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because when verse 15 is introduced here, Eve isn't around just yet.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Adam is placed into the Garden of Eden, and he is given two jobs.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: He is to work it, and he is to watch over it.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what's significant about this section of Scripture is that sin has not entered into the world yet.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so in the Garden of Eden, in the beauty of God's creation, in full fellowship with God, everything as it should be, Adam's working.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Adam has a job within the garden.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this job, the very first job that Adam is given, is he's supposed to name all of the animals.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's supposed to name all the animals that God brings before him.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And as he does that, and they get through all the animals, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is shown that there is not a suitable companion and helper to Adam present in the things that God has created, and thus Eve comes about to form this dynamic pairing that is then given a new task.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: As a couple, Adam and Eve are then given the work sort of requirement that is presented for the rest of creation, the same thing actually that flows on through the nation of Israel, which is that they are to be fruitful and multiply, and then that they are also to subdue creation.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: They are to multiply and be masters over creation.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Again, both of those things are presented before sin has entered into the world.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can imagine what's going on as Adam and Eve are eating and working with animals and things like this.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: The idea present before sin taints anything is that they would multiply, and their descendants, bearing the image of God, would continue this work into the rest of creation, bringing it into the vision that God had for his people, those made in his image, to work and rule over his creation.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: The animals and plants and things of that sort.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: But Genesis 3 comes along, right?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sin enters into the world.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Adam is guilty for not protecting Eve from bringing these things in.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Adam is later blamed, though Eve is the one who actually eats of the fruit.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Satan, his temptation in Genesis 3 is presented there as well, as the an instigator of this whole thing.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And after Genesis 3, and sin enters into the world, and Adam and Eve recognize that a significant and impassable rift has been created between them and God because they rebelled in his kingdom, in his perfect creation.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: God then brings a curse upon the world because of their sin.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And this curse is very unique in the way that it affects the two jobs that they were given to do in God's creation.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Remember to multiply and to be masters over the earth.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is what it says in Genesis 3, verses 16 through 19.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I will intensify your labor pains, you will bear children with painful effort, your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: That was for Eve.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then for Adam it says, The ground is cursed because of you.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it, for you are dust, and you will return to dust.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: That last sentence there kind of reminds us last week of the measurement of time.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so how God has sort of framed this is that within your lifetime now, this dust-to-dust language, your experience of work is going to be signified by this unique word in Hebrew, where he says, pains, and then he says, you eat from it by means of painful labor.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So both Adam and Eve are their work that they are primarily responsible for, Eve for producing and bringing forth children, and Adam for working the ground.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening here is that both of their jobs now, both of their work, is going to be defined by this special word in Hebrew that's pronounced like eatzabone.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Eatsabone is this special word for pain, and it's only used one other time than these two sections right here, and it's later on in Genesis 5 when Noah is said to be the one that will rescue the world from what is often translated as agonizing labor.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what is eatzabone?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is the question.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: What is this new context that work has been shaped in, where it is alternatively described as sorrow and as pain and as difficulty.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: See, last week we talked about with time.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: We said time, listen, it's a neutral thing.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when it's in the context of being in God with eternity, it's good.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: You want a lot of time with God and to be in his presence.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's sin that has tainted the way that we experience time, how now it brings death to us, and it's sort of more of a ticking clock than it is an expansive experience with Jesus.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, work in the same way has been changed and shifted because of sin as well.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Work is supposed to be something that is joyful and fulfilling, and based upon what we see here and how the curse changes it, work is supposed to be easy.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: When God is telling Adam that not only will the earth now be difficult and cursed, but you'll eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Gives this image that that wasn't the way that things were going to work beforehand.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly death was not a part of the arrangement before sin.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so this pain is present and work.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And this pain is now the context, this itzabone is now the context that we work under.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: You fast forward now from Genesis to our context, right?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Our lives, our work.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, work is being productive and providing.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you're taking care of kids in the home, you're working and you're getting a paycheck, you're taking care of your house, your family, you're doing all the things that are necessary for life, where you're producing, you're providing, you're carrying out God's will, and you're giving hard effort towards these things.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: They are now spoken of in a way that is not reminiscent of the garden, but is now signified by difficulty.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So this brings us actually to our first guardrail this morning, which is that work in its original space is something that is good.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: It is supposed to bring joy, and it is fulfilling because it is not marked by sin.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Work as it was originally intended is something that we should rejoice in and have the privilege of participating in.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that Adam and Eve get to multiply in God's creation, the fact that they get to be masters and subdue God's creation and work within it in a space that was easy and life-giving.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's a privilege.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful thing.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's part of sort of the memory we need to have of work as now we have to wrestle with the pain.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: But there are two responses that we have to our work now being difficult, and our work now having this pain, sorrow, agony associated with it, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: There are two responses that we normally have to that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of them is we slack off, right?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Pain, we sort of feel like it's tough sledding, right?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we're having difficulty in our work.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: We don't like how hard it is, and so we slack off.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And frankly, that one, if you're looking at a flowchart, that one loops back around to the first guardrail.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we say, well, slacking off is not the response that we are to have to the work that God has given to us.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because never that, even though it is signified by pain, it is still a command that we have been given that everybody is supposed to be working.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is why in two weeks, when we talk about finances, Proverbs says that a slack hand brings poverty.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is also why Paul says in 2 Thessalonians that anyone who was not working and was able to work in Thessalonica was not deserving of the bread that the fellowship was handing out.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Work is a good thing, it's a necessary thing.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is part of who we are as image-bearers, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: God worked, still works, and as those created in his image, we are supposed to do the same.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: But the other way that we respond to this pain instead of slacking off is by pushing so hard into work that it becomes this exhausting, tiring affair that brings burnout, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: That we somehow along the way have become so attached to the idea of work and overcoming the toil and the pain that it brings, that now it begins to look a lot more like our identity, the work that we're doing.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just think for a second, how many times, whether you do this or people you know, when somebody says, How are you doing?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: One of the first two responses, we're so busy right now.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody says that.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a presence that we have where people, we like to be seen as those who are busy, right?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: That we have lots of things going on, that we are working very, very hard.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And there's an element of pride that can creep in here when we aren't able to adequately balance the way that God has it for us to work.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: We push into these things and they create exhaustion.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem is not necessarily like too much hard work, right?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of you, you farmers, you just finished hay season, right?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when you cut the hay and it's on the ground and because of weather and moisture and all these different things, like some days you just work from sunup till sundown.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that hard work or that seasons of difficult, strenuous effort is something that is bad.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I think that is good.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: But what I am saying is that when this identity that we have around work has prolonged periods of excessive work as a source of pride, that we treat ourselves like machines, right?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: That we are almost inhuman, and that we need people to see us as those who just are working our fingers to the bone so that we might get it could be various reasons, credibility, attention, just be being seen as successful, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Don't want to be seen as lazy.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, we have a problem here.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because work, even in its original place, back in the garden, still involved rest.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Work is always supposed to be balanced by rest.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, God Himself rested.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: In the book of Mark, there's a situation where Jesus is on the Sea of Galilee.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: See, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, this is where he started out, and he was uh he would often give messages uh near the water's edge or even standing in a boat because the natural acoustics of the topography meant that his voice was amplified as it went up the hill, right?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so he could speak to thousands of people who were gathered there to see him without any natural or artificial amplification to his voice.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, anyhow, uh Jesus is often teaching by the water's edge.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And as thousands of people are streaming in to see Jesus, not necessarily because they want to call him Messiah, but because uh they want to see the miracles, they want to be healed, they want to, you know, understand what the ruckus is all about, uh, thousands of people are pressing in to them, to Jesus and the disciples as they are teaching.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what he says after one particularly long day of ministering to the crowds.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: For many people were coming and going, and they did not have time to eat.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the disciples are working so hard, and Jesus is working so hard, that ministering to the crowds meant that they had to skip lunch.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: They were working diligently.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: People are pressing in, and like I said, this is the context of these relationships.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus has not yet pared down his ministry, and in a few chapters, he's going to give them some very hard challenges that is going to make many people walk away.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: But coming on the heels of this passage right here is the feeding of the 5,000 miracle.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so thousands of people are pressing in, and at the end of the day, the disciples come to Jesus and he says, You know what, we're gonna get in a boat, and we're gonna go to the other side of the lake here because this is too much and you need to rest.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And right at that moment is when the questions begin.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: What about the people they didn't get to talk to?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Weren't there more people that needed to be healed?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Couldn't they have relied on the power of the Spirit to just keep going endlessly?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's only a small amount of time that they could hear this message.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't they have just sort of like sucked it up and kept going, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's the part of us that often rails against rest that says, you know what, the fact that Jesus rested was a problem.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're in the camp of overworking, exhaustion, and burnout, let me say something that you both know and probably need to hear again.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're not stronger than Jesus.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're not.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not stronger than Jesus, you're not stronger than Jesus.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: None of us are.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the image that is presented to us of the second person of the Trinity, fully God and fully man, is that he needs to rest.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: You might be familiar with the story of Jesus with the woman at the well.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's in John chapter 4.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is walking from uh Galilee, he's going back to Galilee from Judea, and he's in Samaria, and it's in the heat of the day.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's hot, he's tired from walking miles and miles and miles, even though he's taken the shortcut through Samaria.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the beginning of the account of him with the woman at the well is that he was tired and he sat down.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's an element here that we have to understand, right?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Which is that humanity, the part that makes us weak and frail and needing a savior, is also the part of us that demands that we rest.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: There is a physical need for it and an emotional need for it and a spiritual need for it, because if we don't rest and we continue to push into the for whatever your motivation is, there are a lot of different reasons why you might be somebody who struggles with rest.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a season of your life right now, right, where you don't have the ability to clock out of the thing that you're doing.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Teresa, uh, well, whoever was giving announcements in the cab was uh speaking about the uh support groups that we have that are going to be starting up here in the fall.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're in the caregiver support group, right?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have the ability to take a step back and just breathe right now.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: There are always reasons for why rest might be eluding you in a season.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: But oftentimes the thing that rails against this the most is not the season of life that brings a lack of rest, but the excessive pursuit of finding our identity in work that is toilsome and difficult and having people recognize us for those 70-hour work weeks, for the hashtag hustleculture, right?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: For the fact that we want to be known as people who are working, and that there's a little bit of us, or at least in a lot of us, that if we say that we just spent the day at home resting, that we feel like we still have to come up with another project that we did while we were at home, because it's not sufficient to just say, I took it easy.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Even Jesus needed to rest.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: God Himself did it.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, this rest is something that is supposed to be balanced with work.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: But if, for those of you who are more familiar with the Bible, you've wondered why I haven't brought up the topic of the Sabbath yet, I'm actually going to discuss that more in the podcast.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a big topic, and what I wanted to focus on this morning is simply the relationship between work and rest in general terms.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Both are necessary, both are needed.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Going working too much or resting too little becomes problematic.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like last week, what does it look like for us to do this well?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for us to live with balance in these things?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're actually going to go back to the book of Ecclesiastes to finish out, like we did last week, to see what the King Solomon, having experienced all the wonder and splendor of the world, right, what he says life.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is truly about.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to turn to Ecclesiastes with me, chapter 5, this is what Solomon says.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here is what I've seen to be good.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is a gift of God, for he does not often consider the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of commands in the book of Ecclesiastes are kind of grim, you could say.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them don't always paint this for being, you know, sort of the answer to life.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they paint this bleak picture and some of the words he uses.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's right, toiling under the sun and things like that.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: But look at the last, let's start at the last sentence.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is a gift of God, what you're able to do, for he does not, the individual who's working does not often consider the days of their life because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their heart.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: The conclusion to what he's saying here is that we might live and walk and be with God in a way that is fulfilling, even though our work is distinguished by eats a bone.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our work is distinguished by sorrow and difficulty and pain and hardship, that not all jobs are easy, not all jobs feel rewarding in and of themselves.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Not all jobs sort of, we wake up Monday morning and we're like, can't wait to head in, right?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not all jobs are like that.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, a lot of them aren't.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that should be our expectation, right?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Not the exception.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: See, what he means here when Solomon is talking is he is balancing these two things.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is appropriate to eat and drink and experience good and all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of their life.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: What he's going to balance is the fact that the work that they're doing, as he says, under the sun that's difficult, what it also brings about is a very rewarding rest.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: That the further somebody is pushing into this element of hard work, the more their rest becomes something that is satisfying and joyful.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: And especially as we're looking at the relationship between what work provides and how we're able to enjoy it thereafter.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: He does have the little sentence there in the middle where he says that, you know, for some people, hard work brings riches and wealth, but the blessing of riches and wealth is something that is over and above the normative experience that everybody is working and everybody is resting.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Again, when Solomon is speaking here, there are no retirement plans or 40-hour work weeks.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's speaking to about a nation of Israel that is primarily, the vast majority of them, are working out in the sun in the fields, either with crops or with livestock, right?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have some tradespeople, but there aren't, you know, sort of those who are putting tires on cars, and there aren't those who are doing day, like day trading in the office, and there aren't people who are, you know, at C, you know, C-suite level jobs.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening here is the vast majority of those that Paul or that um Solomon is speaking to live hard lives of subsistence.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's actually a relatively modern thing in our world that we even have the privilege of being able to decide between a couple different jobs that we might want to pursue, or even have the consideration about which jobs might be more fulfilling to us.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: You look back in these biblical times, whatever your dad did is what you're doing.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's your job, and that's going to be your job.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then whatever, when you have kids, they're gonna do, they're gonna pick up the family business, right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is the way that things worked.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a job right now, and again, right, I'm using that kind of as in an expressive term that I very much believe in the work that people are doing to take care of the home and the work that people are doing where they don't get paid, and to care for others, and many other things.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Production, provision, right?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have that job and you enjoy it, recognize that that is a blessing from the Lord.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because that is not supposed to be the expectation.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: The expectation is that the work that we are doing reminds us of the sin that is in this world.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you have a boss that is breathing down your back, when things aren't going right, when you're frustrated by your assignment or the people that you're doing, or you have one of these jobs that is much more reminiscent of the work in ancient Israel.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're working out in the fields, you're working in the warehouse that doesn't have air conditioning, right?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're digging ditches so that we can have sewer lines, you're picking like all of these things that are happening, the expectation is that we would be reminded of toil and the sin that has been brought into this world, and it would stand in contrast to the kind of job that God has prepared for us, or prepared for Adam and Eve, and the kind of work that we have waiting for us in heaven.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: See, this is the other side of the coin here, is that just as it was in the Garden of Eden, so it will be in the future.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how you're gonna take this.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: There will be work in heaven.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have a job, right?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: But that job, just like Adam and Eve in the garden, is not going to be marked by toil and difficulty and frustration.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is going to be as joyful as it would have been when Adam, God comes to Adam, he says, Hey, do you want to just like name this animal?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's green and it has a hard shell on its back and it looks cute when it waddles around.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I think turtle works, right?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like the joy that comes from being a part of God's creation, and the joy that comes from working in lockstep with him the way that it was always supposed to be, and the thing that is most fulfilling to you.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't lose that.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like people are working on an assembly line in heaven.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: We have jobs that are fulfilling to us and work that is fulfilling to us as a community in Christ for eternity.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: But work is no longer marked by the sin that eats a bone, the pain that it is marked by now.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a mindset shift, right?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because the joy that is supposed to come from the work in this life, from dust to dust.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: See, Solomon is saying God keeps them occupied with the joy of their heart.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Joy in your circumstances now is possible.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the joy isn't necessarily supposed to come from the kind of work that you're doing, the specific job that you have, right?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: If that was the case, then exactly how much money we're making or how much prestige or how much success or attention or all of those things, being able to work up the ladder, all of those things would be ultimately important if the job itself is what was supposed to bring joy.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: But what is bringing joy is the fact that we are working hard.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that we are working at all, the fact that we are living and breathing as image-bearers of God and carrying out his mission in this world to the best of our abilities.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that we work at all diligently is the thing that we are supposed to take pride in, not an unhealthy sense because we never stop, but the fact that we are doing the thing that God has called us to do.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's what brings us joy.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it might be a little simplistic, and you can build upon this, but the image that's presented here is then one of going home after the hard day's work, you know, cutting the fields of wheat by hand with a scythe and putting them into bushels or whatever it was, and going home and knowing that your work was providing.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Or knowing that the work, Proverbs 31, the work that you were doing in caring for the home or for other people, or you were industrious and all of these things, starting your own business, that those were providing for other people.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's a balance.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a balance.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are we supposed to do?
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we work within the guardrails, right?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: No pun intended.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, on one set, you have the fact that work is part of being made in God's image.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is critical to our fulfillment and sense of joy and purpose in this life, even if you don't get a dollar for it.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: That having a job or having something that you are working at that is producing and providing, as long as you are physically capable of doing it, and even then I would say that there are things that we can do with our other faculties, even if we're not physically capable, that are still pursuing this element of work, that that's necessary for you to be fully fulfilled in your job or in your existence here, from dust to dust.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are some of us, right, who are watching a little too much gun smoke, okay?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Turner Classic Movies is on a little too much.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's some of us who enjoy the beauty of rest and lean into it a little too much.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Need to remember that no matter at what stage of life we're at, work is part of being made in God's image.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then we go to the other side.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we say that it is good to rest, and it is not just good to rest as it comes, it is good to intentionally make the decision to rest.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because rest has a purpose.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a byproduct of work.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is something that is supposed to be done in conjunction with work.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you rest, when you intentionally set aside time to rest, when you make a decision as a family or as an individual about how you're going to rest, remember all of the things that the Bible talks about.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: But even most of all, Genesis 2, when God looks back on his work and says, That is good, you should find satisfaction in your rest because you are working hard.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And living in the middle, the final thing that we do is that we find, and I know this sounds kind of like a weird statement, but we find joy in our toil.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: We find joy in our work.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not the fact that our jobs are fantastic, which might not be the case, but the fact that we are working is something that aligns us and draws us deeper into our relationship with God.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because remember, going back to the beginning, God made man and woman in his image, and he gave them work to do in the garden before sin.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that was how they were supposed to spend their days.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so in that space we desire to do the same.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: To spend our days being thankful for work, being thankful for rest, so that as Solomon says, we might be occupied with the joy of our hearts.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you, before your throne, Lord, and we say thank you for work.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the opportunity to work.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the fulfillment that comes from producing and providing for ourselves, for our families, and for other people.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, our jobs are varied.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's many as the stars in the sky.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of things, Lord, that you have tasked us with.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Many things that are necessary for our world to continue clicking along.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: And God, whatever it is, we thank you for the opportunity to work.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord, for the ability to work as well, to carry out those jobs.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I especially pray for those who might be in a situation where acquiring work is difficult for them.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, not that they would cease seeking it, but God, that they might expand and see that work is something that is good even if it's not a paycheck that we receive for it, that it can be done without a nine-to-five.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: God, I also pray for those of us who feel the burden of work upon our shoulders in a way that is unhealthy and unsustainable, and that we might remember that we are not stronger than Jesus.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: That we might look to him, the author and perfecter of our faith, and see that he rested.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: God, that it might be an intentional decision for us.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, finally, as we come before you and work out all these things, Lord, finding joy in the pain of work is not easy.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: But we pray, Lord, because all things are possible by your Spirit, that for those of us who are working jobs that do not bring us joy in and of themselves, Lord, we might be able to see your purposes in working diligently for you and not for mankind.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: God, that we work because you created us to do it.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we love you and we thank you.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the privilege of these things.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks everyone.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.