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12: Love Is Never Wasted · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  In our current series, Fruitful Work, we're asking
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  the question, what kind of fruit am I
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  bearing at work?
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  Because if we're honest, we don't always bear
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  the kind of fruit we wish we would.
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  But by God's grace, by the power of
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  the Holy Spirit, we can bear fruit that
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  is good.
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  And as we've been working backwards through Paul's
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  list of the fruit of the Spirit in
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  Galatians chapter 5, we are finally at his
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  first one, love.
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  And love is so beautiful, so dynamic, so
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  vital to our life with God and our
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  life in the Spirit that we're going to
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  do three episodes on love, not just one.
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  We're going to look at love in three
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  different ways.
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  Today, love as freedom.
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  Our next episode, love as work.
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  And in our final episode to kind of
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  sum up the whole series, love as the
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  way of life.
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  So let's let's jump in today with love
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  as freedom.
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  Freedom is obviously the opposite of bondage, the
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  opposite of being stuck, the opposite of being
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  constrained.
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  I remember when I was constrained, when I
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  was about four years old, I was locked
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  in the bathroom.
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  There is a babysitter from our neighborhood way
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  back then.
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  We will call him for the purpose of
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  this story, Dave.
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  I was in an era of my life
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  as a toddler where I was throwing a
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  temper tantrum pretty often.
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  I threw a temper tantrum while Dave was
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  babysitting me.
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  He was in over his head.
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  He didn't know what to do.
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  And so he decided it would be a
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  good idea to disassemble the locking mechanism from
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  the doorknob of the bathroom and reverse it
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  so that he could close the door and
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  lock me in there from the outside until
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  I calmed down.
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  This did not have the effect that Dave
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  was hoping for.
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  I did not get calm once I was
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  locked in the bathroom.
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  I had this sense.
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  What is Dave doing?
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  Dave is supposed to be my babysitter.
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  Dave is supposed to be looking out for
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  me, but he is locking me in the
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  bathroom.
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  I got angrier.
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  I got more upset.
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  When my parents came home, they got upset.
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  They did not think that was an appropriate
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  way for Dave to handle my temper tantrum.
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  I think they were right about that.
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  There are better options available for intervening with
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  the complexities of human emotion at that age.
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  Dave never babysat me again.
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  Now, that was not a deeply traumatic experience.
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  It's one that I can laugh about, that
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  I can remember fondly even in a way
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  because of its humor.
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  But I still remember that sense like, I'm
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  stuck.
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  I want to get out of here and
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  I can't get out of here.
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  And the grown-up who's supposed to be
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  looking out for me is not looking out
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  for me.
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  This is all wrong.
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  It's all wrong.
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  It's all wrong.
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  And I'm sure you can think of a
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  time in your life that's been like that
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  where you have felt stuck.
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  You have felt constrained.
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  You have felt like you have to do
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  something that you don't want to do, whether
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  that's being financially stuck and wishing you had
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  more resources than you do, or being relationally
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  stuck and feeling that there's just no way
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  forward in a friendship, being vocationally stuck in
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  a job that's not the job that really
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  speaks to you, or could really make a
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  difference in the way you believe you're meant
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  to, being spiritually stuck, feeling like you're not
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  moving forward in your life with God.
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  And this theme runs throughout the text of
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  Paul's letter to the Galatians.
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  He uses the metaphor of slavery, of being
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  constrained, of being in bondage, and of freedom.
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  And he says that Christ has come to
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  set us free.
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  So what does that mean?
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  What is Christ setting us free from?
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  And what does it mean to enter into
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  his kind of love, his kind of freedom?
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  I want to look at this.
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  And I want to kind of look at
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  that sense of who's looking out for me.
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  In that moment, I was like, Dave the
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  babysitter is not looking out for me.
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  He should be looking out for me, but
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  he's not looking out for me.
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  And that is often a feeling that we
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  have when we're in those stuck places.
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  We feel like, who is looking out for
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  me?
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  Who's in my corner?
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  And it can feel so lonely.
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  It can feel like nobody is looking out
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  for me.
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  Nobody's in my corner.
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  Nobody's got my back.
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  And so I've got to fend for myself.
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  And that notion, I've got to fend for
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  myself, is the notion that the serpent introduces
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  in the book of Genesis, chapter three.
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  When the serpent comes to Eve, he's talking
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  to her about the fruit.
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  He says, did God really say, and continues
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  to ask a question.
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  He's like, maybe God is holding out on
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  you.
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  Maybe he doesn't have your back.
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  Maybe you need to fend for yourself.
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  Maybe God has not arranged things with your
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  best interest at heart.
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  And that becomes the refrain of human temptation
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  all throughout the scriptures.
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  Did God really say, did God really say,
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  I have to fend for myself.
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  I have to fend for myself.
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  What that leads to, though, is a state
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  of bondage.
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  Paul talks about it as bondage to sin.
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  And in Romans chapter six, we looked at
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  that in an earlier episode, that we are
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  meant to obey.
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  That's just kind of part of how our
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  bodies and our habits and our souls are
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  meant to work.
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  We're meant to respond to some kind of
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  authority.
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  And so we end up responding to sin.
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  We end up obeying our sinful desires if
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  we don't have a different option.
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  What does that actually mean?
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  What does that look like?
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  Well, it looks like, oh, I don't want
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  to lie.
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  I'm not a deceitful person.
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  But if I have to lie to fend
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  for myself in this situation, I guess I
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  have to lie.
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  Oh, I'm not I'm not a shaming person.
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  I don't shame other people.
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  But, oh, if I have to insult or
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  shame that person to not lose my standing
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  in the social group, well, I guess I
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  have to do that.
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  See how it's a bondage?
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  And different Christian thinkers have described this bondage
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  in different ways.
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  Martin Luther had a really powerful way of
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  describing it.
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  He described it as a kind of spiritual
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  kyphosis.
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  So if you don't know what kyphosis is,
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  kyphosis is the curvature of the spine forward,
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  so that you have what ends up looking
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  a little bit like a hunchback, where you
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  can't look straight ahead easily.
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  You kind of have to crane your neck
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  upwards as though you were looking up just
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  to look straight ahead.
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  Your eyes start moving downward and inward in
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  an unhealthy way so that you can't, you
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  know, straighten your back and be open to
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  the world around you.
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  Martin Luther used a Latin phrase, incurvatas inse,
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  but that just means being curved in on
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  yourself, spiritual kyphosis.
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  And that's what happens when we're in this
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  kind of bondage, where we're willing to do
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  things that we know are wrong because we
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  feel like we have to, we're turned in
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  on ourselves.
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  And that's also the tone and the character
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  of everything that Paul's been addressing in his
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  letter to the Galatians.
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  So we did some work in an earlier
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  episode on his vice list, the works of
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  the flesh that he describes before getting to
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  the fruit of the spirit.
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  N.T. Wright has a great summary of
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  how those works of the flesh are all
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  examples of being turned in on yourself.
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  So this is from N.T. Wright's commentary
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  on Galatians.
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  He says, Perhaps the sharpest contrast is that
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  the works of the flesh are all looking
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  inward.
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  They are all about me.
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  Sexual immorality uses another person to gratify one's
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  own desires.
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  Idolatry and sorcery are attempts to manipulate the
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  world into the shape I would like it
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  to be.
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  Hostility, anger, and party spirit are all about
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  me and my friends squaring off against some
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  other group.
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  Drunkenness enables me to sink into a private
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  world.
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  And though the wild parties may give an
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  appearance of togetherness, they are hollow at the
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  core, a glossy parody of real friendship.
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  Isn't that just true?
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  All those things that we find ourselves doing,
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  whether it's drunken parties, or trying to get
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  one up on another group, or being superior,
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  or being part of a social division, we're
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  doing it because it's all about us.
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  We're doing it because we are curved in
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  on ourselves, because we have spiritual kyphosis, because
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  we're in for ourselves, because nobody else is
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  going to look out for us.
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  So what is the solution?
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  Well, the solution to that is to know,
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  and to believe, and to experience, someone else
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  is looking out for me.
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  And that's exactly the good news of Jesus.
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  Come in the end.
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  Let's go one chapter earlier in Galatians, chapter
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  four.
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  Paul is kind of summarizing this history of
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  how the people of God were prepared through
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  the Torah.
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  It was like a guardian or like a
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  babysitter for them.
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  But then Jesus arrives and things change.
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  This is starting in verse two of chapter
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  four.
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  The heir is subject to guardians and trustees
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  until the time set by his father.
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  So also, when we were underage, we were
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  in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of
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  the world.
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  But when the set time had fully come,
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  God sent his son, born of a woman,
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  born under the law, to redeem those under
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  the law that we might receive adoption to
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  sonship.
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  Because you are his sons, God sent the
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  spirit of his son into our hearts, the
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  spirit who calls out Abba, father.
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  So you are no longer a slave, but
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  God's child.
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  And since you are his child, God has
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  made you also an heir.
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  Okay, there's a lot going on there.
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  But I think we can understand the basic
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  contrast Paul is making when you have a
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  guardian or a babysitter type figure.
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  It's a type of bondage.
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  You don't really have freedom to make your
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  own decisions because you're accountable to whatever that
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  person decides.
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  They can constrain you.
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  They can lock you in the bathroom if
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  they want.
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  But when you come into your inheritance, then
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  you have freedom.
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  Then you can make your own choices.
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  Then you can do what you need to
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  do.
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  And you've been given everything that you need
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  because you're an heir.
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  You get the resources that you need to
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  make those decisions a reality at that point.
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  It's not just about affection and connection, although
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  it is, it's that Abba, dad, father connection
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  with God.
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  But it's also about being platformed to go
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  make decisions, to go execute plans.
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  That's what it means to get an inheritance.
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  That's what it means to be an heir.
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  So that's the teaching of what Jesus has
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  accomplished for those of us who put our
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  faith in him, who receive the Holy Spirit,
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  is that we have everything we need for
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  life.
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  Someone is looking out for us.
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  We don't have to fend for ourselves.
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  We can receive what we need as a
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  gift and then step into life with God,
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  with other people, with one another.
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  This is a radically different view of life
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  than the one that the serpent whispers.
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  We are not curved in on ourselves, fending
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  for ourselves anymore.
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  We are able to uncoil our spines and
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  rest in the love of God and look
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  out into the world and see, who can
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  I serve?
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  How can I help?
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  How can I be open to the people
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  around me?
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  God's love for us in Christ poured into
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  our hearts through the Holy Spirit frees us
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  to truly love.
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  Okay, so this kind of raises the question,
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  what is love?
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  What does it really mean to love someone
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  else?
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  Obviously we're getting flavors and tones of it
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  in this description of how God has loved
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  us.
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  That Jesus came for us.
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  Jesus served us.
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  Jesus met our needs.
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  Jesus did what was good for us.
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  And that actually is the essence of love.
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  As C.S. Lewis says in his book,
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  God in the Doc, a collection of his
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  essays and interviews, love is a steady wish
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  for the loved person's ultimate good as far
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  as it can be obtained.
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  A steady wish for the loved person's ultimate
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  good as far as it can be obtained.
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  God has a steady wish for your ultimate
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  good, and he has done everything necessary to
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  obtain it.
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  And that frees you to have a steady
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  wish for other people's ultimate good as much
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  as you can help attain it.
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  That transforms everything about our lives, including our
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  workplace.
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  So I just want to look at a
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  couple different ways that it transforms our workplace,
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  and we're going to get some help from
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  Timothy Keller as usual.
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  Okay, so there's three aspects of our experience
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  at work that this radical change of love
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  affects.
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  One is our work relationships.
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  One is our career decisions, and one is
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  our emotional experience of work.
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  Okay, so first are work relationships.
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  When we're interacting with other people at work,
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  it's so easy to be agenda driven, to
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  think how can I use this person to
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  accomplish my ends?
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  And the most perverse versions of that become
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  twisted and truly evil.
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  If you ever watch the HBO series House
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  of Cards, the character Frank Underwood, he's a
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  mastermind of using other people for his own
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  purposes.
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  And he becomes so vile and so willing
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  even to commit violence in his own gambit
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  of his political aspirations, because that's just how
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  he views other human beings.
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  There are potential resources for his own agenda.
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  And even though we may not be at
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  that extreme of manipulative power, it's easy for
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  us to be little Frank Underwoods in our
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  own little kingdoms of work, isn't it?
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  When we're sending an email, it's like we
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  just want that person to give us the
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  email response that we need.
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  When we're in a meeting, we just need
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  everybody to get on the same page and
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  commit to their action points.
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  When we're having a phone conversation, I just
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  want this person to finish saying what they
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  need to say and listen to what I
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  have to say so this phone call can
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  end so I can get back to my
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  work.
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  Whatever it is, it's so easy to treat
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  other people as means to an end, to
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  treat people as objects that we're using.
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  But what does love say?
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  Love says we don't have to do that.
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  We're not in bondage to treating people that
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  way.
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  We don't have to fend for ourselves.
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  God is looking out for us.
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  It will be okay if we love people
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  in our workplace.
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  It will be okay if we treat everyone
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  around us like a human being worthy of
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  care.
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  And in the way that we do our
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  work, we can seek their good.
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  Even if we do need an email response
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  or a phone conversation to end or an
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  action point to be settled in a meeting,
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  we can navigate towards those ends seeking the
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  well-being of everybody involved.
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  There's no reason we can't.
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  Okay, so work relationships.
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  The second thing is career decisions.
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  If we're viewing our whole life as not
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  fending for ourselves but rather being able to
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  love and serve other people, this changes the
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  way we think about career decisions.
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  So in his book Every Good Endeavor, Tim
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  Keller writes this, competent work is a form
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  of love.
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  Those who grasp this understanding of work will
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  still desire to succeed, but will not be
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  nearly so driven to overwork or made as
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  despondent by poor results.
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  If it is true, then if you have
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  to choose between work that benefits more people
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  and work that pays you more, you should
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  seriously consider the job that pays less and
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  helps more, particularly if you can be great
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  at it.
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  It means that all jobs, not merely so
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  -called helping professions, are fundamentally ways of loving
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  your neighbor.
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  Christians do not have to do direct ministry
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  or non-profit charitable work in order to
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  love others through their jobs.
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  So isn't that amazing?
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  You can think about your whole work, whatever
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  it is, as an opportunity to love other
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  people and you have the freedom to choose
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  work that really will love and serve other
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  people.
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  And again, that can be in a variety
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  of fields that can be in for-profit
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  context and non-profit context, but if you're
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  weighing those pros and cons and you're like,
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  can I afford to take this job?
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  I feel like it's the right job, but
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  I'm gonna make less money.
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  Remember, God is looking out for you.
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  God is going to take care of you.
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  You can make tough decisions for the sake
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  of love and trust that it will be
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  okay in his kingdom purposes, ultimately.
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  Okay, so work relationships, career decisions, are emotional
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  experience at work.
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  Timothy Keller got at this a little bit
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  too when he said that we will not
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  be made as despondent by poor results if
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  we grasp that competent work is a form
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  of love.
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  Because if you're like me, you've definitely had
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  work projects where you've worked really, really hard
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  on something and then nothing ever came of
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  it.
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  Like it didn't get funding or it didn't
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  get off the ground or there was a
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  technical issue that bungled the whole problem or
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  the executive team shifted directions and so the
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  things you had prepped for months and ended
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  up being irrelevant.
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  And if you just have a human flat
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  view of reality, then that wasted work really
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  is a waste.
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  It's just totally pointless.
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  All of your effort is meaningless.
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  But if you view work as a form
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  of love, if you did that work in
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  order to seek the well-being of the
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  people around you in your workplace, your clients,
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  whoever you serve, love is never wasted.
• 16:33
  Even if the project never comes to fruition,
• 16:36
  you still did your best to love people
• 16:38
  while you were working on it and that
• 16:39
  still counts.
• 16:41
  We can just release it to the Lord
• 16:42
  and trust love is never wasted.
• 16:45
  The effort that I put in still counts
• 16:46
  in God's economy because it will be wrapped
• 16:49
  up in his kingdom purposes for eternity.
• 16:52
  So again, it's God's love for us in
• 16:55
  Christ poured into our hearts through the Holy
• 16:57
  Spirit that frees us to truly love, that
• 17:00
  uncoils our spine.
• 17:01
  So instead of being turned in ourselves, we
• 17:03
  are open to God, open to other people,
• 17:05
  open to one another.
• 17:07
  That changes our work relationships, changes our career
• 17:09
  decisions, it changes our emotional experience of work.
• 17:12
  So as you think about your work this
• 17:14
  week, think about it as an opportunity to
• 17:16
  love, an opportunity to pursue with a steady
• 17:19
  wish the good of everyone around you as
• 17:23
  much as it can be obtained.
• 17:28
  Lord Jesus, you are the Lord of love.
• 17:30
  You are the one that shows us how
• 17:31
  to love.
• 17:31
  You are the one who came and gave
• 17:33
  us your Father's love in the form of
• 17:36
  your sacrifice on the cross and the power
• 17:38
  of your resurrection and you fill us with
• 17:40
  that love by the gift of your Holy
• 17:41
  Spirit.
• 17:42
  We ask now for your Holy Spirit to
• 17:44
  fill us, to fill us anew with that
• 17:47
  love that we can really believe that all
• 17:50
  shall be well and all shall be well
• 17:52
  and all manner of things shall be well,
• 17:54
  to really believe we don't have to fend
• 17:56
  for ourselves and to really be free to
• 17:59
  love one another.
• 18:02
  Jesus, do your work in us as we
• 18:03
  do our work with you.
• 18:08
  Thanks for listening.
• 18:09
  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 18:11
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
• 18:14
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 18:16
  life.
• 18:17
  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
• 18:19
  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
• 18:21
  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
• 18:23
  and Thursday.
• 18:24
  To get resources to go deeper with each
• 18:27
  podcast series, read our blog, and get info
• 18:29
  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
• 18:31
  go to our website, missioncentral.church.