Latest / Finding God at Work / 8: Sacramental Work

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8: Sacramental Work · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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course.
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Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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Our current series is A Mysterious Business, bringing
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ministry and marketplace wisdom together.
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I want to ask an unusual question to
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begin this episode, and that's, have you ever
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been kissed?
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Maybe not.
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Maybe some of you have never been kissed,
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but I imagine most of us at some
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point have been kissed.
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Maybe a kiss on the cheek, a kiss
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on the forehead, a kiss from a family
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member, maybe a kiss on the lips, maybe
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a kiss in a romantic relationship or marriage.
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Now, this is something that gets looked at
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in Hollywood films and in romance novels, and
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obviously is close to our heart.
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When you get kissed, or when you kiss
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someone else, there's something vulnerable and intimate there.
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But what exactly is going on?
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Imagine a world in which kissing just didn't
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exist.
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Maybe some aliens land on Earth, and they
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see this happening, and they're like, what is
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that about?
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Can you explain it to me?
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What's going on?
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How would you explain the meaning of a
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kiss to someone who was totally unfamiliar with
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it?
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Now, this might be a strange place to
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start in an episode in a series about
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work, but I think that kisses, the meaning
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of kisses, can actually help us understand the
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meaning of work.
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And here's how.
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First of all, I think that kisses are
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an example of something sacramental in everyday life.
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Now, I'm going to have to do a
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lot of work to unpack what I mean
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by that, using some theological language, but kisses
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are sacramental, and work can be sacramental too.
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That's kind of where we're going with this.
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So let me back up and talk about
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this word sacramental.
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Sacrament comes from a Latin term, sacramentum, which
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was actually a translation from a Greek term
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used in the New Testament.
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So the Greek word that in English is
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translated as mystery, when it was translated into
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Latin, they kind of had two options, mystinum
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or sacramentum.
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And they decided to use sacramentum rather than
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mystinum because the word mystinum in Latin had
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become associated with these quote unquote mystery cults,
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like using the word mystery at that point
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would have communicated the wrong spiritual idea for
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what they were trying to communicate.
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So they landed on this other word, sacramentum.
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And so then that word also came into
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English as the word sacrament.
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So when we think about a mysterious business,
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this thing we've been looking at in this
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series of how our everyday work can contain
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the presence of God, that the presence of
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Christ is somehow hidden inside our work, but
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it can also be revealed.
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That's the nature of mystery, the way that
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the New Testament talks about mystery.
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It's also the nature of sacrament, the way
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that church tradition has talked about sacrament.
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So in this episode, I'm going to be
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Anglican, Chris.
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Part of what I love about Mission Central
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is that I get to work with all
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sorts of churches.
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I just met with a pastor of like
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a holiness Pentecostal church recently.
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I've gotten to do courses at Baptist churches
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and at a Catholic church in the past,
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been at Bible churches.
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So I don't like Mission Central to be
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too narrow, to attach to any one Christian
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tradition because I think the things that those
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of us who follow Jesus have in common
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are a lot greater than the things that
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divide us.
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But for this episode, I am going to
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draw on what's called a sacramental worldview, which
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is something that's kind of distinctive within the
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Protestant world to the Anglican tradition.
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The Lutheran tradition also has it to some
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extent in a different way.
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It's in the Presbyterian tradition.
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But then it's also shared with the Catholic
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tradition and the Orthodox tradition.
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So again, if you're more Baptistic, if you
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have questions about sacraments, I would love to
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talk to you.
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But I'm going to just be kind of
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drawing from the tradition where I kind of
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live and move and have my being, which
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is the Anglican way.
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So this idea of sacrament.
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In church tradition, sacrament is often called an
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outward sign of an inward grace or a
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visible sign of an invisible grace.
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So the classic examples are usually baptism and
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communion, the Lord's Supper.
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So with baptism, what's that outward sign?
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The outward sign is the water of baptism.
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But what's the inward grace?
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Well, it's the inward grace of the new
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birth.
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The thing that Jesus talks about in John
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chapter 3 when he's talking with Nicodemus and
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he says, no one can enter the kingdom
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of God unless they are born again or
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born from above.
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He also says that they must be born
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of water and the spirit.
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So there's this new birth that happens, this
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new experience of becoming alive to God.
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And that happens when we put our trust
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in Jesus, right?
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In that same chapter, Jesus says, the famous
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John 3, 16, for God so loved the
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world that he sent his only son, that
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whoever believes in him might not perish, but
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have eternal life.
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So Jesus in John 3, he connects this
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idea of new birth with faith.
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But then when he uses that phrase, water
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and the spirit, he also seems to connect
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it with baptism.
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And so the church, like in an Anglican
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liturgy, for example, when a baptism takes place,
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this just took place at my church the
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last Sunday that I was there.
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It'll be a few weeks ago now when
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this episode comes out.
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It was on Pentecost Sunday.
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But we had two young boys who both
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had come to a genuine faith in Jesus
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and wanted to express their faith.
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They wanted to get baptized.
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The liturgy calls it the sacrament of new
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birth.
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So there's something, again, mysterious and inward that's
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happening, which is God is giving a new
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birth to a human being who's put their
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faith in Jesus.
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God is making them alive to the reality
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of himself, of his love, of what life
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can be like in his kingdom in a
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way that only God can do.
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And yet to do that, there is this
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outward sign, this water that the person is
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immersed in.
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There's something physical and tangible that God uses.
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Okay, so now this often raises the question.
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This is sometimes where Christians of different traditions
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disagree.
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Well, is that outward sign just like a
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representation?
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It's just like a symbol, right?
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And what really counts is what happens in
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the heart, or does the outward sign somehow
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actually do something?
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Because you could imagine like a very like
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unhelpful view where it's just like, oh, as
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long as somebody gets dunked in water at
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some point in the proper way, they've received
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new birth regardless of what happens in their
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heart or whether they ever put their faith
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in Jesus, like an almost magical view of
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baptism.
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Like, let's just go around dunking as many
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people as we can.
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And frankly, sometimes the more sacramental traditions have
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had that attitude.
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But when you look at scripture, you do
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find examples of the physical medium seeming to
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carry that invisible inward reality, not just in
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a symbolic way, but in an effective way.
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Sometimes the sacrament is called an effective sign.
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So I want to just go to one
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passage like this that can kind of, again,
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get the wheels turning for us.
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How does God like to do this sort
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of thing?
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So this is from Acts chapter 19.
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It's talking about the ministry of Paul.
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He's traveling around, proclaiming the gospel, forming new
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Christian communities, right?
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All the stuff that we think about is
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Paul's ministry.
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He comes to the city of Ephesus.
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He's hanging out there.
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He's talking about the kingdom of God with
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Jews and with Gentiles.
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And then there's this little comment about another
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part of his ministry, starting in verse 11.
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God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that
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even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him
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were taken to the sick and their illnesses
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were cured and the evil spirits left them.
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Okay, when was the last time you thought
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about that verse, right?
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Even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched Paul
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were taken to their sick.
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Like this isn't even Jesus, right?
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Like we might think of other passages like
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the woman with bleeding who comes up and
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touches the hem of Jesus's robe and she
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has faith and somehow power goes out from
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him, right?
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Now that's Jesus, right?
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So it's like the center, the presence of
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God himself in human form.
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But now this isn't even Jesus.
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This is Paul.
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This is a sinner, right?
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Redeemed by grace, commissioned as an apostle, sent
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by God to proclaim the good news, and
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people come up and somehow touch him with
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a handkerchief or an apron and carry it
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back to a house where somebody is sick
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or where somebody is oppressed by a demon
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and they put the handkerchief or the apron
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on that person and they're healed or they're
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delivered from the evil spirit.
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This is in the Bible, folks, right?
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This is not an example of superstition.
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This is not an example of magical thinking.
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This is an example of God using a
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physical means to communicate a real spiritual grace.
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He's using that handkerchief and that apron, not
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apart from faith, not magically as though it
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was the handkerchief that counts or the apron
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that counts, but with the faith that the
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people who are bringing that and touching it
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to Paul are having faith in Jesus, his
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ministry through Paul, and then carrying that back
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to their friend or their family member who
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needs that ministry of grace.
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God uses humble, physical, everyday stuff to communicate
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the life-transforming power of his goodness, the
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life-transforming power of his grace.
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So the outward sign of the invisible grace
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is not just a symbol.
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In this case, the handkerchief was not just
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like, it wasn't brought back and then displayed
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like a flannel graph for the sick person.
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Like, hey, here's a handkerchief that represents the
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ministry of Paul.
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I don't know how the handkerchief would represent
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that, right?
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This handkerchief just touched Paul.
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We're going to touch it to your body
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now in faith and see what God does.
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Okay.
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So that's like the waters of baptism.
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The waters of baptism are not just a
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symbol, right?
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They are a sacrament.
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When we come with faith, with genuine faith
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in Jesus Christ, God uses the water of
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baptism as an effective sign to minister the
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grace of new birth to us.
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Okay.
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So again, very Anglican perspective here, a sacramental
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perspective here, but I think a solidly biblical
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perspective as well.
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When you dig into the scriptures, you see
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that this is kind of a habit of
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God's.
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God likes using physical, everyday, earthy stuff to
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communicate his grace.
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Okay.
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Now back to how I started the episode
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with kisses and work.
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How are these connected?
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Well, think about a kiss.
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Is a kiss just a symbol of love,
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right?
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If I say I'm hanging out with Katie
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and something romantic happens in a movie we're
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watching together and I lean over and smooch
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her on the cheek, right?
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This is something that happens in our marriage.
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Hopefully I didn't just scandalize anyone with TMI.
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If I do that, was that just like
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a symbol, right?
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Was that just like, my love, here is
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a representation of the abstraction of my love
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for you.
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Like, no, no, no, no.
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That's an effective sign, right?
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Yes, it does represent our love, but it
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also accomplishes the love, right?
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It expresses affection.
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It cements our bond one little bit more
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in our relationship.
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It communicates and accomplishes the same thing.
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In this way, it's similar to like a
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handshake that seals a deal or a signature
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on a contract.
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Yes, it does have a representative function, but
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it also is effective.
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When you shake hands or when you sign
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your name, the deal is done.
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And so again, a kiss, it's this beautiful,
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embodied, affectionate human thing, right?
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It's not some abstraction.
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It's not something remote from our everyday experience.
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And it's also effective.
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It accomplishes the thing it represents.
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And in that way, a kiss is sacramental,
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right?
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Now I would say sacramental with like a
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lowercase s, right?
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Like a kiss is not the exact same
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as baptism or like communion, the Lord's supper,
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right?
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It's not one of the sacraments of the
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church, but it is sacramental, right?
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Those aprons and handkerchiefs weren't one of the
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capital S sacraments of the church either.
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And yet God used them, right?
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And so hopefully within healthy affection among married
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couples or among, you know, chased good kisses
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in any other kind of relationship, right?
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Kisses themselves become sacramental signs and expressions of
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God's love.
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Okay, so now moving to work.
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I hope you see the connection here.
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Our everyday work is also this earthy, earthly,
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normal, everyday thing that we experience.
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It's not some abstraction, right?
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But could it be the outward sign that
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communicates the inward grace of God's love, of
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his power, of his life?
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Again, this is kind of another way of
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using that language of structure and substance.
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The structure, the jar of clay, right?
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Paul's term that he's describing his own body
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is like this visible thing.
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And yet the structure also contains the hidden
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presence of God.
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So that means that if our jobs contain
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the hidden presence of God, right?
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Then they become sacramental.
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They become an outward sign of an inward
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grace.
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They can be something that accomplishes what they
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represent.
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Now that might still feel kind of abstract,
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ironically.
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So I want to give a practical example.
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Think about somebody who's sweeping a floor, right?
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I recently did this in my own home,
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right?
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So domestic labor was sleeping before my own
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home.
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Often people sweep floors as part of their
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paid work as well.
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I think about the warehouse workers at the
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food bank where I work, or custodial staff
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in any number of places.
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Suppose somebody's sweeping the floor.
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We can think in terms of Colossians 3
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.23, like whatever you do, do it for
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the glory of God, right?
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Or sorry, do it as working for the
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Lord.
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That's a different verse that says do it
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for the glory of God, but that applies
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too.
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So we can think about it that way.
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Like, hey, they do this as service unto
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the Lord.
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And so God receives it.
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That's true.
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But it's not just that.
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It's not just that, right?
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It's also that as they are sweeping, right?
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They are doing that out of love for
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God and love for neighbor, right?
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Ideally, they're not just doing it out of
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self-interest, right?
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Although because we're sinners, that's mixed in there.
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But in as much as the Holy Spirit
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is working through them, they're doing that sweeping
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of the floor for the good of the
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home or the business or the nonprofit or
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the store where they work.
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They're doing it for the good of all
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the people who are served by that enterprise.
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They're doing it for the good of their
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neighbors.
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And so when they sweep that floor, it's
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not just like a picture of God restoring
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order to a chaotic universe, right?
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Because that's like one thing that cleaning is,
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right?
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It's like the world gets messy and we
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got to put it back in order.
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There's dirt in the floors and we got
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to get rid of it and make the
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floor clean again.
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It's not just symbolizing that God does that.
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It is actually an expression of God doing
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that in the world.
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God is bringing order out of chaos on
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that floor through that person sweeping in the
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character of Jesus.
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It is an effective sign.
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It's accomplishing that which it represents.
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Does this make sense, right?
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So there's a dignity in our work, which
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is a sacramental dignity, not because our work
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is the exact same as baptism or communion
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or something like that, but because our work
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can accomplish something that God is doing in
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the world.
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It doesn't just represent it.
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It accomplishes it.
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Okay, now I understand there might be some
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of you that are still like questioning, does
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this make sense?
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Is this track?
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Is this really how we should talk about
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things in the sacramental language?
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So I just want to go to an
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early church father, Gregory of Nazianzus.
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What a great guy.
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And just a term he uses to explain
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why Jesus came as a human being.
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Why did Jesus become incarnate?
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Why did God the Son, the second person
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of the Trinity become incarnate as a human
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being?
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And this is what Gregory has to say.
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He's talking about Jesus and he says, for
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that which he has not assumed, he has
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not healed, but that which is united to
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his Godhead is also saved.
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Let me read that again.
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For that which he, Jesus, the Son, has
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not assumed, he has not healed, but that
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which is united to his Godhead is also
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saved.
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So now Gregory's using kind of this technical
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language of assuming, right?
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This is basically just like passages that talk
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about the word taking on flesh, right?
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Jesus becoming human.
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When God the Son becomes a human being,
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he assumes humanity.
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It means he genuinely becomes human permanently, irrevocably,
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and yet it's something that he's taken on,
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right?
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So he's assumed it.
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Gregory's saying that unless he assumed our humanity,
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he wouldn't be able to heal it or
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to save it, right?
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But because God the Son has assumed humanity,
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now it's possible for humanity to be united
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to divinity.
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For humanity to be united to what Gregory
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calls his Godhead, right?
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Because Jesus has brought the divine and the
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human together in his own body, now it's
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possible for him to do the same for
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us.
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Not to make us God like he is,
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but to allow us to become like God
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in his character, to participate in God's nature,
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as it says in 1 Peter, to become
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alive with the life of God in that
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new birth through faith and through the sacrament
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of new birth, through baptism.
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God communicates his reality, not just abstractly, but
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in a human body.
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This is how Jesus saved us.
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He became human in order to save humanity
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and raise humanity into the life of God.
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Okay.
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If this is what God did in the
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mystery of salvation, if this is what God
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did to save the world in the first
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place, wouldn't it make sense that this is
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how God habitually works as well?
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The theology of the incarnation is the foundation
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for the theology of the sacraments, right?
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Our understanding that Jesus, fully human, fully God,
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accomplished salvation through his incarnation, through his life,
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his death, his resurrection, and ascension.
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If we really believe that, then it kind
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of naturally flows as the next step.
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Oh, so of course God would use physical
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material stuff, just like he used a physical
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human body on the cross to save us.
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He would use a handkerchief.
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He would use an apron to communicate his
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saving power to those who believe he would
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use a kiss to communicate his affection and
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his love among people who love each other.
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He would use a broom on a floor
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to communicate how he brings order out of
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chaos in this universe.
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So your job today is a sacramental job.
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It's not just a representation of what God's
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doing in the world.
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It is becoming part of what God is
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doing in the world by his grace.
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Lord Jesus, thank you that you are fully
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human, fully God, and that you came and
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you shared our humanity, that you know what
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it was like to walk on dusty and
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dirty floors and to try and bring order
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out of the chaos of everyday life here
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in the entropy of the world.
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Thank you that you ultimately did that through
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your work of salvation.
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Help us to see how you're bringing that
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life into the nitty-gritty details of our
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life, how you're breathing your life into our
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work, whatever it is today.
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Jesus, do your work in us as we
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do our work with you.
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Amen.
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Thanks for listening.
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Finding God at Work is a production of
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Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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life.
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You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
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listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
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of teaching on faith and work every Thursday.
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To get resources to go deeper with each
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podcast series, read our blog, and get info
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about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
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go to our website, missioncentral.church.