I Struck Another Nerve!

A few weeks back I blogged about our upcoming sermon series on the topic of work. The first half of the series will be called “Blue Collar God” and the second, “Undercover Boss.” I asked for your input on this topic and, wow, did I shake a tree! Obviously and understandably, you are interested. And why wouldn’t you be? One estimate is that during the 46 working years of our life (after childhood/school and before “retirement”) we spend 57% of our waking hours on the job.

For we thinking Christians who are trying to live our entire lives under the lordship of Jesus, this raises all kinds of questions. Is work a necessary evil, a product of the fall to be endured? Is work primarily an opportunity for us to evangelize our colleagues? Is the goal of work money? Retirement? Self-fulfillment?

What about Christians who use their purported faith to manipulate or even rip off other believers—I call that “getting brothered”? What about those whose work is entirely behind the scenes? Or the leader of a secular business who wants his company to be a witness for Christ? And what about the guy who hates his job?

The Bible has a lot to say about work…from the earliest chapters. The majority of Jesus’ parables dealt with images drawn from the work life of his time. In fact, all but three of Jesus’ adult years were spent as a small business owner!

So, for the coming weeks, we will dive into what the Bible has to say about work. Prayerfully, you will find it enlightening and encouraging. And you will find few sermon topics that are more user-friendly to your non-churched friends than this one. Bring them along…and let’s learn about work together.

Pastor Mark

P.S. The Youth Benefit raised $45,000 towards our intern program, a magnificent and generous start. We need $65,000 (including taxes and insurance) in order to maintain two full-time interns. If you have a gift you can make above your normal support to the church, it will be well used. Donate.