Working Before the Face of God

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Message: Work M3 September 21, 2008

Text: Psalm 139: 7-10; Col. 3: 22-24

Title: Working Before the Face of God

Big Idea: When we work “before the face of God” we will have a passion for quality, we will not idolize our work, and will love others through our work.

The other day, when my wife Sakiko was getting a shiatsu massage, the massage therapist asked her, “Who does your husband work for?” When my wife said, “He’s the pastor of Tenth Avenue Church.” The therapist said, “He works for God!”

People tend to assume that if you work for a church, or for some mission, you are working for God. Hopefully, those working in a church or in a mission are, in fact, working for God. Sometimes that’s not always clear!

In this series we have been affirming that regardless of what your line of work your work is, if that work is legitimate work, whether as a pastor, massage therapist, a student, mom or dad, an engineer, an artist, a plumber, a waiter or waitress, a custodian, you are, in fact, working for God.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about how when we work, we are co-creators with God. When we work, we are bringing to the world things that God intended for our earth. Last week I talked about how work is kind of playing field to get us done. God uses us to get work done and he uses work to get us done.

Today we are going to look at how all of our work, whether we are students or employed by an organization, whether we are paid or volunteers, is done coram deo, before the face of God.

David, in Psalm 139, asks us the question:

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

According to David, God is everywhere. In all that we do, God is present. God is not just here in a place of worship like this with people who gather explicitly to worship him, but God is everywhere.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Colossians 3:22-24:

Paul says:

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

A few years ago my wife and I had the opportunity to visit the Orsay Museum in Paris. In this painting, “The Angelus” by Millet, we see two peasants in the field praying. On the horizon we see a church steeple, apparently ringing the call for people to pray. If you look carefully at the sun’s rays, they do not fall on the steeple of the church, as you might expect, nor even on the couple as they pray, but they fall on the wheelbarrow and the pitchfork at the couple’s feet. What this painting seems to suggest is that God is present, not only in our church life and in our prayer life, but he is present in our work life, as well.

(It’s important to note that in Colossians 3 Paul is addressing all kinds of people living in all kinds of situations, including slaves. Paul here is not addressing whether slavery is legitimate or not. That’s not his point. The general thrust of Paul and Jesus’ writings actually would in time dismantle slavery in many places, but in this passage he’s not addressing whether slavery is legitimate; he’s simply addressing people in this letter who are slaves.)

Now slavery in the Roman Empire of Paul’s day was quite different from the slavery experienced here in North America 200 years ago. In Paul’s day about 1/3 of the people in the Roman Empire were salves. Slaves represented every profession. People voluntarily would sell themselves as slaves to better themselves economically, and then if things went well for slaves economically, they would buy their way out of slavery. So slavery in the Roman Empire is different from kind of slavery we might picture… but it was still hard. Slaves had few rights. They suffered in their work and yet Paul encourages them to work before the face of God.)

Now for many of us work is just plain hard… and if we find our selves abused or being crushed in our work, we have the freedom and likely a call to change our line of work…

But if we sense we are to remain in our jobs—even though there are aspects of our work that are hard and frustrating (every job has aspects are hard and frustrating at times—we live in a world affected by sin) Paul is calling us to see our work as coram deo, before the face of God.

What we do, we do coram deo, before the face of God. I believe that if we are really conscious of that, it will shape the way we do our work.

One of the ways it will change the way see work is that we will do our work with greater, passion, quality and integrity.

According to the Gallup polling group, 55 percent of employees have no enthusiasm for their work. One in five are so negative about their jobs that they poison the workplace to the point that their companies might be better off if they called in sick.

I really believe that would change for many of the 55% if they knew that their work was coram deo, before the face of God.

One of the implications of doing our work before the face of God is that we will do our work with quality and integrity. Jesus Christ, more than any other person on Earth, was conscious that he was doing his work before the face of his Father, before the face of God—coram deo.

As we know, and this is something that is affirmed both by people who follow Christ and those who don’t, Jesus was a master teacher….

We also know that from Justin Martyr, a well-known Christian scholar in the 2nd century, that Jesus Christ also did great work as a carpenter. Justin Martyr grew up over the hill from Galilee, where Jesus had spent most of his life and Martyr notes that the ploughs that were made by Jesus’ father Joseph and Jesus were still being widely used in his day. Jesus, as we would expect, in his work as a carpenter made ploughs and yokes that were built to last.

The Christian Shakers understood that their work was being done before the face of God, and this became their philosophy: “Make every product better that it’s ever been before. Make the parts you cannot see as well as the parts you can see. Use only the best of materials, even for the most everyday items. Give the same attention to the smallest detail as to the largest. Design every item you make to last forever.” “Each Shaker chair,” it was said, “was made fit for an angel to sit on.”

Part of the reason that Herman Miller Furniture a Fortune 1000 Company has developed some of the best office furniture in the world and part of the reason why it has been and has been ranked the 3^rd most innovative company and 3^rd most socially responsible company by the Fortune Magazine again identified Herman Miller as one of the best 100 companies to work for, is because its leaders across the decades from its founding in 1923 like CEO Max Depree, have recognized that their work is done before the face of God. Of course, not everyone who works at Herman Miller would be a Christian, but that value that they do their work before the face of God and not just for profit, but to serve human beings well, has affected the corporate culture of Herman Miller.

I know that from my own work experience, the knowledge that I do my work before the face of God has helped me to do better work than I would have otherwise have done.

As a boy of 10 I began delivering newspapers for the Vancouver Sun. When I was 13 years old, I became, what was called back then, a shack manager, the person who manages the other carriers from a local dispatch point. Part of the job involved my having to do the paper routes of kids who, for whatever reason, did not show up to do their papers. One day I remember a kid who didn’t show up for his paper route. He had a big route and it was pouring rain. So I had my paper bags full of papers and fastened with bungee cords on the rack that was attached to the handlebars of my bike, and rode out to this neighborhood that was on top of a hill. The rain was just pounding down, and I remember just taking all those newspapers and throwing them into the ditch, figuring, “Hey, people probably won’t miss a paper one day.”

I remember the Vancouver Sun calling me the next day and saying, “Hey! Someone reported there were 60 papers tossed into a ditch.” “I guess that was a bad call to toss the papers in the ditch… Sorry, I won’t do that again.”

When I committed my life to Christ a couple of years later, I slowly began to shift away from how I saw part-time jobs that I had growing up. My work performance started to improve, partly because I was simply maturing, but mostly because I was conscious of living and working before the face of God.

This was also true by the way in my school life. I went from being the student who, when the teacher stepped out of the class, would take my notes in front of the whole class and start shooting baskets into the trash—bottom of the class to being at the top… part of the growing, but a bigger change after giving my life to Christ, I was studying before the face of God.

When I have worked as a student stocking shelves at a drug store, when I worked as part of a large multi-national corporation in Tokyo, I also did those jobs with the sense that I was doing them before the face of God, in the same way that I am conscious that I doing my job before the face of God.

That knowledge motivates me to do better work with greater passion than I would otherwise. It means that I motivate with greater integrity than I would otherwise. Paul in Colossians 4 urges Masters to always do what is right for slaves for slaves since they too have a master in heaven. When I worked for a brief time as a columnist for a paper on Southern California, I resisted the temptation to exaggerate to add flourishes to the story that would make it more interesting, but were not factually true, knowing that I did my work Coram Deo before the face of God.

It doesn’t mean that my work is always great—in an objective way—I make all kind of mistakes, but it does mean that I work with great passion, quality, integrity than it would be otherwise. It is because I work coram deo, before the face of God, and that really motivates me.

Wayman: At this time I am going to invite Wayman Crosby, a member of this church, the leader of among other things our men’s ministry, to come and talk about what it has meant for him to work before the face of God.

I like work. I like to work hard and I like what work produces. I have always been like this. My father passed on a swimming pool business to me in my mid teens and I enjoyed the challenge and flexibility of being self employed. While other kids were working for 3 dollars an hour in retail or working evening hours in restaurants I had control over my schedule. I was able to make whatever money I needed by ramping up and taking a few more customers or getting my present customers to spend a little more on my service. Work served me well from an early age.

I kept this business all through high school and then University where I got a Commerce degree from UBC. A Business degree made sense, after all I had discovered I liked business. I am a goals kind of guy so I made goals and made them high. By 30 I set my eyes on my first million and went after it. While there is nothing wrong with setting high goals I was being challenged by what was driving me to make my goals. You see work is good but with success in any work comes temptations and I was finding my temptations. It is a temptation to really be serving yourself in work even while serving your customers. It is a temptation to find success and conclude that you are an important person. It is a temptation to like the things that success in work can produce materially and most of us like stuff – nice cars, nice houses, nice clothes. None of them bad in themselves, unless they get too important.

I think back to a time when I was working in Real Estate development and commuting primarily to the States. My business was strong and going well but as a family we were struggling. One of my kids had some real struggles where he needed his Dad. Somewhat fearfully because work was good, I made a very major career move so that I could stay home more with my family. By the worlds standards it was a crazy move and financially it cost me a lot for a long time but I felt at the time that I had to put my career on the altar for the sake of my family. The stakes were high and there was no guarantee for my family but in this instance I felt moved to put my work on the altar and offer it up before God. It was hard at the time but looking back now it was the right decision!

On another occasion I felt that the things that work can buy were getting a little too important for not only me but for my family as well. We went on a selling spree. We sold our house, luxury cars, vacation homes at Whistler and Kelowna – you see (we) wanted to rid ourselves of everything that might stand in the way of our relationship with God. We wanted to be open handed with God. It was not an easy transition as we had started to build our identities around our stuff.

Through the years regardless of the ups and downs of business a daily time with the Lord has been a very important place for me to check my heart with the Lord. I am blessed to have a disciplined temperament and so I use that to make sure that I check in daily with God. My wife laughs at me because I sit in my underwear on a cushion in our room with my Bible in my lap. You see I have to be careful to strip myself of the things that make me too comfortable and come before the Lord pretty naked because that’s what He sees anyhow. He gently guards my heart in our times together so that I can go into the world and offer up my daily work to God without totally falling into the temptations that work can produce.

I long that when I meet Him face to face He will say “well done Wayman, my good and faithful servant you have done well with what I have given you.” That’s what drives me – that’s what I truly long for!!

Penny: And now I am going to invite Penny Crosby who is married to Wayman and also a member of this church and the lead teacher of Community Bible Study that meets on Wednesday mornings here, to talk about what it means for her to do her work before the face of God.

Wayman and I just celebrated 28 years of marriage yesterday. How well I remember in the early years of marriage going to social business functions with my successful entrepreneur husband. I was terrified that anyone would ask me “what I do.” Stay at home moms were not valued in those days and especially in those settings and so trying to find an answer to that question, that somehow made me feel important, was next to impossible. So now all these years later Ken asks me to talk about “my work” and I am finally delighted to answer that question, even in front of all of you. I have finally figured out that the audience that matters the most to me is God.

Being a stay at home mom – my work was certainly not about how much money I made or the prestige that the position gave me or the amount of time off I could get and if we attached it to any of those things perhaps it didn’t even qualify as “work” at all. In fact do any of the things I have done qualify as work?

As a mom I cleaned bottoms and noses, counseled when I was given the chance, planned more meals than I would ever want to count, talked to teachers, and principals and sports coaches and parents. I loved it and hated it, I got tired, exhilarated, bored, challenged, overwhelmed and sometimes my only hope was that maybe God had called me to this and that I was joining Him in His work. I long to hear from Him that He is pleased with the work I have done. If the rating of how well I and other parents was based on how well our kids were doing then it would be a job that we could pass, fail, get an A or an Incomplete, all in the same day.

I have led a ladies Bible study for more than ten years now and am often asked how I can commit so many hours of my time and my energies. I get no financial pay for about 15 hours a week, at times I can be tempted to get tired of some of the organizational details that do not come easily to me but my motive there is my love for the scriptures and my love for people. Hearing how a child in our class invited Jesus into her heart on the way home from Bible Study one day and then became the local little evangelist to her 3 year old friends is quite amazing. Each day the mom would have a new convert in the back seat of her car. Watching women show up year after year and slowly see the way that God is making a difference in their lives makes all the hard work incredibly worthwhile. One young mom decided that if the God of the Old Testament could really handle all these difficult messed up families in the Bible then maybe she could trust God with her family. As a result of this growing trust her family decided not to abort a child that they had not planned for. We now look at this child and cant imagine life without her. Preparing each week for Bible study and especially looking after the details is not always easy but when you hear these sort of stories there is no question that it is worthwhile.

For many years we had students living in our home with our family – usually three at a time. Friends and associates thought it a crazy thing to do but what an incredible blessing it has been to our family and also to the students. I remember one young man who came to live with us when his own family life was very difficult and a bit of a mess. All we did was love this big guy and now years later he tells me that we saved him from making some really lousy choices at a key time in his life. I didn’t think we had anything special to offer him but apparently just being loved and given space to grow up was just what he needed. So again my “work” with the students consisted of cleaning, cooking meals, and being available should any of them decide that now was the time for a heart to heart. It was hard work and not always fun and seemingly important but I did feel God’s pleasure as I served!

I now run a Bed and Breakfast in Vancouver - so while people now pay me big bucks to stay in my place, I still do the same old stuff. I clean toilets, I make meals, I wait for opportunities to connect with the people in my home. Many may see this as drudgery and hard work, which it can be, but I like to focus my attention differently. I have had the same housekeeper for many years and I believe that she is having a slow and genuine introduction to Jesus. There is no pretense in my connection with Mary – she sees me as I am, the good and the bad and if Jesus really makes any difference in my life, she will see that. The other day she told me that if the Jesus I seemed to be serious about was for real then she wanted to know Him. I and my family are the ones God has chosen to reveal Himself to her and to all we come in contact with. WOW! What a privilege – what a responsibility!

So on one hand – I clean, I make meals, I make beds and more beds and I talk to people but on the other hand – I am an ambassador for the King of all Kings. I introduce people to the love of God by serving them – I have always worked out of my home so what you see is what you get with me. I am so far from perfect that it scares me some days but I am honored that God still chooses me, to care for and to feed, His chosen people.

That’s what I do…

Penny work as a mom, Bible study teacher, and a host to students and B & B guests in her home done before the face of God gives her a place to show God’s love to people.

If we do our work before the face of God, we will work with quality and passion and integrity. We will also not idolize our work. We will use our work as a context to love others.

Earlier in the message, I noted according to a Gallup study 55 percent of employees have no enthusiasm for their work…

Billions of dollars are spent each year by companies, trying to motivate their workers through motivational seminars and the like. It turns out that these have almost no long term impact on a worker’s motivation.

Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese? states he "believes research may one day reveal that the only long-lasting motivation for employees who bring it to work in the form of God, spirituality, or something else that causes them to 'rise to a higher purpose.

Perhaps the most powerful, long-term motivator for work is the knowledge that we do what we do coram deo, before the face of God…

Kids say, “Look at me! Look at me!” when they are playing or doing something that they want an adult to notice, but we all also have a need to see that what we do matters to someone. Whether we are young or old, whether our work is explicitly Christian, or not, whether it is paid or volunteer, we can know that our work matters to the most important person in the universe because we do our work coram deo, before the face of God.

That knowledge can fill us with passion for quality and integrity in our work. It can help prevent us from idolizing our work. It can encourage us to love other people in our work context. If really know who we’re working for--our worldly-work can become sacred.

Working Out Our Integrity (Sep 14, 08)

Message: Work M2 September 14, 2008

Title: Working Out Our Integrity
Ken Shigematsu and Jennifer Tong

Text: Col. 3:22-24; Daniel 1:1-16, Daniel 6:1-11

Big Idea: Work shapes who we are and who we are will last on into the world to come.

When I was in high school I played quarterback on the football team.

(I know I don’t look like a typical football player—but the pads make you look a little bigger and the black ink under your eyes can make look a little meaner).

When I was in high school, the game was played differently than today. As a quarterback, I was able to call about 90% of my own plays. I think today most of the offensive calls are made by the coach, but back in the 1980s when I was in high school, I was making most of the calls on the field. In the huddle there were always suggestions, of course, from my teammates as to what play to call--usually a play that would involve them getting the ball. So I would lean into the huddle, listen to the chatter for a moment, and then call the play, usually a 44 power dive because we had a great running back that could gain 4-6 yards a pop on that play.

During that year of football, not only did I enjoy the game, but I also learned some lessons about making decisions in a limited time frame when there were many voices. I learned something about managing the expectations of teammates. About noticing when they did well or could have done something better. I didn’t do this by any means perfectly--I made lots of mistakes that season, but I also learned a lot.

One of the great values of sports (and of course other extra-curricular activities like music or art) is that it gives you, not just a literal playing field, but a metaphorical playing field to learn to work with others and to develop your character.

We began a series here last week on how our faith relates to our work. Last Sunday we talked about how our work can become truly fulfilling when we understand that through our work, we are co-creating the things that God intended to bring into the world.

Today we are going to look at how work can be a playing field for us to grow our character so that we reflect more of the character of God.

We are not static beings—we become who we are as a result of our work. And who we are lasts on into eternity. If you work day after day as a plumber or a publisher that shapes who you are—and who you are will last on into eternity.

Last week we talked about how God uses us to get his work done.

Today we’re going to look how God uses work to get us done.

Work shapes who we are and who we will last on into the world to come.

Today we’re going to see how this was true in Daniel’s life.

Daniel was a character in the Bible who was a man of remarkable integrity, courage, and wisdom. He’s described in the Bible as a man with an excellent spirit. What a wonderful thing to have said of you by God, “You have an excellent spirit.”

If we were to think of a modern equivalent to Daniel—we might think of Nelson Mandela. Mandela has integrity, courage, wisdom and is a member of an oppressed people group.

Daniel is a great spiritual athlete.

How did he become this way?

As far as we know, Daniel was single and never had any children of his own (so he doesn’t have refining fire in that marriage and children can be in a person’s life).

Daniel becomes a great spiritual athlete in part because of the challenges he faces as a student and as working person.
Let me give you a little more background on Daniel, as he may be new to some of you.
As a young man Daniel’s homeland of Judah (the southern state of Israel) was besieged by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. In about the year 600 BC Daniel and a number of his contemporaries were deported from Judah (the southern state of Israel) to Babylon.
He was brought to Babylon as a potential leader in the Babylonian Empire. He was sent to the best university in his new realm. We have UBC here; they had UB, the University of Babylon.
While at the University of Babylon, Daniel and his Hebrew friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were seen as such great potential leaders that they had great privileges, much like a star football player might have at the USC or a star basketball player might have at Duke. When they were given some sumptuous meals to eat as part of the full-ride they were receiving at UB, the text tells us in verse 8 that Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
The likely reason why Daniel likely refused the food from the king’s table was that the sumptuous food that he and his classmates were being offered had first been offered to the Babylonian gods, and for Daniel to eat that food would have violated his conscience.
It may also have been that eating food from the king’s table was a sign in Daniel’s culture that he was accepting the lordship of the King Nebuchadnezzar. By refusing the food, Daniel refuses to acknowledge the king as a lord over him, and instead is able to demonstrate through his actions that the Lord God is his God.
Daniel and his three Hebrew friends courageously refused on eat at the King’s table and instead ate a simple diet of vegetables to eat and water to drink (and ended up, with God’s help being healthier and better nourished than any of the other young men who ate the royal food).
This challenging trial no doubt strengthened Daniels spiritual muscles as an athlete for God.
Some years after graduation, and now under the reign of the new king Darius, Daniel was promoted and became one of the 3 leading governors in the whole Babylonian Empire--a remarkable achievement as a member of a looked-down-upon, minority group. Daniel as I said, is described as a man having an excellent spirit with great integrity and wisdom, a leader we might associate in our own day with Nelson Mandela…
But, Daniel’s government colleagues were envious of him and tried to get some dirt on him, but they were unable to find any. So they decided to set a trap for him. They went to the king and appealed to his vanity and encouraged him by saying, in Daniel 6: “Oh, King Darius, live forever.” And then they urged him (verse 7) to pass an edict that would make it illegal for anyone to pray to any god or human being for the next 30 days, except to the king. The king was flattered by this idea and decreed the law (the punishment for breaking this law would be death at the mouths of hungry lions). When Daniel learned that this law had been published, he nonetheless went home to his upstairs room where the window was open towards Jerusalem.
We read in vs. 10: 10 Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.
And so the men who were trying to trap Daniel witnessed him praying to the living God, and brought the matter to the king. Daniel was thrown into a den of hungry lions, but God sent the angel of the Lord to protect him.
This past Tuesday a black bear attacked a fisherman aboard a powerboat at the Port Renfrew marina. Bruce Miller saw what was happening and sprang into action. He ran out of his boat, I grabbed his fishing gaff -- my halibut gaff--a pole with hook on it went after the bear… others came to help with gaffs, a hammer and filleting knife and the man was saved. We admire people who are willing to risk their lives to save others.
Daniel was willing to risk his life for God…
And Daniel’s courage muscles as an athlete get powerfully developed through this drama.
(Transition) It’s possible to face great challenges as a student and at our work and simply experience a meltdown. Daniel could have caved in and eaten at the king’s table or not prayed.
So what are some of practices that enable Daniel to flourish and not flop as student and worker so that he was able to become a great spiritual athlete for God?
One of the practices Daniel had that enabled him to flourish and become a spiritual athlete as a student and in the workplace was resolution before God to be a person of integrity.
In Daniel 1: 8 we read: 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
We see Daniel resolving not to defile himself with the royal food and wine that been sacrificed to the Babylonian gods.
Part of way God gets us “done” through our work is by placing in us a desire and vision to be people of integrity.
Don Flow is Christian businessman who owns some car dealerships in North Carolina, and through a self-study at their company he discovered that the Caucasian males were getting the best deals on cars and minority women the worst deals.
A study was done with people who were posing as customers at car dealerships and reported by Malcolm Gladwell who writes for the New Yorker--some white men, some white women, some black women and some black men. After lengthy negotiations the black men still ended up with a price that was nearly $800 more than what the white men were offered without having to negotiate at all!
So Don Flow realized that black men and women, many of whom were of lower income, were in effect subsidizing the car purchases of Caucasian males because they were paying more than the market value of the cars, and therefore white males could purchase the cars for less than the market value.
Don, a follower of Christ, felt convicted to stop this and fix a fair market price the cars for everyone—men, women, white, minorities. Don said, “As a Christian I believe we have to be willing to sacrifice some financial profit in order to fulfill justice.” The workers, even those who were not Christians agreed.
And they found that when they implemented this practice of a fixed price for everyone, their profits dropped by 10%, as Caucasian males tended to shop elsewhere. The employees talked about this profit loss and the same issue came up as to whether to stop this new practice of fixing prices and to go to the old system, since the new system was hurting their bottom line.
The employees agreed that what they were doing was right and began to implement best practices in terms of business and become more effective and efficient. After some months with best practices they were able to reduce their profit loss to 5%, relative to what they had before they had the policy. As far as I know, they did not completely close the gap. But the employees are proud to be part of the company, and they realize they are pressing value back into the community as people save money, and through these practices the people in the company become people of greater integrity and justice.
But this process of character change began because Don and his colleagues resolved to do what was right, even though it cost them the goodwill of certain customers and financially.
Like Daniel and Don, when we resolve to the right thing, with God’s help we can become the spiritual athletes who grow through the challenges we face at work and school.
Second, Daniel is able to flourish as a spiritual athlete and not flop because he has friends who share his values and trust in God.
When Daniel was tested at the University of Babylon by being offered the food that had been sacrificed to the gods, he consulted with his friends and they talked about it, and no doubt prayed together, and decided to band together and decline the food from the king’s table. Later in his life, when Daniel is called upon by the king to interpret the dreams of the king had that the magicians and the chanters cannot decipher, Daniel turns to his friends for support and asks then to pray.
As a new parent I was a little disturbed to come across this finding. According to research cited by Judith Harris in her book, The Nurture Assumption, the peer group, more than the parents, of a child is the most important shaper of his or her psyche. She says for example, children of immigrants learn the language of their home country with ease and speak with the accent of their peers rather than of their parents. Children identify with more their classmates and playmates and their peers, rather than their parents, and modify their behaviour to fit the peer group. This ultimately shapes the character of the individual. Harris is not saying that parents don’t matter, but the peers exercise more influence over a child’s development than a parent. We may not agree with her thesis, but we know that our peers have a powerful influence on who we are.
Part of the way we grow as people is by having friends who can walk with us in the journey of integrity and growth in character as we face challenges in school and the work place.
Third, we see Daniel flourishing as a spiritual athlete because he experiences the life giving power of God as he prays.
In chapter 6, even though it could very well cost him his life, he prays 3 times a day in a place that is visible to others. Through the book of Daniel we see him praying for wisdom to interpret dreams, for courage.
Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
God gets us “done” in our workplace as we resolve to be people of integrity, as we walk with friends who can encourage us in our journey, and as we pray and receive the life of God. We may pray before our meals, but do we pray before we face decisions at work? Before we engage in a business negotiation? Before we care for a patient? Do we pray and seek the aid of the living God?
How can people, who resolve to be people of integrity, have friends who encourage us on the journey and receive life of God through prayer.
This happens as we give every of part us that we know to every part of Christ that we know.
I’ve talked before about how my friend Charlie Olcott was faced with a very difficult situation. As a chief financial officer of a major fast food company, he was asked to exaggerate the potential future earnings of the company to inflate the stock price so that the company could be sold off in a way that the executives could reap a financial windfall.
Charlie had just entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ and he did not know what to do. He spent the whole night in the hotel, before he was scheduled to make a presentation on the future earnings of this major fast food chain, praying for guidance to Jesus. He was convinced Jesus led him to make the right decision—to tell the truth, even though that decision cost him 7 figures of income.
At this time I am going to invite Jennifer, who along with her husband Andrew and their young son Daniel , are a part of Tenth Avenue Church, to share about how her experience in her field of work as a medical doctor has shaped who she is.
As is the case with anyone who speaks here, you may not agree with all that she says, and if you find yourself objecting to certain perspectives, please raise those issues with me. I am grateful for the courage that she has demonstrated in being willing to come up and talk about her work.
Testimony/interview with Jennifer Tong
Sep

Holy Employed (Sep. 07, 08)

Holy Employed Sept 7, 2008
Ken Shigematsu

I remember well my first day at school. We were living in London, England. I was sitting on my mom’s lap with a white short-sleeved collared shirt and grey wool flannel shorts. We were meeting with the headmistress of the school in her office. I had a coin wrapped in foil that I handed her—my lunch money…

I recall well some of those first days of school… sitting on the floor—looking at pictures on the wall of a bike, a dog, a house… and putting sentences in my mind together like, “This is a bike.” “This is a dog.” “This is a house.” That felt like hard work.

When we were students, whether in elementary school, junior high, high school or university, school feels like work… that’s why we call school work, school work or homework.

After you finish school and you begin to work in a job that obviously does feel likes work.

If you are unemployed and looking for work, that is definitely work. Looking for work can be a full-time job!

Being a mom or dad is certainly work… especially, if you’re the parent of a young child—that is an all consuming, around the clock job.

When you retire, you are probably going to be very active. At least, the retired people I know are very active. They have no shortage of things to do. They aren’t bored. One retired person said, “I wake up with nothing to do, but by the end of the day I realize I’m only ½ done.”

If we’re a typical person, we will spend most of our waking hours of our lives working.

Throughout history, from the earliest days, work has been viewed by many people as bad.

In the Babylonian myth of the earths origins, the Enuma Elish, there is a battle of the gods and Marduk, the highest god of the victorious side, creates a world from the body of his arch enemy Tiamat. All the gods say, “Now that you have created the earth, you have to work to keep it up!” Marduk says, “I will create a lowly creature called ‘man’ to take care of it.” In this account of creation the gods are above work and they create man to do what they don’t want to do.

The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle viewed work as a kind of necessary evil. We put in our time at work, so we can then enjoy leisure.

And today there are numerous evidences of how people view work as bad.

There is a bumper sticker that says, “I am in no hurry. I am going to work.”

There is bumper sticker, “I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.”

“I live for the weekend…” I.e. my real life occurs when I’m doing something other than my work.

Or people talk about “Freedom 45 or 55,” meaning that they are able to retire at 45, or 55, or 35 from work, they will truly be free. Then they will have a real life.

Or if we have to work, the ideal job is one where we don’t have to really work.

I remember when I was living in Los Angeles, my friend Todd approached me and said, “Do you know what the best job in the world is? The best job is to be a second-string quarterback in the pro football. All you do is stand on the sidelines with a baseball cap, a headset and a clipboard. You don’t really do anything but you make millions of dollars.” Work is not that bad if you don’t have really work in your work.

But is work a necessary evil? Is work a four-letter word? Do we only work so that we can enjoy recreation and leisure?

The Word of God, the Bible gives us a much more hope-filled and meaningful way to view work.

This morning we are going to begin a series on work and faith. We are going to begin by starting at the beginning of the Bible (We’re not going to work our way through the Bible. We are going to begin at the beginning in Genesis.)

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Genesis and turn to Genesis 1:26-27.

(As you turn--I want to gratefully acknowledge the inspiration and idea for the general structure of this message that I received from Bryan Wilkerson a pastor of a church I intended in Boston when I was in seminary).

26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:1-8:
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth [a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams [b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man [c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
Genesis 2:15:
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
In Genesis 1 we read that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus said in John 5:17: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working."
Because God only does what is good, the fact that God works means that work is intrinsically good. It is good in and of itself.
It’s important to note before Adam and Eve turned away from God in the Garden of Eden, before they sinned and certain curses came into the world because of sin, Adam and Eve were working… so work is NOT part of our world as result of our world being under a curse because of sin. Human beings were working before sin came into the world. AND according to Jesus in Luke 19 in the life to come we will be working…
In the very first pages of the Bible we see that God is doing what we might call both “white collar” and “blue collar” work. God is doing white collar work as he makes “executive plans” for the universe. We see God working as a kind of architect, designing the universe—God is doing white collar work.
But we also see God getting his hands dirty. In Genesis 2 we read that God formed man out of the dust of the earth.
We see God getting his hands in the dirt to create man. He then blows into man’s nostrils the very breath of life. (The name Adam by the way literally means “from the earth.”).
In Genesis 2:9 we also read that God is a gardener, planting trees, and crops…
So when we work, whether we work in so called white collar or blue collar job—we reflect the character of a God who does while and blue collar work.
Miroslav Volf, the Croatian theologian who now teaches at Yale, says that when we work we are co-creators with God.
We read in Genesis 2:8 the Lord God planted a garden in the East in Eden and then he put the man he had formed in the garden. In Genesis 2:15 we read that the LORD God took the man into the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
In Genesis 2 vs. 5, we read “Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth [a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground.” Part of reason there we no shrubs on the earth is because there was no human being to work the ground.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:7 says, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” The Apostle Paul here is using agriculture as a metaphor, but he could have been speaking literally, too. We may plant the seed. Someone else may water that seed, and God causes it to grow. God’s work is done in partnership with us. God has arranged life in such a way that he cooperates with human beings so that his purposes are fulfilled.
The respected British pastor, John Stott, tells the story about a Cockney gardener who is showing the pastor the beauty of the garden has he tended with its flowers in full bloom and its borders perfectly trimmed. The pastor was deeply impressed and he broke out into spontaneous praise of God. The gardener was not very happy, however, that God should get all the credit. He said, “You should have seen this garden when God had it all to himself.” The gardener, as Stott points out was right. Without a human gardener that garden would not have been what it was.
This idea of co-creating with God applies to all legitimate work. Your work may not feel particularly spiritual, but if it is legitimate work, you are co-creating with God.
Many of us here have the practice of pausing before a meal to thank God for our food (prop).
But, when you think about it, there are a lot of people we could thank God for when we thank him for our food--the farmers who grew and harvested the food, scientists who helped the farmers produce good crops, the bankers who helped the farmer with the loan, the farm equipment manufacturers, the truck drivers, the people who built the road over which the food is transported, the distributors, the supermarket employees, people preparing the food at home or in the restaurant. If you are a scientist or a truck driver, you may not think of your work as being particularly spiritual, but when you look down the line and you realize that your work is helping to feed people, and then you can know that in your work you are co-creating with God.
Think about beauty (prop). Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, “The poor need beauty as much as bread because they live in ugliness all the time.” (That statement reflects some of the more pronounced profound lifestyle differences of different social classes in the 16th century, but we all need both beauty and bread). We all need bread, but we also need beauty. If you work as an artist, a musician, writer, film maker, a designer, in fashion industry, hair dresser, photographer, a gardener, you’re creating something that people desperately need—beauty.
Now think about your work—whether paid or volunteer….
If you trace your work (in may not be food or beauty related) forward and can consider what it is ultimately producing, do you see that work as being something you co-create something with God?

Pause

Your work may not be that glamorous.
As a new father, my job description over the summer was to change diapers for our son Joe. Changing diapers is not the most glamorous job in the world, but it is necessary for the health of a baby.
Your job, if it not changing diapers, may feel like changing diapers. It may be unpleasant at some level but perhaps it is necessary for the health of some organization or community.
Last year as we found out rather dramatically through the city of Vancouver strike, garbage collectors are indispensable part of our economy.
Garbage collectors are in a working partnership with God.

Now if you are working as a drug dealer, or you are working in the sex trade (I realize you may be doing this against your will, you may feel trapped), or you are in the gambling industry, as you trace your work forward, while you may say that it seems like my work creates pleasure for people or some entertainment, in the balance if your work seems to crush people rather than build them up, if it seems to thwart God’s purposes more than advance them, it may that you need to consider the possibility of changing your line of work if you can (I realize that many people in the sex trade feel trapped there).
In some jobs it is not really black and white as to whether work is ultimately good or evil, but, in the balance, if your work seems to be more at odds with God’s purposes in concerts advancing him, then you might consider changing your work.
But if it is legitimate work, then we can know that in your work that you are co- creating with God.
So whether you are working in architecture, engineering, or construction, in the trades, the arts, entertainment, hospitality, working in the home, education, medicine, law, business, journalism, government, social services—we could go on and on—you are co-creating with God in serving the needs of human beings, helping them fulfill their purpose.
Do you see yourself as co-creating with God?
It is possible for two people to be in exactly the same kind of job, but have a very different perspective on it. The story is told of a man who was walking down a country lane. He came across a stone quarry in which a number of men were working. He asked several of the men about what they were doing, and the first replied irritably, “Can’t you see I am breaking stone?” The second answered without looking up, “I am working for 20 bucks an hour.” When asking the same question of a third person, he stopped, put his pick down, stood up, stuck out his chest and said, “You want to know what I am doing? I am building a cathedral.”
It is a matter of how far we can see. The first person could not see beyond his pick, the second person beyond Friday, his pay day. The third person looked beyond his tools and his wages to the ultimate end he was serving. He was cooperating with the architect.
If you’re a student, do you only see as far the next quiz or exam? Or do see how your education is shaping you right now and will enable you to fulfill your life calling? Mark Twain said when he was leaving home at seventeen years of age he was appalled how ignorant his parents were. When he returned, at twenty-one he was very happy to see how much his parents had learned during his four-year absence! Students, as you study you are growing and being prepared with broader and deeper perspectives that prepare for your life in this world and the world to come.
Finally, if we are people with faith in God… believe in Scriptures… not only will we see our work as significant in this life, but we can see our work having eternal significance.
In some cases it’s obvious.
In the 16 century Gutenberg thought about how to apply the force of a wine press and combining that with a coin press--and invented the printing press.
All of us here are who we are in part because of what we’ve learned in books—and what we have become will carry over into the next world…. So Gutenberg’s invention was obviously not just an income generating invention, but had eternal significance.
In the film version of the Mitch Albom’s book, The Five People We Meet in Heaven, Eddie (John Voight) works as an amusement park maintenance man for most of his life. After he dies, he meets five people who help him bring meaning and understanding to his life.
The scene begins with Eddie, already having died, walking out of the ocean. He sees the large amusement park where he worked, and walks in. Several hundred people are there, welcoming him, smiling at him, nodding at him, happy to see him.
The narrator says: "All the accidents he had prevented, all the lives he had kept safe—and all their children, and all their children's children—there because of the simple things that he did, day after day."
One day God will reveal to us the impact of all we did for him and for people, no matter how big or small.
Every day, I am grateful for the home we live in. It’s a modest home, but so many special things have happened here in the 6 years we’ve lived here. Some of the most significant things in life happen in the ordinary routines of conversations and meals with people there….
I have never met the architect or the carpenters who made, but I am grateful for them.
I am grateful for the work of our real estate agent who, of course, I have met.
I am grateful for this Ergo Carrier (show it). It has helped create a bond with me and our newborn son—as everyday for the first 6 weeks of his life, I used to take him to the top of Queen Elizabeth Park and back. So, though the carrier itself will not the last, the bond will and I’d like to meet the person who created this. What we make itself may not last (like the carrier), but the blessing it imparts may last forever.
So many people hop from job to job looking for more fulfilling work. If we feel like we are in a job that fundamentally crushes our spirit, or is not serving the common good, or is not using our potential, then it is legitimate to change our work—that’s out privilege Then it may be the best thing to do.
Later in this series David Bentall and I are going to talk about calling, finding our unique calling, using our gifts.
But it may that in order for us to find fulfillment in our work, for some of us it may not be about changing jobs, but about finding God in our jobs…
Work doesn’t not have to be seen as necessary evil or a four letter word, because we can find fulfillment in providing for ourselves through work, providing for others through our work, providing for causes we believe through our work, but for those of us who know the living God, we can find joy in our working, knowing that through our work we are co-creating the things that God intended to create.