quarter 4: gospel calling - flourish collective · 2016. 10. 13. · there is a great scene in the...

QUARTER 4: GOSPEL CALLING

QUARTER 4

GOSPEL CALLING

05 ABOUT SURGE09 BLESS RHYTHMS11 VOCATIONAL PRACTICES14 WEEK 1: VOCATION AND A REJOICING CITY16 WEEK 2: VOCATION AND THE TRUE STORY19 WHATEVER YOU DO: WHY DISCIPLESHIP IS WITHERING–AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT28 WEEK 3: WORK AS SERVICE31 WORK AS SERVICE41 GOD, THE GREAT JANITOR44 WEEK 4: EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY WORK47 EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY WORK58 WEEK 5: CALLING (PT. 1)60 WEEK 6: CALLING (PT. 2)62 WEEK 7: CALLING (PT. 3)65 FIND YOUR LIFE CALLING74 WEEK 8: PROXIMATE JUSTICE77 THE POSTURES OF PROXIMATE JUSTICE83 ENDNOTES

SELECTED READING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

KINGDOM CALLINGby Amy Sherman

Cultural trends toward privatism and materialism threaten to dis-integrate our faith and our work. And the church, in ways large and small, has itself capitulated to those trends. In the process, we have, in ways large and small, subverted our kingdom mandate. God is on the move, and he calls each of us, from our various halls of power and privilege, to follow him–to steward your faith and work toward righteousness.

Used by permission. | Version: 2.0

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ABOUT SURGE

WHAT IS SURGE?There is a great scene in the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones where the Spirit comes upon God’s people at Pentecost just as the resurrected Jesus had promised.

They threw open the shutter. Sunlight flooded their room, as love had flooded their hearts. And the little room was filled with happy noises. Dancing feet, singing, laughing. They unlocked the door and surged out into the streets - as if they had never been afraid.

Surge was developed in 2008 when pastors from four churches in Phoenix got together and began asking the question, “How can we work together to train leaders for our churches so that we can see disciples surge out into every part of our city?” What developed is a unique one-year leadership training school with many churches involved.

AN OVERVIEWJesus is the center of the story. In terms of the Gospel message, He is the hero. In terms of world history, he is the centerpoint. In terms of the redemptive

plan of God, Christ is the means by which redemption occurs.

As we examine the Gospel (or the good news of Jesus) and appropriate it to our lives, it is important that we have a robust understanding not only of the message of the Gospel, but also of the power of the Gospel in our lives. Surge is a training tool designed to give you biblical lenses to see your life in the context of the greater work that God is doing in creation and also the specific work that God is doing in you to be a blessing to your world and show His love to those he brings along your path.

Your study will progress through four main stages of understanding and applying the Gospel. The first will focus on the Gospel story and finding your place in the drama of the biblical narrative. This is a macro view of God’s big story.

Second, we will focus in on the application of the Gospel to our hearts and lives as the Holy Spirit continues to shape our thinking, attitude and actions through His Word.

Third, we will seek to develop a view of the larger purpose of God’s People

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in the mission that God has given to us while we have breath in our lungs.

Lastly, we will examine the Kingdom value of our vocation. This last section will help us to develop an understanding of our calling as Christ-centered people working in various locations and vocations.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS1. Individual Study. Every participant is responsible to read all the material in the books and reader.

2. Surge Table. This is the primary learning environment for Surge. It is a weekly meeting where participants discuss the reading and bring out the implications for life and leadership. Participants are challenged by their table leader and others at their table to live out the implications of the Gospel.

3. Intensives. There will be 4 intensives throughout the year. These are an important classroom-learning environment for Surge. The intensives feature first-rate scholars and front-line church leaders from around the country.

CORE DISTINCTIVES1. Theological Vision of Leadership. While the Surge school is not linked with any one denomination or theological school, we do ground our leadership in a robust theology. Surge has been influenced by and is in some ways a collaboration of the thought of Mike Goheen, Chris Wright, and Tim Keller.

2. Local Church Based. Surge is not a para-church ministry. We do not train leaders for your churches. Surge is simply a structure that local church pastors and elders use to work together

to train leaders within our local churches. In order for Surge to start in a new church, a senior leader must first go through a Surge table.

3. Holistic Education. Surge is not simply the acquisition of information. It is not less than that, but more. Surge contains three specific learning environments in which each student must participate. Together these environments provide a context for all-of-life discipleship.

4. Strategic Curriculum. The curriculum for Surge is based on a four-quarter system, in which the content of each quarter builds on the previous one and follows a big-small-big-small motif:

Quarter 1: Gospel Story - The Drama of Scripture by Mike Goheen

Quarter 2: Gospel and Heart - You Can Change by Tim Chester

Quarter 3: Gospel Mission - Mission of God’s People by Chris Wright

Quarter 4: Gospel Calling - Kingdom Calling by Amy Sherman

Having established a foundation in the Grand Story of the Bible (Q1), we seek to apply the Gospel to our own hearts (Q2). We then ask what is the specific mission of God’s people (Q3) before finally talking about how to faithfully lead in light of all we’ve learned in our vocations and neighborhoods (Q4).

SURGE TABLESEach time your Surge Table meets, you will be led through the content for that particular week. We’ve developed a weekly guide to assist you through the content for that particular week.

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Assignments. The reading and writing assignments are listed for the current week.

Learning Objectives. This portion is a set of objectives for your personal time as you wrestle with the content for that particular week.

Table. This gives a basic flow for your time together as a group. Your table leader will lead these portions, but it will be important for you to think about how you will engage in this time.

Red Dot. This is a regular activity to orient your table to where you are at–personally, relationally, spiritually, etc. The concept comes from the red dot that is placed on maps to indicate “You are here” and is a simple way to encourage really getting to know each other.

Journal. When you read, work through assignments, meet as a group, etc., utilize this section to make notes and capture thoughts so that you can either discuss them with your table or remember them yourself.

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BLESS RHYTHMSThe Heartbeat of Surge

As you work through the material, keep in mind that true theology is not only grasped in the mind but is practiced in life. The following acronym may be helpful for you as you seek to apply what you are learning to your life. The acronym “BLESS” will assist you as you walk through your everyday life. Each letter contains an action that you can engage in on a regular basis. The BLESS rhythms ought to cause you to think about the regular flow of your life and assist you in noticing areas where your theology is being applied or denied.

The Bless Rhythms will give practical guidance for how we love our neighbor. This is the imperative, but it sits on a powerful indicative. The indicative is that you have been made new and have been predestined for a good work that God has called you to before the world was even created (Ephesians 2:10). So, as we go throughout our weeks, we understand that because of Christ, we have the strength to live in new ways and to love God by loving others (John 13:34-35). The Bless Rhythms offer a helpful method for developing a regular and ongoing pattern of blessing those in our lives.

B - BLESSThis is a tangible blessing, no matter how ordinary or small. The focus is experienced blessing. In deciding who you choose to bless, challenge yourself to bless someone in the following areas on a regular basis:

• Unbeliever

• Christ-follower

• Stranger (someone not like you)

L - LISTENJohn Stott is remembered for pointing to Karl Barth’s suggestion to “take the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” God speaks to us and calls us into action through the events of our everyday life. On a regular basis, how do you listen in the following two categories:

• God - vertical

• World / Culture / Others - horizontal

E - EATThere is something disarming and revealing about sharing a meal with someone. It has been said that Jesus

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“ate his way through the gospels.” When you think about eating with someone, realize, this could be simply a cup of coffee or a full meal. One healthy goal is to have someone share a meal with you in your home. On a regular basis, eat with the following:

• Unbeliever

• Christ-follower

• Stranger (someone not like you)

S - SPEAKWe must communicate the truth of this good news as we go throughout our lives. Ray Bakke has said that “we are not in the advice business...we are in the news business.” Our role is to communicate the good news of Christ. We ought to communicate in the following directions on a regular basis:

• God

• Other / Stranger

S - SABBATHPurposeful rest is a commandment of God. To display our trust, not in ourselves, but in Him. Resting is one of the best ways to combat the idolatry of our culture. Also, recreating is worship and an excellent display of Kingdom joy! Find Sabbath in the following two ways on a regular basis:

• Resting

• Recreating

THE CENTERPIECE OF YOUR TABLEThe Bless Rhythms are the very center piece of your Surge Table. The goal of this Surge process is to not just have theoretical discussions concerning the

implications of what you read, but to cultivate a life of blessing by filtering everything you read through the lens of the Bless Rhythms. Each time your table meets, keep in mind that the point of meeting, reading, journaling, etc., is to foster an active life of blessing. The Bless Rhythms ought to become an integral component of this lifestyle.

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VOCATIONAL PRACTICESReimagining Work Through the Biblical Story

Each week we will reflect on how specific occupations fit within the Biblical story. The way we perceive work is often shaped by unbiblical worldviews, so the purpose of this exercise is to help us re-imagine our various occupations in light of the Biblical story we learned in Quarter 1.

As you read and engage with the material for each week, take some time to reflect on the work of a particular occupation (listed below). As you reflect, utilize the four main areas of reflection (listed below) to guide your thinking and give you a grid of questions to consider as you ponder this particular vocation in light of the biblical story. Finally, take a few moments to express appreciatiom for this occupation by contacting someone within that field with a thank you note, text or email to honor their good work.

Make sure to journal as you ask yourself these questions, so that your table can be enriched by your discoveries and gratitude towards these various vocational callings.

OCCUPATIONS (BY WEEK)1. Teacher

2. Small Business Owner

3. Sanitation Truck Driver

4. Insurance Agent

5. Engineer

6. Landscaper

7. Parent

8. Server (at a restaurant)

WORK AND CREATIONGenesis 1-2 & Ephesians 5:1-2

The Bible says that humans are made in the image of God and it specifically calls us to be imitators of God.

How does this particular occupation, when done well, reflect God’s attributes or actions?

Examples: wisdom, power, restoration, incarnation, etc.

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WORK AND THE FALLGenesis 3

Because of the Fall, human work is marked by pain and struggle.

What are the unique challenges of working in this field?

How might this occupation be used to serve idols or harm others?

WORK AND LOVEMatthew 22:35-40 & Jeremiah 29:4-7

Jesus called us to love our neighbors as ourselves. One of the primary ways we obey that command is by doing good work.

How does this occupation contribute to the flourishing of our neighbor when it’s done well?

WORK AND REDEMPTIONColossians 1:15-21 & 1 Corinthians 15:58

How is Jesus the good news to the particular pains associated with this work?

How might the Gospel change the way people approach this particular work?

- - -

THANK YOU NOTENow that you have reflected on the importance of this work, we encourage you to write a thank you note, send a text message, or an email to someone who works in this field to honor their good work.

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The flourishing of the righteous is a cause for rejoicing because to truly view our prosperity in light of the Gospel means that our wealth is not a means of self-enrichment or self-aggrandizement but a vehicle of blessing for others. Everyone benefits from the success of the righteous.

ASSIGNMENTS• Book: Kingdom Calling “Introduction” & Chapter 1 & 2

LEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter this week’s reading you should be able to:

• Explain the importance of the “pink spoon” theology that we carry with us as God’s People

• Recognize what justice looks like for a Christ-follower who is being shaped by the Gospel

• Describe what it means to be the tsaddiqim today

VOCATIONAL PRACTICEFocus on this vocation, using the Vocational Practice section (p. 11):

TEACHER

Sherman says “...it is the task of the church–Christ’s body–to enact and embody foretastes of the coming realities of that kingdom.” Where do you see foretastes of God’s kingdom? In what ways can you enact these foretastes in your work?

Concerning the tsaddiqim (“the righteous”), who came to your mind when you were reading? Or who in your life embodies the qualities of the tsaddiqim?

Why do you think the city rejoices when the righteous prosper?

GUIDEVocation and a Rejoicing City

TABLEDiscuss Together & Challenge Each Other

WEEK

01

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JOURNALNotes, prayer items, bless rhythms, etc.

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It is good news to know that through faith in Jesus you are saved from sin, hell and death, but to stop there misses your purpose in the here and now. You have been saved not only from something, but for something. You have been saved for the purpose of being a partner with God in his work of restoring all things.

ASSIGNMENTS• Book: Kingdom Calling Chapter 3 & 4• Reader: Whatever You Do


• Explain what is the “too-narrow Gospel”• Differentiate between views of “Stewardship”, “Economics” and

“Oikonomia”


SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

How would you describe the “too-narrow Gospel”? Sherman mentions the songs we sing in worship, but can you think of other ways this is expressed?

In what ways does a “too-narrow Gospel” influence the way we live as people who ought to give foretastes of justice and shalom in our world?

Forster says, “Productivity means making the world a better place through our work.” Discuss this definition of productivity compared to the type of productivity which is encouraged primarily to increase a bottom line.

GUIDEVocation and the True Story


WEEK

02

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WHATEVER YOU DO: WHY DISCIPLESHIP IS WITHERING–AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT ITby Greg Forster

Whatever you do, work heartily...you are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24

In America today, millions of churchgoers are “Christians” for only a few hours a week. For them, Christianity is a leisure-time activity rather than a way of life. The withering of discipleship is one of the gravest threats facing the American church today. We urgently need to recover the calling to whole-life discipleship. Christianity cannot be what it claims to be if it is only a set of special activities we engage in for a few hours a week.

The main cause of the problem is that churches have disconnected discipleship from everyday life. Too often, pastors talk about our “walk with God” and “stewardship” almost exclusively in terms of formally religious activities like worship, small group attendance, Bible study, evangelism, and giving. As crucial as these activities are for every Christian, they will never take up more than a tiny percentage of life for those who are not full-time religious professionals.

Unfortunately, the largest portion of life – our work in our homes, jobs, and communities – is excluded from the understanding of discipleship and stewardship taught in most churches. As a result, these churches have nothing spiritually powerful to offer for the activities that define most of our time during the other six days of the week. This leaves us preaching a faith that is not relevant to the totality of people’s lives. It also risks the rise of a legalism in which discipleship is equated with religious works. By equipping people for lives characterized by fruitful work and economic wisdom, churches can restore a model of discipleship that extends to all of life.

Focusing the attention of the church on work and the economy is not a movement away from evangelism and personal conversion. It is a movement toward them. Conversion to Christ is not a mere transitory act of the will; it is a conversion of the entire person to an entire life of repentance and discipleship in the Kingdom. A person has not converted if he has not begun to live a new life, and we do not evangelize if we do not invite people to begin living that life now. Therefore, it is a core function of the church – one that is not

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in tension with, but a necessary part of evangelism – to equip God’s people to live into whole-life discipleship in economic work.

STEWARDSHIP AND CALLING: RECONNECTING OIKONOMIA WITH OIKONOMIAStewardship and calling are essential theological concepts if the church seeks to renew whole-life discipleship. Every legitimate human activity responds to a calling from God, and that calling is best understood as a calling to stewardship. God makes every human being responsible for some portion of his creation, and he calls that person to be, in all of life, a good steward over it.

In most churches today, stewardship only means giving and volunteering at church. But in both scripture and historic Christian theology, we find a concept of stewardship that encompasses our whole lives. Stewardship is primarily about who we are, not what we do, and how we cultivate the world in all our activities.125 Whatever you do, Paul says in Colossians 3:23-24, work heartily, because whatever you do, you are serving the Lord Christ! Our individual discipleship, our church communities, our participation in homes and workplaces, and our witness to society at large must recover a holistic theology of stewardship and calling. We must reintegrate our model of discipleship with the call to cultivate the world.

It is no coincidence that “stewardship” comes from the same Greek word (oikonomia) as “economics,” which refers to the management of things in the world. Good stewardship is good management of things in the world.

Unfortunately, churches usually limit their concept of how we serve God (stewardship) to formally religious activities. This radically separates it from our management of the creation order (economics). A holistic theology of oikonomia would reintegrate a God-centered commitment to whole-life discipleship with a God-centered commitment to cultivate the world. Not only would this revitalize our discipleship, it would deepen our theological perspective on the crucial role of work in the Christian life, and on the enormous sphere of activities defined by work (employment, ownership, commerce, finance, entrepreneurship, etc.). It would also help us to incorporate the principles of wise creation management into our church programs, which often lack good stewardship in their finances and other economic aspects.

A restoration of whole-life discipleship through stewardship and calling must not become an excuse to denigrate the value of the church and the clergy, or of religious activities and spiritual disciplines. God forbid! The church is the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) and strong pastors are the backbone of its capacity to impact people for Christ. The foundation of a strong pastor, in turn, is the Gospel call. The Gospel calls all of us, clergy and laypeople alike, not just to church work, but to whole-life discipleship in all settings.

STEWARDSHIP ECONOMICS OIKONOMIA

Tiny Sliver of life

Vast majority of life

All of life

Your calling from God

Your daily work

Daily work as a calling from God

Serve othersServe your-self

Support yourself by serving others

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STEWARDSHIP ECONOMICS OIKONOMIA

GenerosityAccomplish-ment

Accomplish-ment and generosity drive and empower one another

Spiritual MaterialisticSpiritual and material integrated

Church (no world)

World (no church)

Church en-gaging the world

WORK: REDISCOVERING THIS BEAUTIFUL GIFT FROM GODWhen we take stewardship and calling seriously, one of the most important things we discover is the central role of work in human life. All legitimate work is a calling from God to exercise the stewardship he has granted us over the creation order.126

By far, most of people’s waking hours are taken up by work both in the home and on the job. Time spent working dwarfs time spent in church and on religious activities, even for those who are especially active in their churches. Work includes any activity, paid or unpaid, whose main purpose is to cultivate blessing out of the created order. Work can be distinguished from other activities such as rest, contemplation, play (or more broadly, enjoyment), disciplines, and formally religious activities such prayer and worship services. However, the boundaries between work and these other activities are often permeable.

Work is a subject of tremendous theological and pastoral importance:

• It is a mode of human participation in God’s creative and redemptive activities.

• It was given to us to manifest the image of God, exercising the stewardship responsibility he made us for (Genesis 2:15) and imitating his attributes (John 5:17).

• It puts to use the talents God gives us.

• It is how we serve our neighbors in our everyday activities.

• It is one of the main ways we reflect the character of Christ (Mark 10:42-45).

• It carries out the cultural mandate, developing the potential of creation.

• It manifests the restorative aspect of Jesus’ work, applied to us through the Spirit.

• It obeys God’s direct command (e.g. Exodus 20:9; II Thessalonians 3:10).

• It is one of the core elements of discipleship and spiritual formation.

• It provides the “drive power” in human civilization (see Section II below).

Work is a core element of the personal dignity of every individual. It is one of the main purposes God originally created humanity to fulfill – work is central among the purposes of human life identified in the text of Genesis before the fall (Genesis 2:15). And although work is now often painful and difficult, in the fallen world, work itself is not a result of the curse. It is no less beneficial or imperative than it was before the fall – as numerous biblical passages indicate.127

Our theology and our churches ought to ground their approach to work in an affirmation of its intrinsic goodness. This is necessary to keep our theology

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grounded in the dignity and integrity of God’s creation order. The falsehoods of the “prosperity gospel” and other entitlement mentalities are largely fueled by the attitude that treats work as a burden and a curse, rather than a glorious opportunity to serve God and our neighbors. The impact of the fall must be given due weight, but creation and the fall are not equally ultimate. It is essential to Christianity that goodness is ultimate while evil is merely derivative or parasitic; creation (the source of goodness) takes theological precedence over the fall (the source of evil). Thus we ought not to treat manifestations of sin in our work, or the curse’s impact upon it, as equally ultimate with its created goodness. Moreover, since redemption overcomes the fall in Christ by the power of the Spirit, the redeemed blessedness of work as an element of Christian life deserves particular emphasis.128

THE VIRTUE OF FRUITFULNESS: SUPPORT AND SATISFY YOURSELF BY CREATING VALUE FOR OTHERSWork is not just an end in itself; that’s part of what makes it work. While there is intrinsic value to work, all work is also instrumental – work is not work unless it is intended to bear fruit. We work to accomplish a purpose other than the performance of the task itself. That purpose is to cultivate blessing out of the creation order – to make the world a better place. This is what we mean when we say that someone’s work is productive, and productivity or fruitfulness is a key element of work and discipleship.

Work is productive or fruitful if it transforms the creation order to create

value – that is, to produce blessing. Productivity means making the world a better place through our work.

Unfortunately, because of our tendency to think about the economy exclusively in terms of quantitative data, phrases like “value creation” or “productivity” are often understood only with reference to money. We sometimes assume value means money, and value creation or productivity means making money (for ourselves or our employers). If we take a broader perspective that accounts for moral and spiritual realities, we can see that this approach is inadequate. Productive work on the job will usually contribute to profitability, but that is not what makes it productive. For example, this becomes clear when we think about what it means when an unpaid stay-at-home parent or volunteer worker says, “I had a really productive day today.” Profit is a side effect of value creation in some contexts, but they are not the same thing.

It is because work is meant to be fruitful that it takes up most of life. God designed human beings to spend most of their time serving one another and taking care of one another’s needs. This mainly occurs through economic work, on the job as well as in the home. We were designed by our Creator to support the material needs of ourselves and our households, and to find satisfaction for our spiritual needs by doing work that serves others.

Value creation makes this beautiful system possible. Work can perform these functions (serve our neighbor, support our material needs, satisfy our spiritual needs) only when it is fruitful – that is, when it makes the world a better place. And for the most part, our work is fruitful only to the extent that we strive to make it so; the worker who does not consciously strive for productivity will

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not be very productive. This is why it is important to teach people to aspire to productivity or fruitfulness.

ECONOMIC WISDOM: WORK AS A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITYBecause work is central to human life in God’s plan, the economy is central as well. If Christians are called to fruitful work, they need to see and understand the economy in which their work takes place. As long as the individual worker sees only his own work, he is trapped in a tiny social world. To be fruitful workers and good neighbors, we need to see the work of everyone around us and understand the vast cultural system of economic exchange through which we all serve one another as interdependent co-stewards.

Like all human activities, work is social and cultural. The meaning of each person’s work is partly defined by the sense of identity and motivation that he personally brings to it, but it is also partly defined by presuppositions, institutions, and structures embedded in the social system of economic exchange. Individuals organize and exchange their work and its fruits through the economy, so economic systems are of central importance to our work.

The economy is a vast web of human relationships in which people relate to one another and serve one another’s needs. Unfortunately, we usually think about the economy only in terms of numbers on spreadsheets or controversies over public policy. These approaches to economics are each appropriate for their proper purposes, but we also need to develop a theological perspective.

All economic activity – such as owning property, buying and selling, employment, contracts, finance and investment, business, and entrepreneurship – is ultimately grounded in people’s work. Just as work was given to us to manifest the image of God, exercising the stewardship responsibility we have from him by imitating his service and care for others, economic activities do the same, exercising our stewardship responsibility by imitating his sovereignty, agency, providence, justice, and love.129 The fall affects these systems at both the individual and social levels, but their underlying God-given patterns remain.

The economy is a moral system. Cultural structures of economic exchange are built upon presuppositions about what kind of behavior is good and right. What kind of economy we have is going to be based primarily on what kind of people we are – and what kind of people we are will also be shaped, in turn, by what kind of economy we have. An economy that prioritizes productive service and opportunity will help cultivate love, joy, and contentment (Psalm 112:3-5). An economy that prioritizes shortterm gratification will tend to produce shallow, selfish people (Luke 12:15-21).

The economy is not primarily about money, it is primarily about value.130 Money is not the only, or even necessarily the most important, form of economic value. Important as money is, the economy is primarily about how people serve one another’s needs. Human work creates economic value by cultivating blessing from the creation order, and economic systems deliver those blessings. For this reason, work that is paid (such as on the job) and work that is unpaid (such as in the home or volunteering) are all equally

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part of the economy. Working for pay is blessed (e.g. Luke 10:7) and fulfills a crucial duty for many (e.g. I Timothy 5:8). However, pay is not what gives work its primary value, so unpaid work is no less valuable.

The assumption that value creation means making money rather than making the world a better place is destructive not only in our individual lives, but in the larger economic sphere. It leads people to think that the purpose of business is to make money. This illusion leads to equal and opposite errors among those inclined to like business, and those inclined to dislike business. The former erroneously learn to pursue profits for their own sake without caring whether they make the world a better place. The latter mistakenly learn to view profit-making as fundamentally in tension with, or even inconsistent with, humane treatment of people, ethical integrity, and discipleship.

Businesses do not exist to make money, they exist to serve – to bear fruit for – their customers.131 Revenue and profit are constantly necessary in the life of a business, but they are not its purpose – just as we must constantly breathe in order to live, but we don’t live to breathe. Economic productivity creates profits for a business, but if profits become the goal of the business, it will cease to be productive. It will learn to extract money and other resources through exploitation and the manipulation of power, rather than by serving its customers to the best of its ability.

Even the interpersonal relationships within the Trinity are reflected in this sphere. Just as the three divine persons freely and voluntarily work the divine will in unison, our economy can manifest free and voluntary coordination of diverse activities for mutual benefit

in human society. An economic order appropriate to the image of God should strive to liberate people to use the talents God gives them in work; cultivate systems of economic exchange through which people serve one another with their work; value the larger sphere of economic relationships, structures, and activities that make work and exchange possible; protect people’s legitimate interest in receiving and disposing of the fruits of their own work (primarily through wages); and reward individuals (or hold them accountable) as they serve or harm their neighbors. Such an economic order is the best way to reconcile the dignity and freedom of the individual with the needs of the community and the imperative to serve others.132

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD: AN EVANGELICAL AND PROTESTANT PERSPECTIVEThis understanding of God’s calling to daily stewardship through productive work is dormant, if not absent, in much Christian thinking and practice today. However, it was an important distinguishing element of Christianity for most of the last two millennia.133 And in particular, it has been essential to evangelical and Protestant religion.134 At its deepest level, this view of stewardship and calling is rooted in a fundamental commitment to the direct and personal relationship between God and each individual.

The 16th century Reformers blasted ethical dualism, which makes church work morally or spiritually superior to other kinds of work, as both a primary cause and product of legalistic, self-salvation thinking. The elevation of “sacred” activities as more spiritually

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important than “secular” activities went hand in hand with the elevation of the priest as the mediator between God and the layperson. But when the Bible says Jesus has a direct, personal, saving relationship with every individual Christian, it simultaneously calls every one of us to do all of our work “for the Lord,” and puts his claim on it as service to him. Therefore, the Reformers declared (in very strong language) that the pure, biblical Gospel could not be separated from the affirmation of all legitimate work as equally “called” by God.135

This should be a sobering reminder. The widespread practice of emphasizing the crucial spiritual importance of church activities and other religious works while implicitly devaluing (through silence, if not through explicit denigration) our daily work is an open invitation to legalism. Much that we hear from our pulpits is already alarmingly close to the ethical dualism of Eusebius or the legalists of the late 15th century, who treated religious works as morally superior.136 If we value the Gospel of free grace, we should remember that all legitimate work is equally service to God and part of our life in his Kingdom.

However, this is also a firm ground of hope. Its perspective on work is the reason evangelical and Protestant religion has historically been distinguished from other Christian traditions by the greater priority it places on making our faith active in world, rather than placing priority (as other traditions do) on what goes on inside the church. Evangelical and Protestant Christians are uniquely positioned to rediscover this perspective on stewardship and calling that serves as the foundation of their commitment to making faith active in the world.

These shepherds do not run away into the desert, they do not don monk’s garb, they do not shave their heads, neither do they change their clothing, schedule, food, drink, nor any external work. They return to their place in the fields and serve God there!...Against this liberty the pope and the spiritual estate fight with their laws and their choice of clothing, food, prayers, localities, and persons.

Martin Luther, Sermon on Luke 2:15-20

The Lord bids each one of us in all life’s actions to look to his calling. …The Lord’s calling is in everything the beginning and foundation of welldoing…It will be no slight relief from cares, labors, troubles, and other burdens for a man to know that God is his guide in all these things.

John Calvin, Institutes III.10.6

Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go

My daily labor to pursue,

Thee, only thee resolved to know

In all I think, or speak, or do.

The task thy wisdom has assigned

Oh, let me cheerfully fulfill,

In all my works thy presence find

And prove thy acceptable will.

Thee may I set at my right hand

Whose eyes my inmost substance see

And labor on at thy command

And offer all my works to thee.

Charles Wesley, “Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I Go”

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- About the Author -

Dr. Greg Forster is a program director at the Kern Family Foundation, where he directs the Oikonomia Network, a national learning community of evangelical seminaries that equips pastors with a theological understanding of faith, work, and economics. He is also the editor of Hang Together, a group blog on religion, politics and national identity; a senior fellow at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice; the author of six books and numerous articles in both academic and popular publications; and a regular contributor to online sources including The Gospel Coalition and First Thoughts. His writing covers theology, economics, political philosophy, and education policy. He received a doctorate with distinction in political philosophy from Yale University.

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When God created the world, He could have given us everything that we have today, but He chose to work through humanity to provide for His creation. He does this by calling us to various vocations with the purpose of loving and serving others. Unfortunately, due to sin, we cling to idols and our work becomes selfish as we pursue things like significance and identity. The good news is that the Gospel frees us from enslavement to idolatry and enables us to faithfully love our neighbors.

ASSIGNMENTS• Reader: Work As Service• Reader: God, the Great Janitor?


• See the ways that God providentially cares for others through our work• Comprehend how the Gospel frees us from the idols of significance and

security which enables us to love our neighbors through our work• Understand how effective work is a form of love


SANITATION TRUCK DRIVER

Name three ways that you love your neighbor through your work.

Think about the food you ate for breakfast this morning. Make a list of as many different occupations as you can think of that participated in bringing the food to your plate (Examples: Farmers raised chickens which provided eggs, the stove was assembled at a factory, etc.)

How does the doctrine of justification affect the way we work?

GUIDEWork As Service


WEEK

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WORK AS SERVICEby Tim Keller (from Every Good Endeavor)

Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.

1 Corinthians 7:17

CALLED AND ASSIGNEDMike Ullman, former CEO of JCPenney, tells of a conversation he had with Starbucks founder Howard Schultz when he was first offered the JCPenney position. Mike had retired from a long and successful career in retail management a few years before and was reluctant to get back into the business. But Schultz said to Ullman, “This opportunity is made for you. They need to put service back into the mission of that company, and you’re the guy to do it.” He didn’t need the money or the recognition, but he agreed to take the role because he saw an opportunity to reorient twenty- five thousand retail employees to seeing that their work matters and that serving their customers is an honorable career. In short, he believed that God called him to a particular position of service.

We have been looking at the book of Genesis to understand the design, dignity, and pattern of work, but it is in the New Testament and particularly in the writings of Paul that we gain more insight into how God provides purpose for our work by calling us to serve the world.

Let’s look at the biblical use of the term often translated as “calling.” In the letters of the New Testament the Greek word for “to call” (kaleo) usually describes God’s summons to men and women into saving faith and union with his Son (Romans 8:30; 1 Corinthians 1:9). It is also a call to serve him by reaching the world with his message (1 Peter 2:9–10). God’s calling has not only an individual aspect but also a communal one. It brings you into a relationship not only with him, but also with a body of believers (1 Corinthians 1:9; Ephesians 1:1–4; Colossians 3:15). Indeed, the very Greek word for church— ekklesia— literally means the “ones called out.”

In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul counsels readers that when they become Christians it is unnecessary to change what they are currently doing in life— their marital state, job, or social station— in order to live their lives before God in

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a way that pleases him. In verse 17, Paul directs, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”57

Here Paul uses two religiously freighted words to describe ordinary work. Elsewhere, Paul has spoken of God calling people into a saving relationship with him, and assigning them spiritual gifts to do ministry and build up the Christian community (Romans 12:3 and 2 Corinthians 10:13). Paul uses these same two words here when he says that every Christian should remain in the work God has “assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” Yet Paul is not referring in this case to church ministries, but to common social and economic tasks— “secular jobs,” we might say— and naming them God’s callings and assignments.57 The implication is clear: Just as God equips Christians for building up the Body of Christ, so he also equips all people with talents and gifts for various kinds of work, for the purpose of building up the human community.58 Biblical scholar Anthony Thiselton writes about this passage: “This Pauline concept of call and service varies greatly from that of secular modernity, which gives a privileged place to ‘autonomy,’ and from that of secular postmodernity, which gives privilege to self- fulfillment and to power interests. . . . [It] gives this section [of Paul’s writing] fresh relevance to the present.”59

Thiselton’s insight recalls the quote by Robert Bellah cited in our introduction. Bellah called us to recover the idea that work is a “vocation” or calling, “a contribution to the good of all and not merely . . . a means to one’s own advancement,” to one’s self- fulfillment and power.60 Remember that something can be a vocation or calling only if some

other party calls you to do it, and you do it for their sake rather than for your own. Our daily work can be a calling only if it is reconceived as God’s assignment to serve others. And that is exactly how the Bible teaches us to view work.

At our church we have many high- achieving young people who are recruited out of college or business school to work in the financial services industry. Lured by the recruiting process, signing bonuses, and compensation packages that far exceed those of other professions or industries, many of these young people barely consider other vocational alternatives. For decades these jobs have offered status and financial security beyond compare. In the face of this kind of opportunity, how is a committed Christian supposed to think objectively about his or her “calling”?

Certainly some do sense that their job in financial sales, trading, private equity, public finance, or a related area is a way for them to offer their unique capabilities in service to God and others. Some, however, after a few years on Wall Street, determine that their strengths and passions are more suited to another vocation. Jill Lamar, for example, worked several years at Merrill Lynch before deciding she needed to make a change. A lover of books and a good writer herself, she decided to switch to publishing, starting again at the very bottom in pay and position. She wrestled with the fact that the opportunity to make a lot of money didn’t necessarily mean that banking was the vocation she should continue to pursue. She tried to think about how she could best use her gifts and passion to serve instead. Her decision created quite a flurry, even in the church!

Christians should be aware of this revolutionary understanding of the

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purpose of their work in the world. We are not to choose jobs and conduct our work to fulfill ourselves and accrue power, for being called by God to do something is empowering enough. We are to see work as a way of service to God and our neighbor, and so we should both choose and conduct our work in accordance with that purpose. The question regarding our choice of work is no longer “What will make me the most money and give me the most status?” The question must now be “How, with my existing abilities and opportunities, can I be of greatest service to other people, knowing what I do of God’s will and of human need?”

Jill took this last question very seriously. In her subsequent years in publishing, she found that she was good at editing and at discovering new writers. She grew in her passion for giving the world good stories to read. Sometimes the stories reflected her biblical way of thinking about the world, but sometimes they did not. She was looking for excellence. Eventually she directed a wonderful program for Barnes & Noble called Discover Great New Writers. Through this initiative she was able to give worthy new authors a chance to find a broader audience of readers.

Notice something counterintuitive about the two questions on the previous page: It is the latter that will lead us to a more sustainable motivation for discipline and excellence at work. If the point of work is to serve and exalt ourselves, then our work inevitably becomes less about the work and more about us. Our aggressiveness will eventually become abuse, our drive will become burnout, and our self- sufficiency will become self- loathing. But if the purpose of work is to serve and exalt something beyond ourselves, then we actually have a better reason

to deploy our talent, ambition, and entrepreneurial vigor— and we are more likely to be successful in the long run, even by the world’s definition.

VOCATION AND THE “MASKS OF GOD”No one took hold of the teaching of the first book of Corinthians, chapter 7 more powerfully than Martin Luther. Luther translated the word “calling” in these verses as Beruf in German, the word for “occupation,” and mounted a polemic against the view of vocation prevalent in the medieval church.61 The church at that time understood itself as the entirety of God’s kingdom on earth,62 and therefore only work in and for the church could qualify as God’s work. This meant that the only way to be called by God into service was as a monk, priest, or nun. They were called “the spiritual estate,” everyone else’s work was worldly, and secular labor was seen as akin to the demeaning necessity that the Greeks saw in manual labor.63 Luther attacked this idea forcefully in his treatise To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation:

It is pure invention [fiction] that Pope, bishops, priests, and monks are called the “spiritual estate” while princes, lords, artisans, and farmers are called the “temporal estate.” This is indeed a piece of deceit and hypocrisy. Yet no one need be intimidated by it, and that for this reason: all Christians are truly of the spiritual estate, and there is no difference among them except that of office. . . . We are all consecrated priests by baptism, as St. Peter says: “You are a royal priesthood and a priestly realm” (1 Pet. 2:9). The Apocalypse says: “Thou hast made us to be kings

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and priests by thy blood” (Rev. 5:9–10).64

Luther is arguing here that God calls every Christian equally to their work. In his exposition of Psalm 147, Luther lays out his basic idea of vocation, explaining why this is so. He looks at verse 13, which assures a city that “God strengthens the bars of your gates.”65 Luther asks how God can strengthen the bars— provide for the security and safety— of a city. He answers, “By the word ‘bars’ we must understand not only the iron bar that a smith can make, but . . . everything else that helps to protect us, such as good government, good city ordinances, good order . . . and wise rulers. . . . this is a gift of God.”66 How does God give a city security? Isn’t it through lawmakers, police officers, and those working in government and politics? So God cares for our civic needs through the work of others, whom he calls to that work.

In Luther’s Large Catechism, when he addresses the petition in the Lord’s Prayer asking God to give us our “daily bread,” Luther says that “when you pray for ‘daily bread’ you are praying for everything that contributes to your having and enjoying your daily bread. . . . You must open up and expand your thinking, so that it reaches not only as far as the flour bin and baking oven but also out over the broad fields, the farmlands, and the entire country that produces, processes, and conveys to us our daily bread and all kinds of nourishment.”67 So how does God “feed every living thing” (Psalm 145:16) today? Isn’t it through the farmer, the baker, the retailer, the website programmer, the truck driver, and all who contribute to bring us food? Luther writes: “God could easily give you grain and fruit without your plowing and planting, but he does not want to do so.”68

Then he gives an analogy to show us why God works this way. Parents want to give their children everything they need, but they also want them to become diligent, conscientious, and responsible people. So they give their children chores. They could obviously do the chores better themselves, but that would not help their children grow in maturity. So parents give their children what they need—character—through the diligence required for the chores they assign them. Luther concludes that God works through our work for the same reason:

What else is all our work to God— whether in the fields, in the garden, in the city, in the house, in war, or in government— but just such a child’s performance, by which He wants to give His gifts in the fields, at home, and everywhere else? These are the masks of God, behind which He wants to remain concealed and do all things.69

In his exposition of Psalm 147, verse 14, Luther goes on to ask, How does God “make peace in your borders?” His answer is, through good neighbors, who practice honesty and integrity in their daily interactions and who participate in civic life.70 He even sees marital sexual relations as part of this pattern. God could have given us children directly. “He could give children without using men and women. But He does not want to do this. Instead, He joins man and woman so that it appears to be the work of man and woman but He does it under the cover of such masks.”71

And so we see what Luther means by God’s vocation. Not only are the most modest jobs— like plowing a field or digging a ditch— the “masks” through which God cares for us, but so are the most basic social roles and tasks, such as voting, participating in public

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institutions, and being a father or mother. These are all God’s callings, all ways of doing God’s work in the world, all ways through which God distributes his gifts to us. Even the humblest farm girl is fulfilling God’s calling. As Luther preached, “God milks the cows through the vocation of the milk maids.”72

VOCATION AND THE GOSPELLuther contributed even more to our subject than this remarkable idea of all work as God’s vocation. The doctrine of justification by faith alone— the foundational commitment of the Protestant Reformation— even more profoundly shapes the Christian understanding of work. The older medieval view (of secular work as unimportant and religious work as exalted) was partially rooted in a misunderstanding regarding salvation itself. “In Luther’s day,” writes Lee Hardy, “it was generally held that the monks, by taking the monastic vows and submitting to the rigors of the cloistered life, could actually merit special divine favor and thereby make eternal salvation secure.”73Luther realized, however, that all his exemplary religious observances and ministry did not free him from the reality that his life fell short of the righteousness God required. Then he made his famous discovery in Scripture that justification was by grace through faith in Christ apart from any good works of his own. He had been wrestling with the phrase “the righteousness of God” because “though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction [religious work]. . . . Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. . . .” He began to meditate on Romans 1, verses

16–17, where Paul says that salvation and the righteousness of God “is by faith.” “Then,” Luther wrote,

I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith. . . . Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me.74

As he observes in that last sentence, when he grasped that salvation was by grace rather than through any effort of his own, it made him rethink his whole understanding of Scripture, including his view of the meaning of work. Luther found two implications in particular. First, if religious works were crucial to achieving a good standing with God, then there would always be a fundamental difference between those in church ministry and everyone else. But if religious work did absolutely nothing to earn favor with God, it could no longer be seen as superior to other forms of labor.

The Gospel of salvation through sheer grace holds a second implication for work. While ancient monks may have sought salvation through religious works, many modern people seek a kind of salvation— self- esteem and self- worth— from career success. This leads us to seek only high- paying, high- status jobs, and to “worship” them in perverse ways. But the Gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves and secure our identity through work, for we are already proven and secure. It also frees us from a condescending attitude toward less sophisticated labor and from envy over more exalted work. All work now becomes a way to love the God who

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saved us freely; and by extension, a way to love our neighbor.

So Luther could write about believers: “Even their seemingly secular works are a worship of God and an obedience well pleasing to God.”75 He also said, “Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart, and with an eager will . . . give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me . . . since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ?”76 Since we already have in Christ the things other people work for— salvation, self- worth, a good conscience, and peace— now we may work simply to love God and our neighbors. It is a sacrifice of joy, a limitation that offers freedom.

This means, ironically, that Christians who understand biblical doctrine ought to be the ones who appreciate the work of non- Christians the most. We know we are saved by grace alone, and therefore we are not better fathers or mothers, better artists and businesspersons, than those who do not believe as we do. Our Gospel- trained eyes can see the world ablaze with the glory of God’s work through the people he has created and called— in everything from the simplest actions, such as milking a cow, to the most brilliant artistic or historic achievements.

WORK AS AN ACT OF LOVEThis revolutionary way of looking at work gives all work a common and exalted purpose: to honor God by loving your neighbors and serving them through your work.

Author Dorothy Sayers recounts how many British men and women stumbled upon something like this understanding of work during the dark days of World War II:

The habit of thinking about work as something one does to make money is so ingrained in us that we can scarcely imagine what a revolutionary change it would be to think about it instead in terms of the work done [itself]. . . .77 . . . I believe there is a Christian doctrine of work, very closely related to the doctrines of the creative energy of God and the divine image in man. . . . The essential [modern] heresy . . . being that work is not the expression of man’s creative energy in the service of Society, but only something one does in order to obtain money and leisure.78

She goes on to explain what happens as a result: “Doctors practice medicine not primarily to relieve suffering, but to make a living— the cure of the patient is something that happens on the way. Lawyers accept briefs not because they have a passion for justice, but because the law is the profession which enables them to live.” But during the war many people were drawn into the army and found a new, surprising sense of fulfillment in their work. “The reason why men often find themselves happy and satisfied in the army is that for the first time in their lives they found themselves doing something, not for the pay, which is miserable, but for the sake of getting the thing done.”79

Sayers was talking about wartime Britain, in which every person knew that their work was contributing to the very survival of their nation. But author Lester DeKoster does an excellent job of showing how indispensible work is for human life in all times and places:

Work is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others . . . in which others make themselves useful to us. We plant [with our

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work]; God gives the increase to unify the human race. . . .

[Look at] the chair you are lounging in. . . . Could you have made it for yourself? . . . How [would you] get, say, the wood? Go and fell a tree? But only after first making the tools for that, and putting together some kind of vehicle to haul the wood, and constructing a mill to do the lumber and roads to drive on from place to place? In short, a lifetime or two to make one chair! . . . If we . . . worked not forty but one- hundred- forty hours per week we couldn’t make ourselves from scratch even a fraction of all the goods and services that we call our own. [Our] paycheck turns out to buy us the use of far more than we could possibly make for ourselves in the time it takes us to earn the check. . . . Work . . . yields far more in return upon our efforts than our particular jobs put in. . . .

Imagine that everyone quits working, right now! What happens? Civilized life quickly melts away. Food vanishes from the shelves, gas dries up at the pumps, streets are no longer patrolled, and fires burn themselves out. Communication and transportation services end, utilities go dead. Those who survive at all are soon huddled around campfires, sleeping in caves, clothed in raw animal hides. The difference between [a wilderness] and culture is simply, work.80

There may be no better way to love your neighbor, whether you are writing parking tickets, software, or books, than to simply do your work. But only skillful, competent work will do.

WORK AS A MINISTRY OF COMPETENCEOne of the main ways that you love others in your work is through the “ministry of competence.” If God’s purpose for your job is that you serve the human community, then the way to serve God best is to do the job as well as it can be done. Dorothy Sayers writes,

The church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him to not be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours and to come to church on Sundays. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.81

Let me give a dramatic example of this. On February 24, 1989, United Airlines Flight 811 took off from Honolulu on its way to New Zealand. The 747 had climbed to twenty- two thousand feet when the forward cargo door of the jet blew open, tearing a huge hole in the side of the plane. Nine passengers were immediately sucked out of the plane to their deaths. The two right engines were damaged by flying debris and taken out of commission. The plane was one hundred miles from land. The captain, David Cronin, brought all of his wisdom and thirty- eight years of piloting experience to bear:

To compensate for the lack of thrust from the two right engines, he struggled to hold the control column steady with his hands while using his feet to put pressure on the control floor rudder to stabilize the plane. His stickiest problem, however, was deciding how fast to fly. [He] slowed the plane as close to the stall speed as possible to keep the air rushing over the plane

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from further widening the hole in the fuselage. Because the hole had changed the aero- dynamics of the huge craft, the usual data regarding stall speed was no longer relevant. The pilot [knowing this] had to use his best judgment. Furthermore, since the plane had just taken on 300,000 pounds of fuel for the long flight, it was too heavy to land without collapsing the landing gear. . . . Then he encountered a new problem. The wing flaps used to slow down the plane were not working properly. . . . He would have to land the plane at 195 miles per hour, compared to the normal speed of 170 miles per hour. The jet weighed 610,000 pounds, well above Boeing’s recommended maximum stress load of 564,000 pounds. Nevertheless, Captain Cronin made one of the smoothest landings the rest of the crew could remember, amid the cheers of the passengers. Airline experts called the landing miraculous. . . . A few days after the harrowing experience, an interviewer asked Captain Cronin about his first thoughts following the loss of the cargo door. He said, “I said a prayer for my passengers momentarily and then got back to business.”82

Lutheran leader and businessman William Diehl recounts this inspiring story to make an important point. He writes, “If laypeople cannot find any spiritual meaning in their work, they are condemned to living a certain dual life; not connecting what they do on Sunday morning with what they do the rest of the week. They need to discover that the very actions of daily life are spiritual, and enable . . . people to touch God in the world, not away from it. Such a spirituality will say . . . ‘Your work is your prayer.’”83

So how do we connect what we do on Sunday morning with what we do during the rest of the week? How can we “touch God in the world” through our work? Diehl answers that the very first way to be sure you are serving God in your work is to be competent.

When United Airlines Flight 811 got into trouble, the greatest gift Captain Cronin had for his passengers was his experience and good judgment. In those moments of peril, it mattered not to the passengers how Captain Cronin related to his coworkers or how he communicated his faith to others. . . . The critical issue was this: was he competent enough as a pilot to bring that badly damaged plane in safely. . . . Through our work we can touch God in a variety of ways . . . but if the call of the Christian is to participate in God’s ongoing creative process, the bedrock of our ministry has to be competency. We must use our talents in as competent a manner as possible.

Competency is a basic value. It is not a means to some other end, such as wealth or position, although such results may occur.84

The applications of this dictum— that competent work is a form of love— are many. Those who grasp this understanding of work will still desire to succeed but will not be nearly as driven to overwork or made as despondent by poor results. If it is true, then if you have to choose between work that benefits more people and work that pays you more, you should seriously consider the job that pays less and helps more— particularly if you can be great at it. It means that all jobs— not merely so- called helping professions— are fundamentally ways of loving your neighbor. Christians do not have to do

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direct ministry or nonprofit charitable work in order to love others through their jobs.

In particular, this principle is one of the main ways for us to find satisfaction in our work, even if our jobs are not, by the world’s standards, exciting, high paying, and desirable. Even though, as Luther argues, all work is objectively valuable to others, it will not be subjectively fulfilling unless you consciously see and understand your work as a calling to love your neighbor. John Calvin wrote that “no task will be [seen as] so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight.”85 Notice that Calvin speaks of “obey[ing] your calling in it”; that is, consciously seeing your job as God’s calling and offering the work to him. When you do that, you can be sure that the splendor of God radiates through any task, whether it is as commonplace as tilling a garden, or as rarefied as working on the global trading floor of a bank. As Eric Liddell’s missionary father exhorts him in Chariots of Fire, “You can praise the Lord by peeling a spud, if you peel it to perfection.”

Your daily work is ultimately an act of worship to the God who called and equipped you to do it— no matter what kind of work it is. In the liner notes to his masterpiece A Love Supreme, John Coltrane says it beautifully:

This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say “THANK YOU GOD” through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor.


Tim Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He was first a pastor in Hopewell, Virginia. In 1989 he started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City with his wife, Kathy, and their three sons. Today, Redeemer has more than five thousand regular Sunday attendees and has helped to start more than two hundred and fifty new churches around the world.

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GOD, THE GREAT JANITOR?by Jim Mullins

Many who reflect on issues related to faith and work have become accustomed to describing God as a worker. We say that he’s the Great Architect who designed the world, the Great Artist who carefully crafted each leaf, and the Great Physician who heals our wounds. How often, though, have you heard him described as the Great Janitor?

Some of my friends tell me that comparing God to a janitor feels irreverent. But why? Could it be that our view of work is shaped more by our cultural idols than by the Gospel of the Suffering Servant? Could it be that we lack respect for the work of janitors or the ability to see their good work as an act of image-bearing? Can a biblical vision of work reframe the way we view vocations that care for place, like janitors, maintenance staff, housekeepers, custodians, and others?

When I was in my early 20s, I worked as a janitor a few times. One time was for a Christian nonprofit, and I took the job as a way to move up the ranks—hoping to land in “ministry” eventually. Although I now lament the dualistic, discontented, and dismissive way that I approached my work, I am grateful that I met Len.

Len was also a janitor, and his life was a living sermon about a theology of work. He had a profound effect on my view of vocation long before I had the vocabulary to describe what I was seeing. Captured by the beauty of the Gospel, he was a joyful steward of every inch of the facility. As I observed his life, I became convinced that janitorial work reflects the glory of God.

Here are just four of the main ways that janitors, and people with similar occupations, display the actions and attributes of God through their work.

1. PROTECTING HUMANITY THROUGH MICRO-BIOLOGICAL WARFAREScripture speaks of God as our great protector (Ps. 91), and God uses janitors to shield us from many things that would otherwise harm us. In each room, especially places like bathrooms, there are viruses and bacteria that could greatly harm us, even kill us. When janitors pull the trigger on a spray bottle of bleach, they are embarking on chemical warfare against the germs that would make us sick and take our lives. By keeping us from getting sick, janitors

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contribute to the work of every industry, and the flourishing of all aspects of life.

A doctor cannot diagnose, a teacher cannot teach, and an architect cannot design when they curled up at home, under the attack of Salmonella or E.Coli.

2. MAINTAINING, SUSTAINING, AND SERVING IN HUMBLE OBSCURITYEach day God sustains and maintains each aspect of the world (Heb. 1:3), and most of the time, we never even notice. He sweeps the streets through the wind and the rain, mops up our spills through the warmth of the sun, and fills the halls of the earth with air fresheners like Ponderosa Pines and Magnolias. As his janitorial staff, he employs plants, animals, chemicals, and image-bearing humans to each play a role in maintaining and sustaining the earth.

In the midst of all of this grace, God rarely gets noticed. Our every breath can be a “thank you” to God because we, the creation, have been served by our Creator. Even though our hearts are often ungrateful, and we don’t notice the faithful service of God, he continues to be the true and great janitor each day, for each of us.

When janitors pick up a mop and begin to serve the world in obscurity, they are imitating the Great Sustainer of all things. They are reflecting the image of God, and even if nobody notices, they are seen by their God as they reflect the true greatness of the kingdom of God (Matt. 20:25-28).

3. STEWARDSHIP OF GOD’S PROPERTYAbraham Kuyper, the Dutch theologian, politician, and journalist, once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” Janitors are stewards of places created and owned by God. Every fabric in a carpet, tile on a counter, and light bulb above our heads belongs to Christ. Regardless of who owns the deed to the property that janitors are called to steward, they should know that the property ultimately belongs to Christ (Ps. 24:1). And regardless of the name of the person who cuts their paycheck, they ultimately work for the sovereign Lord (Col. 3:23). Our God cares about places, and each janitor who reverently, thoughtfully, and intentionally tends to a particular part of God’s world is reflecting God’s image.

4. WORK OF RESTORATIONThe trash cans are full, the water cooler has dwindled down to the last few sips, the carpet is stained, and somehow people have handled the paper towels like a raccoon rummages through a trashcan, leaving strips of paper all around the bathroom. It’s 4:59 p.m. and our workday is finished, but the janitors’ work has just begun. Working in the night, they restore and renew the office, so that by the next morning, it looks as good as new.

This daily work of restoration is a sign, preview, and foretaste of the coming restoration when Christ will return and “makes all things new” (Rev. 21:5). The restored facility is a foreshadow of the coming restoration of all things, and janitors reflect the image of God when they engage in this work of restoration.

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LET US GIVE THANKSAll of us who benefit from the work of janitors should be intentional about expressing gratitude for their good work. Let our imaginations about this occupation be shaped by the Gospel, rather than the pattern of this world, which values status over service.

To those who work as janitors, or in a similar field, please be encouraged by these words from Martin Luther King Jr., who said,

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

We see your good work, and we give thanks for it. And even when it’s overlooked, your work is seen by Christ, the Lord over every clean counter and mopped tile.


Jim Mullins is pastor of teaching, communities, and cultural engagement at Redemption Church in Tempe, Arizona. He is a contributor to Flourish Phoenix and blogs at All of Life. He and his wife, Jenny, live with their daughter, Elliana, in Tempe.

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Many people believe the only meaningful work is “Christian work” as a pastor or missionary, but this is a myth. Since God created us to work, all work has intrinsic value and provides a way for us to love and serve our neighbors. God providentially places us in various vocations, and He cares for His creation through the work we do.

ASSIGNMENTS• Reader: Extraordinatry Ordinary Work


• Understand the intrinsic value of work• View work as a way to love and serve your neighbors• See your vocation as a calling from God that has a purpose in the world


INSURANCE AGENT

How would your coworkers describe you as a worker?

What does the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers have to say about how you do your work?

How does Jesus’ work as a carpenter change the way you view your work?

GUIDEExtraordinary Ordinary Work


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EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY WORKby Tom Nelson (from Work Matters)

If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep the streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.”1

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I met John at a favorite coffee shop. After ordering our lattes, we sat down and he shared with me his story. John grew up in a Christian home and had gone to a Christian college, yet he had always struggled with how mundane and meaningless his work seemed. Hunkering down in his cubicle, John’s day consisted mostly in writing and answering e-mails and processing loans for commercial and residential property. Throughout his life, the Sunday messages he had heard in his faith community were that really committed Christians went into “full-time Christian work,” as a pastor, parachurch worker, or a cross-cultural missionary of some kind. Having not pursued these vocational paths, he had always felt a tinge of guilt. What really

seemed to matter most at his church were the Bible and people’s souls, for they lasted for all eternity, and the rest of this world was going to eventually burn up in a future day of judgment.

John could still recall one particular message by a very impassioned parachurch worker appealing for young leaders to join his organization rather than pursuing a business career, which would in essence be like wasting their time rearranging furniture on the deck of the Titanic. John remembered how this message had left him feeling rather confused and empty inside. The thought that he had missed God’s will for his life lingered in his discouraged soul. John also shared that recently he had gone to a Christian seminar on moving from success to significance. At the seminar he had heard joyful testimonies of successful businesspeople who had made a midlife career change. Now they were using their business gifts in Christian organizations and were fully investing their talents for the kingdom. He left the seminar feeling his current work of processing loans simply didn’t add up to a very significant life. I could not help but empathize with the gnawing ache in John’s soul.

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WHY THE FOG?It was easy to see that a thick blanket of fog covered John’s thinking about faith and work. With these kinds of faith messages about work dancing around in John’s mind as he processed residential and commercial loans every day in his corporate cubicle, is it any wonder that he felt such a disconnect between his Sunday church experience and his Monday work experience as well as such a discontentment with his everyday work? Viewing what most of us do every day in our workplaces as rearranging furniture on the deck of the Titanic doesn’t bring with it a great sense of significance. And this thinking is too often perpetuated by sincere Christian leaders delivering impassioned sermons about the ultimate futility of our work. David Miller speaks with compelling clarity when he writes, “Whether conscious or unintended, the pulpit all too frequently sends the signal that work in the church matters but work in the world does not. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that workers, businesspeople, and other professionals often feel unsupported by the Sunday church in their Monday marketplace vocations.”2

For pastors to preach, and for us to conclude, that using our gifts within the context of a Christian organization is the only way we can truly invest our talents in the kingdom widely misses the mark of what the Bible truly teaches in its robust theology of vocation. Tragically, I find John’s story an all-too-common one among sincere people of faith. Embedded in many of the messages playing in our minds as we work are some very distorted and unbiblical ideas about our work that we need to think our way through. It is a jungle out there, and we need a razor-sharp theological machete to clear away a whole lot of dense, overgrown vocational brush.

Thinking that somehow certain kinds of work are more “full-time Christian” than other kinds; or that only some kinds of work have eternal value, while others do not; or that somewhere in life as we get older, we change our work so we can move from success to significance, are unbiblical distortions we must confront in our own lives and in our faith communities.

Why has that which God designed to be so majestic often become so mundane, so meaningless? Why all the foggy thinking about our work? Whatever our work is, no matter how ordinary it seems, it can be extraordinary work brimming with God-honoring importance and significance if it is done well and for the glory of God. If we are discovering the rich and robust doctrine of vocation for the first time, we might be tempted to see it as merely a passing Christian fad. In our more cynical moments, we might wonder whether all this talk about work is merely the latest hype in an often shallow, populist Christian faith. Most of us would agree that we probably don’t need another mass-marketed WWJD bracelet to put around our wrists. Though this kind of thinking about work may be newer to you, let me assure you that the language and doctrine of Christian vocation is not faddish but foundational to an integral Christian faith. A right understanding of vocation has been a transforming truth in the day-to-day ordinary lives of faithful followers of Jesus for many centuries. Vocation is a robust theology of ordinary, everyday life.

VOCATION IN CHURCH HISTORYThe sixteenth-century Protestant Reformers recognized the compelling need to get back to a truly biblically centered faith. Over the centuries, the

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Gospel of faith alone in Jesus Christ alone had became shrouded in church hierarchies, sacramental systems, and monastic movements. Martin Luther, whose soul had suffocated in this stifling religious context, was used by God to point the church back to its biblical authority and to once again emphasize the priesthood of all believers in Christ. This doctrine, which held that every believer had equal access to God through Jesus Christ, profoundly altered the landscape of spiritual formation for followers of Christ who had languished under the distorted view that the calling to the priesthood, to a monastic community, or to service of the church was a higher, a more sacred, a more spiritual calling than to be a farmer or a merchant. The Protestant Reformers wisely reconnected Sunday faith to Monday work.

One of the things I really enjoy doing is reading books on history. Stephen Ambrose is well known for his writings on the Lewis and Clark expedition, yet one of his books that I have found most fascinating is on the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. In his book Nothing Like It in the World, Stephen Ambrose unveils before the reader’s eyes the tremendous courage and challenges that occupied our nation between the years 1863–1869.3 When we think of this time period in our nation’s history, we often think about President Lincoln’s courageous leadership in freeing our nation from the hideous scourge of slavery. Lincoln’s legacy is clearly stellar here, but through Ambrose’s book, I realized for the first time that another lasting legacy of President Abraham Lincoln’s, one that is often missed, was his force of courageous leadership in building the Transcontinental Railroad. This massive building project connected

our continent and paved the way for an economically developing and politically unified nation.

In a similar way, the courageous Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century, in their restoration of the biblical doctrine of vocation, laid down the theological tracks that reconnected Christian faith with the ordinary life of work. And one of the biblical banners that they heralded was the apostle Paul’s inspired words to the local church at Corinth: “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (1 Cor. 7:24). The Protestant Reformers rightly pointed out that the apostle Paul promoted the ordinary callings and stations of life, of marriage and singleness, and of work and vocation.

The Protestant Reformers understood that our calling to follow Christ was to be fully lived out through the conduits of our vocations and stations of life arranged for us under the providence of God. For those who became apprentices of Jesus, the missio Dei (the mission of God in the world) was to bloom vocationally where they were providentially planted. It was in our ordinary day-to-day lives of work, rest, and play that we were to flourish, to be salt and light, to be spiritually formed, and to be God’s redemptive agents in the world. Along with the apostle Paul, the Protestant Reformers taught that Christian vocation calls each of us to indwell an extraordinary ordinary life. For this is what Jesus himself modeled.

MORE, BUT NOT LESS, THAN A CARPENTERI don’t know why I didn’t see it for so long, but one day as I was reading through the Gospel of Mark, I stumbled across a verse that stopped me dead

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in my tracks. In Mark 6 we are told that Jesus, who was spending his time as an itinerant rabbi, came back to his hometown of Nazareth. The hometown crowd listened to Jesus teach in the synagogue, and they were stunned by their hometown boy who was displaying such extraordinary wisdom and power. In their eyes Jesus, was first and foremost a carpenter from Nazareth. Mark records the hometown crowd exclaiming with a tone of incredulity, “ ‘Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at him” (Mark 6:3).

As I slowly pondered these words, I began to reflect on the significance of Jesus spending so much of his time on earth working with his hands in a carpentry shop. Here was the Son of God sent to earth on a redemptive mission of seeking and saving the lost, of proclaiming the Gospel, yet he spent the vast majority of his years on earth making things in an obscure carpentry shop. We know from Luke’s Gospel that even at the age of twelve, Jesus was demonstrating his amazing rabbinical brilliance to the brightest and best in Jerusalem (Luke 2:47). How did Jesus’s brilliance fit in with a carpentry career? At first glance this doesn’t seem to be a very strategic use of the Son of God’s extraordinary gifts or his important messianic mission. Why was it the Father’s will for Jesus to spend so much time in the carpentry shop instead of gracing the Palestinian countryside, proclaiming the Gospel and healing the multitudes?

The New Testament records Jesus spending only about three years in itinerant ministry, what we might refer to as full-time vocational ministry. But for the many years before that, Jesus

worked as a carpenter. Speaking of Jesus as a carpenter, Dallas Willard brings a refreshing perspective.

If he were to come today as he did then, he could carry out his mission through most any decent and useful occupation. He could be a clerk or accountant in a hardware store, a computer repairman, a banker, an editor, doctor, waiter, teacher, farmhand, lab technician, or construction worker. He could run a housecleaning service or repair automobiles. In other words, if he were to come today he could very well do what you do. He could very well live in your apartment or house, hold down your job, have your education and life prospects, and live within your family surroundings and time. None of this would be the least hindrance to the eternal kind of life that was his by nature and becomes available to us through him.4

Several years ago I remember reading a fine book that was winsomely titled More Than a Carpenter. In this book, the author points out a great deal of convincing evidence that supports the deity of Jesus. This is essential to understanding the person and work of Jesus. Yet in no way should we conclude that because Jesus was more than a carpenter, his vocational calling to work as a carpenter was somehow less than important. Clearly the Son of God was much more, but not less, than a carpenter. This incarnational pattern of Jesus’s earthly life speaks volumes about the importance of our day-to-day vocational work.

INCARNATION AND WORKWhen we contemplate who Jesus really is, his joyful contentment to work with

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his hands day after day constructing things, making useful farm implements and household furniture in an obscure Nazareth carpentry shop, we find him truly stunning. Jesus’s work life tells us that he did not think being a carpenter was somehow below him or a poor use of his many gifts. Here is the very One whose hands not only created the world but also the very wood he was crafting in a carpentry shop. The apostle Paul gives us a glorious description of this carpenter from Nazareth: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15–17).

Think about it for a moment. The very One who was the master craftsman of the universe spent a great deal of time during his thirty-three years on earth crafting things with his hands. The One who had masterfully fashioned humans from the dust of the earth was making chairs for people to sit on in their houses. No doubt Jesus had strong, well-worn, callused hands. It is all too easy for us to overlook the fact that Jesus knew what it meant to get up and go to work every day. Jesus experienced both the exhilaration and exhaustion of putting in a hard day’s work. Jesus faced work and a workplace profoundly affected by sin. I am sure Jesus dealt with difficult and demanding people in the workplace who complained about this and that. I am also confident that the sinless Son of Man not only modeled humility in the workplace, but also maintained a teachable spirit as he served under the tutelage of Joseph, his human guardian father. I doubt if Joseph was the perfect boss. I have

yet to meet a perfect boss, and when I look into my mirror each morning, I see anything but a perfect boss.

We are rightly in awe of Jesus, who shockingly ignores cultural convention by picking up a ,basin and towel and washing his disciples’ dirty, stinky feet. Yet we tend to forget that Jesus had been modeling a basin-and-towel kind of servanthood in a carpentry shop for years. Jesus’s humble service in the workplace was the training ground for that glorious display of servanthood in an upper room in Jerusalem.

Working with his hands day in and day out in a carpentry shop was not below Jesus. Jesus did not see his carpentry work as mundane or meaningless, for it was the work his Father had called him to do. I have a good hunch that Jesus was a top-notch carpenter and did top-notch work. Even before Jesus entered his itinerant rabbinical ministry, Matthew reminds his readers of the Father’s good pleasure in his Son. Following Jesus’s baptism, the Spirit of God descended as a dove, and a voice out of heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). I am sure there were many things that made the Father well pleased, but one important aspect of Jesus’s well-pleasing life that we must not overlook was his well-pleasing work as a carpenter.

JESUS’S GREAT INVITATIONJesus invites us to become his apprentice and learn from him a whole new way of living. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt.

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11:28–30). In this great invitation to be yoked with Master Jesus, we are invited to experience life as God originally intended way back in the garden of Eden, before sin and corruption entered the world. The path to “rest,” this life as God originally designed for us to live, is made possible because of the Gospel and is found in Jesus’s yoke. In Jesus’s yoke we learn to live our new-creation life of submission and obedience.

The word rest is not necessarily kicking back in our recliner or chilling out in some way, but rather a joyous ease in our work as we wear the yoke that has been tailor-made just for us. When we enter the yoke of Christ, we press into God’s design for our lives and we learn from Jesus how he would live our lives if he were us. A vital part of our learning from Jesus, of being yoked with him, is learning the path of vocational faithfulness. Brilliantly, Jesus teaches us not only how to live but also how to work. Writing to the local church at Colossae, the apostle Paul places vocational faithfulness at the heart of apprenticeship with Jesus and a 24/7 life of God-honoring worship. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23–24). We are to be learning from Jesus how to do our work, and living and working each day as unto the Lord.

Our ordinary day-to-day work life is designed by God to be extraordinary. As we go to work day in and day out, it seems as though our lives are filled with many ordinary days. It is what we do on these ordinary days that makes our work and our lives extraordinary. As pointed out earlier, the Hebrew word avodah recorded in the Old Testament presents to us a seamless understanding of work

and worship, thereby eliminating any compartmentalization of a worshipful life whether it is Sunday or Monday. Not only do we worship God in and through our work, but one of the primary ways we love our neighbor is in and through our vocation. In his Great Commandment, Jesus calls us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as our self (Luke 10:27). A proper understanding of Christian vocation puts flesh and feet on this commandment.

INCARNATING THE GREAT COMMANDMENTRecently I was the recipient of neighborly love expressed through vocation. On a flight from Kansas City to Los Angeles, many individuals knowingly or unknowingly honored the Great Commandment through their work. When I arrived at the Kansas City airport, the baggage handlers assisted me with my luggage. At the gate, security personnel served me. Then a gate agent facilitated my getting on the plane. On the plane, the pilots charted the course and readied us for flight. A maintenance team filled the plane with jet fuel and even fixed an ailing plane toilet. Once we were airborne, a flight attendant brought me a cup of coffee. It was in and through many individuals’ diligent work that I was able to get to my destination and be ready for my meetings.

One of the primary ways we tangibly love our neighbors is to do excellent, God-honoring work in our various vocations. When we look at our work through a proper biblical lens, we can see vocation’s close connection with loving our neighbor. Your vocational work is your specific and invaluable contribution to God’s ongoing creation and an essential aspect of God’s Great

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Commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Martin Luther reminds us that it is not God who needs our good works, but it is our neighbor who needs our good works. A transforming truth we must firmly grab onto is that God is very much at work in our work. God is transforming us in our work and transforming the world through our work.

SHIFTING WORKPLACE PARADIGMSWhen we begin to grasp the rich biblical truths of vocation, we see our work and the workplace where it occurs through a different lens. A friend of mine who has spent a great deal of time looking at his work as a CEO through a vocational lens, often reminds me of how this paradigm shift radically changed his approach to work. Previously he had understood that his primary goal as a CEO who happened to be a Christian was to make a lot of money and then give that money to charitable causes that were making a difference in the world. As a very generous person, he gave sizable amounts to Christian missionaries and other philanthropic causes. As he put it, “I wanted to support Jesus’s Great Commission as much as I could.” Though my friend continues to give generously to his church and other causes, the game-changer for him was when he began seeing his work as having intrinsic value and not merely instrumental value. He recognized his work as valuable in itself—God-honoring and good. Work was not just valuable because of its economic benefits or as a platform for Christian ministry. Of course, work’s economic benefits and the opportunity it provides for Christian ministry can be good things, but they are not work’s main goal. Work’s main goal is worship

through a lifestyle of God-honoring vocational faithfulness.

CULTIVATING A NEW ATTITUDE IN OUR WORKEvery day when you arrive at your workplace, an attitude arrives with you. Our attitudes are like the perfume or cologne we are wearing; we smell the fragrance when we first put it on, but others smell it throughout the day. The fragrance you are wearing at work, others are picking up. So what are those around you smelling? The apostle Paul reminds us that as apprentices of Jesus, we have the fragrance of Christ. The attitudes we wear to our workplaces should remind others of Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—should make up a great deal of our attitudinal fragrance. Yet for me, Paul’s inspired words to the followers of Jesus at Thessalonica are most helpful in cultivating a new attitude about my work and my workplace. After urging the Thessalonian believers to seek the common good of all, Paul lays out three attitudinal adjustments that powerfully transform the workplaces we have been called to inhabit. Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16–18).

In these power-packed verses Paul encourages us to cultivate attitudes of joy, of prayer, and of gratitude. Though our work and workplaces can be very frustrating at times and we often deal with some very difficult and demanding people, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to positively influence a workplace culture that better promotes human flourishing, synergistic teamwork, and the common good. If

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we will take the time to commit Paul’s inspired words to memory we can take them to work with us. Perhaps it would be helpful to write out Paul’s words and put them somewhere in your workspace as a reminder. In my workplace, I often review Paul’s words and make the necessary attitudinal adjustments throughout the workday.

It is also helpful for me to regularly remember who my ultimate audience is at work. Living and working before an Audience of One is amazingly transforming in both the good times and the bad. In my own workplace, I am particularly encouraged by the truths of Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” When we live before an Audience of One, we have nothing to fear, nothing to hide, and nothing to prove. We can devote our complete energy to doing good work. Having an Audience of One means we can practice the presence of God as we work and enjoy an ongoing conversation with him. As an overflow of our walk with Christ, we have the wonderful opportunity to bring a positive, joyful outlook to our daily work. No matter what our circumstances, our steadfast hope remains firmly tethered to the good news of the Gospel. Because of our Christian faith and our understanding of Christian vocation, we can give a warm smile to all of our coworkers, even those who at times rub us the wrong way. We can look for the good in others and praise them. We can truly celebrate when others are recognized for their achievement. We can express our appreciation through kind words and handwritten notes. Our attitudes can be the sweet aroma of Christ to those around us.

PURSUING EXCELLENCE IN OUR WORKAs I have interacted with business leaders over the years, I have heard negative words about the shabbiness and shadiness of Christians in the workplace more times than I can count. Whether the stories I hear are exaggerated for effect, I do not know, but I do believe that many times the reputation of Christians and their work is a sobering indictment on our inadequate understanding, as well as our day-to-day application, of the transforming truths of vocation. Sadly, a great deal of the shabbiness and shadiness of many Christians’ work is directly related to an inadequate and often distorted theology of vocation.

I once heard the story of the legendary Alexander the Great who, in a rather serendipitous way, encountered one of his soldiers who was, to put it charitably, a pitiful sight. The soldier was dressed sloppily, seemed disheveled, and clearly reeked of a long night of drinking and debauchery. When asked by his great military commander what his name was, the soldier replied, “Alexander, sir.” Alexander the Great glared back at the solider and said, “Soldier, either change your name or change your behavior.”

I fear that many of us who call ourselves Christians do not live up to that name in our work. Perhaps we need a fresh reminder that those who call themselves Christians are to behave differently. The apostle Paul makes an important connection between the name of Jesus and our day-to-day behavior. Writing to followers of Jesus at Colossae, Paul says, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father though him” (Col. 3:17). When we embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior, by his grace we work

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and behave differently in the workplace. Like our Master, Jesus, who modeled excellent carpentry work, in his grace we, too, labor with diligence and strive for excellence in whatever work God has called us to do.

THE WITNESS OF OUR WORKThough we are called to verbally profess our faith to others, to give an account for the hope within us, we are also called to practice our faith before others. Yes, we witness by our words, but we also witness by our work. The excellence of our work often gives us the credibility to speak of the excellence of our Lord Jesus and to share the good news of the Gospel with our coworkers. When you stop to think about it, the sheer amount of time you work each week means you witness much more by your work than you do by your words. Come to think of it, God designed it that way.

Steve Sample has been described as the greatest university president of his generation. For nineteen years, by his capable leadership, Sample led the University of Southern California to new heights of growth and to a worldwide educational influence never imagined. At his last commencement address, he spoke to forty thousand members and friends of the Trojan family who had gathered to celebrate the academic achievement of some of America’s most gifted leaders of tomorrow.

Looking out over the crowd, Steve Sample urged the graduates to think about life’s biggest issues and not just their future careers. His commencement address raised three questions which would in large measure set the trajectory of the graduates’ lives. First, how did they feel about money? Second, how did they feel about children? Third, how did they feel about

God? As Steve Sample raised his third question, there was pin-drop silence. Respectfully but courageously, USC’s outstanding president challenged all who had gathered to carefully consider spiritual reality and the profound implications it had for their lives and our world.

As I listened to Sample’s courageous words, I was struck by the reality that the integrity of his life and the excellence of his work for nineteen years had given him a credible platform and the gravitas to speak boldly of the God he loved and served. His integral life and excellent work made his courageous words persuasive and compelling. Our God-honoring work is often one of the greatest apologetics for our God-focused words.

YOUR WORK MATTERSA couple of months slipped by, and I caught up with John for another cup of coffee. Since our first conversation, John had done some study on his own, probing the rich truths about vocation found in Scripture. I asked John what he was learning. He said, “Tom, I still struggle at times, wondering if my work is making much of a difference in the world, but now when I go to work, I don’t go with a sense of emptiness lingering in my soul. I go with a sense of expectation that I am honoring God in my work. And my understanding of what it means to take Jesus with me to work has totally changed.” As I pressed John a bit further on the changes occurring in his work world, he commented, “Being Jesus’s apprentice at work has positively changed my attitude, and I am doing more excellent work.”

Your work matters a great deal to God, to others, and to our world. There is no ordinary work. The work God has called

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you to do is extraordinary. Don’t miss out on God’s best by taking an ordinary approach to it. Dorothy Sayers was right, “The only Christian work is good work well done.”

A PRAYER OF FAITHFUL PRESENCELord Jesus, in your incarnation you were faithfully present in a Nazareth carpentry shop. You honored the Father not only by your redemptive work on the cross but also by making excellent tables. As your apprentice, may I, too, be faithfully present in my workplace. Help me to grasp that there is no ordinary work, only extraordinary work done in your name and for your glory. May the quality of my work honor you, and may my work witness to the glory of the Gospel and your unimaginable excellence. Amen.


Tom Nelson is the the author of Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work. Tom has served as senior pastor of Christ Community Church in Leawood, Kansas, for more than twenty years. Tom is a member of The Gospel Coalition. Tom earned a Masters of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Trinity International University. Tom also serves on the boards of The Gospel Coalition and Trinity International University. Tom has two grown children and has been married to his wife Liz for thirty years.

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We have been exploring how vocation is fundamental to the mission of God. But how do we take this from an idea to a lived reality? All different types of work reflect aspects of God’s dynamic character, but how do we find our place among the myriad possibilities? This week will help us walk through this exploration process as we consider these questions of mission and calling.

ASSIGNMENTS• Book: Kingdom Calling Chapter 6 & 7


• Explain why vocational development is central to the local church’s mission to equip its members

• Understand how to utilize the “vocational sweet spot” to direct the exploration process

• Communicate the importance of a multifaceted and holistic approach to “discovery”


ENGINEER

Consider Jill, the architect, and Cynthia, the designer. Do you see yourself in either of their vocational journeys? What can you learn from the steps they took to help discover and develop towards their vocational sweet spot?

As you consider your own gifts, passions, and “holy discontents,” what common threads are present? Where are you getting stuck? Ask questions and offer ideas as you engage one another in this process.

Which of the seven dimensions of vocational power can you better utilize as you continue to grow your skills and passions unto the glory of God. What specific steps can you take to harness the potential within these resources?

GUIDECalling (Pt. 1)


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Many of us have great privilege in that our work aligns with our personal passions and giftedness. This is a blessing unique in many ways to our time and place in the world. We know that God holds us accountable to respond to the “much” he has given to us. As we continue to explore vocational possibilities let’s meditate on God’s call for us to grow in holiness and to offer our talents and resources in humble service to him and his world.

ASSIGNMENTS• Book: Kingdom Calling Chapter 8 & 9


• Understand the importance of “cultivating the character required for vocational stewardship”

• Give examples of how to foster servanthood, responsibility, courage, and humility

• Discuss the benefits, potential pitfalls, and practical considerations for the “4 Pathways”


LANDSCAPER

Which of the 4 character traits has God been most acutely refining in you, your family, or community? Describe what the process has been like.

These chapters gave several examples at how church leaders have cultivated these ways of seeing, being, and acting within their congregations. Which story resonated with you most. Why?

“God manages his power by sharing it” and we should too. Discuss why there is more theological rectitude in viewing service as mobilizing power (skills and resources) in others rather than simply offering our power to them?



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As disciples of Christ, we share the common calling of loving God and our neighbors. Also, God uniquely created each of us for specific good works. It’s important to intentionally reflect on the unique ways God has created us so that we can glorify him and serve others. To help that process, this week will discuss the benefits of developing a “life goal,” and how to sustain fruitful and focused work.

ASSIGNMENTS• Reader: Finding Your Life Calling


• Reflect on the importance of identifying a life goal• Articulate a life goal that will help you focus your work• Identify practices that will help sustain the pursuit of your life goal


PARENT

Share your life goal with, and seek feedback from, your Surge table.

What does it look like to resist making an idol out of your life goal?

What practices will help you sustain the pursuit of your life goal?



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FIND YOUR LIFE CALLINGby Matt Perman

UNLEASHING YOUR DREAMS FOR SERVING OTHERS IN RADICAL WAYS AND DOING GOOD FOR THE WORLD

To every person there comes in their lifetime that special moment when you are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to you and your talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds you unprepared or unqualified for work which could have been your finest hour.

Winston Churchill

God almighty has set before me two great objects: The abolition of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners.

William Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity

SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE AMBITIOUS?It’s strange but sometimes there is an aversion in the church to thinking big. Perhaps this comes from the good

tendency to realize that we ought to always value small things as well as big things, that caring only about big things and despising small things is not the Christian way.

But it is a fallacy to let our legitimate concern for small things lead to a despising of big things. We can — and must — value both. No one captures this better than Charles Bridges. In his commentary on Proverbs 3:18, he writes, “Do not despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10). But do not be satisfied with it either. Aim high, and you will come closer to reaching the mark. Religion must be a shining and progressive light. We must not mistake the beginning for the end of the course. We must not sit down at the entrance and say to our soul, ‘Take it easy now.’ There is no point where we may rest in complacency, as if there were no loftier heights that it is our duty to climb.”1

God is a big God (Jer. 32:27), he has given us a gigantic task (Matt. 28:18 – 20), and he is able to do abundantly more than we can even ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Thinking small, merely, is not the Christian thing to do.

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As Dave Harvey shows in his excellent book Rescuing Ambition, God never intended true humility to be a fabric softener for our aspirations. We aren’t to be ambitious for our own honor or glory. But we are to be ambitious for God’s honor and glory, radically so. “Dreaming and doing things for God is the evidence, the effect, and the expectation of genuine faith.”2

Thinking big and aiming high for the glory of God puts us in the realm of our life calling or vision.

WHAT IS A LIFE GOAL?I used to think that the large objective I was seeking to accomplish with my life was my mission statement. For example, someone might say “Martin Luther King Jr.’s mission in life was to end discrimination and bring about a more just and fair society for all.”

It is, of course, legitimate to talk that way. When we say something like, “His mission is to do this,” we are stating the importance of the cause.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MISSION STATEMENTS AND LIFE GOALSBut the large objectives we have are not actually life mission statements. They are life goals, or visions.

The difference is this: as we saw in the previous chapter, your mission is more a matter of principles. It concerns the purpose for everything you do and the principles governing how you will go about your life. It defines what success is for a human life. And, having been justified by faith apart from works, everyone can succeed at it. You can fail at a major life goal (for example, bringing water to every village in Africa that lacks it) and still succeed in life, because the purpose of life is the same

for all: do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Mic. 6:8). You can do this every day, in big and small ways, no matter what your circumstances.

A life goal, on the other hand, is a specific aim. Your mission is never completed (you will always be able to glorify God more), but a life goal can be completed. It has a finishing point.

Your mission is the ultimate reason for your existence — forever. It is your chief why. Your life goal is the concrete what. It is the chief way that you seek to fulfill your mission.

Hence, a life goal is also distinct from goals in general. We need to have all sorts of goals at different times and in different areas of our lives. But a life goal is an objective that is so big that it governs everything else you do, and it will likely take your entire life. And, it so resonates with you and so compels you that you take it up joyfully and willingly. Good life goals grab us, and we want to do them.

A life goal is what most people mean when they talk about finding your calling in life. It is the chief objective you are seeking to accomplish with your life. Life goals are analogous to what James Collins calls “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals”3 in businesses and nonprofits. A life goal is a large and almost overwhelming cause toward which everything else in your life is marshaled.

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S HOLY AMBITIONThe apostle Paul is a great example here. In the previous chapter, we saw many examples of mission statements from Paul’s pen. When he talked about how, to him, “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21)

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and how everything was loss to him compared with “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8) and achieving “the resurrection from the dead” (3:11), he was stating his mission, his ultimate purpose and joy.

Paul also stands out for knowing concretely what he was here to do, and how he was to glorify Christ specifically on this earth. He talks about having a “course” to complete, a ministry “to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). His aim is to build up the church and present everyone complete in Christ (Col. 1:28). Elsewhere, he talks of having an ambition to preach the Gospel to those who had never heard it (Rom. 15:20 – 21). This ambition of spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles who had never heard was so dominant that it was an all-consuming objective in Paul’s life; it determined everything he did and was the basis on which he made decisions among other priorities, like when he would go to Rome (Rom. 15:22 – 25). John Piper rightly terms this Paul’s “holy ambition,” defining a holy ambition as something you really, really want to do that God also wants you to do.4 That’s what a life goal is.

WILBERFORCE’S TWO GREAT OBJECTIVESWilliam Wilberforce is another great, and inspiring, example of how to create life goals. He had two. Here’s how Charles Colson describes Wilberforce’s early realization and articulation of his life goals:

Old Palace Yard, London, October 25, 1787: A slight young man sat at his oak desk in the second-floor library.

As he adjusted the flame of his lamp, the warm light shone on

his piercing blue eyes, oversized nose, and high wrinkled forehead. His eyes fell on the jumble of pamphlets on the cluttered desk. They were all on the same subject: the horrors of the slave trade, grisly accounts of human flesh being sold, like so much cattle, for the profit of his countrymen.

The young man would begin this day as was his custom, with a time of personal prayer and Scripture reading. But his thoughts kept returning to those pamphlets. Something inside him — that insistent conviction he’d felt before — was telling him that all that had happened in his life had been for a purpose, preparing him to meet that barbaric evil head-on. . . .

Wilberforce sat at his desk at that foggy Sunday morning in 1787 thinking about his conversion and his calling. Had God saved him only to rescue his own soul from hell? He could not accept that. If Christianity was true and meaningful, it must not only save but serve.

Wilberforce dipped his pen into the inkwell: “Almighty God has set before me two great objectives,” he wrote, his heart suddenly pumping with passion, “the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”5

Wilberforce did many things in his life, but these two objectives were his chief aims, and they governed everything else he did. Notice also that he was not afraid to think big. The story of his perseverance in accomplishing his chief goals is incredible and is told well in John Pollock’s chapter in Character Counts (if you would like a brief treatment) and biographies such as The

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Life of William Wilberforce by Samuel Wilberforce, or Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas.

VISION STATEMENTS IN THE BIBLE

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18 – 20

For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles — to whom I am sending you to open their eyes . . . that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

Acts 26:16 – 18

I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:24

I make it my ambition to preach the Gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have

never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”

Romans 15:20 – 21

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Colossians 1:28

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY YOUR LIFE GOAL?For identifying your life vision — the one or two overarching, major goals for your life — I find it most helpful to ask two questions:

• What would I do if I had all the money I needed and could do whatever I wanted?

• What would I do if I could do only one thing in the next three years?

The point of the first question is to allow you to think big, without logistical constraints, so that you can truly identify what fires you up. Many things will likely come to mind. The point of the second question, then, is to identify which of these things is truly most important to you by forcing yourself to choose just one thing.

If you could do only one thing on this planet (along with being a godly husband or wife and father or mother, if you have those callings), what would it be? That is your life goal.

Some people say that “there is no wrong answer, that it’s all about what you want to do,” But that’s not true, because we are not our own (1 Cor. 6:19 – 20). On the other hand, nobody can tell you what your life goal is. You have to discover it. It’s possible to get

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it wrong (i.e., sail around the world and have no responsibility), but there is no single right answer for everybody.

MAKING YOUR LIFE GOAL HAPPENMaking your life goal happen comes down to three things:

1. PUT IT IN A PLACE WHERE YOU WILL REMEMBER IT AND REVIEW IT.Since a life goal is a step above even long-term goals, defining the trajectory of your whole life, it needs to be treated as the higher-level goal that it is. One of the best ways to do this is to include it in the same document as your mission statement. You do this just by adding a fourth section called “Life Goal” or “Life Vision.”

If you are unsure what your life goal is, you can write down in that spot the main contenders you are thinking through, and whenever you review your mission statement, this will be a reminder to give some additional thought to your life goal.

2. WEAVE IT INTO THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR LIFE.When identifying your roles and architecting your prototype week, you need to give specific attention to weaving your life goal into the fabric of your life. If your life goal is to build up the church, for example, then you need to make sure that priority is reflected in concrete ways in the activities and roles of your life.

3. UTILIZE EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS RATHER THAN SCRIPTING EVERYTHING OUT.When we have clear goals, it is tempting to create detailed plans to make them happen. Planning is a good thing. But for large goals, detailed plans will not

work because circumstances change too quickly.

So instead of creating a detailed plan, create a more general plan and then advance your goal by keeping your eyes open to seize unplanned opportunities. Making progress by harnessing unplanned opportunities is the secret to accomplishing large goals in an environment of uncertainty and when you cannot know the future in detail (which, not being omniscient, you don’t). This is called evolutionary progress.

WHAT IF YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR LIFE GOAL?1. DO WHAT’S BEFORE YOU WITH EXCELLENCE. When you don’t know what your goals are or what your vision in life is, the last thing you should do is nothing. As Spurgeon has said, “If you stop and do nothing until you can do everything, you will remain useless.”6

Instead, do what’s before you with excellence. That is often the path to identifying what you should be doing, or at least opening up opportunities that will help you find greater clarity.

Related to this is doing what you most enjoy as well. You might say, “That’s the problem; I don’t know what I want to do.” And, of course, you might not know on a macro scale. But you do know which activities are most enjoyable to you. As long as those are things that make a contribution, keep doing those (or start doing them) and see where it takes you.

As part of this, be willing to move forward imperfectly. You learn by trying things and making mistakes. This isn’t contrary to the point about doing what you do with excellence. It means

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that, when making a decision about next steps, sometimes you might find you were wrong, and this can be an advantage in the long run because of the knowledge you will have gained from the experience. You sought to make that decision with excellence, but it turned out not to have been the best decision. You couldn’t have known that before. As with everything, so with mistakes: make excellent mistakes. Make mistakes of forward motion, not mistakes of sloth. Try things, be bold, and see what happens.

2. TAKE STEPS FOR FUNDAMENTAL REASONS, NOT INSTRUMENTAL REASONS.Doing something for fundamental reasons means doing something because you love it in itself. Doing something for instrumental reasons means you are doing it because of where it might lead, even though you don’t necessarily enjoy it in itself.

Don’t take a step you are not going to enjoy simply because you think it will open up a door to something you do enjoy. It seldom works this way.

As Dan Pink, one of my favorite authors on the world of work, points out, the most effective people make choices for fundamental reasons rather than instrumental reasons, most of the time.7 Keep choosing what you enjoy most and are best at, and let that guide your path.

3. CARE ABOUT WHO AS MUCH AS WHAT. When there are several different types of activities you enjoy, pay special attention to what type of people you like to work with and be around. Some of my best decisions are decisions I made because they enabled me to join forces with quality people who love the Lord, whom I respect, and who make

me a better person. When you aren’t sure what to do, the next best thing is to navigate your course on account of who you want to be with.

Notice that my point here is not to follow the crowd or seek the approval of others. I’m talking about being integrated with people who make you a better person, not seeking popularity or trying to feel good about yourself. “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Prov. 13:20).

4. INCREASE YOUR OPPORTUNITY STREAM. Learn, network, and do things. The more you do these things, the more you increase your opportunity stream. And to make this work, you have to be open to surprise (point three above in “making your life goal happen”). Put yourself in the path of surprise and unplanned opportunities, and then seize them.

Scott Belsky captures this well in his article “Finding Your Work Sweet Spot”:

Unfortunately, this is often where we get stuck, discounting the potential opportunities that surround us as inadequate. There is no such thing as equal access to opportunity. Old boy networks and nepotism run rampant in all industries. And most opportunities are entirely circumstantial. As such, you must simply define “opportunity” as an action or experience that brings you a step closer to your genuine interest.

Opportunity is less about leaps forward and more about the slow advance. Most folks I meet recall their greatest opportunities as chance conversations. This is why personal introductions, conferences, and other networking efforts really pay off. Just surrounding yourself with more activity will

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inherently increase your “opportunity stream” — the chance happenings that lead to actions and experiences relevant to your genuine interests.8

5. READ INSPIRING BOOKS AND BIOGRAPHIES, AND WATCH INSPIRING MOVIES.Developing your vision is just as much a right-brain, creative, imaginative activity as it is a left-brain activity. To help tap into this, read biographies and books that encourage you to do hard things and dream big dreams for God and the good of the world. This is also one of the overlooked benefits of watching movies. God invented movies, in part, so that we can find inspiration in the visual presentation of stories with a hero who overcomes massive obstacles for the sake of a great cause.

6. STAY FAITHFUL IN PRAYER!Don’t just try to figure things out on your own. As with all planning, involve God and make him the center (Prov. 16:3). You are not the captain of your ship. God determines what happens to you and where your ship goes, and he is a good God who looks out for you and is eager to make your life count for his glory and his people’s good. This is always true, but if you take it for granted by not involving him in thinking through your plans and pleading with him in prayer, the course you are on will suffer: “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2).

7. TAKE ACTION AND COMMIT.You shouldn’t be thirty years old and still trying to figure out what to do with your life. Don’t live in your parents’ basement playing video games all day while you “figure out your life’s aim.” Get involved in the world of work, get a job that is challenging and calls on the best of you, and live your life. Don’t be aimless, even while seeking to discover your chief aim in life. Do something.

Not something to bide the time, but something meaningful, and you will discover your life goal on that course.

THE BOXCORE POINTYou need to have an overarching, passionate, God-centered aim to your life — an overarching goal and message that flows from your mission and directs the priorities of your life.

CORE QUOTEGod almighty has set before me two great objects: The abolition of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners.

William Wilberforce

CORE PASSAGEI do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:24

HELP IN DEVELOPING A VISION FOR YOUR LIFETo develop a deeper sense of God’s purposes for us, I recommend the following:

• David Platt, Radical

• John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life

• Francis Chan, Crazy Love

• Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

• John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

• Stephen Nichol, Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between

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• Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life

• Biographies of notable Christians like William Carey, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, and others

• Movies like Amazing Grace (on the life of William Wilberforce)


Matt Perman is an author, speaker, and consultant eager to help you do work that matters, and do it better. More than that, he wants to help you do your work and influence the culture in a Gospel-centered way. Matt is the author of What’s Best Next and Creating a Business Plan that Actually Works. He worked for 13 years at Desiring God leading the web department, serving as director of strategy, and helping build the ministry for greater spreading. With an M.Div. from Southern Seminary and experience consulting with churches and organizations, Matt started What’s Best Next to equip Christians theologically and practically.

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We are finite and limited people who live in a broken, sin-filled, world. This is the context of our pursuit of vocational faithfulness. Our big dreams of changing the world are interrupted by the realities of life. When Jesus returns, he will restore this broken world. Until then, the best we can hope for is proximate justice–some good, some justice, some reconciliation–rather than the full realization of the Kingdom. This week will focus on coming to terms with our limitedness and the various postures we take toward the world when our visions of vocation are confronted by the harsh realities of the world.

ASSIGNMENTS• Reader: The Postures of Proximate Justice


• Reflect on the limitedness of humanity and the implications for vocation• Rejoice in the coming restoration of Christ and mourn the current reality

of sin• Identify which of the “Postures of Proximate Justice” you see in your life


SERVER (AT A RESTAURANT)

Steven Garber says, “Whatever our vocation, it always means making peace with the proximate, with something rather than nothing – in marriage and in family, at work and at worship, at home and in the public square, in our cities and around the world. That is not a coldhearted calculus; rather it is a choice to live by hope, even when hope is hard.” Discuss this quote. Does it discourage you or give you hope? Why?

Which of the five “Postures of Proximate Justice” characterize your life?

What does it look like to embody the “Groan of Glory” in your particular context?

GUIDEProximate Justice


WEEK

08

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THE POSTURES OF PROXIMATE JUSTICEby Jim Mullins

Somewhere there’s a little girl who is taking a last glance at her mother as she’s ushered away by a social worker. A lobbyist is leveraging eloquent words, and even more eloquent dollars, to defend a carcinogen, abdicating his responsibility to protect his neighbor while protecting the bottom line. Men and women are exchanging text messages to coordinate a meeting at a hotel that will exchange decades with their families for a few hours of pleasure.

Right now, men are walking the streets of Baltimore, knowing that those with brown skin, and those with blue uniforms, are not safe. Struggling teachers are writing their resignation letters as struggling students resign their dreams of college. ISIS is advancing, people are being abducted, cancer is being diagnosed, streams are being polluted, and while the world bleeds out, politicians are rummaging through her wallet.

How should we, as limited people, engage a world with seemingly limitless pain? Unspeakable brokenness has punctured the lungs of the world, and with every horrific headline, we hear the world gasp for relief. The impact of

the Fall has caused injuries that affect every organ of the earth--every domain of society, every home, and every individual. The world is hemorrhaging because of sin.

How should we respond to a world with so many wounds? Which injuries should we seek to mend with our limited hands and limited ability? We want to be the Good Samaritan who helps the wounded stranger, but we’ve come along upon a road where everyone is wounded, including ourselves. We are finite people who lack the time, talent, money and influence to substantially address all of the world’s wounds.

Our limitedness forces us to make choices. To choose to be a nurse is to refrain from being a teacher. To choose to give $100 to alleviate poverty is to refuse $100 to end sex trafficking. One of the great challenges of discerning our calling, is the challenge of figuring out where we ought to focus our lives, to find the place where our skills and abilities intersect with the world’s needs.

Even when we have a strong sense of vocation, and deliberately give our lives to a few specific things, we still usually

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fall short of “changing the world.” Even the best teachers will not be able to reach all students, the best policies will have unforeseen negative effects, and the best doctors will lose patients on the surgery table.

LEARNING TO LIVE PROXIMATELYAs I’ve wrestled with these questions, I’ve been helped by the writing of Steven Garber who talks about our need to make peace with the “proximate,” the idea that we work toward some change, some justice, some restoration even though we can’t make everything right.

Jesus can, and will, wipe away every tear from our eyes and restore all that’s broken when he returns. However, in the meantime, we are called to put our hands to the plow, working hard for justice and the common good. We are not ultimate solutions, but first responders who bind wounds and comfort the injured as a sign of the help and healing that are to come with the return of Christ.

Garber describes it this way,

Whatever our vocation, it always means making peace with the proximate, with something rather than nothing – in marriage and in family, at work and at worship, at home and in the public square, in our cities and around the world. That is not a coldhearted calculus; rather it is a choice to live by hope, even when hope is hard.1

Eventually, everyone has to set aside utopian idealism, and live in the real world, the world of proximate justice that points to a future restoration.

Over the years, I have noticed that people tend to respond in different ways to the reality that we do not, ultimately, change the world, but live as signs that point to the one who will. We tend to take different postures toward the proximate; some of them are healthy while others are distorted. Generally, people take one of these five postures:

1. The Folded Arms of Cynicism

2. The Shrug of Apathy

3. The Turn of the Simplistic

4. The Busy Hands of Activism

5. The Groan of Glory

While each of these postures have a hint of truth, I will argue that The Groan of Glory is the most faithful posture, because it’s the posture that works hard in this life while groaning with creation for a more glorious future. It’s the posture of a faithful few who move forward, working hard, and makes peace with the proximate until Jesus returns.

THE POSTURES OF PROXIMATE JUSTICEThe world is filled with underfunded teachers, confused policy makers, and struggling entrepreneurs who sought to change the world, but came to realize that the world is brutal and not easily changed.

Most of us, eventually, have to come to terms with the reality that we are not heroes, but hints of hope. Once people come to the realization that the best we can hope for is proximate justice -- some good, some justice, some reconciliation -- they tend to respond with several different postures toward the world. Some of these postures are beautiful, showing that one has taken on the yoke of Christ. Other postures are deformed, because they are not

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braced by the Gospel. Which of these characterize your posture toward the wounds of the world?

1. THE FOLDED ARMS OF CYNICISMThese people accurately see the brokenness of the world. They know that utopian visions are for fools. Their mantra is: “that will never work.” They are usually intelligent, articulate, and masters of deconstruction. They are disappointed in their own failures, and exponentially disappointed in failures of others, leaving them jaded and bitter. They are not people of action, and they rarely engage the brokenness of the world beyond their words and thoughts. They have the strength for deconstruction, but are too exhausted to engage in the work of building. They like to think of themselves as “realists”, but that’s inaccurate, because these so-called realists functionally deny the resurrection of Christ, and his very real power to affect the world, through their posture toward a wounded world.

2. THE SHRUG OF APATHYOther people respond to the brokenness of the world with a shrug. Their mantra is: “Oh, well. You can’t get involved with everything.” These people can watch the world news with popcorn in their hand, interested in issues, but not deeply concerned with people. They rightly understand their inability to get involved with every cause and have made peace with their finitude. However, the Shrug of Apathy is a dehumanizing posture in at least two ways.

First, in order to cultivate apathy, one must stop seeing people as people, and only see “issues”. When this happens, people without food become the issue of “hunger,” people with disease become the topic of “healthcare,”etc. It’s dehumanizing to turn an image-bearer into a topic of interest. Second,

to be apathetic toward suffering is to dehumanize yourself by eliminating the truly human emotions that should be felt when encountering the brokenness of the world. To intentionally numb your heart from feeling the world’s pain is the first step in the cowardly process of becoming less human. This double dehumanization dishonors the God who created us in his own image.

3. THE TURN OF THE SIMPLISTICSome respond to the wounds of the world by simply turning away from pain, or by convincing themselves that things aren’t that bad. They close their eyes, plug their ears, and avoid being confronted by the brokenness of the world. Sometimes they avoid seeing the real brokenness of the world by distracting themselves with busy schedules or abundant entertainment. They make the world their world noisy in order to drown out the groans of creation. Sometimes they will engage important issues, but they keep them at a safe distance with simplistic ideologies and media that confirms their bias. They are unwilling to mourn, wrestle deeply, and hold things in tension. The motto of the simplistic is: “If they would just...” Whether it’s the free market, evangelism, government regulation, education, systemic injustice or personal responsibility; the simplistic avoid the complexity of the world by identifying one thing as a silver bullet to fix everything.

4. THE BUSY HANDS OF ACTIVISMThese people must be commended for actually doing something, even if their confident visions of “changing the world” are somewhat naive and overstated. They believe innovation, hashtags, campaigns, funding, policies, strategies, techniques and awareness are just simple ingredients that will make everything better when arranged

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in the most creative and inspiring way. They engage themselves in good work, but at shallow levels. They evaluate the merit of their work by their level or passion and the volume of their activity, rather than how their work actually helps others. They have not learned to slow down, weep, lament, understand the complexity, and even confess how they’ve contributed to the pain. Their pursuit of justice and the common good might be somewhat helpful, but they often rush to action without sufficient reflection and relationship. Their work is often perceived as condescending, especially among the most vulnerable, because their palpable optimism is naive and makes light of the tragic presence of sin and suffering in the world.

5. THE GROAN OF GLORYThere’s a response to the world’s suffering that is shaped by the Gospel, takes into consideration both the brokenness and the beauty of the world, our finitude, and the power of the resurrection. I call this The Groan of Glory, the ability to groan with creation about the deep pain of the world, but also to respond to the call of God to pursue shalom in his world while looking forward to the return of Christ. Romans 8:18-30 paints a picture of creation and humanity groaning together, and waiting for a future day of glory when the bounded world will be set free. This creates a humble and hopeful posture that includes active hands, active minds, and active hearts.

People with this posture, like everybody, have to settle for the pursuit of proximate justice in just a few areas, and realize they can’t engage in everything. However, they deeply care about brokenness wherever they find it, and their concerns don’t merely turn into worry or anxiety, but rather, they

become the kindling for prayer. They weep and lament when they watch the news, or hear of another cancer diagnoses, or read about systemic injustice. They give their heart to others in empathy, and to God in prayer, even if that’s all they have to give. Knowing they cannot change everything, they seek to do something with their limited ability and time in the world. They work while they wait, with longing, for the one who will make all things new.

In his book Visions of Vocation, Dr. Steven Garber writes:

We know in our deepest places how hard it is to keep our eyes open to the complexity of the broken world around us, to keep feeling the pains of a world that is not the way it is supposed to be and, knowing the difficulty, choosing to engage it rather than being numbed by it.2

As we are confronted by the cold reality of a broken world, let’s pay attention to our posture and let it be shaped by both the cross and resurrection. Let us heed the words of Paul, who admonished the church in Corinth, as they tried to figure out how to live in between the resurrection of Christ and the renewal of all things: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV).


Jim Mullins is pastor of teaching, communities, and cultural engagement at Redemption Church in Tempe, Arizona. He is a contributor to Flourish Phoenix and blogs at All of Life. He and his wife, Jenny, live with their daughter, Elliana, in Tempe.

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ENDNOTES

WHATEVER YOU DO: WHY DISPLESHIP IS WITHERING AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

125 See The NIV Stewardship Study Bible, Zondervan, 2009.

126 See Darrell Cosden, A Theology of Work, Wipf & Stock, 2006; Lester DeKoster, Work: The Meaning of Your Life, second edition, Christian’s Library Press, 2010; Os Guinness, The Call, Thomas Nelson, 2003; Timothy Keller with Katherine Leary Alsdorf, Every Good Endeavor, Dutton, 2012; Tom Nelson, Work Matters, Crossway, 2011; R. Paul Stevens, Work Matters, Eerdmans, 2012; and Gene Edward Veith, God at Work, Crossway, 2002.

127 For example, see Exodus 20:9 and 35:30-35; Psalm 90:17 and 128:2; Proverbs 12:11-14, 16:3, 18:9, 22:29, 24:27, 31:13 and 31:13-31; Ecclesiastes 3:22, 5:6 and 9:10; Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27; John 5:17; Ephesians 4:28; Colossians 3:23-24; I Thessalonians 4:11; II Thessalonians 3:10-12; I Timothy 5:8; and II Timothy 2:6.

128 On creation as it relates to life in human civilization, see Colin Gunton, The Triune Creator, Eerdmans, 1998; and Michael Wittmer, Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Zondervan, 2004. On redemption, see Amy Sherman, Kingdom Calling, Crossway, 2012; and Darrell Cosden, The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work, Hendrickson, 2006. On the tensions that can arise between them in the life of the church see John Stott, “Mission,” in Christian Mission in the Modern World, reissued, InterVarsity, 2008.

129 See Victor Claar and Robin Klay, Economics in Christian Perspective, InterVarsity, 2007; Wayne Grudem, Business for the Glory of God, Crossway, 2003; Austin Hill and Scott Rae, The Virtues of Capitalism, Northfield, 2010; Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, Madison, 1982; John Schneider, The Good of Affluence, Eerdmans, 2002; and Jeff Van Duzer, Why Business Matters to God (And What Still Needs to Be Fixed), InterVarsity Press, 2010.

130 See Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital, Basic, 2003.

131 See Kenman Wong and Scott Rae, Business for the Common Good, InterVarsity, 2011; and Jeff Van Duzer, Why Business Matters to God (And What Still Needs to Be Fixed), InterVarsity Press, 2010.

132 See Victor Claar and Robin Klay, Economics in Christian Perspective, InterVarsity, 2007; Austin Hill and Scott Rae, Virtues of Capitalism, Northfield, 2010; Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason, Random House, 2006; Os Guinness, The Call, Thomas Nelson, 2003; Samuel Gregg, The Commercial Society, Lexington, 2006; and John Schneider, The Good of Affluence, Eerdmans, 2002.

133 See William Platcher, ed., Callings, Eerdmans, 2005; Colin Gunton, The Triune Creator, Eerdmans, 1998.

134 See Gene Edward Veith, God at Work, Crossway, 2002; Os Guinness, The Call, Thomas Nelson, 2003; and Gustaf Wingren, Luther on Vocation, Wipf and Stock, 1957.

135 See William Platcher, ed., Callings, Eerdmans, 2005.

136 See William Platcher, ed., Callings, Eerdmans, 2005.

WORK AS SERVICE57 A point of controversy is that in verse 21 Paul denotes slavery as a “calling” in which it is possible to serve God. It is

beyond our scope to enter into this discussion (though see Chapter 9 on our new motive and Ephesians chapter 6). It is important to observe that (a) in verse 21 Paul told Christians who were slaves to acquire their freedom if they could, and (b) we must not think that all slavery in ancient times was like modern chattel slavery. For an excellent

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treatment of this passage, see R.E. Ciampa and B.S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians (Eerdmans, 2010), 306–28. They write, “Paul has been careful not to make light of the circumstances of Christian slaves” (p. 327).

58 Ibid., 308–9.

59 Quoted in Ibid., 309.

60 Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (University of California Press, 1985), 287–8.

61 Ciampa and Rosner, First Letter to the Corinthians, 309, n.184.

62 See Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Eerdmans, 1949), 569.

63 It is interesting to remember that Luther’s other great opponents in the Reformation were the Anabaptists of the “Radical Reformation.” The Anabaptists saw the public realm as essentially the realm of Satan and forbade their members to fulfill civil offices such as policeman, magistrate, and the like. Ironically, though the Anabaptists charged Reformers like Luther and Calvin with not rejecting the Catholic tradition enough, they had as negative a view of “ secular” work in the world as did the Catholic Church at the time. Luther’s (and Calvin’s) teaching of all work as God’s vocation therefore was set against both the Catholic Church and the Anabaptists.

64 Martin Luther, Three Treatises (Fortress, 1970), 12.

65 The translation of Luther cited makes use of the King James Version. See the translation by Edward Sittler in Luther’s Works: Selected Psalms III, ed., J. Pelikan, vol. 14 (Concordia, 1958).

66 Ibid., 95.

67 Luther’s Large Catechism: With Study Questions, trans. F. Samuel Janzow (Concordia, 1978), 90.

68 Pelikan, Luther’s Works, vol. 14, 95.

69 Ibid., 96.

70 Ibid., 100.

71 Ibid., 96.

72 Luther’s Works, Sermon on the Mount and the Magnificat ed. J. Pelikan, vol. 21, (Concordia, 1958), 237.

73 Hardy, Fabric, 45.

74 This is from his preface to the complete edition of Luther’s Latin Writings (Wittenberg, 1545), printed in Luther’s Works, vol. 34, Career of the Reformer (Fortress, 1960), 336–8.

75 Luther’s Works, Genesis Chapters 6– 14, eds. J. Pelikan and D.E. Poellot, vol. 2 (Concordia, 1960), 348.

76 Luther’s Works, Sermon on the Mount, vol. 21, 367.

77 Dorothy Sayers, “Why Work?” in Creed or Chaos? (Harcourt, Brace, 1949), 51.

78 Sayers, “Creed or Chaos?” in Creed or Chaos?, 42–3.

79 Ibid.

80 Lester DeKoster, Work: The Meaning of Your Life (Christian Library Press, 1982), 5, 7, 9–10.

81 Sayers, Creed or Chaos?, 56–7.

82 Recounted in William E. Diehl, The Monday Connection: A Spirituality of Competence, Affirmation, and Support in the Workplace, (HarperCollins, 1991), 25–6.

83 Ibid., 29.

84 Ibid.

85 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Westminster Press, 1960), III.11.6.725.

WORK AS SERVICE1 Quoted in Miller, God at Work, 19.

2 Miller, God at Work, 10.

3 Stephen Ambrose, Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001).

4 Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (New York: HarperCollins, 1998), 14.

FINDING YOUR LIFE CALLING1 Charles Bridges, Proverbs (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 38.

2 Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 62.

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3 James Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, tenth anniversary edition (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), 93 – 94.

4 See Piper’s sermon “Holy Ambition: To Preach Where Christ Has Not Been Named”: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/holy-ambition-to-preach-where-christ-has-not-been-named.

5 William Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity (1797; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006), x – xii. Note that “manners” = “morals” in Wilberforce’s day; that is, the moral framework of Great Britain.

6 Charles Spurgeon, Counsel for Christian Workers (Christian Heritage), 10.

7 See his helpful book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.

8 Scott Belsky, “Finding Your Work Sweet Spot”: http://the99percent.com/tips/7003/Finding-Your-Work-Sweet-Spot-Genuine-Interest-Skills-Opportunity.

THE POSTURES OF PROXIMATE JUSTICE1 Steven Garber, Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good (InterVarsity Press), 203.

2 Ibid., 53.

Surge has been a part of Grace Community Church for only one year. Already Surge has brought people from diverse ethnic,

ministry, theological, and generational backgrounds together in a more meaningful way than we have ever had here in Grace’s 48 year history. Learning together on a level playing field has

enabled those who were “othered” within our church to sit at a table and become a family who helps one another wrestle with and apply what it looks like to be a blessing to our neighbors in

all of life.

In addition, our church which has been historically very “otherworld” or “rapture” oriented has begun to deal more

robustly with the implications of an incarnational worldview that seeks to be a foretaste of the restoration of all things that will

happen at the return of Jesus. Thus, Surge has given our people a vision of how to follow Jesus in a variety of vocations and

enabled them to reject the sacred/secular hierarchy of callings in a healthy way.

- Seth Troutt, Associate Pastor at Grace Community Church (Tempe)

©2015 Surge Network

e no longer live in Christendom. Our society is changing rapidly and the church must learn how to embody the message of the Gospel so that the Kingdom of God may be clearly put on display. Are you

equipped to live in such a way that puts God’s goodness, grace and justice on display?

The Surge Network exists to equip leaders in all fields and vocations to live as sent people to bless our broken world. Over 1,000 leaders in Arizona have graduated from Surge School and now several other cities across our nation are also implementing Surge within their network of churches.

For more information, see our website: www.surgenetwork.com

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quarter 4: gospel calling - flourish collective · 2016. 10. 13. · there is a great scene in the...

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