Series: Marks of an Alternative Community
Colossians 3:22-4:1
“New year, new start – it seems appropriate to talk about one of our favorite subjects… work
- It’s also where we are in the text
Most all of us work
- Here at St Johns , we are a combination of engineers, therapists, doctors, teachers, joiners, nurses, accountants, lawyers, contractors
- Up till recently,
- Some of us are raising houses, others are raising kids
- Some of us are in between one work and another
- Some of us are in the thick of it and love it, finding that it completes something within
- While others are enduring work and living for the weekend
- Nonetheless, work is part of the design
- God is introduced as One at work (Gen 1-2)
- And John 5:17 tells us He is still at work
- Working within us
- Giving work its dignity
Unfortunately, sin has messed up a lot of things, including work
- Genesis 3 tells us sin has brought a jagged edge, a certain curse to our work
Illustration - ………………………. Mr Mann
- Every field has its weeds; every work has a certain downside Becoming a follower of Christ does not change this, the weeds still grow
- But something changes, radically changes
- Paul lays this out in Colossians 3:22-4:1 (read)
Here, Paul speaks to masters and slaves
- And while we cannot, should not, make parallels
- Where slaves equal employees and masters equal employers
- There are certain principles that can be applied
- Two things a follower of Christ must see about his/her work
1) SEE YOUR WORK AS PART OF SOMETHING LARGER
- There are two major temptations in our work
A) TO SEE OUR WORK AS PRIMARY
- Sometimes it is hard to see anything beyond our work
- We can become consumed by our career, obsessed with our work
- I watch some of you as you seek to survive in a workplace that demands more and more of your energy, your life
- That challenges you with performance goals, and threatens you if you fall short
- It’s easy to begin to see everything else as secondary, spiritual life, family life, even personal life
B) TO COMPARTMENTALIZE - to separate our work from our faith
- Sacred, secular
- Our spiritual life is over here, our work is over there
- Paul dismisses these two assumptions here in Colossians 3
1) By underscoring that following Jesus is our primary calling, our main vocation
- We are called by Him, to Him, and for Him
- Jesus is center stage, everything is to be done in His name (3:17)
- Everything else is background
- Whatever our earthly vocation may be, be it a common laborer, a salesman, a professional athlete, a corporate chairman, a pastor, it is to be done in light of our calling to God
2) In declaring that everything, including our work, is within the sphere of His Lordship
- Paul is declaring that work is not over there, our spiritual lives are over here
- They are all OVER HERE
- And when work is connected with Spirit, work will never be wasted effort
- Done as an act of service to God, it is elevated to something larger than “work”
- To something graced with meaning and purpose, dignity and spiritual significance
2) LIVE LARGE ON THE STAGE WE FIND OURSELVES
- And living large means living Christ where we are, where we find ourselves
- Paul did not urge slaves to leave their work
- He could have challenged those believers who were slaves to unite, assert their rights, leave their situation, find a different work
- Instructed their masters to release them, reminding them of verse 11
- Amazingly, he did just the opposite
- Paul called them to live out Christ where they were, and by implication, he calls us to do the same
- Be it driving a concrete truck, be it designing software
- It’s not to say we should not seek for change, find new challenge, pursue new passions, find our purpose
- Solzhenitsyn, a man who spent years in a Gulag, became a one man resistance movement to totalitarianism
- He refused to be confined by his circumstances, and in his later years, he refused to waste his life in his latter years
- For he had this conviction that his life was like molten substance, impatient to pour into his mold, to fill it full, without bubbles or cracks, before he cooled and stiffened
- But we must also realize we can spend our lives trying to find our place, only to one day realize our lives have been used up entirely in the search (White)
Point - God calls us to live large on the stage we find ourselves in the present
- Paul tells us what that looks like in this passage
A) LIVE A POSTURE OF SERVICE (Colossians 3:22a)
- Verse 22 is directed to slaves of a Roman Empire
- But we are slaves as well
- We are God’s servants, called to serve Him, if we are not his slaves, we are slaves of the world
- And as a part of this service, serve one another
- Regardless of prevalent attitudes in the workplace, that devalues, demean a spirit of submission
- Where there is the tendency to seek for control, authority, and position
- To either lord it over others, or challenge those in authority over us
- A defining mark of a Christ follower is SERVANT
B) LIVE A CERTAIN INDIFFERENCE TO THE APPROVAL OF OTHERS
(Colossians 3:22b)
- Having died to this life, having risen to new life
- A certain unconcern for flash, appearance should characterize us
- While much of work can be about performance, aiming for approval, attracting attention, building a name
- Eye service, men pleasing, doing it for men, currying their favor, often with the temptation to forfeit integrity
- Running over others, taking credit for something someone else accomplished, gaining personal notoriety
- This is all stuff we have been saved from
- We have died to, BEEN LIBERATED FROM!
Illustration - The Office
- It’s a parody of life in the world of 9-5
- In this case, Paper Supply
- Where David Brent self proclaimed “world’s greatest boss” (he bought the mug himself) is constantly out to impress others, only it never works (video)
- A follower of Jesus does not sacrifice principle to gain another’s attention, win someone else’s approval
- Living large means being who you are, with a sincerity of heart, a singleness of purpose
C) LIVE OUT A HEART THAT FEARS GOD RATHER THAN MEN
(Colossians 3:22c)
- Part of living large is living free of intimidation
- There is an approach to work, honed over time by spiritual disciplines, to do it out of reverence for God
- That at the end of the day is not that concerned with what men think, but what God thinks
- Is not fearful of men, no longer in bondage to human intimidation
- Our work is rendered in awe of God
- Our performance is related to His rule
D) LIVE OUT A WHOLE HEARTEDNESS RATHER THAN A
HALF-HEARTEDNESS (Colossians 3:23)
- Here Paul speaks to the heart behind the work
- A Christ follower does not go through the motions, without any personal commitment to his/her work
- Vegetating, and getting paid for it
- But doing whatever we have been called to do “out of the soul,” done from the interior
- Work done with a whole heartedness, with all the life force behind it
- That hopefully translates into work done well
- Reflecting excellence, diligence
- For God hates work that is hinged to predictability, aimlessness
- (Colossians 26:14)
- Work without pursuit, monotonous listlessness
- Work void of aspiration, defined by indifference, procrastination
- You might say, “work with all your soul,” in my job
- You don’t know my job
- Paul says, it doesn’t matter what your job is
- Your work may be about cleaning floors, changing nappies, clearing drains, collecting rubbish, a monotonous existence on an assembly line
- And yet, probably nothing compared to those Paul was writing to
- Who were owned, subjugated to others, called to do the most tedious of tasks
- You might say, “But you don’t know my boss”
- Paul says, “Yes I do”
- His name is Jesus
- Is there any greater motivation?
Illustration - My boss is a Jewish Carpenter, that’s all I need to know
E) LIVE WITH AN ETERNAL, RATHER THAN A TEMPORAL,
PERSPECTIVE-3:24
1) That sees beyond the temporal to the eternal
2) That sees to a God to whom nothing escapes His gaze
- Verse 25: what you sow, you reap
- Social status is immaterial, no special treatment
3) That understands that God pays really well
- Great health benefits, a body like new
- Awesome retirement plan
- Room for promotion
That’s what living large on the stage God has placed us means
- That sees that work is hence a sacred calling
- That it is all about His glory, not ours
- That is all about seeing Him as our audience
Os Guinness tells the story of screen goddess Marlene Dietrich
- Who issued recordings of her cabaret ovations
- Two sides of nothing but applause
- And would often invite friends to listen
- “Oh that’s Rio, that’s when I was in Cologne.”
The only bottom line any us need to concern ourselves with is the applause of
God
- The only reward that matters is His reward
WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?
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