Last week, when I talked about the change of seasons and God having a purpose no matter what season we are in, I mentioned seeking God’s call on our lives. And I’d like to tie that in with today’s sermon and talk about God’s call and our response. So if you have a bookmark or a pen or even your fingers, please turn with me to Philippians, Chapter 2. Then, we’ll look at Colossians Chapter 3; and then Galatians Chapter 6.
In his book, The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis said,
The work of a Beethoven, and the work of a maid, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly “as unto the Lord.” This does not, of course, mean that it is for anyone a mere toss-up whether he should sweep rooms or compose symphonies. A mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow.
And similarly, Martin Luther once said,
“The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays — not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
And in a similar fashion, Nadia Boulanger [boo-lawn-je], a well-known French pianist, composer, and conductor who taught many successful 20th Century musicians, said,
There is nothing boring in life except ourselves. The most humble work does not have to be boring. I remember Madame Duval, the old woman who cleaned the floor in my place in Gargenville [gar-jan-vill]. I think of her with profound respect and reverence. She was 80 years old. One day she knocked at my door and said, “Mademoiselle, I know you don’t like to be disturbed, but the floor, come and see it; it shines!” In my mind, Stravinsky and Madame Duval will appear before the Lord for the same reason. Each had done what he does with all his consciousness.
Scripture:
Philippians 2:13-15 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
Colossians 3:23-24 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Galatians 6:9-10 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
What these verses have in common is that God nudges us–or, as I mentioned last week, and dad mentioned last week before I arrived, the more ‘churchy’ term would be ‘calls us’ to do His will. His will–His calling–is going to be different from person to person. But even in the midst of pursuing or acting in our calling, we may not always feel as if we are accomplishing anything. A lot of pastors and other people in various types of ministries feel this way. The thing about ministry is that Satan works harder at discouraging pastors, evangelists, and missionaries to make them want to give up. And a lot of pastors do. According to a Barna study one year ago, 46 percent of pastors under the age of 45 say they are considering quitting full-time ministry, compared to 34 percent of pastors 45 and older. Only 35 percent of pastors are considered to have a healthy well-being. And in the verse from Ecclesiastes that we read last week, we wonder why. We wonder if we are actually accomplishing anything.
But that verse also acknowledges that we have a God-given task that is worth pursuing. We just get in the doldrums of life, even in the God-given task.
When you feel like you’re wasting your time, it doesn’t mean that you are. Feelings are not always the best barometer of reality. In the grand scheme of things, you might have one bad day, two bad days, or two bad years. Yet if you are being diligent, then you are accomplishing something that God values. It may not be grand or glorious in man’s eyes, but God sees our work and our faithfulness to do it well.
In the grand scheme of things, when God calls us to do something, we should do it with grace, humility, and purpose. Even though we get discouraged, we must faithfully persevere. God calls us and prompts us toward doing something. And when we pursue that something, we need to remember that we are working for the Lord no matter what we are doing–even if it is menial labor and not some grand ministry. God has the ability to equip us to do that work and to do it with a sense of purpose. And God will reward us for faithfully doing His will.
Using my driving job as an illustration again, I don’t always feel as if I’ve accomplished anything at the end of the day other than exhaustion.
Enduring Word Bible Commentary says that “Sometimes our fear that God forgot our work and labor of love comes from relying on the attention and applause of people. It is true that some people may forget your work and labor of love, but God never will.”
If we go back to Philippians 2, verse 13, Paul says, “13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
Paul encourages us that God stirs within us a desire to do His will. Now, when you think about it, that should give us a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Life has meaning and purpose. We get to see our gifts and talents be used and maybe even flourish. That should give you great joy. But then look what Paul says next:
Verse 14
“14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,”
Remember when we talked about that when it came to hospitality a couple of weeks ago? Why does he say that here?
Because, apparently, the church in Philippi was grumbling and complaining. And Paul, who said this, had more reason than anyone to complain and grumble and argue. He was in the center of God’s will, yet he had been shipwrecked, imprisoned, chained, and beaten with 39 lashes multiple times; he had been left cold and starving. If anyone had a right to complain, he did. Yet, he was the one who said that he had learned the art of being content in any and every situation.
Paul is saying to the Philippians to work and do God’s will without grumbling and arguing amongst each other. Why? Let’s look at the next verse.
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
In other words, God wants us to stand out among the rest. He wants our character to be different. God wants His children to act like we’re his children.
And our workplaces are a perfect place to do that. What better place to shine?
Maybe the outcome of our calling–of our gifting–is not what we have accomplished for ourselves or for the company’s sake at the end of the day. Maybe the finished product, in God’s eyes, is our character. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t care about the outcome of the company’s goals or set goals for ourselves, but maybe God has a greater purpose than our own individual career or even ministerial goals.
God doesn’t always give us glamorous jobs. He gives us what we need to develop our character. He gives us what we need so that we can serve Him in the capacity that He needs us–so that we can shine like the stars. Going back to my driving job again, I have learned a few lessons over the years, whether I liked it or not. What did I need from a spiritual standpoint?
- Humility. I think I’ve explained that already. I thought I was better than that. I thought I needed to move up. Well, I actually did move up. But God’s idea of moving up is actually moving down.
- There have been times in that job where I have been pastoral. So there was a sense of purpose and a sense of joy as I have gotten to know my passengers and encourage them and, on occasion, pray for them and bless them.
- I have had times of prayer and praise while in between trips;
- I have had to learn the art of being patient and kind when the dispatcher made a ton of mistakes that day or that week, or that year. Sometimes I had to be doubly kind when not only was I upset, but the passengers were 10-times more upset, and I had to play diplomat because I was in the middle of it all.
- I learned the art of faith when I had a day that resulted in literally nothing. I have had a couple of days where it was nothing but no-shows and cancellations all day long, and I didn’t earn a single dime because I work on commission. So I have had to have faith in God to provide when my week didn’t bring in much money. There have been times that were tight, but He always came through.
- I have had to learn to face my fears–such as driving in snowy weather and city traffic and sometimes both at the same time.
So, like I said, maybe God is working something in us and through us while we may not even know it or recognize it or even like it. But then, we get to experience a few blessings along the way.
Going back to our verse in Colossians again, Paul says, 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Again, the idea is working with all our heart. God is our ultimate boss. It took me a while to get this, but if we see God as our manager, then we look straight through the people above us and see God above us. That’s not to disrespect or neglect the importance of submitting ourselves to an earthly leader, the idea is to live in such a way that we are more conscious of God’s purpose of us being where we are, not just praying, “Lord, help me get through the day.”
It’s kind of like breaking a wooden board in karate. I took karate for a year when Caleb was younger, and I wish that I had taken karate when I was his age because doing so as an adult is tough for many reasons. But the year that I did, I felt proud of myself because I learned how to break wooden boards. And one of the tricks is that you have to not focus on the board, but you have to look past the board. The goal is not to hit the board but to strike through the board. Your target is beyond the board.
It’s kind of like that when God is your master. You have a boss, a supervisor, or a leader here on earth, but when God is your real boss, you look beyond the people above you, and your eyes are focused on God. It is the Lord we are serving, and our ultimate reward isn’t just a paycheck but an eternal inheritance. It’s great to have a boss tell us, “good job.” But the ultimate goal is to hear Our Father say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
When we do what God calls us to do, if we work diligently, God sees and knows and will reward us accordingly. Our aim, our goal, our target is for something eternal, not worldly, just like breaking the board. Our aim, our goal, and our target is not what is right in front of us–the thing that we see, but the so-called person and Heavenly promise waiting for us behind the physical object that we can’t see.
Going back to Galatians 6:9-10:
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Like the Israelites marching around Jericho seven times, they must have wondered, “What’s going on? Why are we doing this? We must look like fools.”
Then, God came through.
When you read our scripture verses carefully, you’ll see that God is not rewarding our outcome. He’s rewarding our faithfulness. In a similar passage, the writer of Hebrews 6:11 uses the phrase ‘diligence.’
It doesn’t really say that we inherit based on what our final outcome was. It doesn’t say that we inherit a reward based on how many people walk through the doors of this church or how many people walked through the doors of our business, or how much money we made. We inherit based on our diligence. God isn’t looking for just what I can get out of my vocation, He is looking at how many people who came in and out of my van were blessed to the fullest extent that they can be blessed on their way to whatever appointment they were going to and coming back from.
I am there, diligently getting up in the morning, working, and doing my job to bless people. Not just to make money for myself or the company but to bless people–including the people that I work with and work for at the company. That is the calling that I have–the talent and desire I have–the unction from The Spirit to bless people. God is offering me the opportunity to do so.
I want to ask you, how are you using your daily life as a means to bless those around you? Are you aware of your calling? Just because some of you may be retired doesn’t mean that God is through with you. Somehow, somewhere, someway, there’s still a God-given gift inside of you that can be used. It may not be in a paying job, it could be in a volunteer format or just serving someone from your own home.
According to Phillippians, God gives us a calling and, therefore, a means to make that call happen. He will also reward us for faithfully and diligently doing the work that he has equipped us to do.
I was reminded again this week of a great video by Andy Andrews called “The Butterfly Effect.” And maybe you’ve heard of The Butterfly Effect. I don’t have time to talk about it because the clip is 9 minutes long, but it’ll be posted with this sermon online, so you can see it if you want. It goes well with today’s sermon topic. It’s about doing work diligently, even though we may not see the outcome–maybe even within our lifetime. But the effect of what we do on a daily basis has long-lasting effects for generations to come.
Being diligent in God’s call has that same effect.
Prayer: Lord, I pray that you would work within us. Give us a stirring in our spirit, an unction in our hearts, and a thought in our minds to know what it is specifically that you would have us do. It could be something simple and not glamorous. It could be within this church, or it could be outside this church. We may have physical limitations. But Lord, since we have breath, let us be faithful to do what it is that you are calling us to do.
I pray that you would stir within us a faith to pursue that calling and remind us that it is ultimately you whom we are serving.
May it become an honor to do so, not a day-in-day-out drudgery. But may you grant us a new heart attitude of serving you in doing whatever it is that you would have us do.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay
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