We reflect God’s image in our work
18/November 2007
I. Work is painful because of the work beneath the work.
[this connects with the sermon on Rest, bringing that material back into play]
Work feels bad because…
Gen. 3:17 Then to Adam He said …Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
A. I am working to meet my own EMOTIONAL needs; it’s a matter of status.
1. I work in order to gain the approval of others; they make my work ABOUT ME.
[For men: many of us are still working to please Dad, to gain his approval]
2. I work in order to prove myself: to show I’m not a bum.
B. I am working to get things the things I want, which always outnumber my resources; it’s a matter of wealth.
The guy with the most toys wins.
So, I feel that I am never making progress…
i. Don’t get entrapped by your money or your capacity for making money.
Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
ii. Don’t be deceived by the things you want.
Luke 16:15 And He said to them, “… that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
C. I am working for the wrong boss; it’s a matter of power.
Working with multiple masters: Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Transition: Work feels bad because of the WORK BENEATH THE WORK, we also struggle with…
II. The work within the work: allowing the thorns and thorny people to do their work on me.
Gen. 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you…
There is resistance to your work; how might a good God use that resistance for your good? The resistance I experience from my surroundings can leave me bitter and paralyzed, OR…
A. My persistence can be strengthened by the resistance from the material world.
1. My courage is stretched by the challenge that comes from a difficult task.
2. My character is deepened by the resistance from the earth.
B. My motives and needs are challenged by the response of people to my work.
1. I am not heard, therefore without status. STATUS
Others do not respect me; resist my hard work.
2. I am not effective, therefore without power. POWER
Work feels bad when others interfere with my work.
3. I am not rewarded, therefore deprived. WEALTH
Work feels bad when others take credit for what I do.
The goal, though is not status, wealth and power, but…
C. My frustration can be a pathway to significance.
1. Character
a. Paul—
2Cor. 1:5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
b. James—
James 1:2-3 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
2. Effectiveness
a. Peter
2Pet. 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
2Pet. 1:6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
2Pet. 1:7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2Pet. 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Reward
Jesus’ reward for faithfulness
Luke 16:10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Matt. 25:21 “His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
CONCLUSION:
So how do I work THIS WAY?
You go to the One who gave up His STATUS, WEALTH AND POWER for YOU and promises that, if you come to him…
Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Next week: The work ABOVE the Work; finding satisfaction in your work.
Principles:
Saturday, November 17, 2007
We glorify God with our Work
We reflect God’s image in our work 11/11
But, the material world was not evil as the prevailing worldview said.
I. Genesis teaches that the world is good.
a. God made the world and called it good.
In contrast to the way the world was described as evil by other religions.
When we say we have a CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW, this is what we mean! This is the PARADIGM Genesis provides.
i. He demonstrates that by planting a garden and tending it.
Gen. 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Gen. 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
ii. God formed Adam out of the ground!
II. Genesis teaches that work is noble.
a. God is a worker.
b. God placed Adam in the garden to do what God himself had already been doing; this was not BENEATH God!
i. The story of Genesis teaches that God made humans to work.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
Gen. 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
ii. We are to work in Paradise!
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
1. Notice that even menial work is good, it mimics God’s own work.
2. Though we might all be concerned about being high-borne, our earliest parents were arborists & gardeners! As Tim Keller says it: God dug a ditch to make a man!
3. This is a unique view of work in all of human history. Only European socialists in the nineteenth century, represented by Karl Marx, approached this high a view of work.
c. God defined the work Adam is to do.
i. Naming the animals: intellectual.
Gen. 2:19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
Gen. 2:20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
ii. Gardening the garden: physical.
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
iii. Generally, “having dominion over the earth”: managerial.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
iv. Naming his wife, Ishah, then Eve: relational.
d. We are made to work like Adam worked.
i. We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are workers.
ii. Regardless of the kind of work we do.
What we sort of what must we do?
We can know the work we must do when we answer these three questions:
Who am I
Whom can I help?
Whom do I serve?
III. We can experience deep happiness in our work as we discover who we are:
a. We must have insight into ourselves.
what are my gifts, talents, abilities, and skills?
i. What are my gifts.
ii. What are my abilities, skills, and talents.
iii. What do I enjoy?
b. We must understand how to help those around us.
Ask this question: is my work helping?
i. Create art—which we have discussed and exhibited.
ii. Design a business that will help reduce the damage we do to the world.
iii. Invent a new product—designed to serve others.
iv. Bring order out of a chaotic business, such that jobs are secured, even added.
v. Cultivate a vision for your students to transform their view of life, knowledge, etc.
vi. Design a garden, or Clean up a yard, your own, perhaps a neighbour’s who would welcome the help.
Your design will guide your choices of work.
c. We must understand that God has a mission in mind for our work.
i. take care of the world you were given.
ii. take care of the people around you; they were given to you to look after.
iii. if your gifts make you lots of money, then give!
iv. if you are wealthy now because of your gifts, don’t wait until you have earned a fortune to give away; give yourself away now!
v. You are on a mission.
vi. John Coltrane: nunc dimitis
“A Love Supreme”
Next week:
9th sermon: If work is so good, why does it feel so bad?
But, the material world was not evil as the prevailing worldview said.
I. Genesis teaches that the world is good.
a. God made the world and called it good.
In contrast to the way the world was described as evil by other religions.
When we say we have a CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW, this is what we mean! This is the PARADIGM Genesis provides.
i. He demonstrates that by planting a garden and tending it.
Gen. 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Gen. 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
ii. God formed Adam out of the ground!
II. Genesis teaches that work is noble.
a. God is a worker.
b. God placed Adam in the garden to do what God himself had already been doing; this was not BENEATH God!
i. The story of Genesis teaches that God made humans to work.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
Gen. 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
ii. We are to work in Paradise!
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
1. Notice that even menial work is good, it mimics God’s own work.
2. Though we might all be concerned about being high-borne, our earliest parents were arborists & gardeners! As Tim Keller says it: God dug a ditch to make a man!
3. This is a unique view of work in all of human history. Only European socialists in the nineteenth century, represented by Karl Marx, approached this high a view of work.
c. God defined the work Adam is to do.
i. Naming the animals: intellectual.
Gen. 2:19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
Gen. 2:20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
ii. Gardening the garden: physical.
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
iii. Generally, “having dominion over the earth”: managerial.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
iv. Naming his wife, Ishah, then Eve: relational.
d. We are made to work like Adam worked.
i. We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are workers.
ii. Regardless of the kind of work we do.
What we sort of what must we do?
We can know the work we must do when we answer these three questions:
Who am I
Whom can I help?
Whom do I serve?
III. We can experience deep happiness in our work as we discover who we are:
a. We must have insight into ourselves.
what are my gifts, talents, abilities, and skills?
i. What are my gifts.
ii. What are my abilities, skills, and talents.
iii. What do I enjoy?
b. We must understand how to help those around us.
Ask this question: is my work helping?
i. Create art—which we have discussed and exhibited.
ii. Design a business that will help reduce the damage we do to the world.
iii. Invent a new product—designed to serve others.
iv. Bring order out of a chaotic business, such that jobs are secured, even added.
v. Cultivate a vision for your students to transform their view of life, knowledge, etc.
vi. Design a garden, or Clean up a yard, your own, perhaps a neighbour’s who would welcome the help.
Your design will guide your choices of work.
c. We must understand that God has a mission in mind for our work.
i. take care of the world you were given.
ii. take care of the people around you; they were given to you to look after.
iii. if your gifts make you lots of money, then give!
iv. if you are wealthy now because of your gifts, don’t wait until you have earned a fortune to give away; give yourself away now!
v. You are on a mission.
vi. John Coltrane: nunc dimitis
“A Love Supreme”
Next week:
9th sermon: If work is so good, why does it feel so bad?
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
7th Genesis Sermon: Creativity Glorifies God
7th sermon: We reflect God’s glory by our creative behaviors 11/4
Central Idea: We reflect the image of God when we express our unique giftedness together.
The image of God/likeness of God is stamped within us all. Each person expresses that image, his likeness in unique ways.
The unique expression of the divine image…
1. God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
a. And God said…
b. And Adam said…
c. David said…
d. Amos composed poetry.
e. Solomon collected Proverbs.
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
2. God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
a. His creation sings and claps with delight.
i. The rivers “clap their hands”…
Psa. 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Is. 55:12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
ii. The stars sang as he finished his work.
Job 38:4 ¶ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 38:6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
b. Psa. 96:1-4: “sing a new song…”
c. Eph. 5:18-20:
Eph. 5:18-20 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
3. God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
Ex. 31:3
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
4. God’s creativity makes systems that work, and so can we.
a. God made ‘systems.’
i. Land/land animals
ii. Sea/creatures that swim
iii. Heavens/birds that fly
b. We make “systems” as engineers and managers, bringing order out of chaos.
All of God’s creativity highlights his own glory, as Father, Son, and Spirit work together; not one of us alone is adequate to fully reflect that glory.
5. We reflect God’s glory as our creativity blends with that of others.
a. God gave remarkable instructions to Israel for their place of worship, the Tabernacle.
i. Colours
1. Tradition tells us that each tribe of Israel moved together following a color-coded banner, which corresponded to the colors of the jewels on the high priest’s breastplate.
2. Exodus 25: the Tabernacle was to be decorated with
a. Gold
b. Silver
c. Bronze
d. Purple from a snail.
e. Scarlet from holly plant worms.
f. Blue from a shellfish extract.
g. Sea-green onyx
ii. Aromas
1. Olive oil for the lamps
2. Spices: cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense
iii. Textures
Exodus 25:
a. Fine linen
b. Goat hair
c. Ram skins
d. Acacia wood
b. Sounds…symphonies of instruments: stringed, etc.
c. Singing with voices solo [Pavorotti, Robert Goulet] and in harmony.
In May 1993, I stood in front of my first Kandinski, in L’Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. I was wondering through the galleries, taking in as much as I could in the few hours I had there. Not wanting to miss anything, I moved quickly through the galleries, until I sidestepped into a back hallway, leading to a stairwell; hanging on that obscure wall was a brilliantly-coloured Kandinski.
Conclusion
Back in university, I had a hard time paying attention in class. I’ve never done well when told to “sit down here and read this”. I was greatly challenged by physics and calculus, by organic chemistry and molecular biology, but my greatest enjoyment came from debating the War in Vietnam on the streets of Boston and by rehearsing Bach and Stravinksy with the men’s Glee Club.
The school was mostly male, so our fifty voices were joined to fifty female voices from Smith College. We first met in their campus chapel—fifty men, fifty women. We ran through some of the difficult pieces, testing, sampling, seeking the resonance of harmonies we had never heard. It was stunning. The genius of Stravinksi, the sweetness of Ives, the passion of Poulenc.
The crowning glory was Bach. Not just a Bach chorale. Bach’s Funeral Cantata, that revolutionary funerary piece in a major key. Bach didn’t fear death, he embraced death as the gateway into the divine presence.
I began to understand his German phrasings…In himm leben, leben, und sind wir…so lange er will.
Away from home, I left my family’s faith behind. I dabbled in atheism, verbalized agnosticsm, struggled to find my own view of life and the world.
We sang that cantata in Mt. Holyoke Massachusetts in the chapel balcony, with a few dozen folk taking it in from the pews on the floor below. The sound in that small chapel of 100 voices, singing their pleasure, transfixed us all. It was a perfect moment. The awesome wonder of that music, the power of those words, touched my soul and changed my thought.
The words? For the funeral service: IN HIM WE HAVE LIFE!!
Johann Sebastian Bach’s creativity had brought me back to faith; now it was my faith.
We were made for this. Can you hear the music? Someone next to you is humming, waiting for you to join in.
What, you’re not creative? Not alone, you’re not. You were made for us. Together, we transform chaos into order; we can splash the canvas with colour, with life. Life lived together. True fellowship composes symphonies, blends sounds without losing a single voice, paints vivid images of wonder and beauty, sculpts forms that draw us into them, slings out words that form thoughts in the minds of a reader who dares not be left alone.
This creativity is life together, this is what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God.
Communion:
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Central Idea: We reflect the image of God when we express our unique giftedness together.
The image of God/likeness of God is stamped within us all. Each person expresses that image, his likeness in unique ways.
The unique expression of the divine image…
1. God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
a. And God said…
b. And Adam said…
c. David said…
d. Amos composed poetry.
e. Solomon collected Proverbs.
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
2. God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
a. His creation sings and claps with delight.
i. The rivers “clap their hands”…
Psa. 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Is. 55:12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
ii. The stars sang as he finished his work.
Job 38:4 ¶ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 38:6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
b. Psa. 96:1-4: “sing a new song…”
c. Eph. 5:18-20:
Eph. 5:18-20 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
3. God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
Ex. 31:3
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
4. God’s creativity makes systems that work, and so can we.
a. God made ‘systems.’
i. Land/land animals
ii. Sea/creatures that swim
iii. Heavens/birds that fly
b. We make “systems” as engineers and managers, bringing order out of chaos.
All of God’s creativity highlights his own glory, as Father, Son, and Spirit work together; not one of us alone is adequate to fully reflect that glory.
5. We reflect God’s glory as our creativity blends with that of others.
a. God gave remarkable instructions to Israel for their place of worship, the Tabernacle.
i. Colours
1. Tradition tells us that each tribe of Israel moved together following a color-coded banner, which corresponded to the colors of the jewels on the high priest’s breastplate.
2. Exodus 25: the Tabernacle was to be decorated with
a. Gold
b. Silver
c. Bronze
d. Purple from a snail.
e. Scarlet from holly plant worms.
f. Blue from a shellfish extract.
g. Sea-green onyx
ii. Aromas
1. Olive oil for the lamps
2. Spices: cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense
iii. Textures
Exodus 25:
a. Fine linen
b. Goat hair
c. Ram skins
d. Acacia wood
b. Sounds…symphonies of instruments: stringed, etc.
c. Singing with voices solo [Pavorotti, Robert Goulet] and in harmony.
In May 1993, I stood in front of my first Kandinski, in L’Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. I was wondering through the galleries, taking in as much as I could in the few hours I had there. Not wanting to miss anything, I moved quickly through the galleries, until I sidestepped into a back hallway, leading to a stairwell; hanging on that obscure wall was a brilliantly-coloured Kandinski.
Conclusion
Back in university, I had a hard time paying attention in class. I’ve never done well when told to “sit down here and read this”. I was greatly challenged by physics and calculus, by organic chemistry and molecular biology, but my greatest enjoyment came from debating the War in Vietnam on the streets of Boston and by rehearsing Bach and Stravinksy with the men’s Glee Club.
The school was mostly male, so our fifty voices were joined to fifty female voices from Smith College. We first met in their campus chapel—fifty men, fifty women. We ran through some of the difficult pieces, testing, sampling, seeking the resonance of harmonies we had never heard. It was stunning. The genius of Stravinksi, the sweetness of Ives, the passion of Poulenc.
The crowning glory was Bach. Not just a Bach chorale. Bach’s Funeral Cantata, that revolutionary funerary piece in a major key. Bach didn’t fear death, he embraced death as the gateway into the divine presence.
I began to understand his German phrasings…In himm leben, leben, und sind wir…so lange er will.
Away from home, I left my family’s faith behind. I dabbled in atheism, verbalized agnosticsm, struggled to find my own view of life and the world.
We sang that cantata in Mt. Holyoke Massachusetts in the chapel balcony, with a few dozen folk taking it in from the pews on the floor below. The sound in that small chapel of 100 voices, singing their pleasure, transfixed us all. It was a perfect moment. The awesome wonder of that music, the power of those words, touched my soul and changed my thought.
The words? For the funeral service: IN HIM WE HAVE LIFE!!
Johann Sebastian Bach’s creativity had brought me back to faith; now it was my faith.
We were made for this. Can you hear the music? Someone next to you is humming, waiting for you to join in.
What, you’re not creative? Not alone, you’re not. You were made for us. Together, we transform chaos into order; we can splash the canvas with colour, with life. Life lived together. True fellowship composes symphonies, blends sounds without losing a single voice, paints vivid images of wonder and beauty, sculpts forms that draw us into them, slings out words that form thoughts in the minds of a reader who dares not be left alone.
This creativity is life together, this is what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God.
Communion:
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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