What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? [ASK]

We’re talking today about “work”, and that’s the appropriate question to ask. It’s almost impossible in social settings to talk as if you enjoy your work. Work is supposed to be a grind; we’re not supposed to like it. “I feel like a slave” and “It pays the bills” are the kinds of things we’re supposed to throw around in a light-hearted way.

We’re in a series where we’re looking at what it means to live like Jesus People. And since work consumes much of the time many of us have, it seems that our life with Jesus ought to affect our work.

But how? What does it look like to work in such a way that we reflect Jesus?

Sometimes, I think we just need to be inspired.

I want to inspire you today, with the story of someone on our pastoral team who is an unbelievable example of good work. He knows how to work extremely well and with efficiency. I thought it would be good for you to hear from him today; take a look. [VIDEO]

So how did I end up showing that spoof of hard work?

I’m part of the so-called “generation X”…the slackers, the ones stereotyped as living in their parents’ basement while working at Starbucks.

So my original idea for this message was to call it, “Jesus people…practice HARD work.” There are a lot of people who need this reminder from Colossians: “Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ.”

And I still think that’s true, and we’ll talk more about it today. It’s important to take our work seriously, to do what’s before us well, to do it for God and not just enough to get by with our boss’s approval.

But as I began talking to others about my thoughts for today, another theme began to emerge. Many people struggle with working too much. Workaholism, doing more and more work to prove ourselves and our worth in the world, is also a big struggle in our lives.

So today we’ll look at both of these things. How do we work hard? How can we be people who work for the Lord and not just people?

And another question is extremely important as well: How do we work well? How do we set boundaries and find our limits, how do we work for the right reasons?

Today we want to explore how “Jesus People…practice GOOD work.”

Joseph’s life in the book of Genesis amazes me.

Joseph had ten older brothers…TEN! Imagine the pounding he took from them! Yet it doesn’t seemed to have bothered him much, because he was daddy’s little favorite. Papa Jacob doted on Joseph, giving him a special coat with all kinds of colors on it (a luxury for that day). Little Joey paraded around, telling dreams about his brothers and parents bowing down to him like he’s the king of the world.

Irritating! So the older brothers do what comes naturally; they beat little Joey up, throw him in a pit, and then sell him as a slave to a bunch of vagabond-gypsy types.

How many of you have done this to your siblings? Come on, don’t be shy, let’s see a show of hands.

Joey has to grow up and become Joseph pretty quickly.

And in the passages from Genesis that Betty read for us a little bit ago, Joseph finds himself purchased by Potiphar in Egypt. He has to decide what he’s going to do for the rest of his life.

What would you do?

Your own brothers have sold you and sent you away to a foreign country; not a soul knows you for miles around; you probably don’t even speak the language. You’re a slave. Your life is not your own.

I’ve heard some pretty good sob stories given as reasons why a person lacks motivation and really can’t seem to pull their life together.

But come on, let’s be serious here: Joseph pretty much is gonna trump most sob stories, isn’t he?

Joseph has no real reason to work hard. He won’t get paid. He won’t enjoy the good life. He’s stuck as a slave in a foreign country. Yet somehow, he ends up giving it his all. [RE-READ Gen 39: 2-6a]

As he serves, as he gives it his all, God blesses. Joseph is so trustworthy and so hard working and has so much integrity in what he does, that Potiphar ends up giving him authority over everything.

Faced with no reason to work, in the worst situation possible, Joseph still models integrity and service in his work that speaks to us thousands of years later.

Of course it all falls apart, for reasons we’ll look at more closely next week.

Falsely accused, Joseph loses it all AGAIN, and gets thrown in jail.

This would do me in. I mean, I think the brothers selling into slavery would end it for me, but if I somehow managed to survive that, and THEN just ended up in prison like Joseph did…it would be pity-party city. Pack it in, give up, bitterness would win and life would be over for me.

But for Joseph, it’s just same song, different verse. He puts his nose to the grindstone, God blesses, and soon the chief jailer has put everything into Joseph’s hands and it’s all running smoothly. On the side, Joseph interprets dreams for fellow prisoners. In every moment, Joseph is making the most of every opportunity.

He’s serving and working hard.

It’s the kind of work ethic that we don’t see too often in our lives.

I’ve talked before about my grandfather, who was my overwhelming example of someone who gave his all to his work.

As a mail carrier, he was up every day at 4 am, sorting the mail, delivering it to his route year after year, all the while making the people on his route feel special. When he retired, they showered him with cards and gifts that blew me away. He made a difference because of his dedication to his work.

He retired with over a year of sick leave…not a year’s worth of sick leave, actual earned sick days of more than a year. He never missed work except for the time his appendix burst and had to be removed.

I think that kind of servant’s heart pleases God.

I wonder if my grandfather intentionally modeled his “work ethic” after Colossians chapter 3. [CLICK]

In this passage, Paul is addressing literal slaves. We sometimes joke about our boss being a slave driver, but this was Paul’s advice for actual slaves. If he could ask this of real slaves (perhaps with Joseph in the back corners of his mind?), it probably could apply to us in our work as well. [READ Col 3: 22]

I think this is an incredibly important passage to frame how we think about practicing good work.

Joseph is an example. My grandfather is an example. Many of you are an example, as you model incredible integrity in how you work, giving it everything you have whether people notice or not.

To have our work be shaped by Jesus means to work hard. Let’s go further. [CLICK, READ Col. 3:23-24]

This gives a really clear reason why we should put everything we have into our work: we are to work as if we were working to please God, not people.

Working to please God gives almost every type of work some value and meaning. You may feel like what you do is meaningless, that it serves no purpose; I’m guessing that slaves weren’t real high on the “job satisfaction” scale either. [Aside: maybe Jesus DOES have something to say about the type of work you do, too. We probably should look for things that have real purpose and make a positive difference in the world!]

Doing our work for God, doing in it in a manner and with an attitude that pleases Jesus…that is an incredible reason to give our best in what we do!

And, at the same time, it’s a perfect guard against many of the reasons we overwork.

What are some of the reasons we end up working too much? Why is it we can sometimes think our work is never enough? [ASK]

We want to impress others. Or we want to feel significant. Or we want to find worth in our accomplishments. Or we want others to like us because of what we can do.

Many of my own struggles with setting boundaries to my work is that I want others to like me; and if I don’t do what needs to be done, well, then maybe people will think less of me.

Others I’ve spoken with have this naggings sense that they have no value. They want to find worth as a person, so they tack on accomplishment after accomplishment to try to validate who they are.

When we struggle with working too much, it’s usually because we are working for others or for ourselves.

We either want to make a good impression on others, or we want worth and value and prestige and cash for ourselves.

But good work–work that is pleasing to God–is work that is done for God. It’s a gift to God, really; a response, an offering of the creativity God has placed in us back to God himself.

Good work is work done for God, in the manner that God does work. And God set the example for how work ought to be done at the very beginning of all creation. After God created everything, after God pronounced it good…God rested.

He enjoyed the world he had made. He basked in it, resting and enjoying the fruit of his labor.

It is crystal clear in the bible that God intended us to follow his example, on a regular and weekly basis. The Sabbath day, the day of rest, is something God told his people they should put into their lives. The day of rest is holy, a part of the rhythm of things that God wove into the fabric of our world.

Doing our work for God and like God is the safeguard against workaholism.

There’s no need to impress and please others with our overtime and our insane schedule…we work for God.

And God accepts us and loves us. God is not demanding and unyielding. God doesn’t expect us to work more and more and produce always. In fact, God models a rhythm of creative work and rest that he asks us to follow as well.

My prayer for us this week, as we try to practice good work, is pretty simple.

God, may you help us work with integrity and with good effort.

And may you help us find balance because we are working for you, not to please others or give value to ourselves.