Ephesians 2:8-10Stewardship 1

September 16, 2007Pastor Charlie Vannieuwenhoven

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV) 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Dear friends in our Savior,

Is your life special? Do you lead a special, privileged, glamorous life? It may not seem so. Eyes may be rolling at me for even asking the question. Others seem to have special lives. Little boys might dream of pro athletes and Hollywood actors or famous musicians or even politicians and state and federal leaders as having special lives. Little girls dream about the glamour or special lives of being princesses and queens. Little kids play house dreaming of the glamour of being a mom and a wife. And then those kids grow up to be adults and life isn’t so glamorous or special. We go day after day doing the same old thing. We get out of bed in the morning, get the kids set and ready for school, go off to work, get home, take care of the things around the house and go to bed. And we ask, “What’s so special about that?” “Do the things that I do day in and day out really matter at all?” The teenage who already is tired of going to school day after day following the same schedule asks these questions. The mother who spends her day chasing little kids around, changing diapers and cleaning up after them asks this question. The man who has been at the same job for 20 plus years and has been doing much the same thing for most of it asks this question. The retired person whose body is failing and cannot do what it used to be able to do and day by day is sliding down that slippery slope wondering what use there might for him on this earth asks these questions.

Have we lost the significance of our regular, daily callings? What stands before us todayis the doctrine of vocation. When we talk about our vocation, we are talking about our callings in life—the jobs, stations, work that God has given to us carry out during our lives here on this earth. We are talking about uncovering the purpose that God has for us here on this earth, the reason that he has called us to himself from the realm of darkness and brought us into his family. Often our existence here on this earth seems meaningless. We regularly find ourselves engaged in seemingly menial tasks. You run the kids from place to place or deal with a constant barrage of unexpected demands or disasters which may seem worthless and meaningless. It certainly does not seem glamorous or special. What we forget is that God uses the ordinary, seemingly mundane things of this life to accomplishhis extraordinary purposes. This is how we find joy in our daily tasks. This is where we find purpose and fulfillment as we carry out the tasks of every single day. In our worship today and in some of the upcoming weeks, we want to take a look at your calling in life and see how it affects your view of life. And we do that today by saying, “Let this Task be Lived for You, Jesus.”

I. All works are worthless.

Yes what is before us today is the work and tasks that you and I carry out every single day. Today, terms like “work” “jobs” “housework” do not sound special. Just think about what comes to your mind when people mention Monday? For many, that’s the worst day of the week because they have to return to work or school after a weekend of freedom. We get caught up in the complaining and weariness of doing the same old thing. What God intended as a joy for us in perfection now is a struggle. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden to care for the garden. Everything they did to take care of that garden was part of their calling. Even the simple tasks that they did brought joy to them and honor to God. Yet their sinful disobedient actions changed all of that—for them and for us. Now our tasks are laced with pain, interruptions and weariness. And as we slug through this pain and weariness we are tempted to wonder if there is more to life than this.

There is more to life than this. God uses all of these ordinary tasks of life to achieve his extraordinary purposes. God promised to provide and care for his people and he does so through the ordinary tasks that we carry out in life. Martin Luther talked about God “masking” himself behind the people of this earth. God uses each one of us in the station of life that we are in to carry out his will and purposes. God established the government to maintain peace and order for us. He sets up parents to care for children, teachers to develop our abilities, employers to give us work and helpful products, firefighters and police to protect us. All these are called into their station of life to accomplish God’s work of providing for and protecting his world. God gets his tasks done through people to benefit others. Isn’t this an amazing thought to think about? God daily uses you in your daily work and tasks to benefit others.

There is an interesting dichotomy that Paul shares with us in our text. He first tells us that our works are worthless before God. Then he tells us that we were created to do good works. And when you first hear this, you might think that Paul is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. But it is important to understand what Paul is talking about. When we are talking about our salvation, our works are worthless before God. If we are talking about earning favor before God and trying to achieve a higher status before him, then these daily tasks that we do before God are worthless. No matter what our type of job is, our tasks, our positions or even our performance of them, they are worthless when it comes to us being saved. No matter how spiritual or good they may seem on the outside, God points out the fault with all of them when Paul wrote, “There is no one righteous, not even one…No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:19-20).” Isaiah wrote, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” The only thing that our work will bring to us is God’s wrath and punishment. How grateful we are to hear the first side of Paul’s supposedly contradictory statement, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” God set up a plan to achieve salvation for us. While our works are worthless as far as salvation, Jesus’ works were not because they were perfect. He took upon himself the full punishment for our failings. He snatched us from the curse of hell with his death on Calvary. This work that God had set for Jesus not only meant death on the cross, but it was woven through his daily tasks. Each and every task that Jesus did, no matter how small or insignificant it may have seemed around the house or in the synagogue mattered before God. It was this spiritual obedience of Jesus that freed us from our miserable failure to perfectly follow God.

What a relief to know that our standing before God is not based on what we do, but on what Christ did. That changes our whole perspective and focus in life. He paid the price; we owe him our lives. Even more than this, he is our lives. Like Paul, our motto becomes “For me to live is Christ”—even in my daily tasks. We have been called out of darkness and into his wonderful light. This is outside of all of us. God came to us and called us to faith. He invited us to be part of his family and citizens in his kingdom. There are many callings in life, but this calling to the Christian faith raises us up into a special union with Christ. Through the waters of baptism, you have been connected to Christ. You have been made princesses and princes in his kingdom. This is what separates the tasks that you do day in and day out from those in the world around you. We find our meaning and purpose of our tasks wrapped not in ourselves but in Jesus. When our lives are lived not for ourselves, but for God, what seems to be menial, routine, everyday tasks turn grand and holy in God’s sight.

II. Even our worst works are precious in God’s sight.

And here is where the second part of Paul’s statement comes into play. Although our works do nothing to save us before God in heaven, God did create us to do good works. God handcrafted each one of us for the specific tasks that he prepared in advance for us to do, or literally, which he prepared for our daily walk. Just look at the tasks right in front of you. Your everyday tasks are God calling you to respond in loving obedience to him. He gets as much pleasure from you following him every day in your life as he does you singing hymns in church. Your life of service begins in your daily tasks.

Some of you have been called to be husbands and wives. Understand the simplicity of what God is saying here. Your calling, your vocation, starts a home. Husbands, God has called you to love your wives as Christ loved the church. You are serving the Lord doing good works and carrying out your Christian vocation by loving your wife. Wives, God has called you to respect your husband by submitting to his leadership and not giving way to the fear of being taken advantage of. Think of where society would be if every man took seriously his calling to be a faithful and loving husband to his wife and if every wife took equally seriously her calling to be a faithful wife. Children also have a vocation from the Lord as do parents. Children you serve God by showing honor to the people behind whom God has masked himself to provide for you. Parents, you have a calling from God to care for your children and bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord, teaching them to respect and honor their elders and others. Martin Luther once stated that both God and the angels smile when a father changes a diaper. Why? He is carrying out his Christian vocation and that brings glory to God.

What seems so ordinary God uses to accomplish the extraordinary. We usually refer to our Pastor and teachers as Called workers. We certainly have received a special Call to serve in a full time capacity. And we certainly have important positions in continuing the preaching of the clear gospel leadership in a world that ignores God. But that doesn’t mean that any other tasks in the church are any less important. There is no second class citizen or second class task in this body. In a sense, we are all called workers. The counting of money, the setting up of communion, the cleaning of the rest rooms, all of these have sacred value before God and bring equal pleasure to God as the pastor’s tasks when they are done in faith.

Hopefully you are starting to rekindle the significance of your regular daily callings. We serve God through our daily callings. This concept of vocation changes the way that we think about virtually every single task that we do. It takes our daily tasks, our everyday ordinary life and workand places them before our God as an offering to him. These are our acts of worship to God. Your vocation has put you in contact with many other souls throughout a working day and in a position to do more than what is in your job descriptions. Professional people in leadership positions are situated to affect the system for improved working conditions, reform the company’s dealing with customers and other businesses and so on. Through this powerful word of God, we become transformed and reminded that we are living our lives for the audience of one person—not you, your boss or your parents, but living your life for Christ alone. This is what we ask when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We are asking God to use us to carry out his will. In doing this, we are approaching everything and every day with the prayer, “Let this task be lived for you, Jesus.” Rather than being quick to resent the calling, station or situation in life that God has called you to, we now can see it as an opportunity to serve God and carry out his will. We could sit around and mope and complain and resent our situation in life. Or we could see it as the place God has set us to accomplish his will.

You have a special life. You have the life of a prince or a princess. You represent the crown in all that you do and in all that you say. Because through the faith worked in your hearts accomplished by the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God takes your ordinary work and uses it to accomplish his extraordinary purposes. God masks himself in you to carry out his will and care in this world. As we set out each and every day to live the special lives that God has given to us in Jesus, let us spend some time in prayer and Bible study grasping our calling in the tasks that lay before us in the day ahead. Throughout our day at home, at church, at work and wherever we might be, may this be the prayer of our hearts, “Let this task be lived for you, Jesus.” Amen