The Kingdom and Our Work

The Kingdom and Our Work

Rich Nathan

The Story of the Kingdom Series

Matthew 5.13-16

October 18-19, 2014

Attention Leaders!

Be prepared for God to speak to your group. The Holy Spirit is with you as you prepare, as you open Scripture, and as you lead discussion. Prayerfully consider the needs of your group; who will be there; and what God has done recently in your group. Remember, aim for balancing discussion and teaching; more sharing than answering; and more listening than telling.

Sermon Summary(Time Suggestion: 5 minutes)

These notes are to help you give your group a quick recap of the weekend sermon in your own words. If God spoke to you personally through the message, be sure to share that, as well.

This weekend’s message continues Rich’s series on “The Story of the Kingdom” and focuses on a biblical view of work. Rich opens the sermon by reflecting on two work experiences he had during college – one a very positive experience with a roofing crew who worked hard together and accomplished a lot, and one a very negative experience with a compressor repair crew that did everything possible to avoid doing anything productive at all.From these examples, he moves on to explore one early challenge to genuine Christian faith, “Gnostic dualism,” which, in keeping with its origins in Greek philosophy, elevated the pursuit of non-material, spiritual, heavenly activity and experience far above the pursuit of material, bodily, earthly activity and experience, and posed a threat to the orthodox Christian faith which continues on today.

Rich then introduces the primary text for his sermon – Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount that refer to us, His followers, as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-16). He then begins an extended reflection on why and how our ordinary work in the world, paid or unpaid, connects in a deep and important way with God’s kingdom plan for the world, and on how our ordinary work really matters to the kingdom.

Rich begins these reflections with a more extended exploration of Gnostic dualism, and on how it continues to distort our thinking about work. He focuses on three primary dimensions of this unhealthy dualism – mind versus heart, secular versus spiritual, and doing versus being.

Citing his own experience of one of his early pastors encouraging him to drop out of college and go to Bible school, Rich challenges the commonly encountered bias against the mind over the heart in some Christian circles, and reminds us that Jesus calls us to love God with our heart, soul, and mind.
Citing Martin Luther’s comments about the significant spiritual value of something as ordinary as a man changing his child’s diapers, he challenges the bias against so-called secular professions and activities over so-called spiritual professions and activities.
Citing the value and goodness of the work God had accomplished in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, Rich challenges the common idea in many Christian circles that somehow being is better than doing, and points out that God worked for six days and rested for one day.

He goes on to point out that work has intrinsic value, and not merely value as a springboard for activites we often consider more spiritual, such as witnessing for Christ. He contrasts “Lifeboat Theology,” in which the proposed aim is simply to get people on a lifeboat that will save them from this world and get them to heaven; with “Ark Theology,” in which the proposed aim also includes the redemption of the entire created order.

Finally, Rich loops back to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 regarding our being salt and light in the world, and encourages us, in the midst of our ordinary lives – at work, at home, and in our everyday activities in the world – to act as salt and light for the kingdom, which will fill “every task and every moment with dignity and with eternal value.”

The wrong way to look at work
Heart vs. mind
Secular vs. spiritual
Doing vs. being

An inadequate way to look at work

A. Lifeboat vs. Ark Theology

A better way to look at work

Link to the Sermon(Time suggestion 5 minutes)

Take a few minutes to share with one another in your group what you spend most of your time doing on your average day, whether or not you get paid for doing it. Do these things seem to you to be intrinsically valuable, spiritual work? Why or why not?
As you consider your daily work and activities, would you say that you are regularly aware of and encounter God in the midst of what you do? Why or why not?

This Week’s Bible Study

Text:Colossians3:22-24

Background and Context

Paul most likely wrote his letter to the Colossian church from prison in rome in A.D. 60. Epaphras, who was brought to Christ during Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus, carried the gospel to Colosse, a market town that lay on the major trade route between the Greek cities on the Aegean Sea and the more recently added Roman territory along the Euphrates River. The young church at Colosse was subject to a variety of heretical attacks, with their origins in both Jewish legalism and early forms of Greek Gnosticism. Paul writes his letter to the Colossian church with the primary purpose of challenging these various heresies, which threatened to weaken and destroy this young church.

Much of Paul’s argument focuses on the supremacy of Christ – Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), the Creator (Col. 1:16), the sustainer of all things (Col. 1:17), the first to rise from the dead (Col. 1:18), the head of the church (Col. 1:18), and the reconciler (Col. 1:20-22). Most important for our discussion of the biblical view of work, however, is the fact that Christ is fully God and fully man (Col. 1:19 and 2:9) – the fact that He was “the fulness of diety in bodliy form” (Col. 1:19, 2:9) speaks to the value of our physical bodies, and of what we do with those bodies in the physical world, including in our work. If it was not beneath God to inhabit human flesh in Christ, it is similarly not beneath Him to inhabit His people as they serve as salt and light in the physical world in which he has placed them.

Study & Discuss

Read Colossians 3:22-24

To help increase participationin your group, ask someone to read this passage out loud. This is a short passsage, so you can ask one person to read the entire text.

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,

24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

(Colossians3:22-24NIV)

In the first century Mediterranean world, slavery was still a common arrangement in many work situations, while in present-day America, the closest equivalent is conventional employer-employee relationships. Have someone in your group read verse 22 out loud again, but have them substitute the word “employees” for the word “slaves,” and the word “employers” for the word “masters.” In verse 22, what is the one thing Paul instructs us as employees to do?

Paul instructs us to ”obey” our employers (literally, to “listen to” or “pay attention to”).

In simple terms, what does it mean to obey someone?

It means to do what they ask you to do.

When does Paul say that we should obey our employers? Wht is not included in “everything?”

He says to obey them in everything. That includes everything!

What does Paul say about when and how we should obey our employers?

He says we should obey them whether they are looking over our shoulder or not. He says we should obey them from the heart, and not merely in order to gain favor from them. He says that we should obey them with an attitude of reverence for the Lord.

What does it mean to obey our employers “with sincerity of heart?”

It means that we do not do what we are asked begrudgingly, or with “an attitude,” but we seek to do what we are asked with an attitude of genuine humility and honor toward those in authority over us.

What does it mean to obey our employers “with reverence for the Lord?” When we obey our employers, who are we really obeying?

It means that when we obey our employers, we do so not because they asked us to do so, but because God asked us to do so. All obedience is ultimately with reference to God.

Share an example from your own life where you found it difficult to do what an employer asked of you. What might be a practical step you might take to more fully practice what Paul instructs in this verse?

Are there ever times when we should respectfully refuse to do what we are asked to do? Share a couple examples, both in general, and from your own experience.

We should respectfully refuse to do what we are asked when it is illegal or unethical, and when it would require us to violate something God has specifically instructed us to do or not to do.

Verse 23 and 24 extend our focus beyond formal work situations. Have someone read verses 23 and 24 out loud again. What is the basic command that Paul issues in verse 23?

The basic command is to do everything we do with all our heart.

What things are included in “whatever you do?” Remind each other again of some of the things you shared earlier about your normal, everyday activities, paid or unpaid. Be sure to share very simple, discrete things like “I do the dishes after dinner every day,” or “I answer fifty customer inquiries by email every morning,” etc.

Absolutely everything we dio is included in the “whatever you do” phrase.

Look at the last phrase or sentence of each of these three verses. What are these phrases? As you undertake your normal everyday activities, what does this tell you about what your orientation should be? What are some practical ways you can have a God-orientation in the midst of the most ordinary activities?

“but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.”(v. 22)
“as working for the Lord, not for men”(v. 23)
“It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”(v. 24)

This pattern shows us that it is a heart orientation and connection to God that brings genuine value and meaning to our earthly work, whatever it is. Even as Jesus was fully God in human form, so too can we encounter the living God in the midst of our everyday earthly activities, paid or unpaid.

Ministry Time

Take some time at the end of your group to welcome the Holy Spirit and seek Him for direction as you pray for one another. When we make space for Him, God is pleased to come and show Himself to us in our groups, and to genuinely touch and change us, often in powerful ways.

Ask if anyone in your group is feeling particularly discouraged about their everyday earthly work, whether paid or unpaid. Take some time to pray over those who respond.

Consider breaking into groups of three or so and simply praying a blessing over one another’s earthly work, whether paid or unpaid. As you do so, ask God to show you how to pray, and take the risk of praying out in the ways you sense Him leading you, even if it extends to areas beyond the topic of this week’s study.