Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide
Whatever Became of Hard Work?
Rich Nathan
February 28th-March 1, 2014
Neglected Virtues Series
Proverbs 6:6-11
Interacting with the Sermon
Synopsis of the Sermon
In the movie, Pursuit of Happiness, Will Smith lives out the quintessential American story – working hard, busting your tail, and achieving your dream in the end. Historically, hard work has been what Americans have been known for.
Hard work, in fact, is a Biblical virtue: The Bible is packed with verses that celebrate it. For a large chunk of the book of Proverbs, one out of every 20 verses promotes the importance of working hard (Pr 10-22).
But the 21st century West has lost its respect for hard work. It competes against, firstly, our love of leisure. While ancient Greek and Roman gods loved to lounge around, the Bible portrays the true God as a worker. He made everything, and then on the seventh day began the work of provision (e.g. Ps 121:3-8). Jesus said “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (Jn 5:17). The Jews learned from their God that work was at the heart of life. If a husband or wife was refusing their share of work, they could be lawfully divorced.
Our society says paradise is all about lazing around – sipping margaritas on a sun-baked raft in the Caribbean! Real living happens after you finish work and get to spend time and money on leisure. But God's idea of future paradise involves work (Is 65:17-22). Before any sin entered His world, God created men and women to tend His garden, to grow it, to improve it. That means that your humanity is shredded when you choose not to be productive. When you give yourself over to alcoholism, drug abuse, or laziness, or even purposeless retirement. Studies show that work (not money), along with relationships and religious faith, is essential to happiness.
The Biblical value of hard work also competes, secondly, with our workaholism. Workaholism is when you're addicted to unceasing activity; if you can't work, you panic. It's a socially acceptable way to avoid what a person doesn’t want to face, like loneliness or a challenging marriage. Here's a warning sign that you're a workaholic: your family complain, or have given up complaining, that you're never around. Biblical hard work is not about ceaseless work. It's about quality over quantity, work that aims at excellence.
Hard work also competes, thirdly, with our laziness. Just look at all the proverbs that speak bitingly against the sluggard (19:24, 22:13, etc). We might not call ourselves lazy, but many of us are selective sluggards. There's an area of our lives which we deliberately avoid or neglect – like our marriage, or our children's spiritual lives.
Engaging in hard work has big spiritual consequences: we imitate our Creator, and we live out our humanity. Through our work we express love: love for God as we serve Him. And love for others as we provide for ourselves, our families, the church and the poor. If you're a hard worker, a diligent worker, an excellent worker, God’s blessing is on your life.
In 5 minutes or less, briefly give a synopsis of this week’s sermon. What insight, principle, or observation from this weekend’s message did you find to be most helpful, eye-opening, or troubling? Explain.
Getting the Conversation Started
These questions can be used as ice-breakers in the beginning OR interwoven between the questions below to draw the group into the discussion.
• When you get up in the morning, do you look forward to starting work? Why or why not?
• Which do you enjoy more: work or rest? How come?
• In your life what's most likely to squeeze out the virtue of hard work: love of leisure, workaholism, laziness, or something else?
• Have there been times in your life when you wished you would have worked harder? When?
Scripture Study
CONTEXT
The spread of the gospel in the early chapters of Acts involved not only Spirit-empowered evangelism, miraculous signs and large conversions. It involved plain hard work. Apparently the first 3,000 converts weren't fed by a supernatural multiplication of bread, but by the church's large scale charitable distribution program, backed by property sales and, presumably, ordinary income (Acts 2:41-45; 4:34-35). Soon the food distribution needed a full-time task force. Waiting on tables wasn't a second-best job, but required people full of the Spirit; and gifted evangelists and miracle-workers like Stephen and Philip were glad to get their hands dirty (6:1-7). As the account sweeps along we also see the Name of Jesus literally lifting two crippled men from their places of begging, to a life of energetic work and calling in his world (3:3-10; 9:32-34). This is the context in which we learn about Dorcas' highly valued work in the Joppa church community, cut short by the ultimate Enemy of all human energies.
READ - Acts 9:36-42
· Who lived in Joppa?
· How was she engaged in hard work?
· How might this work have helped to grow Jesus's kingdom? (And what hints are there that she was indeed highly valued?)
· Did the Christians expect God to bring her back from the dead?
· Imagine you were one of the widows witnessing the miracle. What would this make you think about Dorcas' work and her role in the church?
· Assuming Dorcas returned to the same work after she was brought back from the dead, do you think she would have worked harder or less hard?
CONNECTION WITH THE SERMON
1. In his sermon, Pastor Rich told us that God's future kingdom involves work rather than just leisure. Do you find that a refreshing encouragement or an uncomfortable challenge?
2. 'The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it'.(Gen 2:15). God wanted humans to tend and grow his garden, to improve it. What's one way you can change the way you work so that you're improving on God's creation? or contributing to His Kingdom?
3. Avirtue is the result of a habitual practice that grows into a character quality in your life. What small practice could you introduce into your weekly schedule that might help you grow the virtue of hard work? Or what distraction from work might you be able to give up for Lent?
4. Think of a 'Dorcas', a person you know whose hard work is evident and pleasing to God. What part of their mindset or weekly behavior would you like to imitate?
Ministry Application
Below you’ll see some options for ministry time with your group. We always encourage you to reserve time in your group to pray for one another and wait on the Holy Spirit.
• Against laziness. Pastor Rich said that many of us our 'selective sluggards' – there's often an area of our lives where we avoid working hard. Get group members to silently contemplate an area of sluggishness, and then imagine what Spirit-empowered hard work might look like in that task or relationship. Ask God to bring transformation.
• For employment. Some members of your group may be unemployed, and yearning to engage in meaningful work or simply earn an income. Take the time to hear from them and ensure they get specific prayer. They may need prayer for the pain of disempowerment, for the perseverance of job-seeking when there is no end in sight, and for finding that God-given responsibility which He has gifted them for in his world and among His people.
• For work satisfaction. Some members of your group may be unsatisfied in their jobs. Hard work is a difficult discipline when you're already de-motivated, or on bad terms with your boss, or feel trapped in your position. You could ask God to intervene decisively, that they would see His loving eye on all they do, or that He would change their situation and give them work they can labour in with joy.