Walk Worthy in Your Calling at Work Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. How does the gospel change the way we think about and engage at work? Believers will see their jobs as an extension of ministry and service to the Lord. Pastor Rich examines Ephesians 6, 5-9 to show eight characteristics of a biblical work ethic. Let's listen in on this message titled, Walk Worthy of Your Calling at Work. We are listening to the third and final part of the message first preached on January 14, 2017. What is the mind of Christ?

Consider others more important than yourself. That's the mind of Christ, Philippians 2. So, you represent the character of God. If you're on mission at work, representing the character of God and the mind of Christ to the people you meet, it looks at least like these two things. Number one, you are an example of integrity and diligence. And you can't be an example by pretending.

It has to be real. Be a worker of integrity and diligence in your work. Be an example of integrity and diligence. When your employer, when other employees look at you, they see an employee of integrity and diligence.

It's part of your calling because you serve Christ. And then secondly, you're a caring friend, a caring friend. You are ready to help in time of need and adversity. The other people in your work environment, did you know that one out of one people encounter adversity? Are you ready to be there as a caring friend for your employees, even in your employer, your coworkers when adversity strikes them? One of our family members here, the wife is working in a corporate environment there and she says, you know, when people ask her questions, she will give them an answer. And often it is a biblically based answer. And for that, she feels like people just kind of shun her and don't want to ask her questions. There's nothing wrong with that, but here's what they found.

Here's what she found. When adversity comes into somebody's life, who's the first person they go to, the Christian, and they ask for her to pray for them. That's powerful folks. That's ministry. That's being on mission.

That's being on mission. Number six, generosity. Generosity, rendering service with a good will says the scripture.

Verse seven, rendering service with a good will. Again, approaching your work with the attitude, I am helping the human community and I will do it generously. I will not be a stingy worker. Don't be the Scrooge of your work environment.

Don't be a stingy worker. Your generosity is an outflow of your gratitude. You have been entrusted with this work to help the human community do it with generosity as an outflow of your gratitude. Number seven, here it is, a uniquely Christian work ethic. Number seven, worship.

Because what are the next four words? Verse seven, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man. As to the Lord. In other words, that's the opinion that counts.

That's the opinion that counts. And Christ's opinion is higher than the opinion of your advisor, manager, employer. So you serve Christ, Paul says in Colossians 3, 24. So as a follower of Jesus Christ, your work is an element of your worship. This is radical folks.

Are you listening to this? As a follower of Jesus Christ, your work is an element of your worship. And the work he has entrusted to you is a venue in which you serve him. So do your work as you belong to him and serve him and desire to please him.

And then number eight, accountability. Number eight comes from verse eight, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. He will receive back from the Lord. Consider what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. That is for Christians. We will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

What will that be about? Have you been a good steward of what God has entrusted to you? That's what that's all about. Christians. But there's another sense which this is true.

Look what Jesus says in Luke chapter 17. When you have done all that you were commanded, say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty.

You know, I wrote this one time. I was cleaning offices at Moody Bible Institute and I actually cleaned the office of President George Sweeting, who was the president of Moody then. And I was I wanted to do a thorough job.

So I'm cleaning the floor. Look under his desk. And there was a there was a can of candies under his desk. And I was I wasn't sure what was in there. So I opened it up like.

And so I put it on. I didn't feel right throwing it away. I thought maybe that's where he keeps it.

I don't know. But I put it on his desk and I wrote a note to the president of Moody Bible Institute. Right. Put it on his desk, write the note. And a couple days later, I see a note, a thank you note in my P.O.

box at the school. So I wanted to keep the conversation going. Right.

So I write this verse back to him. You had to be there. Accountability. What characterizes your disposition at work? Could it be more characterized by grumbling and negligence or by gratitude and diligence? There is accountability and we will give account of our stewardship of what has been entrusted to us. Notice what he says here, your master in heaven. And he says this in context now, writing to the masters, which would be the equivalent of writing to today's employers. If you employ people, if you have people under you at work, there is equal responsibility here because why? You have a master in heaven. And masters are to be gracious and giving. When it says stop your threatening.

Yes. In history, we have to look at it and be honest. Abusive treatment of property was a thing.

And dehumanizing another person in any form is not God's design or will. So masters, slaves, employers, employees have to recognize that they are equally under authority and equally accountable before God. I want you to notice something very interesting because we come now to the second bookend. The first bookend was authority. We are all under authority. And what he is referring to here is walking worthy of our calling is recognizing God-ordained authority.

And that is true even in the work environment. The second bookend is this. It comes verse nine, equality. Equality. Both slave and master are addressed together as members of one church.

Isn't that amazing? Can you imagine being in a church where here you have a master and sitting on the other side of the bench is his slave and they are being addressed as equals under one master? Do you see how that creates a sanctified subversion of the whole slavery institution?

It does. Both serve one master. They are on equal ground before God.

And the point is this. Our relationship to Christ rather than our position in society determines our identity. Our relationship to Christ rather than our position in society determines our identity. So work according to your identity, Christians.

In other words, as you go to work, what is your priority? I am a Christian who happens to, you fill in the blank, whatever your work is. I am a Christian who happens to be a teacher. I am a Christian who happens to be a factory worker. I am a Christian who happens to be a chef. I am a Christian who happens to serve tables.

I am a Christian who happens to teach the Word of God. That's who I am. This position is not my identity.

My identity comes from the one who bought me. That's radical, isn't it? That's radical. Now I want you to think about this because Paul says, serve wholeheartedly as if you are serving the Lord. Serve wholeheartedly as if you are serving. That's a Christian Christ-like work ethic in a nutshell right there. Serve wholeheartedly as if you are serving the Lord.

Now stop and think about this. As has been mentioned again today and was the focus last Sunday, we are all in ministry. We are all in ministry. When you clock into work tomorrow, Christian, you're in ministry and your work ethic is a powerful ministry.

Your work is your unique mission field in these ways that we mentioned this morning. So our prayer, let our prayer be, Father, teach me to be a servant of Christ at work. Let this be a radical paradigm shift for us as we enter our work environment, understanding that we are servants of Christ and we serve Him ultimately. May we worship Him through our work. Father, we are grateful for your love.

We are grateful for your goodness. We are grateful for your revelation to us that you've made yourself known to us so that we can know you and walk with you and serve you. And Father, we are called to serve you every day because we are all in ministry. We are called to serve you in our work environment by the quality of the work that we do, the eagerness, the integrity, the generosity, the mission, the worship. Father, I pray that you would work in our hearts and our minds this morning, that you would teach us to be a servant of Christ in our work environments. Work in our hearts. I pray this morning by your Spirit, Father, thank you for what you have done and for what you will do. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.