Turning the Rat Race into a Pilgrimage | Part 1

From the love we're finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm Byron Tyler here with Keri Vaughn, the CEO of Love. We're finding today Kerry turning the red race into a pilgrimage. You know, I've heard that rats are clever, quick thinkers and successful, but content with living quiet and a peaceful life.

But that begs a question. If rats lead such a dosso existence, why are so many of us humans running in a rat race?

Oh, yeah. Great question. And I would say that rats also stay under the radar. They stay safe. And I think with this sermon we're looking at, the opportunity of is every.

Member. A minister. And the answer that is yes.

And how do we use our platform? How do we use our workplace or really any place as a platform to showcase?

Jesus Christ will carry over the course of nearly two decades. Gallup studied employee engagement and only 30 percent of employees have been engaged with their work. An average one out of every seven point seven employees in the U.S. is currently enduring a miserable work experience. Now, you and I know as Christians we had the chance to put joy, zest, a dignity into most of these mundane jobs we have to go to.

Absolutely. And we do not have the antenna up like we should looking for every single opportunity. I talked to a friend the other day, bar and you know him. And I said, how many people have you led to the Lord this year? He said, one. I said, Wait a minute. Twenty, twenty six months in and you've led one hundred people to the Lord. He said, absolutely. I just let a guy that came to my house the other day to work on the AC to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So my point of that is, are we looking for every single opportunity to share the good news?

Well, it reminds me curity of what Adrian Rogers says. You know, we've been saved out of the world, sent back in to the world to witness to the world. And that's only the business in the world we have until we're taking out of the world. When Jesus comes back, that's a great word.

And I think many times we look at our jobs as as a paycheck. We're worried about every two weeks, the 15th and the 30th.

But is our job. A wonderful venue. To share the love of Jesus Christ. Now, that's easy for me at love, we're finding it's easy for you with bought radio, but our work in general. Is it the right venue to share the love of Jesus Christ?

A curity. We always love hearing from our love. We're finding listeners. Here's one from Facebook. Love, love. We're finding ministries. We listen when we can. Even though Adrian Rogers is gone, his messages are still relevant.

Timeless truths. God's word will not return void, but it will accomplish that which I please. And it will prosper wherever I send it. Zosia 50 511. That is the Ministry of Love with finding you and I care.

You have the privilege. Each Tuesday night to host conversations that matter. It's a live video stream on the low. We're finding Facebook page.

Exactly. Guest pastor every Tuesday night. And those conversations do matter. And what we've seen in that are men that understand the word of God. They stand on the word of God, but they have an appreciation and a love of the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Now, here's the great part. Two to three people pray to receive Christ every single week.

It is so exciting that we get the opportunity to see people come into the kingdom.

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Well, for turning the rat race into a pilgrimage, here's Adrian Rogers.

Let me ask you a question. How many of you have a job outside of a home? Let me see your hand. As most of us and those who are mothers who are inside the home, they have a job.

You know, when they say, well, she is a mother, she doesn't have a job. That is so ridiculous. A working mother is true. Whether she's outside the home or whether she's inside the home. I can guarantee you, if she is a mama, she is working.

But with so many of us are so many people in the world today, frankly, they hate their job.

When Friday comes, they say, thank God it's Friday.

Monday comes. They say, oh, no, good night. It's Monday.

I've got to go to work. And somehow there's a vast difference between our people on Sunday and our people on Monday. Somebody said they're praising God on Sunday, but they'll be all right on Monday.

It's just a little happened. They required. Well, what is wrong with so many of us? We we've come to think of work almost as a four letter word.

Well, I want to tell you, friend, that you can put joy and zest and dignity into the most mundane job.

You can turn the rat race into a pilgrimage. If you take the principles that I'm going to give you from the word of God today, and this is especially needful not for those who have exotic jobs, but those who have what we would call very ordinary jobs, you'd say, well, I'm a clerk or I work in a factory and all I'm doing is just drawing my breath and drawing my salary. Well, I want you to see for in that God can take you this Monday morning and make you a thing of beauty and joy to himself. You know, the Bible says we're going to get our text in a moment. But in First Corinthians, Paul talking to those folks at Corinth.

He said, you see your calling brethren, not M.I.T., not many Noble are calling.

And then he says, God has chosen God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound those things which are wise and weak things and base things.

These are just the ordinary people. And God literally chooses them.

Now, if you're a pea HD, a movie star, a star athlete, a class president, a Phi Beta Kappa, well, God can use you, too. We you'll have to work harder to do it.

I'm serious. God's plan is to take ordinary people and put them in ordinary places with ordinary jobs and get extraordinary glory to himself. That is God's plan to take ordinary people. With all of their talents. Put them in ordinary places and then get extraordinary glory to himself.

It's just like God to do that. So if you're saying, well, I don't count, nobody knows me. I didn't make who's who. I didn't even make who's not.

They don't even let me lead in silent prayer.

Fran, if you're one of those folks, you just say, hey, I don't count for anything. I'm just going off to work tomorrow because I have to.

Well, the message is for you, and it's so very important because, you know, we spend about a third to 45 percent of our lives on the job. And wouldn't it be a shame just to spend that much time with something? We feel really down in our heart that amount to much. Ah, something really we despise. Now, the three principles I want to give you. But first of all, let's read the scripture here. If he's just chapter six, beginning verse five service, be obedient to them that are your masters.

According to the flesh. I'm not talking about the church life. Now we says your masters according to the flesh. He's talking about what we would call today, your boss in the secular occupation.

Be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart.

As to rice, you serve your boss. As if he were Jesus.

You say, wait a minute, Pastor. You know my boss. That two legged devil. That's what he's talking about here.

Your masters, according to the flesh, treat him as if he is Jesus and not with eye service. That is not not just working when he's watching. All right. Men pleasers, not trying to butter him up to get a promotion.

But as the servants of Christ watch this, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill, doing service as to the Lord and not to man, you're not going to work tomorrow for your boss.

You're going to work tomorrow for Jesus Christ. I don't care what you do. You do it to the Lord and not to men.

And then notice this. Here's the hidden paycheck. Knowing that what's ever good to any man do with the same.

Shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be born or free? God knows.

Are you ready for these three principles that can put a little grace in the rat race, that can turn the rat race into a pilgrimage? Principle number one.

See your job as an opportunity and be grateful if you have a job. Be grateful. It is a God given opportunity.

Now they're basically four ways to look at a job. Some people look at a job as a necessary evil. I mean, they have to do it. They're bored to tears. It's the same old grind. It's the same old drudgery. But they've got to do it. They have no sense of meaning, no real sense of accomplishment as. As we say, it's just a rat race. As I've already said, drawing your breath and drawing your salary. And it's not just the assembly line worker that sometimes feels this way, not just the clerk who feels this way. Sometimes the executive feels exactly the same way. One business executive said, I kept having a recurring dream. It was like a nightmare. He said, I dream I was running in a marathon running. And he said all of my coworkers were the ones that I was running against. And he said I was running and running. And then he said all of the sudden I would in this dream, he said, I couldn't figure out why we were in the race and where the finish line was. It was like a nightmare. He was an executive. And, you know, there's so many people like that. I'm not just talking about people have what we consider the less glamorous jobs, but people will have what they consider to be glamorous jobs. You know what they say when spiritual fervor begins to rise? Man, man, I would like to quit this job. I'd like to get into some ministry. I like to get into some service. I'd like to be a pastor or a missionary or a singer. Something that I could do for Jesus. That's the way some people feel. So to them, a work is just a necessary evil. They have to do it to pay the bills and to others is even worse. Work for them is a cruel master.

I mean, it's like they're caught in a trap. They can't get out.

They can't even stop working to look for another job. And they just feel that they're trapped.

And sometimes they're doing things on the job or things are required of them that they think are are just not right. We ever felt that way that you're your boss.

Your job is a mess.

Some see it as a necessary evil. Some see it as a cruel master. I tell other people have made a god of their job, not so much that their job is their master, but it's almost their God. And this, I think, is one of the most dangerous things. People make a God of their career and they sacrifice everything. They they go to these seminars, high priced seminars, and there are always those there who tell you how to be successful. Let me give you a little speech right now here. Here's typical thing. They all begin with B, first of all, determination.

Man, you've got to have determination. And they say there are many starters, but there are few finishes. You got to be determined. And number two is discipline. And they'll tell you that creativity is two percent inspiration and ninety eight percent respiration. And the next one is direction. And they'll tell you, man, you've got to have these goals. And if if you don't know where you're going and if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. And the next is discernment.

And they say that success in life comes, you know, not from being given a good hand, but by playing the hand that you have. Well, and then last of all, that takes duration. They say hard times never last, but people do.

You know, people get to step down and, man, I'm going to do it. I'm gonna succeed. And so that their job, their career is.

They're gone and nothing is too good for a man's God. So he sacrifices his health. He sacrifices his family. He sacrifices his love for the Lord Jesus Christ, for his job. And somebody look at him and say he's a success. He's got a peptic ulcer. He's already had a coronary. His own is his second or third wife is about to walk out owning his kids, her own drugs.

But the businesses up here nearby said, man, and he's successful. He's an abject failure. He's an abject failure.

But people think because he is a wheeler dealer, he's successful. You see, for some people, the work is a necessary evil. For some people, it's a cruel master. For some people.

It is a demanding God.

But what you need to see your work is is an opportunity, a God given opportunity and be grateful. It is a loving gift.

Said my job. If you have a job, be grateful. It is a gift from God and the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 14. In verse twenty three. In all labor there is profit. Now here's the same rights. Not only see your job as an opportunity and be grateful, but see your job as a responsibility and be helpful.

Look, if you will. And versus six and seven, do your job not with eye services men pleasers. But as the servants of God doing the will of God from the heart.

With goodwill.

What's this doing? Service. As to the Lord and not to man.

Did you know that your job is really a partnership with God? Even if it's what we call a secular job? Did you know that man work?

Work is not a punishment from God. Some people think, you know, if we got back to the Garden of Eden, we wouldn't have any work to do. You'd be wrong. Work did not come as a punishment for sand, toil and sweat came as a punishment for sand, but not work in itself. Let me ask you a question. Do you know who the first farmer was? And, you know, I think you say, well, Adam was the first farmer, but he wasn't God was the first farmer. Just put in your margin, Genesis, chapter two, verse eight. And the Lord God planted a garden beast.

Where did even the Lord God planted the garden? Who was the first farmer? It was God himself. And then what did God say to Adam and Genesis? Chapter two, verse 15.

And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Now God started it. And then God said, Adam, I will turn this over to you. I want you to address it. And I want you to keep it. So what was Adam doing? Well, farming is not preaching is not missionary work. It's not working. And the temple is what some people call secular work. But for him, any work done for God is the work of God, is it not? Yes, it is. It is the work of God. And so put this first down, Colossians three.

Vs. twenty three, twenty four. I love this, listen to it. If you're one of those people, it just kinda lag around on the job.

Listen to this. And what so ever you do. Now, notice he said whatever you do, do it hardly.

As to the Lord and not under man knowing that the Lord, he shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye, serve the Lord, Christ and friend. And those verses he's talking about your so-called secular work.

If you work in a factory, you're working for God.

If you work in an office, you're working for God. Don't get so heavenly minded. You no earthly good. You know, some of the people who were carried away to Babylon in the captivity when they got over that, a battle and they said, well, we're in a pagan land. This is a pagan world. We are. We're only here as captives. We're not going to work with all of our heart. Now, this is very important.

Don't you miss this, Jeremiah? Twenty eight. Beginning in verse four.

Thus, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel under all that are carried away captives whom I have cause to be carried away from Jerusalem under Babylon.

By the way, the Babylonian captivity was not a mistake. God engineered it. God engineered some trouble for Israel because they couldn't handle their blessings. And that's what frightens me about America right now.

God carried them away to Babylon. And then here's what he says to these folks. Listen to it, build houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Take your wives and forget sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they made their sons and daughters that she may be increased there and not diminish.

Now watch this and seek the peace of the city.

Whether I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray into the Lord fought for in the peace there. I'm sure you have peace. All right, let's translate that.

You're here in the city of Memphis. What does God say to you? Got to build houses. God says, be busy.

God says, get into the work world and do a good job and seek the welfare of Memphis, Tennessee.

God told them, you seek the welfare of Babylon where I have you.

Don't you think that your job is not important? Your job is a part of all of this. You are to be helpful to others and you're to help yourself.

Look, again, in verse seven, we're in chapter six of Ephesians, verse seven.

And he says with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to man be helpful if you're lazy. If you refuse to work, there's something bad wrong with you being you, a lot of folks think they think, well, you know, man. If I just had enough money, if I could win the lottery, I wouldn't have to work anymore. Pretend you are working them out, how much money you have? And I would say something else. If you don't have a job, go to somebody and say, Look. Would you hire me? No, I can't. All right. Would you let me work for you for nothing? Just let me work for you for nothing. You tell me what to do. I will work for you for nothing. Before long, you'll have a job anyway.

But if nothing else, you will have the joy of work. Get out and get busy doing something.

The Bible says, listen to this second Thessalonians chapter three versus ten following four. Even when we were with you, we commanded you that if any, would not work. It doesn't say could not work. It said would not work.

Neither should he eat. It is a Sam. Feed a person who refuses to work. Sam, if he will not work.

Don't lie to me. By the way, you start working after a while. If you do, then. But we hear that there are some which walk among you, disorderly, working, not at all, but are busy bodies. Now, them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.

But G bretheren be not weary and well doing. He's talked about your job. And then we're supposed to take care of our children, not somebody else. First Timothy, chapter five, verse eight.

But if any, provide not for his own, especially those for his own house. He is denied the faith. He's worse than an infidel.

And then over in Ephesians Chapter four, when Ephesians Chapter six, Paul says this concerning the man who's gotten right with God, let him that stole deal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands.

He's not talking now about working in the devil. He's talking about what we call secular work, working with his hands, the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that need if you don't work just to meet your needs.

You work to meet the needs of other people.

That you have enough not only for yourself, but you have enough to give to others who need you, not on that those who will not work. You talk about those who cannot work and there are plenty of them. And friend, when a person cannot work. It is our joy, our duty. It is our responsibility to do enough work for ourselves and to do enough work for them also to help those who need help.

Now, listen, you see your job as an opportunity and be grateful. Using your job as a responsibility and be helpful, the Lord Jesus was a carpenter.

He knew what it was to work. Here's the third thing I want you to see.

The three principals here see your job as a ministry. And be faithful. Yes, your job is an opportunity. Yes, your job is a responsibility.

But friend, your job is a ministry. Don't get the idea that you have to get into the, quote, ministry to serve God. You have a great opportunity to serve the Lord. You see so many people come to church on Sunday like it's a weekend hobby. Carl, on the other hand, they're going to despise their job and can hardly wait to get here on Sundays so they can, quote, serve the Lord.

And there's a bridge between their work life and and their worship life. We need to put a little spiritual dynamite under that bridge. You are serving God full time wherever you work and no matter how mundane your job might be.

And coming up tomorrow, part two of this profound message from Adrian Rogers. We hope you can join us. In the meantime, maybe you have a prayer request that you'd like to share with us. And love worth finding. It is one of our greatest honors to come alongside you and pray with you and for you. If you can go to our Web site, home page at l w f dot org and scroll down to find a prayer wall. There you'll find the option to either submit a prayer request or pray for others. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs. We can't wait to hear from you. Go there today. L w f dot o r g. Well, thanks for joining us in our study of God's word today. Remember, as Christians, we have a chance to put joy, zest and dignity into the most mundane jobs.

Are you ready to let God turn your Monday into a thing of beauty and joy? Tomorrow, Adrian Rogers gives four practical things to remember when you go to work. Hear the conclusion of turning the rat race into a pilgrimage next time. Right here on Love. We're finding.