Turning the Rat Race into a Pilgrimage

Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message.

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. That's most of us. And those who are mothers who are inside the home, they have a job. You know, when they say, well, if she is a mother, she doesn't have a job.

That is so ridiculous. 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, there are so many people in the world today, frankly, they hate their job. When Friday comes, they say, thank God it's Friday. When 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 habit they've acquired.

Well, what is wrong with so many of us? 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 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, friend, in 1 Corinthians, Paul talking to those folks at Corinth. He said, you see your calling, brethren, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

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 Ph.D., a movie star, a star athlete, a class president, a Phi Beta Kappa, well, God can use you too, but 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 ordinary 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. Friend, 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% 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, doesn't amount to much, or something really we despise? Now, there are three principles I want to give you, but first of all, let's read the Scripture here. Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 5, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh.

Now, he's not talking about the church life now. When he 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 unto Christ. You serve your boss as if he were Jesus. You say, wait a minute, pastor, do you know my boss, that two-legged devil?

Well, 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 just working when he's watching, or as 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 good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. 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 as to the Lord and not to men. And then notice this, here's the hidden paycheck, knowing that whatsoever good any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

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, there are 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 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.

It's 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 dreamed I was running in a marathon, running. And he said, all of my co-workers 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 have what they consider to be glamorous jobs.

You know what they say when spiritual fervor begins to rise? They say, man, I would like to quit this job. I'd like to get into some ministry. I'd like to get into some service.

I'd like to be a pastor, a missionary, a singer, something that I could do for Jesus. That's the way some people feel. So to them, work is just a necessary evil. They have to do it to pay the bills. And to others, it's 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 just not right. Have you ever felt that way, that your boss, your job is a master? Some see it as a necessary evil. Some see it as a cruel master. I tell you, 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 go to these seminars, high-priced seminars, and there are always those there who will tell you how to be successful. Let me give you a little speech right now.

Here's a typical thing. And they all begin with B. First of all, determination. Man, you've got to have determination.

And they'll say there are many starters, but there are few finishers. You've got to be determined. And number two is discipline. And then the next one is direction. And they'll tell you, man, you've got to have these goals. 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, they'll tell you it's duration. They say hard times never last, but people do. And, you know, people get this stuff down, and, man, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to succeed. And so their job, their career is their God. 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 will look at him and say he's a success. He's got a peptic ulcer.

He's already had a coronary. He's on his second or third wife is about to walk out on him. His kids are on drugs, but the business is up here. And everybody says, man, 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. You say, my job? If you have a job, be grateful.

It is a gift from God. And the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 23, in all labor, there is profit. Now, here's the second principle. 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, now in verses 6 and 7. Do your job, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of God, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, watch this, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. 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? And 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 sin. Toil and sweat came as a punishment for sin, but not work in itself.

Let me ask you a question. Do you know who the first farmer was? If you're not thinking, you're going to say, well, Adam was the first farmer, but he wasn't. God was the first farmer.

Just put in your margin, Genesis chapter 2, verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. The Lord God planted a garden.

Who was the first farmer? It was God Himself. And then what did God say to Adam? In Genesis chapter 2, 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'm going to turn this over to you.

I want you to dress it, and I want you to keep it. So what was Adam doing? Well, farming is not preaching. It's not missionary work.

It's not working in the temple. It's what some people would call secular work. But, friend, 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 verse down. Colossians 3, verses 23 and 24.

I love this. Listen to it. If you're one of those people who just kind of lag around on the job, listen to this. And whatsoever ye do... Now notice He said, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. And, friend, in 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 know earthly good. You know some of the people who were carried away to Babylon in the captivity? When they got over there to Babylon, they said, well, we're in a pagan land. This is a pagan world. We're only here as captives.

We're not going to work with all of our heart. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto 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 ye houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Take ye wives and beget sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands. That they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there and not diminished.

Now watch this. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. All right, let's translate that. What does God say to you? God says build houses. God says be busy. God says get into the work world and do a good job. God told them, you seek the welfare of Babylon where I have carried 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 are to help yourself. Look again in verse 7. We're in chapter 6 of Ephesians, verse 7, and he says, with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men.

Be helpful. If you're lazy, if you refuse to work, there's something bad wrong with you. Do you know what 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. Friend, you ought to work no matter 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? He says, 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, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 10 and following. For even when we were with you, we commanded you that if any would not work, it doesn't say could not work, it says would not work, neither should he eat. It is a sin to feed a person who refuses to work.

A sin. If he will not work, don't let him eat. By the way, he'll start working after a while if you'll do that. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 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 ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing.

He's talking about your job. And then we're supposed to take care of our children, not somebody else. 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 8. But if any provide not for his own, especially those for his own house, he hath denied the faith, he's worse than an infidel. And then over in Ephesians chapter 4, we're in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul says this concerning the man who's gotten right with God.

Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands. He's not talking now about working in the temple. 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 needeth. 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. He's not talking about those who will not work. He's talking 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. You see your job as a responsibility and be helpful. The Lord Jesus was a carpenter. He knew what it was to work.

Now here's the third thing I want you to see. There are three principles 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. Look at verses five through seven again.

Listen to it. Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart. Now underscore this, as unto Christ. Verse six, not with thy service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ.

Underscore that. Now he's talking about secular work. Doing the will of God from the heart. Look at verse seven. With good will doing service as to the Lord.

Could it be any more plain? That ought to put dignity in what you do. You're going to work tomorrow morning for Jesus Christ.

For Jesus Christ. You are serving God. You know, so many people say, oh man, I wish I could get out of this rat race and serve God.

Friend, that's split level living. As a matter of fact, when I'm on an airplane, I try to disguise the fact that I'm a minister. Not that I'm a Christian, but that I'm a minister.

You know why? I don't want them to think I'm a hired gun. I want them to think I love Jesus because I love Jesus. You know, a little boy said, would you give me a dollar? She said, what for? She said, well, for being a good boy.

She said, why can't you be good for nothing like your dad? I want people to think I'm good for nothing. I mean, not that I'm being paid as a minister, as a professional. Sometimes they sniff it out. There must be something about the way I talk, but when I open my mouth, they say, you're a pre-charge.

I say, no, I've just been sick. I don't want them to know that I'm just sort of a hit man for Jesus. I want to be a child of God who loves Jesus and just serves Jesus because I love him. 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. Or on the other hand, they're going to despise their job and can hardly wait to get here on Sunday so they can, quote, serve the Lord. And there's a bridge between their work life 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. Let me ask you a question. Would you agree with this? One-tenth of your money and one-seventh of all of your time belongs to God? Be careful.

It's a trick question. That's wrong. Friend, it's not one-tenth of your money belongs to God. All your money belongs to God. It's not one-seventh of your time that belongs to God. All of your time belongs to God. Do you think your life is like a pie and you say, well, I'm going to slice it, you know, and I'll put all these slices and I'll take one-tenth of my financial pie and I'll take that slice out and I give that to God and then I've got nine-tenths to do what I want with.

No. You say, well, I'm going to give God a whole day on Sunday. That's the Lord's day. Then I've got six days of my own.

No. Friend, every day is a holy day. Every place is a sacred place. Isn't that wonderful? Doesn't that put some dignity into it and say, well, if it's drudgery, then that puts more dignity into it. Lord Jesus, I'm willing to endure drudgery for you. And if you're getting a difficulty, say, Lord Jesus, look what I am doing for you.

There is a delightfulness in even doing that which is undignified. Now, let me give you the classic example of this. There's a man named Daniel and Daniel was taken to Babylon, not of his own free will. He did not go to some business council and say, what do you think I'd be good at doing?

Nor did he choose after getting a degree in business from some university as to where he'd go. Daniel was what we would call a victim of circumstances, but it wasn't circumstances. Remember what I told you that those Jews were carried away captive into Babylon and God had caused it?

See, God was over it. And so here's Daniel. He is there in Babylon and he has a job. Now, he got into the government service and he became a governmental employee, a functionary in the government, but he served God while he was working for a pagan ruler. And when they threw old Daniel in the lion's den, Darius the king looked into the lion's den and he sat there in Daniel 6 verse 16, Daniel, the God that you serve continually has delivered you. Even this pagan king knew that Daniel, in his ordinary work, was really serving God. Now, I know some of you feel like, Pastor, you just don't know what is out there.

Well, you don't know what I'm facing. You think Daniel lived in Babylon? Man, I live in Babylon. All around me, God's name is taken in vain. All around, there are dirty jokes and sexual innuendos. All around, there are people laughing and mocking at holy things. It's dog-eat-dog, they're stepping on one another.

They have unfair business practices. Now, Pastor, you just don't know what it's like, materialism and greed and all of that. Well, I want to ask you a question. Do you think it's God's plan that you live in a monastery and that you just go off and get in some hole somewhere and pluck a harp or something? Listen to what Jesus prayed. John chapter 17 verse 15, For his saints I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Notice what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 9 and 10, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then ye must needs go out of the world.

He's saying, hey, you're going to live with fornicators, covetous, and idolatrous people. In this world, they're all around us. The Bible says there in Romans chapter 12 verse 21, We not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. John tells us this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. We've been saved out of the world, sent back into the world to witness to the world, and that's the only business in the world we have until we're taken out of the world when Jesus comes. We're in this world, but not of this world. And Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you are the light of the world.

Now I want to ask you a question. If you're the light of the world, He doesn't say you're the light of the church. He said you're the salt of the earth. You know what we do on Sunday? We come to church, and we shine our flashlights on each other. And I'll salt him, and he'll salt me.

We're salting each other. No, this is the church. We are the light of the world.

That's the reason you're in your job where you are. Where do you put a lighthouse? Downtown Manhattan? Or out on some barren coast? Where is your light to shine? Listen to Philippians 2, verse 15, that she may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst, in the middle of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world. That is why you are there in that place that you call Babylon. That is why Daniel was there. You say, well, I want to get out of there so I can serve God. Stay there and serve God. That's where the salt is needed.

You don't put the salt in one barrel and the fish in another. That's where the light is needed. Your job is an opportunity. Be grateful. Your job is responsibility. Be helpful. Your job is a ministry. Be faithful.

I've told you before about four things I want you to do tomorrow morning when you go to work, and they're easy to remember, but jot them on a slip of paper. If you would be a witness, if you'd let your light shine, here's what it is. Number one, do not brag.

Do not brag. Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Now, if you go around there showing what a good boy you are, the light is to glow, not to glare.

There to see the light, not the lamp. Self-righteous people are the most obnoxious people on earth. You go in there, and you start telling them, you ought not to go down to those casinos.

It's like, would you get out of here? No. Don't brag. Number two, don't nag. Don't nag. Don't always go around wagging your finger in people's face.

They don't want to hear it. Nobody's ever won to Jesus by being talked down to. The Bible says in Colossians 4 verses 5 and 6, Walk in wisdom toward them which are without, redeeming the time. Now, listen to this. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer every man. Isn't that great?

Isn't that great? Listen, walk in wisdom toward those who are without. You say, well, they're doing all these bad things, preacher. Of course they are. They're sinners. That's what sinners do. Sin. Don't go in there trying to teach Billy Goats not to butt.

That is what they do. Don't you brag and don't you nag and don't you lag, L-A-G. You carry your part of the load at the job. As a matter of fact, you work just a little harder than anybody else. It's a sin for a Christian to do less than his best. Remember that scripture in Colossians 3 verse 23? Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. When a man goes down to the employment agency, he always says, I need some workers.

I need this and this and this. And by the way, if you have any Christians, send them over. Man, I don't understand these people. They're the hardest working people. They get here on time. They do what is required of them. They do more than is required of them. Do you know if people start living like that on Monday, they start believing what I preach on Sunday?

Did you know that? I mean, if we were to take what's in this place and just put it out into the community, don't brag. Don't nag. Don't lag.

And here's the last one. Don't sag. Don't sag. Never let down in your Christian faith.

I mean, they will remember one little malfeasance more than so much good that you do. Don't, don't sag. Don't let down. Don't look at that dirty, obscene joke. Don't join in some sort of petty gossip.

Don't let down. Don't sag in your Christian witnessing. Well, you say, well, pastor, I haven't got what it takes. That's right.

You don't. There's only one person who's ever lived a Christian life. You know his name? Jesus. And if it's lived in that office where you work, it'll be Jesus and you. And that's the reason that you need to get up a little earlier tomorrow morning and have that quiet time with the Lord and load up on the Lord Jesus Christ and be so filled with Him that when you walk into that office, God will be walking into that office because Christ will be in you. And you'll see your job as an opportunity. You'll be thankful. And you'll see your job as a responsibility.

You'll be helpful. And then you'll see your job as a ministry and you'll be faithful. And you know what'll happen? I'll guarantee, I'll just guarantee you, they will come to you and say, hey, man, what makes you tick?

How do you live this way? You're different. They will see the difference. They'll see the reality of Jesus Christ in you. Folks, I won't tell you this much.

Most people are not all that interested in going to heaven or hell. They want to know how to hack it on Monday. That's right. You just come into your job with victory. With victory. And let them see the light, the love, the joy, the peace that Jesus Christ gives you. I'm not talking about bragging.

I'm just talking about reality. And I'm not saying that you never share Jesus. You do share Jesus. But you share Jesus in the right way. Let the grace of Jesus come out of your life. Share the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those are the people that you work with at home and on the job who are your first responsibility and God will bless you for it. Tomorrow morning, get up and say, good morning, Lord. Good morning, Lord. Oh, Lord God, here I am in the full-time ministry. And I'm going off to serve my Lord and my Savior.

Wouldn't that be wonderful? Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.