Faith at Work

Welcome to this edition of Power Point with Jack Graham. A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get Dr. Graham's book, Angels. But first, here's his message, Faith at Work. If faith works, it certainly should work at work. Have you ever had someone say something like this? Well, I don't mix my religion and business.

Regretfully, some people think that way. They have the idea that there is a separation, a dichotomy between that which is sacred and holy and that which is secular. And many people go to church on Sunday and worship and never connect the dots, never get from what happens on Sunday to what happens Monday through Friday and the rest of the week. Never experiencing faith at work. But the Christian faith is not simply to be lived in church, but it is to be lived in the marketplace.

And that's what our text is about today, putting your faith to work at work. What would happen if someone gave you a fortune? Millions of dollars. What would you do with the rest of your life? Well, a lot of people are thinking, I'll tell you exactly what I would do.

I would start out by quitting my job and then I'd pay off all my bills and get a vacation home or several of them, several places and spend the rest of my life doing nothing. Well, I'm here to suggest to you today that would not be a good plan for your life. Even if you had all the money in the world, God has given us the privilege and the responsibility of work to invest not only in our own lives and the lives of our families, but to invest in the lives of those around us, our community and even our world.

But unfortunately, according to a Princeton study, 82% of Americans hate their jobs. And unfortunately, many Christians are not very much different when it comes to faith at work. But I'm here to say, according to the Word of God, that we are to live for Jesus Christ every day, 24-7. And that what we do for Christ on the job is vitally important to the significance and the success of our lives. And that's what Paul is teaching us here in Ephesians chapter 6.

And I want to show you as we begin reading at verse 5, bondservants. Now remember, Paul was writing in the context of a culture which had accepted slavery. There were over 6 million slaves in the Roman world. Ultimately to the process of the salt and the light of the Christian faith in the world, slavery, thank God, was abolished.

But in these days it was a reality. But the principles of work that we see here between slaves and masters is appropriate and applicable to our lives today. The principles are the same in the workforce today. So the subject here really is not slaves and masters, but the subject is how we work. So verse 5 says, bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart as to Christ. Not with I service as men pleases, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord whether he is slave or free.

And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven and there is no partiality with him. Think with me for a few moments about the ministry of everyday work. And then we're going to talk about the motive for everyday work and ultimately the manifestation of everyday work. First the meaning and the ministry of everyday work. Now for the Christian, work is not a curse. It is a blessing. The Bible tells us when God created the heavens and the earth that He worked for those six days and that He rested on the seventh day. Our Creator God works.