Radical with David Platt
Flourishing In Our Work
How would you describe your work? Boring? Frustrating? All-consuming? If we’re honest, many of us can find our work to be discouraging, even if we’re doing something that we generally like. However, in this message from the book of Proverbs, David Platt reminds us of God’s original purpose in our work, as well as the motivation that knowing Christ should give us. While the effects of sin in the world often make our work feel frustrating rather than satisfying, those who are trusting in Christ can work diligently knowing that, regardless of what they do, they are serving Christ and being empowered by his Spirit.
From unexpected olympic champion to martyr in China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s win in the 1924 games.
In Glory Road, Radical’s new narrative podcast, we’ll follow Liddell’s remarkable journey, and discover the current state of the gospel in the countries he knew best.
Start listening to this 6 part series now everywhere you listen to podcasts or find out more at radical.net/gloryroad
How would you describe your work? Boring? Frustrating? All-consuming? If we’re honest, many of us can find our work to be discouraging, even if we’re doing something that we generally like. However, in this message from the book of Proverbs, David Platt reminds us of God’s original purpose in our work, as well as the motivation that knowing Christ should give us. While the effects of sin in the world often make our work feel frustrating rather than satisfying, those who are trusting in Christ can work diligently knowing that, regardless of what they do, they are serving Christ and being empowered by his Spirit.
From unexpected olympic champion to martyr in China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s win in the 1924 games.
In Glory Road, Radical’s new narrative podcast, we’ll follow Liddell’s remarkable journey, and discover the current state of the gospel in the countries he knew best.
Start listening to this 6 part series now everywhere you listen to podcasts or find out more at radical.net/gloryroad
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of Radical with David Platt. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit Radicalnet. Let's hear what God says about work. So to get your mind going, I'm going to put a definition of work up here on the screen and then I want to invite you to answer a couple of questions in your mind. So first, the definition of work that we'll use today is activity that involves intensive effort. So, contrasted with rest, work involves intensive effort. So, with that definition of work, think about this question what kind of work do you do? Just think to yourself what kind of work do you? And when you hear that question, you might immediately think of your job, your profession, what you get paid to do, which is definitely a kind of work. Others of you might think about school. You're a student. The primary work you do is school work. So let's call that one category of work, professional or academic work. But then think beyond that. We often do what we might call voluntary work.
Speaker 1:We just talked about some of the ways people serve in the church, who work on Sundays to care for children, or others who will go to camp over the coming weeks to serve teenagers. There might be a variety of ways. You might work in the church or in the community, or think about relational work in the community, or think about relational work. Parenting is work, marriage involves work, all kinds of friendships take work. Or you might think about physical work that you do, exercise, you work out. Or, in a similar way, think about spiritual work, spiritual disciplines of prayer, bible study, fasting. There's a sense in which that's activity that involves intensive effort, and I'm not trying to distinguish between all these. There's certainly overlap between them and this is definitely not an exhaustive list. The point is, when you stop and think about it, most of our life revolves around work, which leads to the second question I want to ask you how would you describe your work life on a continuum of frustrating to flourishing? So if frustrating was over here and flourishing was over there, would you describe your professional or academic work as frustrating or flourishing, or somewhere in between? And where would it be in between? Or work you do in the world, or your parenting or your marriage, friendships frustrating or flourishing, physical exercise or spiritual work or any other kind of work that comes to your mind, and obviously the answer might be different for different areas.
Speaker 1:And now I wanna invite you to answer one more question in your mind, and this will deal primarily with the professional, academic side of work. So how would you describe who you work for? So, if you work for a person or people, or an organization or a company, how would you describe who you work for? A person or people, or an organization or a company, how would you describe who you work for? Or if you're a student I know it's summer, but maybe think about teachers you have had or might have in the future how would you describe who you work for? So hopefully that gets a variety of thoughts in your mind about work that I want us to bring into God's Word. I want us to think about how, in this fallen world, the default for work in all these ways is frustration.
Speaker 1:I want us to hear from God today about how he's designed us to flourish in our work. Remember, that's the definition of wisdom that Mike gave us at the beginning of this series on adulting. In real life, wisdom is knowing how to flourish in life according to God's design. What I want to show you today is how to flourish in work according to God's design and all the ways you might think of work in your job, in school, in work in the world, working out your body and working to flourish in relationships with family or friends and, ultimately, working to flourish in your relationship with God. I wanna show you, specifically in the book of Proverbs, the answer to this question how do we flourish in our work?
Speaker 1:Now I need to apologize from the start, because last week I have a lot to cover and a little bit of time, which means if you're taking notes, you're gonna have to do some work. We're gonna go super fast because I wanna show you 16 answers to this question from the book of Proverbs and that is a nervous laughter that I hear all across the room, but I promise we're going to go fast. My goal is for you to walk away just a few minutes from now with a host of truths, principles and encouragement that you can reflect on in the days to come, discuss in your home with family, with friends or with your church group, and then come back periodically to evaluate Am I flourishing in all the ways I'm working in the world? And some of the things on this list of 16 will be things we know in the world by God's common grace, but some of these things go completely against the grain of the way the world thinks about work. So listen closely, especially here at the start and then at the end. If you'll hang with me, I promise you God's Word will totally transform the way you view work. So let's go. How do you and I flourish in our work? First answer I want to show you in Proverbs enjoy your work as a reflection of God. I love this.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 8, 22. So this verse is personifying wisdom. So wisdom is speaking like a person. And wisdom says the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. So this is wisdom, saying the first act of God, before he even made the world, was to make me. I was his first work. So God works.
Speaker 1:God is a worker, which sounds simple, but this is so significant. Just look at the language of how God created the world in Genesis 2. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, all the host of them, and on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done. Two chapters into the Bible we see all that God has done. In the first chapter, described as work. He rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Verse three says God blessed the seventh day, made it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Speaker 1:God works and you and I are made in the image of God, which means that when we work, we are reflecting who God is, and this is breathtaking. This is mind-blowing, if you really stop and think about it, that whenever you and I work in any way, when we create, when we put forth effort at anything, we are reflecting God Himself, and that in and of itself gives dignity to our work. Simply working in any way obviously in any way that's not sinful is a reflection of God. Like whenever we wash dishes, we're reflecting God Whenever we clean up a mess, or teach a child or student, or do an assignment, or perform a surgery, or make a sales call, or build a house or prepare and serve food. Whatever work we do is a reflection of God, and in a very real sense, whenever we work, we're working with God, because he's the one who's causing everything to work in the world, and he's doing it through you and me.
Speaker 1:Martin Luther said when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we ask God to give us this day our daily bread, and he does give us our daily bread. How does he do this, though? He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread and the person who prepared our meal. Luther said God could easily give us grain and fruit without people plowing and planting, but he doesn't want to do so. Instead, god works in us, through us, through you, through me, and this reality infuses beautiful meaning into what we might otherwise think is the most meaningless work. To realize we're working as a reflection of God, with God.
Speaker 1:So I think about my kids, particularly when they're young, just wanting to do whatever their daddy or mommy is doing, like like them, with them. I'll show you a quick picture from last week. I'm outside cooking smash burgers for my crew and Mercy just wants to be right there with me doing what I'm doing. Now, to be clear, I don't always dress up in this whenever I'm cooking for my family, but I was totally fine to do it with her. She was loving doing what I was doing. Don't miss it, brother, sister in Christ, like see the picture. You're a child of God and you're designed to work and enjoy that work, simply because it's what your Father in heaven does. He works and you are reflecting Him as you work.
Speaker 1:Now we'll get to all the reasons that were robbed of that joy later, but answer number one from Proverbs is flourish in your work by seeing your work as a reflection of God. I told you that's totally different from the way a godless world would view work. It's something you have to do, something meaningless, like Mercy. You have to go out there and be with your dad. Do something meaningless? No, she wants to be out there and there's meaning, not ultimately because of what she's doing, but because of who she's with. We work as a reflection of the one who made us our Father, in whom we delight, and it totally changes our perspective of work. So that's number one Leads to the second answer. We see in Proverbs how to flourish in our work. That's also totally counter-cultural. See your work as a gift from God.
Speaker 1:So what if work is not a necessary evil you have to do in order to get paid, live in this world, to feel good about yourself? As an obligation you have to do in your home or in your life? What if work is a good gift from God For us? Listen to Proverbs 12, 14. From the fruit of his mouth. A man is satisfied with good and the work of a man's hand comes back to him. It's good for him, or I love this one.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 16, 26. A worker's appetite works for him. His mouth urges him on Like it's your good that urges you on to work. Proverbs 13, four. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Did you hear that? The soul of a diligent person this is talking about the depth of who you are you will be richly supplied in your soul when you work diligently. And it makes sense because work existed before sin ever even came into the world. Genesis 2, 15,. The Lord, god, took the man right after he created him, put him in the garden to work it and keep it. A work is a gift from God that's foundational to humanity from the very beginning, and we know this.
Speaker 1:Tim Keller writes if you ask people in nursing homes or hospitals how they're doing, you will often hear that their main regret is that they wish they had something to do some way to be useful to others. I know there are some listening right now who would love to be working in some way but for physical or other reasons in this fallen world are not able to do so, and they would testify that work is absolutely a good gift from God for us, and not just for us. It's a good gift from God for others. This is really interesting. Look at Proverbs 10.5. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps and harvests is a son who brings shame. Now this proverb is so fascinating because we're so prone, particularly here in the West, to think about our lives individualistically, like we're the center of the world. So we might expect this proverb to say he who gathers in summer is prudent, he who sleeps in harvest is wise. But this proverb is pointing out how a son's work brings good to his family and a son's laziness brings shame to his family. And this is not me trying to put pressure on my kids. This is about us seeing how God has designed our work to be a way we serve other people, our family, our society, our city through the work we do and then through the money that we make as we work.
Speaker 1:Just jump to the New Testament, ephesians 4, 28. Labor, doing honest work with your own hands, so that you may have something to share with anyone in need. Excuse me, work is a good gift from God for us and to be able to give to others. Think about it. I sincerely hope that the work I'm doing right now is good for you, in the same way that I trust you work in all kinds of ways that are good for others and yourself. And you might think well, what I do is not that important. But this is the point of what the Bible is saying it's all important. Like it would not be good for the world if we were all preachers. Like we'd all be talking about god's word all the time but we wouldn't have food to eat. Like there's so many different things that we do.
Speaker 1:I love what one author said he's writing on a theology of work. He said look at the chair you're lounging in. Could you have made it for yourself? How would you get, say, the wood? Go and fell a tree, but only after first making the tools for that and putting together some kind of vehicle to haul the wood and constructing a mill to do the lumber and roads to drive on from place to place. In short, it would take you a lifetime or two to make a chair.
Speaker 1:Praise God for all the people who do all kinds of things to serve society as it operates. Work in all our lives, in all kinds of ways, is a good gift from God. And then the converse is true. Lack of work, when you're able to work, is not good for you. Proverbs 21, 25,. The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor, it kills him. Proverbs 19, 15,. Slothfulness cast into a deep sleep, an idle person will suffer hunger. And lack of work when we're able to work is not good for others. Proverbs 18, 9,. Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. Proverbs 10, 26,. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slugger to those who sin him who likes smoke in their eyes. That's what someone who can work and doesn't work is like to others. In the New Testament, 2 Thessalonians 3 warns about freeloaders who could work but aren't working, saying if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
Speaker 1:For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now, such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ, do their work quietly and earn their own living. In other words, see work and steward work as a good gift from God for you and for others. Before we go on, let me just point out this is all work, not just your job. So, yes, a job is a gift from God. The ability to work in a job is a gift from God. And it's also school the opportunity to be able to learn, to be taught. If you're in school in any way, see the gift you've been given by God. I know it may not always feel like it, but view school as an opportunity to be equipped to provide for yourself and to serve others.
Speaker 1:What a gift Then. Think of work in your relationships. Marriage takes work, but what a good gift. So steward that gift and do the work of marriage. Parenting is work, but what a great gift. So see, even in the hard days in parenting, the gift of God's grace that you get to be a parent. Friendships take work, but what a good gift. Physical exercises work, but what a good gift to be able to do that. Spiritual discipline takes work, but what a good gift. Physical exercises work, but what a good gift to be able to do that. Spiritual discipline takes work, but what a gift. Communion with God Are you serious? Yes, sign me up for that intensive effort.
Speaker 1:Sign us up for work in all kinds of ways. Why? Because work is a gift from God, which leads to number three, how to flourish in your work. Serve your neighbor as you work, and this may sound similar to what we were just talking about working for the good of others. The nuance I want to add here comes from Proverbs 21, 25, and 26.
Speaker 1:The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor All day long. He craves and craves, but the righteous gives and doesn't hold back. I love this picture of the righteous person who, instead of craving and craving all day long for things for himself, he gives of himself and he doesn't hold back from others. So see this picture of a worker who flourishes by helping other people flourish. So to think this week how can you professionally, academically in your work, voluntarily in your work, relationally in your work, in any way, how can you help the people you're working with and for flourish? I think. Just one example marriage, husbands. Be the giver, lay down your life for your wife. Don't hold back in loving her by serving her. This is what we do, how we flourish in our work.
Speaker 1:And then, related to that number four, savor and share the fruit of your work. I love this proverb. Listen to this one, it's hilarious. Proverbs 19, 24. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth. Imagine somebody who does all the work to get the food to the table, puts his hand in the food but he's so lazy he won't even bring it to his mouth. Hey bro, enjoy the food. I'll give you a go here to here. Enjoy it, maybe even pass some on to others.
Speaker 1:So when you think about the work you do in your school, in your job, when you do something well in your work, savor that. Savor the fruit of your work in all kinds of ways Like savor an empty inbox. Ah, feels so good and enjoy it because it's not gonna last very long. Another email's gonna come in. You're just gonna be mad at whoever sent it. So good, and enjoy it because it's not gonna last very long. Another email is gonna come in. Just gonna be mad at whoever sent it.
Speaker 1:Savor the fruit of your days in school. Savor the fruit of your days in your first job. Savor the fruit of the work you're putting into relationships. Savor the simple joys of friendships. Don't let the hard moments of parenting keep you from savoring the simple joys of parenting. Savor the work you do in marriage. We'll keep this G-rated in light of all the ages in the room. But just read Song of Solomon, a couple books later. God is serious about you savoring the fruit of your work in marriage, so do it.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I wanna add one other application here to spiritual work. So savor the fruit, savor the thrill and the joy of relationship with God. Realizing that takes work. We read this in our church Bible reading last week Matthew, chapter six. Jesus promises reward. But how do we get it? When you pray, he says go into your room, shut the door and pray to your father who's in secret, and your father, who sees in secret, will reward you. So there's reward waiting for you every day this week in time alone with your father in heaven. But it takes the work of finding a place, getting alone with him and spending that time with him in prayer and in his word.
Speaker 1:And spiritual laziness means missing this reward and we say we don't have time. But we talked about this. We're spending an average of four and a half hours a day on our phones. No wonder our spiritual lives feel empty. Like put down the phone, put in the work and savor the reward of being with God and walking with God and then share that with others. Okay, I've got gotta pick up the pace. Some of you are timing it out and you're like we're not even close. We're four through, so we're gonna fly through these next ones. A lot of these are wisdom that we know in this world, but they come from God's Word.
Speaker 1:So, number five how to flourish in your work. Sharpen your skills in your work. Proverbs 22, 29. Do you see a man? Skillful in his work? He'll stand before kings. He will not stand before obscure men. Grow in skill through your work. That's flourishing. Then, number six work carefully. Proverbs 24, 30 through 32.
Speaker 1:I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense. Behold, it was all overgrown with thorns, the ground was covered with nettles, its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw it and considered it. I looked and received instruction Take care, tend well to the details of your work, work with excellence, work carefully and work completely. Proverbs 12, 27. This is kind of like the guy who's too lazy to put the food in his mouth. Whoever's slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. So here's a guy who catches game but then won't cook it. Ever been around somebody who does part of the work but won't complete the work, in such a way that someone else is always having to come behind and finish what they started? Or have you ever been that person?
Speaker 1:Be diligent, proverbs says to see work to completion, which leads to number eight. This one's so important. Listen closely, don't grow impatient amidst plotting work. So this is one of the most well-known passages on work in Proverbs, chapter 6, verses 6 through 8. Go to the aunt O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief officer or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. Or more concisely put, proverbs 12, 11,. Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread. But he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. So working the land day after day, just like an ant works day after day may not seem glamorous, but don't be distracted by worthless pursuits. Just do the work day in and day out, and trust the reward will come in due time. Don't we all need to hear this? Be patient as you work.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 21, 5. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. We are so wired to want instant gratification that we lose patience, we get anxious or we get distracted by what we think will be quicker. Hear the warning of Proverbs 20, verse 4. The slugger does not plow in the autumn. He will seek at harvest and have nothing. Don't underestimate the plowing you're doing in autumn. Don't underestimate the value of faithful work, day in and day out, in school, in a job, in a marriage, in parenting, and don't expect a harvest every day. Just keep working the land as you trust the Lord of the harvest. Don't grow impatient amidst plodding work.
Speaker 1:And then number nine don't make excuses for shoddy work. Don't be the person that comes up with all kinds of excuses for not working or not working. Well, listen to Proverbs 22, 13. The sluggard says there's a lion outside. I shall be killed in the streets Again. Proverbs 26, 13. The sluggard says there's a lion in the road. There's a lion in the streets. That's why I can't work, why I can't work, why I can't get work done those pesky lions, bro. Stop making excuses. There's not lions in the streets. And even if there were, we need to do some work to deal with that. So, either way. Get to work. Stop making excuses for your lack of work or for your shoddy work and, related to this, stop complaining about your work.
Speaker 1:Words of Philippians, chapter two, verse 13,. Do all things, all things, without complaining or arguing. That's number 9. Number 10, beware over talking. Proverbs 14, 23,. In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. Stop talking about work and work. Surely this includes a warning for all of us against the proverbial death by meeting. I dare you to start your Monday morning meeting with your boss tomorrow with a warning about over-talking. Let me know how that goes. Beware over-talking At the same time.
Speaker 1:Number 11, beware over-working. Proverbs 23, verse 4,. Do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to desist. Be discerning enough to stop To put down the phone, shut the laptop, stop checking the email, knowing that even a quick glance will send your mind racing in different directions. In a quick glance will send your mind racing in different directions. Stop thinking about your work and start paying attention to the people around you. Start looking at your spouse in the eye, start playing with your kids or talking with your parents and don't think well, I'm single and I don't have kids, so I'll just overwork now. That is a foolish pattern to establish for your life, especially when the God, who created you and who loves you and who knows what is best for you, has commanded you to rest. Overworking is always pride Period. Overworking is saying to others and to God I am that needed all the time. When it's not true, you far overestimate yourself.
Speaker 1:I love what John Piper says about sleep. He writes sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. Once a day, god sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think that we are in control and that our work is indispensable To cure us of this disease. God turns us into helpless sacks of sand once a day. How humiliating to the self-made corporate executive that he has to give up all control and become as limp as a suckling infant every single day to sleep and rest.
Speaker 1:Put your work down, have a daily rhythm and a weekly rhythm of ceasing completely from your work, and Help each other to do this in your home. Help each other to do this In your home. Help each other to do this in the place where you work. Help each other to do this in this culture that we live in. You know what's interesting?
Speaker 1:I mentioned earlier, we spend an average of four and a half hours a day on our phones. You add that up, it's basically a full day of the week spent on our phones. We've essentially replaced a Sabbath day every week with a social media day every week, and what's dangerous is we've convinced ourselves that looking at our phones is rest. Oh, we're stepping aside from work, when in reality our brains are actually working overtime on so many different levels. As we're on our phones it's like we're smoking and we've convinced ourselves we're clearing our lungs. And the evidence is it not all around us? We desperately need true rest For our health, for others, health for our health, for others' health. We need rest from our work, from our phones, from all kinds of things in this world. Beware overworking your body, including your brain At the same time.
Speaker 1:Proverbs says, number 12,. Beware over sleeping too. Proverbs 20, 13,. Love, not sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, you'll have plenty of bread. How, how about this one? 26, 14. As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. He just turns back and forth on his bed like an hinge, but he never gets up. Remember God worked for six days and rested for one. Not rested for six days and worked for one. So alright, let's bring this down the homestretch.
Speaker 1:This is where I wanna broaden things out more, from Proverbs to the whole of the Bible, number 13,. Remember that work is cursed in this world, but it will be redeemed in the world to come. Think beginning and end of the Bible. We're right in the middle, beginning Genesis 3,. As a result of sin in the world, work in this world is cursed.
Speaker 1:Work is designed by God for us to flourish, but it often feels frustrating in this fallen world. So don't be surprised when work in this world is hard, when it doesn't feel enjoyable. So it's a fight to maintain a God-centered perspective of work that we're seeing in Proverbs. But we know that one day, in the end, we're gonna be in a new heaven and a new earth and work will be perfectly enjoyable. You might think, wait a minute. I thought we were going to rest when we get to heaven, we won't have to work anymore. But that just shows how tainted our view of work is by this world. Heaven's not a place where we won't work anymore. Remember this is foundational to our makeup as men and women, made in the image of God. Heaven is a place where we will experience work as it's designed to be Completely good, totally fulfilling, rewarding, enjoyable with God, flourishing with and for each other.
Speaker 1:Listen to how our church's Bible reading from this last week Isaiah 65, 21, describes the new heaven and new earth. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build another and inhabit. They shall not plant another and eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my children shall long enjoy the work of their hands. Heaven is a place of internal enjoyment of the work of our hands as we work literally and perfectly with God himself. So how do we flourish in this world as we wait for that world? Well, in all the ways we've already mentioned. But hold on, in particular to these last three.
Speaker 1:Number 14, trust the hand of Jesus with your work. I love Proverbs 16, three Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago. So, day to day with all your work, whatever kind of work it is, just commit it to the lord's hands and trust him with it. Knowing things will not always work the way you would like them to in this world, in school and jobs, in jobs in marriage, in parenting, all kinds of work in this world and people you work with and for will disappoint you. But the good news is your life is not in their hands and your work is not, ultimately, in their hands. Isn't that good news? Your boss is not in control of your life. Your life and your work are in the hands of the God, who loves you so much that he gave his only son, jesus, to do the ultimate work on your behalf.
Speaker 1:And Jesus completed that work. He lived a sinless life all the way to the end. He died on the cross to pay the price for the sins of anyone who trusts in him. And then his work was still not done. He rose from the grave in victory over sin and death, so that anyone not who comes up, so that Christianity this is so beautiful is not a list of things, works you need to do in order to get to God. Christianity is trust in the work God has done to make it possible for you to be forgiven of your sin and restored, to have eternal life in relationship with him. If you have never put your trust in Jesus and the work he has done on the cross for you. I invite you, god invites you to do that today. He's done the work for your salvation. He's freed you from sin.
Speaker 1:And what did we talk about last week? Not just when you trust in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life, you're not just forgiven of your sin, you are filled with his spirit. Now this totally transforms work, because now you have the spirit of Jesus inside of you, which means you don't do any work in this world in your own strength Number 15, depend on the strength of Jesus as you work. As a follower of Jesus, there is no work you're called to do in your own strength. And I'm not just talking about spiritual work here, I'm talking about any, all kinds of work, because God's spirit is always dwelling in you, in your job, in your school, in your home, everything you do everywhere you go. Paul, right after he talks about the mystery of Christ living in us in Colossians 1.27, he says in verse 29, for this I toil, I work, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Do you see this? As a follower of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in you to enable you for all the work God calls you to in this world. So be encouraged For anybody who feels tired in your work. Remember the one who lives in you and depend on the strength of Jesus as you work. Rise out of your bed every day, get on your knees and say jesus, I need you to live in and through me today and all the work that I do. Don't distinguish spiritual work from secular work. No, it's all work that you do by the power of the spirit of jesus inside of you. And as you live like that, how will you flourish in your work? Ultimately? Number 16 live for the glory of jesus through your work.
Speaker 1:I asked you at the beginning what word or words would you use to describe who you work for? And I obviously don't know who your teachers are or who your employer is or what they're like, but I do know this they're not actually who you're working for. Colossians 3, 23 and 24 whatever you do, work heartily as for the lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Oh, do you realize this? You're not, ultimately, working for anybody in this world, not for men. You're working, ultimately, for the Lord. You are serving Jesus himself.
Speaker 1:So do you wanna know who the one you work, what the one you work for is like? I'll tell you what he's like. He loves you so much. The one you work for is perfectly kind. He is infinitely gracious and infinitely wise and infinitely good, and he wants your good so much that watch this, let it all come together you wanna know how much he wants your good. He wants your good so much that he is actually working day in and day out for your good. He is working for you. So keep your eyes fixed on him. This is the key to flourishing in your work Keeping your eyes fixed on the one who loves you and who greets you every single morning with new mercy, who promises to give you, serve you with everything you need all day long, until you lay your head down on your pillow at night, and he will serve you when you are not even conscious, until there is new morning.
Speaker 1:New mercy the next morning, and he'll do that. He'll work for you day after day after day, until one day you open your eyes and you see his face, and you who trusted in his work for you will experience and savor the fruit of relationship with God. So I want to close, then, today by giving you, right where you're sitting right now, a moment with him. Just reflect on this question with Jesus Are there any ways Jesus is leading you to view or do work differently in your life as a result of what he has said today through his word? In any of these areas of work your professional, academic work, voluntary work, relational work, physical work, spiritual work, voluntary work, relational work, physical work, spiritual work what is Jesus saying to you today about work and your life? You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author and teacher David Platt.