Do You Glorify God at Work

July 1, 2017
Do You Glorify God at Work?

Welcome to “A Visit to the Pastor’s Study.” I’m Pastor Jon Shishko guest-hosting for Pastor Bill Shishko. Stop and think with me for just a moment. Where are you on a typical Monday at 3:30pm? What are you up to on a normal Wednesday at 11am? What is going through your head on most Fridays at 4:59pm? How long is your commute? What time do you set your alarm clock for on Work Days? You spend 40 to 80 hours at work, getting to work, preparing for work, or trying to find work. Do you glorify God in all this? Do you Glorify God at Work?

In the New Testament, we read, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Co 10:31) And we read, “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.” (Col 3:23-24) One of Christianity’s many distinctions is that it’s God works to create the world in 6 days before resting on the seventh – and he commands his people to do the same. Adam works in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world. Jesus Christ came into the world – and worked – not just in full time ministry – but as a carpenter. Christianity sees work as holy, even God-like, – a holy, God-like activity in which you are meant to glorify God.

But, Do you glorify God at Work? I think Christians understand that they are to worship in a distinctively Christian way. They get that they are to be distinctively Christian in their marriages, in their parenting, in their prayers and times of devotion. They understand that Bible Studies and Community Groups, Counseling Sessions and Outreaches are all part of the Christian life. But what about work? What about 9-5 Monday – Friday? In the Cubicle, in your e-mails, on your lunch meetings, in your conferences and off-sites, sales pitches and financial planning, negotiations and phone-calls, at 330pm on Monday, 11am on Wednesday, and 4:59pm on Friday?  “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” – Are your glorifying God at Work?

How do we do accounting to God’s glory? How can lawyers do what they do to God’s glory? What’s the difference between a Christian Investment Banker and a non-Christian Investment Banker? What about artists, plumbers, electricians, teachers, sales-men & women, computer coders & graphic-designers? How do they glorify God in whatever they do – including in all that they do while on the job?

In his book God at Work, Gene Edward Veith Jr. channels Martin Luther and writes, “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. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person who prepared our meal. We might today add the truck drivers who hauled the produce, the factory workers in the food processing plant, the warehouse men, the wholesale distributors, the stock boys, the lady at the checkout counter. Also playing their part are the bankers, futures investors, advertisers, lawyers, agricultural scientists, mechanical engineers, and every other player in the nation’s economic system. All of these were instrumental in enabling you to eat your morning bagel.”

In Every Good Endeavor, author and pastor Tim Keller quotes Mark Noll saying, “Who, after all, made the world of nature, and then made possible the development of sciences through which we find out more about nature? Who formed the universe of human interactions, and so provided the raw material for politics, economics, sociology, and history? Who is the source of harmony, form, and narrative pattern, and so lies behind all artistic and literary possibilities? Who created the human mind in such a way that it could grasp the endless realities of nature, of human interactions, of beauty, and so make possible the theories of such matters by philosophers and psychologists? Who moment by moment sustains the natural world, the world of human interactions, and the harmonies of existence? Who maintains moment by moment the connections between what is in our minds and what is in the world beyond our minds? The answer in every case is the same–God did it. And God does it.”

Use now and the rest of this show to reset and reorient. You’re called to think of your work as God’s work. You’re called to think of yourself a Christian first – not a lawyer, accountant, or artist – but a Christian Lawyer, a Christian Accountant, a Christian Artist. Your work is holy work, its God’s work. Whether it’s Sunday or Monday, Wednesday or Friday – you’re called to glorify God in all that you do – Do you Glorify God at work?

“Two lawyers and a pastor walked into a radio broadcasting studio……” And I’m not joking! I’m here today with two Christians, two professionals, two men who are Christians and also lawyers. They’re here with me today because they don’t think “Christian Lawyer” is an oxymoron. They see their work as God’s work being done here on earth, even as it is in heaven. And we’re going to spend the next hour discussing what it means to glorify God while at work.