A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there. Come right in to enjoy a special time of family devotions here at home sweet home. In this time of family devotions, we're going to be thinking especially about work, the Lord's work, and also the work that you and I do each day.

We're going to be thinking especially about the verses found in Colossians 3, verse 17: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." And then again in verse 23: "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."

Well, those are the verses that we're going to be thinking about, and we hope that maybe we can just help you in your attitude regarding daily work. Then also, we hope you'll be busy working for Jesus Christ. We'll work till Jesus comes.

It seems today that work is such a problem in so many areas. There are people that are being laid off from work, of course, and people who aren't called back to work, and people that are working that go on strike. It's just a very complex problem, isn't it?

Bert: And people who are working who don't work very hard, they don't do their job.

Carol Jones Saint: And some who enjoy the work that they are doing and others that hate every minute of it.

Bert: I was reading the other day that there are more than 30,000 different categories of jobs in the United States. More than 30,000 jobs, different types of jobs. Sometimes when I look back in the days when I went to college, I think I worked at a good many of those.

Carol Jones Saint: How many jobs did you do? I think a goodly number, Bert.

Bert: Well, certainly not 30,000 of them, but enough to sample them. You want to know some of the jobs I did putting my way through college?

Carol Jones Saint: What are some of the jobs that you did?

Bert: Well, if you're really serious and wanting to know.

Carol Jones Saint: Of course we want to know, Bert.

Bert: All right. I used my talents, of course. I, even as a teenager, was a piano teacher and an organ teacher. I was an artist. I made flannelgraph backgrounds for Sunday school teachers and got paid for that sometimes. I worked as a chalk artist. I played piano for a string trio at banquets and got paid for that.

I was a janitor at church. I was a spray painter in a factory and worked very hard all through college. And I also was a house painter. And I was a vocalist in a trio and a director of a gospel team. And I painted signs. I earned a lot painting signs.

Carol Jones Saint: I thought you said that you decorated windows at some of the bookstores, etc.

Bert: Right. I was a window decorator at the college bookstore.

Carol Jones Saint: And didn't you work for a drugstore as a soda jerk?

Bert: Right. I worked as a soda jerk. I worked as a weekday religious education teacher in a school, a church that had weekday religious education every Friday afternoon and they paid college students to come and teach. I worked for the city directory for a couple of summers. Yeah, that was a job, going door to door getting all the directory.

Carol Jones Saint: What about—I recall hearing something about working in the kitchen at college.

Bert: Yes, I was the foreman of the pots and pan division for three years. Scrubbing the pots and pans. I played organ for Jerry McConnell and his broadcast "The End of a Perfect Day." I played organ for the "Family Altar" broadcast. I played organ sometimes for "Lest We Forget" broadcast. I played organ lots of times for the Beinhauer Mortuary in Mount Lebanon. Some days I would play for four funerals in one afternoon. I, of course, played organ at many churches.

And I preached on Sundays. And I was an office worker. And I worked in a grocery store. And I did architectural drawings for a home builder that were published in the ad section of the newspaper.

Carol Jones Saint: In other words, what you're really saying is that if there is any college or high school student who wants to go to college, don't feel that there's no way to go. You get busy and there are lots of things to be done to earn your way.

Bert: Even if it's scrubbing the pots and pans. That's right. And as we think of the vast variety of jobs, I think it is very important that we catch this Christian philosophy of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the various churches and especially here in Colossians. He is writing to them and his philosophy of work changed the whole attitude of work.

For you see, in that day, work was thought of as purely evil. After all, work was, in a sense, a curse, one of the curses of the Fall. But the Apostle Paul said since we have to work, then we have to change our attitude about work. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whether you're washing the pots and pans or trimming the windows or working for the city directory or perhaps even playing the organ in church.

Carol Jones Saint: Or maybe you're an orderly at a hospital and doing some duties that aren't too nice.

Bert: But do it all to the honor and glory of the Lord and in His name. And that is Colossians 3:17, and then Colossians 3:23, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." And that can make a great difference.

Well, here are some quotable quotes as we're thinking about work and the responsibility that we have for work. Carol, let me see, I think you have a quotable quote.

Carol Jones Saint: Yes, David Livingstone, who was the famous missionary in Africa. Someone has said spent his whole life doing things that men said were impossible. Isn't that challenging? David Livingstone spent his whole life doing things that men said were impossible.

And then C.T. Studd, a missionary of another generation, commented, "Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible." And that should challenge us too. Don't just be nibblers of what might be possible that Christ could do, but be grabbers of the impossible.

Bert: All right, very good. And I hope you are writing this down in your Visit with the Joneses notebook. Ruth, you had a very interesting quotable quote there concerning secular work.

Ruth: Yes. And of course, I think it is true for many, many people who are working today. They are so concerned with working so hard for a living that they do not have time to live. They're working so hard for a living that they do not have time to live.

Carol Jones Saint: Very good. And I think, Ruth, that this can also be especially challenging to families where there are teenagers because you know, you get caught up with having, perhaps the dad has to work two jobs or three jobs and mom's working. And all of this is to make there be enough money to have a living and yet they're not taking time to live.

Ruth: Maybe sometimes we have to take time and reevaluate our whole existence. Are the things we think we need really valuable? Do we really need all those extra thrills that then make it impossible for us to have time to live? To spend with each other. Right. And you know, you only have to lose a loved one and you suddenly realize why didn't we take time to live a little bit more?

Bert: One thing is sure: as we study the word of God, we discover that God never goes to a lazy person when He needs somebody to work for Him. God never goes to a lazy person. He never uses the idle person. When God needs a worker, He calls a worker. History and scripture attest this fact.

For instance, Moses was busy with his flock at Horeb when he was called. Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the winepress. Saul was busy searching for his father's lost beasts when he was called. Elisha was busy plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. David was busy caring for his father's sheep.

Amos was busy following the flock. Nehemiah was busy bearing the king's wine cup. Peter and Andrew were busy casting a net into the sea when they were called. James and John were busy mending their nets when they were called. And the young Jesus at age 12 was busy about His Father's business when He was called.

And the father of the modern missionary movement, William Carey, back in the early 1800s, was busy mending and making shoes when he was called to the Lord's work. And Dwight L. Moody was busy as a clerk in a shoe store when he was called to do God's work. And on and on and on and on. We realize that God calls workers and God calls and uses workers. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Our work is solemn, therefore we dare not trifle. Our task is difficult, therefore we dare not relax. Our opportunities are brief, therefore we dare not delay. Our path is narrow, therefore we dare not wander. But our prize will be glorious, therefore we dare not faint. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

Carol Jones Saint: It's memory time on Visit with the Joneses and we're playing for you an old recording of Brother Ray singing "My Sins Have Been Cast in the Depths of the Sea." Mom and Dad love to hear Ray sing this very special song and it has special meaning for all of us who say it will be worth it all. I hope you know this.

Bert: To know the freedom of sin's forgiven, to know that the sins have been cast into the depths of the sea, is certainly to be in love with Jesus Christ for all that He did in dying for us and in living for us and in making us new persons. And to love Him is then naturally to want to serve Him.

Carol Jones Saint: Right. To love Him is to serve Him.

Bert: It is not an effort to say, "Here I am, Lord. Take my energies, take my life. Use me as Thou dost see fit. I'm yours to use."

Carol Jones Saint: Yes, how true that when you love Jesus Christ, then you know you do want to serve Him and it's also very easy to want to give to His work. Because when we love Him, then we want others to know about Him. A wonderful way to help others know about Jesus Christ is through a ministry like this, actually going around the world as we are spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.

And we hope that you will want to share. When you are writing, a check should be written to the legal name: A Visit with the Joneses Incorporated. Gifts to the ministry are tax-deductible. As you might imagine, there are many expenses in a ministry such as this. And when you are writing, the address is A Visit with the Joneses Incorporated, Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, that's spelled E-R-I-E, and the zip code 16512.

Some people like to email a message. And if you're emailing, the email address is visitjoneses@aol.com. And remember that when you're writing, if you would like information about CDs or cassettes that might be available of music, there's a lovely cassette that's available of the family and there are cassettes and CDs of Bert's organ music. We would be happy to send that information to you if you'll just ask for it when writing. Well, let's enjoy some more music as we're thinking in this radio visit of Christian service. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

"Master, where shall I work today?"

And my love flowed warm and free.

And He pointed out a tiny plot

And said, "Tend that for Me."

But I answered quickly, "Oh no, not there!

Why no one could see.

No matter how well my task was done,

Not that little place for me."

And His voice when He spoke, it was not stern,

But Christ answered me tenderly,

"Little one, search that heart of thine,

Are you working for them or Me?

Remember Nazareth was just a little place,

And so was Galilee."

We shall do so much in the years to come,

But what have we done today?

We shall give our gold in a princely sum,

But what did we give today?

We shall lift the heart and dry the tear,

We shall speak a hope in place of fear,

We shall speak the words of love and cheer,

But what did we speak today?

We shall be so kind in the after-while,

But what have we been today?

We shall bring to each lonely life a smile,

But what have we brought today?

We shall give to truth a grander birth,

And a steadfast faith a deeper worth,

We shall feed the hungering souls of the earth,

But whom have we fed today?

We shall reap such joys in the by and by,

But what have we sown today?

We shall build us mansions in the sky,

But what have we built today?

Tis sweet in idle dreams to bask,

But here and now do we do our task?

Yes, this is the thing our souls must ask:

What have we done today?

It has been such a joy to have you visiting at home sweet home for this special time of family devotions. And it is our prayer that you will not only serve the Lord better following this time of family devotions, but also maybe we've been able to help you have a new attitude about the work that you do for your daily living, in remembering that we do it as unto the Lord.

Well, thanks so much for being here and we hope that you'll take time to write. Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, the zip code 16512. And remember that all that you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. Until the next time, goodbye.