Focal Point

Dave Drewery: If you could spend a half hour sipping a cup of coffee with your pastor, what questions would you ask him? Well, you're about to have that opportunity right now on Focal Point.

Welcome to Focal Point. I'm Dave Drewery. Whether it's the pressing deadlines, the long hours, or a difficult boss, I think we all know that sometimes work can seem more like a curse than a blessing. But today, Pastor Mike Fabarez wants to encourage you with a biblical perspective about work, retirement, and rest.

Before we begin though, let me invite our first-time listeners to get their free copy of Pastor Mike's new booklet called "Offering Our Best" by going online to focalpointradio.org. Now let's join Focal Point's executive director, Jay Werton, inside the pastor's study. Jay?

Jay Werton: Glad you could join us here on Focal Point. I'm here with another edition of Ask Pastor Mike. This is a time where listeners can ask questions and receive biblical insight. So today's question is something that's a major part of all of our lives. It's work. Pastor Mike, I think many people see their jobs as a necessary evil, but what is God's view on work?

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Let's hope it's a part of everybody's life. Certainly, God has called us to be workers. Whenever I talk about work, I always like to point out that work as a duty, as a privilege, as an opportunity, has always been there prior even to the fall itself in Genesis 3. In other words, God put Adam to work in the garden before there was sin in the world.

What sin did to work was make it a lot harder. Sin made the ground produce thorns and thistles, and it made it difficult for him now to cultivate the field. So much so, the Bible says in Genesis 3, now it's going to have to be by the sweat of his brow. It can be grueling; it can be difficult.

So work as a concept, as an activity, as a duty, as a responsibility is something that we all should see as a blessing of God, even before sin got involved and made it so difficult. Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's not good. It's good. It's something we should do. We need to expend our energy on something that's productive, and that is something we should do, even though a lot of times work is really hard and can be grueling and difficult.

Jay Werton: So should I be working for the weekend? You hear that from people all the time.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Right, and that's the thing. People like to say, "Well, I just put in my time so I can live for the weekend and have all this fun on the weekends." But in reality, the Bible says that rest is a strategic part of God's plan so that we can work. And we get the rest, God wants us to have rest, He wants us to prioritize rest even as a part of something we don't miss that actually takes place in our lives.

But we are resting so that we can be productive and work. And that's something that I think starts to put all these things in perspective in terms of what am I doing with my life. Am I really just spending it on my own pleasure so I can relax and chill out and feel good? Or is it that God has put me on the planet to do something productive, something good, something that results in something orderly or beautiful or something useful for society or for people or whatever it might be?

God has called you to work, and that is the reason we rest. We rest and get recuperated and regenerated and recreated. We get ready and built up to go back at it and do something that produces something good. And that, though people say, "Well, I don't like it because it's hard," I understand that. That's what the curse did. That's what the fall did in Genesis 3. It made it difficult, but it doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

We just need to be the kinds of people that realize there's virtue in work, something we used to call the Christian work ethic. We don't hear much about it anymore, but it meant that to be a Christian really meant that you were going to be a really good worker. As Colossians says, it's as though you've got a task to do and you're going to do it so well, not just when the boss's eye is on you, but as though you're doing it for God. And that's the kind of mindset Christians should have.

Jay Werton: A lot of people will say, "Well, I'm unfulfilled in my job." What do you say to somebody that's feeling like, "I'm not doing something useful or meaningful"?

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Well, and there are some jobs I think that might fall out of the category of, you know, this is really not good virtuous work. But fulfillment's become such a broadly defined word today. And when most people use the word fulfillment today, I'm thinking, well, it doesn't matter if you're fulfilled in your work. That's not the goal.

The goal is for you to work heartily as unto the Lord, to do your work in a way that results in something good. And by that, I mean it's not illegal, it's not immoral, it's something that is productive and helpful. And if you can't see that in your work, then I would wonder, are you doing something immoral or illegal?

But most things have some product or some service that is the outcome of your work that does something positive that can be useful to society and to people. You don't have to be preaching sermons to build people up. You can be making and providing all kinds of products and services that really do something positive. And that's what work is all about, even if you don't feel that green fuzzy of fulfillment every day.

That's not going to come. And it's not going to come every day because the Bible says in Genesis 3 that there's going to be thorns and thistles. That means there are going to be roadblocks in the work itself, and it's going to come, the product is going to come by the sweat of our brow. And there's nothing wrong at the end of the day when Adam cultivated the field after Genesis 3, enjoying the fruit of his labor.

He produced a meal, perhaps, out of the work of the ground, and that's great. He enjoyed that. But it came at the price of the difficulty, the sweat, the arduous work of what he had to do. Now jobs can be fulfilling in all different varieties of this one seems to be more fulfilling than the next, and I'd say great. If you can do a job that you think is really firing in your heart as something great and fulfilling, well then, fantastic.

That's great. But so many people don't want to work unless they get the ideal job. And that's wrong. Find honest work that's not illegal or immoral, put your hand to the plow and work at it for the good of Christ, for the glory of God. Do it with all your heart, do it well, do it honestly, put your all into it, and you'll please the Lord in the process. And you'll be doing the thing God made us to do, even though you'll come home sometimes after a hard, arduous day at work and say, "Well, that was a really hard day at work."

Jay Werton: Speaking of work, and we work all our lives and a lot of people plan for retirements and are actually looking forward to that day when they're going to retire. How should we as Christians be viewing retirement?

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Well, you know, there are some jobs obviously you need to retire from. I hope my neurosurgeon retires at some point before he loses his competence in his work. So there are some jobs obviously, you get to a certain age and you're probably not going to be very competent at it, and so it's time to roll out of that job.

But the whole idea of retirement again is like I'm going to work for the weekend. I'm going to do this job in the middle of my life so that I can cruise around in my RV and just chill out and walk on beaches for the rest of my life. And all I'm saying is that most people that try to do that realize there's something missing.

Especially for Christians who are serious about the Bible, they say, "You know what? I'm not being productive with my life." So even if you do get to a place where your career may end, you've got some, you're a pilot, or you're whatever it is, most jobs they have an end date where you retire. All I'm saying is you don't stop working.

You may change the kind of work you do because you're not capable to do as much as you did before. You may cut down on the hours that you work, and it doesn't mean you're punching a clock somewhere or filling out an application to work somewhere. But I'm saying you're looking at your week saying, "What can I do that is productive?" And that's what keeps most quote-unquote "retired" people going in their lives.

There's that sense of, "I did something this week that was worthwhile, that produced some service or some product or some good in the world, that produced something great." And you know, if you've got money and you don't need to make money anymore, I'm saying so much can be done in and through the church. Man, start turning your attention to the local—go ask your pastor, "What can I do that would be productive in the church now that I've got some extra time because I'm no longer working in my day job?"

I just had a meeting like that just last week. People ask me that all the time, and it's a great question and a great opportunity if you've worked in a job that's just retired you.

Jay Werton: Well, thank you, Pastor Mike. I'm sure that's going to help us look at our jobs a little differently. And it's a good lead-in to today's message because we're going to listen to how to approach your earthly career as a heavenly calling.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: On a trip to Nebraska with her grandparents, five-year-old Jessica experienced the farm for the very first time. Grandparents took her out into the ripening cornfields, and they taught her to pull ears of corn off the stalk. Grandma wanted to make it a learning experience, so she started talking about what a blessing it was that God caused the corn to grow from the fields and all of that.

Jessica seemed to be enjoying her new experience, at least for a few minutes. After a couple of minutes in the sun and doing this, she looked up to her grandparents and she said, "You know, don't you? You can buy this stuff in the grocery store." Unfortunately, Jessica's disillusionment with a few moments in the sun pulling ears of corn is what some business analysts think is our nation's next most consequential and disturbing trend.

In one analyst's conclusion in a study he published, he said we have a new generation of workers whose habits and experiences will plague future employers for years. He goes on to talk about how this new generation of workers saw long hours and hard work as counterproductive. He said their work was dominated by a type of gamesmanship that revolved around taking what they can get out of the system with an indifference to the quality of their performance.

A Gallup poll reveals that a lot of Americans give lip service to a work ethic. 88% said we believe in working hard and doing the best in our job, and yet in the very same poll, only 16% of American workers said that they were actually putting that ethic to work. They weren't doing their best on their job.

The core problem in our country as it relates to the concept of work is we've exchanged a view that seemed to dominate the early years of our country as Christians came over on those immigrant ships with, as one author puts it in his work called "The Industrialization and the Ethic of the Industrialized American," he said they brought over a precious and very important view of work itself.

They saw work not as something they were trying to get something out of; they saw it as how they could be utilized in their work to accomplish something. And the Puritans and Quakers that stepped off those boats added a phrase to that: we want to accomplish something for the glory of God. They saw their work as a calling, and it was important to them.

Unfortunately today, things have changed, as one UCLA professor put it, and he writes many insightful critiques of our culture. He summed it up by saying people seek personal advancement from their work, they seek personal development from their marriage, and they even seek personal fulfillment from their church experience. Everything, their perspective on family, church, community, and work, is utilitarian. It is measured by what they can get out of it.

Nothing could be more antithetical to the biblical principles, not just about work, of church, of everything. God has promised to bless selflessness, diligence, hard work. These are the principles of Scripture from the beginning, as we reflect the nature of a God who reveals himself in the very first page as a worker. And he always, always deplores in Scripture laziness, selfishness, trying to get out of something just for the sake of personal promotion and self-advancement.

And it is that in our country perhaps we're facing a critical, critical turning point as the whole entire generation it seems of workers in the workplace have got a kind of motive about work and a view of work that is really drifted far afield from the biblical principles of a Christian work ethic. Does your work matter to God? I mean, that's a good question for us to ask. And the answer of course in Scripture is it does. And in our day, I need to add, it probably does a lot more than you realize.

Whether it's sorting widgets in a factory or pushing a broom, God says, "Listen, that work, if it's done with the right perspective, for the right purpose, with the right motive, can be a sacred act of worship." Colossians chapter 3, look with me if you would in verse number 22. And before your mind spins into some kind of unbiblical perception of slavery as this passage is addressed to slaves, please understand that biblical slavery is a whole lot different than what most of us think of when we picture slavery.

Notice, for instance, the Old Testament requirements as it relates to governing this institution. The text said in the book of Exodus that you're not ever to make someone your slave against their will. This was a voluntary, contractual relationship. There were exceptions; sometimes the judges would adjudicate a particular fine or a particular sentence on a person, a thief for instance, and they might be made a slave for a time to pay back their debt.

But by and large, it was a contractual relationship that was governed by principles that did not allow the abuse or any kind of taking advantage of the slave because of the position of power that the master held. So if you boil it all down and look at it in its normal sense in ancient perspectives, certainly in Jewish context and somewhat reflected in the Roman context, you'll find that it all boils down to an agreement to trade labor for provision.

To trade labor for provision of shelter and food. To trade my work for some kind of sustenance in my life. And if you look at it that way, we can see that that's what most of us are involved in Monday through Friday. We trade our work, our labor, our time, our energy for someone to give us a paycheck to pay our mortgage and to pay our rent and to put food on the table. And that exchange, that contractual relationship, is one that we can glean a lot as it relates to our work ethic today.

So he addresses the slaves, or those in employment situations if you will, and he says, "Slaves, verse 22, obey your earthly masters in everything. And do it not only when their eye is on you to win their favor, but do it," he says, "with sincerity of heart." And underscore this phrase: "and reverence for the Lord." The object begins to shift. Verse 23: "Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

The theme of this entire instruction to people that are in a contractual relationship between those that would provide provisions for their life and trading labor for that was, listen you guys, when you think about your work relationship with your boss, your employer, your manager, you need to recognize that ultimately you work for God. Ultimately you work for Christ.

And that starts to change everything in this mindset. It is the foundation, the cornerstone for a Christian work ethic. We work primarily and ultimately for Jesus Christ, and that changes everything. But that's been the theme of this passage. Turn back with me to chapter 1. As the Apostle Paul laid down for these Colossian Christians his prayer request, and his prayer request as we jump in the middle of it, he shows us the purpose for his prayer.

He says, "I want you guys to grow up spiritually. I want you guys to have all this knowledge of Christ so that, verse 10, in order that you may live a life that is worthy of the Lord." There's the standard. Living my life in a way that is worthy of Christ and that we may please him in every way. You may say, "Well but we're talking about church stuff there." No, we're talking about in every way. This applies to your workplace, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

To live a life worthy of the Lord, not just on Sundays when you're singing worship songs or responding to Scripture, but living a life worthy of the Lord when you are at work at 2:00 in the afternoon on Thursday. That I am living right there in a way at my job, pushing papers, pushing a broom, whatever it is, I'm doing it at a level that would be worthy of the Lord.

That changes everything. Why is it that we can adopt a Christian work ethic thinking that Christ is our boss and know that we'll always come out exceeding expectations? We know because Christ's standards are higher than any employer you've got. Christ's standards are high. And he says, "Listen, live your life, live your workplace as though you're working for Christ."

You want to make it even more helpful and more tangible? I want you to think of it this way: if you're producing a product at your work or you're producing a service, I want you to think of it as though you were doing this for Christ. Christ is not only the boss, the manager, the shareholder, but Christ becomes the customer. Christ becomes the one that we're performing this work for. He is going to be the one who consumes this service or this product that we produce.

My first job at the church was—I was probably 14 or 15—I got a job at the church I grew up in with the illustrious job of cleaning toilets. I cleaned all the toilets after school. I would ride my bike to the church, and this church by the way had way too many toilets, I don't know who designed it. But I would go around and clean all these toilets. I'd park my bike and take my little cleaning cart and go from place to place.

Well, I had an old lady that worked at the church, and this old lady wanted to make sure little Mike did his job well, and so she used to hide pennies behind the commode and tuck them in the corner. She wanted to make sure when she came to work in the morning that that bathroom was clean. And so I fell into the mindset as a kid that I'm coming there for Mrs. McGillycuddy or whatever her name was. I'm coming there to clean that thing and find every penny that she's tucked away and clean that toilet to her specifications.

Now if I had been locked on at 15—and let me assure you I was not—but had I had the right perspective as a worker at 15, I would have gone into that work environment saying, "I'm cleaning this toilet"—now I know this is a stretch—"but I'm cleaning this toilet in a way that is worthy of Christ. I'm cleaning that toilet in a way that if Christ were to come in next into this porcelain room, he would be pleased with the cleanliness of this bathroom."

Now you know what? If I had that perspective, Mrs. McGillycuddy's pennies would be no problem taking care of all those, because my expectation for quality, if the King is going to use this, is going to be a whole lot higher than anything that some old lady working at the church would set for me. The standard is always going to be exceeded.

And the thing about it is that we need to get to the place where we say, "Listen, my boss may have this standard for me to attain to, but listen, if Christ were really the recipient of this, I'd want to crank it up a notch or two." And you will always exceed any human expectations if you really will adopt the perspective that this is something I am doing not just as Christ being my boss, but he's being the recipient. He's becoming the recipient of this.

In my world, it's that I want to prepare a sermon and I want to stand up on a stage and I want to proclaim an exposition of Scripture that I'm comfortable seeing Christ in the audience, and he sits there and reviews it. As Os Guinness said in his review of our culture's problem in this regard, he said what we as Christians need to get back to is seeing that we perform, if you will, before an audience of one.

And that's a good phrase to remember: an audience of one. There's one person I want to please, because if I can please him with the quality of my work, then I guarantee most people go away just fine with that. And if they don't, ultimately it's God that I'm working for. Ultimately. Now if you say, "Well, that's a wonderfully high standard and that's a great thing to say, but I can't see in any way that my work, the services and products that we produce, in any way being something that Christ would ever be pleased with at all"—well, and that may be.

Now don't fall into the dichotomy that the medieval church fell into. The medieval church was classic in saying we have secular jobs and we have sacred jobs. We have holy jobs and we have unholy jobs. We have the important work and we have the menial tasks that don't really matter. All I'm saying is that there may be within the spectrum of things a few jobs that just don't make any sense in regard to doing this for Christ.

But don't think that the cobbler or the smith or the farmer doesn't have a place in this. As a matter of fact, one of the great sub-reforms of the Great Protestant Reformation was that the church began to recognize that the works of the ascetics or the monks or the nuns was no more holy than the person in the street or in the marketplace doing his work for the glory of God.

See, if we sort the widgets in the factory with the motivation and the mindset and the goal to please and glorify God in it, as many of the founding Puritans and Quakers in our country did, what'll happen is God will accept that as an act of worship, far more than anyone in sacred positions doing it half-heartedly. And we need to know that. And Luther said it best when he said, "When the maid cooks and cleans or does other housework because God's command is with her"—in other words, there is that sense in which she's doing it for Christ—"even that work must be praised as a service of God, far surpassing any half-hearted holiness of the ascetics and monks of the church."

He summed it up well in his exposition of Psalm 128 when he said, "Your work is a very sacred matter." Do you view it that way? Do you think that really in my work I can worship and please and produce something made in the image of God, reflecting his work ethic? I can do something that he receives as a holy act, as holy as if I were a missionary on the mission field or preaching in a church or writing a commentary for people to use. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's the focus we need to have, because it is sanctified by our commission that we have before God to give our work, our talents, and our efforts to God himself.

Dave Drewery: You're listening to Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez and a message called "Realizing Who You Really Work For." To hear the complete sermon, go to focalpointradio.org. And no matter where or when you're listening to this program, we want to remind you that you can bring your own question directly to Pastor Mike through his special livestream called Ask Pastor Mike Live. It airs every Tuesday through Thursday at 1:00 p.m. Central, and all it takes is a phone call to get in on the conversation. Find out how at askpastormike.live.

Don't let this month's featured resource slip past you. It's "The Journals of Jim Elliot," edited by Elisabeth Elliot. Elliot's story is one of the most arresting in modern missionary history: a young man so gripped by God's call that he walked toward danger rather than away from it, and ultimately gave his life for it. These journals take you inside that story from the ground up: his own words, his own wrestling, the convictions that drove him all the way to the end.

If his story has ever moved you, this is where that life was being forged. Ask for "The Journals of Jim Elliot" when you give today at focalpointradio.org or when you call 888-320-5885. At Focal Point, the goal is straightforward: to give you the grounding and encouragement to keep you moving forward in your faith. And as God's Word does that work in you, you can be part of keeping it going for others by signing on as a Focal Point partner.

Your steady monthly giving as a partner is what allows us to think ahead, plan well, and push further for God's kingdom. Get started today by calling 888-320-5885 or head to focalpointradio.org. One more thing before we go: Pastor Mike is setting out September 19th through the 26th on a fall cruise along the New England and Canadian coastline. Cabins are going fast, so get yours locked in now at focalpointradio.org. I'm Dave Drewery. We'll see you next time for more Bible teaching from Pastor Mike Fabarez right here on Focal Point.