Hey friends, Yinka here. Before we jump in, we'd love your help. We put together a quick two-minute listener surveys to learn more about you and how we can make this podcast even better in 2025. If you're hearing this, the survey is still live. Head to practiceintheway.org slash podcast survey. It's super short and your feedback means a lot. Thanks so much.
Hello and welcome to the John Mark Homer Teachings Podcast. My name is Yinka Dawson and I'm your host. Each week we feature teachings by John Mark or other voices in the formation space and it's great to have you with us. We're continuing our Garden City series, exploring what work, rest and calling look like in light of God's original design and how those realities speak into our everyday lives. This week...
John Markham packs Paul's vision in 1 Corinthians 10 to do everything for the glory of God and apply it to our work. He explores what it means to glorify God not only in what we do, but how we do it. Here's John Mark. Okay, please turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. If you're new to the Bible or not familiar with it, there's a table of contents in the beginning. Feel free to stop by that. En route to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
I just want to jump into that if you're new or visiting tonight we are in the middle of this ongoing conversation about work and about what it is that we do every day when we wake up and go about life here in the city, and what all of that has to do with following Jesus. And tonight, I want to take this conversation that we're in the middle of, and I want to take it forward into new...
territory. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 25. Are you there? Fantastic. Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience. This is exactly what you all were just dying to hear about tonight. For the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.
But if someone says to you, this has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I'm referring to the other person's conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another's conscience?
If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced? Because of something I thank God for. Some of you are thinking, I'm already lost and we're 10 seconds in. Well, here, just pay attention to this one line, 31. So, whether you eat or drink... This is not a passage about work at all.
This is a passage about what at the time was a raging debate in first century Corinth about whether or not a follower of Jesus could eat meat from a temple to Zeus or Aphrodite or whatever that was bought and sold in the marketplace.
for a discount. And at the climax of this passage, what Paul is kind of gearing up for is Paul's life philosophy in a one-line takeaway. And it's right there in 31, quote, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all of it or do everything to the glory of God. Paul is saying that whatever it is that you do, from the most mundane, ordinary, boring, run-of-the-mill, day-to-day stuff, for example, eating and drinking. You do that on a regular basis?
Yes, all of you. You're here, you're alive, you eat, you drink. Everything from eating and drinking and exercise and the morning commute all the way up to God and church and worship and community and prayer and the scriptures and everything in between. Whatever it is that you do, do all of it. to the glory of God. What a fascinating idea. Tonight...
I want to take this idea, Paul's life philosophy, and in this passage, it was Paul kind of takes that and says, all right, what does that have to do with food and drink and this debate, this controversy? Tonight, I want to take this life philosophy. I want to aim it at this idea of work, and here's why. We've said this over the last month or two, but
the lion's share of your life will go to work. At the end of your life, when you're however old, 80, 90 years old, and you look back on your life, if you do the math, most of you will add it all up and realize that the vast majority of your life, depending on how long you live, for most people, it's about two-thirds of your waking hours. That's a lot, just to clarify. Two-thirds of your waking hours will go to work.
And so tonight, I just want to ask one basic and simple, but for me, provocative question. And it's this. How do we work to the glory of God in the language of this passage? How do we work, quote, to the glory of God? Now, if you're a pastor like myself.
or you're a missionary or a full-time parent maybe, or you work for a faith-based nonprofit, somewhere where you can openly talk about Jesus, where what you do has point-blank to do with Jesus and the kingdom of God, then it's easy and feel free to check your email. tune me out. But that's not most of you. What about if you're a mechanic for the local mini dealership, or you're an accountant for Intel?
Or a designer for Adidas. Or you teach second grade. Or you are a barista or a server at a restaurant. What if you work somewhere where you're actually not allowed to even talk about Jesus? Where that's against the rules. You would get fired. Or maybe you're allowed to talk with a co-worker about Jesus if it's off-site, not on campus, and he's cool with it or whatever.
But whatever, either way, your actual work, what you do in architecture or in business or in consulting or whatever, it has little or nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth. That's most of you, by the way. 90 plus percent of you. How do you glorify God? That's the question I want to get after tonight. This picture is my brother-in-law and my sister.
This is Stephen Ken is his name, and my sister is Bex. He is a designer. Together they run a small business down in L.A. They live in a loft, not like a Pearl District loft. I used to own one. It wasn't really a loft. It was like a glass, concrete, yuppie thing. They live in like a...
real legit loft in a sketchy part of downtown LA. You have to be a full-time artist to live there. How awesome is that? That's just, come on, that's cool. Like they run an illegal like coffee business out of the back of their living room because there's a garage door. It's fantastic. It's like a strip.
in the corner. It's really sketchy, and my sister's there, and I worry about her a lot. But anyway, Steve is this super amazing Jesus-y guy, and so is my sister, two of the most Jesus-like people I know. And Steve makes really...
Great stuff. Right now he's making furniture. This is a picture of a couch that he's kind of sort of famous for. It was named by GQ, one of the top designers, top designs of the year. And then he's also making bags. Next slide. Everything is made within two square miles.
ethically made and living wage to everybody involved and all sorts of great stuff. So here's the question that Steve has to wrestle with and that a lot of you in your own way have to wrestle with. How does he glorify God with furniture and bags? Does he sew John 3.16 into the lining of the bag? Or shape the strap like a cross or slip a copy, paperback copy of the gospel of Mark inside or pray over each bag or maybe, I mean, maybe, I don't know. Or does he just make... really good bags.
and pay everybody involved a living wage, and make it there in the city, and treat everybody with love, and be openly known as a follower of Jesus. How do any of you glorify God with your work? if it's not overtly Jesus and the kingdom of God? Well, first off, before we can get at that, we need to talk about what glory is for a few minutes. And then after that, we'll circle back to the question. So a lot of people think of God's glory.
as his fame or celebrity status, as if glory is how many Twitter followers Jesus would have, you know? And while I'm sure Jesus would have a lot of Twitter followers, like... Let me see, the son of man was not made for, the Sabbath was not made for man, but man for the Sabbath. That's good, like 140, boom, tweet that, you know?
I don't think that's exactly what the New Testament writers are getting at by glory. It's not about his fame. I love when I hear people in the church talk about, I want to make Jesus famous. I always think to myself, I love your heart, but I'm pretty sure he already is. Like, I think he's kind of already famous.
I know he is. So what exactly does this idea of glory mean? Well, there's a whole backstory to this one word, glory, in the Old Testament. In Hebrew, the word for glory is kavod. Can you say that? Yeah, great. Literally, this word means weighty or heavy. What's up with that? God is overweight? God is heavy? What is that? Well, the idea is that God is heavy, meaning God is significant.
There's so much about God that we need to take seriously, that we need to weigh in, that we need to stand in awe and wonder of. And in the Old Testament, kavod wasn't an abstract idea. It was a thing at the temple in Jerusalem. For example, here's a story from 2 Chronicles. Next slide.
When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. This is at the dedication of the first ever temple in Jerusalem. And the kavod Yahweh, or the glory of the Lord, filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the kavod Yahweh filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the kavod Yahweh above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground and they worshiped.
and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, He is good and His love endures forever. Notice that in this story, and there's a ton more, God's kavod or glory isn't his fame at all. It's two things if you're taking notes. It's his presence and his beauty. It's God's presence. He was there at the temple, in the holy, not far away, but close by. Heaven and earth were one, if only for a moment.
And it's his beauty, the staggering awareness of how good God really is. I love that line. They worship God. His love endures forever. So. To glorify God, if God's glory is his presence and his beauty, then think with me. To glorify God is to help people who are blind see God's presence and beauty.
To help people who are asleep wake up to God's presence and beauty. To realize, oh my gosh, God's presence. He's here. He's close by. He's real. He's not a figment of the imagination. And his beauty, oh my gosh, he's good. He's trustworthy. He's what... the ache of my heart is for. That's how we glorify God.
Now, some people's work glorifies God directly. What I'm doing right now, my job, teaching the Bible or preaching the gospel or prayer of Megan, wherever you are, you run a nonprofit for refugee care in the city, whatever that glorifies. God directly, but most people's work glorifies God indirectly, meaning in a far more roundabout way.
This is especially true if you're a nurse or an architect or a server at a restaurant or you teach third grade. Back to the question, how do you glorify God with your work? Well, here's the answer. Two things. By what you do.
and by how you do it. Let's take each one in turn. First off, by what you do. If God's glory, as I said, is his presence and beauty, And if to glorify God is to help people see or wake up to his presence and beauty, then as I see it, we glorify God when we reshape the raw materials of planet earth in such a way. that everything is how God intended, how it was supposed to be, when we reshape the world in such a way that for those with eyes to see, and that's a key line there, not everybody,
But for those with eyes to see God's glory, God's presence, and God's beauty become clearer and clearer. Here's what I mean by that. And just this part is a tiny bit heady, so just think with me. There's a line in the Psalms that I love about how the heavens speak of the glory of God. Have you ever read that and thought, how? The heavens speak or the universe speaks of the glory of God. How does a star, for example, speak of the glory of God? It is an inanimate object.
It can't talk, much less preach the gospel. The star is not up there like, Lord, I lift your name on high. Like it's that, like it's like there's a time delay, light factor. It's like still stuck in the 90s, whatever it would, whatever. That was my quest for science and humor, and that was just, no. So how does a star speak of the glory of God? By being a star.
How does the moon speak of the glory of God? By coming out every night. How does the sun speak of the glory of God? By coming up every morning, except here in Portland in fall. Or coming up for like six hours and then going away. Again, welcome to winter in Portland. But... How does creation speak of the glory of God? Just by being a tree, a rock, a river, a mountain, an ocean. I love this line from Romans 1. Paul writes this. Since the creation of the world, God's invisible quality...
His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, or planet Earth and the universe, so that people are without excuse. Theologians call this general revelation. It's this idea that everybody everywhere, whether you're a follower of Jesus or a Buddhist, whether you're poor, rich, born in Indonesia or here in the States, wherever you are, everybody everywhere has at least some revelation.
of who God is and what God is like just by getting out of bed in the morning. Because the reality is that when we open our eyes to the world, in particular, when the world is as it should be, as God intended, that glorifies God. Last week, I was down in San Francisco. They have this thing called Sunshine. It's fantastic. Actually, today was really nice, and so was yesterday. So this was a fantastic weekend. But I was down in San Francisco.
I was there for a week, and one morning I got up early, and I went for a walk to get a cup of coffee, and I sat in Dolores Park. If you've ever been to San Francisco, it's this beautiful kind of little yuppie hipster park in a nice part of town, and it's overlooking all. of the city and downtown. And I got to watch the sun come up and it was like beautiful and warm. And I just had this moment with God where I just felt so awake and alive and at peace. And I just felt joy.
pulsate through my system. And I just felt something well up as I was just... Like there, eyes open to the sun and the beauty of this park. I just felt this something well up in me, gratitude and praise and worship and wonder and awe. It was just a beautiful moment.
And then a couple of hours later, my wife was there with me. We went out to this bakery. Everybody there would be saying, oh, you have to go to Tartine. It's this kind of well-known bakery that was right down the street from our Airbnb. And so we walked down the road, and we go, and you have to order this thing. It's called the morning bun. me know what that is? I had no idea. I guess it's a French thing. It's like a sweet roll meets a croissant meets
Shangri-La or something like that. And we go in and we order two morning buns and we sat down and one bite in, my wife just looks at me and just goes, oh. And I had the exact same experience. Wonder, awe, gratitude, praise, worship. There is a God. He's real. This is not a figment to my, it's all going to be okay. I don't have to worry. Ah, like. From a pastry.
And you laugh, but you all know what that's like when you take that bike or you drink that glass or you're there at that park or you're with that friend or whatever it is. And you just have this moment where you are transported into an awareness, not only of. who God is, but how glorious and beautiful and right and true God is. Like this is God's genius. This is how he hardwired the world.
Now, there will always be people, as long until Jesus returned, there will always be people who refuse to see God's kavod or his glory. People who refuse to see the beauty behind the beauty. You know, one person goes to a park to watch the sunrise and sees God's fingerprints all over the place. Another person goes to the exact same park to watch the exact same sunrise and just sees...
weather patterns and color and brain synapse firing and evolution and whatever this, that, or the other exact same experience. But for those with eyes to see, When they look at a sunrise, or they take a bite out of a pastry, or they, whatever it is, you fill in the blank, they are transported into an awareness of the reality of God. And this is the beauty. When you and I go to work every day, this is what we get to do. We get to join God in this ongoing creative direction.
As God's partners, we get to reshape the raw materials of the world in such a way that people see the creator behind the creation. No, we're not the creator, but we co-create with and under God. We can't make the world, but we can remake it. We can't make a sunset, but we can make a painting or a photograph. We can't make a tree or a plant or a field or the rain or the sun, but we can make a bakery.
or a morning bun. We can't make stuff out of nothing like God, but we can remake God's world into a macchiato, or a building, or an app, or a dress, or a novel, or a cure for a disease, or a school or a lecture or a song or a business or 10,000 other things. And we can do that in such a way that for those with eyes to see.
The invisible God's presence and beauty are more than visible. They are glaring and inescapable. And by the way, this means that we have to recapture a high value for things like beauty. and art and artistry and excellence and quality of design and attention to detail and craftsmanship. I mean, look outside, get up in the morning, go to the park, open your eyes. Nothing about creation says that God is a pragmatic, tight-fisted kind of bean-counting whatever.
Or that God is a lazy kind of haphazard, doesn't really care about whether or not it looks nice. Everything about creation says that God is lavish and opulent and a perfectionist in the good sense of that word. Attention to detail, quality. act, excellence, love. God is an artist.
And I would argue that all work, whether you think of it that way or not, is artistic. All work that you and I do as people made in the image of God, from painting to parenting, all of it, we reshape the raw materials of planet Earth. in such a way, and the hope is people see what you work, what you build, what you create, what you write, what you make, what you do, and people as a result see the world as God intended it, as it's supposed to be, and that glory. glorifies God.
How do we glorify God with our work? First, by what we do. And then secondly, if you're taking notes, let's move on, by how we do it. So remember back to the beginning of the series a month or so ago, we had this conversation about... how we are made in, quote, God's image and likeness. Remember that from Genesis chapter 1?
God's image, meaning that we are God's kings and queens, God co-rulers. We were made by God to rule over the world, to take all the raw materials of planet Earth and to reshape it into a garden-like city. is the narrative arc of the Bible from beginning to end, but we're also made in God's image and God's likeness, meaning we are to do all that like God. So it's not just what we do that matters, just as much or more so.
It's how we do it. So how do you and I work like God? Well, here's a few easy to lob over the fence ideas. First off, God is hardworking, right? Would you agree with that? Yes, would you agree with that? Yes, okay. So we, as people made in the image of God, should, and in the likeness of God, we should be known as some of the hardest working people around, who don't screw around or...
goof off or go on social media on work time. I'm sure none of you would ever do that or drag or feet or whatever, but men are known as some of the hardest working, most insistent, deliberate, well-disciplined people around. But on the flip side, God is not a workaholic. So we read in Genesis, and we'll talk about this in a couple of weeks, how God worked for six days, and then on the seventh day, God what? Rested. So as the people of God, we know how to work, and we know how to work.
our tail off, but we also know how to rest, how to stop, how to set aside an entire day to take a deep breath and rest and worship. We embrace our limitations. We know that there is a God and it's not me. We know who we are, and so we embrace that, and we know how to rest and to set limits so that we're not stressed out all the time and on edge and behind and late for everything and in a rush. No, we know how to live in this rhythm of work and rest. Amen.
On top of that, God is joyful and eager and proactive. So we show up early for our shift and we volunteer for the hard stuff. God is trustworthy and true. So we are full of integrity, even if it means one less sale or little or no. commission. Whatever the example is, we work like God. Why? Because we are made in the image of God, made to make the invisible God visible to our office, to our workplace, to our city, and to our world.
So much of this comes down to attitude, right? I mean, you're out there, you're in it every day. Think about how lousy on the job attitudes are, right? People gripe and whine and complain and bad mouth and gossip and mouth off and procrastinate and drag feet and so on and so forth. What if God's people were to cut across the grain? A while back, Natalie, I don't even know where you are, Natalie, but I know you're here tonight. You were at prayer.
If you remember this, and hopefully I get the story right, but she at the time was working for a job placement company. And I remember she sent me an email saying that her boss, who was hostile to the gospel of Jesus, was a lesbian and wanted nothing to do with the church. came into her office one day and said, hey, that church you go to, I want you to hire as many people from there as you can because they make the best employees around.
That was like my proud pastor moment. I'm like, yeah, I don't have anything to do with that, but let's just, yeah, that's great. I work there. I'm one of the pastors. Yep, that's fantastic. I was so proud of all of you because that's the dream, right? And that's the dream. that you and I would be known all over the city. Oh, you're a follower of Jesus? Oh, you go to that Bridgetown church or whatever? Oh my gosh, yes, you got the job. When can you start?
Because there's a reputation there as some of the hardest and best working people around. So we glorify God in what we do and in how we do it. Now, the ideal is that you glorify God in both what you do and how you do it, right? But obviously, in a world this side of Eden, life is anything but ideal. Some of you...
What you do is out of your control. That decision, you work in corporate America or whatever, that decision is made way over you. You work in a cubicle or you work on an assembly line or whatever it is, and you're not even sure if it's garden-like work. You're still discovering.
your identity and calling and vocation and all of that is kind of yet future for you. And you're thinking, what about me and my job in the here and now? Well, listen, you can still work to the glory of God. If not in what you do, then at least in how you do it. might not be able to control what it is that you do every day, but you absolutely can control your freedom and autonomy over who you are.
When the Hebrews were in exile and slavery, really bad time, they had to relearn how to worship God because the temple was gone, the priesthood was cut off, and there was no more sacrificial system. So imagine this is a strange idea for you and me because we don't live in that world. But imagine like that was how you would worship. You would go to the temple in Jerusalem, go to the priest, make a sacrifice. How do you worship with no temple, no priest, no sacrifice?
And so the Hebrew people had to relearn how to worship God. And one of the ideas they came up with was this fantastic idea they called Kavana. That's a Hebrew word meaning holy intent. Or it can be translated the death. dedication of the heart. The rabbis made the point that this Hebrew word avodah that we read a couple of weeks ago in Genesis 2 to work it, it's usually translated work. It has a broad, wide semantic range, and it can also be translated worship. In fact, I think...
in the NIV, Avodah is used 250 times in the Old Testament, I think 50 something of the 250. It's translated not as work, but as worship. And so the rabbis made the point that we can work as as an act of worship through kavanah or through holy intent. Holy intent is when you take a normal, ordinary, non-spiritual, quote-unquote, act, and you put your heart into it all the way. 110%. And you do it unto God himself as an act of worship. So if you're barista.
You're there. You're behind the counter. It's crazy. It's stressful. People ignore you on the phone, whatever. You take that latte and you pour it just right with that extra love. And then you pour and you make sure that the logo is facing the customer and you slide it over and you smile and say, have a great day instead of the customary Portland grunt.
Here. Like, smile, have a great day, and you do it as an act of kavana, as a holy intent. God, this act of excellence, of artistry, of love, of kindness, this is for you. It can be the... the smallest, simplest, easiest things. You're a mom. You're there at home. 90% of parenting is food, clothing, shelter.
Like, and a little bit of love. Like, at the end of the day, your children are still breathing. You're a fantastic mom or dad. Well done. Can I just say that my wife was out of town all weekend. I was single dad for the last two days. My kids are still alive. It was a success. That's all I have. to say. So much of parenting is just survival, right? And so...
In that moment when your kids have food and clothing and are not dying and are there and are alive, and you just want to go on Instagram or do your thing, and that's fine. That's great if you're a mom or a dad. But in that moment, what if you take another 15 minutes and you just stand over your preschooler as he or she is there in the ground playing and you just pray God's blessing? Or your grade schooler, you just sit down and you...
read a scripture over them and you talk. My son, this is so awesome. My son comes into my office this morning as I'm working on this teaching and my kids are all reading now and read the Bible every morning. And it's really short, not long, but my son is reading through the New Testament. And he comes in this morning and goes, Dad, what's sexual immortality?
I was like, sexual immortality? You mean immorality? And he's like, I don't know, because sexual immortality is a whole other thing, buddy. That's all I have to say. Ask your mom about that one. Kavanaugh is when you take... That moment and you just, you go over and above. And you do it. Not because your boss is there in the background or, oh, maybe a promotion. You do it.
not for somebody to smile at you. You do it as an act of love and service to humanity, your child or the customer, but more than anything, as an act of worship to God. You just say, God, this moment. This act of excellence, of artistry, of love, of patience, of kindness, of prayer. This is unto you. This is an act of worship. So how do we glorify God with our work and what we do?
And even if you can't control that in how we do it. Now, moving on before we wrap up. To do this, we'll need to get really good at our jobs. And by that, I mean really good at our jobs. Turn over to Proverbs. It's in the middle of the Bible, Proverbs chapter 22. This is smack dab in the middle of the Hebrew wisdom literature. And if you've never read Proverbs, it's a great read, Proverbs 22.
the last proverb in the chapter, chapter 22, verse 29. I love this. I have grown up around this line, and I've thought about it at length, and I love it. Proverbs 22, 29 writes this. Do you see someone skilled in their work or really good at their job, a master, a craftsman, an expert in their field, a maestro, whatever? Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings or... Very important people. They will not serve before officials of low rank.
Now, this proverb is not a promise from God. This is a wisdom saying. This is not the way it always works. This is basically the wisdom teacher saying, as a general rule, this is how the world works. When you're good at what you do, when you're just an expert or craftsman or whatever, you excel, you move up, you get recognition, you end up in front of kings, not in front of obscure people.
Now, I know this right here is a one-line aphorism, but we see this happen literally all over the Bible, from Genesis all the way into the New Testament. For example, turn to Daniel one more time. Just about a half an inch to the right, you go. There's a huge book, Ezekiel, super weird. And then you go past that to Daniel.
Jamie made a great point about how the Babylonians' goal was to enculturate Daniel and his Jewish friends, changed from a Hebrew name to a Babylonian name, named after a pagan god, in fact. The Babylonians' goal was to strip away Daniel and his friends' God identity or Hebrew identity and replace it with a pagan God's identity. So you have already been here. You read this last week. I just want to read it one more time, and I want you to know.
Notice why the Babylonians went to all of that trouble. Daniel chapter 1, verse 1.
with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his God in Babylon and put in the treasure house of his God. Then the king ordered Asphanez, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king's service some of the the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility, so kind of the elites of society, young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well-informed, quick to understand, and qualified
to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians to educate them and acculturate them. The king assigned to them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were trained for three years. After that, they were to enter the king's service. Among those who were chosen from some of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Now skip down to 17.
To these four young men, God gave, and I love this line, knowledge and understanding of the Bible? Yes or no? No theology? Nope. All kinds of literature and learning. This is from Babylon. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. service and every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them. He found them, listen, 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole.
kingdom. And the story goes on. Why did they go to all that trouble to enculturate, and it was a failure, but to try and enculturate Daniel and his friends? Why? Well, because they were 10 times better than everybody else at their jobs.
They were educated. Now, of course, this is the elite of society. It's not people like me or whatever, but they were educated. They were smart. They were hardworking. They were gifted. They were really good at their jobs. And guess what? There are stories like this, not just.
here in Daniel, but all over the Bible. Think of one of the most famous ones. At the beginning in Genesis, read about a guy named Joseph, who's used by God as second in command over all of Egypt as a politician. Later, you read about Esther. And in every one of these examples, these men and women were not a prophet or a priest or even a king.
but were a politician or business consultant or an intellectual or professor or a management CEO or a fashionista and a high-profile society member. They were just people that were really good at their job. job and guess what? God used them powerfully.
In fact, if you know every single story, it's in there because God used them powerfully, not only for kind of a healing and renewal of culture at a generic or at-large level, but actually in the... saga of redemption that starts in Genesis and runs all the way to the right in fact every single example Joseph Daniel Esther everyone if they had not done what they did Israel would have died out and with it the Messiah. So they were used.
powerfully by God because these people were really good at what they did and they lived at the access point between faith and work. They saw their work as an expression of their faith in God, and they saw their faith as the dominant shaping influence. on their work. And this is what we have to get back to because we all know that at least in the West and the church here in the States, we've lost this. We need to get back.
to living at the intersection of faith and work. And the way this happens, listen, is when we see our work as part of our discipleship to Jesus. This is one of the things that we've been going after in this series, is this idea that... Everything is spiritual, meaning everything matters to God. We want to compartmentalize life. We want to put work over here and God over here.
but it doesn't work that way. That is not the life that Jesus had in mind. Remember that discipleship to Jesus is about one simple question. If Jesus were me, If he lived in my city or in my neighborhood, if he had my job, if he had my education and skill set, if he made my salary, how would Jesus live? That stupid little bracelet from the 90s ruined us. But as cheesy as that was, that is, you guys, that is the question of discipleship. If Jesus were me.
You're thinking, yeah, but I'm like an 18-year-old woman. Well, go with it. You're a disciple of Jesus. If Jesus were me, a stay-at-home mom, a business consultant, an engineer, a student at PSU, if Jesus were me, how would he live? That is the question. You need to realize.
that Jesus for three decades was a tecton is the Greek word. We say carpenter, but there was no forest anywhere at all in the north of Israel. So don't imagine Jesus like, I know it's so sentimental and nice, but the odds are he had nothing to do with a table and a chisel. And he was more like a... construction worker. The odds are he's more like a mason. Everything in that part of the world has made to this day a black basalt rock. So picture Jesus just out in the hot
sturdy Palestinian son, hard at work all day long for three decades. If Jesus came today, he could have been a software engineer. or a high school chemistry teacher, or a graphic novelist, or a diesel mechanic, or a journalist for the Oregonian, meaning he could very well do whatever it is that you do. And listen, this is what all of this means.
This means that becoming really good at your job, becoming a really good designer or whatever you do, and following Jesus are the exact same thing. Becoming a really good full-time parent. and apprenticeship to Jesus are the exact same thing. Becoming a really dang good business consultant, or whatever it is, and following Jesus are one and the same.
Dorothy Sayers, I'm not sure if you've ever read her, but she's a fantastic kind of spunky writer from about a half century ago, right after World War II. She's British. She said this. I love this line. What the church should be telling him is this, that the very first demand that his religion makes on him is that he should make good tables. Isn't that great? Apply that to whatever it is that you do for a living.
My point here is that discipleship to Jesus isn't just about learning how to read the Bible and pray and preach the gospel. It is all of that front and center. This is not a teaching about... the gospel. This is a teaching about work. Just we could have a whole in-depth evening around that and that alone. But discipleship is also about learning how to be a really good human being. Period. End of story.
The church father, Arrhenius, said this, and I love this, quote, the glory of God is a human being fully alive. What he meant by that is when you are fully alive, When you work and rest and play and do community and relationships and money and stuff and skill and education, when you live well, it glorifies you.
God, when you're just a really good human being. Think about that feeling you get when you see somebody. That's one of my favorite things. When you see somebody who's really good at what they do. and they're gifted at it, and they're passionate about it. It doesn't matter if it's a famous celebrity singer-songwriter or actor or whatever or a brilliant thinker, writer, professor, or if it's a gas station attendant or a server at a restaurant or the...
you know, camera repair person at the shop where you get your camera fixed or whatever. It doesn't matter. Like if there's somebody who's really good at what they do and they're passionate about it and they do it with joy and love and service, man, you take notice of that, right? Isn't that a fantastic?
feeling like, oh man, this guy is amazing. This gal is amazing. Look at how passionate he is about this weird little thing, but okay. There's something beautiful about that. I would argue that for those with eyes to see, They are transported into an awareness of God that it glorifies God. So to recap, here's what I'm saying tonight. I'm saying work and do everything else, by the way, but work to the glory of God.
How? By what you do and by how you do it. And to do this, we need to get really good at our jobs. This is all part of following Jesus. And here's my closing thought. To do this, to become the kind of people who glorify God with our work and with our life as a whole. Listen, and please hear me out. We're almost done. This will take a very long time, just to clarify. By very long time, I don't mean like all fall.
I mean like the next decade or two or three of your life. The classic critique of millennials... And work, and I am one so I can say this, is that we come out of college or whatever, and we expect to be well-paid and well-known and amazing and successful right away. I was speaking with one of our young leaders, and he said, you know, the problem right now is that we all want the lifestyle of our parents, but we want it at like 26 years old. Like, that's it, yes. But that's just not...
how it works. You can't microwave or fast forward that process. Malcolm Gladwell made famous a study a number of years ago by a German psychologist for the elite academy of music in Berlin. Maybe you know this story. He wanted to know what made the best musicians in the world the best musicians in the world. And he thought, the assumption was, well, it's a gift, it's talent, it's innate, natural ability. But guess what? He found that's not true at all.
The best musicians were not the musicians that had the most natural talent, but were put simply the musicians that put in the most hours into practice. And he put the number of... hours of practice for mastery of an instrument at 10,000 hours. Now, since then, this study was done in the 90s. It's been redone time after time in field after field, everything from teaching to craftsmanship, everything.
every single study, it comes out to just about the same thing. 10,000 hours. That's how long it takes to become really good at what you do. Now, pull out your iPhone later and pull up the calculator and do the math later. But just short version, that's not anytime soon. Depending on how your work week is and your schedule, that's usually bare minimum a decade, if not longer. Hard work, dedication, commitment.
patience, failure, success. You get up, you learn, you move forward, and there's no cutting corners. What I'm suggesting is a lifelong commitment. to your craft. I want to be 40 and then 50 and then 60. And I want to be thinking, how can I get better? How can I grow? Where am I weak? What's the next step? What do I need to learn? All of us. What if we were to all have that kind of a commitment to whatever it is that we do? But here's the deal. And here's the last thing.
We do this. We throw our heart into it and our back and our body and our time into our work and all that we do not to get ahead or to get famous or to make money. Maybe that will happen to you. The odds are it won't. Not to win an award or for a pat on the back. We do this. Frankly, none of that stuff even matters. We do this because we were made to do it.
Because we are made in the image of God, made to rule because we believe that what we do matters, that everything matters to God. And we do all of this. as an expression of love and service to humanity, to our city, to the customer, to whatever, our child, but even more importantly, as an act of kavana. of holy intent, we dedicate the posture of our heart and our mind. God, this is unto you. This is my worship. This is work, quote, for the glory of God. Let's pray.
I love that concept of Kavana, holy intent. In the modernity of our day-to-day lives, it's easy to forget that God's presence is with us in each and every moment. But when we offer even the simplest moments to God, checking email, brushing our teeth, or even losing our keys, we might be surprised by how near God is. and how well he can use even little moments that we offer to him. So to wrap up today, we just want to ask for Grace to lean into Kavana in the small moments of our lives.
So if you can, pause for a moment with me. Center your focus on God. Maybe take a moment to consider something you're grateful for and thank Him. And then pray this with me. Holy Spirit, give us grace today to offer our whole lives to you. Our working, our resting, the big things and the small. teach us to be aware of your nearness to us help us lean into everything we do with a holy intention to bring you glory amen
Thanks for listening. This podcast is from Practice in the Way. We develop resources to help churches and small groups apprentice in the way of Jesus. Thanks to Little Thoughts for our show music. We're a crowdfunded nonprofit, so everything we make is completely free because it's already been paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly givers. Special thanks today goes to Caleb from 4th Mill, South Carolina.
Michael from Peyton, Colorado. Erin from Redden, California. Diana from Bend, Oregon. And Josh from Beaufort, Georgia. Thank you all very much. To join these friends in the circle or learn more about our resources, visit practiceintheway.org. Until next time, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God. and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Thanks again for listening.
Quick reminder about our listener survey. It takes just two minutes and your input really helps us shape the future of the podcast. You can find it at practiceintheway.org slash podcast survey. Thanks.