When the Gospel Transforms Your 9 to 5

A great interview about a new book dealing with the workplace and the glory of God.

Three Ways To Live Our Your Faith in Public

Aaron Armstrong:

1. Be concerned about social issues—but get involved in them. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the corner outside the hospital holding up a sign pleading for the end of abortion (but it might). It simply means that where there’s a need you see, you should get involved. And in case you’re wondering, sharing videos on Facebook (remember Kony 2012?) or buying a t-shirt from Sevenly doesn’t count. Volunteer at a street mission or homeless shelter; get involved in an after school program for kids. Sponsor a child with an organization like Compassion. Do something that causes you to invest in people. 

2. Talk about Jesus—but talk about Jesus like he really matters to you. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be out on the corner street preaching (though, again, it might). It simply means speaking like a human being about Jesus in a way that shows he really matters to you. So talk about going to church when the barista asks you what you’re up to on Sunday morning. Talk to your coworkers about what you’re working through in your small group. Wherever you can in a way that’s natural, talk about Jesus. Seriously, people aren’t likely to rip your head off. 

3. Repent—but repent well. This doesn’t mean owning all of the faults and failings of Christians from days gone by—it simply means owning yours. Or, y’know, having character. This mean we don’t use sketchy language like, “a mistake was made, and if anyone was offended I apologize.” Instead, we say, “I did X and it was wrong, please forgive me.” We own what we do wrong and accept the consequences.

Read the rest.  

Five Encouragements for Everyday Work

Helpful post here about the day to day reality of most people in the workplace.

Choosing Your Job Around Mission

Brownies Pianos and the Sufficiency of Spirit

Valuing Our Work

Dan Doriani:

It's hard to see the value of our work. The math teacher cannot know that her goofy algebra student will build excellent bridges. The art teacher can't see that his doodler will become an architect with visual flair.

And what job has lower esteem than a fast-food worker? The hours are bad, the pay low, and the food toxic. But I have prayed to find fast food when traveling, desperate with hunger as night closed in. We pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and God calls farmers, bakers, truck drivers, and fast-food workers.

Jesus will bless the faithful: "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. . . . I was sick and you looked after me." We will say, "When?" Probably at work. At work we have the greatest skill, training, time, and resources. If, by faith, we strive to love God and neighbors at work, then we serve him. And he will remember it forever. If our work has any role in the chain that brings food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and care to sick and lonely, Jesus is pleased to bless us for it.

Read the rest.

Books by Dr. Doriani here.

Boring: Finding an Extraordinary God in an Ordinary Life

Michael Kelley:

I wanted to take a moment today to tell you about a book that I’ve written that will be released on September 15. It’s called… wait for it… Boring: Finding an Extraordinary God in an Ordinary Life. 

If the catchy title didn’t get you, I’d love to tell you a bit more about why I wrote the book.
I wrote it because this is my story. It’s probably yours, too, at least in some respect. The truth is that we will all spend 90% of our time here on earth just doing life. Just being ordinary. Changing diapers, going to work, paying taxes – stuff like that. 

If this were a self-help book, I might follow that realistic, slightly demotivating statement up with something like: “Break out of the ordinary. Pursue your bliss. Go skydiving. Do something important. Carpe diem.” The same motivation, in Christian terms, might read: “God’s will is that you have a life of adventure. Get out there and make an eternal difference. Do something big for God.” 

All of those statements are true in a sense; all of them can be appropriate. What those statements communicate is that we should be focused on Jesus and expanding His kingdom. That should be our priority. Those statements challenge us to recognize that we only have a limited time here on earth, so we need to make sure we spend our time doing things that matter. However, implicit in an exhortation like “do something big for God” is the notion that we are currently not doing stuff that matters, and we have to abandon that insignificant stuff to break out of the rut … chase the dream … be the man … overcome obscurity … all that stuff. 

Chasing dreams isn’t the problem. Neither is maximizing what you have to make a difference in the world for the sake of Christ. The problem is in our definition of significance. 

People tend to believe that the pathway to significance is paved with the big, the showy, and the grand. The people who are most often lauded as influential are the ones doing the big, impressive things with their lives. 

Consequently, those same people cannot involve themselves in these mundane details of life. Indeed, the mundane details are like anchors that weigh a person down from the bigger and the better. So moving toward a life that matters involves moving past the details that don’t. 

But what if we’re wrong? What if “bigness” is not an accurate measure of significance? What if the whole idea of “ordinary” is a myth? And what if a life of great importance isn’t found by escaping the details but embracing them? What if God actually doesn’t want you to escape from the ordinary, but to find significance and meaning inside of it? 

That’s what this book is about. This book is for the stay-at-home mom and the office job dad. It’s for the regular church member and the ordinary citizen. It’s for the person who has ever looked at the seemingly mundane details of life and wondered if they are really doing anything that’s worthwhile. It’s for all of us ordinary people who are following an extraordinary God. My hope, as you read the book, is that you would be awakened to the myth of the ordinary as you see an extraordinary God who is constantly moving and working. I’m praying that you might see the greater purposes in a few specific, but often ordinary areas of life that we tend to push to the margin. And maybe, when we get to the end, we will have begun to God, and life, and a whole new way. Perhaps we will have begun to see that there really is no such thing as ordinary when you are following an extraordinary God. 

If you’re interested in pre-ordering a copy, you can do so here. Again, the book releases on September 15.

Jesus Worked a "Secular" Job

Sometimes, Christians will insist that the only work that is truly worthwhile, pleasing to God, and spiritual is the work of serving the proclamation of the gospel across the world. This view suggests that, if we were all truly earnest Christians, we would leave our “secular” jobs, in which we are simply making a living, providing for our families, and ruling the world, and we would all join the “sacred” work of mission. But if we stop and think about Jesus’ life, we see that he was doing so-called secular work as a carpenter or a fisherman for many more years than he was a preacher and teacher. It would be blasphemous to suppose that during these years Jesus was living in a manner that was not fully godly and completely pleasing to his Father in heaven.

- Jerram Barrs, Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts, 21

The Grace of Radical Ordinariness

Dan Darling:

There has been much discussion in the evangelical world about the call to radical discipleship. Perhaps it began with Matthew Lee Anderson’s corrective to books by men like David Platt, Francis Chan, and others. I thought Matt’s piece was very helpful. On other hand, I have also been encouraged by the books and movements Anderson sought to correct. David Platt and Francis Chan and others are right in pushing the American church from it’s lethargy, of echoing Jesus call to radical discipleship. 

Where the conversation, I think, is unhelpful is when it devolved into a sort of mockery of some of the radical message. I felt Anthony Bradley’s piece in World was unfair and, at times, snarky and dismissive of genuine attempts at Christian faithfulness. I also disliked Erick Erickson’s piece, which demonstrated a sort of dismissive, broad-brush approach to Christian’s answer the call to go serve Christ in hard places. 

The problem, sometimes, with our discussions and our movements is that we embrace some wild, reactionary pendulum swings. I’m disturbed by this. I think it reflects our inability to embrace tension. The Scriptures are full of seemingly competing ideas that are not meant to be resolved or “won.” They are meant to be embraced as they are. One of these is the two, side-by-side ideas that form the basis of the “Radical” conversation. 

On the one hand, Jesus calls us to sacrificial, out-of-the-ordinary, commitment to His call. He calls us to suffer and to die. He calls us to give up what is precious. He calls us to be his emissaries to the hard and difficult places of the world, to permeate all corners of the globe with His love. 

And yet, we are called to a sort of ordinariness. A sort of faithful, anonymous regular living. We are to fulfill our unique vocations, based on the set of talents, gifts, and opportunities He has given us. We’re called not simply to be pastors or missionaries in far-flung places, we’re called to faithful living at home, in ordinary vocations, because the actual work we produce honors God as the Creator. We reflect him when we do good work. 

These two realities do not have to compete. So why do they? 

Read the rest.

Get Dan's books here.

Executives and Businessmen on Mission

John Quick:

I’d like to share a few things with you that were helpful to me when I was on the road and/or very busy at work. Remember, these only apply if you are not working too much or neglecting your relationship with Jesus and your family.

• Use your gifts and skill sets to benefit your church family. If you own a commercial real-estate business, represent your church family. If you’re an attorney, draft documents they’ll need.  If you own a coffee shop, help your church’s coffee shop become the best coffee shop in town.
• Mentor and/or coach key leaders in your church family.  If your church family has an elder or deacon that leads in Operations/Finance/HR/Organizational Strategy, these guys are, often, the lone rangers on a church staff team. Identify who these leaders are and offer to meet with them once a month.
• Your financial gifts are important. If you’re the Vice President of of a large company, you probably won’t be at all the training opportunities, Sunday gatherings or missional community gatherings through the year because you might be closing business deals in Asia or Europe. However, your large paycheck helps support the advancement of the Church’s mission. Please remember to model tithing for your church family every month.
• Prayer is very important. If you find yourself on many business trips throughout the year, make an effort to press pause on your favorite podcast sermon and and simply pray. Pray for your wife, your kids, your neighbors, elders, deacons, your larger church family, your city, your state, your country, the world, etc.
• You may not be able to be at all the neighborhood BBQ’s this summer because you are opening a new restaurant or closing a major deal in another state,  but do not let this be an excuse for not living on mission in the everyday life. Your life just looks a little different than the person who works a 9-5 job at the bank down the street. You will get to work with people of influence so be ready and willing to use every opportunity at work to live on mission. Living on mission does not mean you’ll passing out bible tracts before a business acquisition meeting.  Jesus came to serve, not be served. Use this truth as your foundation for making decisions in your job or business.

Read the rest.

Tim Keller on A Reformed Theology of Work

Wisdom here from Tim Keller. Get his new book on this topic here.

(RSS, click through to view.)

 
Redefining Work - Tim Keller (TGC13 Faith at Work Post-Conference) from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Why Many 20somethings Are Delusional

Donald Miller:

I’ve watched scores of twenty-somethings quit their jobs and start businesses based on books written by people who sell fantasies. These writers tell one story about a guy who bought an island because he created some online business and convinced people they could do it too. 

Don’t be fooled. The chances of that happening to you are about the same as winning the lottery. Writers are making millions by convincing people they can win the lottery too. 

Read the rest.

Sharing The Gospel at Work

Matt Rodgers:

The primary mission field for many Christians is your workplace. Evangelism is not the only reason God has placed you in your office but there is no higher calling—and no greater joy—than to see a co-worker meet Jesus. Many people work in an office environment with strict rules regarding evangelism and it is important that as a Christian you are above reproach in your workplace. But it is even more important that you are faithful to God. As you consider how to evangelize at work consider these things.

Read the rest.

For a theology of work, I would certainly recommend Tim Keller's new book.  John Piper also has a great chapter on this topic in Don't Waste Your Life.

"Here then is how the Spirit makes us wise..."

Here then is how the Spirit makes us wise. On the night before he died, Jesus told his disciples that he would send the Holy spirit and ‘when he, the Spirit of truth, come … he will glorify me …’ (John 16:13-14). The Spirit does not make us wise in some magical kind of way, giving us little nudges and insider tips to help us always choose the best stock to invest in. Rather, he makes Jesus Christ a living, bright reality, transforming our character, giving us new inner poise, clarity, humility, boldness, contentment, and courage. All of this leads to increasing wisdom as the years go by, and to better and better professional and personal decisions. 

- Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour: Connecting Your Work to God’s Plan for the World, 212.


Books by Tim Keller:

• The Prodigal God  
• King’s Cross 
• Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything 
• The Reason for God  
• Counterfeit Gods  
• Generous Justice

Every Good Endeavor

A good interview with Tim Keller on his new book Every Good Endeavor.

God’s Will and Your Vocation

Ligonier Ministries:

How can you be sure that the work you are doing is what God wants? Learn the biblical guidelines in Romans 12 as you seek God’s will.

How To Offer Your Work To God

J.I. Packer:




(HT: Ray Ortlund)