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June and I were on a road trip; we’d been driving all day and were nearing our hotel, but we weren’t sure which exit to take. One map program said one thing and another app said another. So we pulled off the road for a minute to evaluate our options. One option was to get off the interstate sooner but drive longer into town. Another kept us on the interstate longer with a bit of a double-back into town. What to do? What to do? Finally, June said, “You know, in the amount of time you’ve been analyzing this, we could have been driving and either option would have gotten us there!”

She was right, of course. I wasted more time in analysis than I saved, even if I knew what the better option was!

Sometimes, we just need to act. Sometimes, especially in men’s Bible studies (I don’t know about women’s for obvious reasons), people seem to think that they get credit for discussing the meaning of the scripture. But the scriptures themselves decry that approach. We need to act!

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

[Jesus said, ] “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7.24 – 27, NIV, emphasis mine)

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. (Matthew 7.26, MSG)

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I wrote yesterday that we serve people by our work. Our work is part of God’s continuing work in the world. It’s a blessing that we are surrounded by working people! And it’s blessing for those of us who are able to contribute to those around us by working (and that includes the chores of day-to-day living!).

We also serve people at our work. Our work is a place where we’re in contact with co-workers, bosses, and clients. We have an opportunity to serve them. I’ve always been fascinated with Joseph in prison. In charge of the prison (Genesis 39.22), Joseph noticed that the cupbearer and the baker were dejected (Genesis 40.6). I don’t know if I would have noticed that two guys in prison were more dejected than they usually were. But Joseph noticed, and he served them.

I still remember a young airman at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska more than 40 years ago. He was a “lowly” gate guard, but he made the job special. He not only saluted appropriately and waved cars in, he greeted very person entering the base with a big smile. That included busloads of people of which I was frequently one. He was an inspiration. He served people at his work.

The 6Ms from a couple days ago included Model godly character, Minister grace and love, and Mold culture. What better place to do those things than at our work?

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. (Colossians 3.23, NIV)

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I’m excited that the Bible affirms work and our place in the world of work as followers of Jesus.

Our work in and of itself is an extension of God’s work in the world. Nearly every reference to the Sabbath begins with something like, “Six days shall you work.” Nearly all work is important. Have you ever stopped to think about what life would be like without garbage collection, or mail service, or well-maintained roads? That’s a reality in some places.

But we are blessed to be in a country that works. For example, I was in the Atlanta Airport before 6:00 am, and I marveled to see how many thousands of people were there ahead of me. Working in TSA, fixing and serving food in the restaurants, handling baggage, getting planes ready to fly, etc. Such productivity is something to give thanks for. Work is what keeps things going. We serve people by our work.

What do Christian pilots do? Do they walk up and down the aisle passing out tracts? Christian pilots land the plane! Just like Tammie Jo Schultz, wife, mother, Southwest pilot, former Navy pilot, believer: she landed the plane after an engine blew out. We serve people by our work.

I wrote about the importance of work at length in The Disciple’s Work.

The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. (Genesis 39.2 – 6, NIV)

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I like the fact that the “Framework for Fruitfulness” (see yesterday’s blog) in Mark Green’s Fruitfulness on the Frontline lists Making Good Work high on the list. Churches tend not to talk about regular work all that much, which, interestingly, is different from the Bible’s emphasis.

• The first picture we have of God is that he is a worker (Genesis 1 and 2)
• Many of God’s key people worked at “secular” jobs:
  • Joseph (Genesis 37 – 50) and Daniel (Daniel 1 – 6) were Prime Ministers.
  • Moses (Exodus and Numbers) was a liberator and led the people through the wilderness.
  • Joshua was a general. (Joshua)
  • David, who wrote about half the Psalms, was also a military man and a king.
  • Lydia, who hosted a church in her home, was a merchant. (Acts 16)
• Many events in the Bible occurred in the context of work:
  • God appeared to Moses while he was tending sheep (Exodus 3).
  • The angel appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat (Judges 6).
  • The shepherds in Luke 2 were at work when the angels appeared to them, and after seeing the baby Jesus, they returned to work.

Tomorrow we’ll look in more detail at our own work.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2.15)

Six days you shall labor and do all your work. (Exodus 20.9)

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It’s always fun when I learn something new while teaching, and that’s exactly what happened at the ECO conference last week as I was presenting the 6Ms–a list of ways to follow Jesus as presented in Fruitfulness on the Frontlines by Mark Greene. The book calls it a framework for fruitfulness:

• Model godly character
• Make good work
• Minister grace and love
• Mold culture
• Be a Mouthpiece for truth and justice
• Be a Messenger of the gospel

The book makes the point that this list should NOT be taken as yet one more set of things to feel guilty about or add to our already too-long checklist. It’s designed rather as an encouragement as we consider the ways God can use us in our environments. 

Often, we think only of the first and last items: of course, I want to ACT like a Christian, modeling Christian character, and that will give me an opportunity to be a Messenger of the gospel. For sure that’s true, but God uses us in many more ways than that. Work is very important, in and of itself, and I want to write more about that, maybe beginning tomorrow. It may be that our ministering grace and love will result in a kinder, gentler culture in our workplace, neighborhoods, our families, and even online. We all know the kind of posts that usually land on Facebook. In addition, I’m on NextDoor, which I had hoped would bring our neighborhood together. Instead, many observations posted by our neighbors are met with harsh criticism and put-downs by other neighbors (sigh).

What did I learn while presenting this information? One of the pastors offered the observation that the 6Ms also could be seen as areas for growth, in which I will not be equally competent all the time. And I won’t be performing equally in all 6Ms every day. But I can look back over the day and see in which areas God was able to use me. 

That’s nice. None of us is “omnicompetent,” as a friend of mine likes to put it. The 6Ms remind me that there is a variety of areas in which I can grow and serve. And that’s good news!

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life… (Philippians 2.14 – 16, NIV)

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I normally don’t write about current, political events, but I am concerned about the “piling on” that has become prevalent in today’s society. The Virginia governor (Democrat, about whom I know nothing) has been shown in a racist photo from college in 1984. Really? 35 years ago? What happened to growth and change? What happened to forgiveness? Jesus’ “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” was applied to someone actually caught in adultery TODAY! Do we really want to be held accountable for things we thought and did when we were 20? (More than 50 years ago for me!)

Do people just draw pleasure in the alleged sin of someone else because it’s someone else and not them? Someone else’s sin, no matter when it happened, is irrelevant to me. So then each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. (Romans 14.12) And I have to avoid pride in not committing either the sin being judged or the sin of judging!

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Isaiah 43.18, 19

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I often write about how churches should be equipping their members for mission “out there” in the environments where they already are. The challenge is that even if the pastor or church leaders want to do this, it might be difficult. At the most basic level, most of us just don’t like change! In addition, at the ECO conference this week, one speaker (I’ve forgotten who!) described a set of specific factors that often make change difficult.

Some church members are less tied to the grand vision of the church, whatever it is, than to one or more of the following, which we can call “The 4 Ps.”

• Personality of the pastor, possibly including his preaching style, interpersonal skills, ministry habits.
• Place to include the building, service times, decor, etc.
• Program, which includes how Sunday morning church is done as well as other specific programs of the church.
• People, meaning my friends.

The key is that if any of these change, some people are likely to leave the church. I knew of a church, where, in the middle of a merger, the leaders started tinkering with the decor of the platform. People left.

I can think of two possible antidotes for this phenomenon. First, talk about the real vision of the church and orient the folks to The 4 Ps. Then if people start getting distracted by one or more of them, we can gently point them toward the larger vision of the church and point out that we’re getting distracted by The 4 Ps.

The second possible antidote is to encourage folks have an experience with God outside of church. Daily time with God and living on mission come to mind (both of which I wrote about in Join the Adventure!). One of the staff pastors of the church where people were leaving over the platform decor told me, “My Christian experience is so much more than what happens on Sunday morning. I can’t imagine someone leaving a church over something as trivial as how we decorate the platform.”

Maybe the real solution is that we stay focused on Jesus…

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2.19, 20, NIV)

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I love the story in John 9 of the healing of the man born blind. There are so many lessons, beginning with the first verse, “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.” First, the encounter happens “as he passed by.” It’s an interesting exercise to see how many of Jesus’ conversations with folks were “unplanned.” Jesus illustrated steps one and two of missional living described in my book Join the Adventure:

• Be there
• Pay attention

Jesus saw a man, and it’s apparent as you read the story that other folks had NOT seen him!

But I want to focus this blog on the end of the story. Jesus is absent from verses 8 through 34 when all the discussion occurs. The way he healed the man, sending him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, allowed Jesus to disappear while the healing actually occurred. Then we have this exchange:

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9.35 – 38, ESV, emphasis mine)

We tend to use the word “worship” only in connection with the “worship service.” Sometimes with only part of the worship service, the singing part. Some pastors, as I wrote on January 13, believe that the purpose of the church is to gather to worship. I wrote yesterday that according to Ephesians 4.11, 12, the purpose of the church is to train and equip all the members, much like a trade school, “sending out workers.”

Jesus is doing his ministry “out there” in the neighborhood. And Jesus’ ministry resulted in worship. But, as my pastor pointed out last Sunday, this worship occurred outside the synagogue. “He didn’t even have a bulletin!”

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (John 4.23, ESV)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12.1, NIV)