Creekside Church Sermon of August 24, 2003 "Ears Looking for Work" James 1:17-27	Rev. David Bibbee
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Today I will depart from my customary preaching practice. With the Labor Day weekend approaching I've decided to explore the issue of how Christians relate to their work. I typically choose biblical texts from the lectionary and preach on the themes of the Christian year rather than national observances. But work is something we all do, and the significance we assign to it can either be a source of satisfaction or frustration.

Thinking about work in general, have you noticed how certain professions are sources of joke material? Take lawyer jokes, for instance. A lawyer had undergone surgery and as he was coming out from under anesthesia he said, "Why are all the blinds drawn, Doctor?" The surgeon replied, "There's a big fire across the street and we didn't want you to wake up and think the operation was a failure."

Have you heard "economist" jokes? A woman hears from her doctor that she has only six months to live. He advises her to marry an economist and move to South Dakota. She asks, "Will this cure my illness?" "No," he said, "but the half year will seem pretty long." Doctor jokes abound. An upset man called his doctor and said, "You told me I only have a month to live and then you sent me a bill for $2,000! I can't pay that before the end of the month!" His doctor replied, "Okay, then. You have six months to live." What about musician jokes? A seven year-old boy said to his father, "When I grow up, I want to be a musician." His dad says, "I'm sorry, Tommy, but you can't have it both ways." And do you know the difference between a musician and a sixteen inch pizza? The pizza can feed a family of four.

Of course, there are pastor jokes. A new pastor was visiting parishioners one afternoon. At one house it was obvious someone was home, but wasn't answering, even though the pastor knocked repeatedly. Finally, her pulled out his card, wrote "Revelation 3: 20 on the back, and stuck it in the door. The next day in the offering plate he found his card. Below his scripture reference was written, "Genesis 3: 10." Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me." Genesis 3: 10 reads: "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked."

My family instilled in me the value of work. Not just work, but HARD WORK-- work that makes you sweat work. Grandpa Bibbee was the consummate hard-working man. He toiled on farms and in factories. He worked for years in a brass foundry till it ruined his health. Then he worked for the County Highway Department, mowing grass all summer and plowing snow during winter.

Sunday was God's day. His tools stayed put. He snoozed in his easy chair. But he made up for lost time the other six days. When he recruited me to work with him, there were no fifteen minute breaks every two hours. If I complained about working conditions, his standard reply was, "Hard work never hurt any body." Sometimes I shot back, "Wanna' bet?" Grandpa Bibbee's work ethic was passed down to my father and to me. In some respects it has served me well. In other respects, I'm not so sure.

Though it was never said, I absorbed a message. A voice in my head still says, "A man's worth is what he produces by the sweat of his brow." An inspiration to industriousness. A motivation to get you up each day and raring to do what needs done.Worn out by day's end, you collapse into your chair and think how good it feels to be worth something.

I must keep telling myself, "Wrong!" Sure, it sounds noble, but its a form of "works righteousness." It says my worth is tied to producing, and having something to show for my labor. It denies that my worth is derived solely from God's grace. It says we trust our labors more than we trust our identity in God. Distorted ideas about the value of work take a toll. Sociologists and psychologists are sounding the alarm that too many people working too hard for too long.

There are twelve step "anonymous" groups for men and women addicted to their work. Many are consumed by the demands placed upon them in the work place. "Downsizing" is the word used when companies send jobs overseas for cheap labor. To compete, jobs are eliminated and wages are cut. The employees who are left have to work harder because in a competitive economy, boosting production is paramount. Think of people you know whose employers have downsized, leaving them to do their job in addition to the work of three other people who were "cut" in order to cuts costs.

Today, husbands and wives work two or more jobs just to break even. In other homes Dad and Mom are seldom seen because they are working long hours to provide their children with everything society says they need to be happy.

Have you seen the TV ad with the smiling man posing with his family? Behind them is their palatial palace. "This is our new home," he says. Driving into the driveway he says, "This is my SUV... its new." "I'm a member of the golf club." "This is our pool and I'm in debt up to my eyeballs!" In the last scene he is on a riding mower with his big plastic smile, saying, "Someone help me!" The commercial is for the Bank of America telling people to borrow more money to "consolidate their debts."

The word for this-- IDOLATRY. Moses was taking notes from God on Mt. Sinai. The children of Israel got tired of waiting for him. They wanted something tangible to worship so they made a really neat golden calf to dance around. We've been cranking out idols ever since-- not just idols of bad things, but idols of very good things, too. We turn God's gifts into something other than their intended purposes.

Work can be an idol. Lets ask ourselves a question-- Do we work to live, or do we live to work? Is your profession in perspective? Do you see it as a means of contributing to the higher good-- caring for your family, caring about the well-being of others, and doing your part to share Christ with the world? OR... Do you work so you can have the latest toys? Do you define who you are by what you do? Work is an important thing, but is it the MOST important thing in your life?

What insights does the Bible give us about work?The Bible distinguishes between WORK and GOD'S WORK. There is the work we to do to put bread on the table and clothes on our backs. Then there is the work God calls us to do to accomplish God's will for the world.

Nowhere in the Bible does God call people to become shepherds, fishermen, carpenters, or plumbers. God called people to be patriarchs, prophets, disciples, apostles, followers. St. Paul made tents, but he wasn't a tent maker, he was an apostle! Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector, but their "calling" was to be disciples of Jesus.

The Bible tells us that work can be good thing, or not a good thing.Genesis says that since there was no one to till the ground, God made Adam to "till it and keep it." It implies that the work Adam was given was good, it had a purpose, it was to be enjoyed. But later in the story, Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden. Afterward, work was no longer a source of satisfaction, but punishment. "Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life."

Our lesson from James says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above." We use God's gifts of grace for the benefit of ourselves and others. Then there is the work we do in the service of the Word. It's not enough to just hear it and agree with it. At some point we must roll up our sleeves and lace up the shoes and put it to work.

The year before I went to seminary, I worked for a painting contractor. To earn some extra cash, I did painting and drywall jobs in the evenings. An administrator at Manchester College was refurbishing an old house, and asked me to patch all the cracks, fissures, and holes in the plaster throughout the house. It was a tedious, time-consuming job that took over a month to finish. He was happy with the job... a very good one if I do say so myself. Over the years whenever I saw Richard I asked how the walls were holding up. After nearly fifteen years the cracks remained hidden. He has since moved. I don't know if the cracks are back.

Why did I want to know how my work was holding up? It had to do with the need to know that my work was lasting. Its a concern we all have about our work. We want to know if our projects will remain intact. Does my work have significance in the long run? Will it mean anything to anyone after I'm gone?

Maybe you saw the PBS program about the construction of a suspension bridge over the Mississippi River at Alton, Illinois. The bridge incorporates a radically new engineering design. It was incredibly complex, taking four full years to build, but is beautiful to behold. It was built just upstream from the old one. In a stunning scene, the old, rusted bridge was in the foreground and behind it, the morning sun illuminated the new one. In seconds, a series of detonations crumpled the old bridge into the river, and with it, the labor of all those who built it back in the 1920's.

The chief construction engineer was asked how he felt after the project was done. He said, "One day, this bridge new bridge will be torn down. We have to remind ourselves that nothing we build lasts forever." As Ecclesiastes puts it, "I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and chasing after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." (2:11)

Does this mean that ultimately, all our work will come to nothing? Yes..... BUT the writer of Ecclesiastes also says in chapter 2: 24, "There is nothing better for a person to do than that they should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil."

This means more than just working to "make a living." It means that whatever you do, do your best for the sake of doing your best. Take pride in your work. Do it in such a way and with such an attitude that you will glorify God and benefit others.

Where is your identity? Are you a brick layer or a child of God? Are you a computer specialist or God's beloved? Are you a butcher, a baker, or candlestick maker, or are you a disciple of Jesus? Which identity lasts in the long run? How did Jesus put it?

"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-- worse!-- stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it is safe from moth and rust and burglars. The place your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."

We need to make the distinction between our "work" and our "vocation." I like the way someone put it: "Our discipleship is our primary vocation, our jobs are what we do to make a living, our discipleship is what we do to make a life."

"I love you Grandpa Bibbee, but my worth isn't based upon how hard I work." Worth is not tied to what we do. As James says, all good gifts are from above, including work. We need to get God's word out of the Bible study and into our daily act, not in order to get God to love us. God already does. Our only worth is in what he has done for us. The only things that will last in the long run is the work of building God's Kingdom.

I guess the final question, at least for this sermon, is, how we sort out all the voices telling us the work we should do. Which voice is God's, or society's, or ours? Frederick Buechner offers a good test:

"The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a) but if your work is writing TV deordorant commercials, the chances are you have missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b) but if most of the time you are bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

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