Northside Church - Sydney
To Do: The Problem with Work
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. All right, we are looking at work for six weeks. And for two very good reasons, I've said one's, a missional one's pastoral, the missional reason being that you will spend an average person around about 90 to 100,000 hours working in your lifetime. And so what we put up last week was that if that's the case, because a lot of churches have mucked this up a little bit, they haven't been nuanced enough about it. And so often people who are heavily involved in their workplace are made to feel like they're not being a Christian because somehow they're not in church, doing the church thing, serving, here, because they're always at work, they're not evangelizing their friends, they're not running a little mini church service in their open plan desk, and so therefore they're not being Christian. And what we're wanting to do in this series is re-envision the notion of our mission in the workplace. And that is, that could it be that we would discover our plans, God's plans for our life and His mission in the places in which we work. If we spend so much time there, could this be the place in which God is seeking to win the world through you? And so what we discovered last week is that first and foremost work matters to God. I said it's a startling thing that when God puts Adam and Eve in the garden that says in Genesis 2, 7, 2, 15, that He put them there to work the garden. I hope it doesn't surprise you, but there was work in paradise. It will not be an eternity on the pretty little beach in Hamilton Island. We see that work matters to God, but also God matters to your work. That the degree to which you get God's plan for His work will be the degree to which your work is shaped and affected by His Word and His plans. And so tonight, if we've seen that work is important to God, that in Genesis He's a creative God and then He's calling us to rule with Him and He's placed humanity in the great garden in order to flourish the world around us, that's a pretty noble calling, right? That we are called to go into the world in order to flourish it, and yet let's be real, is that your experience, that it's a wonderfully flourishing time? I mean, have you ever sat in particular meetings seeking how many more times are we going to discuss this issue? Have you ever caught yourself with a co-worker that's supposed to be your friend and only find that the little Friday night get together, they're talking behind your back and undermining all that you've done that week? Are you finding that no matter how hard you seem to be studying, and it could be over a number of years that you get out of your study and find that there aren't jobs available in the area that you studied for? I mean, I sat with a girl this morning that was in that situation. So God has these noble plans for work, and yet it seems to be so far from our experience of work, right? Why is that the case? I'm glad you asked. Let's have a look at it. It's going to look at tonight. Genesis chapter 11, I'll read the scripture, put your finger in here, and then we'll come back to it. Genesis chapter 11, "Now the whole world had one language in a common speech. As men move eastward, they found a plane in Shina and settled there. They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone and tar for mortar, and then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city with a towel that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. I keep your finger in your Bible or bookmark it electronically somehow if you have your device. We're going to be looking back at Genesis chapter 11 in a second. But look, here's the thing. What's the problem with work? What's the problem with work? Last week we looked at the plan for work this week, we looked at the problem with work. Here's what I think it is. We know that there is something wrong, but we can't seem to understand the root causes to these frustrations in our work. Here's case and point, an article that Lee McCullough, one of our guys, sent me during the week. I always encourage you to do that. If you send it in, PO Box 83, Crow's Nest, you too might get read out from the platform on a Sunday night. But here's the article that Lee sent me entitled, "The Secret to Being Happy at Work and Laughing It." June 4th, 2013, it says, "While Cool Perks ultimately helped people enjoy their job, two Australian academics claim loving your job is a skill that can be learned even by the most disgruntled worker. Psychology experts who, Langley and colleague, Mel Neal, who have developed a university-recognized diploma in positive psychology and well-being say that anyone can learn to love their job and be successful if you're prepared to learn how." Sounding good? "By undertaking courses within the degree, such as positive relationships and communication, workers are ultimately able to better deal with stress and build more effective social networks." Mm-hmm. All right. I like it. Here's some of the things. "By setting positive goals, workers are more likely to be challenged and motivated, leading to a happier outlook." And so the women are saying that it's not only business types that are enrolling, but the teachers, coaches, trainers, HR managers, and managers, all wanting to learn the secret of workplace success and happiness are enrolling. And here, here, look, here, here's the bit that I want to get to. This is the great stuff. Look at some of the great strategies here for dealing with the problem of work. Number one, introduce a workplace pet to reduce your stress levels. Here's another good one. Hold stand-up meetings or just get up and move. Jump around. It's important to move your lymph nodes to get toxins out of your body. This just keeps getting better. Get curious about your work or one of your work colleagues. I'm thinking, "How curious." [laughter] Find a way to build a connection. Practice kindness. That's biblical. Or you could try getting a job with OBS, who the BRW said is one of the best firms you got at the moment. This firm offers an Xbox room for staff to team build and promise great coffee, soft drink, juice, wine, and lots of beer on its recruitment page. Sign us up for the Xbox. Now, here's the last one, tri-leaning a job at Google, whose London Hub now comes with a soundproof music room boasting drums and guitars, video consoles, and a garden area with deck chairs vital for creativity. Oh, need I go any further? In the word of the Lord, amen. There we go. See, I'm thinking, of course. Of course, of course, the problem with work is that you don't have an office pet. All right, that's the problem with work, right? Is that going to solve the problem work that, look, that's the world's perspective, isn't it? What does the Bible say about this? The Bible says straight up, you say that the Bible says the problem with work is sin. That sounds ridiculous, because often the minute we say sin, you're thinking good deeds and bad deeds, and how can I act on a particular day, whether it's good or whether it's in the Bible or not, and whether or not this loss. Look, see, sin's got nothing to do with that when you see the general trend of what the Bible's saying. Often when you look at how the Bible defines sin, it's not good deeds or bad deeds. Sin from a biblical perspective is building your identity on someone or something other than God. We'll see that in this Genesis passage when we come to a bit later on. But from the Bible perspective, can you see how much deeper it is with the problem of the world? You see, the world's saying there's a deep wrong, we can't dare to admit it. There's a form of restlessness which is taking the form of guilt or striving or overwork in our life. And our culture seems to reduce it just to psychology. Now I'm not saying the psychological aspect's not valid and not well thought out and well researched. I'm just saying at the heart of the biblical account is something far deeper, far deeper than the office pet. From a biblical perspective it says, it's sin, the concept of sin, that moment in which Genesis 3 that we read, that Adam and Eve went and ate of the tree. Now we're not going to get into the literal stuff here, but let's see that the helicopter view of what Genesis chapter 3 is saying or the fall as Christians call it, it was really about the tree. Like did the tree in and of itself have any sort of mysterious magical properties? I mean, was the apple attached to some special string that tripped the trip wire like out of Indiana Jones that somehow sent the world spiraling out of control? Of course not, it was never about the tree, it was about the relationship. God in the garden at the very heart of it said, we have a relationship here guys. And I want you to honor and obey that relationship just because I say so. And you don't have to understand why I ask you to do these things, I just want you to do it because I'm me, haven't you ever felt like that in a relationship, whether it's a friend or a spouse, I just want you to do this because you know me. So there was nothing inherently magical so to speak about this tree. What Genesis tells us is that when that relationship unraveled everything else unraveled in the world, that it was a picture for what has happened in humanity. And so when we come to the question, when the world asks, why has worked so hard, Genesis 3 goes straight for the jugular and it says this is why, it says when self-interest entered the system, when self-interest got into the system, then all of it began to unravel. I call it the Lance Armstrong principle, right? You look at what happened to the cycling community when this funny thing called doping came up. You see, what happened way before as they ever got involved in all of the doping type scandals, what was going on in that cycling community? It was a wonderful example of the physically elite, of some of the most renowned and physically amazing people on the earth that's climbing up the most beautiful of mountains. And yet as they're going up the hill and as they're doing all of that hard work, when sin entered the system, when the doping entered the system, suddenly that whole community began to think, is he doping, is he doping, is he doping? And the minute that self-interest entered the system, no longer could that pellet on that group of cyclists operate for the way in which it was intended. The minute self-interest entered the system, even though someone may never have been doing any doping, the very thought that it was happening began to compel and motivate people to move into that type of behavior. And so that's just a microcosm of what happened in the world, with the world. The minute that there was just a hint of self-interest in the garden, it meant overnight. All of humanity began to think, if they're looking out for themselves, should I be looking out for myself? Should I be looking out for myself? And I mean, we don't have to talk about pelletons, we can talk about your work environment. I mean, some of you may deal with managers that, whether they're a believer in God or not, managers or co-workers, who because of the very notion of self-interest in their work life and their understanding that somehow if they are professionally dope, so to speak, by cheating the other person or blaming mistakes in their work on someone else, it's somehow they'll rise up to the top of their organization, see how it begins to infect the entire workplace? Sin meant that suddenly all of a sudden, this notion of self-interest exploded throughout the world. Now, what does that look like practically? Here's the two things tonight we're going to see, that sin makes work painful, that's a problem with work, sin makes work painful, and we also see that sin makes work too personal. Sin makes work too painful. Have a look at this, Genesis chapter 3, verse 18, 17 to 18. So Adam, he said, "Because you listen to your wife and your ate from the tree about which I commanded you, you must not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you, through painful toil you will eat it all the days of your life, it will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. And since from it you were taken for dust you are, and to dust you will return." I'm going to verse 17, 18, "Painful toil, it will produce thorns and thistles." Remember last week we said the imagery of the garden that God places us there in order to flourish the world around us, and now because of sin we see this imagery of thorns and thistles beginning to rise up, beginning to wreck the whole picture. Now, what is that? What is that today? Have you ever witnessed these situations, a situation where you might have had an amazing idea for your work, and you spend hours and hours working it through and trying to get people alongside, and you can see that it will be just the ultimate solution for your workplace, and yet at the very last minute someone comes in, they disagree with your idea in the middle of a boardroom team meeting, and the whole thing gets grabbed. Or maybe you've witnessed how a farmer sows the seed perfectly, and he waters the plants, and he tends to the lemon trees, and they go up and down the rows of trees day after day, and he gets up at five o'clock every morning, and he does his job, and he did everything that the book says, and right before harvest, flood comes. Maybe, I don't know, you've seen governments who promised to finally implement a policy because it's the right thing to do, and we're the sort of government that's going to do the right thing, and mysteriously, at the end of the day when I get into power, it never happens. Have you guys ever seen that? There will be no carbon tax under the—anyway. Why is that? Why is that? Look, here's the thing. The problem with our work is that there seems to be an inbuilt fruitlessness within the context that we operate, and that is no matter how well-intentioned, no matter how good and effective the efforts are, that the Bible is saying that the result of us breaking away from God's plan for work, which we learned last week, the result of us breaking away from that is that there was an inbuilt fruitlessness that even though all of the good intentions and the motivations, even though they're all there, what it's saying is in this fruitlessness is that in each case, there will always be the possibility that you can envision in your work, you can envision what you could possibly do more than you can accomplish by virtue first and foremost your ability, you can always see bigger than what you can actually do, but more importantly, that you will always envision more than the context around you will allow, that in sin entering the world, the politics, the pride, the selfishness, the self-interest, it's always working against you. What is that? It becomes painful, working itself is not a curse, but work has fallen under the curse of sin that all of the rest of life has fallen under. So in other words, sin makes our work painful. That's the very heart of the reason why the Bible talks in such deep terms, it's why the psychology has a different level about it in terms of the answer to the problem of work, but here's the other reason, sin makes your work too personal, Don Henley, he was one of the singers of the Eagles, which for those who don't know the Eagles, they were a band in my dad's era, had some great songs, he wrote a song called New York Minute, and it goes like this, it says Harry got up, dressed all in black, he went down to the station and he never came back, they found his clothing scattered somewhere down the track and he won't be down on Wall Street in the morning. And sadly that's not just a song, Bloomberg article 8th of July 2009 already is starting to see the chronology of what we're talking about here is entitled murder suicide rates climb when jobs vanish and the economy slows, it says here the scientists who come through almost four decades of European Union records found that a 1% increase in the joblessness rate brings about a 0.8% rise in suicide and murder rates, and why, that's a startling linkage isn't it, why? Because what we're seeing the heart here of what the Bible speaks into is the great risk that we all have in making work an idol, you ever recall the substitute series that we do, an idol is when you take a good thing, work is a good thing and you make it an ultimate thing. And here's how you know you've got an idol, you know you've got an idol that in the denial the stripping of that thing to you feels like the very stripping of life itself. Now I don't want to of course trivialize murder and suicide, but it's a known fact you've just got to read some of the financial blogs of workers who've been in those situations in New York, in London, and Sydney and expats who have returned to talk about the tragedy of mates that they've lost because they've lost their jobs, sin makes work too personal, sin makes work too personal. You see work was to flourish the people around you, that's what we learnt last week, and yet now instead of flourishing the people around you it's used to distinguish yourself from the people around you isn't it, as Martin Luther would say it gets used to distinguish myself from my neighbour and to prove to myself that I'm special. And so nowhere as Tim Geller says is this shift from God's noble purposes for work, nowhere is this shift from noble purposes into neurotic self obsession greater than in the story of the Tower of Babel, Genesis chapter 11. Let's have a look here, verses wonderful, it says the whole world had one language common speech as men moved eastward they found the plane in China they settled there and they said to each other calm let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly and they used brick instead of stone and tar for mortar and then they said calm here's the key one let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches into the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Now there's two reasons why they start building a tower here right there's one is a noble and there's a far more sinister reason why they built verse three and four the no ones verse three they say come let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly you know what that is technological breakthrough that was like the equivalent of Gutenberg printing press way back in the early days that they were using brick instead of stone this is a biblical basis from where Boral and all those wonderful companies come from yeah so that was the noble cause you see there's that's what we got last week that God creates you and I to be creative beings he's saying here is humanity left to their own devices flourishing the world by creating something new out of nothing that's that's God he's going to need to create a new Bible in a second and then here's here's a more sinister reason verse four come let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves you know what were they building what are they building you say a tower no they weren't what were they building it was never about the tower they weren't building a tower they were building an identity they were building their own means of significance and purpose come let's build a tower up to the gods so we can be like gods so we can be gods and so see isn't that sin of what I was saying at the very beginning of all this it's sin is not good deeds and bad deeds they weren't violating some law from from the earliest parts of the law they couldn't have we're in Genesis the law is not around yet it's not on the tablets yet but they were violating a law that was far deeper in biblical terms you see that is sin is to build your identity on someone or something other than God and so in other words now for the people back then in the Tower of Babel work have become too personal it was it was no longer work for God's sake it was no longer about the work for work's sake it was about work for their sake and so if they succeeded in if their works seated they succeeded if their work failed they failed and so let's ask what's what's making a name what's making a name a name is to generate your own significance rather than receiving it from God in other words they elevated work to a position of spiritual significance that would have been otherwise reserved for God work now had the spiritual value work was now the thing that was the basis of their success and meaning and achievement the tower was now the basis for all that who they were both individually and as a society it was all in the tower and yet in line of the pain of work that we've talked about that will always be frustrated in our efforts that it will always be working against us can you see how incredibly fragile that is you know I'm thinking thank goodness we don't do things like that today thank thank goodness that we modern people we don't we don't build towers as the means of our significance right thank goodness that we don't use our work and our role descriptions and our jobs and our titles as the basis of our phew come on friends a great risk that the Bible says here through this story is that we are always building towers instead of bricks and mortar made out of tar we use role descriptions and we use company reputations and we use degrees and we use our neighborhoods and we use cars and we use houses and we use clothing can you see what happens you think of this what's the first question that people often ask you when you go out for dinner you never met them before what do you do can you see how ingrained in our culture this tower building is we're always building towers not out of bricks and mortar out of job descriptions out of company reputations and we can't help but make these towers I call it the jenga principle I don't know if you've ever played jenga it's a great little game it's a non-electric game so for those who haven't gone old school like that you're just gonna have to bear with me but you don't need electricity for this game it's fantastic jenga is this bunch of blogs that you stack in this particular order they crisscross each other you put it in its own little what would you call it like a funny little stacker like a stacker box thanks any put its own little box you stack this thing up you move the box away and it teases there in its little formation and the game of jenga is that you go you go and pull out one of the you have to pull one of the blocks from the bottom of the foundation of that tower and carefully place it up above on the top on the next person goes and they pull another one out put it on the top and as as you build and pull out and build and pull out and elevate and pull out and elevate the tower becomes increasingly unstable and the person that wins is the person who doesn't cause this funny tower contraption to fall down and spray everywhere across your coffee table here's a question are you jengering your life you see when you take work and you take all the great benefits associated with work the money and the prestige and the power which by the way are all good things and God's not against those things he's not against success he's not against achievement but when you take them and you pull them out from their their intended order and you elevate them to a position that is above God you start building an incredibly rickety jenga structure my question is are you jengering your life the Bible saying that achievement and success and work is not a bad thing it was a good thing there was nothing wrong in the tower the self it was it was the reason behind the tower that these guys were building it was the work underneath the work that these guys were doing it's saying the Bible saying there is an order of priority to both success and significance in your life and it has the potential to incredibly destabilize it so guys jenis is 11 it's a case study it shows us the reason the reason how work is a problem works a problem because of the powerful inclination of the human heart to make work the basis of your meaning of your purpose and your identity problem is sin makes work too personal so how do you know leptis test time a leptis test I always say that do you know what a leptis test is has anyone had a pool okay sorry it's my science background a leptis test was basically it's this funny little strip that you um dip in a bit of water to determine its acidity and so if something was too acidic it makes the strip go purple basically so I'm saying just dip uh purple dipstick into your life tonight and this is how you know whether or not you've got what we're saying in this message tonight leptis test if you're still worried about it look it up on Wikipedia um leptis test how do you know that you've got a problem with the work here it is one question you can write it down how do you answer this phrase how do I know whether or not I've got a problem with work here's a question even if it fails will you feel satisfied you know you've got a problem with work that if your work fails you feel like your very life has been strict from you that's how you know that work's not an idol in your life you feel satisfied regardless of your successes but regardless of your failures as well it means you know what it means it means that you were never building a tower in the first place these towers they always creep up on you you're building them when you don't even realize it in order to make a name for yourself but you've got to look at the the deeper thing the more powerful thing to work underneath all of your work to work out whether or not you've got a problem with work look would you like a dynamic tonight that can mean that you don't rest upon your work as your basis of your meaning and your success and your significance in life would you like that dynamic because there is there is one it's called the gospel and this this is how it works you see God is the great name giver you know I'm always saying our ability to live lives of obedience to God generally is our sign of of whether or not we've comprehended the gospel the gospel is not the ABC's of the Christian life it's the A to Z of the Christian life and so here's the heart of it we've got to come back to the question if we're always trying to steal our identity from other sources we're always trying to build our own towers in order for our own meaning and success and the cure to our desire to build towers to make our own name is to realize that God is the ultimate name giver revelations chapter 2 verse 17 says that person who has an ear let them hear what the spirit says to the churches to that person who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manner I will also give to them listen to this a white stone with a new name written on it known only to the person that receives it what he's doing he's giving you a name badge I thought heaven was going to be this wonderful you know pearly gates oh it's sounding more like you when you turn up for a conference and all your name badges are out on the table there and yet every single person will be given exactly the same name you'll walk up to that table in heaven and you'll look down at those funny little flimsy plastic things I'm sure God's ones will look a little bit maybe we'll get brass ones in heaven but every single name tag that will be up there for you will be Jesus will be Jesus will be Jesus will be Jesus you see that's the heart of the gospel that no human name even the greatest human names in the world don't even rate to that particular name and so when when when the Bible comes in and says that he became sin who knew no sin so that we might become not our own righteousness but his righteousness the righteousness of God Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 5 21 he's saying stop the building stop the tower building stop all these little bits of career and job and title and all these funny little bits that you think are bricks and mortar that are going to get yourself an acceptance into heaven there is already an acceptance before you the gospel is that you need to stop stealing your acceptance from everything else and begin to enjoy in the name tag that you've already got that he who became he who had no sin became sin for us in in other words what's Jesus doing at the cross the only reason that all those name tags are up there in heaven for you and I to receive is because he went and took every other name tag of the world and he wore it he didn't just wear it those nails those nails themselves for the very pins of the name of your name tag going through his hands that that that our identities as imperfect as our were when nailed into him at the cross he receives our identity so that we can receive his identity and we can stop the building we can stop the towers and so that's the gospel he pins it upon you and I and wear pinned upon him at the cross and that will be the only thing that will identify us when we stand before the father and so though God you know as if he already knows who you are but if you had to be reminded by any chance he would look at you at the pearly gates and he would look down and he would not see your name you would Jesus I know that name come in friend you understand that have you received that name tag tonight work can get way too personal if we don't understand that dynamic other gospel can you see how the gospel gives you a power to deal with your problem of work see on one hand the gospel story is that the world is broken that that in the garden all of relationships unraveled and there's pain in the world that sin caused the world to be painful and so as a result work is painful there will be a frustration but the Bible is real about the world the world is broken the kingdom is not yet and so if you don't see any fruit in your work at the moment you won't be cynical about it you won't be cynical about it because the truth is you know that God is coming to restore this creation and not only that he calls you to go and do that and flourish that on his behalf until he returns you won't be cynical can you because you can see what he's about to do you're not cynical because you can see what he is doing more important on the other side you won't be overly idealistic about your work you understand that sin causes work to be painful sin causes work to be fruitless you understand that sin will cause people to frustrate you and get in the way of and thwart and deliberately ruin the good and the wonderful work that you'll seek to do for one hand you won't be cynical on the other hand you won't be idealistic you'll be real and so I just got to ask you have you got a problem with your work it's a lot deeper you know than the fact that you haven't got an Xbox room at your workplace and it is a little bit deep in the fact that you don't have a workplace pet the bible teaches us that as a result of the false sin has caused work to become painful and as a result of the false sin at an individual level always will cause work in your life to be too personal you may wish to enroll in a happiness at work course and there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever it could be quite helpful but whether you're a Christian or you're non-Christian to know you may you admire the audacity of this book to go deeper than every explanation this world can give us may you appreciate the hope of the gospel in reaching divisions far greater than this world can ever imagine there is one who is coming back to fix the brokenness and there is one who died the pin that beautiful name tag on you do you wear it tonight and you are a follower of Jesus Christ may we come to understand fully the problem with our work and the hope that the gospel could bring to it let's pray [BLANK_AUDIO]