Monday Matters to God // Built Different : Colossians Week 3

Welcome to the men and women watching in a correctional facility via a tablet and Pando Hey, you're not a project to us. You are family. So so so glad that you are here We're studying the book of Colossians walking through the book of Colossians We're in week three of our series And we're also reviewing our values through our series the culture that we want to have here at Calvary Church I want to review our values every single week to make sure that you know them. All right number one everyone say we love Come on, that's pretty weak this morning. Let's say it like we actually mean it number one. We love God, there we go. Number two. We love People number three if we're gonna do something we're gonna pursue and number four. We're gonna choose We're gonna choose joy today's value is we pursue Excellence we pursue excellence and I'm gonna take a little bit of a different spin on this message Then maybe you would think I bet that you probably would think that I would stand up here today and talk About how we need to be excellent as a church We need to have dynamic worship services. The preaching always has to be on point the coffee better tastes good Come on somebody. I better be greeted at the door and listen We want to do all of those things listen, and we actually believe this as a church If we want to do something put our hand to it. We want to do it well But today I want to take a little bit of a different spin on it And I want to talk about where you spend the majority of your week and pursuing excellence in your workplace So reading a story some years ago about a janitor who was cleaning toilets at a very large commercial building and he was training someone who was new to the job and this janitor was a Christian and This janitor would clean the toilets and he'd scrub and clean the backside of the toilet the part that no one would ever see and when training the new employee the new employee said Why do you clean the back of the toilets? Nobody's ever gonna see that and I loved his response. He said this because I work for Jesus and he sees that too This story hits the real question for us today in our text. Who are you really working for? Because if you can answer that question and answer it according to Colossians chapter 3 23 It changes the way you work why you work and the spirit you're gonna bring into your workplace The big idea behind this text is that if I talked about Living a life for God and living a life where we pursued excellence in worshiping the Lord

You would probably think that would involve what you're doing here coming to church on Sunday Serving once in a while on the dream team and doing a good job Giving of your tithe giving above the tithe to world changers attending a small group once in a while. That's your place of worship But my secular job my nine-to-five job that that's just something that needs to be endured So I can just provide for my family and if God has any interest in my job surely it's just that I you know don't cheat there and that I you know tithe off my salary and once in a while if Somebody asked me where I go to church. I say Calvary Church and I extended invites surely That's all I'm supposed to do at my job for the Lord My question for you today is is that the scope of pursuing excellence in your work? Is that the scope of serving God in your workplace believe it or not even from the beginning of time God has positioned us and has called us to work In fact in Genesis chapter 2 the very first mention of work in the Bible the Hebrew word that God used for work Is the word abide everyone say abide It shares the same root word as we get our word for worship from So in other words God creates Adam and Eve and Adam was supposed to worship God in the garden Not just by reading his Bible and not just by praying and not just going to church on Sunday And not just by staying away from a couple bad apples He was supposed to worship God by doing the things in the garden Taking care of the garden the way that God positioned him to do so and so I'm just gonna jump right into it today Four ways that we can worship God in our workplace Four ways that we can be a church that pursues Excellence in our nine-to-five job number one if you're taking notes, and I sure hope you are Worshipful work aligns with God's original purpose Number one worshipful work aligns with God's original purpose Work that is worship it fulfills God's purpose in creation Look at Genesis chapter 2 verse 15 God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden With the assignment to work the ground and to keep it now this was before the curse This was before sin. So work was not a punishment to mankind's sin It wasn't like this afterthought that God had you know what you messed up now you have to do these things

No, no, it was not like the original plan for God for Adam was like, you know what? I'm just gonna create Adam and you're just gonna lay around all day in the garden. You're gonna eat bonbons You're gonna have angels massaging you You just get to chill out and then Adam and Eve Cindy's like, you know what now you gotta have a job now You gotta work. No, this is part of God's Original plan in the creation story for mankind to work that word that God used for work Literally means in Hebrew to develop to develop you see God made Adam as a gardener a Gardener is not a park ranger who just guards the garden a gardener is somebody who actually Develops the garden and so God placed Adam in the garden to develop something He took the raw materials of the earth the dirt the plant the seeds and he said I've placed you over these things to rule and subdue and to Cultivate and develop these things for the glory of God and the benefit of other humans that will come after You see God made man in his image And the first thing that we find out about God in Genesis 1 and 2 is that God is our creator 12 times in Genesis 1 and 2 it says that God created this So when God made man in his image, he made him then to be a co-creator In fact, if you remember in the beginning when God was creating all these things over and over and over after God created something God saw this and it said it was It was good. God saw it and it was good. God saw it and it was good God saw it and it was good now notice. He said good there and not perfect He said good. He said I see that and that's good. Now, how many know good is good, but good is not perfect Good is good, but good is not perfect. Perfect means something cannot be improved upon Good means it's good But the work is not totally finished yet the way I would describe this for you I've got an illustration for you today the way I would describe this for you And I would just want you to know my wife gave me full permission to use this illustration today All right She was the one that said you need to take this picture right now in this moment use that for your sermon the way I would describe this is my wife Kyla. She just looks absolutely perfect on a Sunday morning when she comes to Calvary Church

She's beautiful. She's got her outfit all on the shoes picked out She picked it out the night before her hairs done her makeups done. How many know on Saturday night? She might look a little different than Sunday morning In fact, I got a picture of it, here's what she looked like last Saturday night Go ahead and throw it on the screen right there Now she said take the picture right now and I want you to show this to the church So she's a good sport. She's a good sport How many know when she's getting ready for bed on Saturday? That looks a little bit different than Sunday She looks just good in that moment. But on Sunday, oh, come on somebody. She looks perfect You take the raw materials though from Saturday and you develop them a little bit then you get the perfect products When God gave us creation and God created Adam and Eve He says I'm not just giving you a perfect creation to steward you are gardeners that is meant to work the ground and work your job to develop it for the glory of God and for the benefits of other humans and so God made Adam and Eve to be developers somebody say develop God is the creator and we are made in his image So you and I were called to be co-creators and rearrange the raw materials and bring them into God's perfect Will just as contractors take the raw materials sand and cement and use them to create buildings and artists take the raw materials of color and music and arrange them into art and Lawyers take the principles of justice and codify them into laws that benefit society This is good And this is what you and I were created for and designed for from the beginning of time And when we do this in a way God is himself at work creating through us Psalm 147 13 says this for God strengthens the bars of your gates. He blesses your children within you He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of eats and weeds Martin Luther was looking at this pastor scripture and he asked how exactly does God do that? How does he strengthen the bars of the city? The answer is he does that by city planners and by architects? He does that by politicians who pass good laws to protect the city. How does he bless our children within our midst? He does it by teachers and pediatricians. How does he make peace in our borders?

He does that by means of good lawyers and politicians. How does he fill us with the finest of wheat? He does that by farmers and factory workers and restaurant owners Even think of the Lord's Prayer our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give give us this day our what our our daily bread our daily bread But how does God give us our daily bread? Of course, God is the provider of all things But he provides our daily bread By the farmer who planted and harvested the grain and the baker who made that flour into bread and the person who then prepared our meal. All of these things are in play when God answers that prayer, give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, one word of clarification on this first point. One of the curses of the fall, one of the results of sin, yes, God made Adam and Eve to work, but one of the curses of the fall is that work became toilsome. Scripture says this, God cursed the ground and said that thorns and thistles would frustrate our efforts. So work at that point for many people and probably for some of us today has become a compulsory act of survival. For some of you, you like your job. It's like partially fulfilling, but then you're just exhausted at the end of the day. Come on. Others of you, you hate your nine to five job.

You hate your boss. You struggle with your coworkers. You dislike the work that you're doing. You're only in that job because you live in New Jersey and New Jersey is expensive. Come on, somebody. And you've got a mortgage and you've got kids that you gotta feed and braces that you gotta pay for and college that you gotta save up for. And you would say, if I could quit tomorrow, I would. And I would tell you this, these effects are a sad result of the curse of sin entering into the world. But you need to know this. You were made to worship and you were made to work. Give you a case study of this real quickly. And I know there's some other factors that can be considered, but just look at this just through the lens of which I'm presenting it today. So during 2020, during COVID lockdowns, everyone staying at home, except for the essential personnel, the essential workers, were the majority of people who were working at home working more or less? Less would be the area. I know there's some exceptions to that rule, essential personnel, some other people it was like overload and the opposite,

but I'd say for the majority of people who are working at home, they were working less in that season. Question number two, during COVID lockdowns, were more people more depressed or less depressed? More depressed, why? Because you were designed to worship and you were designed to work. You were made to worship, you were made to work. Number one, worshipful work fulfills God's purpose in creation. Number two, worshipful work pursues the highest standard of excellence. Worshipful work pursues the highest standard of excellence. Worshipful work pursues the highest standard of excellence. It's this mindset, it's this heartbeat that says, if we're gonna do our work, then we're gonna do it excellently. We say this here at Calvary Church, if we wanna put our hand to something, we wanna do it well, regardless of the reward that we get from it, regardless of the recognition. Paul says this in Colossians 3, 23, the text that we are in today, whatever you do, whatever you do, whatever assignment you've been given in life as your job, work heartily for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord, you'll receive the inheritance as your reward

because you are first and foremost serving the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you have a higher boss than your employer. You work for a greater reward than recognition or salary. You're working for eternity one day to hear well done, my good and faithful servants. And everything you do, it's an offering onto him. Everything you do, every bill that you sign, every time you move forward with an email, every time you arrive on time, every time you honor your boss, you're giving the worthiness that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ deserves. And some of you are saying, well, Pastor Dan, you don't know my boss. My boss is terrible. He never gives me the proper recognition. She never gave me that bonus. It's a difficult work environment. Listen, I know that's hard. I know that can lead to lack of loss or motivation, but here's what you gotta understand. You're not really doing it for him and you're not really doing it for her. You're doing it first and foremost for Jesus. You're doing it to hear well done, my good and faithful servants. See, every business, every organization has a chart. And somewhere at the top of the chart is some person that's the CEO or the boss of that company.

And the Christian says, no, no, no, actually above that chart is another chart and Jesus rules over them all. And so even if you look up the chain of command at your work and you have a hard time with your boss, listen, you can always say my boss' boss is actually named Jesus. So even if I have a hard time working for my boss, and even if I just can't stand my boss, and even if I have a hard time in that work environment, high up the food chain, way up the org chart, his name is probably not there. You just need to know that Jesus is the boss of your workplace. And you're working for a greater reward than recognition or salary or vacation time off. You're working to do as Colossians 3 says, in whatever you do, do it as onto the Lord to give him the worthiness that he deserves. And if you want a practical picture of this in scripture, you just have to look at the life of Jesus because Jesus shows up on the scene, born of a woman, born in a stable, the most humble place. And then as a boy, he takes on a job. as a carpenter. Do you think Jesus ever had a bad boss? Even if he had a good boss, let's just be honest today, Jesus didn't have a boss that was worthy of ruling over him. And yet Jesus worked with faithfulness,

Jesus worked with excellence, Jesus worked in submission to those above him. So again, whatever you're doing, whether you're taking care of patients or you're mopping floors or you're writing contracts or you're building houses or you're teaching children, we do it all for the glory of God to show how worthy he is and he deserves our best. He deserves our best. Let me just speak on behalf of employers for a moment, because I don't know any other place to interject this than in this message. And I know I've technically only been an employer for two years and there's a lot of people that have far more wisdom than me in this area, but this is just some of the things I've been hearing talking to other business leaders. So let me just share that with you today. There's a lot of people that are looking for work today, but there's not a lot of people looking to work in the way that Colossians 3 describes it, amen? Like people you can actually trust. Like they're not gonna steal from the company. Like they actually show up to their job on time. Like they actually don't waste two hours of their day scrolling on social media and do what is assigned to them. Like they're gonna go the extra mile. Like they're not gonna gossip or complain or create drama in the workplace. Like they're gonna give everything

to the best of their ability. And I would just challenge you with this. If you wanna just blow your employer's mind, if you wanna be a follower of Jesus that works hard, as Colossians 3 says, if you would just go up to your employer and sit down and say, hey, can I have five minutes of your time? I just wanna ask you, how can I do a better job here? How can I do a better job here? Maybe you've been listening to this message today and you've realized that your attitude has not been very great, or you realize your performance has not been very good at your job, or you realize you feel some conviction on some of the things I've been talking about today. Maybe you could go to your employer and you could apologize and you could say, you know what? I have not really been honoring you. I have not really been fulfilling what my job description says. You know, I know my attitude has kind of stunk over this last year. I've had a bad attitude. And it's not your fault, it's mine, and I wanna do a better job. Let me ask you, how could I do a better job? I'm telling you, two things will happen in that moment. Number one, your employer will be very grateful

for your honesty and your conversation. Number two, you're gonna have to perform CPR on your employer, because he's gonna pass out in that moment. Because nobody asks these questions, and nobody acts like this. But as followers of Jesus, we're called to act differently because we pursue excellence in our jobs. We pursue excellence. I remember my first job that I had, my first job. It was my senior year of high school, my first job. And I was working at a junkyard called Gary's U-Pull-It. Gary's U-Pull-It, all right? And working at the junkyard, I thought they were gonna put me at the cashier. I thought they were gonna put me as a little associate, helping with people. First day on the job, they said, oh, we got a job for you. You're going in all of the cars in the junkyard, the ones that are messy and disgusting, and people leave all sorts of trash in their cars in the junkyard, right? And they said, we need you to clean those cars out and start picking up all of the trash around the cars. And that was a great moment for me to say, you know what? You know what? Nobody is seeing what I'm doing. Nobody's necessarily even checking on my work, but this is a great moment for me to say,

God, I'm gonna do whatever I'm doing for your honor and your glory. And I'm gonna be the best trash picker-upper at Gary's U-Pull-It, because that's the task that I've been assigned in this season. Come on, we pursue excellence. Number three, worshipful work chooses integrity over your convenience. Worshipful work reflects the highest standard of activity. The British politician, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he worked in British government for years. He once played a practical joke on 12 other prominent politicians and business leaders in Great Britain. And he sent up this telegram, an anonymous telegram, but obviously from inside of the government, that said, flee the country at once. All has been discovered. He checked back in six hours, and all 12 of them were making plans to leave the country. So this idea of a lack of integrity in the workplace, that's nothing new. But true work that worships, a lifestyle that pursues excellence in our job, says, you know what? I'm going to reflect the justice and the integrity of God in my workplace in all that I do. In other words, business ethics really matter to the believer because our work is first and foremost done unto the Lord.

Proverbs 11, verse one, listen to this. It says, a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. A false balance, you know what that means? That means when they go to weigh something to see how much it was valued, a false balance would be when you would put some extra weights on it. You put some extra stuff on it. You'd make it seem like it was worth more. You'd make it seem like you deserved more. You'd make it seem like it had a higher value. But he says, no, no, no. We have a false balance for us in our jobs today. A false balance for us is fudging, it's lying on a mileage report. It means overcharging hours beyond what we actually worked. It means skimping on your time card. It means taking personal activities and using them during company time. How about this? It's unreported income on your taxes. So on and so forth. We could list a whole bunch of things today, but listen to what the writer of Proverbs says. He says, those things God says are an abomination to him. Yikes. Abomination, that's a varsity word right there. Abomination is only used a few times in scripture

in the Old Testament. And if you wanna look it up, you would not like the other phrases in scripture where the word abomination is used. They're an abomination to me, God says. Being full of integrity, being a person of your word, to worship God in your work means having standards higher than the world does. Maybe even going beyond the world's standards. Psalm 15, verse one, the message translation. Disciples come to Jesus and they say, God, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list? Here's what he answers. Walk straight, act right, tell the truth. Don't hurt your friends. Don't blame your neighbor. Despise the despicable. Keep your word even when it costs you. Make an honest living. Never take a bribe. You'll never get blacklisted if you live like this. You wanna know how to have fellowship with God on a daily basis through the gospel and the gospel alone. Who's thankful today that we're saved by grace through faith and faith alone, right? And it's this ongoing relationship with Jesus, right? We can never do it on our own. It's this lifestyle of getting to know him day by day. And this process of sanctification,

which happens as we attend church and we read the word and we pray and worship. All of those things are a parts of living out the gospel, but you also have to walk in integrity. We can't just say we believe those things and then not live them out in our workplace as well. We model it, we model integrity. Our word is yes, and we're people of our word. Number four, lastly, today is this. Worshipful work multiplies blessing beyond ourselves. Worshipful work means blessing others. Worshipful work makes blessing others. That's the bottom line. That's the least that we can do. To follow Jesus means you begin to live your life the way that Jesus lived. And what characterized Jesus's life was this. He leveraged his position. He leveraged his strength. He leveraged his power. He leveraged his authority. He leveraged all that he had to build his kingdom. No, but to serve others. See, I say it this way. If you're too big to serve, you're too small to lead. Second Corinthians eight, verse nine. Jesus, though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor so that through his poverty, you and I, we might become rich. And think of Jesus, the King of Kings,

the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the reason why we gather today. He had position, he had power, he had influence, yet he used all that he had not to make a name for himself, but to lift others up. Think about the job that you have and the place where the Lord has put you today. God has made you rich in different ways. Maybe it's not financially, but he's given you talents. He's given you influence. He's given you opportunities. He's given you skills or positions. And the question becomes at my job, will I leverage what I have to make it about me or will I pour myself out to serve others? Ephesians six, verse five. Great verse, Paul's writing to the church at Ephesus. He says, slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly. Serve wholeheartedly at your job. Serve with all of your heart as if you were serving the Lord because you do it for the Lord, not people. Because you know that the Lord will reward each of you

for whatever good they do, whether they're slave or free. And it starts with this attitude. It starts with this mindset. You know what, I'm gonna show up at my job today and it's not just about what I'm gonna get today. It's about what I can give. It's not just about everybody meeting my needs in this moment. It's also about how I can help the other employees that are there. It's also about how I can help bless my boss. It's also how I can be honorable to those in authority over me. I'm gonna show up at my job and even if everyone's grumbling and gossiping and complaining, I'm gonna show up with joy. I'm there to serve and to wash feet. I'm not there to complain or criticize. Listen, anybody can find a problem in the workplace. A real leader finds a solution to the problem. Live in such a way that people ask, why are you different? Why do you serve with joy? Why do you maintain an excellent spirit even when no one notices? Why do you forgive instead of holding grudges when that person keeps wronging you? Why do you not stir up trouble or gossip or complaining in the office? Why are you so generous with your time? And when people start asking you those questions, you go, that's just because I know Jesus. And because I love Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, it's my opportunity

then to get to serve Him in everything I do today. And it's an opportunity then, if you will work hard at your job, because nobody does this today. If you will work hard at your job, you'll honor those in authority. You'll do things well. I'm telling you, everybody's going to ask what's different about you. And it's a witnessing opportunity. Your work can become your witness as you pursue excellence for Jesus. Excellence honors God. It does. Excellence eliminates distractions. It does. But we pursue excellence because Colossians 3 tells us Jesus is worthy of our best. And when we do our best for God, He receives all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. Oh, hear me today. I'm not telling you that the true worshipers of Jesus are defined by their work. No, no, no. It's not about our performance. Our work cannot be our identity, but we are defined by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ whom we worship. And as followers of Jesus who worship Jesus, one of the displays of worship that we have is the work that we do in our witness to a lost and dying world. This makes sense? Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We give you praise and thanks for the time to just be together. Lord, to open your word, God, to be reminded of your faithfulness, of your mercy, of your grace. God, I thank you that the Bible says that while we were still sinners, Lord Jesus, you

sent your son to die for us. God, not because we deserved it, Lord, but because you extended this incredible mercy in this gift. And so God, I thank you today for Jesus. Father, I thank you that you've created us with the capacity to work. Lord, that you said in word and deed, whatever we're doing, we should do it under the name of the Lord Jesus. And so help us to be a people that would do that. God, that our identity is not in our work, our identity is in Christ. But I also pray that you'd be glorified through our hands, through our words, and through our faith in the workplace. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. You know, just in this moment, every head is bowed, every eye is closed in this moment. I know it's definitely a different message today than probably normally would be preached here on a Sunday, talking about pursuing excellence, especially in our job, in our workplace. The reason why we pursue excellence, the reason why we work hard is because we love Jesus. And Jesus came to earth, lived on earth 33 years, sinless, spotless life, went to work for bosses over him, never sinned, never failed, never grumbled, never complained, never missed the mark, because Jesus was perfect. The Bible says that you and I, we can never be perfect. The Bible says actually on our best day, all of our righteousness is like filthy rags in the presence of a holy God. The Bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's why Jesus came to earth, so that you and I could be made right with him. And it starts in a moment just like this. Romans 10 tells us this, that if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you believe in your heart that God raised you from the dead, raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It's a simple moment, simple invitation. We do it every single week.

We always end our services with this. But I wonder if this is the day for you, if this is the day of salvation. The Bible says, don't wait, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year. It says, today is the day of salvation. Don't wait any longer. Is that you? Every head bowed, every eye closed. I'm gonna count to three. If that's you unashamed, because he was unashamed for you as he hung on that cross for your sin. I want you to just lift your hand quickly and you can put it right back down. Ready? One, two, three. Come on, throw that hand right up there, throw it right down. In our second auditorium, go ahead and place your hand up in the air, you can put it right back down. Fantastic. A couple of hands in this room. God is good. He's saving even in this moment. Hey, come on, all of us as a church family, let's all pray together so that no one prays alone. Repeat after me, say, Jesus. Say, here I am. Say, here's my life. Say, God, I ask you to forgive me of my sins, to change me. Then just declare this, say, be the Lord of my life. And from this day forward, I'll follow you. My life is not my own, but I exist for your glory. In your name, in Jesus name, we pray.