Hope this message delivered today serves to encourage your life with Gods grace as you face the workplace! Keep the WHISTLE in spite of the THISTLE! “WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK” Ecclesiastes 2:24 Dr. Frank M. Smith, Jr., Pastor Christ’s Church For Our Community Sunday Morning – June 22, 2014 Co-Workers Day In 1937, Larry Morey wrote the lyrics for the animated Disney film “SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. The lyrics go like this: Just whistle while you work And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place So hum a merry tune It wont take long when theres a song to help you set the pace And as you sweep the room Imagine that the broom is someone that you love And soon youll find youre dancing to the tune When hearts are high the time will fly so whistle while you work Just whistle while you work Put on that grin and start right in to whistle loud and long Just hum a merry tune Just do your best and take a rest and sing yourself a song When theres too much to do Dont let it bother you, forget your troubles, Try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee And whistle while you work Come on get smart, tune up and start To whistle while you work Of course the Ying Yang Twins have a version out called, “Whistle while you Twurk” but I dare not share the lyrics of that song. Someone may ask the question – Is it possible to get up every morning excited about going to work? Is it possible to truly enjoy the job? Is it possible to get along with everyone on the job and have happy and joyous days? Is it possible to finish a day or night on the job and ride home with a smile, free from headaches, exhaustion, frustration and aggravation? Is it possible to spend years on the same job and find fulfillment on a daily basis? Well, perhaps that particular someone is asking too many questions or they are asking the wrong questions. Life itself even apart from work will have some trials, heartaches and heartbreaks. Life itself will have ups and downs – ins and outs – heres and theres. Life itself will have both sunny days and stormy days – Life itself has both triumphs and challenges. Life itself have both joys and sorrows. So if life has these issues and opportunities, we can rest assured that lives spent in the workplace will also have the same ingredients on any given day and even every day. Before Larry Morey or even the Ying Yang Twins, The wisdom writer of Ecclesiastes helps us consider the importance of the soul enjoying good in one’s labor. The New Century Version says, “The best that people can do is eat, drink and enjoy their work. I saw that even this comes from God.” Scripture promises that we can have joy through any work. This text is saying that work is a gift of God, and it is good to find enjoyment in [it]—the Hebrew literally reads, make his soul see the good in [it]. Some jobs will make this joy easy for us; some wont. But God wills that we make our souls see the good in our work, whatever it may be. We may never become heel-clicking happy about our job, but it is possible for us to have robust joy in it. Statistics reveal that if we live to retirement, that as an employee we will have worked nearly 90,000 hours of our life. Now multiply that out, & it comes to over 45 years of 40-hour weeks, 50 weeks a year minus national holidays. We will have spent that much time at our job, & that is a large slice of life. Put that together with the fact that most people don’t really care about their jobs, & they look at their work as something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Eighty percent of employees say they are dissatisfied with their jobs. Most would rather be anywhere than at their current job. Theres lots of reasons for this -- boring work, office politics, low pay, controlling boss... the list is endless. Whatever the cause, being dissatisfied at work isnt good for you or your employer. Chronic unhappiness creates a host of emotional and physical problems and lowers our job performance. We also carry these negative emotions into our homes and neighborhoods, hurting the relationships we cherish most deeply. It is important that Christians have both a Godly perspective and performance when it comes to how we view the opportunity God gives us to work. We are challenged these days with a generation coming on particularly in this country that has a low regard for a positive strong work ethic. Just like Christians – believers have a mandate to model the Spirit of Christ in many lifestyle attributes; we must also understand we have to set forth the best disposition and attitude possible when it comes to work. The workplace is another place – the workplace is a key place wherein those who know Christ have an opportunity to brighten the day – uplift others – show compassion and be productive. The workplace is a significant place of influence and it is a place where hearts and minds can be shaped according to the image of God. When we complain – cuss – and connive our way out of a positive outlook on work, our children and their children pick up on that and they to do everything they can to get out of work. When we huff and puff and have no joy – no sense of accomplishment – no victory – no overcoming grace – no power over problems, we pass along to next generations that the right way is always a hard way – a painful way – a difficult way. They then will opt out of the pressure and decide to be less than their best. When we consider the whole notion of work, it is good to go back to the beginning – the Genesis of it all and glean a wholesome understanding. In Genesis 2:2 we read, By the 7th day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the 7th day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the 7th day & made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. That tells us that God is a worker, & we have been created in His image. Vs. 7 says, And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, & man became a living being. Vs. 15 says, The Lord God took the man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & take care of it. Now understand, this is before the fall of man. This is before sin appeared in the world. God gave man, as a part of the blessing of Paradise, the privilege of working the garden & caring for it. Can you imagine what it would have been like to take care of the Garden of Eden before the fall? All Adam had to do was plant & prune & pick. Then Adam & Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. We read the result of their fall in the 3rd chapter, beginning with vs. 17. “To Adam He said, ‘Because you listened to your wife & 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 of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns & thistles for you, & 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, since from it you were taken; for dust you are & to dust you will return.’ But did you notice? The curse is not work. The curse is the thorns & thistles & pain & death. The curse is blood & sweat & tears, not work. Work can be fun. But when you put work together with thorns & thistles & other parts of the curse, then it often is not much fun any more. Thistles refer to flowering plants that are characterized by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins. These prickles occur all over the plant. There is musk thistle – carline thistle – distaff thistle – star thistle – sow thiste – field thistle – blessed thistle – globe thistle – Syrian thistle – cotton thistle – golden thistle – milk thistle – Russian thistle – and many other types of thistle. Thistle is like a burr. Thistle represents that even though the flowers may be beautiful – even though the flowers may smell fragrant, if there is thistle, if you are not careful, when you go to touch the flower, you will be pricked and experience pain. Sometimes people are just like thistle – they are funny – smart – but if you touch them the wrong way, you get pricked by their thistle. Yet with the potential of on-the-job thistle, the question is can you still find joy – can you still find peace – can you deal with the thistle and still be able to whistle? So what are some practical ways that we can still whistle when we have to deal with thistles? 1. REPENT OF IDEAL JOBOLATRY. Its a gift to be doing work you truly love. But if we dream about our ideal job and start saying, I will be truly happy when Im doing ______, we elevate work to a functional savior and give it the place in our hearts reserved only for Christ. No job will make you happy in and of itself. Ecclesiastes, an ever-reliable bucket of ice water to the face, tells us, What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. . . . This also is vanity (2:22-3). Watch yourself for the beginnings of ideal jobolatry and turn from them, reminding yourself that joy depends entirely and only on Jesus Christ. 2. FILL YOURSELF WITH SCRIPTURE AND PRAYER DAILY. Christians ought to be practicing these disciplines anyway, but believers in unpleasant work environments especially need this reminder. Every difficult environment is like a soul-desert—it dries us out, sapping life rather than giving it. Jeremiah 17:5-8 tells us that the one who makes flesh his strength will have a soul like a parched shrub. By contrast, though she faces heat and drought, the one whose trust is the Lord plants her roots in a life-giving stream and does not wither. Psalm 1:1-3 uses a similar image specifically to describe our relationship to Gods Word—feasting on Gods Word enables us to bear dry spiritual climates. Meditating on Scripture—not just reading it, but thoughtfully and prayerfully digesting it into our souls—provides us with soul-nutrition that can help us through tough job situations. Praying throughout the day connects us to God. Think back over your morning meditations. Remind yourself of the gospel with simple prayers like Abba, Father/I belong to Thee and Jesus, Son of David/Have mercy on me, a sinner. 3. INVEST IN THE TASKS AND THE RELATIONSHIPS OF YOUR WORK. Its easy to be tempted to slack in a job you dont enjoy. But were actually commanded to work heartily in everything we do, knowing that from the Lord [we] will receive the inheritance as [our] reward (Col. 3:23-4). And when we take ownership of a job and strive to do our best in it, we come to enjoy it more. See God as your true boss. Remind yourself that He is the one from whom you hope to be rewarded. Investing in your work community can also cultivate joy. If you work with Christians, these relationships may come easily (sometimes they don’t). If you work with mainly nonbelievers, give thanks for this natural way to minister to neighbors outside the church. And look for ways to invest redemptively in your work relationships. Ive worked in offices where most of the water-cooler conversation involved complaining or gossip. Resist the temptation to remain silent and disengage. Challenge yourself to find ways to introduce loving or pleasant conversations into your workplace. 4. CONTEMPLATE THE GOODNESS OF YOUR JOB. Its easy to think of the unpleasant aspects of a job we already dislike. Dwelling on them reinforces our dislike. But most jobs somehow harmonize with Gods redemptive work in creation. Does your work bring order out of chaos? Then youre in effect gardening, in line with the command to fill and subdue the earth. Does your job involve correcting errors? Then youre establishing justice, which is part of Gods character. Even if your work doesnt resonate with your sense of calling, look for a way in which it does something good and connect that to the goodness of God. 5. REMIND YOURSELF THAT YOUR IDENTITY IS IN CHRIST, NOT YOUR JOB. We tend to define ourselves by our work. What do you do? is one of the first five questions we ask people we meet, and it chafes us to say something like, I park cars. We must not esteem ourselves (and others) highly or lowly depending on how we perceive our jobs (and theirs). Paul wrote to the Philippians, For [Jesus] sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him (3:8-9). If your job feels beneath you, remind yourself that you belong to God through the sacrificial death of Jesus alone. You have infinite value to God because of Jesus. Find yourself in Christ alone, and you will find joy in any job circumstance. So when your life – when your job has thistles, when your daily experience is filled with thorns, just remember you can still whistle while you work! Jesus Himself knows something about prickles – thistles – and thorns. He did His greatest work on Calvary’s cross. His boss, the Father, sent Him to do a job – His job was a salvation job – it was a job that required a demotion – He had to leave the main office in glory and travel to earth – He had to set up a satellite location on earth to accomplish a heavenly task. But Jesus went right on and did what He was supposed to do. Jesus surrendered all – He came to earth with a good work ethic – He came to earth with a good attitude. He did not allow Himself to get distracted from His Job Position Description – He often repeated the work objective – ‘my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to Finish His Work. Well, Jesus had to put up with a whole lot of opposition – a whole lot of mistreatment. But His customer service skills were tremendous. He healed the sick – He gave sight to the blind – He made the lame to walk – He made the deaf to hear – He encouraged the outcasts – He restored relationships – He raised the dead. Jesus had excellent customer service. Jesus even worked overtime… He stayed in the garden of Gethsemane all night long… while the disciples drifted off to sleep, He stayed awake and He prayed for you and He prayed for me. Yes, Jesus even spent time performing professional development training for disciples – knowing one day they would be apostles – Jesus took some vacation time to go out alone, but He still ended up teaching – and calming stormy seas – and said, “Peace Be Still”. Jesus is a fine example of knowing how to whistle while you work. On that cross – as He hang between two thieves, He whistled forgiveness and pardon to the thief who was willing to appreciate Jesus for who He is. On that cross – as He looked down to His mother, He whistled love – Woman behold thy Son – Son behold thy Mother - On that cross – as He looked out to humanity – before He gave up the ghost, He whistled completion when He said, It is finished – task is finished – the work of God on Calvary was finished. He died – but one thing for sure – Jesus did not work without benefits – He planned ahead and prepared with Life Insurance – Heaven’s policy went into effect – the Angels filed the claim – Resurrection was to happen in 3 days – no time to waste – but because Jesus endured the struggle – because Jesus went through the challenge – because Jesus suffered with the crown of thorns – because Jesus was nailed to the cross – because Jesus was pierced in the side – because Jesus suffered bled and died – Jesus fulfilled all the job requirements and met the qualifications for glory and He got up – whistling all power in heaven and earth in His hands! Now He is ascended into Heaven – seated on the Father’s right hand – So whistle while you work – a great reward is coming for all good and honest labor – for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 21:40:50 +0000
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