Over the years, I felt an increasingly clear call to the work of pastoral ministry And am figuring out what that means on a daily basis

Transcription

1 Growing up, I don t recall having any particular career aspirations For a time, I was fairly interested in becoming Superman And one day (as a 5 yr. old), while I was donning my Superman pajamas I jumped off my bicycle to attempt flight for the first time And came crashing down hard on the driveway and broke my wrist And so I gave up on that dream When I was 13 or 14, I remember seeing an episode of The Simpsons Where one character, who s a bit of a dunce Answered the question What do you want to be when you grow up? By saying Either a fireman or a caterpillar And so I used that as my standard answer when the same question Was posed to me Over the years, I felt an increasingly clear call to the work of pastoral ministry And am figuring out what that means on a daily basis Work is such an important part of our lives And not just the work we get paid for But all of those things that occupy our time/energy/attention Which is why we re in this sermon series called Good Work Two weeks ago, we identified that we need to talk about work Because the majority of us spend the majority of our time Somewhere other than the church building And Scripture has something to say about how we use that time An English writer named Dorothy Sayers said: How can any one remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life? So, we looked at Gen.1 and saw that work was a good part of God s creation Humanity was called to rule over and subdue the world that God had made Central to our being made in God s image is the ways we steward And cultivate and order and beautify God s world (this = origin of work)

2 We talked about needing to reject the notion that overtly spiritual work Is at the top of the pyramid and everything else is less than We shared the story of the car dealer who changed his pricing structure To be equitable across various demographics of his customers And the magazine editor who made a stand against retouching pics - women And the CEO who discontinued a product that was exploiting the poor And the mortgage broker who refused to lend more than necessary Because she didn t want to contribute to a families financial stress (divorce) All these people in their normal, seemingly unspiritual ways Reflected their imagebearing identity in their various industries We talked about needing to develop a Xian imagination for our work (in the shop/home/office/classroom) Last week, Pastor Tom shared with us the passage from Jeremiah 29 When the people of Judah are in exile stripped from their homeland The passage demonstrates we are no longer in a Genesis 1 world So, what is the purpose of work in a world marred by sin? Through the prophet Jeremiah, God admonished the people of Judah: Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (Jeremiah 29:7) In an environment that was hostile to the community of faith God called his people to live out their imagebearing identity By working for the good of their neighbors (who were their enemies) Don t just look out for your people; help the whole city win This text invites us to use our work for the common good Our city should be better off b/c Xians are teachers, nurses, contractors, accountants, parents, truck drivers, students, etc. And it leads us to ask the question: How am I leveraging my work for the benefit of the city?

3 So, we talked about the GIFT of work in the very beginning And in a world of sin, we ve talked about the redemptive PURPOSE of work This morning, we re going to explore the darker side of work And identify a certain temptation tied to work that we need to guard against Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar 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. Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth. But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11 is the last chapter of a section that we call pre-history Gen 1-11 explains some foundational dynamics of human history Gen 1-2: A world created GOOD; peace between God/humanity/creation Gen 3: Human rebellion against God; sin enters creation, spoils GOOD world Gen 4-5: Adam/Eve s son Cain kills Abel; sin, like sickness, spreads Gen. 6-10: Humanity has grown so wicked; God wants to start fresh (Noah) In Genesis 11, humanity has repopulated after the flood But we find that people have not changed their ways Humanity is still inclined toward rebellion This is b/c sin has entered the human heart It s not just some external force or figure seeking to sway men & women No, the sickness is inside us

4 The NT author James knew this to be true when he wrote: What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. (James 4:1-2) It s like that scene in the movie Tombstone about Wyatt Earp [image?]: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are talking about their enemy, Johnny Ringo Wyatt asks: What makes a man like Ringo do the things he does? Doc: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it. Wyatt: What does he need? Doc: Revenge Wyatt: For what? Doc: For being born. We behave in the ways we do because we are living out of our core What s happening in our heart gets expressed in our lives So, if we want to change our lives, we ve got to change our hearts The text tells us that there was a kind of unity among the people All the world spoke a common language And the people organized themselves around a common task Twice we see repeated a phrase that comes up in Gen. 1 They say: Come let us make bricks build a city. The text is deliberately echoing the words of God in Gen. 1 When God said, Come, let us make mankind in our image As imagebearers, the people are creating/ordering/cultivating the world They are mirroring the creative activity of God on the earth But toward what ends? For what purpose? v. 4 gives us our answer: Come, let us build OURSELVES a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for OURSELVES

5 The call of imagebearers is to reflect the glory of God within creation But these imagebearers have subverted their calling Rather than drawing attention and acclaim to their Creator They are trying to shore up their own reputation and identity To add insult to injury, read the rest of v. 4 Why should they build this city and this tower together? Because otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Remember back to Gen. 1 What was God s command to the animals and to humanity? Be fruitful, increase in number and fill the earth God wanted a world that was brimming with life But the people have rejected God s plan yet again Rather than thinking with an abundance mentality And filling the earth with life The people are hoarding; they ve bound together What could appear to be a great moment of human unity/togetherness Is at its core a great act of sedition and mutiny Their great project which they d taken on to make a name for themselves Was a tower called a ziggurat a common structure in ANE It was meant to mimic a mountain, which was thought to be The meeting place between humanity and the gods Throughout the OT (especially in the prophets) Projects like this were thought to be symbols of human arrogance And if we pay attention to our Genesis 1 foundation, that s what happened. Sure, humanity was meant to honor God s name But let s make a name for ourselves Sure, God blessed humanity and commanded us to fill the earth But we know better; let s band together in a single place Sure, God banned us from the garden But let s build a tower and storm the gates of heaven to confront him

6 And the second half of our text details the inevitable end of such a tale God, in his sovereignty, will not let his plans go unfulfilled God scatters the people in order to fill the earth And confuses their languages as an act of mercy That they might not band together again in such unified rebellion And inflict further judgment upon themselves The text tells us that because of God s action The city that was to be humanity s great statement of self-assurance Turned out to be utter nonsense The name Babel means what it sounds like meaningless gibberish And this is a warning to us about the empires of this world (big & small scale) That aim only to bring glory to people That, in the end, these too will be proven to be meaningless gibberish Empires of dirt, forgotten and remembered no more So, what does this have to do with our work? Well, at its core, this story serves as a kind of parable about human identity Since we live out of what s in our hearts Then we know people at Babel were having an identity crisis in their hearts Sin had entered their hearts & created all kinds of confusion They were out trying to make a name for themselves Because they didn t have an internal confidence in their own identity And when people don t have a truly anchored, secure identity We behave in strange ways And that s the temptation of work: To use our work as a means of finding an identity So, you re no longer just a person I m a manager/a straight A student/lawyer/parent/ or even, I m a PASTOR Or we find our identity in what we can accumulate as a result of our work A big house / nice stuff / the appearance of power / friends in high places

7 It s Johnny Ringo all over again When you ve got that great big hole right in the middle of you No amount of personal or professional success can fill that in The question we need to ask when it comes to our work: Are we working for an identity or from an identity? Are we working TO GAIN an identity? If I m not in that role / if I don t sit in that office / if I m not in that convo I just don t know what I d do with myself Or are we working OUT OF a firmly rooted identity that we already have. This is the great temptation of work to use it as a means of finding our identity Temptations are often an unhealthy means to worthy ends. Learn what the ends are then find the healthy way to satisfy them. (Joseph Grenny) So, what is the worthy end that the temptation of work points to? Our tendency to use our work or our accomplishments to gain an identity Points to the very real need that every one of us have To be affirmed in our identity by something/someone outside of us We tend to look in one of three places to find our identity: 1. Look to our work (accomplishments / success / hobbies) 2. Look to other people (family members / friends / etc.) 3. Look within I know how chaotic/sinful my own mind/heart can be Inside my own heart is no place to find myself These are dead-end destinations in the search for identity The temptation we feel to put our identity in our work, other people, in ourselves Is supposed to direct us to the identity We gain in relationship with our creator

8 Before the Fall, Adam and Eve didn t have identity crises Adam didn t walk around all puffed up about being the one to name animals And Eve wasn t awkwardly indebted to Adam for loaning her a rib They knew who they were in relationship to their Creator So they could enjoy the gift of work and the presence of others Without expecting anything or anyone else to establish their identity The great longing of every heart is for us to be named/affirmed/assured In our identity by the One who knows us most intimately b/c he made us And this is precisely what happens in baptism: When our heavenly Father speaks these words over us This is my son, this is my daughter, whom I love, with you I m well pleased. And that message from the outside that we so long to hear Enters our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit Paul in Rom. 8: God s Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children That is our identity; an identity so strong, so anchored in reality One so firm, that could never be found thru work, or from others or within And when we know in the very core of our being that we re children of God And our soul cries out Abba, Father THEN we can truly engage our work in a way that redeems That s free of ego and desperation for identity Then we can truly serve, truly reflect God s image to the rest of the world If we know, at the very core of our being, who we are and whose we are. Babel = God coming down to scatter people who were building a kingdom for self There s another story of God coming down to scatter people On this day, all around the world Christians gather to remember the Day of Pentecost When just as Jesus promised the Holy Spirit descended On those worrisome, wavering disciples Assured them of their identity, filled them with power Enabled them to speak in many languages And scattered them throughout the world that God s glory might be known

9 And as we are gathered today as a church We pray that God might do a new work of Pentecost among us That the Spirit of God might descend And give us the confidence of our identity as daughters/sons of God And empower us, like he did w/the first disciples To scatter and fill the earth That God s ways might be made known among all people Father, pour out your Holy Spirit on your gathered church today as on Pentecost Forgive us for building empires in our own names Give us the assurance of our identity in you Help us understand the good news about the death/resurrection of your Son And empower and send us out to share that news w/the world.