12. How Then Should We Work?

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Cordelia Jacobs
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1 God and Vocation How Faith Affects All We Do in Life 12. How Then Should We Work?

2 1. The Big Picture 2. The Goodness of Work: Serving as Priests and Kings Work 3. The Goal of Work: Perfecting the Kingdom of God Fall Works 8. The of Work: Jesus as our Priest and King 4. The Idolatry of Work: Betraying our Priesthood 5. The Futility of Work: Cursed in our Kingship 6. Discussion and Review 9. The Posture of Work: Recovering our Priesthood Good Works 10. The Power of Work: Recovering our Kingship How Faith Affects All 7. Midterm We Do Exam in Life Rest 11. The Presence and Place of Rest: Priests and Kings Now and Not Yet 12. How Then Should We Work? 13. Final Discussion and Review 14. Final Exam

Fall 2. The Goodness of Work: Serving as Priests and Kings Work 3. The Goal of Work: Perfecting the Kingdom of God 8. The of Work: Jesus as our Priest and King 4.

3 Fall 2. The Goodness of Work: Serving as Priests and Kings Work 3. The Goal of Work: Perfecting the Kingdom of God 8. The of Work: Jesus as our Priest and King 4. The Idolatry of Work: Betraying our Priesthood 5. The Futility of Work: Cursed in our Kingship Works 9. The Posture of Work: Recovering our Priesthood Good Works 10. The Power of Work: Recovering our Kingship Rest 11. The Presence and Place of Rest: Priests and Kings Now and Not Yet

4 Story God creates all things, with humans as his royal priests. Significance God is the creator, separate from but active in creation. Creation is good. Fall Story Adam and Eve disobey and are expelled from the Garden. Next verse, same as the first: Cain, Flood, Tower of Babel, ISRAEL. Significance Disobedience and exile. Story THE CROSS Story Jesus will return in the way that he left. At that time his people will be resurrected, the earth will be renewed, evil will be judged. Significance Significance God s creation purposes are fully realized.

5 Fall THE CROSS

7 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

8 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment Eph 2.4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2.10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

9 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment Heb 13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. From being Grateful Recipients of God s Goodness to being Faithful Agents of God s Goodness

10 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

11 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

12 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

13 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

14 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

15 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

16 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

17 2015 by Brittany Fan

18 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment How then do we add (this royal extension of) goodness to vocational discernment? Intersection of Passion, Talent, and Opportunity The Three Questions You Need to Ask Yourself 1. What are you deeply passionate about? 2. What are you genetically encoded for what activities do you feel just made to do? 3. What makes economic sense what can you make a living at?

19 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment How then do we add (this royal extension of) goodness to vocational discernment? Intersection of Passion, Talent, and Opportunity The Three Questions You Need to Ask Yourself 1. What are you deeply passionate about? 2. What are you genetically encoded for what activities do you feel just made to do? 3. What makes economic sense what can you make a living at?

20 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment How then do we add (this royal extension of) goodness to vocational discernment? Intersection of Passion, Talent, and Opportunity The Three Questions You Need to Ask Yourself 1. What are you deeply passionate about? 2. What are you genetically encoded for what activities do you feel just made to do? 3. What makes economic sense what can you make a living at? WHAT IS MISSING HERE? GOODNESS!

21 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment How then do we add (this royal extension of) goodness to vocational discernment? The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world s deep hunger meet. Frederic Buechner Does this do it? GOODNESS!

22 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment How then do we add (this royal extension of) goodness to vocational discernment? What questions might we ask about a potential job? 1. What is the product or service? Is it good for people? For the environment? 2. What is the work environment or culture? Is it good for people, including those under your supervision? Does it create opportunity and fruitfulness for others? 3. What are the work practices? Do they have integrity? Do they honor your vendors, competitors, obligations to g ment? 4. Will you be in a position to change the GOODNESS! culture or is it likely to change you?

23 Good Works Priestly Sacrifices Royal Beneficence Sabbath Fulfillment

25 Fall THE CROSS

26 Fall THE CROSS

27 Fall THE CROSS Resisting Idolatry Confronting Futility

28 Fall THE CROSS Resisting Idolatry Confronting Futility Is there a sphere of human activity, one might even say of human existence, that does not need to be justified by inclusion in a five-year plan and its technical organization? Is there such a thing or not? Joseph Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture, p. 38. The practical problem involved might be stated thus: Is it possible, from now on, to maintain and defend, or even to recognize, the right and claims of leisure, in face of the claims of total labor that are invading every sphere of life? Leisure, it must be remembered, is not a Sunday afternoon idyll, but the preserve of freedom, of education and culture, and of that undiminished humanity which views the world as a whole. In other words, is it going to be possible to save men from becoming officials and functionaries and workers to the exclusion of all else? Pieper, p. 53. But if celebration is the core of leisure, then leisure can only be made possible and justifiable on the same basis as the celebration of a festival. That basis is divine worship. Pieper, 65.

29 Fall THE CROSS Resisting Idolatry Confronting Futility What if, through tragedy, incapacity, or lack of opportunity, God s goodness no longer seems to come to us or through us? Are we no longer priests offering sacrifices of praise and good works or kings extending his goodness to others? Rom 8:28 God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

30 Fall ON HIS BLINDNESS (John Milton) WHEN I consider how my light is spent THE CROSS E're half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide, Resisting Idolatry Confronting Futility Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present What if, through tragedy, incapacity, or lack of opportunity, God s goodness no longer My seems true to account, come to us least or through he returning us? Are we chide, no longer priests offering sacrifices of praise and good works or kings extending his goodness to others? Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd, I fondly Rom 8:28 ask; God But works patience all things to together prevent for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts, who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best, his State Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed And post o er Land and Ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand and wait.

31 Fall THE CROSS Resisting Idolatry Confronting Futility What if, through tragedy, incapacity, or lack of opportunity, God s goodness no longer seems to come to us or through us? Are we no longer priests offering sacrifices of praise and good works or kings extending his goodness to others? Rom 8:28 God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. How can we use our position and power to confront futility for the sake of others? Only after the jussive [ let there be ] has given way to the cohortative [ let us make ] and a group of image bearers have said Let us make together will we then use the imperative, and even then we will use hard-edged commands like Make it so quite sparingly. Mostly we will say Be fruitful and multiply to the people we employ and empower for the work. Fill the space with our early vision with your own creativity. Andy Crouch, Playing God, p. 35.

32 Fall THE CROSS

33 Fall THE CROSS

34 Fall 2. The Goodness of Work: Serving as Priests and Kings Work 3. The Goal of Work: Perfecting the Kingdom of God 8. The of Work: Jesus as our Priest and King 4. The Idolatry of Work: Betraying our Priesthood 5. The Futility of Work: Cursed in our Kingship Works 9. The Posture of Work: Recovering our Priesthood Good Works 10. The Power of Work: Recovering our Kingship Rest 11. The Presence and Place of Rest: Priests and Kings Now and Not Yet How Faith Affects All We Do in Life

God and Vocation. How Faith Affects All We Do in Life 8. THE REDEMPTION OF WORK

God and Vocation. How Faith Affects All We Do in Life 8. THE REDEMPTION OF WORK God and Vocation How Faith Affects All We Do in Life 8. THE REDEMPTION OF WORK Creation Story God creates all things, with humans as his royal priests. Significance God is the creator, separate from but