Sadly, one common conversation pastors have is with people who have a job they are working, but really wish they could instead have a ministry job where they served the Lord. The truth is, pretty much every job can be your ministry job where you serve the Lord. Not only does the world need preachers, it also needs an honest mechanic and a competent plumber. Today, we will learn the final two ways you can worship at work.
4. Your work is part of your worship. Jesus Christ spent roughly 90 percent of His earthly life (roughly 30 years) working a regular job. As a kid, he would have had chores to do. And, when old enough, he worked at his dad’s carpentry business. Then, Jesus Christ spent the remaining 10 percent of His earthly life (roughly three years) working in ministry as a preacher, healer, and leader. Jesus Christ walked perfectly in the Father’s will for His life. He glorified God perfectly and equally when he did his chores as a kid, swung a hammer as a young man, and raised the dead as a grown man.
What is true of Jesus Christ is true for you. Martin Luther rightly says, “Your work is a very sacred matter. God delights in it, and through it He wants to bestow His blessings on you. This praise of work should be inscribed on all tools, on the forehead and faces that sweat from toiling.”
5. Work is not sacred and secular, but workers are sacred and secular. Sometimes Christians wrongly conclude that some jobs are secular, and some jobs are sacred. The truth is that the Lordship of Jesus Christ extends over all creation and all vocation. This explains why the Bible honors a wide variety of jobs including carpentry, tent making, fishing, medicine, teaching, farming, politics, metal work, music, investing, labor, construction, law, consulting, cooking, architecture, athletics, entertainment, banking, military, real estate, clothing, mothering, sales, etc.
Therefore, the issue is not whether the work is sacred unto the Lord, or secular and not unto the Lord. Instead, the question is whether the worker is sacred or secular. Colossians 3:23-24 explains it this way, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Are you working your job believing that it is ultimately the Lord Jesus you are serving and not your boss or client?