Cultivating a Mind of Work

Well, I really appreciated the worship this morning. And I was reminded this is, this is the time of year where Mike starts struggling with his voice because he leads worship in the first service. He teaches Sunday school, and then in the second service he's usually struggling to keep his voice as he leads us in worship and I, I observed that a little bit at the beginning of the worship this morning and. just I'm very thankful for him and his leadership of our, worship team and all that he does for us as a church body.

But let me, just to introduce what we're gonna be talking about this morning. First of all, let me invite you guys back next week. We're gonna be talking about the subject of illegal immigration. And, an issue that is roiling our country and, and it's also an issue that comes up in the church, especially when we talk about mercy ministry that we've been talking about over the last couple of months.

So, Lord willing, unless I chicken out, we'll be talking about. that subject, trying to look at a biblical perspective on it next, Sunday. but for today, we're gonna talk about work. A delightful subject for, for many, I am sure, but I would urge you guys not to fall asleep on me and think that this is not.

going to be a blessing to you. I want us to talk about the subject because this is, This is really probably the Sunday of the year of all Sundays where this message needs to be preached. this is the time of year and the week of the year where everything just starts ramping up for many of you, the school year started this past week and if you're homeschool, that's a lot of work for, you as a parent and for you as a child, it's a lot of work, whether you're homeschooled or you go to a Christian school or a public school.

You gotta get up early in the morning and you've got to pay attention in school.

You got homework to do. On top of that, we've got ministries here in the church that are starting up, this week, Sunday school is starting up. That's work for the Sunday school teachers and, you couldn't believe the traffic this morning down in the office around the copier machine. it's just, it's like definitely Sunday school has started.

You could see the evidence of that as early as 7:15, 7:30 down in the office this morning. Children's Church is starting up and so that's work for those who labor in this ministry. The Ina ministry, there's a leadership orientation meeting this week and that's getting ramped up and that'll be starting in September. Women's ministry, women's enrichment, the precept studies, those are starting up.

Some of you are involved in the BSF, Bible study program, and I think that's starting up in the month of, September. and care groups are starting, tonight. And, for some of you, that's gonna be a new experience that have recently just signed up to get involved in a care group. but, that, that's work.

to bring, to show up and to bring your contribution to the table, every, week. And when you think about, and the youth ministry, did I mention that, that's starting up, this Wednesday. But the feeling I always get around Labor Day is as soon as the sun sets on Labor Day, it's almost like the feeling of jumping onto a fast-moving train because life just gets crazy and there's a million things to do. And maybe you're already feeling overwhelmed by that, and then you come to church this morning, and there's like 20 different ministries out with tables and booths out front, and all of them are clamoring for your involvement.

And hey, this is a great ministry, get involved in this, and maybe you were already feeling overwhelmed before you got to church, and now you're even more overwhelmed when you see that, man, there's a lot of work to be done, and I'm already feeling stretched to the limit. And on top of all of the work that needs to be done at this time of year, what's, what's interesting is that there are very powerful elements that are competing for our attention, and that are inviting us to sit down and not do any work.

The NFL season starts today. some of you already knew that, apparently, but, and some people feel like it's their Christian duty to follow some of these teams all the way to the postseason.

baseball, I know some of you love baseball. we're getting into the last month of the, Of the regular season and into the playoffs. I'm, I don't normally follow baseball, but it actually does get interesting to me during the last month of the regular season and into the playoffs. So all of that is like just Milton, sit down and invest yourself here and don't do this work over, here.

I was on MSNBC.com, on Thursday of this past week, doing some info snacking, just checking some headlines, and I saw a headline that said, New television shows you absolutely cannot miss this fall. And so I didn't know that there were shows I wasn't allowed to miss. So I, I read that and, and all of that, that whole list was just an invitation. Just sit down, invest 30 hours a week, and just do nothing during that time.

And so we got a lot to do, a lot of responsibility. in the meantime, there's a lot of things competing for our attention that are inviting us to sit down and do nothing and it's very easy to heed. Those invitations and to shirk on the work that we are supposed to do. And so with all of those elements in the air, I wanna talk about work and I wanna give you what amounts to 9 truths this morning that I think if you contemplate them.

They can put you in a frame of mind to work. My job as a pastor, according to Ephesians 4:12, is to equip you for the work of ministry. You guys have work to do. And our job as elders and my job as a pastor is to equip you to do this work.

When you read the book of Nehemiah, you see that they built a wall. They got this impossible task done. In a relatively short period of time amidst incredible discouragements and opposition, and certainly God is the reason they got it done, but one of the reasons from a human standpoint that they got the task completed is it says in Nehemiah 4:6 that the people had a mind to work, and I personally am excited. About what can happen.

Through the people of this church over the next couple months if we have a mind to work, great things can be done that will reverberate through eternity, but we have to change our thinking process, on the subject of work. Some have a really bad attitude about work and in fact I was reading this week on a Christian blog site and listen to this one guy's exposition of scripture when it comes to work. He says, here's the thing. According to scripture, work isn't a result of the curse.

It isn't an unfortunate side effect of the curse. It isn't one of a multitude of things that go along with the curse, it is the curse. And somebody wrote in and said, I'm not sure you're aware of this, and they explained Genesis one, which I'm gonna do this morning, and the guy who wrote this quote responded by saying, I stand corrected. But the truth is many don't stand corrected.

This is their mentality, when it comes to work. There are people, generally. It's a malady that afflicts people generally from 18 and under. There, there's an antenna that they have or several antennas where they can sense work coming from really far away.

They can sniff it out. They can pick up those signals and then know how to remove themselves from the situation before the work arrives. It's uncanny. It's a gift, that, that I've observed that, that many have.

and so what we need is to change our mindset when it comes to work. So let me give you 9 truths. We don't have a huge amount of time, so we're gonna go quickly through some of these. Truth number 1 is God Himself worked in creating the heavens and the earth.

What is fascinating is that when the curtains open at the very beginning of the Bible, when the curtains open on Genesis 1, we find a God at work. He's working And if it is not beneath God to work, then it should not be beneath us to work either. In Genesis 2, it says, thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their hosts. So God has done the work of creation through the 7 days or the 6 days of creation that are recorded in Genesis chapter 1.

It says, by the 7th day, God completed his work, which he had done, and he rested on the 7th day from all his work, which he had done. Then God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it because in it, he rested from all his work, which he had created and made. In fact, often through the scripture, like in the Psalms, when you look at the sun, moon, and stars, what they're called? The works of God.

They're his works. We can see the works that God has done. so we have a God at work from the very opening verses of our Bible. And what's, what we need to capture is the fact that God did the work.

And then at the end of each day, he gazed upon what he had done. And he said it is good. In other words, it is beautiful, it is pleasant, it, it makes me happy to see what I am seeing. God did not do his work of creation on each day and then move on to the next.

God stopped and admired what he had done. And as a guy, I can identify with this. I'm not an overly handy type of guy, but when I do a project, my kids already know to expect this. Dad does a project and then he spends two weeks staring at what he has done.

we built a deck on the west side of our house a few months ago and for about 2 weeks. I'm over it now, but for about two weeks, I would just go out there and sit and just stare at the work that had been done. And you're looking at it, it's like, it is good. It is good.

It's that same type of dynamic that God felt. And so God didn't just say, OK, I'm done, and he moves on to the next. Next thing he stops and looks back and he's like, it is good. So there is a pleasure that God experienced in his heart that actually resulted from the work that he had done teaching us children that you can actually experience pleasure as a result of, as a byproduct of work that you do.

Now you have to accept that on faith and actually do it, but you will actually find that that is true. in your life as you engage in a meaningful task, and then the work is completed, and you can then look upon the work God enabled you to do and say, it is good. There's a second truth. That we should keep in mind, and that is that God expected Adam to work even before the fall.

Now, definitely work got harder after Adam and Eve sinned, and God said by the sweat of your brow, you're gonna work till the ground, but even before Adam and Eve sinned, Adam had work to do. And it's really interesting the way the story unfolds in Genesis 2. Look what it says in verse 5. Now, no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

That word cultivate, it's the word for servant in the Hebrew text. in other words, literally, there was no man to work the ground. All right? So God creates.

The earth. But then he looks at it and says, the way that I've created this, the ground needs worked and there's nobody to do this. Now follow me. Remember after God created Adam?

And he had created all the animals. Adam named the animals, but then it says there was no helper found suitable to Adam. So God said, I'll create a woman. God created Eve to solve a problem.

Well, the same thing is happening here. God looks at the earth he created and he's like, the ground as I created it needs to be worked, and there's no one to do it. So, Look what it says 2 verses later, then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground. God created Adam to solve a problem.

He created Adam. In order that the task that he wanted done in working the soil to be accomplished. And so after Adam was created, it says in Genesis 2:15, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. So he gave Adam, and no one sinned yet, all right, to work.

This soil and to keep the garden. So when you think about this, guys, you, you begin to understand that in a perfect world if there were never any sin, if Adam and Eve theoretically had never sinned, we would all have work to do. We would need to cultivate the ground we would have. Other jobs to do that is not a result of the curse or the result of the fall.

It was the way God intended it, even in a perfect paradise of a world. So before the fall, God expected Adam to do work. So that's the second truth that we want to, keep in mind. And then a third truth regarding work that we observe in.

The scriptures is that God commanded the Jews to work 6 days and to rest on 1. I wish we could spend more time on this because there's several things that could be said about this. All I want to do is just point out the sense of balance. God commanded the Jews to work 6 days and to rest on 16 days of work, 1 day of rest.

6 days of labor, 1 day of rest. Exodus 20. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And most of us look at that and say, OK, I know what this is all about.

It's about remembering that one day of the week, and he's giving instructions on what to do that one day of the week, that one day of rest. And so we skim over what else he says. God is not just giving instructions to the Jews. Simply about what to do on the Sabbath day.

He's teaching them what to do on the other 6 days. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Look at this command in verse 96 days, you shall labor. And do all your work.

But on the 7th day You rest from that work. You do not do any work. So that's the sense of balance we observe in scripture that 6 days of work, God wants our lives to be characterized, not every incessant minute that we're always working and toiling, but that our lives 6 days a week are characterized by doing things and accomplishing things by work. And, and employment and then there's one day that is devoted to where those things are set aside.

Our normal employment is set aside and the Lord can be worshiped and served on that particular day. These were the instructions that God gave to the Jews. And just before we move on, observe the balance. 6 days of work, 1 day of rest.

I was giving this lecture to my children recently. And my 16 year old son, Brendan said, Dad, for me, every day is a Sabbath. And Every day should be a day of rest, and he was piously speaking that platitude. He was joking, I think, but, But what, there's something in all of us that would love it if it were 6 days of rest and 1 day of work, or 7 days of rest, and let's just avoid work at any cost, but God expects our lives to be characterized by labor and by work.

truth number 4. For us to keep in mind that would give us a good perspective on work is that God worked not just in creation, but he worked in bringing about our salvation. He worked in bringing about our salvation. what, guys, we often say that we're not saved by works, and that's definitely true.

That's actually stated in scripture, because what we mean by that is we're not saved by our own works. But from another standpoint, we are absolutely totally saved by works, God's works. We would have no salvation if God did not do the works that needed to be done for us to be saved. If God didn't do that work and make that investment, then we would be without salvation.

So we're completely dependent upon the work of God. Jesus, when he was here, look at his mentality. John 5:36, the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, these are the very works I do. I am.

Here to work. I am not here to chill. I am not here to just do nothing and to please myself and to be served. I am here to serve.

I am here to do the works that my father has given me to do. And then speaking of the Father, Christ lays down his life, which was his ultimate work of dying for our sins and for our salvation. And now his dead body is lying in the tomb. Ephesians 1, Paul is saying, I want you guys to understand the surpassingly great power of God.

Which is toward us who believe these or this power is in accordance with the working, that's the Greek word we get our English word energy from. The working of the strength of his might, literally verse 20, which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality, power, and dominion, and subjected all things under his feet. That's a lot of work. And our salvation depended upon it, but God did those works.

So that we might be saved. Somebody had to do works for us to be saved, and we couldn't do those works. God did those works, and we are saved by faith in his works that he has done. Now, even if we went no further in the sermon.

We should do a little bit of gospel logic on our own. we, we just spent 30 minutes praising God. For the works he did and that we're gonna remember the works that he did, how can we celebrate a salvation that comes to us as a result of works that God did without at the same time coming to realize, what, maybe I ought to do. Works And that's exactly the logic that the scripture leads us to.

Not only did God work in bringing about our salvation. But truth number 5, God's intention in saving us is so that we would do the works that he is prepared to be done. you need to realize that, guys, God saved you for a number of reasons, one of which is he saved you for good works. He saved you because he has good works.

He wanted to be done, and he saved you to do those works. In Ephesians 2. Verse 8 through 10, listen to what Paul says. By grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not as a result of our works, so that no 1 may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for Good works. What good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Now, follow me real carefully. I'm gonna take you back to the Genesis account.

God creates the world that he had fashioned and prepared, and then God notices there's no one to work the ground. So God created Adam to solve that problem. God created Adam because this work needed to be done. The same is true with our salvation.

God prepares and creates these good works that he wants done, but then he looks at them and says, but there's no one to do them. I know what I'll do. I will save a people. I will send my son to die so that they might be saved.

And then they will do these works. When you understand that, you begin to realize that when you look at the cross, you not only see the fact that God loves you, but the cross also also shows you how much God loves the works that he wants done. Do you get that? You should look at the works and go, man, God must really love those works and really want them to be done if he would send his son to die so that I might be saved and be able to do those works.

This is why he saved us. We find this everywhere. Titus 2:14. Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for his own possessions, zealous for good works.

This is why he redeemed you. If you said, Jesus, why did you redeem me? Why did you do all this? Jesus would say, I, I redeemed you.

So that you would be zealous and passionate about good works. He'd say, I, I didn't save you to chill. I, I didn't save you to just sit around and play PlayStation all day. nothing wrong with that.

He'd said, I, I didn't save you so that you can watch 12 hours of college and NFL football every weekend. Nothing wrong with watching football, but that's not what he died for. He died so that we would be passionate. About good works, that's deeds that are done.

That bring genuine benefit and blessing to other people. Somebody died so that those deeds would be done. You say, well, I wish I would have known that before I signed up and got saved. But what, this is why you're saved.

There's other reasons, but we're talking about work today. You were saved for good works, stamped on you are the words for good works. That's your purpose. That's why he saved you.

Philippians 2 in terms of why God works in us day by day. Paul says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you. Why? Why does God work in me?

Both to will and to work for his good pleasure, God does his daily work in you. So as to produce in you the desire and the ability and the wherewithal to do the good works, to work for his good pleasure. You think about your Bible that you love so much, and it's so precious to you, and you can't imagine life without it, and rightly so. But why did God give you His word?

Why did he do that? Why did he inspire his word and give you his word? So that you can just sit. Around and be nourished and grow spiritually fat and then be of no use to anybody?

No, God would say, if you want to know why I gave you my word, I will tell you. 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training and righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. This is why I gave you my Bible, so that you would be equipped to do good works. Literally, so that you would be equipped, comma, equipped out for every good work.

Equipped, totally equipped for every good work. And so we need to respond by coming to God and just every day being diligent to present ourselves approved to God as a workman. As a workwoman. Just, God, I'm coming before you, and I'm coming as a worker.

What would you have me to do? Today If we really get a hold of this guys. We would become committed to every single day, making every day a day of substance to where when we lay our head on our pillow at night, we can think back on a day of substance where we were of use to God, where we can look back and say by the grace of God, I made a difference in somebody's life. I made this world a better place.

I improved somebody's life. I brought encouragement. I brought blessing. Rather than reaching the end of the day and saying, what, I had a great day of entertainment.

Just, what, if that's what your day is, just stop and say, Is this what Jesus died for? Jesus died for this so that I could have this day of 8 hours of PlayStation and 5 hours of television. And just doing whatever I wanna do, and I, I haven't made a difference in anyone's life, but what? I have been really pleased and entertained.

Is that what he died for? He had to have died for more than that. You have the word stamped on you for good works. That's your purpose.

That's why God saved you. And what, I'm not saying run around nonstop. I gotta always be doing good. And, but just start.

With a baby step. Just say, and, and even you younger children. Just every day, what, what at least one thing can I do that would truly be a blessing. To somebody else, that would help somebody else out.

and contribute to making my home or this world or somebody's life better. That's to where every day there should never be a day that goes by that when you reach the end of the day you can't look back and see that you made a difference in somebody's life, that you did some good work for which Christ died. Let every day be a day of substance. And you may say, OK, I'll do that because that's what the Bible commands me to do, and I know it's gonna be a miserable life, but hey, I'm being obedient and, but I, I got to obey scripture.

That leads us to the 6th truth. truth number 6, the works that God has prepared. For us are actually a place of blessing for us. I know.

I know half of you don't really believe this. you would say that you do because this is taught in scripture, but functionally, many of us half the time do not believe this, and this is why many people under the age of 18, they, they have a concept that. If you draw a circle around work or anything that requires exertion, their belief is that happiness and blessing are not found inside that circle. It's found outside that circle.

So I will avoid work at all costs, and if I got to do any work, I'll do it, and I'll hurry up and get it done so that I can get back outside of that circle and find joy and happiness and blessing. But actually, in scripture, we learned that inside that circle is blessing. you might think, what does John 14 have to do with anything that we're talking about this morning? Well, remember what we read in Ephesians 2:10, that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand.

just remember that word prepared, all right? that same Greek word is found in John 14. Where Jesus is talking about heaven, and he says to his disciples, in my father's house, there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. All right, let's do a little bit of, of reasoning here. How many of you are looking forward to seeing and being inside of this dwelling place that Christ has prepared for you? OK.

those of you that are looking forward to that, why are you looking forward to it? You say, well, it's gonna be awesome. How do it's gonna be awesome? Have you ever seen it?

No, but I know it's gonna be great. Why do it's gonna be great? Well, because of the person who's preparing it. Jesus is preparing this for me.

So it's gotta be awesome, and I wanna be there. It's gonna blow me away. And that's totally logical, sound, biblical reasoning. But what I want to submit to you is that this same God.

has prepared an earthly dwelling place for you. And it's called good works, which God has prepared beforehand for you to walk in them. How amazing do you think that dwelling place will be? Do you like being inside of there?

Do you want to be inside of there? God's the one who prepared it. Apply the same reasoning you do to your heavenly dwelling place, to this earthly dwelling place of good works that God's prepared for you to live in and to walk in. It is a place of blessing.

We actually are not left to our own logic to infer this. This is found in scripture. The apostle Paul in Acts 20 is speaking to the elders at the Ephesian Church. And he says, you yourselves know that these hands, speaking of his own hands, have ministered to my own needs, and to the men who were with me, and everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, it is more blessed to give.

Than to receive who said that Jesus did Do you trust him? I put my trust in Jesus. Do you trust him when he says this? That it's more blessed to give than to receive.

And it's not just talking about, here's a nickel. Here's $100. certainly that's included. Paul's talking about working hard in this context.

I worked hard so that I would have the wherewithal to address my own needs and the needs of the men who are with me, and I showed you my, my example that you must help the weak, so It's in that context of hard work that Paul is saying, I want you to remember the words of the Lord Jesus as I remember them. When Jesus said, it is truly more blessed to give than to receive. Even with the hard work involved, it is more blessed to give than to receive. We also see Jesus modeling this in John 4.

Jesus is going through Samaria. You guys remember that story with his disciples, and they've been traveling for a while on foot, and they get tired. Jesus sits down at the well. The disciples run off to go get some food.

And, and so they're out, trying to find some food to, to bring back to Jesus. And while Jesus is sitting at the well, physically tired, a woman of Samaria comes, Jesus says, hey, can you give me something to drink? I'm thirsty and And they began to engage in a conversation, and Jesus ends up revealing himself to her. And ultimately, as the chapter unfolds, she becomes a believer in Jesus and many people in that particular city become a believer in Jesus also.

Well, all of this is happening while the disciples are gone. The disciples finally return with with the food that they had, had gotten, and they're like, here, Jesus, eat. And Jesus says something really strange to them. He says, I, I have food to eat that you don't know about.

And they're like, did someone already give him something to eat? Is he, is he already eaten? And he's acting like his spirits are lifted and like he's already eaten. Who gave him something to eat?

And, and Jesus then, seeing their confusion says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. That's my food. Guys, what does food do for us? What does food do for our body?

Food nourishes our body. it brings refreshment to our body. food actually, certain foods actually bring pleasure to our body. they're not only good for us, but they just feel so good.

to our taste buds, they taste good. We enjoy them. So food brings enjoyment, refreshment, and nourishment and pleasure, and Jesus, who is physically tired, engaging in doing his. Father's work on behalf of the soul of this woman says to his disciples, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish his work that he gives me to do.

In other words, this work does for me what food does for the body. I, I find pleasure and enjoyment and nourishment and refreshment in doing the work that my father has given me to do. So Jesus is tired. Imagine that you were him, and you're sitting down and you're tired, and here comes this woman, and the Lord's like, what, you need to talk to her.

Witness to her and many of us would have been, I'm tired right now. I don't, I don't even wanna go here, so I'm just gonna try to get a drink of water from her and, and try to move on. Lord, bring someone else into her life at a later point to where her spiritual need can be addressed. But Jesus, when this woman walks up, and no doubt his father prompts him, Jesus is like, food.

Food And he does what his father wanted, and yes, it was work, but in the end, Jesus was refreshed himself and nourished. rejuvenated and pleasured, and the woman gets saved and the city, everybody wins. And the disciples are standing there with their sack lunches going, eat, and he's like, I feel like I already have. The works that God has prepared for us to dwell in, to walk in.

Are a place of blessing. Truth number 7. God actually works alongside of us as we work. how a task is always more enjoyable.

You can get it done quicker when you're working with somebody. the time passes and one of the thrilling things is God doesn't just say, I saved you to work. Now get out there and work. God actually goes with us.

As we work, we always have him as a companion in work. We see this modeled in Mark 16. Jesus, he says in the great commission, go and make disciples of all the nations, preach the gospel to every creature. Lo, I am with you always, even at the end of the age.

When he gives that promise that he is with us, he's not. Just saying I am there, passively there, but I'm there nonetheless. And every time we're doing work and we look at him, he's just there and he's doing nothing except maybe cheering us on. No, when he says I'm with you, what he's promising is that I am actively with you.

Because the disciples go out and do exactly what he commanded. He says, preach the gospel to every creature. So it says they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them. Isn't that great?

He worked with them. And so as you engage in whatever you're doing, the Lord is with you. He's working with you as you engage in ministry, and you're speaking to someone trying to minister truth to them, God works with you. You can't change that person's heart.

Only God can. But as you're working and speaking truth to them, the Spirit of God is working with you in their heart and bringing conviction and showing them the truth of what you're saying. And even after you walk away, the Spirit stays behind and he's still working them over. And communicating his love and his truth to them.

And anyone that is involved to any degree in evangelism, and in sharing Christ with other people, they, they can testify that yes, I, I'm trying to be faithful to what God has called me to do, but what? Everything I am doing would be absolutely of no effect if God wasn't working with me. And they, they see evidence that God is working alongside of me as I am trying to share Christ with this person. So it's always a team, and God.

Is the 2nd member of your team. And we get to work with him and experience the joy of him working with us. Truth number 8, at the judgment, our work will be tested by fire. there's a day when every person in this room is gonna stand before God.

And those of us that are Christians, there's a day where we're gonna stand before God, and we ourselves are going to be appraised on that day. We also know from Scripture that the work we do will be appraised on that day. In fact, there's going to be a fire on judgment Day, and the works that we have done will be submitted to that fire, and some of what we've done is going to be burned up and destroyed, and some hopefully will survive those fires and what's going to be tested is our work.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:10, each man must be careful how he builds on the foundation of Jesus in the lives of people.

Now, if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work It will become evident for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. So, what Paul is challenging us to do is not simply work, but to make sure we're doing works that will survive the fires of Judgment Day and to also make sure that we are working with building materials that will survive the fires of Judgment Day.

And so if you are a parent and you want whatever investment you're making in your children to survive the fires of judgment Day and to live on for eternity and to experience the reward and the joy that comes from that, you want to use the most indestructible of all building materials in the lives of your children, and what is that? It's the word of God. It's the gospel. It's God's written word.

If you're trying to bless your children and encourage them and train them, and you're like, what, let me help you with this, son. I'm, I'm gonna quote here from Sigmund Freud. I think this is gonna encourage you. you, you can deliver that quote beautifully.

It might even minister a level of encouragement to your child. But what will happen on Judgment Day? You just gave your child wood, hay, and straw. And it's not going to survive the fire of Judgment Day.

Nothing of Sigmund Freud and his wisdom will remain after Judgment Day. The only thing that is indestructible and will not be destroyed by the fires of Judgment Day is God's eternal truth contained in His gospel, in the written word of God. And so as you try to bless your brothers and sisters and you do the work of ministry. That you use indestructible eternally lasting materials that will survive those fires as you invest in your children, give them God's eternal truth.

Because that will last forever. And that leads to the final truth, and this is the last slide of the day. Control your grief. And that is that our works will follow us through eternity.

Our works will follow us through eternity. The works that we do that survived the fires of Judgment Day, those works are gonna follow us forever. In Revelation 14:13, it says, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors and their works will follow them.

You will have a reputation in heaven. Did that? You will have a reputation in heaven. And your reputation in heaven will be all to the glory of God.

So we won't want, we won't care what do people think about me, and I want a good reputation, because it'll make me feel good. No, we're all concerned about the glory of God at that point. So it's not selfish. But your reputation in heaven will be informed by the works you do here.

And 1 trillion years from now into eternity, you're gonna meet up with someone and they're like, you're so and so, you're the one who did. You're, you're the one who went on that mission trip, and you witness to that person who accepted Christ, and that person ended up sharing Christ with someone else, and they got saved and then that person shared Christ with me. And I got saved. You're the guy who, who started that chain.

The works you do are going to follow you and I think part of the joy of discovery in heaven is we're gonna see how multifaceted, multidimensional all the works we did and how from generation to generation just just one deed that we've done that impacted another life and then how they impacted someone else, we're gonna realize how textured and profoundly deep. The effect of our deeds really were it's easy for us to become limited by, well, I think I blessed that person, but what difference does that person now make in somebody's life?

How will they use that same blessing a year later in ministering to somebody? How are they going to use that and then someone else using that it's gonna be so, so multi-textured and we're gonna be amazed in heaven when we see how just the smallest deed we did ended up.

Ricocheting just in the profoundest of ways in the lives of way more people than we would have ever imagined. Well, we got a lot of work to do. And if we as a congregation do not have a mind to work. We're not gonna have a fruitful fall for the Lord, but if we have a mind to work, I really think that even just two months from now we can look back and stand amazed at what God did through us.

So there's a lot that's going on. There's a lot that we need to be giving ourselves to. Let us not look at those things and groan like, oh, I wish my life was simpler and I wish I didn't have to do this. Let us look at those things and say, food, food.

And if I do these things and I bring abundance to what I am doing and doing these things, I will experience blessing and refreshment and enjoyment and even pleasure in the doing of these things. And on top of that, other people's lives get benefited by my good works and God is glorified. Let me ask you to bow your heads. Let's just take a moment and let's ask God to help us to live this way.

Lord, there are good works that you prepared before the world was even created. You prepared works that you wanted done just over the next two months. For the month of September and October. And these works are so precious to you, that you slew your son, so that a people could be saved who can now do those works.

So these are very precious to you, Lord. And help us to have a mind to work, help us to walk in these works that you esteem so valuable, that you are willing to sacrifice your son that these deeds might be done. And as we engage in good works, Lord, no matter how mundane they may be, whether it's mopping the floor or washing dishes or doing schoolwork or, or bringing encouragement to somebody else or doing some seemingly mundane task, Lord, every deed that we have an opportunity to do, we can look at that good deed and we can say somebody died so that this would be done.

That's how valuable this is.

And so I will bring everything I have to this. I will walk in this. And I will do a good deed that Christ died in order that it might be done. May we live this way every day, and may we abound, literally, not just do, but literally abound in good deeds for your glory.

And if all 300+ people in this church are living this way, Lord, what an amazing explosion. Of glory could be seen. As we all come into the realization of and see the ramifications of and the accomplishment of these good works that you prepared for us to do. We surrender ourselves to this Lord, to your saving purposes and saving us to work.

And we ask that you help us to live this surrender out. In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said,