Whatever You Do, Work!

Whatever You Do, Work
Commencement Address at Providence Christian College on May 6, 2017
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Congratulations Seniors! You will soon be a college graduate. Once you walk across this stage and receive your diploma, you will have something that can never be taken away from you ... you will always be a college graduate. And, that piece of paper is a testament to your work (and God's work in and through you) over the past few years.

It is your work that I want to spend some time reflecting on this morning.

While your future jobs will all look different, you do all have a common calling from God ... and that is to work. I don't know what you thought was the next step, but I'm telling you it will involve work. You are called and created to work. Your specific job will change, but your calling to work will never change. From this point until death, you are called to work.

Now, your future jobs will hopefully include a paycheck, but being a student illustrates the fact that your specific work does not have to include being paid ... in fact, sometimes it will include great personal and even financial sacrifice (like tuition or time), but, in it, you are still fulfilling your calling to "work as for the Lord." Your calling to work may be tied to your role as an employee, but you are also called to work relationally in your role as a spouse, parent, neighbor, church member. In fact, whatever your role ... whatever you do ... you are called to work heartily as for the Lord.

Colossians 3:23 states, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." My title this morning is the first four words of this verse: "Whatever you do, work." Being in education, I realize that a person remembers approximately four words from his/her graduation speech, so I put as much from the verse in the title as I could. I do hope that you remember the title, remember where it comes from, and remember that whatever you do takes work, especially if you are going to do it well as for the Lord.

I know that most of you have one plan for next week ... to sleep.  After exams, final papers, and capstones, that is an important break that you have earned. But after probably 53 1/2 hours, you will wake up, and your parents will be there to say ... "Get to Work!"

So, let's talk about work. Work is good ... not just "getting paid" good but "pre-Fall, God-ordained" good. God created us to work ... as we look back to Genesis 2 (before the Fall), "God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (vs. 15). Man was placed in a garden to tend it -- to work it and take care of it. Let me encourage you to "tend the garden" where God places you.

You each have a garden to tend. For most, it will include employment; for others, it may also include caring for an ill grandparent; for others, it may be to help with a ministry at your church. Your garden is the task that God places in front of you ... for you to do to the best of your ability and for His glory.

Clearly, because you are graduating, you have tended the garden of your school work faithfully. Providence has been your garden, where God has placed you. You are here, ready to graduate, evidence that you have faithfully worked to "tend this garden." Continue in your faithfulness to God in your future ... wherever God places you.

Unfortunately, you are entering a 2017 world that doesn't follow a proper theology of work. We know, since the Fall, work has been a "painful toil," a curse. As Christians, I believe that we have just settled for the "cursed" view of work, rather than striving to redeem this aspect of our culture. What a challenge for your generation to reclaim work as a good gift from God ... work, in itself; work that we faithfully do "as for the Lord." Reclaim that theology of work.

This is especially challenging because your examples have been less than God-glorifying. You have heard complaining and whining about the frustrations at work and how people hate their jobs ... rather than praise to God for work.

The current generation "works to live." Rather than finding joy and satisfaction in work, they (we) find joy in using their work income to collect items and experiences of pleasure and comfort. Sadly, Christians in this generation are no better. Christians have even "christianized" this warped perspective on work by changing the "work to live" slogan into "work to give." Instead of believing that work, in itself, is done for the glory of God and service to humanity, many Christians today believe that the only God-glorifying part of work is the ability to give some of your paycheck to the church or to missions. While, of course, giving to the church is good and pleasing to the Lord ... so is work itself, faithfully done.

For the most part, our current culture does not view work as being a good gift from God, but work has been misunderstood for some time.

Let me go back 500 years ... leading up to the Protestant Reformation, the church's view of work was negatively impacted by a Greek mind/body dichotomy, where the intellectual jobs were elevated over the physical, "menial" jobs, e.g., a philosopher was more highly respected than a farmer. The church translated this into the sacred/secular dichotomy. People who worked for the church ... like priests, monks, nuns were said to have a holy calling (or vocation); all other professions were just seen as a means of survival while on this earth.

Martin Luther challenged this thinking in the church. He applied the term "vocation" or calling to all occupations and roles in life. Whatever we do can be done well for the glory of God. This aligns with Paul's words in Colossians 3:23: "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord."

John Calvin (in the Institutes of Christian Religion) outlines a biblical view of work using the image of a sentry, or a guard. "Each of us is given a sentry post ... God asks us but one thing: to be faithful stewards of our callings and faithful stewards of our sentry posts ... All tasks, provided you obey your calling in it ... will shine and be reckoned precious in God's sight."

A sentry just needs to show up and stay alert to be faithful in his/her job. Will a job as insignificant as this, as Calvin says, truly "shine and be reckoned precious in God's sight"? Surely, I need to do more to please God, right? Actually, a sentry sounds a lot like tending a garden ... and it sounds a lot like a biblical view of work.

Tim Keller laments our current mindset in churches today that ignores the full kingdom story of Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration. A Reformed world-and-life view of creation-fall-redemption-restoration celebrates the cultural mandate in "creation" and encourages the fulfillment of that mandate in the "tending the garden" work of restoration. Unfortunately, many Christians today have a "not of this world" worldview that truncates the biblical story into "Fall-Redemption-then wait for Heaven." By eliminating creation and restoration in the kingdom narrative and just "waiting for heaven," we lose a proper biblical perspective on work, and we discredit God's power to use us in the restoration of His kingdom. We have forgotten that we are stewards of the King, working in his kingdom ... tending his garden. Essentially, we have allowed the Great Commission to trump the Cultural Mandate, rather than having them work in concert and fulfillment of each other.

Reclaim a creation-fall-redemption-restoration view of work ... to glorify God and to advance His kingdom in your work.

Your Providence education has prepared you well to fulfill your vocational calling to work. Each of your gardens will be different, but here are three important categories of work that I know you have been prepared to do through your Providence education.

1. Intellectual work -- It takes work to think in our culture. We have to evaluate everything today ... published articles, news reports, social media posts, even pastors and preaching. Our society is intellectually lazy ... not wanting to use our brains. The phenomenon of fake news is an especially troubling trend; anyone can write an article riddled with untruths and "alternative facts," then publish it on social media, and it can change cultural beliefs. But worse is that our society believes what they read without doing the intellectual work of fact checking. Today, more than any other time, we need graduates, like you, who are able to work intellectually ... to post, comment, and to refute with wisdom and humility ... to "test the spirits of the age" (I John 4:1) and to encourage people to think again. I know that you have been taught to think deeply and critically ... "deeper learning for greater wisdom." Make a difference by being a faithful sentry on the information and social media highway.
2. Relational Work -- Relationships take work, and they take time spent with each other. Our virtual lives cause us to be relationally lazy. The addictive nature of social media and gaming can cause us to spend hours connected to our devices but unconnected to real relationships. A small, residential community, like Providence, teaches you to tend the garden of relationships ... to work on and care for relationships. This also is work ... tend your relationships.
3. Gritty Work -- Our culture significantly lacks grit or perseverance. Most people quit in the face of difficulty rather than having the grit to see a project through to completion. Millennials especially struggle with despair. Simon Sinek cites talking to a millennial who was discouraged and ready to quit a job because he just wasn't making a difference ... after 3 weeks of work at a new job. (Sinek, "On Millennials in the Workplace"). The utter despair and "quitting mentality" at the first bump in the road has led to a new psychological term: a Quarter-Life Crisis. Now, most of your parents are in a Mid-Life Crisis as we speak ... but, now, 20-somethings are also in crisis. The Quarter-Life Crisis is a condition similar to a Mid-Life Crisis in which anxiety and stress so impacts life that they consider quitting and doing something different ... or doing nothing at all. We need people who find their strength in God ... strength to work through difficult situations. We need individuals who stick with a job or a responsibility because they know God has placed them there to tend that garden ... even through difficult times. We need those who thrive under pressure, not because of their own ability, but because they are so grounded in the sovereignty of God that they faithfully persevere through trials. Over your years at Providence, there have been challenges and difficulties ... and I bet there have been some outside voices and inner voices that have told you to quit. You, making it to this ceremony, is a testimony of your tenacity and grit. But, I believe it is more so your faith that God, in His sovereignty, placed you here (in the garden) for a reason. We need more of that in our culture today. Hard times will come, and you will have a choice to work "as for the Lord" through these hard times or quit. Our world needs "gritty" workers who believe wholeheartedly in God's sovereignty. We need them to lead the next generation ... and you have been prepared well by Providence and God to persevere through difficult times.

What an encouragement to your family and to the Providence family that you are graduates prepared for intellectual, relational, and gritty work. If you have these elements, you will stand out and shine in the workplace ... and in the world.

Unfortunately, it is not too difficult to stand out and shine in the workplace today. Only 29% of workers are engaged (or satisfied) in their work. A biblical view of work will help you shine in this area. You will be engaged in your work because you are a faithful steward of the king ... tending His garden wherever you are placed. Another simple way to shine is to just show up. Actually, most places of employment would be happy with someone who is dependable and just shows up to work ... like Calvin's faithful sentry. We are called to fulfill the cultural mandate ... that initial call for Adam and Eve is as true for us as it was for them.

Richard Pratt put it this way ... "The great king has summoned each of us into his throne room. 'Take this portion of my kingdom,' he says, I am making you my steward over your office, your workbench, your kitchen. Put your heart into mastering this part of my world. Get it in order, unearth its treasures; do all you can with it. Then, everyone will see what a glorious king I am.' That's why we get up every morning and go to work .... Our work is an honor, a privileged commission from our great King" (Pratt, Designed for Dignity, 1993).

What a wonderful perspective on work ... "our work is an honor, a privileged commission from our great king." But, surely our calling of work is more than just be satisfied and show up.

The next part of Colossians 3:23 states to "work heartily" or "work at it with all your heart." I translate this part to say ... "be awesome." Whatever you do, be awesome at it ... use your gifts and abilities to your utmost for God's glory. The cultural mandate demands that we dominate, rule, and be awesome.

A quote attributed to Martin Luther sums up this sentiment well:
"A Christian cobbler [shoemaker] is not someone who puts crosses on his shoes, it is a person who just makes good shoes." Make good shoes, graduates ... be awesome in your work. If you take seriously Colossians 3:23 ... "work heartily, as for the Lord," you will be awesome in whatever you do.

But, what if your job is insignificant? "I just fill orders in a warehouse." "I am just a security guard at a shopping mall." "I am just a hostess at a restaurant." Don't be discouraged. God has placed you in that garden for a season and for a reason. Many of your jobs will seem insignificant and not very important "kingdom work" ... that is okay. Be a faithful sentry and a faithful gardener where you are placed.

This is a body of Christ concept ... and if you are a toenail instead of a bicep, you are still a vital and precious part of the body. When the body is all working in their roles "as for the Lord," God will be glorified and the body will be blessed.

Work has been used as a noun, synonymous, for the most part, with a job. But, Colossians 3:23 uses "work" as a verb: "whatever you do, work heartily." The subject is "whatever you do" and that includes much more than a job. The "tend the garden" message still applies to gardens that are not jobs ... the whatever else you do. Work at it, care for it ... tend it. For example, almost all of your gardens will include relationships. Friends, neighbors, co-workers, spouses, children ... tend those relationships and your gardens will flourish.

And don't forget to tend your faith garden because your faith should influence whatever you do. Continue to hear the word faithfully preached week after week, connect with the body of Christ for worship and fellowship, remain in the word through personal devotions, and tend your relationship with God through prayer and meditation. Tend your faith and your gardens will flourish.

Graduates, I don't know the plans God has for you, but He does ... rest in that knowledge. He has a garden picked out to place you. Whether you shape the minds of the next generation by caring for children in the home, or paint a building to beautify a neighborhood, or repair a septic system to ensure sanitation for a community, or repair a car so that a family member can get to work on time, or write a book so that people can enjoy their leisure time ... do those things faithfully "as for the Lord" ... you are loving God and loving others through your work.

Whatever you do, work at it ... and work at whatever you do.
Tend gardens, make good shoes, and be a faithful sentry.

This will glorify God in your work.

Congratulations again on your amazing accomplishment ... now, Get to Work!