The Significance of Your 9 – 5 Job

by Brian Brenberg at byFaith Magazine

On Labor Day, we should honor those who serve the Lord 9 to 5. But if you think I’m talking only about pastors and preachers, then you need to meet a man named Stephen.

Acts 6 opens with the Greeks complaining that their widows aren’t getting enough to eat in the daily distribution. The apostles, meanwhile, are working so hard to feed the widows that they can’t find time to preach. And as the church grows, the problem gets worse. So, like good economists, the apostles propose a division of labor: They’ll stick to preaching and let the disciples find somebody else to serve tables.

When we talk about “full-time” ministry today, it’s the apostles we usually have in mind—people whose daily work is devoted to preaching and teaching. The problem is that most of us aren’t preachers, and probably shouldn’t be. Most of us are much better at jobs that fall into the “non-preaching” category. To put it in the language of Acts 6, most of us are table servers. And most of us have no idea if this work matters to God.

So does it?

Learn the answer as you read the rest of this article by clicking here.

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What Is Your Purpose? Part 3

This is the third and final part of this series on discovering your purpose. (Click here to read Part 1 and click here to read Part 2.)

Yesterday I introduced the idea that all Christians have a universal purpose… to become like Christ. (You could also say we have an ultimate purpose to glorify God in everything we say, do and think.) Today we’re going to focus on our unique purpose.

Our Unique Purpose

I think this is what folks really want to know about when they ask the question, “What is my purpose?” Our unique purpose has to do with our CALLING… and with that calling… God gives us gifts and desires… and equips us to serve him in that unique way.

Here’s a brief excerpt of what I shared this past Saturday with some high school graduates at their commencement ceremony on this subject of discovering their calling or purpose…

Ask yourself these questions…

1.)  What do you feel called to do?

2.)  What is your passion?

3.)  What is your gift or talent?

The FIRST question focuses on your calling: What is your inward desire… that “something” that is pulling you in a particular direction? Usually it’s something bigger than you are. It’s not a calling to watch as many football games as possible. It’s something big… something meaningful. It’s usually something that will add value in the lives of others. I believe that God gives us that calling and desires that we pursue it.

The SECOND question focuses on your passion. What excites you? What do you think about? What gets you up in the morning? What do you look forward to? This is important because you don’t want to end up doing something that you’re good at… but that you hate. You don’t want to get to a place in life where you dread getting out of the bed in the morning because you can’t stand the direction your life is heading. You want to live with passion because that passion will fuel you to reach incredible heights.

The THIRD question focuses on talent or giftedness. In other words… what are you good at? You don’t want to end up doing something that you’re really passionate about… but that you’re terrible at doing.

Now, ideally… your calling in life… will combine all three. You will feel this inward desire for a particular direction in life… you’ll love doing it… and you’ll be really great at it. However, it’s important to remind you that you’re not going to discover this overnight. It takes time. It takes careful observation. Talk to your family members about what they’ve seen in your life. Talk with those who know you best. Talk to career counselors. Read books. Pay attention to yourself.

The Apostle Paul was called to life in Christ, just as we all are. However, he also was called with a unique purpose… and that was to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Now, a call in your life doesn’t mean you have to become a pastor or missionary… though it might be for some of you. Instead, here’s another way to think of your call or purpose. I like this definition of purpose from Ken Boa

“A biblical purpose is always an unchanging reason for being. It holds true for you regardless of your circumstances or season of life. When a Christ-centered purpose becomes the focus of your life, it harmonizes all other areas, such as family, work, finances, and ministry.”

You see, God called me to ordained ministry… however, my unique purpose is to help folks become all that God created, redeemed, and called them to be. So, I can live out that purpose in the context of my family at home, with my church family, and lots of other ways. It’s not bound to my “circumstances or season of life.” (I can live out my purpose at 46 years of age… or 86)

The problem of tying your purpose too closely with your circumstances, is that those too easily and quickly change. For example, if your purpose is your work… then what happens when you don’t have that job any longer? Do you still have purpose? If your only purpose is raising your family… then what happens when they leave the house? Do you still have purpose?

Now, certainly, our purpose can be connected closely to our jobs, parenting, etc., but they’re not the same things… or at least shouldn’t be.

So… Do you know your true calling… your unique purpose for your life? Part of my calling and purpose is to help you discover yours and it would be an honor for me to work with you to help you discover it. You may be closer to knowing it than you think. It may be right under your nose.

“Tony Campolo tells the story of a friend who discovered his true calling in life. He had been a college English teacher, but suddenly quit his position – to become a mailman.

After hearing the man’s reasons for resigning from teaching to become a mailman, Campolo tried to encourage him with the old Protestant work ethic: “Charlie, if you’re going to be a mailman, then be the best mailman in the world!” To which his friend replied, “I’m a lousy mailman, Tony. I’m the last one to get back to the post office every day, and besides, I can’t sleep at night.”

When he asked for an explanation, here’s what Campolo heard: “There are so many lonely people on my route who never had anyone visit them until I became their mailman. Have you ever tried to sleep after drinking fifteen cups of coffee in one day?”

Campolo reached an important conclusion about his friend Charlie: “He was alive with the excitement that comes to a person doing something meaningful with his life.”

Beloved, there’s nothing as thrilling as knowing what you’re called to do… and then living out that calling each day.

Your universal purpose is to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior… and then spend the rest of your life growing in your faith… and loving and serving others. But do you know your unique purpose… how God is calling you to live out that universal purpose?

Pray about it. Come talk to me about it. And then, like Paul, get busy living.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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EVERY Sphere of A Man’s Life

For over two decades I’ve been using some version of the phrase, “faith for every sphere of life.” I first started thinking about this obvious nature of our faith (that it’s for every sphere of life) as I began a deep study of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Two of the books that helped with my “aha” moment were Richard Baxter’s Christian Directory and John Frame’s The Doctrine of God.  (click here for more about Richard Baxter)

What attracted me so much to the idea of finally understanding our faith being authoritative and relevant for every sphere of life (besides the fact that the Bible teaches it) was that I, like soooo very many other men, had long been an adherent of a compartmentalized faith. Men, you know the drill: the Christian faith is fine for Sunday mornings, etc., but it has nothing to do with the rest of your life. It’s embarrassing to “say” out loud, but that’s the truth of where I was.

Since that time I have observed that a wholistic view of the Christian faith, whether practiced or not, is gaining some traction (at least by most folks in the church). The secular world would still prefer for the Church to remain silent about anything not having to do with worship on Sunday mornings. Faith, they say, is private. You can’t bring it into the public square. Of course, that’s ridiculous, and I’m not going to spend time responding to that. Others far more articulate than I have thoroughly dismantled such a view.

At any rate, over the years I’ve tried to use various phrases that capture my deep and abiding commitment to the notion that my faith applies to every sphere of my life because Jesus Christ is Lord over every sphere of my life. (My most recent “brainstorm” for this idea that has helped me wrap my mind around it is Kingdom Discipleship.) I have loved Abraham Kuyper’s quote that says something along the lines that there is not a square inch in all the universe about which Christ does declare, “Mine!”

As a United Methodist, I have naturally rejoiced that John Wesley took just such a view of the Christian faith. He called it Scriptural Holiness and said that it was his purpose in life to spread Scriptural Holiness over the land (which, for him, was England). For Wesley, holiness was inward and also outward. It was personal and it was also social. There was no picking and choosing. Faith should permeate every aspect of a Christian’s life – marriage, parenting, work, economics, politics, education, the arts, personal morality, relationships, civic duty and serving the community, etc., etc., etc. One book that has served me well in attempting to understand this concept from a Wesleyan perspective is Mack Stokes’ little book, Scriptural Holiness for the United Methodist Church. I highly recommend it… if you can find it. (Update: Joseph Slife at Methodist Thinker, sent me this link to purchase Stokes’ book. Many thanks Joseph!)

Brothers, I would encourage you to pray over what it would mean to you to understand that there is not even the smallest corner in your life over which Jesus Christ, as Lord, does not shout, “Mine!” How would acknowledging and submitting to that truth change your life? How would it bless your relationship with your family and friends? What consequences would that have for you in your workplace? Can you imagine the possibilities? Men, Christ is calling you to follow him in every sphere of your lives. Do you hear him? Will you follow him?

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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Vocation: A Biblical View of Work (Lifelong Learning)

Part of my ministry focus is working with folks, particularly men, who are seeking to faithfully understand and follow God’s call in their lives. This search naturally and rightly leads to a discussion (and often, even a study) on discovering one’s overarching purpose as well as their unique vocation.

Here are two really helpful online video classes on the topic of vocation… our calling from God and how it relates to our “work.”

1.) A Biblical View of Work by Ken Boa (a couple of the videos aren’t presently working, but hopefully those glitches will be corrected by the time you get to those particular videos.)

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3
• Lesson 4
• Lesson 5
• Lesson 6
• Lesson 7
• Lesson 8
• Lesson 9
• Lesson 10
• Lesson 11
• Lesson 12
• Lesson 13
• Lesson 14

2.) A Theology of Work by Gerry Breshears at BiblicalTraining.org

Here’s a description of the course…

We are created in God’s image and God invites us to be co-workers with him. By developing and using the spiritual gifts God has given us, the tasks we perform when we work have eternal significance in themselves. We also have opportunities to interact with our co-workers, promote justice and enjoy times of rest.

Both teachers and courses are superb. I’ve been blessed by what I have learned for my own edification as well as what I might pass on to others with whom and to whom I minister.

Blessings,
Dale

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Men at Work

I wrote the following post a few years ago but have lately been revisiting the themes of work, vocation, and calling as they relate to ministering to men. Since I’ve established my “ministry purpose” (at least, one of them) as helping men become all that God has created, redeemed, and called them to be, it’s been much on my mind.

I’m hoping to write more on this in the coming days, but for now I thought I would share this again because it has some great links to websites and ministries that are doing important work in this area of ministering to men.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

One of the men in our men’s ministry began his talk a couple of yeas ago by introducing himself as an ordained lawyer. That was the point that he and I were trying to drive home to all of our men that morning… to think of themselves as ordained ________ (fill in the blank with whatever it is that they do.). In other words, your work IS your ministry.

To think of your job as your ministry is foreign to many of us. Many of us grew up thinking that only the pastor did ministry. Thankfully, there has been a surge of books and studies that have tried to steer folk away from that sort of thinking.

What we want to get people thinking about is “vocation” or calling. This is a horrible paraphrase, but Martin Luther once said something like, “A cobbler who makes shoes to the glory of God during the week is every bit the minister as a pastor who preaches a sermon on Sunday morning.” The Bible does not draw a distinction between the sacred and the secular. All work should be for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Paul wrote in Colossians 3:23-24,

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, [24] since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

While God may give you the opportunity to communicate the gospel, hold a Bible study, or wear a John 3:16 button in your workplace, it’s more likely that your faith will be exercised by simply doing your job well. Beyond that, it may include representing Christ faithfully to hurting, lost, angry, bitter, fearful, restless, or despairing people. How can Christ use you to minister to those sorts of people in your workplace? What might that look like?

In order to help you with those questions, here are a few links to enable you to discover what your faith at work might look like in your spheres of influence…

Faith In The Workplace

The High Calling

Christian Business Men Committee

How to Build a Ministry through Your Work by Pat Morley at Man in the Mirror

Work and the Man in the Mirror (audio and video messages) by Pat Morley

A Biblical Worldview of Work by Ken Boa

The Theology of Work (print and mp3 audio available) by Robert Rayburn

Working out a Theology of Work by Justin Taylor (also see the related resources at the bottom of the article)

Theology of Work (website)

Business for the Glory of God (book) by Wayne Grudem

God at Work (book) by Gene Edward Veith

Blog posts on vocation by Gene Edward Veith

Blessings,
Dale

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A Life-Changing Message

Yesterday I mentioned a book by George Grant, that radically changed how I think, minister, etc. It’s called The Micah Mandate. Once again, I highly recommend it! Today I want to share how God used an audio-taped message (also by George Grant) about an obscure man from the pages of history whom most folks have never heard of, to bless my life and ministry in ways I could not even have imagined as I put the tape into the tape-player of my car. Here’s what I wrote seven years ago…

Earlier this year God poured his grace upon me as he placed in my hands an audiotaped lecture entitled, “Gerard Groote and the Brethren of the Common Life.” Providentially, this also was by George Grant. I can’t express how moved I was by what I heard in this message. In this lecture Grant basically revealed what a biblical worldview should look like in the  “everydayness” of a Christian’s life and ministry. He accomplished this by sharing God’s work and power through the life of a man named Gerard Groote. Groote lived in the 14^th century, and, as Grant says at the beginning of his address,

“It would be difficult to find a single page of modern history written about him. But it would be even more difficult to find a single page of modern history not affected by him.”

 Below are the notes I took from Grant’s message on Groote. I’m sure much won’t translate to this format. But I believe the ideas taught and lived out by Groote and expounded by Grant are more than worth passing on and meditating upon. Enjoy, Dale.

Notes on Gerard Groote: Brethren of the Common Life

Based on a lecture by George Grant

• Some men’s greatness may be seen in how largely they loom over the movements that they ultimately launched. But greater men are they whose movements loom large over them. Even to the point of obscuring them from view altogether.  Gerard was just such a man.
•  It would be difficult to find a single page of modern history written about him. But it would be even more difficult to find a single page of modern history not affected by him. 
• Groote was born with a great deal of money and privilege. He was also very bright. But his was a dissipated life. He chased after pleasure. But he desired something more – something more substantive. 
• So he began reading in the Augustinian tradition. But he didn’t take the church or the claims of the gospel seriously. (The church in his day was fraught with corruption, impiety, and schism.) In fact, the church was more worldly than the world. 
• And yet, there was something about the gospel and its claims (especially the doctrines of sovereign grace that he discovered in Augustine) that would not let him go.
   
• And so, in 1374, Groote was converted to the faith. Almost immediately afterwards, he began to use his ability to articulate truth to tell everyone he knew of the mercies that were available in the gospel of grace. It was not a message often heard in those days. He was received well by many, however. One person who received him was John Wycliffe. Together, he and Wycliffe discussed their ideas of…

1.  Translating the Bible into the vernacular of the people
2. Sending out lay-preachers into the community
3. Teaching ordinary people to read so that they could better understand the doctrines of grace.

•  Groote returned home and began his labors among common people. His desire to was to spread a vision for radical discipleship. He did. And his followers/disciples who gathered around him called themselves “the Brethren of the Common Life.”
   
• They described Groote’s vision as the Devotio Moderna (the modern way of serving God). . It was a vision of discipleship that had a number of distinctive elements. It was also unheard of in the 14^th century.

 The Devotio Moderna was to be a comprehensive lifestyle rooted in a biblical worldview. Let’s take a look at the distinctives of this “radical discipleship.”

1.)   The Devotio Moderna , first of all, emphasized holiness for every Christian – not just for a few. Groote wanted common piety for common folk – this was the heart of his message.

• He said the difference between the City of God and the City of Man is demonstrable. Christ’s followers should be imitators of Christ (by grace, through faith – not of themselves). This was the great aim of discipleship according to Groote. He wanted to instill in a while new generation, an appetite for those things that mattered most.
   
• Groote was a very controversial person because of all this. His vision was the gospel of Jesus Christ, but this vision pitted him against very powerful forces in the culture. But the worse his (and the Brethren’s) reputation became, the greater their following became.

 2.)   Secondly, the Devotio Moderna emphasized the importance of self-examination, as a way of cultivating humility.

• Groote was famous for saying, “I am tired of just being right.” Instead, he wanted to communicate truth to the world and minister to the needs of others.
   
• It’s a spirit of humility that affords us the best opportunities to grow, mature, and achieve in the life of the mind. It’s knowing how much we do not know that allows us to fully embark on a lifetime of learning – to recover to any degree, the beauty and goodness and truth of Christendom.
   
• Groote took seriously the high call of Scripture to walk humbly before God and man.

 3.)               Groote’s Devotio Moderna emphasized the importance of covenantal communities, as the real-life context for discipleship.

• The idea was for people to live out particular graces with one another. He wanted his disciples to go to the least likely places and gather the least likely students – and invest in those students. He wanted them to plant themselves in those communities, and then allow the gospel to flower whatever the Spirit would bring. This was to be “home.” He believed that it was at “home” that the beauty of Christian civilization was best comprehended.
   
• For Groote, the best Christian education would bring about such virtues as hospitality, care for the poor, for the sick, strength in families, reaching out to neighbors. It would root people at home.

 4.)               Groote’s Devotio Moderna emphasized the importance of a Confessional Standard (standards rooted in the biblical antithesis).

• It was for this reason that Groote believed that one of the first tasks of Christian education was to translate the great classics of Christendom into the vernacular language – to give students the tools of translation – to build up libraries, and to initiate literacy among the least and the last – not just the first and the foremost.  (Thomas Chalmers, of the 19^th century, relied on Groote for his own education reforms)
   
• Groote proclaimed that there is no neutrality in education. Facts are not neutral. History is not neutral. Math is not neutral. The world is sundered by a great antithesis – where the City of God and the City of Man never intermingle. We must teach truth – truth in terms of God’s Word – because the Bible is God’s own revelation of wisdom, knowledge, understanding and truth. It is not merely a marvelous collection of quaint sayings and inspiring stories. It’s God’s message to man – his instruction. It is God’s guideline, his plumb line, his bottom line.

 5.)               Therefore, Groote’s Devotio Moderna placed a high premium on teaching every man, woman, and child, the Bible.

• The Bible was not merely tacked on as one additional class to all the other classes. The Bible was not, for Groote, an appendage to all the other scholastic disciplines.
   
• Curriculum was not simply to be dipped in Bible passages in order to make it appear to be Christian. Education’s purpose was to facilitate the catechizing – the discipling process. The goal was not simply to make the students bright and successful students in society, but to make them sober, discerning, wise, and fruitful members of the Kingdom.

 Together, these distinctives: Holiness, Humility, Covenantal Community, Antithesis, and Catechizing – comprised what Groote called “Classical Christianity” or what we might call, “Biblical Orthodoxy.”

• Groote believed that the key to reforming the church in his day was to begin at the grassroots level, and reform education – by finding places of fruitful ministry at home – and then investing in the people found there.
   
• Groote’s vision was a multi-generational plan – a strategy that would stretch across the covenantal generations. He looked at his world and said that there was nothing he could do about the Babylonian Captivity of the church; nothing he could do about the universities; nothing he could do about the civil wars…FOR NOW.  But, if we lay foundations, enduring foundations – if our vision extends just beyond our own lifetimes – if our vision extends just to our children’s lifetimes – if we trust the gospel for the future – then real and substantive change is not only possible – it is promised!
   
• Groote had this great faith that the gospel is not only true for the here and now, but that the gospel could transform entire cultures and change civilizations. That foundations laid in righteousness would ultimately endure when all of the foolishness of the world collapses under the weight of its own absurdity.
   
• Groote never lived to see the day of how powerful and successful his vision was. He was forgotten because the movement he launched loomed so much larger than he did.
   
• And yet, because of his faithful labors; because of his vision of discipleship; because of the band of disciples that he gathered around him and invested in – within a single decade, the world was changed forever.
   
• I don’t just want to be right. I want something that endures for all the generations.
   
• Wouldn’t it be wonderful to look across all the covenantal generations and to know that one day, because of the penance we’ve invested, in these short hours, that in the future a Luther or a Calvin, or a Whitefield, or a Wesley, or a Wilberforce – or all of them combined – would come forth from faithful covenantal parents, and change the world.
   
• The great assurance of the gospel is that change is not just possible, it’s promised when God’s covenant people exercise covenant faithfulness.
   
• Is there a Groote in you? Are you willing to die in obscurity to lay foundations that will endure across the generations? Like Groote, we must yearn for that which will change, and change for all time.
   
• Groote taught that Satan would have us offer an alternative, any alternative to the truth, the one truth, the central truth of the gospel. He would have us affirm anything, anything at all, as long as it is not that Jesus is Lord – that he is the Lord over the totality of life, and that he has spoken authoritatively, definitively, and finally. Anything is acceptable to him, everything is acceptable to him – except the notion that the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and that his sovereignty rules over all. Anything is acceptable to Satan except the sufficiency of Scripture. Thus, even Satan underscores the inescapability of antithesis in his resistance to them.
   
• In our quest for the excellent; in our quest for the substantive; in our quest for the effective, let’s never lose sight of the fact that all of that is perfectly acceptable to the enemy. The one thing that sets us apart is our desire to move from mere knowledge to understanding, and from understanding to wisdom.

 Groote said,

“Lay foundations that will endure in the hearts of your children. For there are only two things that are eternal in all of the created order: the children under your care, and the Word of God.”

 Grant’s Prayer at the end of the message…

     O Father; Almighty Father, I confess to you that I am often diverted by pleasant alternatives. I am often tantalized by that which will bring success, effectiveness, suasion in the here and now. I pray that you would give me eyes to look beyond the horizon of just this moment. Enable me to invest for all eternity. Enable us to have a distinctive vision of discipleship – like that of Gerard Groote before us. Enable us to quest for holiness, humility, covenantal community, antithesis, catechizing – classical Christianity – in the hearts of our children – first and foremost.

     Lord God, I pray that we will produce not just successful businessmen, or men and women effective in their vocations. We yearn for REFORMATION. Change the world, O God! And use us in the process.

 We pray this in Jesus name. Amen and amen.

*****************

Here’s a short little introduction I just found on Groote that’s worth reading.

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Christ’s Call

Powerful!!! Sobering!!! Convicting!!!

from Gospel for Asia

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