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Centre for Christian Living's Open Night on 'Work'
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THE OUTCOMES OF WORK
CCL Open Night 2
JON TELFER READS THE BIBLE FOR US
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
1 I said to myself, "Go ahead, I will test you with
pleasure and enjoy what is good." But it turned out to
be futile. 2 I said about laughter, "It is madness," and
about pleasure, "What does this accomplish?" 3 I
explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life
with wine and how to grasp folly —my mind still
guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is
good for people to do under heaven during the few
days of their lives.
ECCLESIASTES 2 CONT.4 I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. 7
I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men.
9 Thus, I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me. 10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. 11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
THE OUTCOMES OF WORK
CCL Open Night 2
1. WORK IN THE HIVE
1. WORK IN THE HIVE
www.gospelgroundwork.com.au
―If I forget to set my alarm for the morning, I am woken up by one of my daughters. I get out of bed and walk to the far end of the house to have a shower. I dress, then check the fridge for milk, the cupboard for bread, the basket for fruit, and the third drawer for snacks. As we live close to shops, we tend not panic if we run out of such daily necessities; rather, I will duck out to procure whatever is lacking for breakfast and the kids‘ lunches. This involves a walk to a supermarket for bread, to the grocer‘s for fruit, and sometimes to a café to pick up a takeaway cappuccino for my wife: three shops in about fifteen minutes. And then I return home to help get breakfast ready and to help get the kids to school. Sometimes they walk, and sometimes I drive them. Then I head off to work, sometimes to an office a few suburbs away, or sometimes to a nearby café, to get some writing done. (I am sitting at a café this morning.)…
GOSPELGROUNDWORK.COM.AU
GOSPEL GROUNDWORK CONT.
―There is nothing remarkable about this morning, and yet I could not have done it without the work of thousands of people — probably tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands. I wake up in a bed I did not build, in sheets I did not create. I did not produce the raw materials; I did not manufacture them; I do not own the shop where they were bought, and; in the case of the bed, at least, I needed help to get it into the house. As I go to the shower, I am walking on floorboards I neither laid nor polished (though I have swept them). I did not grow the wood from which they were crafted; I did not cut the tree or fashion the timber; nor did I transport them or sell them. And these floorboards are in a house I did not build, owned by someone who is not me, and rented to me through an agent. While in the shower, I benefit from water piped from somewhere, heated by electricity generated somewhere, most likely fired by coal (which alone includes the work of thousands of people). And as I drink my coffee, I try to imagine how many people's labour it involves. Someone grew it, someone harvested it, someone transported it, someone imported it, someone roasted it, someone distributed it, someone set up a café (in a building, owned by someone, rented though someone), and then a barista made it for me, using piped water and an electric machine, which itself was also made, transported, imported, distributed, sold and repaired. Moreover, the barista has been trained: he is using techniques developed by others. And so the morning continues: simple acts utilizing the work of thousands of people…
GOSPEL GROUNDWORK CONT.
―But I did not just benefit from the invisible work behind
the visible work. I also benefited from a whole lot of
completely invisible work. For example, as I left the
house, I did not walk through a pile of rubbish, because
someone had cleared it; before that, someone had
organized to clear it, funded it, passed legislation
enabling funds to be raised, and so on. Similarly, I did
not fear for my life: I experienced the fruit of legislators,
public servants, and police.
All this before I checked e-mail and started writing on a
computer.‖
2. WORKING FOR ME
2. WORKING FOR ME
Fulfilment:
2. WORKING FOR ME
Fulfilment:
Reputation:
2. WORKING FOR ME
Fulfilment:
Reputation:
Consumption:
2. WORKING FOR ME
Fulfilment:
‗I took pleasure in all my
struggles‘
(Ecclesiastes 2:10b)
Reputation:
Consumption:
2. WORKING FOR ME
Fulfilment:
‗I took pleasure in all my
struggles‘
(Ecclesiastes 2:10b)
Reputation:
‗I became great and
surpassed all who were
before me in Jerusalem‘ (v. 9)
Consumption:
2. WORKING FOR ME
Fulfilment:
‗I took pleasure in all my
struggles‘
(Ecclesiastes 2:10b)
Reputation:
‗I became great and
surpassed all who were
before me in Jerusalem‘ (v. 9)
Consumption:
‗All that my eyes desired, I did
not deny them. I did not refuse
myself any pleasure‘ (v. 10a).
THE OUTCOMES OF WORK
CCL Open Night 2
Q: IF YOUR WORK IS FULFILLING, WHAT
MAKES IT SO?
Some of the answers that we came up with were:
―the moment where it all comes together‖
Interpersonal moments at work and relationships
formed there
Working for something that you believe in
Feeling successful
Q:
If your work is fulfilling,
what makes it so?
„Work‟ has various purposes or
„ends‟ – primary outcomes to do
with communities, with creation, and
with God.
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
The Teacher:‘‗Two are
better than one because
they have a good
reward for their
efforts. For if
either falls, his
companion can lift
him up; but pity the
one who falls without
another to lift him up.
Also, if two lie down
together, they can keep
warm; but how can
one person alone
keep warm? And
if some body
overpowers one
person, two can
resist him. A cord
of three strands is
not easily broken.‘
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your
own business and to work with your hands, just as we
told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of
outsiders [orig: ‗might walk honestly/properly toward
outsiders‘] and so that you will not be dependent on
anybody.‘ (1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your
own business and to work with your hands, just as we
told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of
outsiders [orig: ‗might walk honestly/properly toward
outsiders‘] and so that you will not be dependent on
anybody.‘ (1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)
‗The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do
honest work with his own hands, so that he has
something to share with anyone in need.‘ (Eph. 4:28, HSCB)
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders [orig: ‗might walk honestly/properly toward outsiders‘] and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.‘ (1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)
‗The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.‘ (Eph. 4:28, HSCB)
‗Now if anyone does not provide for his own relatives, and especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.‘ (1 Tim. 5:8, HCSB)
3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY
‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own
business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,
so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders [orig:
‗might walk honestly/properly toward outsiders‘] and so that
you will not be dependent on anybody.‘
(1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)
‗The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest
work with his own hands, so that he has something to share
with anyone in need.‘ (Eph. 4:28, HSCB)
‗Now if anyone does not provide for his own relatives, and
especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is
worse than an unbeliever.‘ (1 Tim. 5:8, HCSB)
sharing God’s good gifts in order to promote
communities where people care for each other.
Q:
Who outside of your organisation, does
your work affect? What effect does your
work have on the wider social world?
Q: WHO, OUTSIDE OF YOUR ORGANISATION,
DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?
For some, there was a tangible answer to this
question:
The clients (for example, students borrowing books
from a library that you work in); or
Working as a physio to assist someone to start
walking again.
Q: WHO, OUTSIDE OF YOUR ORGANISATION,
DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?
For some, there was a tangible answer to this
question:
The clients (for example, students borrowing books
from a library that you work in); or
Working as a physio to assist someone to start
walking again.
But for others, it was very hard to answer this
question. Who is really affected by your work when
you are deep in the middle of an organisation?
The Light Half… The Dark Half…
4. THE
WORK OF
CREATION
Q:
What does your work affect? What effect
does your work have on the
wider created world?
Q: WHAT DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?
Some of the answers we had were:
―This question is very hard to answer‖
―We use social structures to affect the created
order‖
Q: WHAT DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?
Some of the answers we had were:
―This question is very hard to answer‖
―We use social structures to affect the created
order‖
―We have both a positive and a negative effect on
the environment‖
For example, a publishing company might be
consuming a lot of natural resources, while at the same
time helping others to know how to use and care for the
environment.
5. JESUS: ‗THE WORK OF GOD‘
5. JESUS: ‗THE WORK OF GOD‘
‗Don‘t work for the food that perishes but for the
food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man
will give you, because God the Father has set His
seal of approval on Him. … This is the work of God:
that you believe in the One He has sent‘ (John
6:27–30).
5. JESUS: ‗THE WORK OF GOD‘
„… dead in your trespasses and sins in which you
previously walked … [We all lived] in our fleshly
desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh
and thoughts, and by nature we were children
under wrath …‘ Ephesians 2:1–3
5. JESUS: ‗THE WORK OF GOD‘
‗But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His
great love that He had for us, 5 made us alive with
Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. By
grace you are saved! For by grace you are saved
through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is
God's gift – 9 not from works, so that no one can
boast. 10 For we are His creation – created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
ahead of time so that we should walk in them.‘
Ephesians 2:4–10
So our best work simply participates in and
responds to God‘s work
So our best work simply participates in and
responds to God‘s work
‗No salvation by works‘
also means
‗no salvation through work‘
Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered desires false belonging
Christ’s Spirit:reordered desires,
true inclusion (‘love’)
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
Commands
God’sCharacter
The character of the worker:
e.g.
kind, just, caring, faithful, truthful,
merciful …
God’sCharacter
Creation
The work of creation:
know, use and
care for the created order
New future
God’sCharacter
Creation The work of God:
participate in and
respond to God‟s work
of „redemption‟
(i.e. rescue and repair)
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
The work of community:
share God‟s good gifts in to
promote communities where
people care for each other
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
e.g. verses
about sharing
Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered desires false belonging
Creation
Commands to offset
obsession with
fulfilment, reputation,
consumption
Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered desires false belonging
Christ’s Spirit:reordered desires,
true inclusion (‘love’)
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
Commands
with God‘s help!
(because we
workers are
broken)
EXPANDING
OUR IMAGINATION
EXPANDING
OUR IMAGINATION
EXPANDING
OUR IMAGINATION
EXPANDING
OUR IMAGINATION
Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered desires false belonging
Christ’s Spirit:reordered desires,
true inclusion (‘love’)
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
Commands
Creation
Community‘in Christ’
Creation
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
Commands
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
Commands
Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered desires false belonging
Christ’s Spirit:reordered desires,
true inclusion (‘love’)
New future
Community‘in Christ’
God’sCharacter
Creation
Commands
Q:
If your work seems pointless, what would
you wish for to make it better? Q:
What forces leave you feeling that you
have no power to change your
workplace?
AN IDEA FOR THE FUTURE
‗Job Club‘
AN IDEA FOR THE FUTURE
‗Job Club‘
And our upcoming Open Night,
April 18:
“Christianity and culture:
Stepping Up”