Sermon: Work Hard - 1 of 4 AL BREEMS,
Pastor
Text: Colossians 3:23
This week once again we celebrated the independence of our nation and
the freedoms that were won when our nation began. Often, I believe, it
is so easy given all the things that handed to us in this nation to take
many of those freedoms for granted--the freedom to vote, and really have
our votes matter as we saw in the last election, the freedom to walk down
the street and go wherever we want to go without being watched or checked
out by soldiers, the freedom to practice our religion without the government
trying to shut us down or tell us what to believe. We really do live in
one of the greatest, most free nations in all of the world and perhaps
in all of history.
And yet what's really sad is not just that we would take our freedom
for granted or fail to stop to give thanks to the Lord for this nation,
but what is really sad is what has happened more often than not.
We Americans have taken the many freedoms and luxuries that the Lord has
given to our nation and we have used them in such a way--or abused them
in such a way--that we actually begin to voluntarily put ourselves back
into forms of bondage. We live in one of the freest nations in the world,
and yet we probably have more people living in forms of bondage, to things
like alcohol or pornography or drugs than anywhere else in the world.
And I bring that up this morning, because this month I would like to
talk about one of the greatest losses of freedom that people have experienced
in this nation more than any other--one of the greatest forms of a bondage
that exists in our nation today, a silent bondage, called the bondage of
debt.
The Bible says in Proverbs 22:7 that the borrower in a debt situation
becomes a slave to the lender. Now let me share with you a little bit about
the extent to which this slavery has touched our nation. It is estimated
that Americans on an individual basis are in over $3 trillion worth of
debt. On the average, each American family spends $400 more than it takes
in, which means on the average each family in our nation yearly is going
further and further into debt. It is also estimated that on the average
23% of all American personal income goes towards paying debt.
And get this: The total amount of American debt increases $1000 a second.
So, tell me this isn't a problem.
And to be honest, I have to believe that there are many of you here
this morning who have been plagued with this bondage or slavery in your
own lives. And for some, if not many of you, debt has played a major
role in bringing stress and problems into your lives and marriages.
So the question is what are we supposed to do as Christians about this
problem? What does God want us to do? How do we either find ways to avoid
getting into debt in the first place or to keep ourselves from going further
into debt and what do we have to do if we desire to get out of debt?
The good news is there is a way out and there is a way for us to avoid
debt in our lives. God has outlined some steps that we as Christians can
take to avoid debt and or get out of debt. The bad news is that there are
no quick fixes to debt. If you think God's solution is to pray to win the
lotto, think again... no quick solutions.
Praying is good. Praying to win the lotto is I would say a bad idea.
Looking to God to help us stay out or get out of the problem of debt is
good, but then we must be willing to do things God's way and not ours.
We must be willing to be obedient to what God teaches us in the Bible.
And I will warn you that God's ways, although they are the best ways, are
not always the easiest ways in this world. Our sinful natures often don't
want to do things God's way in the world. And when we do try to do
things God's way, the devil, our enemy, will do whatever he can to frustrate
and discourage us.
But follow God's way, and there is a promise of victory over the struggles
of this world including the struggle against debt. So what does God require
to help us with debt? Here's the first thing that I would like to talk
about today that God recommends in the battle against debt. It's very simple,
work hard.
Someone once asked, "Is it wrong to want nice things in this world for
a Christian?" My response to that would be, "No, unless you are unwilling
to work hard for the nice things in this world." You see, too many people
want the good things before they have worked to earn the money to buy them.
When that happens, guess what they do to get the nice things before the
hard work? Debt. Now, someone may say, "Hey, I am working hard to pay off
the debt." And that may be true. But too often what happens is either
people break their promise to pay off the debt which they gave their word
they would do, or they end up in slavery--their work in this world becomes
a bondage to the lender. And believe me, God does not want that for His
children. He wants us to be free.
Today we are going to read just one verse from the Bible, a verse that
speaks about when and how and why we need to work hard as Christians.
Even though this verse never mentions the word debt, I believe the connection
between what this verse teaches and our freedom from debt is very real
and important for us to see this morning. So, with that in mind, let's
read the verse....
Col. 3:23 ?Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working
for the Lord, not for men.?
Now, what I'd like to do is to take you through the different parts
of this simple verse, things that I believe it teaches us about our need
to work hard. Here's the first: it says whatever you do..... In other words,
whatever kind of work you have been given to do, learn to work hard, learn
to do your best, learn to do in such a way that would please the Lord.
Part of what that means is that no matter what kind of job that God
gives you to do out there in the work world, you need to avoid the temptation
to say, "Well, this cruddy old job. I'm not going to break my back for
this company. Besides, this job is just temporary, something to get me
by. So, when I get a real job, a job that's right for me, a job that I
like, then I'll work hard." I ask you, "Is that what the Bible says? With
only certain jobs it's necessary to work hard?" No, whatever you do.
And I'd you to look at the context of this verse. If you look ahead
a couple of verses, you will see that Paul was addressing slaves. I don't
know how much you know about ancient slaves, but believe me, there is no
job today that begins to compare to what their jobs and lives were like.
They were totally abused and taken advantage of. No pay other than food
and a place to lay their head.
And yet, Paul tells these slaves that they could not use the conditions
of their jobs as an excuse not to work hard. Sadly, there are too many
people who don't work because they want to do certain jobs that they feel
are "slave labor." And that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get a job
that fits you to which you feel called. However, if God presents us with
work, and we need the work, then we need to be willing to do work to the
best of our abilities--to work hard, no matter what kind of work we do.
And that's true not just in terms of what kind of work we do, but that's
also true in terms of the people with whom we work. There are some of you
who have jobs that you like, work that fits you or work to which you feel
called, but you have people for whom or with whom you work who are a pain.
And again, there is a temptation to become discouraged or frustrated because
of these people with whom we work and thereby to slack off or give a half-hearted
attempt to finish a job, and the reason is because we don't like the people
with whom we work.
But, again, what does the Bible say, "Whatever you do..." in other words,
no matter who it is with whom you work, whatever you have been given to
do, work hard.
I'd also like us to think about this in terms of the different areas
of our lives that require work, because a lot of areas of our lives require
hard work, not just our jobs. And when it says here, "Whatever you do...,"
I believe that can be applied to things like going to school, taking care
of our homes, raising children, and "working" on our marriages.
There are people, especially Dads, who like to come home, find a very
comfortable spot to sit, and "veg out", and in their minds even if they
don't say--which sometimes they still do--they are thinking, "Hey, I worked
hard all day. My work day is done."
And I do believe we need down times in our days. I do believe, as the
Bible teaches, we need rest. I am not suggesting that it's wrong
for a man or woman to want a few minutes to unwind when they get home from
a hard day of work, very understandable. What's wrong, however, is when
they check out from doing anything at home. Because the truth is, taking
care of a home and a family, especially when kids are involved, takes work.
So when the Bible says, "Whatever you do...," in part I believe it's
talking about what you do at home. Are we willing to work hard around the
home? Are we willing to roll up our sleeves and help around the home--to
make dinner, to clean, to help with laundry, to wash dishes, to pick up?
As parents, are we willing to work hard to help with the needs of the kids?
Are we willing to help with homework? To spend time working at developing
a relationship with them, talking to them, asking about their day? Are
we willing to make work of getting everyone together to the dinner table?
Are we willing to make work of praying together or reading the Bible together
as a family? Are we willing to make work of building a strong marriage,
to work at meeting the needs of our spouse and truly spending time listening
to them and talking?
Now, here's the connection to what I started with today. The more we
are willing to develop a character trait, where whatever we do we work
hard, the chance lessens that we will fall into the trap of debt.
Now, here's the second thing the verse goes on to say, "Whatever you
do, work at it with all your heart." It is important in understanding
this part of the verse to understand the difference or distinction between
what we commonly think of when we talk about a person's heart in the figurative
sense and what the Bible was talking about here.
Often in our society today, a matter of the heart is thought of as a
more emotional matter; whereas, what the Bible is talking about here, I
believe, when it says, "work at it with all your heart" was something within
us that goes way beyond emotions. In the Bible, the concept of the heart
was that part of you which is the deepest part of your being; the part
of you which makes the most important decisions and commitments of your
life--where you make the major directional choices about how or for what
or for whom you are going to live your life. As a matter fact, even though
the word is translated here as heart, the actual Greek word that was used
in this part of the verse was a word that could also be translated as your
soul.
So the idea here is when we work, we need to work because of a deep
down commitment we have made in our soul, that there is something deep
within us that keeps us going, that keeps us working hard even when we
don't feel like it. Did you hear that? That's really what the Bible is
trying to teach us to do this morning, to learn to work hard even on days
when we are tired or frustrated or down or discouraged, to learn to work
hard not because of circumstances or feelings but because of commitment
of the heart.
I've got to believe that you all have those days, right, where the alarm
goes off and it is hard, sometimes very hard to get out of bed, right?
So what does get you out of bed in the morning? What does get you in the
car or on the freeway? What does keep you working hard throughout the day?
Hopefully it's more than money--that in spite of how much money you have
or don't have, in spite of how much or little you get paid--there is something
that motivates you to work hard that is imbedded in your heart.
The hard part is that we live in a society today that is very much based
on feelings, which bombards us with the idea or message that if you don't
feel like it, don't do it. If it doesn't feel right or if it doesn't feel
good, then don't do it. In many ways, feelings drive the lives of people
in our society, and the problem with that is the feelings often originate
not from healthy, God-honoring commitments of the heart, but the feelings
come from what the Bible calls our flesh, the selfish side in all of us.
And when we let that side of us take over, hard work usually goes out the
door.
And that's where when it comes to debt. We see something we want,
our feelings tells us it will be great if we can get that thing.
We need this. Our feelings tell us that we'll work for it later. And so
we buy it, on credit. We take out a loan, and when we do, we think that
we'll get around to paying it off eventually. But eventually doesn't always
come because we don't always feel like working hard and disciplining ourselves
to do without things so that we have enough to get the debts paid off.
And not only do we adults need to learn about this idea of disciplining
ourselves because of a commitment of the heart to work hard for things,
get the money first, and then pay of them without the debt, but I believe
there is also a need for us to be teaching our kids the value of wholehearted
work, the value of working hard for things even when they don't feel like
it.
And those of us who are parents all know the way our kids react when
we outline for them the jobs that need to get done, right? We've all heard
their cries go up about the horrible injustice of what they have to do
around the home.
But you know what? Unless we model for them an attitude of wholeheartedly
working at something, not just doing a sloppy half-hearted job, not just
putting things off because we don't feel like it, they will never learn
to work wholeheartedly themselves. The more they see us tackling jobs around
the home, not just leaving the dishes to stack up sit on the counter, the
more they see us working wholeheartedly at the laundry, and not letting
mounds and mounds stack up, the more they see us helping pick up and clean
and take care of the yard or our cars, the more they are going to learn
that character trait of wholehearted work no matter what it is that you
do.
And the more we do that and pass that trait to their hearts, the more
we are going to give them a chance to avoid debt, to learn not to take
the easy way in life, but to work for what you get, and to work not just
with the minimum amount of effort, but to work wholeheartedly.
Which brings me to the last part of the verse, which says this: that
we must learn whatever we do, to work at it with all of our heart, as working
for the Lord, and not men. What is it in our hearts that needs to motivate
us to work? There are some people who work wholeheartedly in this world,
but the thing in their heart that motivates them is called greed.
It's a love for or heart commitment to the almighty dollar that causes
them to be wholehearted workers.
And that's why the Bible is clear that it's not just any kind of heart
commitment but a very specific heart commitment that needs to motivate
us to work hard, and that is a commitment in our hearts to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I really believe that the more we grow in our heart's commitment
to Him, the more we will have a motivation to work hard and avoid or be
freed from debt.
Because you see, when you put yourself in debt, guess for whom you are
working? Not for Jesus. As I said at the outset, the Bible
says you have become a slave to the lender, and you are working therefore
for men, not the Lord.
Now, I also know there are many of you who if could do it over again
in a different way and avoid the debt in which you find yourself because
of what the Lord is doing in your hearts. So what should you do if you
are in debt? In spite of the debt, work for the Lord. Because if work for
Jesus, you will work hard, and if you work hard, I believe, Jesus will
be the one to help you get out of debt. But if you are not willing
to work hard for Him, then don't expect His help with your debt.
And I'd like you to think about this--especially this morning in connection
with this last point and with us having communion today. Think about
how hard Jesus has worked for you. The Bible says that God's gift of forgiveness
or salvation, the ticket that comes through our faith in Jesus to heaven,
is free and it is given to us out of God's grace, meaning it's given even
though we don't deserve it.
But that doesn't mean that God's gift of forgiveness was cheap. It had
to be earned, not by us, but by Jesus. In effect, when Jesus came to this
world, His job was to work hard to pay off our debt. You think you've got
it hard, think about his job. He left the luxury of heaven, a huge sacrifice
in itself. Had to live a perfect life, couldn't make one mistake.
You want to talk about pressure! Had people turn against Him at every turn
of the road including His closest friends, falsely arrested, beaten, and
then killed on a cross because He was paying for our debt of sin and guilt.
Today is a reminder of His hard work on the cross for our debt of sin.
When the Bible says work for the Lord, it means you and I are willing to
work hard in this world, whatever God calls us to do, because we are so
grateful for what Jesus has done for us. And again, the more we do that,
the more we say, "Jesus, I'm here to work hard for you, because I love
you and am grateful for what you did on the cross for me," the more I believe
He will give us the ability to say no to things which will put into debt
and give us the ability to work hard and pay off our debts.
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