Rich conversation
Teaching on work has led me into some marvelous conversations. Thanks to all who have joined this loose forum the past few days. I have been deepened and motivated by your insights. Here are a few of the notes that I thought might inspire you as well.
Randall Satchell of the FBC pulpit team passed on this gem from R.C. Sproul:
To live all of life coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.
The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is religious or none of life is religious. To divide life between the religious and the nonreligious is itself a sacrilege.
This means that if a person fulfills his or her vocation as a steelmaker, attorney, or homemaker coram Deo, then that person is acting every bit as religiously as a soul-winning evangelist who fulfills his vocation. It means that David was as religious when he obeyed God’s call to be a shepherd as he was when he was anointed with the special grace of kingship. It means that Jesus was every bit as religious when He worked in His father’s carpenter shop as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Integrity is found where men and women live their lives in a pattern of consistency. It is a pattern that functions the same basic way in church and out of church. It is a life that is open before God. It is a life in which all that is done is done as to the Lord. It is a life lived by principle, not expediency; by humility before God, not defiance. It is a life lived under the tutelage of conscience that is held captive by the Word of God.
Coram Deo…before the face of God. That’s the big idea. Next to this idea our other goals and ambitions become mere trifles. – R.C. Sproul
A lead pastor at another church shared this statement from R.G. LeTourneau:
If I had a religion that limped along during the week, and maybe worked only on Sunday, or while you’re in church, I don’t think I’d be very sold on it. I think I’d turn it in on a new model that worked seven days a week, that would work when I was at church, in my home, or out at the plant. And that is what Christianity does. – R.G. LeTourneau
Cindy Sharp of our pulpit team also noted:
Sounds like we need to provide lots of evidence for those who will someday condemn us for being followers of Christ. If they have to work very hard to convict us, we aren’t living our lives for Him.
Ego and working together
Based on these and other conversations, I scribbled out the following thoughts on ego and working in community:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6 ESV)
This succinctly describes the problem of pluribus with no unum. The great motto of the USA is e pluribus unum – out of many, unity. But the problem under both the Hebrew Judges and American Presidents is that people naturally want fractured multi-ness without any unity. We want e pluribus with no unum.
This has been true in all times since Adam & Eve left the Garden, but it seems especially fractured in the age of the selfie. We are so preconditioned to see self as the focus of every picture that it’s very hard to even imagine being much concerned with anything that doesn’t revolve around me.
We find much about which to disagree and we do so disagreeably. This is especially exacerbated by a culture where filthy language is tolerated and even expected in any argument – something that emotionally drives others away. And once we buy into the Judges’ thinking that all good is defined by my personal desires, things just go from bad to worse. We see it in the book of Judges, and we see it in this country as well.
E pluribus…no unum…because a culture refuses to submit to the idea of a God. This makes interpersonal relationships impossible, and thus it fractures the very foundation needed for work. If people can’t agree to anything, then nothing can ever get done. One can see this in Generation iY, Tim Elmore’s well-researched book.
I should warn you that the premise is depressing. It’s not happy news. Elmore believes Generation iY (those kids born after 1990) are in trouble because their parents taught them that community is optional and their personal desire is always paramount. That has resulted in a group of young people who are, in Dr. Elmore’s phrase, “overwhelmed, overconnected, overprotected, and overserved.” Everything revolves around the individual and it’s killing them.
What is a Christian to do? What are we to do in these news days of the Judges? We could start by learning from a guy who lived in the day of the first Judges, a fellow named Boaz.
When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time!” (2:15-16 NLT)
Now I have a whole series coming on the book of Ruth, so let’s not get lost in details today. Suffice it to say that Boaz looks out for others as well as his own business. See that? The Law required that an unemployed worker like Ruth be allowed to scavenge. But Boaz makes sure she has special opportunity. In fact, His engagement with others is a subtle theme running through the whole story. Boaz cares about his workers…he goes to town to deal with other business people…he is seen at the gate with the Elders…he talks with his overseer…he joins the community celebration after the rare good harvest…In short, he sets aside self-centeredness in favor of community.
Paul’s Philippian letter pithily summarizes the lesson for NT Christians.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4 ESV)
Because there is a God and because He oversees all our work, whatever it is, we can care about our business and the people around us. This attitude allowed Boaz to start a multi-generational, positive cultural shift. It allowed Nehemiah’s later generation to work on each person’s section rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Each did his own part – but the walls had to fit together! That fitting only occurred because of a working unity with those on either side. May the same prove true of us, even in the age of the selfie.