1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,240 Hi, good morning. It's good to see you guys. 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:07,480 I'm Cole. If we haven't met, I'm one of 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,080 the lead pastors here at Frontier Church. 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:11,840 Carlos already kind of spilled the beans on this one, but this 5 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,000 is our last sermon in our brief sermon series on faith and 6 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,600 vocation that we're calling. Thank God it's Monday. 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,800 Next week we start a really, really, really short two week 8 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,800 sermon series about the Holy Spirit for the Pentecost season. 9 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,480 And I felt very original and creative with the title of that 10 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,800 sermon series. So we're calling it the Holy 11 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:33,360 Spirit. You're welcome. 12 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:35,480 Short and to the point. But that's not this morning. 13 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:37,600 This morning. We've got one more weekend. 14 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:42,320 Thank God it's Monday. I was so I was lucky enough I 15 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,200 went to you and I at University of Northern Iowa. 16 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,000 Go Panthers. Oh, we have some Panthers in the 17 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,280 room. And I was, I was lucky enough to 18 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,960 wind up directly after college, right down the road at a, at a 19 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,480 dream job of mine at Cedar Falls High School, teaching secondary 20 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,400 English to sophomores through seniors in high school. 21 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,120 It felt like a dream job to me. It's what I felt like my entire 22 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,080 life was leading to. And the first week of being a 23 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,840 full time high school English teacher. 24 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,200 Yes, I repeat, I repeat, my first week of being a high 25 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,720 school English teacher. That Friday I found myself in 26 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,760 the principal's office in trouble as a teacher. 27 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,560 First week, first week, there I was. 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,360 I was like, I've been here before, never as a teacher, but 29 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,320 I've been here before. My principal, he was right. 30 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,400 I was wrong. I had some learning to do. 31 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,640 I had some figuring out to do. But he said to me, and this is 32 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:52,080 the entire conversation. He said to me, Cole, this is a 33 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,640 public school. You can't just write Bible 34 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,720 verses on the whiteboard. And I was like, huh? 35 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,120 So this is it. Huh. 36 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:12,120 This is it. Can't just write Bible verses on 37 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:14,560 the whiteboard. So we had a conversation about 38 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,440 him and I said, OK, yeah, no, that totally makes sense. 39 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,600 Probably shouldn't lead that way on like the first day of school 40 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:22,920 kid, right? I put up I think one of the 41 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,080 proverbs a kid took a picture of it sending to the principal and 42 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,400 end up getting. Luckily, I actually still work 43 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,640 for that principal. He's now the Superintendent at 44 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:32,000 the place that I coach wrestling. 45 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,000 So we've actually got a great friendship and and he's been an 46 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:37,680 awesome role model and mentor to me. 47 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:38,920 But the conversation went this way. 48 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,400 I said, OK, so I I can't lead that way. 49 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,240 I can't initiate it. I can't, I can't talk about it 50 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,360 from the front of the that makes total sense to me. 51 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:51,160 What if, listen to me? What if they ask me about it 52 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,560 after class or in the hallways? And then he said, absolutely, 53 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,880 then you can talk about it. And so I began to strategize a 54 00:02:57,880 --> 00:02:59,400 little bit. I said, OK, so I can't just 55 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,120 teach the Bible at a public school. 56 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:02,920 That makes sense. And so I started to develop 57 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:06,360 privately what I called gospel hooks, ways of teaching English 58 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,760 literature, poetry, short stories and novels by asking 59 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,560 questions centered around life that made the kids and provoked 60 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,240 the kids to wrestle with big worldview questions in the hopes 61 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,400 that they would ask me Dyke, what do you think? 62 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:22,680 I called them gospel hooks. And so no, I couldn't say, Hey, 63 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,320 you were born sinful and you need to be saved by Jesus 64 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:28,560 Christ. Repent of your sins. 65 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,080 I can't do that in a in a high school English classroom in a 66 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,320 public school system. Here's what I could do. 67 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,040 Hey, class. So if you look at William 68 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,640 Golding in Lord of the Flies, did you guys learn Lord of the 69 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,920 Flies in high school? Good English teacher. 70 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,840 I could say William Golding in The Lord of the Flies right 71 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,760 here. What he's clearly implying is 72 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,120 that when you strip away civilization from human nature, 73 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,760 what you have is depraved human nature. 74 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,880 I'm just curious, class, do you think that's true? 75 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,560 Do you think human beings are good or bad by nature? 76 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:05,240 And if they're bad, what is our hope as a human species? 77 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,080 I could say that, but here's what I learned. 78 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,160 If there was no relational trust between me and the students, 79 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,360 they enjoyed answering those questions and wrestling with 80 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,000 those questions, but they didn't give a RIP about what I thought, 81 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:22,040 and so they wouldn't ask me the question. 82 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,600 And so I developed the gospel hooks. 83 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:26,840 But then I noticed if I want to have these types of 84 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,960 conversations with high school English students, then I've also 85 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,520 got to develop relational trust. And so I went all in on, OK, how 86 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,720 can I get better at developing relational trust? 87 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,720 How can I encourage them in the most precise vocal and verbal 88 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:41,720 ways? How can I show interest in their 89 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,640 lives outside of school? And so I began to develop 90 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:46,240 relationships with the students in that way. 91 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,920 And then every once in a while, when the relational trust was 92 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,920 there and when the question was good and when the conversation 93 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,080 was compelling, every once in a while I would say something 94 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,400 like, hey, in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, he's clearly 95 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,280 implying that when you strip away civilization, human nature 96 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:07,040 is bad. Do you think that's true or 97 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,480 false? And if it's true, what do you 98 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:14,000 think our hope is? And sometimes I would have a 99 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,360 student who would come up to me afterwards or in the hall and 100 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:23,440 say, Daiki, what do you think? And in those moments, I could 101 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:28,440 talk to them and I could share with them my faith and the 102 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:30,880 gospel of Jesus. And it was really sweet. 103 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,320 I really enjoyed those two years as a high school English 104 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:38,000 teacher. But now looking back at it nine 105 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,360 years later, 10 years later, I, I had some fun times with my 106 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,000 classroom. I had some students reach out 107 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,760 and say, Daiki, I'm becoming a teacher because of you. 108 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,680 I had some students say, Daiki, you were the best teacher I ever 109 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:53,000 had. But what I never saw was a 110 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,000 student cross the faith line. Never saw a student who said, 111 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,400 Daiki, you help me cross the line from non believer to 112 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,960 Christian. Never had a student who said to 113 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:11,200 me, Daiki, can you baptize me? And so I look back at those two 114 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:20,000 years and sometimes I wonder, did I waste those two years? 115 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:28,880 Were those two years insignificant for eternity? 116 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,240 Do you ever wonder that when you think about your job, your 117 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,320 vocation, being a stay at home mother, being retired and 118 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,400 investing a little bit more in relationships and hobbies and 119 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:43,040 serving the church, do you ever wonder? 120 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,720 Man, it just feels like the work that I do doesn't have any real 121 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,560 spiritual significance. Because if you're like me, you 122 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,240 do ask that question. And so here's where we're going 123 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,040 this morning. So far in the six week sermon 124 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,200 series, we've talked about faith and vocation. 125 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,480 We have, we have we've we've talked about work as worship. 126 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:03,000 We've talked about work as mission. 127 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:04,520 We've talked about work and idolatry. 128 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,200 We've talked about work and laziness. 129 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,720 And look, these six weeks, I've had a good time. 130 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:10,880 I've had some fun. I think you've had some fun. 131 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,440 You've laughed a few times along the way. 132 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,440 I hope you've learned a little bit more about Jesus. 133 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:16,200 I've learned a little bit more about Jesus. 134 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,600 But as we bring this thing to a close, here's where we're going. 135 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,480 Jesus and Jesus alone. And I don't care what your 136 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,640 vocation is. I don't care if you are a stay 137 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,120 at home homemaker. I don't care if you're a career 138 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,320 enthusiast. I don't care if you're retired. 139 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:41,280 Jesus and Jesus alone is the only antidote to vocational 140 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:45,440 insignificance. That feeling of man. 141 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,480 All these hours I'm spending on this thing, I just feel like 142 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,800 it's insignificant. Jesus and Jesus alone is the 143 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:54,520 antidote. I want you to see this in the 144 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,720 word of God if you're able. Let's stand for the reading. 145 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:04,960 This is this is the apostle Paul. 146 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,240 He's in First Corinthians chapter 3, verses 10 through 15. 147 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,400 If you've got a phone, I would love for you to turn to to that 148 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,120 Bible verse. If you've got a Bible, I'd love 149 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,480 for you to flip there. What what I'm going to teach you 150 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,800 on this morning. It is it's so challenging to 151 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:24,320 believe that if you don't see it in the scriptures, you'll almost 152 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:26,720 believe that it's not true. So let me start with this. 153 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,560 Paul says according to the grace of God-given to me, like a 154 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:34,360 skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is 155 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,720 building upon it. Let each one take care how he 156 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:42,000 builds upon that foundation. For one, no one can lay a 157 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,800 foundation other than that which is laid, which is everybody say 158 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,920 Jesus. So the foundation is not some 159 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,880 abstract idea. The foundation is Jesus Christ. 160 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,240 And then Paul goes on to say, now if anyone builds on the 161 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,520 foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or 162 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,680 straw, so there's different materials with which a person 163 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:05,800 can build the Kingdom of God. If anybody builds on this 164 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,320 foundation with gold, silver's, precious stone, wood, hay or 165 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:15,600 straw, each one's work, everybody say work, each one's 166 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,160 work will become manifest for the day, will disclose it 167 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,720 because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test 168 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:29,920 what sort of everybody say work, what sort of work each one has 169 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,400 done. If the work that anyone has 170 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,440 built on the foundation survives, he'll receive a 171 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:41,080 reward. But if anyone's work is burned 172 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,800 up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved by 173 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:49,360 grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ, but only as 174 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:59,200 through fire. Heavenly Father, help our church 175 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:07,640 be the kind of church that does the work that survives, work 176 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:13,400 that survives, work that builds the future city of God in the 177 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,960 heavenly realm, work that has eternal significance. 178 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,400 And the claim in this text is almost it. 179 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:25,800 Lord, it's just so unbelievable that we need you to speak to us 180 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:30,880 this morning. So Lord, encourage us, perhaps 181 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:39,960 even perhaps even rebuke us, empower us, give us a vision for 182 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,920 our work, give us a vision for our work that has eternal 183 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:47,240 significance. And a Lord ask for the things 184 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,160 I'm going to say this morning. I just want to be helpful. 185 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,480 And so I open my hands. I open my hands to you and I say 186 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,160 whatever you want to do with the sermon is OK. 187 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,320 If it's just background music for somebody to pray about 188 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:02,960 something that's on their heart, fine. 189 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,080 If it's going to radically change somebody's trajectory at 190 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,640 work, great, but I just give it to you. 191 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:12,920 Ioffer it to you, Lord, and whatever you want to do with it 192 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:21,200 I'm OK with. But please speak to us, talk to 193 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:29,280 us, change us in Jesus name. All God's people prayed, Amen. 194 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:37,630 You can have a seat. 1st Corinthians 3 verse 10 is it's 195 00:11:37,710 --> 00:11:39,630 fascinating. These 5 verses are fascinating 196 00:11:39,630 --> 00:11:41,680 to me. What Paul's doing is little bit 197 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:43,320 of Bible study here. What Paul is doing is he's 198 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,960 writing a group of Christians in Corinth and you can read the 199 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:48,800 rest of Corinthians. I recommend that you do. 200 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,120 They are a hot mess. OK, just a cursory glance of 201 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,600 what in the world is going on in Corinth. 202 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,400 It's not good. If you visited this church, it 203 00:11:57,400 --> 00:11:59,120 would be your last time visiting that church. 204 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:00,720 You're not. You're not like, man, this 205 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:02,240 church is healthy. This is the kind of church I 206 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:04,120 want to be a part of. It was a hot mess. 207 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:08,440 Just for a quick glance. They are participating in public 208 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:10,800 orgies on Saturday nights and going to church on Sunday 209 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:12,360 mornings, and they don't see a problem with that. 210 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:15,440 They have members in their church who are sleeping with 211 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,800 other people in their family. They're going to church and 212 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:20,760 they're getting drunk off the communion wine. 213 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:22,480 That's a real thing, Paul, to say. 214 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,560 Like imagine if you were visiting Frontier and this 215 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:28,280 morning I had to say, hey, guys, let's not, let's not get drunk 216 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,560 off the line this morning. You would wonder, I wonder why 217 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,880 he had to say that thing. And the reason why I would have 218 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,520 to say that thing is because it's happened. 219 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:39,240 And so that's what's going on in the Church of Corinth right now. 220 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:41,320 And it's not just because they're rowdy. 221 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:42,640 It's not just because they're a hot mess. 222 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,040 It's because underneath all of this behavior is an actual 223 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,160 worldview. And this actual worldview which 224 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,600 is antithetical to Christianity, this worldview, like all 225 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,680 worldviews, has real life implications. 226 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,280 The worldview that the Corinthians would have believed 227 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,560 in before coming to Jesus and having their minds renewed is 228 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:05,520 the worldview that's called NASA, or some people just refer 229 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,240 to it as dualism. Here's what the Greeks by and 230 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,960 large believed in a dualistic worldview. 231 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,560 It is exactly what it sounds like. 232 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,400 It means that they saw the physical realm and the spiritual 233 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:21,880 realm AS2 separate realities. We do spiritual stuff sometimes 234 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,640 and then we do physical stuff over here. 235 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,880 And the impact that would have had on you as a 1st century 236 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,120 believer is you would have said, OK, then there are spiritual 237 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,840 things that are obviously important, and then there are 238 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,040 these physical things that are not important. 239 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:40,200 So for a person who believes in dualism, they would maybe order 240 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,760 their life this way. I do some important spiritual 241 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,720 stuff, like what's going on in my spirit that's important. 242 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,000 What I think about that's important, my soul that's 243 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,280 important, my religion, that's important, prayer, that's 244 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:53,760 important. But then there are these 245 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,760 unimportant things that just kind of happen in the realm of 246 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,680 the physical domain, like my body, not that important. 247 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:06,200 It's not a spiritual thing or manual labor or sexuality or my 248 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,560 job or ordinary life. And as a result of this 249 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:13,680 worldview, you have a bunch of Christians who think that it's 250 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:17,440 OK to do with their bodies whatever they feel like doing as 251 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:22,600 long as their spirit is in the right place, because they're 252 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,640 different realms. So as long as my spirit is in 253 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:30,800 the right place, bro, who cares if I go to the public orgy on 254 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,480 Saturday night before church? My spirit's in the right place. 255 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,040 Don't judge me. That's the Corinthian church. 256 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:44,320 And Paul comes in and he says wrong, dead, wrong. 257 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:49,080 What the gospel does is it up ends this dualistic worldview. 258 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,560 In fact, that's the message of the gospel. 259 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,280 The gospel is the good news that the creator of the physical 260 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,840 realm, took on a body in the physical realm, came to the 261 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:04,360 physical realm, died in the physical realm, not just to save 262 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:08,840 our souls, though that's true, Amen, but to also make us new 263 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,520 creations and resurrect our bodies. 264 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,200 So the Christian worldview is not some things are spiritual 265 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,840 and other things are not. The Christian worldview has no 266 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,360 line in the middle of it. There's no line in the middle of 267 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,000 it. The spiritual and physical realm 268 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,120 are intertwined and of equal worth and value. 269 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,400 And that means that activities like spirituality and diet and 270 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:40,280 sexuality and church and manual labor and everyday life and work 271 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,880 and prayer and your thought life are all spiritual. 272 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,040 Amen. So Paul's got to get in there 273 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:51,840 and do this work and say no, no, no, no, no, life is not like 274 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,640 that. You don't sever this aspect from 275 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,080 that aspect. Both theology and physical 276 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,160 exercise, prayer and our jobs matter to God. 277 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,400 And that's the main thrust of First Corinthians. 278 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,520 And So what Paul's doing is he's talking to everyday ordinary 279 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:12,160 Christian Christians in Corinth and he tells us that what what 280 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,240 we're doing with our bodies in this world is that we are 281 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,840 building the Kingdom of God on earth. 282 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:24,200 But the interesting thing is that he says there are different 283 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,480 materials with which you can build the Kingdom of God. 284 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,040 Did you notice that? Look at your Bible really 285 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:36,640 quickly, verse 12 you could, you could build verse 12 with gold, 286 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:45,760 silver, precious stones, solid. What else is in verse 12 you 287 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:57,920 could build with wood, hay, straw, vapid, frail, temporal. 288 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:06,560 OK OK, so there's different materials with which you could 289 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:08,720 build the Kingdom of God. Here's the $1,000,000 question. 290 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:14,720 How do I know which one I'm building with? 291 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:17,880 Well, luckily for you, there's verse 13. 292 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:22,680 Look at that one, Verse 13. Paul goes on to say each one's 293 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,520 work. Everybody say work. 294 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,760 I'm having you say that because Paul's actually not writing 295 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,840 about souls. Yes, we all know and believe 296 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,920 that souls are eternal. Believe the gospel eternity with 297 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,560 God, reject the gospel, eternity away from God. 298 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:49,120 We all know that Paul's not talking about souls. 299 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,160 What's he talking about? Work. 300 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:59,960 He says each one's work will become manifest for the day that 301 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,760 Jesus returns. We'll disclose it because it 302 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:06,960 will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of 303 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,600 work each one has done. Now pause a few thoughts about 304 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,000 the word fire right here. The word fire here, it's used 305 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,320 twice. It's actually not a reference to 306 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:18,280 the flames of hell. Yes, biblical Christianity does 307 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,040 teach a literal hell. That's a teaching in the Bible, 308 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:22,400 and it's important to Christian theology. 309 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,280 That's just not the fire on judgment Day that Paul's writing 310 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,840 about right here. What Paul is writing about is 311 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:33,760 the fire of purification. Upon judgment day, when Jesus 312 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,720 returns, there will be a purifying fire that has an 313 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,680 immediate effect that for those of us who have lots of 314 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:44,160 imperfections and lots of sins that need to be burned away, it 315 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:48,440 will purify us so that we can walk into and come into the 316 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,080 perfect presence of God. So this is not the fire of 317 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:52,800 torment, though that's that's real. 318 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:59,320 It's a purifying fire that burns us clean and helps bring about 319 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:05,960 the new creation. But here's the emphasis that I 320 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,000 want you guys nerding out about this morning. 321 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:15,120 Emphasis of the sermon. This purifying fire is going to 322 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:24,160 test what what sort of work each one has done. 323 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:30,760 The fire will burn up some work, wood, hay, straw, but 324 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,560 interestingly enough, it won't burn up. 325 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:38,920 Other works, though, is made of gold, silver and stone. 326 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,520 And so this is the $1,000,000 observation here. 327 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:43,800 I don't care. Again, I don't care if you're a 328 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,200 career enthusiast, if, if you own your own business, if you're 329 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,560 retired and serving the church, if you're a teacher, if you're a 330 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,480 mechanic, I don't care. The $1,000,000 observation here 331 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:59,040 is that it seems like or it could be the case or it's almost 332 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:02,720 as if Paul. Is going to say that not just 333 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:09,400 souls are eternal, but that the work we do has the capacity to 334 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:13,160 be eternal. Is that what he says? 335 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:14,680 Doesn't seem like he's saying that. 336 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:19,640 Look at this verse 14. Who goes on to say if as in it's 337 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:24,200 possible, if the work that anyone has built on the 338 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,160 foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 339 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,240 Paul is saying, and this is the extraordinary truth of the Bible 340 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,400 that nobody is talking about. Now, this used to be more common 341 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,240 in theology a couple, 100 years ago, but it seems like nobody's 342 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,560 talking about this, that even the works, even the works of the 343 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,040 faithful Christians done in faith will be eternal and have a 344 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:52,200 place in the new creation. What's what's the one condition 345 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,720 for which? What's the one condition that 346 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,360 determines whether the work is going to be burnt up and 347 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:04,440 temporal or eternal? And Paul makes this clear. 348 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:07,320 What's the one condition? It's in the text. 349 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:12,280 He says it has to be built. Quote on the foundation. 350 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,480 Paul already told you what the foundation was. 351 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,280 What's the foundation? Verse 11 for no one can lay a 352 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,960 foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 353 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,840 Here's the point. I'm dragging you around through 354 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,560 this text right now, but I really want your eyeballs to, I 355 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,520 want your cartoon style. I want your eyeballs popping out 356 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:34,240 of your sockets as you see this in the text. 357 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:39,160 OK, what Paul is saying is that if you do your work and it's 358 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,560 built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, then the things that 359 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,680 you're doing in this world, the way that you spend your time at 360 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,600 your job, your work will be eternal. 361 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,600 It sounds like a fringe position, right? 362 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,720 It's not. This is the dominant biblical 363 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,840 historic position on the eternality of works within the 364 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,720 Christian life. If you don't believe me, here's 365 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,600 NT Wright. NT Wright says this is so good. 366 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,240 He says what you do in the present by painting, preaching, 367 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,360 singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, 368 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,520 digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring 369 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,520 for the needy, loving your neighbors, yourself. 370 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:28,360 It will all last into God's future you. 371 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,320 Or if you don't like NT Rad, I get it. 372 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,960 How about the Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bovink, who 373 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,440 literally wrote the book on Reformed dogmatics? 374 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:42,480 You going to disagree with him? Here's Jay Won't. 375 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,920 Gosh bro, I just described you in a nutshell right there. 376 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:56,320 Bovink says all that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely 377 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,560 and gracious. If there is any excellence, 378 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:04,600 anything worthy of praise, it will enter into the city of God. 379 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:10,040 The new creation will not annihilate the works of culture, 380 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,600 but purify and glorify them. Whoa. 381 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:17,480 I don't know. So I don't know what I don't 382 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,080 know what you think when you, when you read that, I'll tell 383 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,120 you what I think when I read that stuff, when I think about 384 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:24,120 that stuff, you know what I think? 385 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:29,240 I think, OK, I want to do the work that endures. 386 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:32,440 That's what I think. I think I want to do the work 387 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,080 that survives. I think I want to do the work 388 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,360 that builds the future city of God and has eternal 389 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:40,800 significance, man. That's what I think. 390 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:42,960 And so I'm going to preach on that for the rest of this this 391 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,200 morning. I'm just going to be honest with 392 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:45,000 you. I'm going to preach really 393 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,080 personally this morning and I pray that maybe somebody will 394 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,080 see yourself in my story. I'm not being biographical this 395 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:52,640 morning for the sake of being biographical. 396 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,360 I'm being biographical because when I look back at my own 397 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,400 vocational history, I think, you know, that's probably mostly 398 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,960 everybody's vocational history. And so I'm just going to be 399 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:03,640 totally personal. Is that OK with you guys? 400 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,760 Here's my greatest fear. My greatest fear is not that you 401 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,280 won't like me. My greatest fear is not that 402 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:15,360 life will be hard. My greatest fear, the thing that 403 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:18,120 I, I struggle with is that I'll be insignificant. 404 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:21,680 That's my, that's my, that's my bugaboo. 405 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,400 That's my thing I struggle with, that I'll be insignificant. 406 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,760 That my life won't make a difference, that I will push 407 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,360 against the world and it won't even make a dent. 408 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,280 That's what I struggle with. I've always struggled with it 409 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:42,960 when I was really little. Leadership lab people, you've 410 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:44,960 you've heard this. Just be a good sport, OK? 411 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,600 When I was really little, I remember seeing my dad coach and 412 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:50,000 teach. And I remember being on the 413 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,080 football field watching him coach and in his classroom 414 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:54,280 watching him teach. And he was not going to surprise 415 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:55,480 you. He was always the overly 416 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:57,840 enthusiastic teacher, but everybody thought he was the 417 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,120 best teacher ever. And so that just amazed me when 418 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:02,760 I was a little kid, I remember being in his classroom watching 419 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:04,920 him teach and watching the high school and middle school 420 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,880 students around me, watching their jaws drop, watching their 421 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,400 eyes get wide, watching the light bulbs go off above their 422 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,520 head and actually enjoying school. 423 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,320 And so ever since I was little, at the very inner core of who 424 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,800 cold Nike is, the main thing I felt was, oh, if you can use 425 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:27,680 words to make people feel joy, that must be why I exist. 426 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,080 That must be it, man. So you know what I did? 427 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,680 I chased that. I chased that for all of my 428 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,000 life. Growing up, I was always 429 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,440 obsessed with ideas and language and words and what happens if 430 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,680 you communicate it this way and what can I twist it this way and 431 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,760 get a laugh? Can I twist it this way and get 432 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,360 a light bulb moment? What would be the best way to 433 00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:47,880 articulate this inner experience? 434 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,000 And I chased that. So I chased it all the way until 435 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,280 I wound up being a high school English teacher at Cedar Falls 436 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,240 High School. And wouldn't you know it, my 437 00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:00,200 first week at Cedar Falls High School, I find myself in the 438 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,600 principal's office in trouble as a teacher. 439 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,440 He says, Cole Lip, love you, bro, Love you. 440 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:07,680 Glad I hired you. This is a public school. 441 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,600 You can't just write Bible verses on the white board. 442 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,920 And I remember walking away from that conversation thinking. 443 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,640 Huh. So this is it. 444 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,320 This is it. So I started to pine for church 445 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,640 planting deep inside of me. I I remember there were days, 446 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,080 guys, there were days where I locked my classroom door during 447 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,880 my prep hour and I just prayed and thought about church 448 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:34,840 planting until there were tears in my eyes. 449 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,560 Tears in my eyes. I was so excited about it. 450 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,040 Eventually my lead pastor said, yeah, man, I think you've got 451 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:41,200 the calling to go plant a church. 452 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,040 But look, I'm not going to share the pulpit with you very much. 453 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,160 If you're a preacher, you're going to preach whether 454 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,040 someone's listening or not. And so I said, OK, that's fine. 455 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,600 And so I started preaching in the attic to nobody. 456 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,440 I, I remember I would set my alarm for an hour on most days 457 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,640 and I'd spend 30 minutes just writing a sermon about whatever 458 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,200 Bible verse. Then I'd go up in my attic and 459 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,560 for 30 minutes I would preach it to nobody. 460 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,400 And by the way, you guys are a better crowd. 461 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,640 I remember, I remember, I remember being the attic, 462 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:12,960 though. I remember being surrounded by 463 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,440 bat droppings, you know, I remember the sweat dropping off 464 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,360 my nose because it was an attic preaching to nobody. 465 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,440 But gosh darn it, if I could just become a church planter, 466 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:25,000 then, then I would be significant. 467 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:30,640 And you know what happened? I I planted a church and you 468 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,840 know how I felt. You can ask Andrew about about 469 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:34,240 it. Like he planted this church with 470 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:35,760 us. I remember planting this church 471 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:41,800 and kind of thinking like so. This is it. 472 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,120 I just thought I would be more significant. 473 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:47,320 No, no, no, that can't be the case. 474 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:51,640 It it must be once our church hits 100 people, then I'll feel 475 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:52,880 significant. And you know what happened? 476 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,880 We hit 100 people. And you know what? 477 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,640 I thought so. This is it. 478 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:03,800 And so I thought, no, no, that must not be the case. 479 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,400 As soon as I get published, as soon as I get published by Ford, 480 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,880 the church, you're desiring God. If John Piper reads my article 481 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:11,640 and publishes it, then I'll make it. 482 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:13,040 And I got published by desiring God. 483 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:19,240 And you know what I felt? So this is it. 484 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,040 And I thought, no, no, no, no, no. 485 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:28,120 As soon as our church buys a building, then I'll feel 486 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,800 significant. And our church bought a building 487 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,320 and you know what? I felt? 488 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:42,200 So this is it. Now I'm trying to scare you. 489 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,600 I think we all feel that way. I think if you're honest, you 490 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,000 probably see a shadow of yourself in my story. 491 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,000 I think all of us, all of our vocational histories follows a 492 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,840 similar trajectory, follows a similar pathway. 493 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,040 We imagine that as soon as we take this step or as soon as we 494 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,840 hit that thing, then we'll finally feel significant and do 495 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,680 significant work. And what you discover in life is 496 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:09,520 that whatever step you take, if you land the dream job, if you 497 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:13,000 don't land the dream job, if you have the exact amount of kids 498 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,200 that you think will happy or if you don't, whatever step you 499 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,360 take, you kind of arrive there and you're filled with gratitude 500 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,320 and there's lots of love about it, but you're just kind of 501 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,600 like. So this is it. 502 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,040 Am I the only one who wrestles with feeling insignificant? 503 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,360 Every step of my life I felt. So this is it. 504 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,120 And my question for you is, where the heck? 505 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,600 Where the heck? Where do I find significance in 506 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,760 this life? I can't seem to get it from a 507 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,240 job description. Where do you find it? 508 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,000 I'm telling you, the only antidote for feeling 509 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:04,120 insignificant is in your Bible. First Corinthians chapter 3, 510 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,120 verses 10 through 15. Just notice this one observation 511 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:09,960 about those 5 verses. We could say a million things 512 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,480 about it, but just notice this. What determines whether or not 513 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,240 your work is significant? I'll give you a hint. 514 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,480 It's not the size of your work. It's not the scope of your work. 515 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,240 It's not how visible your work is. 516 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,840 It's not whether or not it's public to a lot of people and 517 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,960 you get praised for it, or if it's private and nobody ever 518 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,480 really sees it or appreciates it. 519 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,600 What Paul breaks down for us is that it's not the scope of your 520 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,520 work that will fill you with significance. 521 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,040 So what is it? It's not the size, it's not the 522 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:49,040 scope, It's the substance of it, whether or not it's built on the 523 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,680 foundation of who? Who? 524 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:59,360 Jesus, Mother Teresa, she said it this way. 525 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:06,840 We can do no great works. We can only do small works with 526 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,880 great love. That's worth thinking about. 527 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,360 That gives your work significance. 528 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:18,200 Not the size, but the substance, or in Paul's language, doing 529 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,120 work that builds on the foundation of Jesus. 530 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,960 I'll give you 3 characteristic of work that builds on the 531 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,040 foundation of Jesus. None of it's going to blow your 532 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,240 mind. Number one work that is 533 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:33,280 eternally significant is work that is done like Jesus. 534 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,800 You look at your job description and you say, I wonder how Jesus 535 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:40,000 would do that. And then you try to do it that 536 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,160 way. Secondly, that you do it with 537 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,080 Jesus, which is to say that you don't rely on your own power to 538 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,960 do the work, but you rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. 539 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,320 Do it like Jesus, you do it with Jesus. 540 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,160 And 3rd and finally, you do it for Jesus. 541 00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,720 Meaning it doesn't mean if a million people see it or nobody 542 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:05,720 sees it, you work for Jesus. And so everything you do when 543 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:11,440 you work like Jesus, with Jesus and for Jesus, everything you 544 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,560 do, I don't care if you're cleaning a toilet or if you're 545 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:19,160 preaching A sermon, If you do it like with and for Jesus, it will 546 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:24,360 be eternally significant. I don't know how it works. 547 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:31,520 Like, I don't know exactly how Jesus takes your little Jay. 548 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:32,760 What do you like? Spreadsheets. 549 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,360 Spreadsheets. I don't know how he does it. 550 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,360 I don't know how he takes your spreadsheet and if you have done 551 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:46,560 it like with and for Jesus takes it and somehow transforms it 552 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,840 into gold, silver or stone. There's some gospel alchemy. 553 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:53,320 I thought about it a lot this week. 554 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,600 You know what I here's where I can when, when, when Paul talks 555 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,600 about work that's done on the foundation of Jesus. 556 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:01,960 Other theologians in the Bible call it works done in faith. 557 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,160 And so I'm thinking, how does Jesus do that? 558 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,280 How does he take our mundane stuff and transform it into 559 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,600 stuff with eternal significance and value? 560 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,240 It made me think. It made me think that faith, 561 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,520 faith is kind of like Chick-fil-A sauce. 562 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,560 Hear me out. Hear me out that I lost some of 563 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,480 you, didn't I? Yeah. yo-yo, you. 564 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:23,480 What I'm talking about. Sorry. 565 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:24,840 It's like, it's like Chick-fil-A sauce. 566 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,080 Look, my family has a Chick-fil-A sauce problem. 567 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:28,960 We do. I know that's pretty typical as 568 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:34,480 a pastor. I'm not trying to say I'm not 569 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:36,400 making this sound like we're bought and paid for by 570 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,080 Chick-fil-A sauce. I'm just saying that like in our 571 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:42,600 refrigerator and in our cupboards and like in our car, 572 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,560 we have, like, extra Chick-fil-A sauces just like everywhere. 573 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,600 It's a problem, actually, what we do when we go through the 574 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,240 driveway. Just humor me, OK? 575 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,720 I see you pushing away. When we go through the driveway, 576 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,120 they're like, how many Chick-fil-A sauces do you want? 577 00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:01,680 What we say as a family is as many as you'll give us, which 578 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,040 usually works. I think they're starting to 579 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,360 recognize us because a couple a couple weeks ago, Chloe's 580 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,440 father-in-law said as many as you'll give us. 581 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,040 And they pressed him. They were like, give us a 582 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:17,960 number, Sir, because it's embarrassing to say like 16. 583 00:34:19,199 --> 00:34:23,719 So he, like Chloe, was emptying her purse. 584 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:30,800 Her purse is what you put money in and three Chick-fil-A sauces 585 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:36,480 fell out. And faith is like a Chick-fil-A 586 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,000 sauce. Because here's what I figured 587 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,880 out. I don't like broccoli. 588 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:43,800 Sorry. I know your whole sermon was 589 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,920 about cultivating a taste for broccoli last week, and you were 590 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,120 right. You were right. 591 00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:50,760 I just don't like it. But I, I figured out a couple 592 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,760 weeks ago, my family was, was out of town and so it was sparse 593 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,400 around the kitchen and we had some broccoli and I was like, 594 00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,560 gosh, I hate broccoli. It's so boring. 595 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,680 It's so boring. Like I want to fall asleep when 596 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:06,680 I'm eating broccoli. And I thought, what would happen 597 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,040 if I douse this thing and Chick-fil-A sauce. 598 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,160 And I did, You can't drizzle it. You have to douse it. 599 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,640 And you know what happens? It takes this boring, mundane 600 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,360 thing and it makes it delicious. You're welcome. 601 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,120 That's your one practical application for this morning. 602 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,840 Douse stuff and Chick-fil-A sauce and see what happens. 603 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,680 Look, here's what I'm saying. That's what faith is like. 604 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,280 You. You take the most mundane thing 605 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,520 you do in your job, the most ordinate. 606 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,120 You take broccoli. What's the broccoli version of 607 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:41,760 your position description? And you douse it in faith and 608 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,840 you think, man, how can I do this thing like Jesus with Jesus 609 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,040 and for Jesus. And all of a sudden it, it 610 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:49,560 becomes not just bearable, but it becomes enjoyable. 611 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,200 I'm serious, try me on this. Let's do it. 612 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:54,920 Let's workshop here since I'm just ranting. 613 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:59,040 This is workshop. Take for just a moment, identify 614 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:03,480 the piece of your vocation that is the most mundane and boring 615 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:05,800 thing about your position. Identify that in your 616 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:12,120 imagination for a second. You got it, I'll start. 617 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,200 Sometimes I have to send emails that I feel like nobody will 618 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,560 read. Sometimes I have to make 619 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,720 decisions that I feel like nobody will notice. 620 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,600 Sometimes I have to write policies that only .5% of our 621 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:31,360 people will ever see. Sometimes I send out bulletins 622 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,920 on a weekly basis on Mondays, and I think nobody's going to 623 00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:37,760 even read this. What's the point? 624 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,360 Do you ever feel like that you're at work and you do 625 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:47,120 something? You think nobody's ever going to 626 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:52,280 see this, What's the point? And do you know who has 627 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,520 permission to say that? Atheists. 628 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,000 Because from an atheistic worldview, perhaps there are 629 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,680 things that we do that nobody in the organization sees. 630 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,400 Things that we do that our bosses do not praise us for. 631 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,360 Things that we do, that maybe our spouses will never even 632 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,520 encourage us for doing. And if the atheistic worldview 633 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,080 is true, then it is all for nothing. 634 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,920 And maybe we should just do those things sloppily. 635 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:19,640 Or maybe we just shouldn't do them at all. 636 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:26,080 But do you know who should never, ever, ever say nobody's 637 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,560 going to ever see this? What's the point? 638 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:33,520 A Christian. I was like, maybe I am going to 639 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,760 do some stuff that you'll never even notice. 640 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,360 Maybe you don't even read the bulletin. 641 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,520 Do you know who does read the bulletin? 642 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:50,240 Jesus. Jesus does. 643 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:54,600 Jesus reads the bulletin. And so if you take that 644 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,440 seriously, you actually have to reckon with the fact of do I 645 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,560 really believe that he is my capital B boss and that I'm 646 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:05,480 ultimately working for him? Or is that all just a bunch of 647 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:08,080 crap I put on paper to impress my religious friends? 648 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:13,000 Because if he really is my capital B boss, and if he really 649 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,160 does read those bulletins, then they are infused with integrity 650 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:21,280 and dignity and value and significance whether or not 651 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,720 anybody else reads them. And so I know it's a Sunday 652 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:29,240 school answer, but do you know what gives your work value and 653 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:32,440 dignity and significance? It's not the scope, it's not the 654 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,320 size, it's not the visibility. It's not if people praise you 655 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:37,840 for it. It truly is the substance. 656 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:44,400 Jesus is really who and what gives your work significance no 657 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:48,160 matter what you're doing. Amen. 658 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:52,360 So I do have one piece of actual application, though. 659 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:54,040 I think you should do the Chick-fil-A sauce thing. 660 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:56,000 That's between you and your family. 661 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:01,840 What I want you to do is in your Thank God It's Monday workbooks 662 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,360 if you have one. If you don't have 1A journal 663 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,960 page will do. Any blank sheet of paper will 664 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,160 do. The back of your hand will do. 665 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:13,080 As far as I'm concerned, the final piece, the final page in 666 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:17,080 that Thank God it's Monday workbook is just mostly a blank 667 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:22,080 sheet of paper that says this. How would Jesus, if he had your 668 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,400 exact same position description, do your job differently? 669 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,200 And what I want you to do is I want you to, I want you to 670 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,960 reckon with that and I want you to wrestle with that. 671 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,720 And I want you to answer that. And I want you to answer it 672 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:37,520 prayerfully and thoughtfully to the best of your ability before 673 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,240 you leave church this morning. You can do it during communion 674 00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:41,720 time. You can do it right after church 675 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:44,640 if you want. But I want you to finish that 676 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:46,760 before you leave church. And then I want you to find 677 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:48,960 somebody you trust, somebody you love, somebody in this church, 678 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,120 somebody who's maybe a part of your community group, somebody 679 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:52,880 who you friends with. And I want you to say, will you 680 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:54,680 read this? And then will you pray for me? 681 00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:57,800 And I want us to pray for each other that we would do our 682 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:02,800 positions, that we would do our jobs like with and for Jesus. 683 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:06,480 And then maybe you want to RIP that thing out and put it 684 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,360 somewhere that you're going to see it on a daily basis. 685 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:16,400 But it's really true. It really is true that if you if 686 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:18,360 you build on the foundation of Jesus. 687 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,600 Your work will be eternally significant and in some way, 688 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:28,160 shape or form, God will use it to build his everlasting Kingdom 689 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:31,560 in heaven on earth. Like that's true. 690 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:35,680 And thank God, because I need it to be true. 691 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:41,040 I need that to be true. I don't have any other way of 692 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:42,920 combating the feeling of insignificance. 693 00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:50,720 If you do, let me know. Like only that, that feeling of, 694 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:54,680 OK, if I do this for Jesus, then he's going to take him and he 695 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:58,600 could build it into his new Kingdom that fills every 696 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,600 activity, everything that I do with eternal weight and glory 697 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:05,440 and significance. And that when you start to live 698 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:11,400 that way, you stop asking questions like, am I significant 699 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:13,280 or not? Like, here's what I've been 700 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:14,840 trying to do. I'll last thing and then I'll 701 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:18,080 get out of the way. I've been trying to imagine 702 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,840 myself. I sound like a crazy person. 703 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,560 I've been trying to imagine myself entering in to the new 704 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:30,480 creation and seeing the city of God where I'm going to live with 705 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:35,400 Jesus forever on Judgment Day. And I imagine myself walking 706 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:39,440 into his everlasting Kingdom, the city of God, and just 707 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:43,080 admiring all of the wonder and beauty around me and the city 708 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,640 and what it looks like and all of its shapes and sizes and the 709 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:51,360 tree of life and the beauty of that and the the river that is 710 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:55,440 sparkling like diamonds and the pathways of gold. 711 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,240 I just imagine myself walking into the city of God and looking 712 00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:00,600 at all of it. And then, and then I imagine 713 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:06,840 myself, I don't know, like looking at a giant sanctuary in 714 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,680 the middle of the city of God and just being rocked by its 715 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:16,320 beauty and walking over to it and just admiring this gigantic 716 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:23,280 sanctuary that forever, forever is going to, is going to house 717 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:28,080 people, shade people, provide the city with beauty, and just 718 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:32,600 being amazed at the millions of little stones and gold and 719 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,600 silver that make up the sanctuary. 720 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:39,000 And then I imagine myself like fixating on one small stone of 721 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,520 the millions of stones. And as I'm looking at that 722 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,520 stone, it's like, it's almost as if there's something in my soul 723 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:49,240 that recognizes that stone as though I were remembering it 724 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:52,400 from a dream that I had forgotten or a fuzzy memory. 725 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:56,480 And as I'm looking at that single stone in that wall of 726 00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:04,960 1,000,000 stones, I imagine a tap on my shoulder and King 727 00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:12,680 Jesus, says Cole. We laid that stone together, of 728 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:19,000 course, to which I would say when I do as little handiwork as 729 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,840 possible, I don't remember ever doing any Mason work. 730 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:25,960 And I think I would remember it if I ended up building a 731 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:30,480 sanctuary like this. When, when in the world did I 732 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:38,560 build the what? And I imagine Jesus saying, do 733 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:43,680 you remember that time where you just prayed your butt off and 734 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:48,920 you fought so hard about one or two little questions about 735 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,720 William Golding's Lord of the Flies that you asked your 736 00:43:52,720 --> 00:43:55,520 students in hopes that it would lead them to me? 737 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:03,080 Do you remember that question? Here it is. 738 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:14,640 I just imagine saying thank you. Thank you for using that Jesus. 739 00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:20,680 Do you remember that spreadsheet that you did like with and for 740 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:23,400 Jesus? Do you remember that couple, 741 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:27,480 those parents who were having a hard time with their kids and 742 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:29,960 nobody knew what was going on, but you did. 743 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,440 And after church, even though nobody saw it, you walked over 744 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:34,800 and you prayed for those parents. 745 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:38,560 Do you remember that time? Here it is. 746 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:45,760 I turned that into a stone with which I built this cathedral 747 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:49,960 that will last eternally. And I imagine that we'll say 748 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,080 thank you. Thank you for using my vocation. 749 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:56,760 Thank you for using my job. Thank you for turning that into 750 00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:02,400 stone or gold or silver. And if you can get that, if you 751 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:06,240 can get that, then I think that you'll start to become the type 752 00:45:06,240 --> 00:45:09,680 of person who doesn't experience the Sunday scary's or isn't 753 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,040 floored by the Sunday scary's thinking, oh gosh, I don't want 754 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:16,000 to go to work. Maybe with the help of the Holy 755 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,200 Spirit, time and maturity, you'll become the type of person 756 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,400 who wakes up on Monday mornings and you think, thank God, it's 757 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,200 Monday, and then you'll do work of eternal significance. 758 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:31,640 Whether anybody sees it or not, it will survive because maybe 759 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:35,400 your coworkers won't see it. You know who will though? 760 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:44,000 God, do you remember that time you were changing your son's 761 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:50,120 diaper and it was a nasty one and you wanted to curse 762 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:55,480 underneath your breath? And instead of cursing, you 763 00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:59,040 prayed for his salvation and said, Lord, I just pray that 764 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,280 this young man will grow up to love you someday. 765 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:06,000 Do you remember that little prayer because nobody else saw 766 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:10,120 it or heard it, but the angels still talk about it? 767 00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:14,440 Bro, that prayer went viral in heaven. 768 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,600 So let's go viral in heaven. Heavenly Father, I pray that we 769 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:23,080 would do work of eternal significance and that your Holy 770 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:26,200 Spirit would help us. Yeah. 771 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:29,520 Help us be honest about our struggles with feeling 772 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,360 insignificant or doing work that we think nobody else cares 773 00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:36,080 about. And then make us the type of 774 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:43,000 people who just need you need you, need your power to infuse 775 00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:47,840 our work with value and significance so that we can be 776 00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:53,160 the type of people who change diapers and clean sinks and 777 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:59,920 teach lessons and write spreadsheets and preach sermons 778 00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:05,240 in such a way that we build with gold, silver and stone. 779 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:10,520 Oh God, help us be the type of church that builds with the type 780 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:15,080 of work that survives. It's in Jesus precious name that 781 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,960 all God's people prayed. Amen. 782 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:21,120 Let's stand and let's worship this God together.