My grandpa told me once that any job, no matter what it is, is an honorable job. He said whether it’s flipping burgers, working as a substitute teacher, CEO, or any other profession, as long as you work hard to supply for your family, are dependable, and commit your work to the Lord, no one could look down on you. My mother has said that the Lord has always blessed her and my father with health and strength to work each and every day. “We will never be rich but we’ve never missed a bill because the Lord provides”, she would say. I believe this to this day, as I have worked in a few different fields (literally while working in the Christmas tree fields of Ashe County). Through them all I have tried to be thankful for health and dependable to a hilt, though sometimes I just don’t want to go, or I may disagree with the people who have authority over me. I’m sure all of us have days like this in our workplace and in the duties we have at home and church. If you will allow me some “creative license” (as Pastor Kevin says) maybe we can find honor in our jobs (particularly in the church).
Have you ever thought about how many “jobs” are taking place every week at MPBC? All the people on staff (that are kinda on call because if something goes wrong who will be there to deal with it), the kitchen crew who works to feed all of us weekly, the grounds keeper, the cleaning crew (think about how big our campus is when you think of these two), security teams, teachers for Sunday, VBS and Wednesday nights, the sound booth, video crew , band, choir, the person that folds the bulletin every week (how would you like to fold probably 400+ every week?), the coffee maker (and when they’re gone we know it don’t we?). I’m sure there are more than that, that I can’t recall, who come every week to work for the Lord, everyone of them does their part and does it well.
You see we all have a role to play in the “body of Christ” in that no one can say that any of these duties are not important, think about what would happen if they all went away overnight. MPBC would be an overgrown lot with dirty facilities, where the chairs never get moved (there’s another job, the chair movers), food is not cooked, no fresh batteries for the mics, no coffee (I, with some of you, just winced). MPBC would not exist.
All of these above are physical things. What about the more spiritual things? The body is physical along with spiritual. Let’s start with the feet. Feet are good for one thing only and that is “going”. At MPBC we have people who have traveled literally to other continents to spread the gospel of the Christ. Through our mission teams to other places peoples hearts have been changed. The heart is the boiler in the belly of the ship that gives energy to everything on board. Just as compassion for the lost fuel the fires to GO, for without compassion what would be our motivation to work out in the hot sun to build a church in Mexico with our bare hands?
The hands are the way we physically connect to the world by a loving hug, swinging a hammer, playing guitar, holding a rifle to defend our freedom, or making a beautiful tapestry. People that are the hands of Jesus are the one’s who are in the grit of the world. They may hug you or help you build a garage, or go to China just to love on handicapped children, or they may put you in a velvet vice when you need to be guided with some force back to Christ. The elderly lady who prays without ceasing for her grandchild and the person who does mundane work without much recognition could be the backbone of the whole thing (I mean, when was the last time you gave thanks for your backbone?).
The voice are those who preach, sing, or write to proclaim the gospel with a white hot fervor or to give encouragement quietly to someone in need. None of it works without someone to lead and do the logistics, which could be the brain.
Now this is just an image of what the “body of Christ” could be, there are many different parallels that you could put with this example, and someone could be multiple parts simultaneously, but all of them should have the same thread running through which is to work hard, be dependable, and commit yourself in every aspect to the Lord. Give thanks for health and strength and never think that your job is not honorable. “For the body does not consist of one member but many...but God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”-1 Corinthians 12:14, 24b-27.
In C.S. Lewis’ writing, The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape is guiding his nephew along in the practice of tripping up Christians using all different techniques. You see, they are demons working for “Our Father down below” which is Satan. In chapter 2, Screwtape says this, “One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to those humans”. You see the Church body has spanned throughout time while still bringing the same message which is redemption through grace, but we struggle to see anything beyond ourselves and what our story is. And even as this piece of literature is fiction, I believe that it is correct. Our tempters do see the Church through time because they have been trying to bring it to destruction ever since it began.
So, instead of looking at our positions and seeing worthlessness, mundane and think, “what is the point?”, let's see our jobs as part of a bigger painting that glorifies God. and just doing that alone is enough to bestow on you honor of the highest rank. Not to mention all the things that you do for your family, church, friends, and your profession which are all honorable and the Lord sees those also. I hope you can find encouragement in these words and realize that whatever you do, commit it to Lord, and it will be “An Honorable Job”.
I say go for it!
Derek
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