Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 6

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up.

6. We make much of Christ in our secular work by treating the web of relationships it creates as a gift of God to be loved by sharing the Gospel and by practical deeds of help. Personal evangelism is so important that it is easy to think of it as the only important thing in life. But we have seen that the Bible puts a lot of emphasis on adorning the Gospel, not merely saying the Gospel. But the speaking of the good news of Christ is part of why God put you in your job. He has woven you into the fabric of others' lives so that you will tell them the Gospel. Without this, all our adorning behavior may lack the one thing that could make it life-giving. The Christian's calling includes making his or her mouth a fountain of life.

Secular work is not a waste when we make much of Christ from 8 to 5. God's will in this age is that his people be scattered like salt and light in all legitimate vocations. His aim is to be known, because knowing him is life and joy. He does not call us out of the world. He does not remove the need to work. He does not destroy society and culture. Through his scattered saints he spreads a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples. If you work like the world, you will waste your life, no matter how rich you get. But if your work creates a web of redemptive relationships and becomes an adornment for the Gospel of the glory of Christ, your satisfaction will last forever and God will be exalted in your joy.

I hope you enjoyed this "series". If you want to read the book, I would highly recommend it. If nothing else, I at least encourage you to read each small section I have blogged about. It might make you happier in your vocation. I know I have struggled at times with "homemaker" being a vocation but it most definitely is - and I am always looking for ways to glorify God in the things I do at home. No matter what kind of job you have, it is possible to glorify God in it. Any comments - feel free to leave them here. :)

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 5

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here. You can find Part 2 here. You can find Part 3 here. You can find Part 4 here.

5. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God. Our secular work can become a great God-exalting blessing to the world if we aim to take the earnings we don't need for ourselves (and we need far less than we think) and meet the needs of others in the name of Jesus. It is true that everyone should work if he can, and that, in general, if you work you will have what you need. But this general rule is not absolute. Drought may strike your farm; thieves may steal what you've earned; disability may end your earning power. But God, in his mercy, wills that the work of the able-bodied supply the needs of the helpless, especially in hard times. You can steal to have. Or you can work to have. Or you can work to have to give. When the third option comes from joy in God's goodness, it makes him look great in the world.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 4

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here. You can find Part 2 here. You can find Part 3 here.

4. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while focusing on the helpfulness of our work rather than financial rewards. God intended from the beginning that satisfying work would provide for our needs. God worked in the beginning and the humans he created in his image would work. Before sin entered the world, that work would be without futility and frustration. When man and woman chose to be self-reliant and rejected God's fatherly guidance and provision, God subjected them to the very thing they chose: self-reliance. The curse under which we live today is not that we must work. The curse is that, in our work, we struggle with weariness and frustration and calamities and anxiety. But just as death will be a reality to the end of this age, so much we work in this fallen age against many obstacles that often make work hard. Not yet may we return to paradise and pick fruit in someone else's garden. Able-bodied people who choose to live in idleness and eat the fruit of another's sweat are in rebellion against God's design. If we can, we should earn our own living. We see throughout scripture that Jesus does not say it is wrong to earn your own living and eat your own bread, but he also says that we should not labor for food that perishes. Don't focus on mere material things in your work. Don't labor merely with a view to the perishable things you can buy with your earnings. Work with an eye not mainly to your money, but your usefulness. Labor to love people and honor God. Think of new ways that your work can bless people. Stop thinking mainly of profitability and think mainly of how helpful your product or service can become.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 3

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here. You can find Part 2 here.

3. We make much of Christ in our secular work when it confirms and enhances the portrait of Christ's glory that people hear in the spoken Gospel. There is no point in overstating the case for the value of secular work. It is not the Gospel. By itself, it does not save anyone. In fact, with no spoken words about Jesus Christ, our secular work will not awaken wonder for the glory of Christ. That is why the New Testament modestly calls our work an adornment of the Gospel. In other words, our work is not a beautiful woman, but a necklace on her. The beautiful woman is the Gospel. So one crucial meaning of our secular work is that the way we do it will increase or decrease the attractiveness of the Gospel we profess before unbelievers. Of course, the great assumption is that they know we are Christians. Thinking that our work will glorify God when people do not know we are Christians is like admiring an effective ad on TV that never mentions the product. People may be impressed but won't know what to buy.

"And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. Good, honest work is not the saving Gospel of God, but a crooked Christian car salesmen is a blemish on the Gospel and puts a roadblock in the way of seeing the beauty of Christ. And sloth may be a greater stumbling block than crime. The biblical mandate is Colossians 3:23 - "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;". So we make much of God in our secular work by having such high standards of excellence and such integrity and such manifest goodwill that we put no obstacles in the way of the Gospel but rather call attention to the all-satisfying beauty of Christ. When we adorn the Gospel with our work, we are not wasting our lives.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 2

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up. You can find Part 1 here.

2. We make much of Christ in our secular work by the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry. It is helpful to ask how humans are different from beavers and spiders and ants. It helps get at the essence of how humans honor God with their work. These creatures are very hard workers and make very intricate and amazing things. So there must be more to our God-honoring work than such creativity and industry - unless we are willing to say that we glorify God with our work no differently than the animals. We should be busy understanding and shaping and designing and using God's creation in a way that calls attention to his worth and wakens worship.

So how do we differ from the beaver? A beaver subdues his surroundings and shapes a dam for a good purpose, a house. He seems to enjoy his work; and even the diligence and skill of the beaver reflects the glory of God's wisdom. So what is the difference between a human being and a beaver at work? They all work hard; they subdue their surroundings and shape them into amazing structures that serve good purposes. The difference is that humans are morally self-conscious and make choices about their work on the basis of motives that may or may not honor God.

No beaver consciously relies on God. No beaver ponders the divine pattern of order and beauty and makes a moral choice to pursue excellence because God is excellent. No beaver ever pondered the preciousness and purpose of God and decided for God's sake to make a dam for another beaver and not for himself. But humans have all these potentials, because we are created in God's image.

When you work like that - no matter your vocation - you can have a sweet sense of peace at the end of the day. It has not been wasted. God has not created us to be idle. Therefore, those who abandon creative productivity lose the joy of God-dependent, world-shaping, God-reflecting purposeful work. Idleness does not grow in the soil of fellowship with God.

Christianity in a Secular Workplace - Part 1

I am reading a pretty heavy read right now, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. If you've ever read any John Piper you know his books require a lot of time and dedication to reading and understanding. So I've been reading this book for ages but it's so good. This is one point I feel like needs to be shared, and so I'm taking the time to paraphrase some things in this chapter for you. I hope it resonates with you and helps you.

Please note, he makes a point to say that some are called for "spiritual vocations" such as missionaries but that those people could not do their work without people in "secular vocations" working to support them. He does not at all have a condescending attitude towards secular work.

P.S. After writing this blog I have broken it into six parts so it's not as much heavy reading. Please read each different blog post, as it shouldn't take very long now that it's broken up.

The burning question for most Christians should be: How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?


1. We can make much of God in our secular job through the fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day in all our work.  We enjoy God's being there for us as we listen to his voice, and talk to him, and cast all our burdens on him, and experience his guidance and care. 1 Corinthians 7:24 says "Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." When you are converted, stay in your job and enjoy God's presence. Christians don't just go to work. They go to work "with God." They don't just do a job. They do their job "with God."

One way to enjoy God's presence and fellowship is through thankful awareness that your ability to do any work at all is owing to his grace. All your skills that make you good at this particular job - all these things are God's gifts. To know this can fill you with a sense of continual thankfulness offered up to God in prayer. There are promises of God that you can take to work every day. Reading your Bible or knowing scripture is how God speaks to you through the day. He encourages you ("Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10), he reminds you that the challenges of the afternoon are not too hard for him to manage ("Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27), he tells you not to be anxious, but to ask him for whatever you need ("Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6), and he promises to guide you through the day ("I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalm 32:8).