Today we’ll see some examples of building our work on God’s foundation.
We’ll look at four main categories of work: offered to God, or redeemed, subverted, or challenged for God.
Offered:
I knew an animator who I asked to design the opening credits for Redeem the Commute, and some other projects. She excitedly said yes, and lamented that no one ever asked here to do the work she loved as a ministry for God – other churches had always asked her to stack chairs!
Redeemed:
I knew a teacher who was moved to a new school in a rough part of town, where a depressing number of students come from families with addicitons and little support. She was not happy with the forced move, but then I asked her – what if God is putting you into these kids’ lives for a reason? There is a difference between teaching children for a paycheque, and teaching children because God loves children as his own, so that the teacher can see that God-given dignity in even the most difficult among them.
Subverted:
Imagine the same thing happening with the debt collector I mentioned on Monday. He could try to treat people with dignity, be gracious in encouraging them to get help, yet firm in that people should repay what they’ve borrowed. As he advanced in his job, he may be able to influence more humane practices across the board. But at some point, he may come up against a huge challenge…asked to extort, blackmail, extract crippling interest from helpless people, etc. Which brings us to:
Challenge:
That debt collector may find he just has to quit. The company may be conducting business in a way God can only challenge. But imagine if my friend took that expeirence and decided to start his own micro-lending firm!
How do you know which approach fits your work? It starts with knowing God’s story, and having a willingness to let it shape our lives. This is what our challenges are all about – learning and applying God’s big story, for the long term and in community.
Challenge: Consider your own work. Should it be offered, redeemed, subverted, or challenged? Discuss.
Then watch the attached video of Lyndsey, a teacher who sees her work through God’s story.
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People often quote Jesus to escape judging anything as right and wrong.
But he meant the opposite, it’s a command to judge! But to judge based on God's standards and not our own.
It's not a call to be blind, but generous and caring.
We've included a fun short film that illustrates this humourously. Look for the "Short Film" link on the web, or the second video in the app menu, or at https://vimeo.com/66753575
Jesus wants us to first become aware of our own situation, then another’s.
If we pretend to be judges by our own standards, we can’t plead ignorance of the law we administer.
Are you prepared to judge someone by the same standards?
Pretend you arrive at heaven. You've had a recording device hanging around your neck all your life, and God says "I will go easy on you, I’ll judge you by your own standards, instead of godly standards." So he plays back all the times you set a standard: Listen to me, don’t talk behind my back, don’t use that tone of voice, etc. How would that go?
Jesus doesn't want us to cease to be human – we were created with reason. He just wants us to cease trying to be God.
He puts all humans on a level playing field, where we can together explore how God’s standard is much better than any we’d make up.
Be a brother…that’s the language used here.
Question: Go through the last week’s interactions with your colleagues, family, friends and even strangers. What standards do you set up for others? Then go back through the list and check off those you’ve kept yourself.
