CCL Open Night 2 - Work

THE OUTCOMES OF WORK

CCL Open Night 2

JON TELFER READS THE BIBLE FOR US

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

1 I said to myself, "Go ahead, I will test you with

pleasure and enjoy what is good." But it turned out to

be futile. 2 I said about laughter, "It is madness," and

about pleasure, "What does this accomplish?" 3 I

explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life

with wine and how to grasp folly —my mind still

guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is

good for people to do under heaven during the few

days of their lives.

ECCLESIASTES 2 CONT.4 I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. 7

I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men.

9 Thus, I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me. 10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. 11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.


CCL Open Night 2

1. WORK IN THE HIVE

1. WORK IN THE HIVE

www.gospelgroundwork.com.au

―If I forget to set my alarm for the morning, I am woken up by one of my daughters. I get out of bed and walk to the far end of the house to have a shower. I dress, then check the fridge for milk, the cupboard for bread, the basket for fruit, and the third drawer for snacks. As we live close to shops, we tend not panic if we run out of such daily necessities; rather, I will duck out to procure whatever is lacking for breakfast and the kids‘ lunches. This involves a walk to a supermarket for bread, to the grocer‘s for fruit, and sometimes to a café to pick up a takeaway cappuccino for my wife: three shops in about fifteen minutes. And then I return home to help get breakfast ready and to help get the kids to school. Sometimes they walk, and sometimes I drive them. Then I head off to work, sometimes to an office a few suburbs away, or sometimes to a nearby café, to get some writing done. (I am sitting at a café this morning.)…

GOSPELGROUNDWORK.COM.AU

GOSPEL GROUNDWORK CONT.

―There is nothing remarkable about this morning, and yet I could not have done it without the work of thousands of people — probably tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands. I wake up in a bed I did not build, in sheets I did not create. I did not produce the raw materials; I did not manufacture them; I do not own the shop where they were bought, and; in the case of the bed, at least, I needed help to get it into the house. As I go to the shower, I am walking on floorboards I neither laid nor polished (though I have swept them). I did not grow the wood from which they were crafted; I did not cut the tree or fashion the timber; nor did I transport them or sell them. And these floorboards are in a house I did not build, owned by someone who is not me, and rented to me through an agent. While in the shower, I benefit from water piped from somewhere, heated by electricity generated somewhere, most likely fired by coal (which alone includes the work of thousands of people). And as I drink my coffee, I try to imagine how many people's labour it involves. Someone grew it, someone harvested it, someone transported it, someone imported it, someone roasted it, someone distributed it, someone set up a café (in a building, owned by someone, rented though someone), and then a barista made it for me, using piped water and an electric machine, which itself was also made, transported, imported, distributed, sold and repaired. Moreover, the barista has been trained: he is using techniques developed by others. And so the morning continues: simple acts utilizing the work of thousands of people…

GOSPEL GROUNDWORK CONT.

―But I did not just benefit from the invisible work behind

the visible work. I also benefited from a whole lot of

completely invisible work. For example, as I left the

house, I did not walk through a pile of rubbish, because

someone had cleared it; before that, someone had

organized to clear it, funded it, passed legislation

enabling funds to be raised, and so on. Similarly, I did

not fear for my life: I experienced the fruit of legislators,

public servants, and police.

All this before I checked e-mail and started writing on a

computer.‖

2. WORKING FOR ME

2. WORKING FOR ME

Fulfilment:

2. WORKING FOR ME

Fulfilment:

Reputation:

2. WORKING FOR ME

Fulfilment:

Reputation:

Consumption:

2. WORKING FOR ME

Fulfilment:

‗I took pleasure in all my

struggles‘

(Ecclesiastes 2:10b)

Reputation:

Consumption:

2. WORKING FOR ME

Fulfilment:


struggles‘


Reputation:

‗I became great and

surpassed all who were

before me in Jerusalem‘ (v. 9)

Consumption:

2. WORKING FOR ME

Fulfilment:


struggles‘


Reputation:

‗I became great and

surpassed all who were

before me in Jerusalem‘ (v. 9)

Consumption:

‗All that my eyes desired, I did

not deny them. I did not refuse

myself any pleasure‘ (v. 10a).


CCL Open Night 2

Q: IF YOUR WORK IS FULFILLING, WHAT

MAKES IT SO?

Some of the answers that we came up with were:

―the moment where it all comes together‖

Interpersonal moments at work and relationships

formed there

Working for something that you believe in

Feeling successful

Q:

If your work is fulfilling,

what makes it so?

„Work‟ has various purposes or

„ends‟ – primary outcomes to do

with communities, with creation, and

with God.

3. THE WORK OF COMMUNITY


The Teacher:‘‗Two are

better than one because

they have a good

reward for their

efforts. For if

either falls, his

companion can lift

him up; but pity the

one who falls without

another to lift him up.

Also, if two lie down

together, they can keep

warm; but how can

one person alone

keep warm? And

if some body

overpowers one

person, two can

resist him. A cord

of three strands is

not easily broken.‘

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12



‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your

own business and to work with your hands, just as we

told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of

outsiders [orig: ‗might walk honestly/properly toward

outsiders‘] and so that you will not be dependent on

anybody.‘ (1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)


‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your

own business and to work with your hands, just as we

told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of

outsiders [orig: ‗might walk honestly/properly toward

outsiders‘] and so that you will not be dependent on

anybody.‘ (1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)

‗The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do

honest work with his own hands, so that he has

something to share with anyone in need.‘ (Eph. 4:28, HSCB)


‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders [orig: ‗might walk honestly/properly toward outsiders‘] and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.‘ (1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)

‗The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.‘ (Eph. 4:28, HSCB)

‗Now if anyone does not provide for his own relatives, and especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.‘ (1 Tim. 5:8, HCSB)


‗Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own

business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,

so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders [orig:

‗might walk honestly/properly toward outsiders‘] and so that

you will not be dependent on anybody.‘

(1 Thess. 4:11-12, NIV)

‗The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest

work with his own hands, so that he has something to share

with anyone in need.‘ (Eph. 4:28, HSCB)

‗Now if anyone does not provide for his own relatives, and

especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is

worse than an unbeliever.‘ (1 Tim. 5:8, HCSB)

sharing God’s good gifts in order to promote

communities where people care for each other.

Q:

Who outside of your organisation, does

your work affect? What effect does your

work have on the wider social world?

Q: WHO, OUTSIDE OF YOUR ORGANISATION,

DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?

For some, there was a tangible answer to this

question:

The clients (for example, students borrowing books

from a library that you work in); or

Working as a physio to assist someone to start

walking again.

Q: WHO, OUTSIDE OF YOUR ORGANISATION,

DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?

For some, there was a tangible answer to this

question:

The clients (for example, students borrowing books

from a library that you work in); or

Working as a physio to assist someone to start

walking again.

But for others, it was very hard to answer this

question. Who is really affected by your work when

you are deep in the middle of an organisation?

The Light Half… The Dark Half…

4. THE

WORK OF

CREATION

Q:

What does your work affect? What effect

does your work have on the

wider created world?

Q: WHAT DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?

Some of the answers we had were:

―This question is very hard to answer‖

―We use social structures to affect the created

order‖

Q: WHAT DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT?

Some of the answers we had were:

―This question is very hard to answer‖

―We use social structures to affect the created

order‖

―We have both a positive and a negative effect on

the environment‖

For example, a publishing company might be

consuming a lot of natural resources, while at the same

time helping others to know how to use and care for the

environment.

5. JESUS: ‗THE WORK OF GOD‘


‗Don‘t work for the food that perishes but for the

food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man

will give you, because God the Father has set His

seal of approval on Him. … This is the work of God:

that you believe in the One He has sent‘ (John

6:27–30).


„… dead in your trespasses and sins in which you

previously walked … [We all lived] in our fleshly

desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh

and thoughts, and by nature we were children

under wrath …‘ Ephesians 2:1–3


‗But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His

great love that He had for us, 5 made us alive with

Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. By

grace you are saved! For by grace you are saved

through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is

God's gift – 9 not from works, so that no one can

boast. 10 For we are His creation – created in

Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared

ahead of time so that we should walk in them.‘

Ephesians 2:4–10

So our best work simply participates in and

responds to God‘s work

So our best work simply participates in and

responds to God‘s work

‗No salvation by works‘

also means

‗no salvation through work‘

Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered desires false belonging

Christ’s Spirit:reordered desires,

true inclusion (‘love’)

New future

Community‘in Christ’

God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter

The character of the worker:

e.g.

kind, just, caring, faithful, truthful,

merciful …

God’sCharacter

Creation

The work of creation:

know, use and

care for the created order

New future

God’sCharacter

Creation The work of God:

participate in and

respond to God‟s work

of „redemption‟

(i.e. rescue and repair)

New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

The work of community:

share God‟s good gifts in to

promote communities where

people care for each other

New future


God’sCharacter

e.g. verses

about sharing


Creation

Commands to offset

obsession with

fulfilment, reputation,

consumption




New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

with God‘s help!

(because we

workers are

broken)

EXPANDING

OUR IMAGINATION

EXPANDING

OUR IMAGINATION

EXPANDING

OUR IMAGINATION

EXPANDING

OUR IMAGINATION




New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

Creation


Creation


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands




New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

Q:

If your work seems pointless, what would

you wish for to make it better? Q:

What forces leave you feeling that you

have no power to change your

workplace?

AN IDEA FOR THE FUTURE

‗Job Club‘

AN IDEA FOR THE FUTURE

‗Job Club‘

And our upcoming Open Night,

April 18:

“Christianity and culture:

Stepping Up”

CCL Open Night 2 - Work

Spiritual