More | Week 3

What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing that you did mattered? That sums it up for me.

Alright. That's the message for today. You all got it? How many know what that movie is? What movie that's from? There

you go. Awesome. You guys got it. I don't have to spend a lot of backstory on that. But if you're not familiar, Groundhog Day, movie with Bill Murray about a guy that gets stuck in the same day over and over again. Every day he wakes up, same day, it's Groundhog Day by the way, that's why they call it that.

And he learns this process of trying to live out life, one repeating himself over and over again. So then he decides to go after epic fun, because what does it matter? He's gonna wake up, even if he dies, he wakes up the next day. So he goes after fun, then he goes after trying to woo a woman that doesn't work out so well. Then he tries to actually learn skill. He becomes a master piano player. And then he starts

helping people. And but then he realizes to get up and do the same thing over and over and over again. So in the end, what he's saying is that line. He's he's realizing, you know what? It just seems like what if you're caught in that day. But the guy that's not in a Groundhog Day says that pretty much sums it up for me.

And and and the reality is the whole idea and basic script for that movie was actually developed almost three thousand years ago by a guy named Solomon. It's called the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes is writing about how we are all stuck in a groundhog day called life under the sun. That we are in an epic cosmic groundhog day that we get up every day and we keep running after the same things to try to find meaning in them and we're never gonna find meaning. And then every generation after us just keeps repeating the same thing over and over and over again and we're epically cut. That's what the the meaning of this series we're calling More that we started a few weeks ago. Is that we get up and we try to do it at Bill Moritz. Okay. Well, I'm trying to find meaning in in my work. I'm trying to find meaning in in fun. I'm trying to find meaning in this. And we're trying to find all this meaning in things that it'll never give us the meaning we're looking for. So we think the answer is I just need more of it.

If if if if I just had more money, if I just had more of a relationship, if I if I just had had had more in this job or more in this, more of that. And and we keep thinking more is gonna be the answer. But more actually ends up being less.

But we're caught in a trap that we think more. We just think the reason I'm never really getting meaning is I need more. And what we've already learned, what we've already seen is in Ecclesiastes chapter three, it says right there that God planted eternity in our hearts.

And what that means if you haven't been here is that God built us too long for more. The longing for more is not the problem. Many pastors might tell you, you long for more, you got a problem. More, the longing for more is not what the problem is. It's how we're trying to fulfill that longing.

Because what we're desire desire to long for more of is more of God.

Being having eternity planted in our hearts means we were meant and built to have an eternal relationship with the one who made us. And that is in every one of us. We have this longing and that's why we run after things in our lives and we think that that this is gonna fulfill that. I'm gonna feel content now and then it only feels good for a little while and then you find no meaning. Everything Solomon talks about, he didn't say he didn't have fun.

He's just saying in the end there was no meaning in it. And then we run after this or we run after that or we run after the next thing. And we go there's got to be more. There's got to be more. Then we think well, nice I need more of it, more of it, more of it. And we're never really happy because we are trying to fulfill an eternal longing with temporal things.

And that's really the idea. We're stuck in a Groundhog Day.

And and last week we looked at enjoyment as the meaning of life. Like, it's all about having good experiences, the good life. I run after pleasure and and and and I work hard. I do stuff because I just wanna play hard. I I just wanna feel good. And we think that's gonna answer it. And we found out no.

Well, in chapter two is where we were last week of Ecclesiastes. The next thing he talks about is employment, which is interesting, work. Because it's interesting how work and enjoyment go together. Because some of us work hard, but our real goal is fun. We work hard so we can have the enjoyment. Others, we focus on work.

These are not things that are wrong. God made us to have pleasure and enjoy things.

We actually are called to work. Matter of fact, the Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat. It means we were meant to work. Matter of fact, after we go on into eternity, we're still gonna be using gifts and serving God and working, which to find that out, some of you just got really depressed.

You thought all of eternity was a club met on the beach somewhere, a sandals resort where you do. But you don't understand, work will be put back in the right order and it will be meaningful. The problem we have with work right now

in our world is this. Here's kind of the the statement. It's write this down and try to say it 10 times fast. Is when we try to make work work for what it was never meant to work for, that won't work. When you try to make work work for what it was never meant to work for, it won't work.

And and we're in Ecclesiastes chapter two and he's gonna talk about this. We're gonna take this apart.

And and and like I said, we looked at enjoyment last week. If you missed it, you can go back and look at it. But there's a little interlude verses 12 through 17 where he talks about wisdom again. Cause he said I thought I if you're just smart you can solve these problems but I found out it doesn't work. Cause he goes he goes it doesn't matter how smart you are we all end up dying and for some reason wisdom doesn't get transferred.

It seems like every generation forgets the wisdom. It's like we live in a world, as Groundhog Day work, we pass on knowledge, but we forget wisdom. We pass on information, but we never really pass on the true transformation because every generation has learned that running after work and fun and sex

and wealth and all those things will never ever ever ever ever work for what you wanted to work for. But yet every generation, we act like a bunch of junior hires. We're going to be different in the exact same way. That's what he says in verse 12 through 17. It's like it just seems like we just don't get it.

So now he goes into talking about work in in in verse 18 is where I want to pick it up and says, so what is the problem? Why will work what happens

and why does trying to work work for something it would never work for? Why will it never work for this? Because we've actually made work meaningless.

Look what he says in verse 18. He says, I came to hate all my hard work here on earth For I must leave to others everything I've earned. And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless.

So I gave up in despair questioning the value of all my hard work. You know what he's saying here? He says here's the problem with work being the ideal goal of your life. If I'm trying to just build a life around work and

before I give you answer let settle something here. I'm not just topping talking about your job or your career. It's what do you think is the important work of your life? It might be being a mom, a dad, a husband, or a wife.

It's what do you think is the critical work of your life. And what he's saying is, if if if we are trying to find meaning, not that you want to enjoy it, all these things God does want us to enjoy, we can enjoy this. But if we're trying to find the meaning, the longing to fulfill that longing for more out of this,

he's saying here's the struggle you're gonna have with what he just said there. You can't keep it and you can't protect it.

Meaning you're gonna spend your whole life building then to that work and in the end you die and it goes off. It goes to somewhere. If it's money, if it's a business, if it really is a a work oriented in that sense, you can build up a a trust fund, you build up a money that you have, a bid, and you can pass it on and you could write a will. So you can't keep it. It's not you could put in your will. Here's how I want it to be spent, but people don't have to really listen to that.

So everything you built your life for and you wanna leave it as a legacy, if that's what you think, I'm gonna leave the legacy of this company. You know how many companies are so tragically different than what the original founder wanted them to be? And it's like, you can't protect that. And here's the thing, to those of you that your work is like, just but as a parent or a spouse, I can't. You know what? You can build a lifetime trying to build values into your family that were super important to you. You're gone,

those values might disappear. You can't keep them. You can't protect them. And yet you spent your life thinking this is the meaning of life. And then the last thing he says, he says one more thing that's next that's even more critical because this will really apply especially if you're thinking of it as your your

income earning, what you do with your life. He goes, some people work wisely with knowledge, verse 21, and skill. Then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn't worked for it. He already said that. This too is a meaningless, a great tragedy.

So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? That's kind of if you have your bible, underline anxiety. Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief. Even at night, their minds cannot rest. It's all meaningless. So what he's saying is the problem with trying to make work work

for what it's not supposed to work for, it won't work. Because if you're trying to find meaning and that longing for eternal to be fulfilled in your life through what you do, through your work, can't keep it, can't protect it. And the sad part what he's saying is, and you'll never actually truly enjoy it.

You can't even enjoy it when you're doing it. Some of you like, I I kinda like my job. I'm enjoying it. But really? He talks about anxiety and restless nights. Tell me, in your job, even if you love it, have you not had anxiety and lots of restless nights?

If your job is being a mom, I guarantee anxiety and restless nights is 90% of the job description. Is it not? And not just because your kids move out.

You think once I get them out, I've done my job. Ask anyone in this room that has a kid moved out. You worry more about them after they move out because at least you could keep an eye on them before. Now you're like, I have no idea if what I taught them is actually working. Same thing.

But think about it work. It's like it's what he's saying is in the end if you try to make it work for the meaning of life, the problem is you don't ever really enjoy it because you're trying to get something out of it it was never supposed to be. And so we get so much focused on that. We run after these things and

think about it. It's this idea of and you think the restless nights is because I don't like my job or I'm underemployed or I'm unemployed or I'm underpaid.

Something like that. You think, see, that's the sleepless nights. But you know what? In all the years I've counseled people and pastored and talked and in in my own life, what I've experienced is, yeah, they can have restlessness and anxiety. But you know which group has the highest percentage of restlessness and anxiety?

The rich people, the people that have a good job. Those of you that are successful, you have more sleeplessness and more anxiety than the people that aren't even being successful. You must all have terrible jobs because the other services were nodding. They must have been more successful than you.

Is there anyone in here that's been successful? Can I get an amen for that? It's so true. And here's the problem. You think

the reason I'm restless over here is I'm just trying to make it. But once I make it, then I'll have joy. Then you make it and here's the problem, you make it but you gotta stay there. And if you got a great job working for someone else, you know this is a great job, everybody wants it. The young rams are gonna try to knock me off the hill. I gotta keep here. Or it's like to get that great job, you have got to sacrifice so much to keep it that there's no joy in it. Or if you're wealthy, people are always bugging you. Or if you become famous, and then you have your invasion, you know, of privacy and all these things and and you are so or or or many of you have your own business. You get it. Everyone goes, it'd be nice to work for myself. And then you do you know yourself?

Most of us, we are our worst bosses. If you work for yourself, you probably work yourself to death. You underpay, you sacrifice, and then you don't know how to do stuff and you're scared, you're you are the worst boss when you're your own boss. That's what he's saying.

But why do I still think if I just get here, I'll be okay? That's the idea of more. I just need to go a little bit more, get a little bit further. It'll get okay when I get there, and you're never gonna get there.

It reminds me of of when I was a kid, don't judge my parents. They used to they couldn't afford childcare at times, but they've got with friends. One of the cheapest things they could go do that was fun is they'd go to the Greyhound Racing Track because you could, like, bet on a they put $1 down. It was just fun. You'd sit there, and they had a section where you have tables and have dinner. So we'd go, and they'd bring us, and we'd just sit there, and we'd watch. And I it was fun to watch the the the dogs run. But but one time we were we were there, we're running and watching and the gate malfunctioned. Because when those dogs take off and run, what what do they run after? Why are they running so fast? They're

chasing a rabbit. Is it a real rabbit? No. It's a stupid piece of metal. Well, here's the problem. One time we're watching and the thing malfunctioned and the the dog's little gate closest to the to where the rabbit is, it it popped open before it was time to start the race. And so the dog ran out and saw it and he just and

he caught the rabbit because it's just sitting there. And he's like and he has those muzzles on to go. And then he stopped and he looked at it and he was like, And my dad goes, oh, that's unfortunate. And I go, why? I go, that dog will never race again. And I go, why? I go, if they ever catch it,

they're not gonna run after it again. Because he found out it's just a piece of metal. It's useless. It's meaningless. And a dog isn't stupid. They're not like cats.

Cattle play with a useless piece of yarn forever. I know it's stupid, but I just can't stop. A dog will be like, this is meaningful. It's food. Bam. This is stupid. I've been played. And so the problem is if you try to race that dog again, it'll open. He'll be walking. Hey, guys. It's not that big of a deal.

I wouldn't go for it. When they open this thing, I'm just gonna prance around and and and and and and try to smell some butts and stuff like that. That's all I'm gonna do. And it says you can't race it anymore. Know why? Because he caught the rabbit.

Why we go after more and more? These guys in our life, we keep buying to the slide that the rabbit is just in front of us.

And we think that the if we catch the rabbit the problem is if you catch the rabbit, you're gonna find out it's meaningless. And here's why we should listen to wisdom of Solomon. This guy was the smartest man who ever lived. God gave him a supernatural ability to be wise, and that wisdom turned him into the most famous and wealthiest man who has ever lived. He was worth over $2,200,000,000,000

in today's money. No one has even been close to being a trillionaire. In all of history, he was worth $2,200,000,000,000. He caught the rabbit. He was able to go after every rabbit we chase after, and and he able he got it. He caught the rabbit and realized there's no meaning here.

And many of us are chasing after rabbit of work and it's meaningless. Why does it work when we try to work work in a way it'll never work for? Why? Because when we do this, what I mean by that is we are replacing God with work. We are trying to replace a relationship and things that God is supposed to provide.

We run after work. That's what sin really is, is we are running away from God and we're trying to provide for ourselves. And we turn work into things that God is supposed to give us. And then we don't use work for what it's supposed to work for.

What do mean by this? There's three things that I think we do with work that we're not supposed to do with work. Well, one of them we're supposed to do, but we just get it off that we make these things the goal. We make these things the target. We instead of going for that relationship with God

and letting work flow from there, we think work is gonna get us there. And there's three things. You can write them down. It's it's it's it's it's be, buy, and because.

There you go. That's so self explanatory. I don't even have to say anything, do I? No. What we do with work that that gets us off, that makes it meaningless is the first thing we do is we work because, we were we were trying to be somebody. To be. We think work is about being. About being somebody. In other words,

we try to find our identity in what we do. We confuse our work with our worth. And and and and it says God is where we find our identity. Our creator, relationship with him. You don't get your identity from what you do. You you you just don't. Work is a gift. It's not an identity.

Work is talents. The Bible calls it talent. He gives us talents and we use them. It's a gift to be used and properly employed. And when we properly employ it, we will immensely enjoy it. But if we think we're gonna find our identity from it, you're gonna catch that rabbit and go, wow, this is disappointing.

And I know we try to find our identity in work, especially guys. I mean, guys, what's the first thing we do when you get dragged to something with your wife and her friends and you don't know anybody and the guys are all standing in the corner like it's a junior high dance you start talking to each other, what's the first thing you ask? What do do? Why?

First it seems nonthreatening, but the reality is it is threatening. We're measuring each other up. We're trying to figure out the worst in the room. And you know, you know, you know, you know, you find identity in it. Most of us accidentally do anyways,

is when you get asked the question, what do you do? And you hate it because you're either unemployed or you have a job that you think is not very respectful or stupid. And you feel shame. You don't want to say it. Why do you not want to say you don't have a job?

Why does it matter? Hey, I got laid off. I don't have a job. Why do guys, guys especially, why do you wrestle with that?

Because you find your identity in it. And if I don't have a job, I don't really have an identity.

Ladies, especially church ladies, some of you have not had kids or you're not married. Hey, you married? No. Or that how many kids you got? Oh, we'd have kids. Do you realize we inadvertently,

when I'm saying work, sometimes we put these relationships our identity. We don't find our identity in what we do, but you realize your identity is also not found in being a mom. Your identity is not found in being a dad. It's not found in being a husband or a wife. Those are gifts from God that help you develop

and go forward in that relationship with God where you get your identity. But that is not your identity. And so many churches and pastors

have inadvertently talked about how important it is for marriages because marriages fail so much. And marriage is an important thing. It's an important commitment that God wants you to commit to. But it's not an identity thing. So we make it sound like if you're not married or if you've been married for a while and don't have kids,

you're really not quite there yet. And if you are a single person, single again or married and haven't had kids, you know what I'm talking about. You've been made to feel a little bit awkward in church. I hope that never happens here and I'm sorry if it does.

And the reason we make it feel awkward is we buy into line, maybe you buy into it too, that wow, your identity is somehow not there because you don't have this. Do you realize how how that is tragic? Because we don't find our identity in what we do. Our work isn't our worth. You know what work is? It's a gift.

It's a talent. And when we have a talent and a gift, we are to employ them and enjoy them. But if I make my worth out of it, I'm not just employing and enjoying it, I'm trying to find the meaning of who I am in it. And when you try to make work work for what it was never meant to work for, that will never ever work.

And that next race, that next kid, that better marriage, that next thing, that next thing is not going to change that. Your worth should be found in whose you are. And if you know Jesus, you are a son or a daughter of the king of the universe. Universe. And you have value

and you have a worth in you that doesn't even matter what you do for a job. Does that make sense? We try to be somebody through work. And you know why? God is supposed to be where we find our identity. But if we're running from God, we're gonna find it somewhere.

The the the next the the the the well, the funny thing about that, just before I move on, is you know, there are other people that have caught the rabbit. They run after this as their identity and then are resent it that they get treated that way for their identity. Athletes and actors.

When they get interviewed a lot, when they get busy a lot, especially

athletes, they just want to be the best in the world. I know what it feels like to be like that. I wanted to be the best baseball player in the world. Wanted to and I dreamed of that. But imagine, you get that moment, now you are the best and everyone knows you and they often get really frustrated when they keep getting interviewed and asked about the same thing over and over again. And what do they say? Hey, I am more than just a pitcher. I am not just an actor. I am not just an incredibly good looking, bright, wonderful preacher. I there's more to me than that. You know? I'm just I'm just kidding making sure you're with me. But see how they they wanted it, then they get there, and then the very thing they resent

is they found their identity in this. And then when they get treated like that is their identity, they know that it that's empty, and they're mad.

But we still run after it. We do it to be somebody. The second thing we do is to buy, to buy some things. And like I said, that's not necessarily wrong. It can be,

especially with last week. If the reason you work is to is to support your spending habit because you just like things and you're trying to find value in things. You're gonna work really hard so you can get all the things you want. That's the bad version. But the Bible already says hard work is a good thing. We should aspire to work hard. We should work hard because

it is actually an honorable and biblical thing to buy things like meaning to feed yourself, to take care of your family, to clothe your thing. Those are honorable things. Those are goals. They are gifts,

but they're not the ultimate goal. Does that make sense? There are things that God gives you and we're supposed to do that. Just like the first point, our identity is about our talent. It's about talent, not your identity.

To be able to buy things when I work hard to get the money and to be able to do things, that's about treasure. But it's not the goal. God gives us treasure. He gives us resources. And what He wants us to do is employ them the way He wants us to and then enjoy them.

And when we do that right, what we learn is our job. In other words, that's about, feeling secure. Security and support. And where do you really find life from? We think, well, my job is what feeds me and clothes me and all that. No.

If I make it God, yes. But God says, I'm the one that does that. I gave you the job. I gave you the talent to do the job. I gave you the air in your lungs and the ability to move your muscles to actually work. And so the problem is if I run after that for meaning and I forget God,

it becomes about my money, my things, my stuff. And then since I really think that it's this is what's actually taking care of me,

that's where I don't enjoy it and I get paranoid because I go, what happens when I lose that? What happens when I make more money and what I did with all that money I enjoyed it but now I got a bigger house. I got more car payments. I sent my kid to good colleges not the ones I send them to. And and and and and and and I do all those things. I have all these extra responsibilities.

So now if it's all about me and my job, I've replaced God with my job and my ability to work is where I find my security. You're gonna be very paranoid about losing that ability.

You're never gonna enjoy it. And you're gonna try to get make more and more and more. But when I employ it the way God asked me to do with my talent and my treasure, it might seem like I have less for me at first. But what I gain is the joy, the contentment, the purpose. My identity and my security are not tied into this.

I'm free from that.

And here's the thing, when I don't get that right, some of us are so frustrated with chasing the rabbit and you've already decided this is so terrible and I hate my job anyways, then instead of looking at it God's way, all you do is give up. That's the third thing, is I just work because it's a necessary evil.

I do it because I have to.

That's about time. Really, you feel like my time is not having any value. And you know what? This is a stupid job. It gives me no fulfillment. It gives me this, and it's a waste of my time. I'd rather do my time this way. So now all of a sudden, the reason we're so frustrated is our time, our talent, and our treasure becomes about us,

and they become about who we are, our worth, our security,

and our ability to spend time like we want to. And we think our answer is to do more of and more of and more of it and make it more and more and more about me and leave God. And when I go after more, end up with less God. I end up with less good. I end up with less contentment.

That's how it gets distorted when I replace God with work. I I can never truly have that happiness. It just doesn't seem to work.

And even if you're running after it, you're just gonna always be frustrated, not be able to to to get past it. In other words, like the whole thing I just said, I probably could have summed up and just said this one statement.

Where we get work messed up. Where we we would when we end up trying to make work work for what it wasn't meant to work for and it doesn't work, is because what we end up doing is we try to get too much out of it or we try to get out of it too much. I could have just said that, hon. We could have moved on. Our

distortion of work is when we try to get too much out of it. We try to find identity and stuff or we try to get out of it too much. My attitude is since I give up and I hate it, I just want to do as little as possible and just get the fun and get the, you know, and that's where you end up with mooching off stuff and then things like that. You're like, I just don't want to do it at all.

And those are signs that your relationship with God's not right. So what's the answer then? What's the answer? Can I get meaning back into work? Yes. But like I said, what is always the answer in church? Jesus.

And then you know it's funny you say it, but it is. But I think we don't understand often how that Jesus is the answer. Most of us, if you are a Christian becoming a church, you know what the gospel means to you? It doesn't really get past this. The gospel, the good news is Jesus came, I was a sinner, was far from God, I was separated from the eternal, I couldn't go to heaven. He died on the cross for me, resurrected, beat death, and because I put my faith in him, I get to I get my E ticket to heaven punched, and when I die, I get to go to heaven. That's about the gospel for you.

And although that's all true, the gospel is more than just I get to go to heaven someday.

When he said God planted eternity in our hearts, but we go the other way, we replace God with these other things, it's our relationship with God has been fractured. We're separated from the eternal. It's broken. Jesus came to redeem that. Not just to give us heaven, but to bring heaven to us, to to redeem that relationship. We can actually be back in a relationship with the eternal God and he can redeem these things. He can put them back in the right order. We can start to do it in the right way. We can start to have our work redeemed again. We can start to live out work the way God originally intended it to. Now, according to Genesis, it's still in this fallen world always gonna be a little bit harder

than it originally was. But it can start to have the meaning again that it's supposed to have. But you gotta be committed to make work work for what it was supposed to work for.

And so the answer is Jesus. I wanna read a few verses to you here in a rapid fire order to show you how that works. But I gotta tell you something right now before I do it because some of you are gonna miss it, you're gonna check out, you're gonna go that didn't help me because you're gonna be stuck.

This is the most important principle to listen to if you're gonna understand how what I'm gonna say next is gonna help you. God always changes our attitude before he changes our address.

God always changes your attitude before he changes your address. Meaning my view of things, my commitment to things always come before situations change. In other words, God wants to change you before He's ever gonna change a situation. And here's the scarier second part of that. Oftentimes,

that He doesn't even intend on changing the situation. The whole situation is just supposed to change you. And if I can change in a situation,

it doesn't really matter what's happening in the situation, does it? And here's where I see a lot of Christians get stuck. And this is gonna be so much deeper than you ever thought it was, but you're gonna miss it. Because this is a deep, deep, deep, deep, deep statement.

If your prayers are always about God give me this situation or God, get me out of this situation, you are a baby Christian that doesn't understand how God works. And you're gonna miss the joy. You're gonna miss what he really wants.

Because if you always pray about God I need this or God get me away from this, you don't understand what God wants to do is change you. Okay? He wants to change you. And if all your prayer is about getting God to change the things around you, you're missing out on the power.

So just know that as I read that. Okay? You set up? Alright. Here we go. Rapid fire through a couple passes. We're gonna fly through and then we're gonna build on each other and show you really fast. First one. First Corinthians 10 verse 31.

Paul's telling this group that was arguing about something about can we eat this food that was sacrificed to an idol because they're afraid will we get the Satan in us if we do? He's like, no, it's hamburger. Eat it. But he at the end of it, he says that great little summary of the first part of the whole. That's 29 30 verses I just summarized. And then he says in verse 31 though, he makes this bigger principle. He goes, well, you gotta remember what you do is this. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do is is work something you do? Being a parent something you do? Being a husband,

wife, whatever something you do? Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Alright. Do it all for the good. So the first thing to remember is why do you work in the first place? If you're making it about your identity and all this stuff, works about you. And he goes, no, you first thing you gotta do is you gotta commit to everything I do,

my work, I'm doing it for God's glory. Alright. So how does that work next? Okay. Well, doesn't make me feel any happier. Sorry. Paul talks about that next. Philip I should've just kept my Bible in my hand. Why did go put it back down?

Philippians chapter four, the Philippians, they had helped him out with a gift when he was in a financial need, but he wanted to know, hey, I was in the scene, but I really wasn't truly in need because I have the Lord. And here's what he says in verse 11. Not that I was ever in need for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.

Content means the content, the peace, the not anxiety. No matter what I have. He goes, I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I've learned the secret of living in every situation,

whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. And he wasn't just being metaphorical when he said empty. He went through times where he was beaten in prison and actually starved. He did not eat. And he goes, I've learned to have contentment even in that.

And here's what he said. He says, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. So what did he just say? Since I do it for the glory of God,

I understand that since I'm doing it for that, I can learn that I have the power of Christ, the strength that I can have contentment in all things. That's what I really want when I'm work. I want peace and contentment. He goes, I can have the contentment. It doesn't matter if I'm starving, doesn't matter if I'm in prison, doesn't matter if I have a great job or I'm unemployed. I can be content even that moment because it's Christ that gives me strength. But here's the problem. That verse, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I think is the most abused and misused verses by Christians on the planet. Many of you have it written on a piece of wood somewhere in your house.

And here's how it's misused. We think it's some magic incantation.

It's a pep rally speech. It's a we they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom before we go into battle moment that we take into and it's ridiculous. Like like we're about to go play an important game and we paint it on our face. Like I'm about to go on the football field and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Meaning, since I cheer that and I chant that, that means I have the power to win the game. What if the other guy has the same idea?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And and and you know what that happened? Abraham Lincoln had a struggle in the civil war. He said, hey, I think we need to pray and besiege God to help us. He goes, but you know what? Our southern brothers are praying the same thing. And he goes, yeah, whose side is God on? And you know what Abraham Lincoln said, he goes, I don't think that's the thing to answer. I think what we should be praying, are we on God's side?

And so what he's saying is, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's not you deciding what you're gonna do. And then calling out the power of Jesus like your He Man. For the powers of grace go.

Let's go. Come on Jesus, you're supposed to strengthen me. I'm going over here. I need your strength. Help me move this. No. What does it said? Is it said wherever God takes you, wherever you find yourself trying to do unto his glory,

you might find yourself in an unpleasant spot. You might find yourself in a tough place. You might find yourself in a place you do not like. But if you are following God and do it all for his glory, he will give you the strength to be content. You don't decide where you take the strength.

He gives you the strength when you go where he's going. That's what it's saying. So if you have that hanging on your wall for the wrong reason, either change your mind or take it off your wall for God's sake. Okay?

So then he says, alright, so I fall for glory. When I do it for that, I can have the strength even when it's hard. And some of you are like, but what is so hard, so hard? And then in Colossians chapter three verse 23 says this, work willingly at whatever you do.

Now he's saying work willingly at whatever you do. And then he as though you are working for the Lord rather than people. So he says, how do I keep that commitment? How do I draw on that strength? And what does it look like to do all for God's glory? When it comes to work, it says, here, I make a choice.

I choose to view my work as I'm working for the Lord. And when I can say I'm working for the Lord, not for people, I can then start to do all for his glory. And the strength that comes through Christ can give me contentment no matter how good or bad that situation is. Does that make sense?

Now some of you like, but you don't know my situation. How can I say I'm working for the Lord if I work for Satan? How how can I do that? Because I went into business with my spouse. I'm good. You're still with me. But how how do I do that? It's like how I got you don't know my situation.

I can't truly work for the Lord. You you just don't understand the situation I'm in. It is mind numbing. It is totally under it is is the worst thing. How can I ever find any contentment through that?

Now, I'm not saying sometimes you do quit a job and move on. It's not saying stay there. But if you are in a situation, you can find the joy and contentment from God through anything. But you're saying, you don't get it. I mine's too rough.

Hey, every time I preach God's word, one thing to understand, if anyone tries to open their mouth and preach God's word for you, get remember this phrase, context is king. Don't let anyone take verses out of context. So I just read one verse on purpose. Does anybody know who Paul is talking to when he says, work

as unto the Lord, not for people? Do you know who he's talking to? Slaves. Go read the he's talking to slaves. So think about your situation. Y'all, you don't understand my situation. Can you get any more underpaid than being a slave? Can you get any more lack of freedom or control about the work you do than being a slave?

Can you get any more like anything you do, you get no benefit. It's all for the benefit of someone else. Do you get any control over your time, your talent, or your treasure at all? No. And what Paul is saying is, hey, slavery is not good. But if you find yourself even in that situation,

you can work under the Lord. You can give glory to God. You can have contentment.

But you have to choose to work for the Lord. What he's saying is, remember, you don't work for the master, you work for the king. And when you have that attitude, that can change everything even if nothing changes.

That can change everything even if nothing changes. But if you have the attitude that work is where I find my identity, work is where I find my security, work is where I find the value of my time only.

If you have it that way, you're gonna run after more and more and more, and you're gonna run away from God. You're not gonna have his strength. You're not gonna have his contentment. You're gonna miss the joy. And more will be less when less could be more. Because you need more of God and less of that.

In other words, that's why why I always challenge you guys with stuff. I it always sounds like I'm making up a commercial at the end here and here comes the sales pitch. But outside, we have these tents set up. It's a little minis volunteer expo for people to serve, to find a place to serve.

Because here's the truth. If you really want to find the joy in what work is supposed to work for, we need to employ our work in the way God asked us to employ it. If I employ my work, my time, my talent, my treasure in the way he asked me to do it, I will then enjoy it more. And one of the primary things the Bible talks about over and over and over again is one of the first, most primary things you should be doing with your time, your talent, and your treasure, but that's not this week, is

serving God with it.

It says over and over again, the one anothers of scripture that you know what, a lot of times when you come to church you go, yeah, I just felt like I was left out. I felt like I didn't really get I felt like I've been praying and God's not answering. I'm struggling with this and I can't find any help and there wasn't any help in the church. You know why?

Because God's plan a is people.

He gave you talent and time and treasure to serve him with it. And one of the first places you're supposed to use it is in the church. And when we get thousands of people that say they're Christians and only this many actually serve, guess what? Needs don't get met. People don't get challenged. And it's not God that's forgotten you. It's all of the Christians that say they're Christians that are too busy running after more that we don't get to take care of one another.

That's the problem. And I'm not saying this to punch us in the throat, well directly, because I don't want us to miss the joy. And I don't want the people, we don't, we'll miss the one another's. Because what I'm saying is, if you say, okay, I'm gonna change my attitude. I'm gonna serve the Lord.

It is impossible to say I serve the Lord and not serving his church. Impossible. Because the first thing he's gonna ask you to do in serving him is take your time, your talent, and even your treasure and serve him in the body of Christ. That's the first thing he's gonna ask you to do.

But the number one thing, here's how you know you're still caught in the lie. And I hear it all the time. Some of you go, I get it. I want to be there. I know I do, but I just do not have the time. If you don't have the time to do the things that God asked you to do, then you're too busy.

The only way you don't have time to do what God wants you to do is you're doing stuff He doesn't want you to do.

You do realize that, right? If you don't have time to do what God wants you to do, you're you're you're doing stuff that is not healthy for you. And you're probably leaning into the more theory and not just in bad ways. Some of it is work is too busy for me. But a lot of us is like I got these kids and I got to pour into my family. You realize God wants you to have a family and you're supposed to take care of them. But I guarantee God would never ever

ever put you in a situation where you can't serve him and be a parent at the same time.

It's an excuse. You're probably pouring too much into this. Yeah. And another thing is you can bring kids and teach them how to serve too. One of the things you wanna do is raise them up to be responsible followers of Jesus. The number one way to raise a Christian kid that follows Christ is to show them how to follow Christ.

It's not going to more activities. It's not getting them in more club sports. It's not getting them in all those stupid things. All you're doing is putting him on the same Groundhog Day.

So if you want this, if you want to find something other than a metal rabbit,

just trust God. Employ the gifts he gave you in the way he asks you, and you will enjoy it. Trust me. I found this out when I was in college. I I was on a baseball scholarship.

And but it wasn't, you know, the way the food worked and gas, my family was broke. I had to work a little bit because I needed a little bit of gas money and they only did one meal on Sundays and two on Saturdays. And I'm not gonna eat just one, three times on the weekend. So I had to be able to buy a little bit extra food,

buy gas. But the problem is by playing baseball is like a full time job. So I couldn't just go get a normal job because I had to be really flexible. Well, at the school I went to, this school they had like, I call their little day labor section where the people would call in to the school and say, hey, I need someone to help me come do this and this. And you'd go to that little section and you can go through a Rolodex. That's how old I am. It wasn't computerized. And pull out a card, someone would call in and fill out these cards. And you could find something that maybe would work into your schedule. You can call them, hey, can I come on Tuesday? So I just had to find these odd jobs and just fit it in when I could to make a little bit of money. Well, I went there, went in, I found this thing. This older lady said, I need help moving some stuff around. So two of my friends said, I'll go with you. And so we go and we get there and she shows up and she opens her garage. I got stuff inside, I got stuff outside. And and and when she opens her garage, do you ever see those hoarder shows?

Yeah. Looks like the hoarders on that show would go, oh, man. You got a problem.

I mean, you open the show. It was so crammed with stuff that the mice were like, oh god. Thanks for letting us out. It was too crowded in there, and it it was terrible. And and then you think, well, we'll go inside and check it out. It'll at least be better inside. No. Inside was worse. I'm like, how does this person have so much stuff?

And and then she tells us what she wants us to do, and we just started moving stuff around. You thought throw it away, you have a dumpster, maybe pull it out here so they'll come pick it up for goodwill or whatever. And no. No. No. She just wants to move stuff. She's not getting rid of anything. So we start moving this over there, that over there, that invite. You know, after a couple hours, go, wasn't that already this way? And we're just moving stuff in circles. You wanna talk about not mind numbingly meaningless work. We're not even getting anywhere. It's just rotating stuff. And everything she owned must have been made out of melted down cannonballs.

There wasn't one I'll grab those towels. Golly. How do they weigh two hundred pounds? You know? Everything was hot, and it was hot. It was sweaty. And then to top it off, she comes out and brings us snacks, if you wanna call it that. She goes, you guys want some drink? Yeah. We look over. She has this lemonade. There's not an ice cube in it. So it's hot. It's tepid. I know what tepid means because of this experience in my life.

And so she pours it, and then I go, I don't know what she made out of, but it tasted like battery acid. I think my enamel on my teeth has been permanently ruined be because of it. And then the snack tasted like it was a k ration from World War two that had been opened in World War two and just left on the counter.

And I'm telling you, this was disgusting. Then at the end of day, we worked for like five hours doing nothing meaningless, terrible, horrible, sweaty, painful. She walks in, thank you so much boys and handed each one of us $5. Five hours, five. I got Napoleon dynamited. I'm like, that's like a dollar an hour.

I got it was horrible.

And she goes, please can you come back? Can you come back? So every couple days when I'd work around, we come up. My friends immediately didn't come. I knew they we left. They said, they go, we're not going back. You said you would. Why didn't wanna say it to her face? You guys are jerks. I said I was gonna come back. I'm gonna keep to my word. I'll go back and then I'll quit. You know? And then I go back thinking, well, maybe, know, I do it again. It's still just moving stuff around. Makes no sense. And I thought at least with only me, maybe I'll get $3 an hour. I'll get the $15. Nope. $5.

Horrible snacks. See you later. Can you come again? And I was like, every day, was like, this is the worst thing ever. I was getting a bad attitude. You wanna talk about anxiety? I would stare at the ceiling and I just mad because I'm like, I'm so busy. I got a paper due, and I gotta go to that lady's house again. Why do I keep doing this? Every day I'd worked out the quitting speech. And every day she'd look at me, can you please, please, please? And I would do it. And I was just like, this is the worst thing

ever. This is awful. I hate it. I can't believe. And so finally one day I go, this is it. I'm gonna say I'm not coming back because it was again, we moved and moved and moved stuff. Nothing ever. Just moved it around. That's it. And and then she's gonna go inside, give me my $5. I already am spitting up blood from the the lemonade I just drank. And and and and it's like she comes back out I'm and like, worked on my speech. This is it. I'm telling her this is it. I can't do this anymore. I'm making up every excuse in my head. And she walks back out and she hands me a black suit.

And I go, what's going on? She goes, you know what? You said you you were gonna be a pastor and I wanted to give this to you. And I've been thinking about it because because what I loved about you coming, I'm so thankful you kept coming because you're you're the same size as my husband. So I know this suit will fit you.

And and and I just wanted to thank you because because you said, you want me pastor, this could be helpful. I thought it would help. And to be honest, you've been super helpful to me because the whole reason I had you guys coming over here is and the reason I'm able to give the suit is he died a month before I called you.

Before I started, because you gotta know something. He was the hoarder, not me. This was all his stuff. And when I first called, I said, gotta clear this out of here. But she goes, but I couldn't.

So when you showed up, I just had you moving stuff. And then I saw you, you reminded me of him. And then you kept coming back, and you kept coming back, and you don't remind me of him just because you're the same size, but you have showed me love. You've loved me like Jesus, like my husband did for forty five years.

And I was lonely, and I kept having you back, but I just can't bear to put anything out on the street. I can't get rid of it. I want you to know this suit is the first thing of his I've been willing and able to give away. And she handed it to me. I did my first wedding, my first funeral with that.

I kept coming back. I kept drinking battery acid, old snacks, and she kept paying me a dollar an hour. Nothing changed, but everything was different.

Because I realized I was working for the Lord, not for me.

That is what I hope you can get out of this message. Father God, I thank you, Lord. Thank you for how you do love us. I thank you for how you care for us. And Lord, I I I just, I pray that we would all just be able to say as we look at the works of our life, the things we're trying to build up, that God, all of those

would be for you. So we can bring glory to you. And that would enable us to have the strength of you to bring contentment and meaning and joy. And that we would stop trying to make work work for things you never meant it to work for. But we'll just work for you, and that'll make it work.

So Lord, I pray that everyone would be able to do this. Everyone, including myself, because it's easy to forget it. It's easy to get just wrapped up in what we're doing again. But Lord, I pray that we can see it the way you want us to see it. And that we can truly have that contentment that comes from your strength.

Even if I'm unemployed, even if I'm unemployed, even if I'm in a stressful period of time with whatever it is I'm working on, or even if it's going awesome and I just feel that stress and anxiety over the weight of it all, that we can stop trying to make it do things it's not supposed to do.

Give us that joy and that freedom as we choose to employ the gifts you've given us, and then we can enjoy them immensely, Lord. I pray this in the mighty, mighty name of Jesus. Amen.