The Gospel of Work...

“Birth...School...Work...Death.”
---- The Godfathers

“Mere rats, the human rodents shuffle.
At least we get a dignified cremation.”
---- Jello Biafra

"Take this job and shove it! I ain't workin' here no more!"

---- Johnny Paycheck

I’m growing more and more disenchanted with my job. It’s not that I don’t like what I do. It’s not that I’m not good at it. It’s not that I’m not making enough money. It’s not that I hate the people I work with. I’m not doing anything blatantly immoral either. The problem isn’t with the job. It’s with me. There’s just a frustration level that has reached cataclysmic proportions. We talk often of how church can be an empty exercise when you’re just doing it for the sake of doing it. There’s no life in it. You’re going through the motions. Work, for me, is resembling that. I guess that’s what happens when your heart’s not there. And, as an employee, you’re there almost 40% of your waking hours.

Jocelyn Green recently wrote in the magazine Pentecostal Evangel about “The Overworked American” and when I read it, it started to trigger some strong reactions. She writes -

“During research for her book The Overworked American, Boston College sociology professor Juliet Schor discovered that the average U.S. employee spent more than 200 more hours per year on the job - or five extra 40 hour weeks - compared to the 1960’s. Half a century ago, the American workweek was substantially shorter than that of Western Europe; now Americans exceed Europeans by more than 350 hours a year - nearly nine weeks. Even Japan now has shorter annual hours of work than the United States.” (7/17/05, #4758, p. 6)

A couple of weeks ago, my office went through what was called a “Takin’ It To the Next Level” meeting. Up until recently, everything’s been run like a one-man show. But now there’s too much to do. So we’ve converted to more of a corporate structure. Hired a Chief Financial Officer. Hired four new specialists. Moved to a new office three times the size. They've even set a performance analyzer in place called a scorecard so that anyone can look at the numbers to monitor sales and job performance. Through the whole meeting, something just felt weird. Most other employees either didn’t understand what it was about or they were afraid of it. One of the business consultants there kept saying that a key component for all this should be “What’s in it for me?”. Oh, really? Anyhow, I couldn’t figure out what the check in my spirit was about. Then, a little later, God spoke to my heart - “What does it profit a man that he should gain the whole world, yet lose his very soul?”.

I have no problem with those who consider the marketplace their mission field. Lost people are everywhere. They sure need to be reached. But while we’re in the marketplace, we need to be very careful. For we can begin to worship the vehicle of our service instead of the God who gave us the vehicle. We can seek after bigger barns, larger paychecks, status and prestige. All the time, the hurting are calling out to us, pleading that we’ll take time to share with them the hope we have. But, as we drive to our job in our luxury cars, the hurting are lining the streets, like the trees or park benches. And we fly by because we have "more important things" to do. Like chase the American Dream, make all our money, get ulcers, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, a young man was shot in the back by a kid with a semi-automatic weapon. The victim was walking down the street near a McDonald’s restaurant. My family goes by that place all the time. It’s less than a mile from Calvary Tabernacle, where we now go to church. I worked on that stretch for a year and a half. What’s happening? I’m so busy running to get my Double Mocha Latte and get to work to sit and slave away. People Jesus died for are dying themselves and I won’t lift a finger. Oh, I can’t. See, I’m trapped. I spend so many hours tied to my desk that by the time I get home, I have nothing left in the tank. I fall asleep on the couch watching “Wheel of Fortune”. I won’t even pray. Pathetic. Our jobs kill us. It’s a tool of the enemy, I know it. Satan gets us so occupied with our own lives that no one else’s is of any consequence. He who has eyes to see, let him see.

A lot of this really started rising up during Beyond the Song. I’m actually listening to Derek’s Tribes and Tongues CD as I’m typing this. But for three days I heard great men and women of God talk about giving their all for the harvest. We sang worship songs, prayed for the nations. I was watching Preston, Derek’s drummer, spend hours a day playing. I honestly started to get a little jealous - “That’s supposed to be me! I wish I'd never stopped playing with Derek“. But God corrected that. “It’s not that your jealous of the place in the band you want to occupy. You’re jealous of the place in My larger story you want to occupy. You want to serve me, go for me. I love that about You”. And as I sat there getting calls on my cell phone from my office (on Saturday, no less), I started to get the picture. We get confused. As Gary Barkalow says, "We think our job is our calling. No, our job is an assignment within our calling." Calling is a much greater purpose than just punching a timeclock. When the Book of Life opens, God will not judge me by my performance scorecard! Some will fulfill their calling with a 9 to 5 job included. But those who are called to go to the ends of the earth need to go. And they are spinning their wheels until they do. It’s no wonder I move from job to job, unable to be satisfied. Because there is a larger story. I have a place in it. And I’ve left it unoccupied. Meanwhile, those who need me to be in my place so that they can hear the Gospel and be saved are waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Dying.

Actually, this was germinating before BTS. In March, I wrote in my journal (again, after spending time with Derek - coincidence?)

“...in seeking security, I’ve been ignoring faith and trust. I sought the easy way, the safe ways, and I’ve pushed my true heart down. Who knows all the exciting awesome things I could’ve done if I simply got out of the boat and fully trusted? God (has) allowed me to have what I wanted - but it’ll kill me and I know it. I need to step up. Life is more than being safe.”

The day after Beyond the Song, we were going to sleep in and skip church. Seemed like the “safe” thing to do. Self-preservation and all that. But we were all awake in time to go, so what the heck? Pastor Lorenzo preached from John 12:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the
earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life
in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves me,
he must follow me; and where I am, there My servant will be
also; if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (v. 24-
26, NASB)

I wept in my pew. That was it! I need to die to myself in order to glorify Him. There’s just too much of me in the way. Think about the verse above: if the grain dies, it bears much fruit! When it ceases to operate, when it gives itself over to a greater plan, that's when it reproduces! As I cried and worshipped, singing “I surrender All”, I heard God say to me, “I release you. Pursue your heart. I’m for you.”

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to meet with Pastor Lorenzo when he comes back from Bulgaria (he’s training national pastors) and just set myself down before him and say HELP! I think Calvary has come around at just the right time. Lorenzo is much more of an equipper. That seems to be what my spirit is calling out for. A man of God to take me as a piece of unformed clay and mold me so I’m prepared to handle to the work I’m called to do. It’s a shame it’s taken me 16 years to get here. But better late than never. And he’ll restore the years the locust has eaten. I’m not sure if I’m destined for the mission field, pastoring (which is kind of what I thought I’d do all along), evangelism, counseling...I ain’t got no clue! But I know the passion growing in my heart is to give it all for the work of the kingdom. And I know Whom I have believed. And I know the He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.

Well, my daughter Rachel’s bowl of Apple Jacks looks strangely appetizing! I pray some of my meditations this morning have inspired you to look at your life and see what motivates you. Our lives are meant for so much more. I pray we all just don’t get lost along the way.

Walk with God.