The King's Work

 

“For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory;

No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

     Psalm 84:10-12 (NKJV)

After celebrating the mountaintop glory of Christ’s resurrection at Easter, it can be a let-down to get back to the normal routine of life and work. Yet God calls us to do everything for His glory (1 Corinth. 10:31) and that includes what we do every day.  We’re to think of doing our work as worship and even the mundane tasks of our daily life are worthy when offered to God.

One illustration of this is in 1 Chronicles chapters 1-9, which lists the genealogies of “all Israel” and records many of their jobs and daily life. They went to battle, got married, had children, died. Some called on God, some did wickedly.  Interestingly, it says that some were potters, some dwelt among the plants and hedges, and “there they dwelt with the king for his work” (1 Chron. 4:23, NKJV).  Doing it for the King makes all the difference.

 

As the psalmist notes, even one day with the Lord is better than a thousand without Him, and being a doorkeeper in God’s house is better than dwelling in the world’s wickedness.  We are blessed to be saved and redeemed, but that doesn’t mean we live in idleness.  We have work to do and we must take care of our families and homes, which involves many routine and even tedious tasks.  Yet if we submit everything we do to God as an offering, He gives us grace sufficient for all we do.

 

I read about a community of believers who worked at the Dohnavur Fellowship in India, toiling day in and day out at menial jobs. Yet their faces were radiant and their smiles joyful despite the drudgery of their lives.  There was a plaque on a wall where they worked and it said “There they dwelt with the King for His work.”  May that attitude be ours as we offer all we do in service for the King.

Asking The Tough Questions

 Yesterday was Easter, or, more properly, Resurrection Day. It's been a rough weekend. I have been moving all weekend, trying to shoehorn 3,000 sq. ft. of stuff into 1,900 sq. ft. of house. The church family lined up to help couldn't because the weekend was already full of church events. So, Friday my wife and I loaded a truck with several tons of boxes, which were easy to fit, but heavy. We couldn't unload it because the transaction didn't record and we didn't get the keys until late Friday afternoon.

Still, Friends helped unload on Saturday, friends helped again empty out and clean the house on Sunday. We had to move quickly because on Friday, my mom fell, and is in the ICU in southern California. We are leaving today to head south to be with her and my family. With all this swirling around in my head, worship was very emotional for me. And I went from there into the Bible study with the youth.

Rather than ask them what question they had from the week, I had a set of questions from one of them from the week before. The questions came from Ephesians 4:1 - 

I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, (Ephesians 4:1 NET)

Here are the questions:

1. What type of life is considered "worthy"?
2. How can I develop such a life?
3. Where does such a life come from? 3a. Are people born with it, do they DO certain things to have it, is it something given, or??
4. What is the calling itself?
5. How can someone "walk worthy" of such a calling? 5a. Is it even possible?
6. What would such a "worthy" life look like practically lived out daily?
7. How can you practice walking with god aside from praying and worshipping?
8. How do you join God on his mission?

I don't know adults who come up with such great questions. And I'm not sure this person came up with them on their own, but that's what they claimed, so I'll go with that.

To answer these questions, we continued on in Ephesians 4, clarifying elements that Paul used to try to explain these very questions. The questions break down into defining a few terms:

1. Walk - What is our walk look like?
2. Worthy - How do I show how much I value my Savior?
3. Calling - What has my Savior called me to do/be?

Terms 1 through 3 are answered in verses 2 and 3. And the definition of 3 is continued in verses 4 through 6, but especially 4. The problem is that Paul really doesn't define them in ways that we want. Instead, he refers to attitudes (humility, gentleness, patience, love) we are to have as we relate to other disciples. And then focuses on the singleness and superiority of our Savior.

So, the "walk" (or beliefs lived out in daily choices and actions) is characterized by the attitudes of humility, gentleness, patience, and love. The choice to live this way declares the value we place on our relationship with our Savior. It's the calling that isn't well defined, at least until you step back a bit. Verse four doesn't help much:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, (Ephesians 4:4 NET)

We are called to one hope of our calling. But what is the calling? The way I tried to help them grapple with it was by stepping back and seeing all of it as our calling. But that's not really complete either. When Paul uses the term "hope" it generally is a reference to heaven.

So, if that were true here (and that isn't certain, only possible), then the calling would be the "end game", not just the journey. I suppose you can make a case that the whole of it, the walk here, and the walk there, are what we are called to. If that is the case, then the "walk" is the content of the call. Conveniently, our walk is described further from verse 17 through the end of the chapter, specifically in verses 25 through 32:

Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger. Do not give the devil an opportunity. The one who steals must steal no longer; instead he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk—indeed all malice. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. (Ephesians 4:25-32 NET)

This is one of my favorite "behavior lists" of Paul. This one plays off negatives with positives side-by-side. So, lay aside falsehood and speak the truth. Don't steal, but work. Don't speak unwholesome words, but beneficial ones, building up others. Put away bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling and slander. Replace them with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

It is these sorts of things that form the boundaries and definition of our "walk". These attitudes define the neighborhood in which we walk. As we walk before our Creator, we can be found walking with our Creator when this is what we behave like. When this is how others would describe us, then we know we are walking in a manner worthy of the amazing calling of our Creator. 

The thing is, they become true as we walk with Him. They don't make us worthy to be in His presence. Only Jesus accomplishes that. These attitudes characterize someone who walks with their Creator, who walk with Him because of their Savior, and live in the joy of knowing they are One and same Person (or substance, with three Persons, for you staunch theologians). Basically, when we "hang out" with our Savior, we tend to be more like Him.