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00:01 Once again, it's my joy and privilege to be standing here sharing with you from the word of God. And we are now in the
00:07 midst of uh our series on the on Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians. And
00:12 today we are at the sixth installment in the series with a sermon title um work
00:18 that glorifies. The text is uh taken from uh 1
00:25 Thessalonian chapter chapter 4 9-12. uh just four verses but they will
00:31 provide us some uh powerful and profound biblical insights into this important
00:38 topic of work. In other words, uh how can we have a much higher view of work
00:44 based on scripture? when the uh pullpit uh roster was drawn
00:50 up early on, you can imagine my relief to see that I was not assigned last
00:56 week's sermon cuz I rather talk about work than sex.
01:02 Although I suspect you would rather hear about sex than work.
01:07 But I suppose some people are are more qualified to speak on sex and uh Peter
01:13 is the most qualified in that area. but only because he's a doctor. Okay,
01:18 don't let your imagination run wild. But of course, he's an elder at the same
01:24 time. But if your problem is uh erectile dysfunction, please do consult him.
01:30 Okay? Although I know a lot about work. I did have a problem at first uh when I was
01:37 meditating on the text because in the um in this first half of uh chapter 4 that
01:43 is really about pleasing God. Why did Paul talk about the need to work
01:49 hard? Why suddenly, you know, this need to
01:55 tell the Thessalonians to work hard? It turns out that uh there are there were believers in the Thessalonian church who
02:01 were lazy, too lazy to go to work because in the next chapter,
02:09 in the next chapter, uh Paul wrote as and we urge you brothers and sisters,
02:15 warn those who were idle, those who are idle and disruptive. And so in our text
02:20 today, Paul was actually speaking out against laziness.
02:26 And here was my problem because our congregation is majority Chinese. And the word if there were a word that
02:33 you wouldn't find in in a Chinese dictionary is the word lazy because the Chinese are known for working very hard.
02:42 And so is the text today not so applicable to us because telling
02:48 the Chinese to work hard is like teaching a fish to swim. And yet as I
02:54 dive uh deeper into the text, I found that hidden within these verses are some
02:59 very radical teachings about work because the what we have here is
03:05 something that we we would seldom hear about work. And ironically, those who would benefit more most from the text
03:12 are not those who are lazy, but rather those who work hard or those even those who overwork.
03:19 But before we we begin exploring the these radical teachings on work embedded
03:24 in these verses, let's commit this time to the Lord in prayer.
03:30 Our father in heaven, move our thoughts higher and deeper on this subject of
03:35 work. Align our thinking with what your holy scripture teaches so that when we
03:41 work, we glorify you and you alone. We desire to learn from our Lord Jesus who
03:47 quietly worked as a carpenter when he dwelt among men. We ask this in his
03:52 precious name. Amen. Now, as an introduction to the sermon, I
03:58 wish to offer you uh three snippets of of what I came across recently uh which
04:05 are related to our topic of work. Three recent observations I have uh that I
04:10 want to share with you. The first happened um about two months ago while we were traveling in Europe. If you
04:17 recall at the end of July, our daughter Melody stood here on the stage as Pastor
04:22 Rama prayed for her just before she left for England to continue her studies in medicine.
04:29 I'm most happy to report to you that she has settled in very well uh in a new environment.
04:35 She showed us or she sent us this uh this picture via WhatsApp as proof that
04:41 everything is okay you and I suppose this this means the open
04:47 palms means hey what's there to worry about you know stop calling me every day you know
04:56 classes have started since the end of August and she's not very busy with the coursework I think she spends like two
05:02 days in in classes and then another three days in hospital and thank you all for your prayers. Actually, 2 days after
05:08 Melody stood here to be prayed for, we left for London together and she of course went on a one-way ticket. We
05:15 reckon that uh from now on it will be very difficult for our family to be together again. And so we decided on a
05:21 on a family holiday in Europe. And from London we took the channel train the
05:26 Euro Star to Paris while our son Jeremy flew from Dublin to Paris to join us.
05:32 And we started our twoe uh Europe trip together. We spent a wonderful week in
05:37 the French capital after which we flew to Barcelona for for 5 days and then
05:43 back to London for for another three days. And while we were in Barcelona, we
05:49 stayed in this hotel very near to this popular uh pedestrian street known as uh
05:54 Laambla where we walk practically day and night.
06:00 5 days after we left this beautiful city, terror struck on 17 August. And
06:06 talk about timing just 5 days after we left, it was closed. On a busy Thursday
06:12 afternoon, while hordes of tourists were were enjoying themselves,
06:17 a a van, a white van, uh speeded down this this very street for about 550 m,
06:24 knocking down pedestrians and killing 14 innocent people. Now I'm mentioning this
06:30 in passing uh in the light of the mass shooting last Sunday in US in which 59 concert
06:38 goers were brutally murdered. Evil is on the rise in this world and I
06:44 believe that we are in the end times. Satan is moving fast as he's running out of time. But that's another topic
06:50 altogether. Now I don't wish to bore you with details of our Europe trip. But I did notice something peculiar in the
06:57 cities of Europe which is related to our topic of work in the in London, Paris
07:03 and Barcelona. I often came across people begging on the streets and mind
07:09 you these were mostly ablebodied men and women and they carried signs like so
07:15 broke it hurts or far from home broke and hungry.
07:21 And I just couldn't understand why they refuse to find a decent place and get a decent piece of work to feed themselves
07:29 instead of sitting on the sidewalk begging for arms and and not just sitting this this the guy on the lower
07:35 right certainly takes the cake. He was prostrating in desperation.
07:42 It's not that they were old or sick or disabled. They didn't appear to me to be old or sick or disabled. Now I'm not I'm
07:49 showing you these pictures not to insult or to ridicule these people but in order to bring out the last line of text
07:57 where Paul wrote so that you will not be dependent on any anybody. We will uh
08:03 examine this in detail later in the sermon. The Bible teaches us to be compassionate especially towards those
08:09 uh who are poor and and disadvantaged, those who are sick and old, those who are uh disabled or handicapped.
08:17 But scripture is against laziness. Living at expense of others not because
08:22 of your circumstance but out of choice and those ablebodied beggars who were on
08:28 the streets by choice. I've been in uh been to Europe many times. The first was in 1980 but I
08:36 didn't see such sorry sites in my earlier trips. And the so the pictures I showed you are a fairly recent
08:43 phenomenon which I'm convinced uh is a result of socialist policies
08:49 that have taken root in Europe and now gaining strength in America
08:55 because with keen eyes I have observed the geopolitical trends in this world and I can't help but notice this second
09:02 evil growing across the globe. I'm talking about socialist agenda of those
09:08 on the left of the political divide, those who champion government and an unfettered welfare
09:16 state. And the result is a citizenry with a dependent mentality.
09:23 And their leaders are the likes of Obama and Clinton.
09:29 But the sudden rise of Donald Trump has temporarily disrupted their plan.
09:35 you're fired. But I don't think they will go away. But why? I mean, you may ask, do I want
09:41 to touch on American politics? Why bother with what's happening on the other side of the globe? The reason is
09:47 because just like the evil of terrorism, the evil of socialist ideology is
09:54 spreading and will soon reach our shores. Maybe has already arrived.
10:00 To set an example, those people on the left often have this bloated sense of entitlement. They feel
10:08 entitled to to health care, to food stamps, to university placements, etc.
10:15 And if you have if you but you have not if you have not noticed there are many people there also many people in this country who harbor similar inflated
10:24 sense of entitlement. You know what I mean? Huh? I don't have to elaborate.
10:30 In any case, I shall come back to this notion of entitlement later in the sermon when we shall unpack the verses.
10:36 The second snippet uh which I wish to share is closer to home. And those who are close to me uh know that I love to
10:44 read. Nothing thrills me more than a book fair or a book sale. And so about a month ago, I I found myself at a borders
10:52 book sale at uh summit uh shopping mall nearby where I come across this this
10:59 book uh downshifting. In fact, I bought it.
11:04 The the enticing subtitle explains what this means. It says how to work less and
11:11 enjoy life more. What a wonderful proposition. less labor
11:20 and more leisure. The picture on the cover is is even more appealing showing someone sunbathing and
11:27 and relaxing on the deck of a of a yacht. Now, there is an abund there's a
11:32 abundance of similar books in the market. There is no shortage of advice how to work less and to earn more.
11:39 There's even one that shows you to never to work, you know, never work again.
11:45 But does this square uh with the Bible's teaching on work, especially when
11:50 measured using the the yard stick of our text? As for the earlier snippet uh on
11:55 ablebodied beggars, the Bible's teaching is clear, but this one may not be so
12:01 clear, but it will become clear when we unpack the verses in our text shortly.
12:07 The last snippet that I want to share with you, I told you three. This happened uh just 10 days ago. I had some
12:13 work to do in Tranganu which required me to visit this huge factory about an hour
12:18 from the state capital Kala Tranganu. And inside this this factory was this
12:24 long slogan that says
12:32 now for those of you who bas is really rusty. I think you know some words like
12:39 you should know. But I means to be pious. Akirat refers
12:45 to the afterlife. And so the whole sentence means work hard and be pious
12:51 towards earthly success and the afterlife. Now it's it's a neat slogan and I might
12:58 add it is a quite a useful slogan to encourage the workers to be diligent. But is it biblical? What does Paul say
13:05 about this this in our text? The first snippet says let's not work which of course is unbiblical. The second snippet
13:12 says let's work less. We're not too sure if that is biblical, but this one says, "Let's work hard for the present and for
13:18 the future." Sounds a little biblical, huh? But we
13:23 shall see if this is so as we dive into the text. As we dive into the text, we will examine this portion of one to uh
13:30 Thessalonians chapter 4 from three vantage points. I'll look at it from uh three angles. They are one work and
13:37 society, number two work and rest, and number three work and creation.
13:44 In other words, we want to look at work horizontally and then internally and
13:49 finally vertically. And from each of these, we shall draw a practical lesson
13:55 that I that I pray will drastically will radically reshape the way we think about
14:00 work. Now before that, let me submit to you that we all have a very distorted
14:06 view of work. our attitude to work, our concept of work, they are far removed
14:12 from the biblical doctrine of work. And to drive home this point, let me
14:17 introduce you uh to this well-known British novelist. She's a also a poet, a
14:23 playwright and essaist. Well, she may be more famous in over in England than here. How many of you know
14:30 Dorothy Seers? Not many. In fact, she was uh one of the first
14:36 women to graduate from Oxford University. Actually, she's far better known as a
14:43 crime writer. I I read one of her detective novels when I was in my 20s,
14:49 but I didn't know until recently that she she also wrote some insightful essays on Christian apologetics and she
14:56 had a lot of profound things to say about work from a Christian perspective. and she even wrote a a 12-page uh essay
15:04 why work which you can find on the internet just Google Dorothy Seers why work you get this 12-page PDF file
15:10 basically what Dorothy Seers was saying is that society as a whole is hurting
15:16 because it doesn't espouse the the revolutionary biblical doctrines of work
15:21 because in her mind the Bible contains some revolutionary ideas on work and she
15:26 thought that people were were suffering or stressed out from work because they lack an understanding of these ideas and
15:33 that's why I said at the beginning those who work very hard those who overwork will need to study this piece of
15:39 scripture from Paul now what are some of these revolutionary biblical doctrines
15:44 of work let's let's start with our first point work in society that is looking at
15:49 work along a horizontal dimension says put it this way or something to
15:56 this to this effect that work is the gracious expression of creativity creative energy in the service of
16:02 others. Work is the gracious expression of creative energy in the service of
16:10 others. That's a very wellput biblical doctrine or biblical definition of work.
16:17 Now to get a handle on this on what this means, let's look at the modern doctrine of work. Now simply put, work is what
16:25 you do for a living to derive an income in order to survive or even to thrive.
16:32 At its most basic level, work is done so that we can put food on the table to feed our family.
16:39 At a secondary level, it allows us to do what we want to pursue our dreams.
16:45 Now FBC is largely a middle-class church in a middle-class township and most of
16:50 us most of us are beyond putting bread and butter on the table or put in a local context. We have no problem
16:57 putting rice and curry on the table and some of us can even put uh lobsters and
17:03 prime beef on the table. Many of us have surplus funds to invest in order to earn
17:08 more money so that we can enjoy life such as holidaying in Paris and
17:14 Barcelona. or sending our kids overseas to study.
17:21 But at its core, the modern doctrine of work is self-centered in nature.
17:27 The money that I earn is for me and my family to spend and
17:34 enjoy. We may describe this as a kind of entitlement mentality. Now I touched on
17:40 this briefly just now how people on the political left they think this way. I'm a citizen of this country and therefore
17:47 I'm entitled to this and that and many people in this country as well they they also think this way because I am uh
17:53 because I am I belong to a certain ethnic group I'm entitled to this and that you know what I meanh
18:00 and this entitlement mentality is also evident when we work for money. I work hard for my money. This is the fruit of
18:07 my labor and therefore only I'm entitled to it. You didn't work for it and so you are not entitled to it. And that's why
18:15 it's very hard for someone especially a Chinese to part with his hard-earned
18:21 money to give to others. No, I'm not teaching you to be more charitable. That's not my point. I'm
18:28 merely emphasizing the selfcentered nature of modern work. And hence today
18:34 we find doctors practicing medicine not because he wants to relieve sufferings
18:40 but because he can make a lot of money and the patients are just an excuse or a
18:45 means uh to a selfcentered end. We also find architects designing nice buildings
18:51 simply because it's a lucrative business. The occupants of the buildings are just a means to make money.
18:60 Hey, when I'm talking about doctors and architects, I'm not referring to anyone in particular. Okay,
19:09 to imagine, okay, now in reflection of what Dorothy
19:15 Dorothy says is saying here, I have something nice to share with you. I I
19:20 show you uh Melody's picture just now, not without reason. And so now she's uh
19:26 enrolled in the University of Eza. uh if you don't know that's in southwest England to continue her her studies in
19:34 medicine in three years time I expect her to graduate as a doctor. Okay.
19:41 But the genesis of this long journey actually started 8 years ago. She was uh
19:48 then 14 years old. I sent her on a mission trip to the Philippines together with a group of uh Christian volunteers
19:55 to minister to the destitute living in the slums of Manila.
20:01 She was stunned by what she saw in Manila. When she came back, she told me, "Daddy,
20:08 I want to be a doctor to help these people." And since then, she has remained single-minded about her
20:15 ambition to be a doctor. I just I I I'm making I'm telling you this, you know, to hold her to her words, okay? Because
20:22 she will listen to this on on the website,
20:29 not not to migrate to immigrate to Australia or England, you know, but to
20:35 go to the Philippines. Okay. Some of you may ask where in the text
20:40 does it say that work should be done in the service of others? The answer is not explicitly but
20:47 implicitly. If you scrutinize our text,
20:54 if you scrutinize our text, there seems to be a dividing line between verses 9 10 and verses 11 and 12. It appears that
21:02 we have two separate and unrelated halves. The first half talks about love while the second half deals with work.
21:09 It looks like Paul is addressing two different topics here. But I can assure you both are connected in a surprising
21:16 way. If you notice verse 11 doesn't start with a new sentence. Rather it's a
21:21 continuation of the sentence in verse 10. And so the whole text is based on a
21:26 single thought. Paul starts by talking about their love for one another. In
21:32 fact the word love appears appears three times in the first two verses verse 9
21:37 about your love for one another. Uh we do not need to write to you. Boy is like saying when it comes to loving one
21:43 another, you don't need you don't need me to tell you what to do. In verse 10,
21:48 he praises them for their love for all believers in the region. You do love all
21:54 of uh all of God's family throughout Macedonia. Now, this is a bit of geography. Uh here
22:01 you see the city of uh Thessalonica uh where the church is situated. Situate uh they located in the northern part of
22:08 Greece known as Macedonia. And further in verse 10, he exhorts the
22:14 Thessalonian Christians to increase their efforts to love one another even more. Yet we urge you, brothers and
22:20 sisters, to do more and more, to do so more and more. But in verse 9, Paul also
22:27 writes, for you yourself have been taught by God to love each other. Now,
22:33 this is really the basis for what Paul is saying here. This is the axis around which the whole text turns.
22:40 But when did God teach them to love one another? If you recall during the last supper,
22:46 Jesus proclaims uh in John 13:34, "A new command I give to you. Love one
22:53 another as I have loved you. So you must love one another." Now, you're all very familiar with this.
22:60 But why is there a need for a new commandment when we already have the other commandment to love our neighbor?
23:08 Isn't one another part of the word neighbor or included in the word
23:13 neighbor? In Matthew 22, when Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment,
23:20 Jesus answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the first and greatest commandment. And the
23:26 second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself." In fact, Jesus later
23:32 elaborated on this second greatest commandment to love our neighbors by telling the parable of the good
23:37 Samaritan. And it turns out that neighbor includes our enemies, those we
23:43 don't particularly like. And so the term neighbor in the second greatest commandment is very broad. It includes
23:49 uh one another on one hand, brothers and sisters in Christ, and enemies on the other hand.
23:55 But back to the question, why the need for a new commandment when we already have the second greatest commandment?
24:02 Now there is a surface reason and it is a deeper reason. I shall give you the deeper reason. I think Jesus gave gave
24:09 us the new commandment to love one another. Because if you can't even love your brother and sisters in Christ,
24:15 those in God's family, what's there to talk about loving your neighbor, let alone your enemies? And hence I've
24:23 always seen the new commandment as an extension no not extension as a more
24:29 like a precursor to the second greatest commandment. Love one another first within God's family and then you'll find
24:36 it easier to love your neighbor. But coming back to our text when Paul
24:45 when Paul uh writes first about love and then about work first half about love
24:50 second half about work when he put them all together he's saying that the two are closely intertwined.
24:57 Your work should be a demonstration or a manifestation of your love for one
25:03 another or on a broader scale your love for your neighbor or even broader your love for society.
25:10 When you love others, you don't mind laboring for the sake of their comfort, their well-being or benefit.
25:17 Work is an expression of love.
25:22 Paul puts this across more explicitly in the next chapter in verse 12. He says
25:27 acknowledge those who work hard among you who care for you in the Lord. Those who work hard among you who care for
25:34 you. You see the relation and that's how Dorothy says derive her definition of
25:40 work from a biblical standpoint that work is a gracious expression of creative energy in service of others.
25:48 Now when you compare this with the modern doctrine of work, you would appreciate the radical nature of biblical view of work. When you work
25:55 purely for money, you will never be satisfied. There will be an endless
26:00 chase for more and more income. But when you work to serve others, the
26:05 sense of satisfaction can be tremendous. And it's based on this secret of the
26:11 this secret of happiness we find in Acts 2035 where Paul writes in everything I did I
26:18 showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said
26:25 it's more blessed to give than to receive. This is the biblical secret of
26:30 happiness. Now to illustrate this in the years after World War II, they looked at the
26:38 British British conscript soldiers returning from the war against Nazi Germany. Now that's another evil even
26:46 worse than the than the two I talk about just now. They found that these British men were
26:52 far happier and far more satisfied being in the army even though the pay was miserable because for the first time in
26:60 their lives they were doing something noble in their lives. They were fighting in the war for the
27:06 sake of their loved ones and their countrymen back home. They were fighting evil. They were even ready to sacrifice
27:12 their lives. But after the war when they got back home when they rejoined the
27:17 workforce the sat that sense of satisfaction disappeared.
27:23 And so this account of British soldiers in the war is very instructive when we consider work and happiness. When we
27:28 think about work and satisfaction, you want happiness and satisfaction in work.
27:33 This what you do. The satisfaction equation is really quite simple. Higher level of service
27:40 plus less focus on money equal greater sense of satisfaction.
27:47 When you work your primary focus should not be money. In your work you should
27:52 ask is my job making myself useful to others useful to society. But well if
27:59 you make a lot of money along the way good for you but money should not be the primary motivation. And that's why those
28:07 book I show you earlier on how to work less and to earn more. These are not very biblical.
28:13 And for this reason I have the highest esteem for those in the teaching profession. There is a special place in
28:18 my heart for teachers. The pay isn't all that great but there they are laboring in the service of others working with
28:26 the children and teenagers imparting knowledge to them and guiding them. Paul
28:31 says in this verse, "By this kind of hard work, we must help the weak." And teaching is a good example of this.
28:40 To drive this home, let me introduce you to another lady, not British, but Malaysian.
28:46 Her name is Lisa. You don't know her because she's from Tuintan.
28:52 Earlier this year she graduated from teachers training college and she now teaches mathematics at the scholar
28:58 kabangsaan tamantun dr ismile a government primary school is what we
29:04 normally call an sk abbreviation for scholar kabangaan meaning national school
29:10 I met Miss Lee one week ago when she brought her students to take
29:15 part in a national level sudoku competition that I organized for primary
29:20 schools at at summit again a summit uh shopping mall nearby.
29:26 Now we must take note that 95% of Chinese parents have already given up on
29:32 the SK case and they mostly send their kids uh to
29:37 either private schools or or Chinese primary schools and as a result of that
29:44 today 95% of the enrollment in the SK case comes from one single ethnic group
29:52 which I need not And that's why I have the highest regard
29:57 for this young teacher who is committed to teach these children who are
30:02 generally weak in mathematics. Now you know I could see that these four ch four
30:08 students were very close to her. I cannot think of a nobler job than hers
30:13 especially in the light of how Dorothy Sea defines biblical work. If I could
30:18 live my life all again, I would want to work as a teacher in an SK. But I need I
30:25 also need to be realistic so that this lesson can be made more practical for us. I realize that this is not exactly a
30:32 young congregation even though today we have the youth with us. If you're still working, you are likely to be at the
30:38 height of your career or business. Now, I don't expect you to change your line of work or business. That's just
30:45 not practical. And so how can we what can we do so that our work can exhibit a
30:50 greater degree of service for others? How can we subscribe more to the biblical doctrine of work in what we do
30:58 currently? Now I have an advice for you based on this very nice company slogan
31:03 that I came across. My wife works for cow Malaysia and they
31:09 market toiletry products such as shampoos and facial cleansers and they
31:15 have adopted this this slogan which reflects this idea of serving others. It's called Yoki monoui.
31:23 You wouldn't know what this means. Some will know what this means. Is a Japanese phrase meaning making good products.
31:30 Yoki means good. Monukuri means making something. And their mission is to is to research and to manufacture and to
31:36 market products that will serve their customers well especially in the area of
31:41 personal hygiene. This is their full uh vision mission statement. No time to look at this in
31:48 detail. But taking a cue from this if you are a business owner you should align your company along this line. That
31:55 is how can your products or services better serve your customers in particular or society in general? How
32:03 can you improve the lives of people and to make the world a better place? If you are an employee in a senior
32:10 position, you can try to convince your shareholders to steer the company. Likewise, your main focus should be
32:17 serving and not just profits. However, if you are an employee in a
32:23 lower position, you may not be able to move and shake the company, but you can try your best to serve your bosses, your
32:29 colleagues, your customers, etc. The idea is to serve and to contribute.
32:35 And that's why Paul has harsh words for for those who are lazy, those who refuse to work by choice because they are not
32:41 contributing to society or adding to the common good. Instead, as we saw in the last verse of
32:48 our text, they become a burden to others by taxing their resources.
32:56 Now, what about retirees? We have to touch on this. Huh? Because as I
33:02 mentioned, we are an aging congregation and many of you have already retired.
33:07 But so going by the biblical view of work, one should never fully retire
33:14 unless you are too old or frail to work. If you are still physically or mentally
33:20 capable, do something useful. Join an NGO.
33:26 Contribute to the common good. Okay? Be a be a positive factor or
33:32 member of the community. Do something useful even for no pay.
33:38 Don't just sit at home reading the newspaper from front to back and then back to front and front to back again
33:46 washing and polishing your car every day. How much more can you polish?
33:51 Continue to be a useful member of the community in the service of others.
33:57 Now I have dwelt at leng on the first point we need to hurry along uh that is work and society because it's so
34:03 important. We have considered work from a horizontal perspective. It's actually a functional approach to
34:09 work. Let's now discuss the other two points. Number two, work and rest. We are going to look at work from a now
34:16 from an internal perspective. And you may think of this as a foundational approach to work. The anchor verse for
34:22 this is verse 11. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. You should mind your own business. At a glance, Paul
34:29 seems to be saying, "Shut up and don't be a busy body." And this seems to square with the verse in chapter 5 that
34:36 I showed you earlier where Paul uh warns those who are idle and disruptive. Indeed, if you are lazy and have nothing
34:43 to do, your mouth tends to to work overtime and you start to cause trouble and become disruptive to the lives of
34:49 others. But is that what Paul means to lead a quiet life and to mind our own business so that we don't disrupt other
34:55 people's life? Now here is worthwhile to check other translation of this verse. A few
35:01 translations say make it your goal to lead a peaceful life or something to that effect. There is no one translation
35:08 that renders it as to aspire to live a tranquil tranquil life. And so if we dig
35:13 deeper what we can glean from this verse is that there should be this peace and quiet
35:21 this tranquility in our hearts or a special kind of spiritual rest.
35:28 The Bible teaches that work should arise from this type of rest versus the worldly kind of work that
35:35 produces only restlessness. And notice the reverse sequence. First
35:41 we find our rest in God out of which flows our work and our labor instead of
35:47 finding instead of working to seek that elusive rest only to end up feeling
35:52 restless. And so the question to ask is do you have this quiet spirit in your
35:58 life? Does your work arise from that peace and rest in your in your heart? If
36:03 not, then you have got the sequence wrong and and you have lack you lack the bi biblical foundation of work. Of
36:10 course, after the period of hard work, we need to take a rest. After working for 5 days, we have our weekend off. We
36:18 need to give our bodies a rest. I'm not talking about that kind of rest. that is at most an intermission in between work.
36:25 I'm talking about something far deeper. And to help you understand this, let me touch briefly on the subject of the
36:31 Sabbath or as they say in Israel, the Shabbat and taking a taking taking a
36:37 break from from work on weekends. You know, five days off, two days five days working, two days off. That's really
36:42 based on the idea of the Sabbath. Exodus 20 34:21. 6 days you shall labor, but on
36:48 the seventh day you shall rest. That's commandment number four in the ten commandments. But today Christians in
36:54 general, we do not observe the Sabbath for various reasons. That's another a separate subject. Uh it's beside the
37:00 point. But my Jewish friends, they keep the Sabbath in the strictest manner.
37:06 They won't answer their phones on Saturday. They won't drive their cars. They won't use the computer.
37:12 About 10 years ago, I had to meet this Jewish friend at the lobby of a hotel in in Prague, uh Czech Republic. It would
37:19 happened to be a Saturday, a Sabbath, but past the appointed time, he didn't show up. And I was waiting
37:26 and no use calling his mobile phone because he wouldn't answer his phone on the Sabbath. So, a little later, he
37:31 showed up and do you know why he was late? Because he had to walk down 20 floors.
37:37 He didn't want to use a lift because using the lift is operating the machine which is work and that's not allowed on
37:43 the Sabbath. So, he walked down 20 floors.
37:48 Now the Jews are dead serious about keeping the Sabbath. The origin of the Sabbath is of course in Genesis uh when
37:55 God created the world in six days and he rested on the seventh day. And God then instructed the Israelites to do
38:00 likewise. You work for six days and you rest on the seventh. There may be a physiological reason behind this. You
38:07 get tired after six days of work and your body needs a rest. But that's the surface reason. There is
38:14 a deeper reason beyond just preventing physical exhaustion. You think about it.
38:20 You mean to say that God became tired after six days of creation work and he
38:25 needed to take a rest. That doesn't make sense. Our God never gets tired. He's an
38:31 omnipotent God. He doesn't need a rest. He's constantly working even right now.
38:37 And so there's a deeper reason why God instituted the Sabbath for the Israelites. is not just to have them
38:43 take a rest after working so many days. That's the physiological reason. The
38:48 real reason is to remind them that he is the one who will give them the ultimate
38:54 rest. That is the rest. I'm talking about the spiritual rest that that
38:59 surpasses understanding that no amount of work can earn you. A rest from which
39:05 all our labor springs. A rest on which all our work is based. Now, I'm not
39:10 suggesting that you keep the Sabbath. No. But you must understand the intent of the Sabbath and you make sure that
39:17 you enjoy that rest from God. You can read more about more about this in
39:22 Hebrews chapter 4, long passage which repeatedly describes believers as entering God's rest or finding rest in
39:30 God. Interestingly, in verse 9 is is called the Sabbath rest. If you have
39:36 truly entered into God's rest, you have no interest at all joining the right
39:42 race for status, identity, and security. Because you
39:47 already have status as redeemed people of God. You already have identity as children of God. You already are secured
39:54 in his love and promises. You will not participate in the endless and restless chase for money because you already have
40:01 something far more precious. To conclude this second point, I want to again make the lesson more practical.
40:08 Even not now even after we have entered into God's rest. Now to be realistic, I know this. I've worked before. In the
40:14 course of our dayto-day work, the so-called daily grind, we face various challenges. We experience all kinds of
40:20 tension. Often there are work problems to which there are no easy answers,
40:27 impossible deadlines, unachievable targets. There are people who disappoint us, even
40:35 people who conspire against us. And so the result is stress and and and
40:40 pressure, anxiety and frustration. If you feel drained, you know, after a
40:46 while, it's the unavoidable part of working life. But this is what you do.
40:51 You have to frequently run to God to recharge your battery, to refresh your
40:57 spirit. You have to often go to God to renew that battered sense of rest in him. You have to regularly claim the
41:04 promise of Jesus in Matthew 11. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened
41:10 and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and so on and you will find
41:15 rest for your souls. So you need to constantly seek that quietness in God
41:22 because God's rest is the foundation of your work. Now coming to the last point,
41:27 we now look vertically or upward and consider work and creation. Earlier
41:33 horizontally, then internally and now vertically. And this is based on the end
41:38 of verse 11 in our text. Work with your hands just as we told you. What does
41:46 Paul mean to work with our hands? Is he referring to menial work? Surely it's not reasonable to to to think that Paul
41:52 expects all believers then and now to be engaged only in manual labor. Then who is going to do the work that requires
41:59 the brain? I believe this phrase work with your hands is a reference to the
42:05 creative aspect of work. Meaning that when you work you are creating something
42:11 not not necessarily something physical but something of value. You are creating value. Imagine
42:18 a potter working with his hands shaping the the formless lump of clay into an
42:24 object that is useful and beautiful. That's what Paul is talking about.
42:30 That's how Dorothy says derive a definition of biblical work as the gra
42:36 as the expression of creative energy. Biblical work is creative work.
42:43 Political work points ultimately to the work of the creator. In fact, God is sometimes referred to as the porter with
42:49 a capital P. Our work should re should mirror the work of the creator. Now, to
42:55 help you really understand the work of the creator, let's go back to the creation account.
43:01 A simple question now, what did God do during the six days of creation in Genesis 1? Of course, he created the
43:09 heavens and the earth, the land and the sea. He made the plants and the animals.
43:15 But that's just surface understanding. We need to go deeper.
43:21 You see, before God began his creation work, the earth is described in Genesis
43:26 1:2 as formless. That's in the NIV. Other translations
43:33 render the word formless as chaos or without order or waste.
43:40 So during the six days of creation essentially God made order out of chaos
43:48 form out of the formless beauty out of ashes.
43:54 At the end of each creation, each day of his creation work, God stood back and saw that it was good.
44:02 In the evening of each day, for six days, God saw what he made and said, "It is good."
44:12 As a matter of fact, God isn't done yet. He's hasn't finished his creative work.
44:18 He's at work even right now, even today. Because the Holy Spirit is at work in
44:23 our lives, turning a rebellious heart into a righteous one, making a new creation out of old sinful selves.
44:32 And you can imagine this at the end of our days on earth, God will stand back,
44:37 look at us and say it is good. Now to make this this lesson practical
44:44 for us, I have two exhortations to share with you. Firstly, our work should reflect the nature of our creator God.
44:51 We create value with our work. We create something worthwhile so that we can step step back, look at it and say it is
44:58 good. That is to say, we put in our creative energies into our work. We we we put in
45:04 our best in what we do so that the outcome is admirable. Our worth, our work ethics should be
45:11 based on nothing less than excellence and quality and so that we may win the
45:16 respect of others as Paul puts it in verse 12 at the end.
45:21 Now Jesus was a carpenter before he started his earthly ministry. There's very little in the Bible about his life
45:29 as a carpenter carpenter. But that didn't stop people from imagining that Jesus must have made the most beautiful
45:35 furniture or other wooden implements. Each time Jesus made something in his
45:41 workshop, I can imagine him standing back saying, "This is good." He didn't
45:47 cut corners or do a sloppy job. Neither should we. My second advice for you is
45:53 to emulate our creator God in creating order out of chaos. How do we do that in
45:59 our work? What do I mean? Now, those of you who attend the gama class on Wednesday nights, you are studying the
46:05 book of John. We are going through one by one the seven miracles of John of Jesus that John has documented in his
46:11 gospel. Now I don't have time to go through these seven miracles of Jesus one by one but roughly from a bird's eye
46:17 view what did Jesus do out of despair remember the official out
46:25 of despair he brought comfort out of the storm remember in Sea of
46:31 Galilee out of the storm he brought calm out of darkness remember the blind man
46:38 he brought light out of weakness Remember the he brought
46:44 strength. And out of death, remember Lazarus, out of death, he brought life.
46:51 At the end of each miracle, things became better than when he first started.
46:57 Now, I don't imagine you to be performing miracles when you work. But because of your work, people become
47:04 better, the situation become better. That's what we do.
47:09 And I suppose that's what our maras home is all about. We take those poor kids out of the desari area which is plagued
47:17 by gangsterism, poverty and crime. And we give these children a shot in life.
47:23 Inspired by the work of Jesus and also by the likes of just now that Miss Lisa
47:29 for the past three years I've been volunteering my time every Tuesday evening teaching English to these
47:34 children. These are my two adorable students, Danusha and the Kohilan.
47:41 Actually, the the English lesson are just an excuse. I'm determined to see
47:46 these two growing up to be useful citizens and faithful followers of Christ. If you wish to serve in this
47:52 area, please meet up with Ply. The other recommended avenue is to teach the young ones uh at Sunday school or boys
47:59 brigade. For that, you see Vicki or Michael. But please please bear in mind that it doesn't have to be within the
48:06 church premises. There are many dunosas and cogulans in your workplace. Remember
48:11 because of your work the people and the situation around you become better. And that's the take
48:18 message. But I must also point out that we do all this not to score points in the akirat
48:24 or afterlife. Not in order to be saved. That's salvation by works. That's not biblical. We are already redeemed people
48:31 of God. We do all this because we already have tasted the grace of God.
48:36 It's the gracious expression of our salvation. It springs out of our joy of salvation. So in conclusion, I've
48:43 elaborated three radical views of work based on scripture. Specifically drawing from our text from 1 Thessalonians
48:49 chapter 4. We have looked at work horizontally, internally, and also vertically. We have discussed work in
48:55 society, work and rest, and finally work in creation. In summary, the function of
49:01 our work is to serve others. The foundation of our work is rest in God and the final goal of our work is to
49:07 make things better. May God bless you and guide you in your work in whatever
49:13 place or setting. Make sure that your work is work that glorifies. Let's close in prayer.
49:20 Our father in heaven, we beseech you to radically transform the way we look and
49:26 think of work. Lead us to the place where we can where we work for your glory and your glory
49:34 glory alone. Grant us much joy and satisfaction and meaning as we engage the world through our work. For we ask
49:40 this in Jesus name. Amen.
