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[0:00] Titus chapter 2. You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.! Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.

[0:18] Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

[0:28] Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

[0:47] Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed, because they have nothing bad to say about us.

[1:11] Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

[1:31] For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

[2:08] These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. This morning I want to answer a single question.

[2:28] The question is, how can you, if you're a Christian, be a good witness for Christ at work? How you can be a good witness for Christ at work when you're on the job?

[2:39] And I'm immediately aware that when we start talking about evangelism and witnessing, it can be one of those things that can be just discouraging and difficult, and you feel guilty about those things, maybe.

[2:58] And so I want to just begin with a couple of encouraging truths. So the question is, is how can we be good witnesses for Jesus Christ when we are at work?

[3:10] But before we get to that, I just have another question, and that is, who is the light of the world? And in John, John chapter 8, Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

[3:23] Whoever follows me will not walk in the darkness. So Jesus is the light of the world. But Jesus himself said, you are the light of the world.

[3:37] You, present tense, are the light of the world. You're the light that the world needs. And so here's the first encouraging truth before we really start answering the question of how can you be a good witness for Jesus Christ.

[3:55] The first truth is, I'm not asking you how you can be the light, because you already are the light. You already are the light of the world.

[4:08] And so the question is, is how can you shine more brightly? My business this morning is not to figure out how to turn your switch on, or to flip the switch in you, or tell you how you can flip the switch on inside of yourself.

[4:21] You already are the light of the world. The flame has already spread from Jesus into you. The light, Jesus Christ has already flipped that switch on.

[4:33] And so this morning is about turning up the wattage, so to speak. Maybe you've seen when you can refurbish. I don't know exactly the verb I'm looking for. Like your headlights, when they get all yellow and they're not as bright, and you can buy something, you can clean those things up.

[4:49] And so the headlights shine more brightly. You can see the light more clearly. That's what we're talking about today. I'm not talking about how to turn the light on, because you are the light of the world.

[5:01] I'm not talking about how you become that light. You are the light of the world. So, here's the second thing that we do as we answer this question I want to encourage you with.

[5:14] Let's begin this sermon not at your job, if you're working. And a lot of the things that we're talking about can even apply to you as students, if you're a student.

[5:27] But let's not start there at your job, where you're working. I want to start with another encouraging truth. Let's start outside of the village of Sychar in Samaria.

[5:37] You remember Jesus has just met a woman at the well, and that woman has been found out, and her world has been revolutionized and changed.

[5:48] And she leaves her large watering pot jar there at the well, and she goes back into the village to tell everyone about Jesus whom she's met.

[5:58] And she is now, I think the picture is, what you see is, she's now returning with these townspeople, with her fellow citizens.

[6:11] I don't know if they're friends. Jesus then looks up and he says to his disciples, Do you not say, four months more and then the harvest?

[6:26] I tell you the truth. Open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. Even now, the reaper draws his wages.

[6:39] Even now, he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying, one sows and another reaps, is true.

[6:50] I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. So as Jesus looked up and the disciples looked up, I think the picture is, now all of these people are starting to come out to the, and they're probably in their white robes, and he's saying, look, the harvest is coming, and now it's ready to be reaped.

[7:13] You remember what happened. Jesus spent some time there, and many more Samaritans, believed the harvest had come. But what is Jesus teaching about evangelism and reaping and sowing and this whole business of winning people to Jesus Christ?

[7:32] What is he teaching about that? He's teaching it's a team effort. That's one thing he's teaching. One sows, another reaps. Some people are sowers, or some people spend a lot of time sowing, and other people are reapers.

[7:49] He's also teaching that it's a process. It's a process. And I think that's very helpful for us and encouraging for us. So this past Wednesday, my wife came home from church, and she had someone's tomatoes.

[8:04] I don't know whose they were. You know who it is, if that's you. But I do know this about whoever's tomatoes those were that gave them to my wife. They didn't plant those tomatoes on Wednesday.

[8:19] They didn't do it a week ago. No, what happened was months ago, I don't know the particulars, but months ago, they started working on them. Months ago, they dug up the soil.

[8:32] Months ago, they made a little hole. Months ago, they put in a seed. And then maybe someone else, maybe husband, wife, kids, I don't know who it was, they came in, and they watered that seed, and they weeded the garden, and then a couple of weeks later, they came in and did more weeding and more watering.

[8:51] And then the flower budded, but it wasn't time to pick those tomatoes yet. And then the tomato came out, and it was green and small, and it got bigger and bigger, and it got redder and redder.

[9:09] And then someone came along, and easy as pie, plucked that tomato. It was a process.

[9:21] There was a time of watering. There was a time of weeding. There was a time of gardening before it came time to reap. And then when it came time to reap, it was almost like the easiest thing in the world.

[9:37] And it was done. Jesus is saying evangelism is the same sort of process. Some people are reapers, but I think in God's harvest field, there's probably a lot more gardeners.

[9:53] Gardeners. So not everyone gets to pluck the tomato, but we all and most of us spend most of our time doing gardening. We're digging up soil.

[10:04] We're having relationships. We're watering. We're planting. So most of you are gardeners, and that's okay. But every once in a while, you get to reap. But most of the time, we are spending our time gardening.

[10:17] You're doing a little work here. You're doing a little work there. So we're talking about going to where you are at, where you spend your time, where your vocation, your calling is. And you're doing gardening there.

[10:29] And now someone else might come along and reap, but it was a process. And the fruit is ripe and can be plucked, and it practically falls into the basket.

[10:40] Now, I hope that is encouraging. I hope that is encouraging for you, just to realize you are not being sent into where you work with even a salesman mentality.

[10:55] You know what they teach salesmen, you A, B, C, you're always B closing. Well, in evangelism, there's times where you're preparing. There's times where you're gardening.

[11:07] You're not ready to pick anything yet. Nothing's going to come of it yet. But you're spending time watering. You're spending time weeding. You're spending time, you know, we talked about this, we've been talking about this on Wednesday night in the high school and junior high class.

[11:24] We just want to put a stone into someone's shoe some days. You know, something that just bothers them. Something that just, they can't shake, that they can't, that they're thinking about it. I never thought of that before.

[11:38] And there's, you're taking away some objections. You want to bother them in a good way, so get people wondering, to break down some negative stereotypes, to take away some objections, to let your light shine.

[11:51] And so you don't have to worry about doing everything every single day. Most of your days are going to be spent gardening. And so I just want to do a little gardening today.

[12:03] And if I have a chance to reap, then I want to do that. I want to have my eyes open for that fruit that's ready. But if not, that's okay. Some fields take longer to get ready for harvest.

[12:16] And so I just want to do what I can in the field today. Now, with that modest goal in mind, and I hope with that encouragement in mind, I want you to look at Paul's words in Titus 2, verses 9 and 10.

[12:31] Pastor John read these verses for us. If you've been here on Sunday evening, we've been going through the book of Titus. We've come now to Titus 2, 9 and 10. A couple of Sundays ago, I took a whole sermon to talk about slavery, because you see that verse 9 is talking to each slaves.

[12:47] It's talking to slaves. I took a whole sermon to talk about slavery, the differences between slavery in the Roman world, slavery in the South. And just to say this, I don't want to get into it any further.

[13:02] There were different things. There was some overlap. There was no racial overtones, and there was no racism baked into the slavery of the Roman world.

[13:13] Slaves were not just in the fields picking cotton. They didn't just have one job, primarily. Slaves did all sorts of things in the ancient world.

[13:25] They ran businesses. They had their own money. They had their own houses sometimes. They were bureaucrats. Some had high government positions.

[13:36] Slaves were doctors. They were accountants. They were people that you respected. And then they filled the entire sort of employment spectrum. And so your doctor could be a slave, and your shoemaker could also be a slave.

[13:53] And anything in between, from the lowest to nearly the highest. And so they worked for people. They had jobs, and they spent most of their time doing their job.

[14:07] A lot of Christians came from the slave class. Not very many of you were great. Not many of you were these well-respected people. And so he's talking to this reality.

[14:20] And I guess what I want to say is, he's talking to what we can say as employees. They're working for someone else. They have a job to do, and they're doing it.

[14:33] Now, Paul's interest in Titus 2 is evangelistic. He's saying, okay, here's the sound doctrine. Now you have to teach the life that goes with that sound doctrine.

[14:45] And the primary and fundamental reason you have to teach about what kind of life goes with the gospel is for evangelistic reasons. So younger women, young wives, you're to act in such a way that no one will malign the word of God.

[14:59] So yes, you are to live this kind of life as a young wife, but you are to keep in mind that I have a witness. I have a testimony here. And my name, my life is attached to the gospel.

[15:11] If I have a life that doesn't speak well, people are going to malign the word of God. Younger men and Titus himself are to act in such a way that those who oppose you have nothing bad to say about us.

[15:24] And then slaves, you see it here at the verse at verse 10. Here's the reason you are to act the way that Paul is going to describe verse 10. So that in every way they will make the teaching about God, our savior attractive.

[15:41] Slaves employees were to make the gospel attractive. That's, that's the goal. Inviting. Winsome.

[15:54] Tempting. Even the word in Greek is what we, where we get our word cosmetic. Slaves were to adorn the gospel. Now, adorning the gospel is not like putting on makeup.

[16:10] You put on makeup in order to make something that's maybe not quite so pretty, a little prettier. But adorning the gospel is, is showing the gospel for the beautiful thing that it is.

[16:22] Enhancing it, making it clear to everyone that it is beautiful. And so here's, so here we are back to our question. How then can you be a good witness for Jesus Christ?

[16:34] How can you adorn the gospel? How can you make it a tempting, inviting, beautiful thing that people want and people are attracted to, not repelled by, not turned off by?

[16:47] Well, how can you do that at work? Well, Paul has five character qualities that if you embrace them, men, women, students, if you embrace these qualities and embody them, when you go to work, you will make the gospel attractive.

[17:07] You will do some gardening. You will be putting stones in people's shoes and giving them something to think about and ponder. And so, five qualities.

[17:18] I put them each in one, just one word. And so, if you have these five words, then you have this whole summary of the sermon. First word is submissive. The word is the same word that Paul uses when he talks to young women to be subject to their husbands.

[17:34] It's a military word. It means to fall in line. It means to get in line. It means to get in on the mission. And so, you're not going rogue out there. You're not Rambo fighting your own battle.

[17:45] No, you are in line where you are supposed to be. On mission. On point. So, do you want to shine for Jesus where you are at? Then do what a good wife does for her husband.

[17:59] You put your gifts, your skills, yourself at the disposal. A good wife uses her skills to further the husband's plans, the husband's idea to follow along with his leadership.

[18:16] And so, what are you about when you go to work? That's the real question. What are you about? Are you just there for a paycheck? Are you there just for the money?

[18:27] Well, that attitude will show itself when you go to work. Now, for most people, they're going to do the bare minimum to get the most. Now, some people rise a little bit above that and say, I'm going to do the most so that I can get a pay raise so I can move up.

[18:42] But either way, they're working for the money. And Paul is calling all employees to something higher and greater than just getting that paycheck.

[18:58] Something greater than that. He is saying, fall in line. Be on mission there, on your company's mission. And so, just as a wife uses her gifts and skills to further the goals of the husband, to grow.

[19:14] So, what you want to do is use your skills, whatever those skills are, your skills, your gifts, the things that you are good at, the things God has equipped you with, to further their goals, their business, what they are after.

[19:31] Because that's what it means to be subject to. That's how a good wife behaves in the, with, in relation to her husband. And the same idea is here. And so, yes, the idea is, yes, you want to obey.

[19:46] There's clearly that. You want to obey. You want to obey without complaining. But I do think it's something more than even that. It's, it's the whole attitude and disposition as you go to work.

[20:01] Are you there just for yourself? Or are you there to do good for your employer, for the company, to help the company? Because that's, a good wife knows what her husband is trying to accomplish, and, and says, now, how can I make that happen?

[20:21] So, go to work with that mindset, that attitude. Yes, obedient, but it's something greater than that. There's a good word for this mindset.

[20:32] In the business world, it's called an intrapreneur. You've heard about entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is the person that has the, the idea for the business. They have this mission. They have this goal. They see this need.

[20:43] They want to accomplish it. So they work hard. They start something. They do it. They pour their lives into it to make this business grow and happen. Well, an entrepreneur is an employee with the same kind of mindset.

[20:58] And so they go to work with the same thought of, okay, how can I grow this business? How can I help accomplish the goals? How can I meet and go to the mission?

[21:08] And so I'm not going, I'm going to work like an owner, like a shareholder. I'm not just doing a J O B. I want to see this succeed. And I'm going to use my gifts and whatever I have to see that this succeeds.

[21:24] Now, I know I'm not, I'm not, I don't have my head in the sand. I know that that is harder sometimes than other times. Um, but that is the kind of work ethic.

[21:36] That's the kind of attitude that will make the gospel attractive, that will stick out in a good way when you go to work. So there's plenty of people who go to work for the paycheck and they punch in and they punch out.

[21:50] And it's about as doing as little as you can for as much money as you can. But let me say that does not make the gospel look good. That's selfish. That wasn't Christ mindset.

[22:06] He came to serve, put his desires, came to see us prosper. He used all that he had for our good.

[22:17] And so go to work with that same mindset. So may the mind of Christ be in you, his attitude. So that's the first word is submission, submissive.

[22:30] The second word I've wrapped it up into the second word is excellence. Paul says to try to please them. It means well pleasing.

[22:41] In other words, go to work every day, striving to make them glad all over again that they hired you. Give them a good reason to be happy and pleased that they hired you every day.

[22:55] So the quality of your work, the quantity of your work, the skill, the design of your work, whatever, whatever consistent excellence in your field of your trade, whatever is considered excellence in your trade, they're glad they hired you because you do good work.

[23:14] whatever that looks like. They're glad they hired you because you are pleasing and pleasant to be around. Well pleasing. So it's nice to have you on board.

[23:26] It's nice to have you on the team. They're glad that you're working for them and not even the competition. So when they hired you, they got someone whose friendliness, whose kindness, whose professionalism, whose faithfulness, and all the rest goes a long way in making their lives better, making their lives easier.

[23:48] So it's both the quality of your work and it's the attitude in which you do it, the kind of person you are. And you have to see that one without the other is not good.

[23:58] It's not good enough. It's no good. If you go to work and you do good work, but at the same time you're irritating and annoying and mean and impatient and unhelpful and complaining, then who cares about how good your work is?

[24:19] They're not glad they hired you. Yeah, they might put up with you for the sake of turning a profit, but they're not pleased with you. And on the other hand, being a great guy, a nice girl, and doing terrible work isn't making Jesus look good either.

[24:38] Gomer Pyle was a really nice guy and he was completely irritating. Proverbs talks about giving a fool a job to do. Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.

[24:55] Give a fool a job and you're cutting off your own feet. You're not making any progress. You just stumble and fall. You drink poison.

[25:08] And so, be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. You're serving Christ. You're serving Christ. And so, serve him with excellence.

[25:21] Your name is on, his name is on you. And so, make him look good by how you work and by your personality, by how you are.

[25:34] Make him look good. Third word is peaceable. Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them. So, they're pleased with you.

[25:46] We already talked about that. And now, not to talk back to them. Not to, this is talking about talking back, mouthing off, speaking against, arguing.

[25:59] It, it is more, it means more than just talking back, though, and arguing. It, it's, it's a representation of a whole rebellious attitude.

[26:11] attitude. This word, you're, you're, it's just, you're not happy and you're going to show it. You're not happy with the, what the boss is doing.

[26:25] You're not happy with what the corporate has said. And you're going to let everyone know. The Bible uses this word for this whole godless, rebellious way of living. Remember Simeon, he was in the temple, Mary and Joseph and little baby Jesus.

[26:42] Simon, Simeon prophesied over the infant Jesus and said, this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against.

[26:52] That's, that's the word. So, Jesus comes to his own and his own don't receive him. Think of the attitude in which the majority of Jewish people receive Jesus Christ.

[27:07] they didn't. They rebelled. They complained. They cursed him. They fought against him. Many people spoke against him. Just think about all the, all the times the Pharisees are coming up trying to trick him.

[27:21] All the Sadducees are there. The, the high priest, all these people against him. That's, that's this word that Paul is saying saints or slaves employees when you go to work don't have that attitude of this, this, just this restless rebelliousness Pilate in John 19 was trying to free Jesus and the Jews shouted back if you free him you're no friend of Caesar.

[27:45] Anyone who claims to be a king talking about Jesus opposes Caesar. That's the word opposes. It's a rebellion. You're opposing legitimate authority.

[27:57] So how do you go to work? Unhappy, restless, rebellious, talking back, complaining. Well, there goes your witness for Christ.

[28:13] And I hope that's not any of you and I trust it's not. Benjamin Franklin said any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain and most do.

[28:27] And so I've seen them. I'm sure you've seen them. I, again, I sincerely don't think this is any of you and I hope it is not. But I've worked with these people and you have worked with them too.

[28:43] They know more than everybody else. Every plan is dumb. Anything that they don't like how things are handled. The bosses are all idiots. The vice president's a moron.

[28:56] They don't want any part in going a different direction or trying to do something different. I've seen them with my own two eyes and I've had to say to myself, if you know so much, why are you down here with us making $14 an hour and they're all up there?

[29:18] Psalm 32, the psalmist says, do not be like a horse or a meal which has no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle. That's what these people are like. You can get them to do what you want.

[29:32] But it's like dragging a horse. It's like dragging a mule. And they'll go, dragging their feet and hee-hawing the whole way. And so what should your attitude especially, there you are, you're at work, you're in a hostile environment.

[29:48] I want you to think, how can I be wise? Psalm 39, 1, I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence.

[30:00] I'm going to be careful what I say, because the wicked are there. They're watching, they're looking for reasons. So maybe if you don't understand what is going on, at least have the good sense to be quiet about it.

[30:19] And maybe soon enough you'll understand. Maybe soon enough their hopes and dreams and their ignorance will all come out and you'll be proven right.

[30:31] And all those VPs and everyone else, they'll be proven wrong. Maybe that will happen. But either way, talking and talking back and arguing isn't going to be doing anyone any favors.

[30:46] It's not going to make Jesus look good. It's not making the gospel attractive. People aren't going to say, wow, Jesus really makes complainers and feet draggers. Let me know more about what he has to say.

[30:58] A peaceable, winsome spirit is doing some real gardening. All those other people are acting however they're acting, but this will put a stone into someone's shoe in a good way and will make people think.

[31:14] That's the third word. The fourth word is honest. So submissive, excellence, peaceable, honest. Paul says not to steal from them. And we could go into all the different ways that stealing happens at work.

[31:33] This word means anything from petty theft, larceny. It can mean anything from stealing here and there around the house to embezzling funds, fraud.

[31:47] In the business world there is what they call the 10-10-80 rule. The 10-10-80 rule basically says 10% of employees will never steal. 10% of employees will always steal.

[32:01] And 80% of employees will steal if they have the opportunity. Given the right circumstances, the right situation, they'll steal. Brothers and sisters, be in the 10% that will never steal.

[32:19] would you steal from Jesus? Paul says in Colossians, it is the Lord Christ you are serving.

[32:32] Would you steal from Jesus? Would you embezzle funds from him? Stealing from your employer is stealing from Jesus. Stealing from your employer is betrayal.

[32:44] betrayal. It is betraying Jesus. It is betraying his people. You steal and you are a traitor. And what I mean by that is you are working for the other side.

[32:56] Satan came as a thief and a murderer. So you still, you are joining him. You are being a traitor, a turncoat.

[33:09] And you are making other Christians witness all the more difficult. You are making it harder for them in what is already a difficult job.

[33:20] I started working at 84 Lumber in October of 2002. And I got there and everybody was talking about this guy named Vern.

[33:32] And that's not his real name. And old Vern three months earlier had been fired. And it made quite a stir in the place when you only have five or six people working at the store.

[33:43] And honestly I soon grew to despise Vern. And let me tell you why. Vern was a professing Christian. I don't know. I don't know his situation.

[33:55] I don't know his soul. But he was a professing Christian. He was known to be the token Christian in the group. And old Vernon decided that he was going to add to his paycheck. And he started taking $20 or $30 out of the drawer to go fill up the gas cans for the forklift.

[34:14] And that was okay. That's what you're supposed to do. But this is what he did. He took $20, $30, out of the thing. He put some gas in the can, doctored the receipts, doctored the entries into the system, and kept the difference.

[34:29] Vern got away with it for a little while, filling up the gas cans every single day, which was suspicious. And someone at corporate finally caught on. They swooped in one day, took him into the office, made him hand over his 401k, fired him, and saw him off the premises.

[34:47] And from that day, from the day I got there, all I heard was that Christians are hypocrites. Christians are hypocrites. They're all hypocrites.

[34:59] Again, and again, and again. And Vern was, at least in that moment. And there was nothing I really could say. Vern ruined his own witness, and it took me four or five years to get any sort of anywhere in that situation.

[35:17] And so for Christ's sake, for your brother and sister's sake, be honest at work. Don't steal. The last word is trustworthy.

[35:32] Don't steal, but to show that they can be fully trusted. It means faithful, reliable. It means loyal.

[35:44] Paul says show it. Give evidence of it. Make it clear. You're trustworthy, and everybody knows it. They can trust you to do the right thing.

[35:57] They can trust you with the keys. They can trust you to close down the place. They can trust you with the drawer, the cash drawer. They can trust you with the keys. They can trust you when you're alone.

[36:07] They can trust you with a group. It looks like showing up on time. It looks like doing what you're told. It looks like fulfilling your assignments. It looks like even when it comes time to leave, that you give them two weeks notice.

[36:25] And if you're a more important person, it means giving them more time than that. You're not going to leave them in a lurch. Because you leave them in a lurch, and that's the last thing they're going to remember.

[36:38] And they will remember that. So submissive, excellent, peaceable, honest, trustworthy. Christians should be the best workers the company has.

[36:54] And I'll tell you why. It seems kind of paradoxical. You should be the best workers the company has because precisely you're not serving them first.

[37:07] You're serving Jesus Christ. Christ. It's bigger than just them. And it needs to be bigger than just them, doesn't it?

[37:18] Because no company, no employer, no boss, no manager is perfect. It's going to be hard. It's going to be difficult.

[37:29] It's going to be disappointing. And on those days when it's not fun to work, when there is temptation, when it is disappointing and disheartening, when it's difficult, you need to be able to look past the people standing in front of you and you need to be able to look at Jesus and say, I'm not doing this for them because some days they don't deserve your good work.

[37:56] Jesus does every day. And so you serve him. You do it for him and you do it through his strength. faith. And so we carry his name.

[38:08] We have his spirit. And so there is grace for work. There's grace to work and do good work in environments, in good environments and in bad environments.

[38:23] I've done both. Christ is always enough. He's always enough. And so what have we seen today?

[38:36] We're all gardeners. If you're a Christian, you're a gardener. If you're a Christian, you're a disciple maker. We're all gardeners. We don't have to do everything.

[38:47] But every day we want to go to work and we want to do some gardening. We want to put rocks in people's shoes. We want to move people along. It's not always be closing. That's not necessarily what it's going to be.

[38:59] Every day we want to move closer. We want to do a little gardening. And Paul says, here's how you make the gospel attractive at work. Be submissive.

[39:11] Be excellent. Be pleasing. Be peaceable. Be honest. Be trustworthy. And he says, you do that and you will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

[39:26] So, maybe today was a mirror for you. And you just, James says, you know, we look at the word and it's holding up that mirror to our face.

[39:38] And maybe today was that for you. And you have to say, well, I do need to change. I need to change what I'm doing. I need to change my disposition, my attitude.

[39:51] I've got to change. And then my word then is repent. Repent of those bad attitudes. Turn away from them and embrace by faith what Jesus has called you to do.

[40:05] Embrace what Jesus has called you into his service to serve him where you're at. And so, and you do it to serve him in love. And the reason you do it is because in love he served you.

[40:22] In love he got up. He got up early. And he worked hard. And he had a job to do. And when it came time to finish the job he didn't flinch.

[40:33] For you, for your good. He loved you. And he got up and he went to work for you. And so in love get up and go to work for him. Make him look good.

[40:46] Make him look good. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this word to us.

[40:58] This word that clarifies and cuts through and exposes us for what we are and then offers us hope and help in Jesus Christ for all that we aren't and all the ways that we have failed.

[41:12] Thank you that there's forgiveness for work sins. There's forgiveness for bad attitudes and low thoughts. And so we come confessing and we ask that you would work in us to will and to do all of your good pleasure.

[41:31] I want to pray for those who have nothing greater to work for than themselves. Will you please, one, show them how wonderful it is to have something greater and someone greater to work for.

[41:48] show them how wonderful it is to work for Jesus Christ, to live for him. And show them how little and small and fleeting it is to just work for yourself.

[42:01] You can gain the whole world. And what have you gained if you lose your own soul? Bring them to that truth. Please send us into that work week tomorrow with a cheerfulness and a winsomeness and a big vision of what you have called us to do and help us to gladly serve you wherever we are.

[42:26] Thank you that there's grace for hard work environments and thank you for those easier work environments. Pray that you would do us good. And all that we do and need, we ask these things in Jesus' name.

[42:41]  Amen.